More-More Twenty-Fold

"Is it bandaged?!"

"Y-yes, sir!" the marine answered loudly, panic written all over his face. Benson gently pushed the young man aside.

"All right, get inside the cabin. Since you were assigned to the medical team, you don't have to fight. Do your best to stay alive."

Before he finished speaking, Colonel Benson used 'Shave' and vanished from the spot, rejoining the battle at tremendous speed. With the long blade in his hand, he slashed several incoming cannonballs apart!

But just as before, the cannonballs' speed and power had been multiplied several times over, and the impact left the web of his sword hand aching.

"What a terrifying fruit ability!"

Over there, Byrnndi World seemed not to have noticed the officer in the Justice Coat. He continued throwing cannonballs at the warship or pulling the trigger of his musket and firing without restraint.

Whether cannonballs he threw or bullets spraying from the barrel, all were affected by some mysterious power, either flying several times faster or growing several sizes larger!

Every attack inflicted tremendous damage on the massive warship's hull and killed or wounded its crew!

Bullets blasting a warship apart sounded like something out of a fairy tale, yet it was unfolding before every marine's eyes, brutally real.

"He's too arrogant!"

"Die!!"

Colonel Benson could no longer hold himself back. Suppressing the fear and unease in his heart, he dove toward Byrnndi World alongside his two lieutenant colonel adjutants.

The next moment, he swung his long blade down with all his might.

"Slash!"

A bright Flying Slash appeared at once. Together with the 'Tempest Kicks' unleashed by the two lieutenant colonels, it swept away every cannonball and bullet in its path and bore down on World at tremendous speed.

If no one intercepted this assault head-on, the World Pirates' ship was sure to be destroyed.

Countless marines and pirates watched for the result of the slash. The former's eyes were full of hope and prayer, while the latter merely looked on mockingly.

"Couldn't hold back any longer? Fine by me. I was getting bored too!" Byrnndi World looked at the approaching sword energy and bared his teeth in a cruel grin.

"I'll send you all to the underworld!"

In that split second, World, relying on his formidable strength, barely raised the thick-backed broadsword in his hand to meet the three slashes, which had nearly joined into one, head-on.

"More-More Twenty-Fold Slash!"

In the blink of an eye, the broadsword in his hand swelled rapidly as though inflated with a great rush of air. Metal rang against metal, and a wave of blade light and surging air exploded from the point of impact like a tide.

World casually broke the strongest attack unleashed by three Marine Headquarters officers working together, while the musket in his left hand quietly pointed at Colonel Benson.

[Bang!]

The gunshot rang out, utterly unremarkable amid the chaos and noise of the battlefield. But the scorching projectile that shot out of the muzzle flash swelled to the size of a cannonball in midair.

Benson and the other two were still struggling to steady themselves amid the surging blast of air sweeping over them. Everything had happened too quickly, too suddenly.

By the time he noticed the 'cannonball,' it was a little too late. Benson's pupils contracted sharply, and he could clearly see wisps of heat rising from it!

But it was already too late. It was too fast. Ordinarily, the Six Powers technique 'Shave' was only five times faster than normal, whereas the projectile had been amplified a full twentyfold!

"Damn it!"

"Tekkai!"

Colonel Benson took the only action he could, gambling that 'Tekkai,' a technique he wasn't very good at, could save his life.

Time and space seemed to have frozen as though someone had used 'Mahapadma.' World watched mockingly as his bullet drew closer to its target, bit by bit.

He was eager to see the spectacular sight of a Marine colonel coughing up blood and falling into the sea!

But someone just had to oppose him, someone just had to keep him from getting his wish. A flash of green suddenly appeared in the sea beneath Benson and the other two.

Immediately afterward, a tiny sapling sprang from nothing and broke through the waves, then grew in the wind at an outrageously rapid rate.

It formed an exceptionally tall super mangrove, rooted in the seawater and towering above the surface, silently blocking the way in front of the three Marine officers!

[Boom!!]

In the space of a single blink for Byrnndi World, the twentyfold-amplified bullet slammed into the trunk.

Flames accompanied the explosion, producing thick black smoke and a blast of air. Shattered chunks of wood flew from the smoke and fell into the sea under the shocked gazes of everyone present.

"Hm?" World frowned. He hadn't expected anyone to dare interfere.

The tree that had just grown wildly out of thin air was clearly the work of some Devil Fruit ability. Anyone with a little sense could have guessed that.

"Where? Could Marine reinforcements be here?"

At the same time, Colonel Benson had already returned to the warship's deck and was looking at the tree, covered in cracks and wounds, with lingering fear.

"I almost died!"

Although he had used 'Tekkai' to defend himself at the time, his sixth sense had urgently warned him of danger, telling him he couldn't take the hit head-on.

Judging by its actual power now, if that 'cannonball' had really hit him, he would probably have been gravely wounded and sunk to the bottom of the sea by now!

"Who saved me?" Benson swept his gaze around, but found no ship or person on the sea in any direction.

"Up there!" World viciously raised his head and looked at the small boat floating in the air, but his expression changed when he saw it.

"A ship flying in the sky? Could they be from the Flying Pirates!?"

If that were true, things would be troublesome. Much as he hated to admit it, neither his own strength nor his forces were anywhere near a match for that 'flying pirate.'

But why would they appear in 'Paradise'?

At that moment, Byrnndi World had the same question Colonel Benson had asked earlier. A small, slender figure approached from behind him.

This was his older brother, Byrnndi Binjack. Frail and sickly since childhood, he was extremely weak and had no particular talents of his own, but he understood his younger brother very well.

"World, they probably aren't from the Flying Pirates. Their ship isn't flying the Flying Pirates' flag, and that man doesn't have a ship this small under his command."

"Why did you come out here!" World ignored what he said entirely and snapped, "Do you want to die? This is a battlefield!"

"It's all right. With you here, I'm not afraid." Binjack pressed his lips together and smiled softly.

Ever since his younger brother had gained the powerful ability of the More-More Fruit, his personality had changed greatly, and his attitude toward Binjack had grown increasingly harsh.

But in practice, Binjack's treatment and their relationship had not lost anything. Even so, he remained deeply worried that something terrible would happen to World someday.

He liked reading newspapers and knew very well how many powerful people there were on these seas.

"Hmph! Even so, get back inside the cabin. Don't make me say it twice!" World warned fiercely.

"All right, then be extra careful." Binjack cast a worried glance at the flying ship slowly descending from the sky, then turned and left.

"Quit looking down on me. They're the ones who need to be careful!" World had already spotted Vidal and Issho.

Of course, there was also Bullet standing behind them, but the aura around him was far inferior to that of the other two and not worth mentioning.

At midnight, please give me recommendations and comments. Thank you, everyone.

(Sorry, everyone. I scheduled this chapter for the wrong time, setting it for five minutes past midnight tomorrow. Luckily, I just checked and hurried to publish it.)