Chapter 173: Conqueror's Haki
John lowered the lifeboat and jumped in, desperate. He rowed the oars with frantic energy, trying to escape the warship as quickly as possible. But after traveling only a few hundred meters, he ran head-on into an equally small raft.
He saw the man on the raft, a relaxed smile on his face, seemingly unaware of the danger in this stretch of sea. He was even heading toward the G-51 Branch warship. John had intended to ignore him, but for some reason, he spoke up against his better judgment.
"Hey!"
"You'd better stay away from that ship...!"
Kaito Shirogane raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected a genuine warning. This surprised him so much that the hand he had been preparing to raise slowly lowered. As he pondered, the massive shadow of the Marine warship fell over his small raft.
Kaito looked back at the lifeboat, which was already far away, and thought to himself that the man's luck was pretty good.
Kaito stomped his foot, sinking the raft, and used the momentum to leap dozens of meters onto the deck of the Marine warship.
His landing was light. The Marines on deck were still in a state of shock, many of them at a loss over the fleet's annihilation, waiting for their superior's orders.
Kaito's figure flashed, and he moved from the deck into the ship's cabin.
Hina's face was pale. The other Marine officers were also staring at the flashing electricity, their bodies rigid.
Everyone was terrified that at any second, that terrifying lightning, which seemed to connect heaven and earth, would descend upon their own heads.
They were frozen stiff, afraid to move, as if they were standing on a landmine.
Knock, knock.
The sudden sound of knocking made everyone jump and turn their heads instinctively.
They saw a dark-haired man with a lean, powerful build and sharp, handsome features standing in the doorway, a strange smile on his face.
"Yo. No one's busy, right?"
Kaito saw the blue-and-white electrical arcs but wasn't too concerned.
He knew that Enel would soon stop paying attention to them.
"I'd like to requisition this ship. How about it?"
Kaito was perfectly at ease, the smile on his face as casual as if he were asking to borrow a few Berries.
Hina, who hadn't processed the situation at first, now saw her expression change. She roared, "Who are you?"
"How did you get on this ship!"
"Men! Seize this man at—"
Swoosh—BANG!
The cabin shuddered. A Marine who had just drawn his sword was sent flying, crashing onto the deck.
Kaito tapped his toe, his speed incredibly fast. The [Transparent World] was already active, and he could see everyone's movements clearly.
But when Hina saw this, she wasn't frightened. She was furious.
When did it start? When did every single person think they could just walk all over her!
The woman instantly bent her body, the sound of her muscles tensing like a great bowstring being drawn.
By the time Kaito turned his head, surprised, he already sensed the woman's attack.
This woman... she's fast!
Kaito twisted his body in an instant. The sound of tearing air had only just begun to echo as he bent his body backward, parallel to the floor.
BOOM!
A cannonball of air blasted from the woman's foot.
Bang!
A Marine, unable to dodge in time, was hit by the mass of air and sent flying.
Hina stood on her right foot, her long, white-clad leg exposed from beneath her overcoat. Her center of gravity was perfectly stable as she slowly lowered the leg that had missed.
Kaito exhaled a breath of turbid air. It shot out like a white 'air-sword' for two meters.
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump...
His heartbeat and pulse, which he had suppressed for so long, began to rapidly recover. With them, his physical abilities and cellular activity began to fully reactivate.
Kaito looked at the female Marine wearing the "Justice" overcoat.
"You have a fine physique."
The other Marines were enraged that this intruder would insult Captain Hina, but only Hina could see it clearly: there was no lust in his eyes... This man was a maniac.
DONG!
Hina stomped the ground, and her figure vanished. Kaito's pupils vibrated rapidly, his powerful kinetic vision focusing in an instant. He turned, crossing his arms in front of him.
The woman kicked out again, compressing the air and firing it like an air cannon.
Hina hadn't reached the rank of Captain through scheming alone. Her ability to climb from the lowest ranks to a mid-level position in the Grand Line's G-51 Branch proved she had fighting prowess one in a thousand!
Although she hadn't mastered the [Rokushiki], she had, through various means, come to understand some of its principles.
Extreme speed, extreme hardness, extreme strength!
This was the Rokushiki. This was the pinnacle of human body conditioning!
BANG!
Kaito's body shuddered, his cheeks rippling as if hit by a hurricane. He tensed his muscles and stood firm, unmoving as a reef.
In that instant, in Hina's eyes, Kaito's form suddenly towered over her, like a colossal reef hundreds of meters high, making her attack feel useless.
Her powerful kicking technique, which imitated [Tempest Kick], could no longer be retracted. After the air cannon was blocked, her leg continued as the second stage of the attack, slamming into Kaito's crossed arms.
The muscles in Kaito's body—far superior in both quantity and quality to an ordinary person's—functioned like a precision instrument.
The instant the powerful force transferred from her body, Kaito's figure twisted with the momentum. He simultaneously grabbed the woman's thigh, redirected her, and slammed her into the cabin door on the other side.
[Niko Style: Redirection Kata: Weeping Willow]!
BOOM!
Hina's eyes went blank with confusion. She felt as if she had been sent flying through the clouds. The next moment, a violent impact came from behind her.
She had smashed through the cabin door and crashed into the storage room on the other side.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three gunshots rang out in quick succession.
Kaito simply tilted his head, and the three overly-accurate bullets buried themselves in the deck.
Kaito took a step forward. The rhythm of his breathing changed, and the sound of wind and thunder roared from him.
Tssss-la!
The sound made Hina's heart tremble. An instinctive fear made her look up, and in the next second, she knew it was bad.
Not good!
BANG!
The door shattered as a figure pounced. His hand pressed against her chest, and a twisting, spiraling force exploded.
[Koei Style: Rakshasa's Palm]!
"Guhh!"
Hina felt a terrifying force penetrate her chest. Her heart and lungs vibrated violently. They didn't rupture, but she still coughed up a large mouthful of blood.
Just as her body was about to be sent flying, he reversed his grip and grabbed her by the neck. The intense inertia was focused on her cervical vertebrae.
A series of crack-crack sounds echoed, and Hina let out a wail.
When a group of Marines holding guns rushed to the doorway, all they saw was their Captain Hina, her clothes slightly torn, being lifted off her feet by a man holding her neck with one hand.
Kaito was still smiling. This woman's combat power wasn't weak. The physical toughness common in the One Piece world allowed this woman, who looked like a 'vase', to display impressive combat prowess from a full figure that seemed completely unsuited for fighting.
She was fast, and her body was durable. She had taken a Rakshasa's Palm, and her heart and lungs hadn't been destroyed.
Her performance already surpassed that of the Priest, Satori.
"Hey, Marines. Your ship is being requisitioned. If you don't want to die with your captain here, you'd best do as I say."
Kaito felt it was a pity, but he didn't have the skills to pilot such a large ship by himself. He needed mobility in this world—whether it was to complete milestones, to maneuver against the Reincarnators about to arrive, to deal with the native characters appearing in this sea, or... for the treasure map still lying in his inventory.
He needed a ship with its functions and crew intact.
For this reason, he hadn't even killed the woman.
Hina was struggling to breathe but refused to submit and give the order. Kaito saw the Marines were still hesitating, so he pulled out [Misfortune's Knock] and fired a casual shot.
Bang!
The special effect didn't trigger, but the Marine who had the bullet land at his feet froze. The anger from seeing their captain captured quickly dissipated, and logic returned.
This man was an enemy who had defeated Captain Hina with ease. This sea was also under threat of lightning. It seemed...
A Marine hesitated, then spoke up.
"For Captain Hina's safety... let's cooperate with him."
The mockery in Kaito's smile deepened. He kept one hand holding the tall, curvy woman and used the other to take out the map: [El Dorado - The Promised Land].
The map's first effect—modifying the mission world—had already been used. Now, it only retained its value as a simple treasure map within this world.
Kaito glanced at it and realized he couldn't read a nautical chart very well. He shouted again.
"Get the navigator!"
After some scrambling, the Marine navigator finally confirmed that although the surrounding sea's topography had changed, the location marked on the treasure map was not far.
Kaito stood at the railing, holding the woman hostage. He didn't care about the low-level Marines; this world's firearms were too weak to be a threat to him.
"Set sail, you grunts! We're going treasure hunting, haha!"
He laughed wildly. In Hina's eyes, Kaito was a complete and utter madman.
[You have taken full command of a ship. Milestone: Captain has been achieved.]
[Captain: When equipped, your controlled ship's sailing speed is slightly increased (8%).]
[You have unlocked new Milestones: Fleet Admiral, Marine Captain, Great Pirate.]
[Milestone: Navigator progress updated. Current: 1/8000 (Nautical Miles).]
Kaito swapped his equipped Milestone, and the ship's speed immediately increased.
Hina's face was finally turning purple. The woman could no longer maintain her arrogant attitude and began to struggle instinctively.
Kaito released his right hand, and she immediately collapsed to the deck.
"You bastard..."
The woman was furious. She tried to stand up, only to find that a wave had wet that part of the deck. Her hand landed on the slippery spot, and as she pushed up, she slipped and fell again.
BANG!
Her head slammed hard onto the deck.
Kaito watched this scene, the smile on his lips widening. He looked at his right hand. He had keenly discovered that the [Indeterminate Form of Luck]'s judgment for "attacking" an opponent was quite flexible.
The fact that he had been holding her hostage seemed to count as a continuous attack, which had allowed him to drain a large amount of [Luck] from the woman.
If he activated a Crimson Drop Card right now... he might get an excellent drop.
"Ha, what a great time for treasure hunting. With this kind of luck, it can't just be a pile of gold, right?"
Kaito felt that when it came to [Luck], the more, the better. He turned to the soldiers on the deck.
"All of you, get over here! Form a line!"
KRRRACKLE!
The terrifying thunder boomed again. Everyone's face went white. Even Kaito felt his heart skip a beat.
No living creature could remain indifferent while experiencing this level of cataclysmic destruction up close.
He turned his head and saw a charred black flamingo falling from the sky, as a giant, wreathed in blue-and-white lightning, appeared from the clouds.
"Yahahahaha!"
"A Warlord of the Sea... is just a mortal after all!"
Doflamingo... was defeated?!
The next moment, Doflamingo, who was falling, suddenly froze in mid-air.
VMMMMM—
An invisible aura suddenly erupted, sweeping across the entire sea like a hurricane.
Thump, thump, thump...
On the deck, the Marines who had been lining up to get hit collapsed one after another.
Kaito, caught in that tidal wave of an aura, felt goosebumps cover his skin.
He felt that endless aura threatening to drown him, and his eyes stared greedily at the sky.
"This is... Conqueror's Haki!"
(End of Chapter)