Kizaru Captured

"Are you the ones causing trouble? How about we make a deal, young man? Why don't you surrender directly?"

Kizaru looked at the miserable state of the Marines scattered across the ground, then at Kuina, who was beating Kadakombo into submission nearby, and spoke to Richard in a negotiating tone.

"If we surrender, will you let us go?" Richard asked curiously.

"Where is Saint Makazu?" Rather than answering immediately, Kizaru asked about the Celestial Dragon's whereabouts.

Those people might have been a little stupid, but nothing could happen to them. Otherwise, the entire Navy would suffer for it.

"Who knows? Sabaody is so big. Maybe he got lost?" Xia Mi spouted nonsense again.

"Hand over Saint Makazu, and I can guarantee that you'll live more comfortably in prison," Kizaru said, shaking his head.

"Then I'm afraid we can't accept that. We have no interest in seeing the sights of Impel Down," Richard said.

"That isn't up to you. Young man, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" The moment Kizaru finished speaking, he transformed into a beam of light and charged at Richard as if teleporting.

However, Richard moved faster, creating a rectangular body of flowing water in Kizaru's path.

With no walls containing it, the water at its edges simply remained suspended instead of falling.

Once Kizaru entered high-speed motion, he could no longer alter his direction.

He could only crash straight into the water.

Then he was forced out of his elemental light form, his whole body going weak as he soaked in the water.

But at Kizaru's level, even suddenly falling into the sea would not completely rob him of his combat strength.

He struggled to climb out, but Richard perceived every shift in his force and always used the water to apply a gentle force at precisely the right moment, canceling out his strength.

As a result, every one of Kizaru's struggles came to nothing.

Richard could have frozen him directly and ensured that Kizaru could not move.

But a durable training dummy like this was hard to come by. Richard could not bear to let him go.

He quietly experienced the mysteries of water's softness. The path of round softness lay within it.

As an advanced Profound Mystery of the Law of Water, the Mystery of Round Softness specialized in overcoming hardness with softness, carrying something of the flavor of tai chi.

Richard had gained some insights recently. Kizaru was the perfect person to test them on.

And so Kizaru became his test subject. He could neither escape nor die, and whenever he tried to slack off, Richard would whip him a few times to make him move.

Kizaru's defeat had been abrupt. His weakness was too obvious: his thinking speed could not keep up with his own speed. Once he moved at high speed, he was far too easy to counter.

Of course, that only applied when facing someone stronger than him. To anyone weaker, he was simply a nightmare.

Meanwhile, Kuina defeated Kadakombo, carving a cross-shaped wound into his chest.

Kadakombo could no longer resist and was knocked to the ground by Kuina.

"Click, click, click." At some point, a sleazy-looking figure had appeared on a distant rooftop, snapping photograph after photograph.

As he took pictures, he muttered, "Big news. This is definitely big news. If that old president doesn't give me a huge bonus this time, I'm never giving him these photos."

Richard and the others let him take pictures, even adjusting their poses so the fellow could capture them looking more impressive.

Pururururu...

The Den Den Mushi rang.

With a wave of his hand, Richard retrieved the Den Den Mushi from Kizaru and answered it.

"Kizaru, how did things go? Have you captured the criminals who attacked the Celestial Dragons?"

The Den Den Mushi's humanlike face, paired with Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice, was remarkably lifelike.

"Probably not? How about you send more people over, Fleet Admiral Sengoku?" Richard said.

"Who are you? Why is the Den Den Mushi in your hands? Where is Kizaru?" Sengoku asked sternly.

"Me? I'm not worth mentioning. But Fleet Admiral Sengoku, you'd better send people over quickly.

Otherwise, your admiral and rear admiral may not survive." Richard casually hung up.

In the fleet admiral's office at Marineford, Sengoku fell into deep thought.

What was going on? Never mind Kizaru losing—he had actually been captured?

With Kizaru's speed, who could possibly catch him? Even if he couldn't win, couldn't he run? Not only had he failed to win this time, he had failed to escape too?

When had such an expert appeared?

Or had Kizaru been too careless and fallen victim to some special Devil Fruit?

That had to be it. Damn Kizaru. He would definitely give him a harsh scolding after this.

Just then, Sengoku received instructions from Saint Makazu Mars, the Five Elders' Warrior God of Environment.

A descendant of the Makazu Family had been killed in the Sabaody Archipelago. He was ordered to apprehend the culprit as quickly as possible.

No one involved was to be spared. They were all to be executed.

Clearly, the lackeys assigned to protect the Celestial Dragons had already reported Saint Makazu's death back to Holy Land Mary Geoise.

For a moment, Sengoku felt as though the sky had fallen. A Celestial Dragon had died; that was no different from the sky falling.

He felt he might as well resign outright, so he would not have to deal with this mess.

Sitting in his chair, he racked his brains over whom to send next. Sakazuki? Sakazuki had just returned to headquarters to rest and recuperate. He could send him.

No, one Sakazuki was not enough for an incident this serious. Garp should go too. That guy did nothing useful all day and only knew how to sneak into his office to steal rice crackers.

He would add two vice admirals as well. Who had been free lately? Hmm, Onigumo and Momonga.

That lineup would be enough even to take on a Four Emperors crew. There was no way it could go wrong.

Having made up his mind, Sengoku began assembling forces, gathering nearly half of the headquarters' combat strength.

The orders were issued quickly.

Garp, Sakazuki, and the two vice admirals would go first. Time waited for no one; the warships would arrive afterward.

It would be truly troublesome if the criminals who had killed a Celestial Dragon escaped.

Back in the Sabaody Archipelago, after hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Richard looked around. They were in a bustling commercial street, and the earlier fight had already damaged several buildings.

Forget it. Master Li was kindhearted. They would fight outside from here on.

Otherwise, if things got too big, the entire block would be wiped out.

The group moved to an open area outside, while Kizaru continued struggling.

Kadakombo was barely alive.

Xia Mi raised her hand and created several stone chairs. They sat down and waited for reinforcements from Marine Headquarters.

Fortunately, Marine Headquarters was nearby. In less than an hour, Garp and Sakazuki arrived with two vice admirals.

"Hahaha, Borsalino, you look pretty miserable," Garp loudly mocked when he saw Kizaru's sorry state.

"Guh... glug..." Kizaru tried to speak, but the moment he opened his mouth, water poured back into it.

"Enough. Stop humiliating yourself. You people have trampled on the Navy's dignity. Death is the only way you can atone."

True to his hardline nature, Sakazuki started calling for blood the moment he opened his mouth.

"Admiral Sakazuki, don't forget our objective. The Celestial Dragon..." Vice Admiral Momonga reminded him from behind.

"Right. You people actually dared to kill a Celestial Dragon. Your crimes are unforgivable, and you must be executed." Sakazuki came to his senses. He was not stupid.

The Navy's dignity was less important than the death of a Celestial Dragon. He had misspoken just now. If someone reported him to the Five Elders, he might find himself being punished for it.

The Navy was not united, and there were plenty of factions close to the Celestial Dragons.

"All right, kid. It's time to release Borsalino, isn't it?" Garp said.

"That won't do. I caught him with great difficulty," Richard said, though it had not actually taken much effort.

If Kizaru knew that, he would rather have been captured only after fighting Richard for three hundred rounds.

Being taken down in a single move was too humiliating for him to bear.

"Tell me, then. What conditions do you want before you'll release Saint Makazu and Kizaru?" Garp asked.

"No conditions. As long as you can beat us, letting them go isn't impossible.

But if you lose, then we'll have to invite you to stay as guests too," Richard said casually.