Facing the pirate captain's large blade, Enel's expression turned grave.
His right hand surged with electricity as he used his Gold Electro technique to melt and reshape his golden trident into a shield.
Clang!
The golden shield had just formed when a large cutlass, coated in Armament Haki, slammed into it.
The tremendous force sent Enel stumbling back several steps before he fell onto the blood-soaked deck.
The pirate captain stared at Enel with bloodshot eyes, gasping heavily for breath.
He simply couldn't calm his rage.
The smell of scorched flesh from the surrounding pirate corpses flooded his nostrils.
"Heh, hahahahaha!" he laughed. "You've killed all my foolish crew! That means all the rewards will be mine alone."
Thinking of this, the pirate captain burst into another fit of loud laughter.
With no one left to share the spoils, he would get the entire portion.
Moreover, Enel's stamina was nearly exhausted now; in the pirate captain's eyes, this was an already-secured reward that required no caution.
He simply couldn't believe anyone could still stop him.
"You damned brat. To thank you for eliminating so many of my crew, I'll make your end quick."
Hearing this, Enel climbed up from the ground and looked at the captain with a bewildered expression.
Somewhat doubting the man's intelligence, he couldn't help but ask, "What makes you think you can kill me?"
The pirate captain roared with laughter. "You? An exhausted little brat?"
"If you had used your Elemental Transformation to escape at the beginning, I might not have been able to kill you," the captain scoffed. "But what right do you have to say that to me now that you've used up all your stamina?"
Black lines of exasperation appeared on Enel's face.
Indeed, there weren't many pirates who used their brains properly.
"What makes you think I came alone?"
"Hahahaha, huh?" The pirate captain laughed heartily while walking forward with his blade, but suddenly stopped upon hearing Enel's words.
That's right, why did he assume Enel came alone?
What if there were two people, or even more?
The pirate captain felt a moment of panic but quickly composed himself again.
"I don't care how many people you brought, as long as I can kill the brat in your arms and escape. Even if Zephyr comes later, it won't matter."
Clap, clap, clap.
A round of applause echoed from the floating Ark Maxim above.
The pirate captain looked up to see an exceptionally handsome Vice Admiral staring down at him with an expressionless face.
The pirate captain's pupils instantly dilated.
'Someone was there!'
'It was Vice Admiral Christian Raleigh!'
Thanks to the worldwide publicity during his rank promotion, most pirates and navy personnel had become familiar with Raleigh.
The moment he recognized him, the pirate captain turned and fled without looking back.
He was confident that his excellent diving skills would allow him to evade this encounter, as long as he could jump into the sea.
With fluid movements, the pirate captain leaped over the railing and dove headfirst toward the ocean.
'Huh?' The pirate captain stared blankly at his current situation.
He had clearly jumped from the ship and should have plunged into the sea.
But in reality, a fierce gust of wind rose from the ocean surface, counteracting his falling momentum.
It even lifted his body back up from the sea.
The pirate captain's face instantly darkened.
How could he not understand what was happening? Without a doubt, Vice Admiral Christian Raleigh was a Devil Fruit user.
And one who could control wind—a top-tier ability at that.
The situation was now worse than before.
When he was on the deck, the pirate captain could still move somewhat.
Now suspended in mid-air, compressed by the wind, he couldn't make any movements at all.
Enel controlled the Ark Maxim to descend, then leaped onto the deck.
After setting down the young boy in his arms, he said, "Raleigh-sama, I need to retrieve the body of Zephyr-sensei wife."
Raleigh sighed softly and nodded.
He had moved at his absolute fastest speed, yet he was still too late.
Between them, they had only managed to save one person.
However, the perpetrators of this violence hadn't escaped yet, and Raleigh would absolutely not let them go.
The pirate captain's body rose higher and higher until he was at eye level with Raleigh on the Ark Maxim.
"Marines, I surrender!" the pirate captain screamed. "I've surrendered, you can't kill me! Aren't you Zephyr's subordinate? If Zephyr finds out you killed a surrendered pirate, it would surely damage his reputation!"
Staring into Raleigh's completely emotionless eyes, the pirate captain frantically spat out everything he thought might keep him alive.
He didn't want to die.
He would fight with everything he had to survive.
A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Raleigh's mouth.
"Die? No, I won't kill you."
A flicker of hope appeared on the pirate captain's face, only to be crushed by Raleigh's next words, sending him plunging back into the deepest depths of hell.
"Death would be pure relief for someone like you. I won't let you die so easily," Raleigh said.
"I'll make you understand what it means to be better off dead than alive."
For the pirate captain before him, a quick death would be far too merciful.
Not only had Zephyr's wife died by his hand, but the innocent civilians at the port and the others on the ship who were brutally killed under his command warranted severe punishment.
Therefore, Raleigh would use every means possible to properly deal with him.
Raleigh made a grasping motion with both hands, then clenched his fists fiercely.
Bang!
Three bloody holes suddenly exploded in the pirate captain's lower body.
Raleigh had destroyed all three of his legs.
The intense pain instantly overwhelmed his mind, forcing his mouth open in an involuntary cry of agony.
Raleigh waved his hand.
A blood-stained cloth strip drifted from nowhere and violently stuffed itself into the pirate captain's mouth.
"This is just the appetizer."
Raleigh's cold gaze shifted slightly.
Then, he turned and saw the remaining pirates who hadn't managed to escape.
Before his arrival, he had already notified Nisan and Tree.
However, the two never actually showed up; after passing the information to Raleigh, their progress had been extremely slow, even stopping completely midway due to ship damage.
"Enel, keep them all here."
"Understood, Raleigh-sama."