"I'm not very fond of your choice of words, so you can have this little gift instead."
The sofa Mars had been sitting on had already turned into a pile of shattered wood and splinters.
No matter how luxurious the timber, once it collided with a Poneglyph bearing indestructible nature, its fate was sealed.
Nereus himself wasn't particularly skilled with any specific weapon. To him, anything heavy and sturdy enough could produce sufficient results.
And the Poneglyph fits that requirement perfectly.
"It's said that what's written on it is some apology letter from Joy Boy. Compared to a written apology, I feel this is a bit more valuable, don't you all think so?"
Nereus tugged on the chain in his hand. The stone that was meant to record history was now being swung like a meteor hammer, whistling through the air in his grip.
Traces of Mars's blood still clung to the Poneglyph's engravings. As the stone spun, droplets of his blood splattered across various parts of the room.
Yet aside from Mars, who had just been struck and was now barely recognizable as human, none of the other four Five Elders, including Nusjuro and Saturn, spoke.
They merely pulled back in silent understanding, as though clearing space for the battle.
"Until when*… until when…" [TN: The first one is written in Japanese which also means Itsumade.]
"Until when…"
From the spot where Mars had just been struck, a peculiar tone echoed out. It sounded like the cry of some bird, yet mixed with a strange, eerie shouting.
"You dare barge into Mariejois alone… stand before us… kill that incompetent Salazar… has that made you overconfident?"
As he spoke, Mars's body began to regenerate. Before long, aside from the marks left behind by the clash, there was no evidence that he had ever suffered a fatal injury.
"We simply do not care about those slaves. And yet you dare charge before the five of us… then pay the price for your arrogance!"
Mars's body became almost entirely shrouded in shadow, his body beginning to change.
His already tall frame swelled further. His beard and hair expanded as well, gradually taking on more vivid hues.
They were no longer human hair, but transforming into bird feathers. His arms morphed into broad wings, his mouth elongating into a beak.
His jaws were filled with grotesque, terrifying fangs. The claws on his feet were as sharp as long blades. Flames seemed to coil around his body, while a tail resembling that of a serpent extended behind him.
Mars's power—Itsumade!
With a powerful flap of his wings, a violent gale roared toward Nereus. Though they were indoors, the chambers of Mariejois were extravagantly vast.
The enormous room was spacious enough even for ancient Giants to move freely. Despite the size of Mars's beast form, it posed no immediate restriction.
His razor-sharp talons surpassed the cutting edge of most Famed Swords in the world. And due to the nature of their ability form, the kicking skills of bird-type ability users were generally not too weak.
Though Mars himself did not charge forward, the storm generated by his wings was filled with countless wind blades.
"This level of power… as expected, living too long breeds a kind of blind confidence."
Facing Mars's assault, Nereus did not move an inch, allowing the attack to crash into him.
Shing!
Boom!!
The cutting edges slashed across the area, leaving countless glowing fissures in the nearby wall. Neatly severed bricks slid downward in succession.
Yet such an attack failed even to break Nereus's Conqueror's Haki barrier.
Though Mars possessed a special ability and, under Imu's empowerment, an unusual form of immortality, his raw combat strength was nothing extraordinary, perhaps even inferior to Marine Admirals who had spent years fighting on the front lines.
In Nereus's current impression, even Salazar's level far exceeded Mars's. It was just that Salazar's ability had been countered by Nereus. Transformed into an undead, Salazar had no ability to resist within the River of Death space.
"You don't actually think such petty tricks would work on me, do you?"
At Nereus's fingertip, a small sphere of blood condensed, mixed with a murky black-green liquid that seemed to have been drawn from within his own body.
"Your perception is sharp. Did you see the future… or sense the change in the blood?"
Mars did not appear particularly angered. That strange liquid was part of his power as well.
As a yokai, Itsumade was said to be born amid famine and war. Wherever it appeared, dreadful plagues often followed.
Viruses themselves were one of his powers. When his body had been shattered by the Poneglyph earlier, that substance had already been mixed into the blood that splattered through the air.
Mars had originally assumed that, given Nereus's habit of sucking blood, he would absorb it into his body, making it effortless to bring him down.
Unexpectedly, Nereus had no such intention. Even when Mars tried to let the viruses enter his body through airborne diffusion, Nereus detected them and expelled them.
Mars was about to make another move, but Nereus was far faster. Before Mars even realized it, Nereus had already appeared in front of him.
Despite the vast difference in size, empowered by Haki, an invisible giant hand of Haki had already seized Mars by the throat.
His enormous body failed to create even the slightest sense of oppression. Instead, he was held in Nereus's grasp like a helpless chick.
After several failed attempts to break free, Mars seemed to find the situation humiliating. He momentarily ceased resisting, snapped his own neck, and then used his regenerative ability to revive himself.
"Nereus, you do not possess the ability to kill us. Our power is beyond your understanding."
Freed from restraint through his resurrection mechanism, Mars regained his confidence, his tone still carrying unmistakable arrogance.
This time, however, he did not attack again. Instead, he glanced at the others beside him.
The implication was obvious. Alone, he was no match. At most, his ability ensured he wouldn't die. If they wanted to eliminate their opponent, they would have to fight together.
For the Five Elders, notions like a warrior's pride or insisting on a one-on-one duel simply did not exist. The remaining four exchanged a glance and almost simultaneously launched their attacks toward Nereus.
Meanwhile, at Red Port below, after the conclusion of the Levely, the last king was preparing to depart.
Rumble—!!
Before he could board his ship, the ground suddenly trembled. From atop the Red Line, fragments of stone continuously rained down, as if some natural catastrophe were unfolding.
"What's happening?! The Red Line… it's not going to collapse, is it…?"
The crowd below looked upward in fear. The recently reinforced garrison at Red Port quickly began reporting the new developments to Marineford.
The report was simple: Mariejois had come under attack. The assailant was unknown. Reinforcements were requested.
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