"Oh..."
"That's incredible!"
"What is that?"
"It looks terrifying, doesn't it?"
After Kizaru kicked Pain away, he didn't rush to attack. He looked up at the spherical rock in the sky and spoke with feigned surprise.
Pain slowly sat up from the ground, then gradually rose to his feet.
This was the second time Pain had been kicked away. The first was by the now-dead Eneru, and the second was by this fast enemy, Kizaru.
Konan had flown to Pain's side the moment he was kicked away. Seeing that Pain was mostly unharmed and had already stood up, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?"
Konan looked at Pain with loving eyes, asking with concern if he was seriously injured.
Pain wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at Kizaru, who stood opposite him with a lazy expression.
Pain knew that fighting today was no longer possible. It seemed he couldn't take the lives of the CP0 agents, nor could he take Nero, who had already been subdued.
His Chakra was already depleted, with only a small amount left for the Animal Path's summoning. Pain had already prepared a fallback plan before the battle began.
He had Golden Lion take the invisible Animal Path away. After the Animal Path left invisibly, it remained in stealth, waiting at a distance from Pain.
Golden Lion then went to complete another task Pain had assigned him: using his ability to float all the Materials from the shipyards and warehouses of Seven Water Island to the Floating Island.
Seven Water Island was now a spectacle, with piles of shipbuilding Materials all floating into the sky, drifting in one direction.
The Marines guarding the shipyard warehouses couldn't stop Golden Lion at all; they were all dealt with like small fry.
Kizaru and the Three Vice Admirals arrived at Water 7 at the same time, but Kizaru's speed allowed him to reach the scrap ship factory first.
Kizaru and the Three Vice Admirals all saw the sight of shipbuilding Materials flying everywhere over Water Seven, but they did not stop it.
Because their mission was to support CP0 and arrest Akatsuki Organization members. So Kizaru and the Three Vice Admirals ignored the shipbuilding Materials floating in the air.
If Akainu had accepted Tsuru's suggestion, it would still be entirely possible to stop them now. Unfortunately, Akainu was blinded by rage, and this time, he was once again destined to be outmaneuvered by Pain's well-laid plans.
Pain looked at the various Materials floating in the air, understanding that Golden Lion had succeeded. Since the important things from Water 7 had already reached the Floating Island, Pain believed the winner was now obvious.
"World Government..."
"Marineford Admiral Kizaru..."
"This time, you have lost again."
Pain stated the fact calmly, completely unafraid of the opponent making a move now. Because Pain and Konan were already in an invincible position and could retreat at any time.
"Huh?"
"It seems like this is our first meeting, isn't it?"
"It's quite surprising that you know me, isn't it?"
"However..."
"Since I'm already here, how could we lose?"
Kizaru responded to Pain's words with some confusion. At this moment, the Three Vice Admirals just arrived at the scrap ship factory, standing behind Kizaru.
"I say..."
"Your organization really knows how to stir things up, doesn't it?"
"Always causing trouble for our World Government..."
"Can't you just settle down for a bit?"
"It's really tiring for me to come out like this..."
"But still..."
"Since I'm already out..."
"I guess I'll just have to bring you back to report."
"Will you surrender?"
"Or do you want us to do it ourselves?"
Kizaru complained incessantly about the arduousness of the mission as if talking to himself, completely oblivious that the trouble had always been instigated by the World Government.
The reason Pain hadn't left yet and was standing still, listening to Kizaru's incessant chatter, was to buy Golden Lion more time.
This was to prevent Kizaru and the others from shifting their target to intercept Golden Lion after he left.
"I once told Aokiji..."
"To tell your World Government to curb your greed and not bring trouble upon yourselves. It seems Aokiji didn't convey my words to you at all..."
"Today, I warn you again..."
"Kozuki Oden is a member of my organization..."
"If you want to take him away..."
"Then await the judgment of God!"
"In the near future..."
"God will uproot your World Government!"
Pain was too lazy to directly answer Kizaru's question, his face cold as he issued another severe warning.
"Oh..."
"How terrifying!"
"In that case, all the more reason not to let you leave!"
As Kizaru finished speaking, he vanished, intending to take down Pain with a single decisive blow.
Pain knew Kizaru would act after his warning, so before Kizaru even finished speaking, Pain controlled the distant Animal Path to use the Summoning Jutsu and took Pain and the others away.
Kizaru's kick only met a puff of white smoke. After the smoke dissipated, Pain and the others had vanished, leaving behind only the ravaged scrap ship factory and the Chibaku Tensei still in the sky, unexploded.
"Hmm?"
"Where did they go?"
"Did you see them?"
Kizaru asked the three accompanying Vice Admirals with confusion, receiving only their puzzled looks and helpless sighs in return.
"Admiral Kizaru..."
"Wouldn't it have been better if you had just acted earlier?"
"Why did you say so much nonsense? Now that they've run off, what do we do?"
Momousagi questioned Kizaru with some helplessness, unsure of what to do next.
"Ah..."
"I just wanted to chat with the enemy..."
"Since they ran, never mind..."
"Isn't it better to go back and rest?"
"I'll leave the rest to you. I'm taking my leave."
Kizaru passed the buck to the Three Vice Admirals and left gracefully, leaving them to exchange glances, able only to wait for the stone sphere in the sky to explode on its own before rescuing the CP0 agents.
On the Floating Island, piles of Materials flew onto the island and accumulated in an open area. Materials continued to fly onto the Floating Island from the sky.
In the Cultivate area, Pain, with Konan's help, had returned to the Floating Island. At this moment, Pain, who had been enduring the Pain, finally couldn't help but spit out a large mouthful of blood and coughed violently for a while.
Pain had been severely injured by Kizaru's kick, but he had feigned being unharmed and had not exposed it in front of Kizaru; even Konan had been fooled.
"Pain!"
Konan cried out in distress as she watched Pain spit out a large mouthful of blood, secretly blaming herself for her carelessness, for not realizing Pain was so seriously injured.
Pain's current body was a human body. Aside from his extraordinary Physique, he was no different from an ordinary person in other aspects.
He could be injured, bleed, and die; these were irreversible facts of human life.
This was also Pain's obvious current weakness: severely insufficient defense.
Although the Six Paths shared vision, for someone whose speed reached the speed of light due to Devil Fruit power, unless Pain responded with full concentration, he was very susceptible to sneak attacks from such individuals.
Furthermore, Pain's Chakra was depleted at the time, so even if he reacted, he didn't have enough Chakra to control the Six Paths to block.
If he had blocked, his Chakra would certainly have been drained, and then it would not have been easy to leave.
Pain had once considered whether to learn the Awakening and Cultivate of Haki from Oden, but considering the time issue, Pain decisively gave up.
For now, he could only return to the fundamentals: increasing his Chakra reserves.
Pain vaguely felt that although using the Six Paths abilities no longer consumed lifespan, the consumption of Chakra, as his strength recovered, had become three times that of his previous life's Jutsu.
This discovery came from the continuous battle today; in his previous life, his Chakra would not have depleted so quickly due to this intensity of battle.
It seems that everything has its pros and cons; while there are gains, there are also different forms of payment.
Pain felt much better after spitting out a mouthful of stale blood that he had held back for a long time. Looking at Konan's tense face, his heart warmed.
"It's nothing..."
"Just a minor injury, I'll be fine after some rest."
Pain's internal organs were injured by Kizaru's kick, but fortunately, the stagnant blood was expelled, and due to the special nature of his Physique, he would recover after some time of rest.
Time flew by, and seven days passed quickly as Pain recovered from his injuries and restored his Chakra.
On this day, Pain met with Iceburg and his foremen to discuss the construction of the "Pluton" battleship, but contrary to expectations, the construction of "Pluton" was not as simple as imagined... To be continued...