"Ha…"
"Aizen-sama was absolutely right!"
All around them, up on the stepped platform, Yammy, one of the Espada, bared his teeth in a savage grin and mocked from afar with arrogant disdain, "That Kizaru had better not embarrass himself later! Otherwise, from this day onward, all Marine Admirals will be branded as weaklings!!!"
One had to know—
the Espada were, every single one of them, brutal by nature.
Not one of them had ever shown even the slightest mercy toward the weak.
So there was even less reason to expect any mercy toward someone like Kizaru—
someone from a different world, merely a human, and in their eyes, a weakling from another dimension.
Honestly,
if not for the fact that a screen separated them,
and that they could only watch instead of crossing over into the world of pirates,
then Yammy would have been unable to hold himself back.
He would have gladly taken future Kizaru's place,
wouldn't have minded doing a stint of work for the Marines,
and would have personally gone to the Sabaody Archipelago to suppress the chaos there!
Slaughtering the weak.
Devouring large numbers of human souls.
Just imagining such a thing made Yammy feel exhilarated to the core!!!
Not far away,
another Espada stood there as well.
The fifth-ranked one, the "Santa Teresa" Nnoitra.
His temperament was much the same as Yammy's—
equally arrogant, equally violent, perfectly suited to the savage Espada faction.
Staring straight at the screen with cruel eyes full of contempt, he sneered,
"A Marine Admiral? That's all he amounts to!"
"He's only fit to act tough in the human world! If that Kizaru came over to the Soul Reaper world, he wouldn't be escaping no matter how many wings he grew!"
"I wouldn't mind giving him a proper welcome—using the law of the jungle, where the strong devour the weak!"
Nnoitra let out a cold laugh.
Deep in his eyes burned hostility, and inside him, a restless, violent agitation churned.
That was right.
Even though Aokiji's battle performance had already made it clear to him just how troublesome these giant-bodied Devil Fruit users could be—
and that they were wielders of the highest class of Logia Devil Fruits—
even so,
Nnoitra still didn't think Kizaru would be any difficult opponent.
At the very least,
with the pressure of his own spiritual power,
along with the overwhelming combat strength and high-speed movement of an Arrancar,
Nnoitra was confident that, in a one-on-one duel,
once he released his blade,
he could crush giant Kizaru through sheer force alone!
Defeating Kizaru would be easy!
As an Espada,
crushing a Marine Admiral was, in his eyes, no difficult feat at all!!!
After that,
Nnoitra was not the only one.
Grimmjow, Zommari, and several other Espada as well,
from different corners,
all began expressing their own views regarding the Marines—and Marine Admirals.
And among them,
without a single exception,
not one had the slightest favorable impression of the Marines!
Despite there having been no hostile relationship between them beforehand,
because of Kizaru,
the Espada and the majority of the Arrancar had somehow developed hostility toward the Marines!
Compared to pirates,
the Hollows and Arrancar were even more hostile toward the Marines!!!
————
Back to the video.
The scene continued to play.
After kicking apart the mangrove tree,
Kizaru began moving about everywhere, weaving between the islands.
Very soon,
he came across several up-and-coming rookie pirates who, like Luffy, were known as the "Supernovas"!
They were:
the "Magician," Hawkins.
Urouge, known as the "Mad Monk."
And the Marine spy, Red Flag X Drake!
As well as the strange music-man, Roar of the Sea, Scratchmen Apoo!
Yes.
He did not encounter them one by one.
Rather, in nearly the same area, with the Pacifistas closing in from one side and the enemy trapped from front and rear,
Kizaru effortlessly
displayed utterly overwhelming strength in battle,
and one after another crushed and brought down these Supernovas!
Once all of that was dealt with,
facing the camera, Kizaru once again began his trademark performance.
Right there in front of the screen,
he deliberately dragged out his tone and, in that peculiar manner of his, uttered his usual line:
"Oh dear…"
"Supernovas, now then… your existence is truly frightening indeed…"
Feigning weakness while actually hiding his fangs.
Pretending to be harmless.
Even though, in battle, he had already completely overwhelmed multiple Supernovas!
Kizaru had thoroughly demonstrated the terrifying power of the Glint-Glint Fruit, along with the terrifying speed and agility of light itself in actual combat!
And yet—
he still had to put on an act!
Making it look as though he were the weak one instead!
And that very scene,
along with the entire battle from beginning to end,
after being fully exposed to the real world through the ranking video,
naturally
caused another uproar!
This time,
the entire world of pirates—whether ordinary civilians or enemy pirate powerhouses—
the whole world of pirates boiled over completely!
Every single viewer, without exception, was shaken by Kizaru's overwhelming might!
And they had no choice but to admit it—
from beginning to end, everyone had underestimated the Marine Admirals!
Even if, in the previous scenes,
high-ranking Marines such as Sengoku and Garp had looked like undercover agents working against their own side,
Kizaru's move this time
had, on the whole, been flawless.
His debut had delivered overwhelming intimidation!
And at the same time, it made people look forward to what would come next even more.
So then, in the coming clash,
when facing the protagonist Luffy and the Straw Hat crew head-on,
would Kizaru continue pressing forward,
relying on his absolute and overwhelming strength
to easily crush the Straw Hat Pirates?
And by doing so,
would he strip away that title of "King of Backers" from them?
As for that—
viewers all over the world immediately turned on the barrage comments!!!
(End of Chapter)
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