"What is that? Fireballs?"
"Fire! Fire—Agh! Run!"
"Help! Submerge! Submerge now!"
"Jump for it! Into the sea!"
Faced with a torrential sea of fire descending from the heavens and the searing heat warping the air, the Neo Marine soldiers were paralyzed with terror. They cast aside their weapons and plummeted straight into the ocean.
The inferno spread instantly, igniting the submersibles and surrounding dive boats floating on the surface. It wasn't just wood; even steel began to liquefy under the intensity of the high-temperature flames.
Inside the submersibles, the operators were struck with horror. They scrambled to submerge, but the hatches hadn't been sealed in time. The fire followed the openings, roaring directly into the hulls.
BOOM! BOOM!
The flames quickly gutted the internal machinery, triggering a rapid succession of explosions that tore two massive holes in the lead submarine. Pillars of fire shot toward the sky as jagged metal shards sprayed in every direction.
Because the vessel was already in the process of descending, surging seawater immediately poured through the breaches. It extinguished the internal fires but simultaneously drowned the delicate machinery.
"Damn it! The propulsion system is offline!"
"The seals won't close! Water is rushing in!"
"We're still sinking! We can't stop it!"
"The lifeboats! Deploy the lifeboats!"
As the submarine slowly foundered, trapped between the fire above and the flood within, the crew devolved into total chaos. Abandoning the vessel, they scrambled into the water to save their own lives.
"Burn! Burn, all of you!"
Zhurong let out a cruel, cackling laugh, continuously spewing jets of white-hot flame at the fleeing Neo Marines.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One dive boat after another erupted under the scorching heat. Large fragments of metal were tossed into the air like toys. Scores of Neo Marines were incinerated or blown apart, leaving the survivors to leap into the waves in a desperate bid for survival.
"As expected of the 'Lord of the World Neutral Zone,' Aeridar-sama. He's... he's too strong!"
Aboard the pirate ship, Binogi and his crew watched in stunned silence. They had seen Aeridar dismantle Shuzo with overwhelming force, and now, Zhurong's high-temperature extinction flames left them trembling with fear.
Suddenly, the sky darkened. Everyone looked up to see a colossal vessel slowly descending. Its massive hull was so vast it seemed to blot out the very sun.
Clack—
Six square hatches opened on the ship's underbelly. Black ropes, thick as a baby's arm, dropped down. Heavily built men clad in black exoskeleton suits slid down the lines, landing firmly on Binogi's pirate ship.
In moments, fifty super-soldiers from the Elite Strike Team had assembled on the deck.
Thud.
Aeridar dropped from the sky, landing on the prow. He swept a cold, piercing gaze over Binogi and his men.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Feeling a chill run down their spines, Binogi and his pirates scrambled to throw their weapons onto the deck, kneeling obediently to signal their total surrender.
"Oh?"
Aeridar blinked, momentarily surprised. A hint of amusement flickered in his eyes, but he ignored them.
"Gin, bring that fellow from below up to me," Aeridar commanded, glancing at Gin beside him.
"Understood, Captain!"
Gin nodded and waved a hand. "You lot, follow me down to grab him!"
Gin and four soldiers leaped directly into the massive hole Shuzo had smashed through the deck, entering the lower cabins. As they descended, Gin noted that the pirates on the second and third levels had already received word from Binogi; they were all crouched on the floor, weapons discarded.
He also saw the sheer scale of the destruction. Shuzo had been driven through the first, second, and third-deck floorboards, landing in the very bottom of the hold. Any further and he would have gone through the hull.
"Where is he?"
Gin frowned. On the thick wooden floorboards, there was only a human-shaped crater and a web of cracks. The man was gone.
"Something's wrong. On guard!"
Gin's eyelids twitched. Noticing the gloom of the hold, he barked a sharp warning.
The four Elite Strike Team super-soldiers, already high-strung, instantly shifted into their maximum combat readiness.
"Shigan!!!"
At that exact moment, a gale of wind whipped up as a tall, dark shadow lunged from the darkness on the right.
Crash—
One super-soldier took a heavy blow, stumbling back several paces and snapping a support pillar with a sickening crack.
The soldier steadied himself quickly, his expression pained. A thumb-sized puncture wound had appeared on his right arm; the Finger Pistol had actually pierced the combat suit that was usually impervious to blades.
"Nani?!"
Shuzo was shocked. How could a full-strength strike fail to kill a mere foot soldier?
"Go to hell!"
Gin's eyes flared with rage. Seeing Shuzo with blood at his lips and a sunken chest, he swung his black metal tonfa-maces with a whistling roar.
"Tekkai!"
Startled, Shuzo crossed his arms before his chest, his muscles tightening into iron.
BAM!
The pitch-black mace slammed into Shuzo's arms. A shockwave rippled outward, sliding Shuzo backward. His feet carved two distinct, three-meter-long trenches into the thick wooden flooring.
"Pfft—"
The sheer force of the impact caused the already injured Shuzo to cough up a spray of blood.
"Capture him!"
A roar echoed through the hold as the other three super-soldiers lunged at Shuzo simultaneously.
Boom! Crash! Clang!
Three "supermen" with Doriki exceeding 500 clashed with the heavily wounded Shuzo. Their powerful strikes easily shattered thick wooden walls and snapped load-bearing pillars. Intense winds gusted through the hold, sending splinters flying like shrapnel.
"The Captain only told me to bring you up. He didn't say you had to be in one piece!" A clear killing intent surfaced on Gin's pale, dark-toned face.
With a flourish of his twin black maces, Gin rejoined the fray.
As one of the Neo Marines' few top-tier combatants, Shuzo had once battled Ain for five hours; she had only won through a combination of her Devil Fruit ability and cunning. In terms of raw strength, he was arguably second only to Z.
In the original timeline, Shuzo had fought Marine Vice Admiral Momonga to a standstill. While Aeridar was powerful, he wasn't so peerless that he could kill a physical powerhouse like Shuzo in three hits.
However, Shuzo was now severely compromised by Aeridar's opening blow. Facing the coordinated assault of Gin and three super-soldiers, his situation had become critical.
"TEKKAI!!!"
Shuzo let out a guttural roar, throwing a punch that seemed to shimmer with a faint, almost invisible light.
Rumble—
The ship groaned. Shuzo's arm sank deep into the thick outer hull, and fine cracks began to spiderweb outward at high speed.
"Dammit, he's trying to escape into the sea!"
Seeing Shuzo punch through the hull's exterior, Gin's eyes widened as he realized the man's intent.
Splash—
Shuzo yanked his arm back. The cracks instantly widened, and a torrent of seawater came geysering in.
"Next time, I'll bury you all!"
Shuzo gave Gin a venomous look before slamming his entire body against the weakened wall.
BOOM!
The wooden exterior shattered, creating a hole over three meters wide. A massive surge of seawater rushed in.
Using his formidable physical resilience, Shuzo braced himself against the force of the incoming tide and launched himself through the breach into the ocean depths.