Fleeing at Hundredfold Speed

"Enough of this, you bastard brats! Hurry up and die like good boys!"

Byrnndi World could no longer contain his fury and roared at Vidal and Issho in the distance.

He was truly furious and anxious that even Hundredfold Speed had failed to deal with these two brats. Why were these guys so hard to handle?

No matter how much he intensified his assault, they always had all sorts of ways to counter it, and even when they were injured, they could recover quickly!

He was obviously far stronger than them, wasn't he?

Perhaps the biggest reason he was so furious now was that Hundredfold Speed was his absolute limit. He couldn't boost it any further.

"How can this be? Even World's Hundredfold Speed can't end the fight quickly." On the pirate ship, Binjack couldn't make sense of the situation.

They weren't those monsters from the New World, just two kids with a bit of ability.

"I'll pass on dying like a good boy. There are still plenty of things I want to do, and I haven't even married a beautiful wife yet. How could I die at the hands of a lifelong single dog like you?!"

After speaking, Vidal let out a heavy breath. His own situation wasn't looking good either.

His injuries weren't too bad. Although a large area around his mouth and across his chest was stained red, he had mostly recovered thanks to the healing of Photosynthetic Energy.

The problem was his stamina. Photosynthetic Energy could restore it, but for one thing, it wasn't instantaneous; it still took time.

For another, it wasn't unlimited. It couldn't turn him into a perpetual motion machine. This wasn't some system cheat, and there was still a limit.

Especially in a high-speed battle like this, his stamina and injuries couldn't quite recover fast enough, and continuously using powerful moves also kept draining his stamina.

Thinking it over, from Red Tree World Advent at the start to Apis Divine Bull and Sun's Holy Wheel, he had already played every one of his trump cards.

And he had maintained the scale of Red Tree World Advent and Apis Divine Bull throughout the fight. Without them to assist him and harass World, it would have been extremely difficult to fight him for so long.

It was thanks to more than a decade of diligent training, through spring and winter, rain or shine. Otherwise, Vidal really couldn't have endured such a massive drain on his stamina.

Of course, it was also inseparable from the naturally powerful physiques of people in this world and the years Photosynthetic Energy had spent enhancing his aptitude.

Honestly, it had been a long time since he'd felt this exhausted. Even during that somewhat intense exchange with his father four years ago, he hadn't been left gasping for breath.

There was mental exhaustion too. Since he hadn't yet mastered Observation Haki, facing World at speeds several times, or even more than ten times, faster than Soru...

He had to concentrate to the utmost, never daring to let his guard down or lose focus for even a fraction of a second!

This was completely different from watching high-definition animation or reading manga on a screen. No matter how fast the characters were supposed to be moving, the images were still within the range a person could see clearly.

So aside from some minor differences, fivefold speed and Hundredfold Speed didn't actually look all that different.

But in reality, especially when personally taking part in a battle on this level, an ordinary person's naked eye wouldn't be able to see a thing.

And if you got close enough, there was a strong chance the shock waves alone would seriously injure you!

Vidal could just barely see clearly, but amid the high-speed battle, he still had to rely on the combat instincts he'd honed over years of training.

Once I get back, I need to master Observation Haki as soon as possible! Vidal began considering how to make up for his weakness when he returned.

But first they had to get out of this fight. As for defeating World, he could forget about that for now. The Hundredfold Speed boost should already be enough to let him exchange blows with those top-tier fighters, shouldn't it?

He didn't know how terrifying those big shots at the pinnacle were, so he could only make a rough guess.

Still, there was one thing Vidal was curious about: how long could Byrnndi World maintain his Hundredfold Speed boost?

Surely he couldn't keep it active forever!

But if he really could, wouldn't his bounty be more than two hundred million?

At that moment, Vidal's mind was racing as he kept trying to figure out the details of World's ability!

At the same time, by refraining from attacking first, he bought himself more time to recover his stamina and heal his injuries.

For that, he was even quite willing to chat with his opponent. He just didn't know how good his talk-no-jutsu was.

"Um... why did you come to Paradise?" But he'd barely spoken before World charged at him again, his face full of rage.

Vidal didn't know whether it was because the Hundredfold Speed boost had a time limit or because his earlier remark about World being a lifelong single dog had enraged him.

"Ah, I knew nobody would be stupid enough to sit there trading words with you," Vidal said to Issho, whose face was just as weary beside him.

"The marines have gone far enough. It's time we left!" Issho said, though his wooden sword remained firmly aimed at the oncoming World.

After all, they couldn't just leave whenever they wanted. It seemed they would have to fight another round, but they couldn't beat World with his Hundredfold Speed boost. What could they do?

Just then, a marine fleet of five headquarters-class warships appeared on the horizon behind them.

To make their grand entrance even more dazzling, the ships fired several cannon shots in their direction, attracting the attention of World and the other two.

Although the shots couldn't possibly reach them, the cannons were loud enough!

"Have marine reinforcements arrived? Don't tell me it's—" Byrnndi World came to an abrupt halt and stared at the fleet, his face full of shock and suspicion.

The marines immediately answered his uncertainty with an extraordinarily loud shout, more deafening than the cannon fire before it.

A middle-aged man who wasn't especially tall, but whose muscles strained against his black suit, shot into the air above the fleet and shouted toward Vidal.

"Byrnndi World!"

"Now that I've run into you, come with me to Impel Down for a chat!"

"Vice Admiral Garp!" Vidal played along and shouted. He swore he really had given it everything he had this time.

"What?!"

World stared in dumbfounded shock, his face turning ashen. Without another word, he turned and ran toward his pirate ship at Hundredfold Speed.

Although the warships were somewhat far away, beyond the range of his Observation Haki, he didn't dare wait for them to get close enough.

What a joke. Five years ago, even Rocks, who had Golden Lion, Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, and John under him, had fallen at that man's hands.

He wasn't weak, but he wasn't so stubborn that he had to fight the man head-on. Since he had a chance to leave now, why keep fighting?

And as for those two hateful brats, were they more important than his freedom and his life?

He was out of there. Without even throwing a threat at Vidal and Issho, World took everyone aboard his ship and fled as fast as he could.

Worried he might be caught if he ran too slowly, he even boosted a cannonball to Hundredfold Speed and detonated it behind the ship, using the resulting blast wave to propel the hull forward.

He was out of there!

Vidal and Issho watched in astonishment. Who could have imagined that such a fierce battle would end in such an anticlimactic fashion?