Kizaru Arrives

They just kept coming. There was no end to them.

Kill one, and ten more rushed over.

Lin Qi figured he should retreat after holding out for another ten minutes.

"Corrode, blades."

Out of nowhere, some bastard rushed over and grabbed Lin Qi's blade barehanded. Not only was his hand unharmed, but he corroded the sword into scrap metal.

"Ho ho ho, surprised? I ate the Corrosion Fruit. I'm a corrosion man, the nemesis of all swordsmen under heaven."

"Idiot." Lin Qi turned sideways to block the man's view of his hand, then pierced his heart with Yari Yubi.

"Ho ho ho~" Blood spilled from the man's throat as he stared at Lin Qi in disbelief.

Lin Qi swung his other sword and severed the man's head.

"Sweet Impact!"

"Rankyaku."

Lin Qi saw a heart flying toward him. Who knew what other messy Devil Fruit abilities were around?

He flashed aside to evade the incoming kick, then sheathed his longsword again.

"Draw Slash!"

Whoosh~

With one slash, he killed dozens of enemies, finally gaining a brief chance to catch his breath.

"!!!"

Suddenly, his Observation Haki blared a warning. He jerked his head aside as a stream of air grazed past his ear.

"Flying Yari Yubi?"

It seemed a formidable expert had arrived.

An enemy wearing a cat head mask appeared before Lin Qi and attacked without a word.

"The legendary CP0?"

In response to Lin Qi's question, the man unleashed Yari Yubi: Rokuogan.

Six afterimages instantly targeted his head, heart, and the arteries in all four limbs.

After just one exchange, Lin Qi could tell that this man was no weaker than a Vice Admiral.

This was troublesome...

He couldn't use the Six Powers or Conqueror's Haki. He only had one sword left. Against a Vice Admiral-level expert, all he could do was take a beating.

After dozens of exchanges, his Armament Haki-coated sword was shattered by the opponent, and Lin Qi was blasted away.

The two swords Lin Qi had brought this time were merely ordinary blades found everywhere. It seemed that even coated in Armament Haki, they still could not withstand the sustained attacks of another Armament Haki expert.

At that moment, the system prompt sounded in his mind.

Ding! Successfully covered the retreat of twelve thousand slaves. Congratulations on completing the fifth and final stage of the mission. Would you like to claim the reward?

Lin Qi hesitated over whether to claim it now. If it gave him a Supreme Grade Sword, a Devil Fruit, or something similar, he would have no way to take it with him.

Unless it was a Zoan, eating a Devil Fruit required a period of adaptation. It would also turn him into a landlubber—if he fell into the sea, he would be dead for sure.

The man in the owl mask caught up to Lin Qi like lightning and whipped a kick at his head.

Lin Qi stopped thinking about those things and focused on dealing with the expert before him.

After all, his teachers were Garp and Zephyr. Aside from swordsmanship, Lin Qi's Fist Technique was also fairly decent.

Holding out under this man for three to five minutes would not be a problem.

The retreat route was completely surrounded, yet Lin Qi was not too panicked. At worst, he would expose Geppo. He refused to believe he could not escape.

"Oh~ So many slaves have been released. Was that all your doing? What an impressive young man."

A sunlike glow flickered in the night. A sleazy-looking middle-aged man floated in midair, gazing teasingly at the scene below.

Kizaru had actually arrived five minutes ago. If he had not been worried about Sengoku docking his pay, he might have hidden for a while longer.

"Admiral Kizaru!" Lin Qi's expression changed.

Hadn't they said a Marine Admiral would need half an hour to get here?

Right. Kizaru had eaten the Glint-Glint Fruit, hailed as the fastest Devil Fruit. He did not need half an hour at all!

An Admiral... It looked like he would have to risk his life.

"What a frightening look. Are you planning to attack me?"

Kizaru slowly raised one of his two-meter-long Long Legs. "Young man, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

In less than the time it took to blink, Kizaru turned into a streak of golden light and appeared beside Lin Qi, kicking him hundreds of meters into the sky.

The masked CP0 agent paused. Why had Kizaru kicked him so far away?

"Speed is power. Yata no Kagami!"

Kizaru flew into the air and spread his hands. A mirror-like object appeared, and tens of thousands of yellow lasers shot out in an instant.

Those lasers were so fast that the human eye could not follow them.

Lin Qi: "?"

He realized that Kizaru's kick earlier had not been very heavy.

This Yata no Kagami was even more absurd. It looked as though it had hit him, yet not a single laser had actually struck him.

The true Yata no Kagami.

"I, Kizaru, represent the Marines. I must kill you, an evil criminal who has disrupted the world."

After the lasers faded, Kizaru suddenly shouted something utterly out of character, then viciously kicked Lin Qi off the cliff.

That kick was truly brutal. Lin Qi spat out a mouthful of blood and passed out.

Only after he fell into the sea did the chill of the water wake him. He began wondering why Kizaru had put on an act and let him go.

He was certain the other man had not recognized him.

It was even less likely that he was the legendary Yellow Second Uncle.

"Is ambiguous justice still justice in the end?"

It seemed he had gained a new understanding of Kizaru.

After a moment of silence, Lin Qi used Geppo to rush toward the Marine Base.

At four in the morning, Lin Qi returned to Marineford through a secluded corner.

He had no way to explain anything that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. What if the reward gave him some strange and bizarre items...

So he planned to leave the Marines tomorrow before claiming the reward.

The moment he got home, Lin Qi destroyed everything that could possibly expose him.

After taking a bath, he pulled out the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and examined the two Devil Fruits in his hands.

His luck was not bad. Both Devil Fruits were recorded in it.

They were: the Paramecia Prison-Prison Fruit.

And: the Zoan Horse-Horse Fruit: Great Hoof Horse Form.

After thinking for a while, Lin Qi knocked on Hina's door late at night.

"What do you want? Hina is so sleepy." Hina yawned and came out wearing nothing but underwear, completely unaware of the springtime sight she was revealing.

Her curvaceous figure left Lin Qi wide-eyed.

Especially her chest—it could only be described as a bottomless abyss.

Seemingly noticing his burning gaze, Hina rubbed her eyes and looked down.

"Ah! Don't look!"

For a moment, she did not know whether to cover her body or cover Lin Qi's eyes. In the end, she slammed the door shut with a bang.

Lin Qi swallowed. This was really thrilling in the middle of the night—an unexpected late-night benefit.

After some time, a properly dressed Hina let Lin Qi in.

A closer look revealed that her little face was still flushed red, making her exceptionally adorable.

"Give me your Devil Fruit."

"Okay."

Hina did not ask any questions. She obediently took the Devil Fruit out from under her blanket and handed it to Lin Qi.

"This is for you."

Lin Qi handed Hina the prepared Paramecia Prison-Prison Fruit.

"What is this?"

Hina turned the Devil Fruit over and over in her hands. It somehow looked a little like her Cage-Cage Fruit.

"This is the Paramecia Prison-Prison Fruit. It's the superior version of your Cage-Cage Fruit."

"If you eat it, you should be able to disguise it as the Cage-Cage Fruit quite well. Go on, eat it." Lin Qi smiled as he explained.