World Government. Marineford.
After Akainu received Nero's plea for help, he immediately ordered Kizaru and others to depart for Water 7.
The special sea current from the Gates of Justice could reach New Enies Lobby within fifteen minutes, and from Enies Lobby, they could take the Sea Train to Water 7 in a short amount of time.
Akainu and Staff Officer Tsuru had no idea that Boa Hancock of the Shichibukai would dare to leak information to Akatsuki Organization members.
Furthermore, after a battle with Akatsuki Organization members, she returned to the Kuja Kingdom with zero casualties, which left Staff Officer Tsuru feeling helpless and Akainu furious.
Akainu, disregarding Staff Officer Tsuru's dissuasion, directly issued a Buster Call order to have the Marine fleet completely destroy the Kuja Kingdom.
Akainu's anger stemmed from Hancock indirectly ruining their plan. The original plan, which would have allowed them to capture Iceberg and others and lead the Akatsuki Organization by the nose of the World Government, was revealed to the enemy by Hancock. This was simply unforgivable.
Staff Officer Tsuru, being resourceful, knew the consequences of Akainu's actions. First there was the Hawkeye incident, then the Hancock incident.
These two incidents combined directly pushed the two neutral individuals to the opposite side of the World Government.
Hawkeye and Hancock would thereafter openly target the World Government, and might even defect to the enemy.
Staff Officer Tsuru had raised all these serious implications to Akainu, but Akainu didn't care. Akainu believed that no one could defy the will of the World Government without paying a price.
Akainu believed that granting Hawkeye and Hancock their special status was the greatest grace from the World Government, but these two not only didn't cherish it but also defied the World Government's will, which was a heinous crime.
Staff Officer Tsuru, seeing that Akainu's decision could not be stopped, could only shake her head helplessly.
"Marshal, the situation is no longer under control…"
"The Akatsuki Organization has already taken away the key personnel who can build Pluton…"
"They might not stay in Water 7 much longer, which is very disadvantageous for us!…"
"I believe what we need to do now is not to go to war with them…"
"Kizaru and the Three Vice Admirals can act separately…"
"Kizaru should gather all shipbuilding Materials from Water Seven in one place, to prevent the Akatsuki Organization from taking these Materials again…"
"The Three Vice Admirals are responsible for supporting CP0…"
"Once the Materials are taken by the Akatsuki Organization, we will truly have no way to restrain them!"
Staff Officer Tsuru saw through the situation and diligently reminded him of the top priority.
Although capturing Kozuki Oden was important, there was nothing they could do if the Akatsuki Organization didn't let Kozuki Oden show himself.
Since the situation was already like this, they had to find a way to restrain them and make the Akatsuki Organization continue to take risks.
Once the Materials were also taken by the Akatsuki Organization, the Akatsuki Organization could completely build the battleship "Pluton" on Floating Island, and no one would be able to do anything about them.
Akainu was not a person without a grand vision, but at the moment, he was blinded by anger, only wanting to take down the Akatsuki Organization that had made a fool of the World Government, so he didn't take Staff Officer Tsuru's words to heart.
Seeing that Akainu was determined to prioritize arresting the Akatsuki Organization, Staff Officer Tsuru said no more. Tsuru shook her head helplessly and turned to leave.
Water 7. Abandoned Shipyard.
The great battle here had not ceased. Nero's timely appearance only gave Lucci and the others a moment to catch their breath; it couldn't directly turn the tide of defeat.
Pain glanced at Sea Weasel Nero who suddenly appeared in the distance. He remembered seeing this person before and had always been curious why Nero could survive the last war unscathed. Now he finally had the answer.
"Space Fruit?…"
"What a good Fruit…"
"Can he fully utilize the power of the Space Fruit?…"
Pain was not looking down on Nero, but Nero had not used his Space Fruit ability in the last war. If he could perfectly control it, why hide his strength? This was Pain's reasoning.
Nero was about to use "Soru" to reach Lucci and the others, but Lucci loudly stopped him, warning Nero not to enter the light barrier, otherwise his Fruit ability would be Sealed.
Konan was not angry that her bubbles were broken. She stood up and flew towards Nero to engage him, leaving Pain to deal with the others.
Konan released Force-Canceling Bubbles again to trap Nero. When Nero was enveloped by the bubbles, he knew their power and disappeared into a spatial rift.
A spatial fluctuation appeared behind Konan, and Nero emerged from it, attempting to grab Konan and trap her in a spatial cage, but Konan easily dodged by transforming into paper fragments.
Nero launched a Space Cut directly at Konan's paper Incarnation. Konan's paper Incarnation was instantly shredded, and her body transformed into countless bubbles that scattered in all directions.
Nero had originally hidden his Space Fruit ability, not daring to use it. After using his Space Fruit ability to dodge a fatal blow in the battle in Alabasta, Lucci and the others learned of Nero's Fruit ability.
Nero no longer concealed it thereafter, but instead developed the Space Fruit's ability with the assistance of Lucci and others, thus creating the move "Space Cut."
Space Cut utilizes the spatial fluctuations generated during the conversion between the spatial interstice and real space, forming spatial blades through Nero's ability, which can destroy all tangible matter, including the indestructible poneglyph.
Konan was almost injured by Nero's move. If not for the unique properties of Konan's body combined with her mutated Bubble-Bubble Fruit, she would have likely perished under Nero's Space Cut just now.
From this point alone, it is evident how powerful the Space Fruit's attack power is, and this is only because Nero, due to time constraints, had only developed this one move.
If the Space Fruit's abilities were fully developed, Konan dared not imagine the consequences.
On Pain's side, Human Path appeared beside Jabra. Reaching out and touching Jabra, who was slumped on the ground, Human Path gently brushed him, and Jabra's Soul was absorbed, turning him into a corpse.
Pain could have killed Jabra long ago; he hadn't done so precisely to allow Human Path to absorb his Soul and read his memories, thereby gaining information about the World Government.
Now that Human Path had succeeded, Pain intensified his offensive, no longer wanting to give the enemy a chance to breathe.
Lucci and Kaku watched Jabra's inexplicable death without being able to save him, their eyes filled with killing intent as they charged at Pain.
Both simultaneously uttered "Soru," and Kaku appeared from diagonally above Pain.
Because Kaku's nose was broken, he couldn't use Rankyaku: Kirin Mangyaru, but he used his strongest current attack, "Four Sword Style: Thousand Armies and Deer-Catching."
Kaku applied Haki to his hands and feet. His hands rapidly slashed at Pain, and his feet also quickly unleashed slashes that attacked Pain. Wave after wave of slashes, like a thousand armies, sought to tear Pain to shreds.
Lucci activated "Life Return: Maximum Ring: Six King Gun," joining his hands and gathering Qi in them, striking down at Pain from above.
Preta Path's "Sealing Technique Absorption Seal" had been continuously expanded. Now, Pain was a bit of a distance from Preta Path, and it was too late to recall Preta Path for defense.
Pain activated "Shinra Tensei." Lucci and Kaku, who were diagonally above and directly above, were repelled by the powerful repulsive force before they could even unleash a few moves.
Pain used "Substitution Jutsu" to swap places with a discarded ship's mast, dodging the aftereffects of the two attacks.
Kaku was better off; he at least managed to unleash many blade waves with his high-speed attacks before being repelled. Lucci was repelled by Pain to a distance before he released his attack. The powerful shockwave slammed into a pile of abandoned ships, blasting the pile into a scattered mess of debris.
Pain gave Lucci and Kaku no chance to breathe, using his remaining Chakra to unleash "Chibaku Tensei." Lucci and Kaku, unable to escape the gravity, were pulled into the sky, enveloped by a pile of abandoned ships and ground rubble.
Nero timely hid in the spatial rift, avoiding the gravitational pull. However, due to his unfamiliarity with the Space Fruit's ability, Nero could not hide in one spot within the spatial rift for too long; he had to keep moving to avoid getting lost.
Nero, looking through the spatial rift, saw that objects outside were no longer being pulled upwards by gravity. He quickly left the spatial rift, preparing to find a way to rescue Lucci and Kaku.
As soon as Nero appeared, Pain's Rinnegan had continuously tracked Nero's movements within the spatial rift, and he had Preta Path lie in wait where Nero would emerge.
Nero had just appeared when he was covered by Preta Path's light barrier. When he tried to use his ability to hide in space, he was horrified to find his ability Sealed and unusable.
Konan's Force-Canceling Bubbles once again trapped Nero, but this time Nero was powerless to struggle, his body gradually weakening and losing strength.
Nero could only watch as Pain, with a few leaps, plunged a black rod into his body.
Pain controlled Human Path to open a flash gate inside Chibaku Tensei to take away Lucci and Kaku's Souls, while here, he directly captured Nero, planning to extract his Fruit ability later.
As Human Path entered Chibaku Tensei to collect the Souls, an unexpected event occurred.
Kizaru transformed into a beam of light, delivering a "Light Speed Kick" directly to Pain. Before Pain could react, he was kicked away and fell to the ground… To be continued…
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