"Slash!"
Facing the towering Dog, who was more than a full head taller than himself, Onigumo did not retreat in the slightest—he charged straight in without hesitation.
The blade wrapped in Armament Haki fully displayed the swordsmanship he had honed through countless battles; just as it had split towering waves and tsunamis in the past, it sliced Dog into dozens of differently sized chunks of flesh.
"Black–Black Thrust!"
Buck, who had hidden behind Dog's body to avoid the lethal strike, suddenly launched an attack from the chunk of corpse closest to Onigumo.
Squelch!
His arm turned into a jet–black spear, striking at the exact moment when Onigumo's previous force had been spent but his new force had not yet gathered. With a single blow, it pierced straight through Onigumo's body.
"What a useless mutt! I was thinking I might get something out of him later, but you went and got yourself killed by Onigumo before I could use you…"
Buck shot a disdainful glance at Dog's corpse. He had wasted all that time pretending to cooperate with this idiot dog, only for him to die before he became useful.
Still, at least he had created the perfect opening to kill Onigumo before dying. So he wasn't completely worthless.
"Gh… seven of you… only you remain…"
Onigumo slowly raised his head, his bloodshot scarlet eyes locking fiercely onto Buck.
Being captured by pirates was the greatest humiliation of his life. If Kizaru hadn't casually mentioned during the rescue that there were still two pirate captains left uncaptured, Onigumo—overwhelmed by shame—might well have committed suicide on the spot.
Of the seven pirate captains who had once worked together to capture him, Kizaru had already sent five to Impel Down. Only two remained.
Dog had just been sliced to pieces by his blades—so this last one, no matter what, he would take down!
"Heh! You sure are stubborn… Black–Black Thorn Execution!"
Seeing that Onigumo still hadn't died, Buck let out a cold sneer. The black spear penetrating Onigumo suddenly sprouted countless thorn-like spikes, shredding his internal organs into pulp.
"...Ten… Blade Style: Onigumo…"
Onigumo spat out a mouthful of blood, but in his final moment, he did not try to use Life Return to save himself. Instead, as if igniting with dying brilliance, he raised all ten of his swords.
Bark sensed what was coming through his Observation Haki and his expression twisted with fear. But before he could finish Onigumo off or evade, a brilliant burst of sword light exploded before him.
The ten blades struck him simultaneously, each one landing cleanly without interfering with the others, and on the ground behind him they traced the outline of a giant ghost-spider.
Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh—
He wasn't sliced into chunks, but the Armament Haki coating all ten blades severed the last thread of life within him.
A huge quantity of pitch-black liquid erupted from Buck's back; in moments it shifted from black to dark red, then into bright crimson blood.
The blackness covering Buck's body quickly faded, revealing his true appearance—one that no one had ever seen before.
He was, unexpectedly, a rather delicate-looking young man, with a faint trace of sorrow lingering between his brows.
"Puh…"
Onigumo, having fought desperately and slain two powerful enemies, was already at his limit. His vision blurred, and the moment he opened his mouth, he couldn't stop coughing up blood.
At this rate, it wouldn't take long before he died here. But Onigumo himself felt little regret.
If anything, he only regretted not being able to personally eliminate the final pirate—
and not having the chance to thank Kizaru for saving his life back then.
However, not everyone in the Holy Land Guardian Corps could be like Onigumo.
Under such extreme disadvantage, being able to take down two enemies while fighting one-against-two was already a miracle.
Faced with the overwhelmingly powerful New World pirates, the vast majority of the Guardian Corps could only barely slow the enemy's advance toward capturing Red Port, even if they fought to the death.
Even worse—Sakazuki was once again held back by Esdeath, unable to intercept the pirates approaching from the outer seas.
The Guardian Corps' only advantage—numbers—was gradually erased as pirates poured in relentlessly. At this rate, the fall of Red Port was merely a matter of time.
"Prepare to initiate the contingency plan…"
Sitting in the command headquarters, Kong—Commander-in-Chief of all military forces—seemed utterly indifferent to the casualties of the Guardian Corps.
Even when he saw the First Pirate Division break through the coastal defense and surge into Red Port like a tidal wave, he merely turned to a nearby staff officer and issued a calm order.
"P-please wait! Forgive my boldness, but… what is the contingency plan?"
The two deputy commanders standing at Kong's sides had been anxious for a while, distressed by the mounting deaths of their men.
Now, upon hearing that Kong had activated a plan they'd never heard of, they could no longer sit still.
They could tolerate the World Government disregarding the lives of soldiers from affiliated nations—
but they could not accept being kept entirely in the dark about what the Government intended to do next.
Even if they had mentally prepared themselves to be nothing more than decorative figureheads when they accepted their positions,
surely the great Commander-in-Chief wasn't going to treat them as if they didn't even exist?
"No one informed the deputy commanders about the contingency plan?"
Kong frowned slightly.
He truly did not keep the deputy commanders in mind… but he also hadn't intended to exclude them on purpose.
However, when he looked around the room and recognized almost none of the faces, his expression darkened.
All the real elite officers had been pulled away by the Gorōsei to Mariejois.
What remained to him was a bunch of rookies and useless riff-raff.
As Commander-in-Chief of all three forces, he had not only been denied a proper staff—
he hadn't even been left with the trusted deputies he was used to.
At that thought, Kong silently added another mark to the ledger of grudges he now kept against the Gorōsei.
The loyal and obedient Kong of the past would never have cared about such details.
But ever since Kizaru used "Pure Gold" to stir up the greed hidden in his heart,
even the smallest dissatisfaction now made Kong drift further and further away from the World Government.
"Ahem… allow me to explain to everyone."
Seeing how heavy the atmosphere had become, Vice Admiral Doberman, who remained in the command center, cleared his throat, trying to ease the tension.
The so-called "contingency plan" was actually quite simple:
once it was confirmed that the coastal defense had fallen, they would detonate the explosive-rock buried beneath it—
annihilating all pirates who had entered Red Port or were in the middle of landing.
In fact, when they laid the explosive-rock, they had deliberately reduced the amount used. Otherwise, the explosion might have been so powerful that it would have blown Red Port itself off the map.
"Explosive-rock?!"
The two deputy commanders from the affiliated nations still looked confused—
but the original Guardian Corps captain, who had been assigned as the first deputy commander, couldn't help but cry out in shock.
°°°
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