In the waters surrounding the Kingdom of Duramos
After much persuasion from Kong and Sengoku, the three Vice Admirals finally albeit with great reluctance agreed to the mission.
After all, for a soldier, obeying orders was the highest duty.
Following several days and nights of sailing, a Navy battleship finally arrived in the waters near Duramos.
Standing on the deck were three imposing figures, cloaked in Navy coats, each with a different expression on their face.
Borsalino didn't particularly care. His grudge with Ozz was more of a sparring rivalry than anything personal. In fact, he was already planning to slack off a bit especially with Sakazuki and Kuzan onboard to keep things in check.
Sakazuki, cold as ever, despised Ozz simply because he was a pirate an outlaw who had repeatedly challenged Navy authority and disrupted world order on a whim. Still, under the weight of orders, he could force himself to act like he would one day with the Warlords: look the other way.
As for Kuzan...
His was pure hatred deep and burning. It came from an old, festering defiance that had never healed. Toward Ozz, all he felt was unrelenting hostility.
"Reporting, sirs! We're approaching the Kingdom of Duramos!"
As the coastline finally came into view, a Navy messenger, rifle slung across his back, was shoved forward nervously to give the report. With superior officers like these, even seasoned soldiers found themselves trembling.
"Alright, alright~ We got it~"
Only Borsalino responded, his mouth curling lazily as he waved the soldier off and drifted toward the starboard side of the ship.
He raised his hand to block the sun and peered into the distance. "Hmm~ Looks like there's some real monsters fighting over there~"
And sure enough, even from this distance, the titanic sword slashes and sandstorms tearing through the island were unmistakable.
"Black Gun Ozz!!"
Crack, crack, crack…
Frost began to spread from beneath Kuzan's feet, creeping out across the deck, the chill in his gaze cutting sharper than ice.
If not for the orders restraining him, he'd have already unleashed a full-scale attack.
He didn't care whether he could defeat Ozz.
He just needed to make his stance clear.
Whoosh
Before he could act, a streak of black-and-red lightning tore through the sky, shooting straight from the island toward the battleship.
Many sword slashes had flown off the island in all directions, but this one this one was headed right at them.
The sea split down the middle beneath it, the chasm lingering long after the strike.
Navy soldiers stared in awe at the towering slash streaking through the sky, its crackling black-and-red lightning practically slicing the heavens.
"What the hell is that?!"
"You're kidding slashes like this actually exist?!"
"Am I dreaming?! That came from kilometers away?!"
To say the slash was on the kilometer scale didn't do it justice. To witness it firsthand was something else entirely.
It loomed like a wall to the heavens, tall as a three-hundred-story skyscraper. Big enough to outmatch twenty Ultramen. In front of it, even a giant looked like an ant.
The rank-and-file soldiers were frozen with fear. Some even dropped their weapons without noticing.
Are we gonna die here?!
"Ice Pheasant Beak!!"
"Great Eruption!!"
Two towering figures moved at once.
A searing magma fist and a freezing ice bird surged forward, clashing against the incoming slash. For a moment, the attacks collided in midair then vanished, canceling each other out.
Sakazuki and Kuzan glared at the distant island. That black-and-red slash they would never mistake it.
From behind them came the sound of approaching footsteps.
Gasps rippled across the deck as soldiers stumbled back in a panic.
It was a tall man with long hair and a black blade at his side, calmly returning it to its sheath.
He stepped forward, broad-shouldered and well-built, then casually placed a hand on Borsalino's shoulder.
"Sashi-burida na, Navy boys."
"Well now~ Boarding the ship just like that? You sure are something, Dottor Ozz~"
Borsalino glanced at the man beside him, who stood half a head taller than him. A bead of sweat slid down his cheek.
What terrifying speed… I didn't even see him move.
The soldiers quickly surrounded the two, legs trembling as they raised their weapons.
None of them were ready for this. Why were they already face-to-face with that pirate?
"Wait this is real? That's the guy?!"
"Should we attack?! What are we even supposed to do?!"
Ozz looked around, utterly unfazed by the weapons pointed at him.
"Huh? Is this how you greet someone? I just came to say hi.
Aren't you guys here to escort the royal family of Duramos to the Reverie?"
He snapped his fingers, smile calm and unbothered as if he weren't surrounded by an entire warship's worth of guns.
Click clack, ting ting
Dozens of bullets suddenly clattered to the deck around the soldiers' feet.
What?!
When the hell did he disarm us?!
But then again... he had a point.
They were here to escort him. They didn't have to fight.
So what were they afraid of?
"Dottor Ozz!!"
Kuzan turned sharply, frost crawling across his body until his features were nearly hidden under layers of ice. His clenched fists trembled as he barely kept himself from punching Ozz in the face.
It was taking everything in him not to attack.
This bastard better not push it.
"Yo, if it isn't Kuzan. Long time, no see~"
Ozz, completely ignoring the deadly chill, strolled up and threw a familiar arm over Kuzan's shoulder.
Crack crack crack…
Kuzan remained silent, his head lowered.
The freezing aura spread rapidly along Ozz's arm.
"Hey Kuzan!"
Even Sakazuki had to speak up. As angry as he was, he could still think straight. Seeing this, he couldn't help but intervene.
Within seconds, Ozz had become a perfectly sculpted block of ice though, admittedly, a very stylish one.
"Better now? I didn't come to fight."
Before anyone could react, Ozz's real body reappeared on Kuzan's other side, hands in his pockets and that ever-calm smile still on his face.
"You really think that's gonna make me forgive you?"
"If I get the chance... I'll still kill you."
"Alright, alright~"
Ozz responded with an easy grin.
"Tch…"
Kuzan snorted coldly and walked off to the far end of the deck. He knew better than to think that stunt could trap someone like Ozz. But out of sight, out of mind.
Sakazuki didn't even bother acknowledging him. He turned without a word and strode directly to the ship's bridge.
He didn't trust himself not to lash out.
That was exactly why Ozz never enjoyed provoking him. Sakazuki wasn't the type to banter.
He was the kind who meant it when he said he'd kill you.
And that just made him no fun to mess with.