One by one, the Generals in white robes of Justice, all with different thoughts, left the conference room and headed out into the corridor.
As soon as Sephiroth left the conference room, he ran into Akainu who was about to come in. When the other party met his eyes, they still held that shameless disgust...
Seeing that, Sephiroth also sneered.
As Akainu was about to walk past him, he took a gentle diagonal step and happened to be in the opponent's path.
"Get out of the way!"
Akainu held a cigar in his mouth, his face slightly gloomy, and a fierce light flickered in his eyes.
Several years ago, when Akainu first heard about Sephiroth the Cutter's title and his almost annihilatory approach to pirates, he greatly admired this new Marine talent, and even entertained the idea of wooing the other party into his own faction.
However.
However, Akainu later heard news that the other party had close contact with "doves" like Brigadier General Kesha, and that the other party believed in Flexible Justice. Literally, it seemed somewhat different from his belief in Absolute Justice.
Because of differing ideas, conflicts arose in how matters were handled, and Akainu had also faced that...
For example, while still in school, he was stigmatized by Zefa for his style of killing pirates and leaving no one alive while on duty, but he also refuted it without hesitation and argued with the other party.
In fact, they both eventually fought directly.
Although he was beaten with a bruised nose and swollen face by Zefa, he still went his own way and killed every pirate he could.
Akainu, having learned from the past, after some consideration, dismissed the idea of wooing Sephiroth to his faction, but he had no intention of being an enemy to him.
After all, everyone was a colleague, and Akainu wouldn't mess with each other as long as they stayed out of his way.
However.
A few days ago, Akainu came from Sengoku and received evidence of certain law and discipline violations by Sephiroth, which made him feel disgusted with him.
Sephiroth sneered and said in a mocking tone, "Hah! Why don't you get out of my sight?"
"Huh!... Are you looking for trouble!?"
Akainu's fist slowly clenched, and red magma appeared on the surface of his fist, thick black smoke rising with it.
"Hah! You're picking a fight, aren't you?"
"You're the one who provoked me first," Sephiroth pointed out.
Anger gradually spread through Akainu's heart, and his tone became increasingly cold:
"Humph! I repeat, g-e-t-... o-u-t-... o-f-... m-y-... w-a-y!"
"Otherwise, be careful, I won't be polite to you!"
"Haha! Say that as if you've been polite to me."
The scene of the two confronting each other immediately attracted the attention of many Generals around them. They all stopped and moved aside, watching the situation unfold with interest.
"It seems I won't be able to do this without teaching you a lesson today!"
Akainu threw the cigar in his mouth to the ground and stomped on it with his foot.
After all, during his preliminary discussion with Sengoku, Sephiroth had been given a "political death sentence", and now there was no harm in teaching the other party a lesson.
"Haha! Come on, 'Ah!' Who's afraid of whom!"
"Red Dog! If you have the guts, just switch places with me and fight properly!"
Sephiroth continued to use words to provoke the other's emotions.
"Where?"
Akainu violently twisted his neck and stared straight at him, eyes blazing.
Uh-huh!
The Butcher Knife was drawn, and in the void, a thin red line was drawn. A Dimensional Door silently opened, revealing a white sand beach on the other side of the door and a surging blue sea.
After Sephiroth walked to the other side of the door, Akainu followed and arrived at Marineford's sandy beach.
The sea breeze blew, waves crashed against the shore.
In the distant sea, warships could also be seen circling the island.
Five meters apart, the two stood in a stalemate.
Akainu threw the white justice cloak draped over his shoulders into the distance, and with a cold gaze, he looked at the silver-haired youth opposite him.
"Did you choose this place because you're afraid of losing too badly?" Akainu sneered.
"No, I just think... it's more open-minded here!"
Sephiroth held knives in both hands, Shusui in his left and the Butcher Knife in his right, striking a dual-knife style starting pose with surging fighting spirit in his eyes.
Akainu, who stood before him, was forty years old. Compared to the original plot, fifteen years later, when he ascended to the position of Fleet Admiral, there might still be a slight gap in strength, but his physical skills and Haki should be close to their peak. Sephiroth just didn't know if the Magu Magu no Mi had been awakened.
However.
There was no doubt that Akainu's current strength had to be at the level of a true Admiral!
Sephiroth provoked Akainu. This wasn't because he had nothing better to do, but because he wanted to confirm and demonstrate his strength by fighting against the other party...
Sephiroth's past strength and achievements only involved killing pirates with bounties over 100 million Belly, and he hadn't fought against overly powerful enemies. Moreover, many times, he directly used the Butcher Knife's ability to kill people with one strike.
This "gave the impression that his Devil Fruit was very powerful and strange, and his performance in other aspects was not outstanding."
Even the entire Marine, with the exception of Tesoro and others, believed that the Butcher Knife's ability was one of the special abilities of Sephiroth's Mythical Zoan: Vampire Model.
He was nothing more than a man with a powerful Devil Fruit ability!
It was estimated that in Sengoku's eyes, Sephiroth's strength, at best, was that of an ordinary Lieutenant General, to an elite Lieutenant General.
Among the Marine, there were at least twenty or thirty Generals with this level of strength!
Although they were all supporters of the Marine, they were not indispensable people and belonged to the type of existence that could be abandoned as a pawn.
However.
If strength reached the level of an Admiral, it would be different!
This kind of top-tier combat power would not be easily abandoned by the Marine unless necessary!
Just like when Zefa resigned and wanted to leave the Marine, Kong considered the opponent's strong combat power and tried to persuade him to stay and serve as the chief instructor of Marineford Academy.
And Garp, a top combat power strong enough to rival Roger, had been spoiled to the extreme. Basically, as long as he didn't openly betray the Marine, no one would do anything to him. At most, he would be punished without pain, a grand order.
Therefore, Sephiroth had to fully demonstrate his talent and strength in this battle, so that Sengoku could reconsider his handling of him!
Sengoku was not the type of person who didn't know how to adapt. On the contrary, he knew how to choose and consider the overall situation. For him, good and evil were not criteria that affected his decision-making. Benefit and value were.
After all, if a top-tier combat force was genuinely forced to defect from the Marine, and the Marine itself suffered in the end, Sengoku shouldn't be so irrational!
"Huh! Release."
"You don't understand the power gap between us at all!"
A cold arc outlined the corner of Akainu's mouth. He stomped hard on the ground and made a sonic boom. His body surged forward, and his right fist, flowing with magma, slammed hard at Sephiroth's face.
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