Snow drifted down in swirling flurries.
After getting burned three times by Sapphire's precognitive Observation Haki, Rebrus decided to make her his target.
But Sapphire had a Logia Devil Fruit, had awakened her Devil Fruit ability, and could use Observation Haki to see the future. She wasn't someone he could easily catch.
The blizzard completely engulfed Witch Island, now split into four pieces. Huge, densely falling snowflakes blanketed the island in an instant. The sky vanished overhead, visibility dropped to barely ten meters, and Sapphire concealed herself in the snow!
Rebrus used Observation Haki to sense his surroundings, but if he tried to break through the blizzard, Figo would hit him with a crushing blow. While Rebrus fought Figo, Sapphire would strike him when his guard was down—or give Figo a crucial warning that could decide the battle!
In a one-on-one fight, Rebrus had a slight advantage thanks to his Devil Fruit ability. But now that it was two against one, he was clearly at a disadvantage, and Figo kept landing solid hits!
No, soon it wouldn't even be two against one.
Nearly half an hour into the battle, three figures appeared on the battlefield, cloaked in snow and wind!
Three Vice Admirals, led by Doug!
Each of them carried a thick Seastone chain. Their arrival also meant that every other pirate in the Hell Pirates had been captured!
"Teacher, what about the other two Vice Admirals...?"
Figo stepped in front of the three and asked.
"They're fine, just a little injured. I left them to guard the warships," Doug replied.
He didn't mention the casualties among the Rear Admirals, officers, and lower-ranking marines. Instead, he waved the Seastone chain at Figo and asked, "Can you use this?"
Figo shook his head.
Seastone didn't make an Ability User instantly collapse and become unable to move just by touching them. If it did, every marine could carry a Seastone chain and easily beat any pirate Ability User they came across.
As long as they weren't completely restrained, they could coat themselves in Armament Haki ahead of time and minimize the area of contact, effectively resisting Seastone's power.
Vegapunk hadn't appeared yet in this era, and the Navy didn't seem to have any high-purity Seastone weapons that could make an Ability User go limp with a single jab, like Smoker's jitte. Counting on Rebrus to be careless enough to get wrapped up in a Seastone chain would be harder than simply knocking him into the sea.
"Then we'll use them," Doug said. He knew the chains wouldn't hinder Rebrus at all in their hands. "We'll support you from the perimeter. Don't let that guy get away!"
Figo didn't refuse. "Be careful."
Across from them, when Doug and the others appeared, the chubby man with the round shield quietly spoke to Rebrus as well.
"Boss, should we retreat?"
Rebrus's face was grim.
He didn't answer.
Retreat? That was just running away.
The situation was indeed growing more and more unfavorable.
Even the Navy had begun preparing to stop him from escaping.
But... run away?
Let the Navy capture every officer in his Hell Pirates, leaving only him and his First Mate, Tony Toa, to flee like stray dogs? Go from being a King to becoming a laughingstock across the seas?!
I'm Rebrus, Hell of a Man!
Crack! Crack!
His Conqueror's Haki grew stronger, and several peals of thunder rang through the sky! He charged at Figo and the Vice Admirals again, pressing forward without hesitation. Today, either they died, or he did!
Figo met him head-on, while Doug's hearty laughter echoed across the battlefield. "Come on, Rebrus! That's the way! Don't make this old man look down on you! A King of the seas would never flee in disgrace. I, Doug, have always believed that!"
The power of the Inspire-Inspire Fruit surged.
The fierce battle erupted again!
Half an hour later, Rebrus's attacks grazed the two Vice Admirals besides Doug, leaving them badly wounded and forcing them out of the fight. They escaped into the sea, but their injuries gave Figo the opening to damage Rebrus's internal organs with a shockwave!
By nightfall, Rebrus could no longer stand Doug's Inspire-Inspire Fruit and Sapphire's precognitive interference. He chose to trade injuries!
The exhausted old man took a devastating blow, but seized the chance to wrap the Seastone chain around the chubby man with the round shield. Sapphire followed up with the Snow-Snow Fruit, completely freezing the exhausted man. In the process, she was also struck by Rebrus's attack, leaving her bloodied and badly wounded!
At the same time, Figo's fist slammed straight into Rebrus's eye socket, bursting one of his eyes and dealing him a devastating blow!
The chubby man with the round shield, Sapphire, and Doug were forced out of the fight one after another. Meanwhile, two of Witch Island's four sections were gradually swallowed completely by the sea!
On the two remaining sections of land, Figo and the one-eyed Rebrus, with nowhere left to retreat, continued their one-on-one death match!
The two fought until dawn. A full day and night had passed since the battle began, and there was barely any ground left to stand on!
Ten warships tightly sealed off the waters surrounding Witch Island. The marines aboard them and the captured pirates anxiously awaited the outcome of the battle.
Doug stood at the bow beside Miya, who had already regained consciousness, his body wrapped in bandages. His hands clenched and trembled, then loosened, over and over.
Suddenly, a tremendous roar rang out from the battlefield. Then a purple-flamed figure, like a demon god, slowly rose into the air.
The purple flames shot up more than two hundred meters, taking the shape of a giant hound of fire. It looked down over the land and the entire sea!
At the appearance of the figure, even the seawater beneath the warships began to boil, bubbling and burbling. But the current quickly carried the heat away, and the surging heat faded.
At the heart of the sea, the demon-god-like apparition also vanished, shattering into nothingness!
"Trying to boil away the sea? The ocean is the most merciless thing there is! Rebrus is finished!" Doug clenched both fists in excitement, tears glimmering in his old eyes.
A smile appeared on Miya's still-pale face. "Figo will definitely win. Otherwise, he would've swum back already and used the Buster Call's bombardment to blast Rebrus into the sea. You should have complete faith in him... haha."
[Prisoner: Rebrus] [Level: SSR6] [Status: In Custody] [Crime Index: 675] [Capture Participation: 80%] [Available Rewards: Shipwright, Captain, Navigation, Armament Haki, Swordsmanship] [Character Event 1: Awaiting Activation] [Character Event 2: Not Yet Available] [Core Event: Not Yet Available]
Use the Buster Call's bombardment to blast him into the sea? What would happen to my Capture Participation, then? After fighting this hard, how could Figo bring himself to take a shortcut!
Even losing just 20% of his participation made Figo wince. But in a one-on-one fight, he really did have a significant chance of losing. And if Rebrus tried to escape, Figo had no way to stop him.
Still, Rebrus's Crime Index was only a quarter of that Celestial Dragon's?
Crime Index was something that got harder to raise the higher it climbed. It wasn't as simple as gaining one point for every person killed. With a score in the twenties or thirties, someone could kill ten people and still not gain a single point. Among the Great Pirates currently in Impel Down, even the highest Crime Index was below 150.
Compared to them, 675 was a high score. But compared to the Celestial Dragon's, it seemed far too low.
Figo thought it over and saw two possible explanations. First, Rebrus knew exactly what he was doing when he committed evil. His main goal was to rule the seas, not to kill for pleasure. He wasn't like the Celestial Dragons, who would run into a family of three on the road, grin foolishly, point at the girl, and say they wanted her as a slave.
Second, the Celestial Dragons might be connected to the origins of the slave trade or some other great evil.
Figo couldn't investigate the details any further right now. His attention was more focused on choosing his reward—swordsmanship, my swordsmanship...
Reward selected: Armament Haki.
Armament Haki +64800 → 124795
Level 5, master of the highest level of Armament Haki!
Figo suddenly wanted to let Rebrus, who had just been locked in his cell, out so they could fight again!
The Celestial Dragon's Crime Index is related to the main storyline; it will be explained later.
Before you continue