CHAPTER 289: SURPRISE, TWO WARLORDS
On the sea surface, the Navy fleet drew closer and closer.
On the warship deck, Aokiji already sat up lazily. "Hmm?"
He blinked.
"Ara ara, something seems off here."
He stood up and walked to the ship's railing, gazing toward the distant island.
Though his eyes couldn't see it yet, Observation Haki was a far sharper sense than sight.
Aokiji could feel that the coast of that distant island was unnaturally quiet at this moment.
Would a pirate invasion normally produce such a scene? Even if the pirates had finished plundering and left the island, shouldn't the surviving residents show some reaction? Such silence made no sense.
"What are you waiting for, Aokiji? Hurry up and finish things here so we can get to the real business," a man stepped onto the deck, approaching Aokiji from behind. He frowned impatiently. "I don't have much time to waste playing around with you people!"
"Wang Zhi's right. We accepted the government's summons to take down that bastard Zephyr, not to clean up small-fry pirates. That's not our obligation!" A shrill-voiced old woman gradually approached, with a large-built figure following behind her.
Aokiji furrowed his brow.
So why did they have to saddle him with these people? Sakazuki's side had Kizaru—a dream team of two admirals.
Meanwhile, Aokiji led the other fleet, and naturally he wasn't acting alone either.
Two newly recruited Warlords of the Sea sailed with his fleet.
Driven from Hachinosu by Kaido, wandering the seas like a stray dog—a former member of the Rocks Pirates, the great pirate Wang Zhi.
And the one who'd attacked Zephyr's trainee ship, directly causing Zephyr to defect from the Navy—the very culprit himself, Edward Weevil.
Two powerful Warlords traveling alongside Aokiji meant this side's combat strength wasn't much weaker than Sakazuki's side.
Though Aokiji was extremely unwilling about it.
Wang Zhi was one thing, but what the hell was Weevil? Making him bring that bastard to fight Zephyr-sensei—wasn't the government just silently mocking him? Aokiji found it hard not to think so.
But right now, there wasn't time to dwell on such matters.
Aokiji's face grew serious as he gazed at the distant island.
An ominous premonition gradually brewed in his heart.
"Hey, Aokiji, are you ignoring us?" Wang Zhi raged.
Being driven from Hachinosu by Kaido, reduced to a stray dog, then recruited by the government—it was already humiliating enough. Now this damn brat dared to ignore him! The great pirate was enraged!
"Shut up!" But Aokiji gave him no face whatsoever. "Something's wrong here!"
"Something seems off, Zephyr."
Brett stood at the harbor dock, gazing at the distant Navy fleet.
He'd already released his Observation Haki long ago.
Naturally, he'd heard Aokiji's voice.
But the problem was that besides Aokiji's voice, there were other familiar voices.
"Besides Aokiji, there are two more strong ones," Brett said.
Just from the voices, he could tell—those definitely weren't voices weak people could produce.
"And one of them is an old acquaintance of yours."
"Old acquaintance?" Zephyr paused, then grinned. "You're not talking about that guy, are you?"
"Can only say it's quite the coincidence, right?" Brett smiled.
"Yeah, quite the coincidence indeed!" Zephyr's mechanical right arm creaked as he clenched it, clearly already quite eager.
"Then let's go."
Brett shot forward instantly, wrapped in crackling lightning.
Zephyr followed close behind, kicking off the air and taking flight.
These two monsters finally left? Bloodaxe Joseph had just breathed a sigh of relief when—
BOOM!
In the sky, black lightning scattered wildly in all directions.
A ferocious aura descended from above like a great dragon. The island's coast trembled continuously, and the pirate ship docked at the harbor directly cracked open!
The smile hadn't even faded from his face before Bloodaxe Joseph collapsed to the ground, face deathly pale. A few seconds later, he passed out completely.
The pirates fared even worse—they didn't last even a single second before all falling unconscious.
If things were that bad for the pirates, the Navy side wasn't much better.
Watching the lightning-wreathed figure rise into the air from the distant island, Wang Zhi froze for a moment. Then his expression changed drastically as the powerful Conqueror's Haki came head-on.
"This is—!!" Wang Zhi couldn't help but cry out. "This level of Conqueror's Haki!!"
Even Captain Rocks back in the day didn't have this level of spirit!!
The violent aura swept across the entire Navy fleet in the blink of an eye.
Navy soldiers collapsed instantly. Even officers at rear admiral rank and below couldn't resist and fell unconscious.
Only officers at headquarters vice admiral level or above could barely hold on through this wave of Conqueror's Haki, but even so, their faces were pale and bodies trembling.
"I had no idea a four-hundred-million bounty pirate had this level of Haki!!" Though weak in strength but having sailed the seas for countless years and witnessed many powerful figures, Miss Bakkin hadn't lost consciousness. She shrieked in terror.
"We've been played for fools this time," Aokiji said with a somewhat helpless bitter smile.
The lightning-wreathed figure had already arrived above the fleet.
Brett looked down at the Navy fleet below.
"Admiral Aokiji plus two Warlords of the Sea? That's pretty scary," he said with a smile.
"That's my line," Aokiji looked up at Brett, then at Zephyr who'd followed Brett here, stepping on air and floating in the sky—his once most respected teacher. "That was pretty underhanded, Zephyr-sensei."
"Didn't I teach you before, Kuzan?" Zephyr remained completely unmoved. He'd already prepared himself mentally before coming. "To deal with cunning enemies, you have to be even more cunning than them."
"Zephyr!!" Miss Bakkin shrieked. "Damn Navy, we've been completely played!"
"That brat!" Wang Zhi stared hard at Brett. That Conqueror's Haki just now had been released by this brat!
Brett the fishman! So the rumors spreading across the seas this time were actually true—this guy really was a monster who could stand alongside Whitebeard and Kaido?
"Though there are two more Warlords than planned, it doesn't matter," Brett said. "Zephyr-sensei, I'll leave Aokiji to you. I'll handle the others."