Aokiji, one of the Marines' top combat forces, could deal with Perona, Urouge, and Hawkins in a matter of seconds.
Fortunately, Shakky, a senior veteran, had stepped in to shield them from Aokiji's threat.
Even so, the three seasoned vice admirals on the battlefield were still far beyond Perona and Urouge's ability to handle with ease.
Not to mention the hundreds of elite Marines around them who could skillfully use Armament Haki. The pressure they brought was self-evident.
After just a few brief exchanges,
Perona and Urouge were like lone boats in a raging sea, barely holding on.
If Perona hadn't followed Maud's advice and undergone hellish training on Thriller Bark,
she would have been down by now.
It was precisely because her martial arts had undergone a qualitative transformation that Perona could temporarily hold her own against a vice admiral. She could even use the Negativity Ghosts to slowly reduce the enemy's combat strength.
But that was all.
The vice admiral's overwhelming frontal pressure gradually forced her to the edge of a cliff.
The training had ultimately been too short. Without the Negativity Ghosts, she wouldn't have lasted long at all.
Urouge's situation, by contrast, was even more miserable.
To bring out the power of his fruit ability—to turn the enemy's methods against them—Urouge had forcibly endured wave after wave of damage.
He had nearly stopped breathing.
"I was careless..."
That was Urouge's sincere feeling after enduring several waves of attacks.
How could he have expected the other side to throw all martial virtue out the window and bully him simply because he couldn't use Armament Haki...
Even less had he expected attacks infused with Armament Haki to be so powerful that they nearly wiped him out on the spot.
After barely enduring the damage, Urouge immediately activated his