"How is this possible? He's obviously just a pirate—how can he be this powerful?!"
"I must be dreaming… yes, that's it. None of this is real."
"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me!"
"Someone save me! I don't want to die!"
Blood soaked into the earth. Using the city itself as the battlefield, no one knew how long the fighting had continued. Reinforcements from the Kingdom of San Lorenzo grew fewer and fewer. In the end, no new troops arrived at all.
At the same time, the entire battlefield became a scene of tragedy.
A large number of buildings and homes had collapsed into rubble. The streets were riddled with craters.
Scattered across the ground were mutilated corpses… and the wounded, howling in agony.
Among the casualties were members of the War Pirates, as well as soldiers of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo.
If one looked carefully, it was clear that the latter far outnumbered the former.
After an unknown stretch of brutal fighting and mounting casualties, the battlefield gradually fell silent.
The blood-soaked soldiers of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo looked around in confusion, their faces pale and lost.
The sun shone brightly in a clear sky, yet today the city seemed to have become a living hell. The thick stench of blood was enough to suffocate anyone.
The horrific sight of fallen comrades and the infernal landscape before them placed enormous psychological pressure on the kingdom's soldiers.
Gradually—no one knew who began it first—more and more soldiers broke down in tears, throwing their weapons to the ground.
As for the commanders of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo, they were either already corpses or had collapsed entirely, even if they had survived by chance.
It's over.
We can finally rest.
Seeing more and more enemy soldiers dropping their weapons and surrendering, Robin and Trafalgar Law arrived at the same thought almost simultaneously.
Robin had not followed Kaito Arisawa to the palace. Instead, she had remained with the War Pirates, fighting the kingdom's army.
Now she stood there, breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her face.
During the battle, relying on the powers of the Flower-Flower Fruit, she had killed many enemies.
In particular, she had deliberately targeted enemy commanders, taking them out whenever possible. A large number had died at her hands.
This tactic was clearly one of decapitation.
Judging from the results, it had been highly effective.
With their commanders suppressed or eliminated, the soldiers of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo had been unable to withstand the mounting psychological pressure of catastrophic losses.
As for Law—
At this moment, his body was streaked with blood and sweat. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, panting heavily as he surveyed the battlefield.
Using the mobility of the Op-Op Fruit, he too had killed many enemies. Like Robin, he had focused on eliminating commanders whenever the opportunity arose.
Now, seeing the remaining enemies surrender one after another, he exhaled deeply. His efforts had not been in vain.
Boom.
A mace, seemingly soaked in flesh and fragments, dropped heavily to the ground.
Steam rose from his body like heat from a demon god. Covered in blood, Mangu finally ceased his slaughter upon seeing the remaining enemies surrender.
In the earlier fighting, he had not deliberately sought out enemy commanders like Robin and Law. Instead, he had acted as the vanguard general—leading the pirates through enemy encirclements again and again while drawing a tremendous amount of pressure onto himself to reduce the casualties of his subordinates.
If not for his powerful physique and his mastery of Armament Haki gained through training, he might not have lasted until now.
Even so, much of the blood staining him at this moment was his own.
"Meow…"
Looking down at the nearby enemies crouched on the ground with their hands over their heads, Neferpitou slowly withdrew the enormous paw she had been about to bring down again.
Raising her gaze, one could see that she had transformed into a gigantic, snow-white beast.
She stood nearly twenty meters tall at the shoulder and close to fifty meters long, with seven tails swaying behind her.
This colossal creature was none other than Neferpitou's full beast form under the power of the Nine-Life Cat Demon Fruit.
The human-beast form was most suitable for close combat, but in large-scale warfare, the full beast form—especially at such immense size—was undoubtedly more advantageous.
And so she had chosen it.
To more effectively slaughter the enemy, she had shifted from her original human form to this massive beast form.
Of course, Neferpitou had not been training for very long.
Though extraordinarily talented and growing at an astonishing rate since beginning her cultivation, the limited time meant she still suffered significant damage during this large-scale battle.
The clearest evidence lay in the number of tails behind her.
When the user of the Nine-Life Cat Demon Fruit was unharmed, nine tails would be present. Each death would cause one tail to vanish.
Now, Neferpitou had only seven tails.
It was obvious she had experienced three deaths during this battle.
With the enemy surrendering and no one attacking her anymore, she stopped moving. Releasing her ability, she quickly transformed from the gigantic beast back into her original petite and adorable girl form.
Even so, the nearby soldiers of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo looked at her with pure terror.
There was no helping it.
During the battle, her beast form had been like a war machine. Each leap and stomp brought catastrophic destruction.
Countless soldiers had been crushed into pulp beneath her feet, their deaths horrific.
That brutality had placed immense psychological pressure on the enemy.
It could be said that the surrender of the remaining soldiers was not only due to the loss of commanders, but also in part because of the overwhelming terror inspired by Neferpitou's beast form.
As for the rest of the War Pirates—
In a war against the army stationed in a nation's capital, it was impossible to avoid casualties.
Even with Mangu, Neferpitou, Law, and others anchoring the battlefield, the War Pirates had suffered heavy losses.
Of the 6,000 who had marched into the city, fewer than 4,000 remained standing—including the seriously wounded.
Yet to exchange over 2,000 deaths for the defeat of an enemy force numbering in the tens of thousands—the combat capability displayed by the War Pirates was nothing short of astonishing.
Boom!!!
Just as the battlefield fell quiet and the remaining kingdom soldiers lost the will to fight, a deafening roar erupted in the distance.
Golden light blazed across the sky as a massive Slash Wave appeared overhead.
Both the War Pirates and the soldiers of the Kingdom of San Lorenzo looked up instinctively.
What they saw was the large, ornate structure at the center of the city being severed and hurled into the air by that enormous golden Slash Wave.
"That must be the captain's slash! It destroyed so many buildings in one strike!"
"So strong—this power is like a god!"
"Where is the palace?!"
"What kind of power is that?!"
"The palace is under attack too… We were never a match for these monsters!"
The War Pirates instantly recognized that the Slash Wave belonged to Kaito Arisawa. Excitement and fanaticism filled their eyes.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of San Lorenzo recognized that the grand building thrown into the sky was their royal palace.
Faced with the sight of the palace being cleaved apart, they stood frozen, hearts gripped by terror.
While the War Pirates clashed with the kingdom's army, Kaito Arisawa had taken Lafayette directly to the royal palace.
Even though the main forces had been drawn away to the battlefield, the palace remained heavily guarded.
But those guards were no match for him. Every line of defense was shattered.
In the end, even the royal family members hiding within were located through his Observation Haki and handed over to Lafayette for execution.
"Be careful! Don't cause secondary injuries to the wounded!"
"New medicine is here! Treat the severely injured immediately!"
"Hey! A large group found another stash of treasure!"
Across the devastated streets, War Pirate members bustled about.
Law, having regained some stamina, led the medical team in treating the severely wounded. Others with lighter injuries carried boxes of treasure collected from various parts of the city.
In front of a pile of rubble, Kaito Arisawa sat atop a chunk of stone, listening as Robin reported the battle's results.
"This time the casualties were very heavy. Rough estimates show over 2,000 killed in action. The rest are injured to varying degrees. It will likely take quite some time to recover."
He glanced at the busy crew, especially the wounded gathered for treatment and the fallen whose bodies had been respectfully placed together.
His heart was silent.
He had long anticipated such losses. Still, seeing the number firsthand brought an unavoidable heaviness.
To train soldiers, casualties were inevitable.
This battle had not been solely about recruiting Lafayette—it had also been about tempering his men through large-scale warfare.
The results spoke for themselves.
After experiencing the most brutal conflict since taking to the seas, those who survived had undergone an unprecedented baptism.
Even the seriously wounded carried a transformed spirit, radiating a hardened vitality. In Kaito Arisawa's mind, they had become the backbone of every future battle.
"Robin," he said after steadying himself, "when we return to the ship, increase the rewards for all who participated in this battle fivefold. The same applies to those who died. If they have family, grant them five times the pension."
He was not heartless.
Even with the absolute loyalty granted by his Conqueror's Haki, even if he offered nothing, there would be no betrayal.
But as always, those who followed him would receive what they deserved.
That much, he would never withhold.
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