"Silas!!!!"
Such blatant humiliation—how could Saint Lucas, Holy Knights Commander-in-Chief, endure it? But endure he must! Because with Glyndwr down, he had no chance of getting support in the short term—only being beaten one-sidedly by Shimotsuki Ryuma.
Moreover, as time passed, Ryuma wrapped more and more Haki around him. Saint Lucas even felt a trace of genuine fear. He would die!
Since he couldn't hope for Glyndwr's help, he had to find someone else.
"Marine trash, quickly help me block that damned samurai! Where's the Admiral? Where's the Admiral? Elephant Yama, Portman—can't even those two old giant geezers stop you? Field Saint, Allison Palace, I need half a minute to recover! Just half a minute!"
The biggest difference between Armament attachment and Conqueror's wrapping was that Armament only affected immortality's recovery speed but couldn't completely prevent recovery. But Conqueror's wrapping could do exactly that.
Saint Lucas felt that as Ryuma continuously carved wounds into him, the foreign Conqueror's Haki accumulating in his body grew increasingly abundant, even beginning to interfere with his contract with that lord. Once the contract failed, his immortality would shatter. With his current injuries, that meant certain death!
Fortunately, his Celestial Dragon status still brought huge advantages. Even knowing the enemy pursuing him was monstrously strong, some Marine Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals abandoned their current opponents to rescue him. The result was predictable—they were cut in two by Ryuma's blade.
Wano Country had already been destroyed. If Silas hadn't lied, then anyone helping these world nobles was his enemy. Any enemy deserved to be cut down! For a time, Marine casualties visibly mounted.
Until a voice rang out: "Bastard, aren't you a Celestial Dragon—a world noble? Why are you running? Fight back with honor!"
"Hey, Garp, do you have a death wish?"
"I'm just pissed!"
In the crowd, Garp—having just defeated a pirate—was covered in blood. He felt terrible because he wasn't strong enough yet. Even fighting with everything he had, he could only watch his comrades fall.
When the self-proclaimed Holy Knights Celestial Dragons appeared, Garp thought they'd bring the Marines hope. But now it seemed he'd been utterly wrong!
From his position, Garp could see clearly—the situation had been improving, the Marines gradually suppressing those pirates. That CP organization leader Glyndwr had also been dominating those White Wolf Pirates members. Counterattack had been just a matter of time.
Who knew that Celestial Dragon would panic while being chased, ordering Glyndwr to rescue him, resulting in the CP leader being ambushed and captured, while another Celestial Dragon also fell into pirate hands. Now this Celestial Dragon was ordering Marines to be his human shields.
Wasn't this sending Marines to their deaths?
Only Elephant Yama, who understood the Holy Knights, knew that if they had no other cards to play, their only chance for victory was protecting Saint Lucas. Even if it meant sacrificing countless lives to give Saint Lucas time to recover, because Saint Lucas possessed immortality.
Just giving him half a minute to recuperate meant he could hold off Ryuma much longer. Then the turning point would be—
"Father, hold on—I'll help you once I break free from Silas!"
On the other side, though Silas had laughed loudly earlier, fighting one-versus-three was quite taxing. And what he wanted wasn't just to resist but to suppress them, forcing him to transform into his widest-range form.
The half-standing white wolf resembled a prehistoric beast. Ordinary giants stood about twenty meters tall—fully beast-form Silas wasn't far off. Honestly, at first Silas didn't understand how his roughly two-meter form could expand to nearly twenty meters without his body inflating like a balloon—instead it was all solid muscle.
But later Silas figured it out. This world already had Devil Fruits that granted absurd abilities just by eating them. Devil Fruit physics didn't need to follow such rigid logic.
Though not his strongest form, it was definitely the most suitable for the current situation. Silas's casual swipe gave the three fighters before him an unparalleled sense of oppression. His Conqueror's Haki-wrapped claws tore through the ground like it was soft cheese, forcing them to stand their ground rather than flee.
But his fully beast-form increased his target area, so facing enemy attacks, he couldn't dodge immediately—only tank them head-on. And the three he faced weren't weak.
"This bastard pirate!" Saint Claude and Saint Granreid attacked Silas while glaring viciously at the behemoth. Though they'd considered inheriting the entire Figarland family after their father's death, the premise was peaceful succession!
If Saint Lucas died, when that Wano samurai turned back to join Silas, forget their father—even they would be in mortal danger!
"Granreid, Stephens and I will block his attacks—you go help Father. Remember, Father absolutely cannot fall!" Saint Claude said gravely.
Before fighting, he'd never imagined Silas was this monstrously strong. Three-on-one and they couldn't gain the advantage? But after battling this long, Saint Claude had roughly gauged Silas's strength. Though he could barely match their three, he relied on his huge size to tank their attacks.
Actually, after this much fighting, besides consuming stamina they were unharmed, while Silas bore many wounds. When Conqueror's Haki couldn't completely suppress them, immortality remained their greatest advantage!
"Hah, can't hold the line anymore it seems." As if glimpsing the near future, Silas stopped forcing it. Against two opponents he faced no pressure, but against three it was truly life-threatening.
However, his efforts weren't unrewarded—at least Glyndwr had fallen, right? Holy Knights' immortality came in two varieties. One was like the Figarland family—not eating Devil Fruits at all, relying purely on their own strength, just contracted with Imu. The other was contracted with Imu but consumed Devil Fruits.
The former was troublesome. Besides using Conqueror's Haki to forcibly break immortality or using Armament to delay recovery, there was no other way. But the latter was simple. Even if immortality always worked, once the person was weakened, immortality made them worthless.
Like Glyndwr and Saint Kurt now captured by Newgate's group. They still possessed immortality, but high-purity Seastone plus baby-arm-thick chains wrapping them like dumplings, then throwing them in seawater—once you ate Devil Fruits, even Imu himself would be helpless there!
Thinking about it now, Holy Knights' immortality could only be one of Imu's abilities—he just didn't know if besides immortality and teleportation, there were other powers. Anyway, after realizing he probably couldn't stop the three from splitting up for support, Silas stopped blocking and instead transformed back to beast-man form.
His size shrank, but pressure on Saint Claude and Stephens multiplied exponentially, because Silas had switched to his most suitable combat form, yet their numbers had decreased!
"Hold on!" Saint Claude looked at the wounds covering Silas, saying in a low voice, "He can't outlast us!"
And the Holy Knights' immortal power gradually manifested across the battlefield. Eleven powerful, unkillable monsters. If not for Saint Kurt being captured by Newgate's group, and suspected leader Saint Lucas being chased by a Wano samurai in a sorry state, the pirate side's morale would've collapsed entirely.
Even so, the pirate side's momentum no longer matched their initial strength. The initial charge had inspired courage, but as the battle dragged on, that courage began to waver and fade. For a ragtag mob to force the world's strongest power—the World Government—to this extent was already enough for pride.
But not enough yet! On the peak battlefield, Silas and Ryuma jointly held the advantage, but on secondary battlefields, with the Holy Knights present, the Marines still held some initiative.
So after capturing Glyndwr and Saint Kurt, Newgate, Ripley, and Linlin—three of the White Wolf Pirates' strongest—immediately rushed to support others.
CLANG!
At the critical moment, Saint Granreid—this filial son—finally positioned himself before his father, helping him withstand one devastating strike. Shimotsuki Ryuma naturally wouldn't complain. Silas managing one-versus-three and delaying until now was sufficient proof of his strength.
Yet he—though the enemy was just one and he'd seized the initiative, he still hadn't taken down his opponent. "Ultimately rusty."
Would the dead forget life's skills? Ryuma thought not. Then the only change was perhaps his mentality. When alive, he'd always anticipated the future, but now in death, he could only see this brief moment. So he hesitated—hesitated whether his current actions were correct.
But seeing the distant Shimotsuki Kouzaburou dressed similarly to himself, he felt relieved. Perhaps Silas hid something from him, but as a dead man, he actually had few choices, right?
"Dragon Slash!"
Having just arrived from Silas's battlefield to help his father block Ryuma's strike, Saint Granreid couldn't help gasping for breath. Not the worst situation yet! Though his father's injuries were severe, for those with immortality, as long as they could dispel the Conqueror's Haki wrapped in their wounds, injuries would recover.
He just needed to buy his father half a minute. Then his father could return to battle! As for whether he could buy that much time, Saint Granreid didn't doubt it at all. Come on! He was a top-tier great swordsman with immortality! Who could defeat him in half a minute? Even that Silas couldn't!
Thinking thus, Saint Granreid also focused entirely on Ryuma. He wouldn't make his father's mistake. Though Ryuma was strong, relying on immortality, he definitely—
Huh?
Saint Granreid saw Ryuma assume his drawing stance, similar to his previous techniques. But he didn't see Ryuma slash out. His vision began tilting. He seemed to hear his father's roar—
"How dare you!!!!"
In the distance, as the battlefield's only other person who saw Ryuma's movement, Silas's eyes erupted with unprecedented brilliance. Observation Killing! Conqueror's Haki wrapping!
Only he witnessed it—in that instant, Ryuma blocked Saint Granreid's Observation Haki, then slashed at unprecedented speed. This blade's wrapped Conqueror's Haki was so dense even Silas, a thousand meters away, felt stinging pain.
One slash severed Saint Granreid's head while also shattering the demon contract! Instant kill! Completely ignoring immortality's instant kill!
Though Silas's current strength was already formidable, he might not achieve such clean single strikes like Ryuma. Simply put, his advantage wasn't extreme offensive power but powerful physique and recovery ability. Compared to him, Ryuma was a glass cannon.
Ryuma cutting him once might not kill him, but if he went all-out punching Ryuma and Ryuma didn't block, then Ryuma might die permanently. And Silas also saw that after this slash, Ryuma's body became much more translucent, meaning releasing this move wasn't easy, and he wasn't truly alive. His stamina decreased with every use.
Even so, Saint Granreid's death marked the battle's reversal. Now no one could save Saint Lucas!
"Haha, even the external aid has battle achievements—I can't fall behind!" Silas stared at Stephens and the somewhat dazed Saint Claude before him, his face showing a ferocious smile.
In Silas's view, this war was nearly at its end. Though not exceeding one hour from start to finish, with Glyndwr captured and Saint Granreid dead, the situation had completely reversed. For the World Government to turn the tables required the Five Elders personally entering.
But he'd checked before battle started. The Five Elders weren't even here. Even if they could use that teleportation array to arrive, he and Ryuma together could drive them back the instant they showed up! If the main body came? Hmph! Did they think his ultra-wide-range Observation Haki was just for show?
Thinking thus, Silas's tense heart slightly relaxed. However, accidents often happened at such moments.
An evil aura suddenly erupted. As mentioned earlier, only two people present had seen Ryuma's movement. One was Silas. The other was—
"Truly disappointing. After years of comfort, are the Holy Knights only at this level?"
A calm voice suddenly rang out. The girl who'd been assisting Ortega against Harald suddenly radiated a completely transformed aura. This change made Harald, who'd always thought the girl was just an ordinary Holy Knights member, react with shock.
"Not good!" Silas and Ryuma likewise realized something had changed, but it was too late.
"Become my servant!"
Behind the girl, a pair of massive demon wings spread wide. A huge magic circle appeared beneath Harald's feet.
[Demon Contract!]
Instantly, Harald who had been fighting Ortega, found his entire body sinking into a quagmire. Feeling the momentum radiating from the girl, Silas's expression finally changed dramatically. This presence, this Conqueror's Haki—besides Imu, it could be no one else.
Silas had always thought the one attacking Harald was just an ordinary Holy Knights member. After all, that girl covered entirely in a cloak did have her own Devil Fruit ability. But he never imagined Imu could possess a Holy Knights member to descend.
"Old hag, you have no shame!"