"Cough… cough…"
Manmaya Millia grimaced, blood dripping from her lips as her heart was pierced.
"Didn't think… a dead girl would get the drop on me."
Blood loss starved her organs; her chest heaved harder to compensate.
She struggled to lift her head. Golden eyes reflected Sakura's figure.
"Sweetheart… you sure you don't wanna be a Celestial Dragon?"
"I'm not interested in becoming trash!"
Sakura crossed her arms, face twisted in disgust.
"Cough… you don't get a choice. The big boss has his eye on you. You're not getting away."
Millia's breathing grew ragged, voice fading to a rasp.
In her final moments (whether out of spite or a flicker of conscience), she turned to the glass tank nearby.
"One last thing… that woman's… a Five Elders' test subject… you won't… save her…"
The light in the blue-haired girl's eyes went out. Her chest stilled. Her head lolled to the side.
"Commander Ginny! Commander Ginny!"
From afar, Revolutionary Army soldiers frantically called as they freed their comrades from the blood-filled tanks.
"Miss Sakura! Hurry over here!"
Barney Joe ran up, grabbed her arm, and dragged her toward Ginny, wrapped in a coat.
Sakura did a quick check.
"Too many surgical scars… and it looks like they implanted a disease?"
She tried pumping Yang Release chakra into her, but stopped the moment jade-like scales started sprouting on Ginny's skin.
"You've gotta be kidding… Commander Ginny, how could…"
Barney Joe stumbled back, pupils shaking. Then he remembered who took her.
He glared at the Celestial Dragons' corpses, flames of rage in his eyes. He wished he'd been the one to kill them.
"Lady Sakura, Commander Ginny's done so much for the Revolution—freed countless oppressed people. Please save her!"
Terry Gildeo dropped to his knees and bowed.
"I want to. But with what we've got right now? I can't."
"I'll keep her alive for now. The rest… we'll figure out after we escape this island!"
Sakura's emerald eyes flickered with Observation Haki's rainbow glow. Her range stretched dozens of kilometers—she'd already spotted twenty 100-meter Navy warships closing in.
"What do you mean?" The two looked at her, confusion clear.
Sakura sealed Ginny's condition with a binding jutsu and stuffed her into Leviathan's belly. "Buster Call's coming!"
"B-Buster… Call?!!"
Terry and Barney's screams echoed across the island.
Out at sea, a man in a yellow pinstripe suit leisurely sipped hot tea aboard a warship.
"Mmm~ still a bit hot~"
He set the delicate cup back on its saucer and sighed.
"Admiral Borsalino, we've reached Sunlight Island!"
"Vice Admirals Doberman, Bastille, Panski, Burnt Mountain, and Strawberry are ready and awaiting your orders."
A soldier saluted and reported from the cabin door.
"Tell them to stand by. I'll take a quick stroll on the island. Tea should be cool by the time I'm back~"
With his lazy drawl still hanging in the air, the man vanished the moment the soldier looked up.
Blinding light dimmed even Sunlight Island's constant glare. Flash dripped from the sky, filling the air.
Sakura raised a hand to shield her eyes. The next instant, light that could pierce glass and skin condensed into a human shape before her.
"Hmm~ just like the report said—Celestial Dragons dead. This is trouble~"
The man floating mid-air glanced at the blood-soaked bodies. His justice coat fluttered behind him.
"So, miss… mind coming quietly? Colleagues said you're a handful."
"Catch me if you can!"
The three Revolutionaries were already tucked inside Leviathan. Sakura patted Night Sparrow on her shoulder—go.
She hurled a Flying Thunder God kunai at Borsalino. It whistled, piercing his heart.
Light particles scattered. The kunai—unarmed with Haki—shot skyward and vanished.
"Scary~ I was hoping for a nice chat!"
But before he finished, light reformed in front of Sakura.
"Ever been kicked… at the speed of light?"
Sakura—locked on by Observation Haki—didn't flinch.
She crouched slightly, grinning.
"Nope. And I don't plan to!"
Flash!
Spacetime shimmered. Sakura vanished. Borsalino's glowing leg kicked empty air.
The beam blasted into distant palace ruins, erupting in a spherical fireball.
"Speed? No… space?"
Borsalino pushed down his brown sunglasses, lazily eyeing the girl now airborne.
"Such an insult~"
He cupped his hands like holding a ball. A laser beam shot out, refracting until it reached Sakura mid-sky.
"Yasakani Magatama! "
His body turned to light, zipping along the beam at lightspeed.
Photons converged in front of Sakura. A laser finger stabbed forward.
"Persistent bastard, Kizaru!"
Haki wrapped her fist. Fishman Karate: 5,000 Brick Fist! —countered.
BOOM!
Explosion. Kizaru dissolved into light particles to dodge.
A master of Observation Haki, he'd even evaded Whitebeard's sneak attacks during the Summit War.
Sakura fell from the blast wave, but gripped another Flying Thunder God kunai and threw it far.
"Oh~ So your space trick needs that weird weapon? Doesn't seem better than mine."
Light flickered. Kizaru reformed beside her, pulling a laser sword from clasped hands.
The blade extended dozens of meters in a blink, shattering her kunai. A smug grin crept onto the tall man's face.
"Close one~ Almost let you slip away."
"That so?"
Chakra flared alongside his sword. He missed again.
Twice!
The Navy's fastest man—dodged twice in one day.
"Can't let you go now. Sengoku'll dock my pay~"
Observation Haki flared. His aura locked onto Sakura weaving through the southern forest.
Casually crossing his arms, a massive glowing cross bloomed in the sky. Countless light bullets rained like burning meteors.
Yasakani Magatama!
The orbs split into tiny crosses mid-fall. Dozens of Kizaru clones wielding Ameno Murakumo blades closed in.
"Logia Awakening, huh? But…"
Sakura strained her eyes—Leviathan was out of Haki range.
She stopped running.
"Hey, Kizaru!"
The clones didn't hesitate. Dozens of light swords stabbed at her.
"Anyway—I'm out. And the title of fastest on the seas? Mine now!"
She flashed a huge grin, hands forming seals.
"Don't joke—"
Flash!
Light blazed a third time. Sakura vanished from the island entirely.
Kizaru slowed. His clones dissolved back into him. Behind the sunglasses, a troubled look.
"Well, damn… played me good…"