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BuruBuruBuru... BuruBuruBuru...
At this moment, the Den Den Mushi rang.
Smoker composed himself and picked up the Den Den Mushi receiver.
"Hello, this is Smoker."
"This is G-5 Branch Mozambia. Smoker, Vice Admiral, how are your conditions over there?"
"Mozambia?"
Smoker naturally remembered the name and bitterly shook his head upon hearing it. "Not good at all! Although we managed to escape temporarily, the pursuers still refuse to give up. Casualties are light, but no matter what attacks we launch, we can't hurt the enemy at all. Morale is at rock bottom."
Kaido is insurmountable!
This was the common understanding shared by the soldiers after that night's skirmish.
That terrifying defense that only showed a faint white scar even after taking the full force of a Super Electromagnetic Cannon, it was like a Heavenly Peak, utterly despair-inducing!
Suddenly, Smoker recalled something and couldn't help but ask, "Hey, hey, don't tell me our reinforcements are you! G-5's high-tech weapons are indeed powerful, but they're far from enough to take on Kaido."
"You'd be dead!"
"Hmph, as if I'm still alive…"
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Mozambia raised a hand gleaming with machine oil, pressing it onto the energy core on his chest. Accompanied by a mechanical buzz, two white smoke columns shot out from the air vents beside his ears.
"My very existence is for revenge against the Hundred Beasts Pirate group!"
"If I don't avenge this, I won't be able to close my eyes in death!"
The energy conduits all over his body shifted from orange-yellow to crimson red, a terrifying heatwave radiating off Mozambia, distorting the air around him.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two metal sickles, several dozen centimeters long, popped out from his arms. Mozambia controlled the serrated blades to spin wildly with a sharp screech. The whole person looked like a killing machine, exuding a steel-cold killing intent.
"They could have killed me, but didn't. I'll make them regret that decision!"
"So… you've decided to come help?"
Smoker was unmoved, quietly taking a drag of his cigarette. "I don't think the Fleet Admiral would approve of you doing that, right, Mozambia?"
He had already informed Headquarters. According to Akainu, the so-called "Swift Duo" of the Marines, Kizaru and the Soryu (Azure Dragon), were dispatched to rescue them this time.
With their speed, crossing the sea to reach here would only take a few dozen hours. Naturally, Mozambia wouldn't be allowed to act without permission.
"You're right and wrong."
Mozambia's voice was steel-like, tinged with metallic vibrations. "The Fleet Admiral never gave the order, but he also never explicitly forbade me from acting."
"Besides, it's not that I've 'decided' to come… I've already arrived!"
Boom!!
Just after he spoke, a sudden explosion came from outside.
The soldiers panicked and shouted chaotically. If this were not a battleship, those jittery soldiers probably would have opened fire immediately.
Smoker stared blankly at the disconnected Den Den Mushi, then shook his head with a bitter smile and silently put the receiver down.
"What a reckless bastard!"
On the battleship's deck, the soldiers anxiously looked at the crater that had appeared, nervously holding their guns and unwilling to approach.
At this moment, Smoker appeared above the deck, drifting down lightly as a cloud of smoke.
"Don't worry, it's one of our own."
Right after, to confirm his words, a tall, dark figure suddenly leapt from the crater onto the upper deck.
"That is… Vice Admiral Mozambia?"
"That's right! Vice Admiral Mozambia, the 'Steel Terminator' Mozambia!"
"Great! Reinforcements have arrived, we're saved!"
Seeing who had come, the soldiers all cheered.
This unexpected reinforcements made the soldiers realize that they had not been abandoned, the Marines' backup was on the way.
"These don't look like G-11 soldiers at all!"
Mozambia, who seemed to have undergone some kind of modification, stood nearly five meters tall. He slowly turned his head and swept his gaze over the weary soldiers, speaking in a deep, muffled voice, "Why are you all standing around like that? Don't you have anything to do?!"
"It's not your place to lecture my men, Mozambia."
Smoker snorted coldly, stepped forward, and shouted at the soldiers, "Don't embarrass me here, get moving!"
Although they had just been scolded by two Vice Admirals in a row, the soldiers' faces showed not just fear, but more so, hope.
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
Watching them return to their posts, faces brightening one by one, Smoker gave Mozambia a subtle look of gratitude right where he stood.
If it weren't for him acting like this, the morale of everyone on this ship wouldn't have risen at all.
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A moment later, Smoker bit his cigar and said calmly, "Kaido could catch up at any time. I can't guarantee you'll stay undying."
Aside from this false morale, Mozambia's arrival had changed nothing.
The soldiers caught in their joy forgot one thing: being the Base Head, under what circumstances would Mozambia ever show up alone?
"Cut the crap, Smoker! As long as we can buy some more time, what does dying matter?"
Mozambia looked at him. His metal-plated face showed an ugly smile: "Besides, you don't really think you've already shaken Kaido off, do you?"
Hiss...
Smoker's cigar twitched involuntarily, and he gasped.
"What do you mean?"
"My biological radar tells me that monster… has been trailing right behind you all along!"
Suddenly, Smoker seemed to realize something and looked up toward the sky.
Roar!!!
A dragon's earth-shaking, heaven-alarming roar thundered, as gusting winds scattered the clouds. The enormous dragon head, huge as a house, rolled the mist and glared fiercely in their direction.
"Impossible! Even the New World's natural disaster-level tempest couldn't shake him off?!"
Smoker's eyes widened in shock.
This close distance meant Kaido hadn't been disturbed by last night's rainstorm at all and had maintained his speed, following them tightly.
The Soryu (Azure Dragon) Fruit gave Kaido the ability to fly, but his flight wasn't known for speed, it was about the same level as Doflamingo's "Sky Road."
If last night's tempest had taken effect, Kaido would have needed at least half a day to catch up.
"The scale armor your Super Electromagnetic Cannon couldn't break through, you really think some tempest can stop him?"
Ka-cha... Ka-cha...!
As Mozambia spoke, the mechanical parts on his shoulders quickly transformed, launching dozens of missiles roughly the size of a human fist without hesitation.
Shiu shiu shiu...
Boom! Bang! Rumble!!
The small missiles caused earth-shaking explosions, the pink glow signaling the presence of Dyna Stone inside.
However, even so, it still didn't buy them a single second of delay.
Roar!!!
Suddenly, the sky echoed with a furious roar, followed by a powerful hurricane comparable to a tenth-grade storm.
The terrifying air blast blew away the smoke from the explosions, and the cyan Divine Dragon roared at the sky for hundreds of meters.
"Give me back my stuff, bugs!!"
Countless soldiers on the battleship stared in terror as Kaido suddenly burst out of the clouds, charging into the sky and sea like a totem, coiling around, displaying his godlike and demonic form.
"Maximum speed, retreat!!"
Smoker had no time to think. Seeing Kaido had closed the distance to within a kilometer, he turned and shouted at the soldiers frozen in shock by Kaido's Haoshoku Haki and overwhelming presence.
(End of chapter)