The air in Grove 44 was paralyzed by the silent, cutting fissure Dragon Flash had created. The three Vice Admirals stared at the carved earth, their advance—the final blow against Kuma—interrupted by a pair of strangers.
Leo stood in the open, his face challenging the world.
Vice Admiral Strawberry, the most strategically minded of the group, broke the silence. He pointed one of his reverse-grip swords at Leo.
"Hey! Who are you?" Strawberry snapped, his voice hard with military authority. "First, remove your robes, both of you! And why are you meddling in the business of the Marines? Are you pirates as well?"
Leo met his gaze, feeling the rush of adrenaline steady his voice. He hasn't recognized the six hundred million Berry face yet.
"Why would I answer to mere Vice Admirals," Leo drawled, letting his voice carry, "who are ganging up on an already injured, malfunctioning Warlord? Doesn't feel very 'Justice'-like to me."
The provocation worked instantly. Vice Admiral Lacroix, the giant, let out a thunderous roar.
"Hey, kid! Don't say anything about us, Vice Admirals!" Lacroix bellowed, his voice vibrating across the ground. "Otherwise, I will kill you! I'll crush you where you stand!"
"Oh, really?" Leo replied, shaking his head with exaggerated boredom. "How are you going to make that happen? By calling in a Buster Call? Just like you always do when you're overwhelmed?"
That was the breaking point. Lacroix—already furious, already committed—needed no further encouragement. He roared, his massive body lunging forward with shocking speed, raising his colossal saber for a single, overwhelming thrust.
"I will show you!" Lacroix yelled, closing the distance in two giant strides, the point of his saber aimed directly at Leo's chest.
Leo took his hand to draw his sword, ready to meet the attack with a focused Armament Haki block, but his fingers met empty air.
What?
Leo's eyes widened in sheer, horrifying panic. Where is my sword?
He realized the awful, game-breaking truth: the Tenseiryū was currently sheathed in Sekiro's hands, and he had forgotten to find a replacement after his cheap practice sword was destroyed by Apoo. He was completely weaponless.
"How can I be so careless?!" Leo screamed internally, frozen by the sight of the giant saber point rushing toward him.
"Sekiro! Help me!"
WHOOSH!
Sekiro moved. He didn't draw the Tenseiryū. Instead, he blurred forward, stepping right in front of the paralyzed Leo. The huge, Haki-coated point of Lacroix's saber—a thrust meant to pierce and pin Leo to the ground—was inches from Sekiro's chest.
Sekiro didn't dodge or block. He took a single, precise step forward, his weight shifted low. His leg descended with crushing, focused precision, pinning the giant saber under his foot.
CRUNCH!
The sound was not of snapping steel, but of shattered stone and compressed force. Sekiro's Mikiri Counter was flawless. The pure, brute force of Lacroix's thrust was instantly defeated, the momentum transferred and crushed under the shinobi's boot. The huge saber was instantly useless, pinned to the ground.
Lacroix stumbled forward, his own momentum working against him, his eyes wide with utter shock. "What happened?!"
Sekiro immediately released the pressure and allowed his body to relax, letting the giant's leverage lift his small frame into the air. He used the brief ascent to drive a powerful kick straight into the giant's temple.
THWACK!
Lacroix roared, staggering backward, shaking his massive head. He was stunned, but the blow was clearly not enough to take him out.
Vice Admiral Onigumo and Strawberry stood frozen, their eyes wide with confusion. "What are these movements?! Who is he? How did he counter that large sword just like that?!"
They didn't get their answer.
The massive figure of Bartholomew Kuma, who had been twitching and sparking, suddenly tilted his head up. His systems seemed to stabilize for one final, devastating command. His eyes locked onto the largest, most immediate threat: Vice Admiral Lacroix.
FWOOOOM!
A torrent of blistering laser energy erupted from Kuma's mouth, a final, concentrated blast of pure heat and destruction.
"Dodge that, Lacroix!" Strawberry shrieked, but it was too late.
"Oh no! I'm finished!" the Giant screamed.
The laser struck Vice Admiral Lacroix directly in the chest. There was no explosion, only a silent, instantaneous vaporization of his armor and flesh. The immense force lifted his giant body, sending him flying backward like a rag doll. Lacroix impacted a massive Yarukiman tree with the force of a train, his body smoking, before slumping to the ground, utterly destroyed.
Kuma's body seized one last time, the electricity surging violently before his head slumped completely. OFFLINE.
Leo met the wide, fearful eyes of the remaining two Vice Admirals: Strawberry and Onigumo.
"Now, only you two remain," Leo shouted. He ripped a sword from the hand of a defeated Marine soldier, coating the blade instantly in a glossy, thick layer of Armament Haki.
Vice Admiral Strawberry stammered, pointing a shaky finger at Kuma's silent form. "Hey! Don't get cocky! Just because you beat one... Kuma is again offline! Here remains only one!"
"You say one?. But I am a good fighter too, you know!"
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