Forging a Navy King with the Blood of Infinite Hell's Pirates

"Ah!"

Bondy Wald, embedded deep in the wall, widened his eyes. Bloodshot veins filled his eyeballs, which nearly bulged from their sockets. Then he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mist of blood, along with a belated scream of agony.

The pain of having his chest and abdomen torn open by the Slash Wave was unbearable.

The dizziness caused by the fierce impact of Haki Coating made the world spin around him.

The two erupted at once, severely wounding the World Destroyer on the spot.

"Is it over?"

Seeing this, Shiryu's face was filled with astonishment.

He had not expected the contest between Rosen and Bondy Wald to be decided so quickly, much less for Rosen to have completely controlled the pace of the entire battle, keeping it firmly in his grasp.

This was the World Destroyer!

If the World Government had not plotted against him back then, he would never have ended up frozen for twenty-six years.

What surprised Shiryu even more was Rosen's next move.

Any other Marine would have stopped after severely wounding Bondy Wald with that strike, but Rosen was different.

After sending Byrnndi World flying with Haki Coating: Tempest Kick, Rosen tightened his grip on Thousand Cherry Blossoms' hilt slightly, then raised it again and slashed down without hesitation.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Amid the sharp sound of tearing air, the Cherry Blossom Blades that had been floating around Rosen shot toward Byrnndi World, who was embedded in the wall, like countless arrows loosed at once.

This did not look like training with Byrnndi World at all. It was clearly an attempt to eradicate him completely.

"Is he really a Marine?"

Seeing this, Shiryu could not help turning to look at Zefa.

What surprised him even more was that Zefa, once known as the Non-Killing Admiral, did not rebuke his student in the slightest for slaughtering prisoners. Instead, he stood to the side with his arms folded, quietly watching and allowing Rosen to do as he pleased.

"Mr. Zefa, isn't this inappropriate?"

"The World Government has explicit regulations. Prisoners on the Sixth Floor are never to be executed if they can be imprisoned."

"Especially Devil Fruit users."

"Your student is killing prisoners right now! If you let him act recklessly, not only will he be punished, even you will be held accountable!"

Domino, who had previously been knocked unconscious by the clash between Rosen and Douglas Bullet's Conqueror's Haki, had already awakened. When she saw that Rosen continued trying to kill Bondy Wald instead of stopping after severely wounding him, she frowned.

She naturally had no goodwill toward prisoners, especially prisoners of the Sixth Floor.

However, as Chief Guard, she had to fulfill her duty faithfully.

The World Government had explicitly stipulated that, without permission from a superior or unless prisoners attempted a jailbreak, even the Chief Guard, Vice Warden, or Warden could not arbitrarily kill prisoners of the Sixth Floor. Otherwise, they would face accountability from the World Government.

There were two reasons for this.

First, it was to prevent Devil Fruit powers from reincarnating somewhere in the world after their users died, only to be acquired by pirates who would follow their example and stir up another bloody storm.

Second, the prisoners of the Sixth Floor, whether they were ability users or not, possessed enormous value themselves. Every one of them was an incomparably precious experimental subject, available for the World Government to conduct all kinds of horrifying human experiments.

In fact, over the years, no one knew how much blood had been drawn from the prisoners held in Impel Down, nor how many prisoners had been secretly transferred away, only to die in some unknown experiment.

But Domino, as Chief Guard, knew nothing of this.

She tried to persuade Zefa only because she did not want to see Rosen, who had such a promising future, meet a bleak end after being branded a prisoner-killer.

Zefa said nothing. He merely thrust a small booklet before Domino, then opened it for her to see.

"Exemption Order."

Domino took one look and discovered that it was an Exemption Order personally signed by Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

She understood that with this Exemption Order, as long as Rosen did not do something like destroy a World Government member nation or cross the World Government's bottom line by researching Poneglyphs, he would be innocent.

Even if he slaughtered every prisoner on an entire level of Infinite Hell, he would not receive any punishment.

"For some time to come."

"All you need to do is cooperate with us and watch quietly."

"Until my student finishes this internship."

Seeing that Domino had fallen silent, Zefa put away the Exemption Order as he spoke.

Hearing this, Domino felt a chill run through her heart.

She understood Zefa's meaning perfectly.

That was, until Rosen's lessons were over, battles like today's against the World Destroyer—or rather, the killing of Sixth Floor prisoners—would continue without end.

"Using the blood of Infinite Hell's pirates to nurture a Navy King?"

Shiryu gave Zefa a deep look.

At this moment, he finally understood why the Navy HQ Top Instructor had come here.

It was to cultivate an unprecedented Navy King for Headquarters.

For that purpose, he would not hesitate even if he had to turn the Sixth Floor of Impel Down into a Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood.

Even.

This was not Zefa's personal opinion, but the consensus among Marine Headquarters' top brass.

Otherwise, Sengoku, as Fleet Admiral of the Marines, would not have allowed Zefa to do such a thing, much less sign a waiver for Rosen.

With the waiver Zefa had produced, whether it was Shiryu, Domino, or anyone else, all fell silent. No one spoke again. They merely watched Rosen quietly as the beautiful yet murderous cherry blossoms, infused with Armament Haki, flew toward the World Destroyer.

"I haven't killed all those traitors yet."

"I haven't settled the score with the World Government yet."

"How can I fall here?!"

Bondy Wald was embedded in the wall. Watching the cherry blossom blades draw ever closer, he gritted his teeth, his voice squeezing through the gaps filled with unwillingness and rage:

"I am the World Destroyer!"

"Anyone who stands in my way will be destroyed!"

Suddenly.

Bondy Wald roared. Carrying his hatred for the World Government and the traitors, driven by his will for revenge, he forced himself to draw another breath and activated the Momo Fruit's power once more—not to accelerate, but to multiply his size.

His hands, feet, torso, head—his entire body began to swell and grow larger.

In the blink of an eye.

With his rapidly expanding body, Bondy Wald broke free from the wall, becoming as huge and powerfully built as a giant.

"This is the last one."

Byrnndi World stepped forward and charged out. Though he was clearly only making a running motion, Infinite Hell erupted with a piercing sonic boom. With the body of a giant, he seemed to teleport, riding a violent gust of wind as he dodged the cherry blossom blades slicing through the air and shifted overhead of Rosen.

His right foot, hardened with Armament Haki, rose high into the air. Like a battle axe wielded by a giant, capable of splitting mountains and severing seas, it came crashing down toward Rosen below.

"Multiplication: 100x Slash."

Rosen stood where he was, looking up at the Armament Haki-clad foot descending like a massive black axe. Unhurried, he raised a hand, palm facing upward, and aimed it at Byrnndi World's falling heel.

"Haki Coating: Outer Shell Still Blood Armor."