"Oh~ya~oh~ya... What a terrifying display, Teacher Zephyr."
"At this point, Teacher Zephyr, are you sure you still want to interfere?"
Kizaru habitually drew out his words, his hands in his pockets, appearing lazy, but his gaze was fixed on Zephyr, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
"Hmph!"
Zephyr's eyes were wide with fury. Seeing his former disciple still siding with the World Government, new and old grievances surged in his heart. Without any pleasantries, he launched a fierce attack, his right fist carrying the power to crush everything!
"Boom—!"
Kizaru's body transformed into photons, easily dodging the earth-shattering blow. The ground where he had stood was now a deep crater.
"Borsalino!"
Zephyr roared, his offensive like a raging storm, each blow filled with years of his indignation and disappointment.
"If you still have a shred of conscience, still a bit of adherence to justice, you shouldn't continue to be a dog for those filthy Celestial Dragons!"
Kizaru continuously elementalized to dodge, golden photons condensing around him into the Ama no Murakumo, parrying the fatal attacks.
Zephyr's questioning was like a heavy hammer, striking at his usual nonchalant facade. He uncharacteristically didn't respond with a taunt immediately, and there was a momentary pause in his movements.
"...Teacher Zephyr." Kizaru's voice was a little lower, less of his usual flippancy, and more of an inexpressible complexity. "I'm also constrained by circumstances, after all, I'm about to retire..."
"Shut up!"
Zephyr's emotions became even more agitated upon hearing that title, and a violent Armament Haki wrapped around his right fist. "From the moment you chose to protect that twisted government, you lost the right to call me Teacher!"
These words were like a final declaration of a split, leaving Kizaru completely silent.
The playful expression on his face vanished, replaced by a deep, inscrutable solemnity.
He knew that words were meaningless at this moment; the bond between master and disciple had long since burned out in their vastly different choices of paths.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
No longer attempting to communicate, Kizaru leaped into the air, transforming into a dazzling light source. Countless brilliant light bullets poured down, like a golden rain covering Zephyr and the New Navy members behind him.
He too... was finally going all out.
Zephyr roared, swinging his right fist, shattering and detonating the incoming light bullets. Explosive flames and shockwaves continuously erupted between the two.
Just as the sound of explosions drowned out everything,
a golden stream of light, moving at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, pierced through the curtain of explosions!
Borsalino's figure appeared almost face-to-face with Zephyr, so close that one could see every etched mark of age on his face.
He still maintained that inscrutable smile, as if the world-destroying explosions around them were merely an irrelevant backdrop.
He tilted his head slightly, asking in a familiar, slightly lazy tone, at a volume only the two of them could hear:
"Hmm~ What a scary expression, Teacher Zephyr... But, speaking of which, if I were to 'Gaban' at your 'New Navy', it wouldn't be a '996' work system, would it? Is there overtime pay?"
This completely unexpected, almost absurd question made Zephyr, who was originally consumed by fury and fully prepared for battle, suddenly freeze.
He still maintained his defensive stance, but the tense muscles in his face involuntarily relaxed for a moment...
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