Kizaru Captured

"Were you the ones causing trouble? How about this, kid—why don't you surrender?"

Kizaru looked at the miserable state of the Marines sprawled across the ground, then at Kuina, who was pinning Kadakombo down and beating him up nearby. He spoke to Richard in a negotiable tone.

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

"Where is Saint Makazu?" Kizaru did not rush to answer. Instead, he asked about the Celestial Dragon's whereabouts.

Those people might have been somewhat 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 you'll live a little 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. Kid, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" The moment Kizaru finished speaking, he turned into a beam of light and charged at Richard as if teleporting.

However, Richard moved even faster, setting up a rectangular mass of flowing water in the path between them.

With no walls holding it in place, the water at its edges maintained its shape without falling.

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

He could only crash straight into the water.

Then his entire body dropped out of its light-element form, and he lay soaking in the water, completely weak.

But at Kizaru's level, even suddenly falling into water would not entirely rob him of his fighting strength.

He struggled to climb out, but Richard saw through every shift in his strength. Each time, he used the water to apply just the right soft force to neutralize Kizaru's power.

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

He quietly experienced the mystery 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 Tai Chi's flavor.

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

And so, Kizaru became his experimental target. He could not get out, nor could he die. Whenever he tried to slack off, Richard gave him a few lashes to make him move again.

Kizaru's defeat had been abrupt; his weakness was simply 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 to those stronger than him. To anyone weaker, facing him was nothing short of 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 figure had appeared on a distant rooftop, snapping photos one after another.

As he photographed them, he muttered, "Big news. This is definitely big news. If that bastard editor-in-chief doesn't give me a huge bonus this time, I'm not handing over these photos."

Richard and the others let him take pictures. They even adjusted their poses so the man could make them look a little more handsome.

Brrr, brrr...

The Den Den Mushi rang.

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

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

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

"Probably not? Why don't you send a few 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 live much longer." Richard casually hung up.

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

What was going on? It was one thing for Kizaru to lose, but he had actually been captured?

With Kizaru's speed, who could catch him? If he could not win, could he not at least run? Not only had he failed to win this time, he had not even managed to escape?

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 severe dressing-down after this.

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

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

Not a single person involved was to be spared. All were to be executed.

Clearly, those lackeys protecting the Celestial Dragons had already sent news of 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; there was little difference between that and the sky collapsing.

He felt he might as well resign. Then he would not have to deal with such a mess.

Sitting in his chair, he racked his brains over whom to send next. Sakazuki? Sakazuki had just returned to headquarters for rest and recuperation, so he could make the trip.

No, one Sakazuki was not enough for an incident this serious. Garp should go too. That guy never did any real work and only knew how to sneak into his office to steal rice crackers.

He would add two vice admirals as well. Who had time recently? Hmm, Onigumo and Momonga.

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

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

The orders were soon issued.

Garp, Sakazuki, and the two vice admirals would go first. Time was of the essence; the warships would follow afterward.

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

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

Forget it. Master Li was kindhearted; they would fight outside from now on.

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

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

Kadakombo was half-dead.

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

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

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

"Glu... glug..." Kizaru tried to speak, but water flooded into his mouth the moment he opened it.

"That's enough. Stop humiliating yourself. You people have trampled on the Navy's dignity. Only death can atone for your crimes."

Sakazuki truly deserved his hardline reputation. The moment he opened his mouth, he called for blood.

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

"That's right. You bastards actually dared to kill a Celestial Dragon. Your crimes are utterly unforgivable, and you should be executed," Sakazuki said after coming to his senses. He was not stupid.

The Navy's dignity was not as important as the death of a Celestial Dragon. He had misspoken just now. If someone reported him to the Five Elders, he would suffer for it.

The Navy was not united internally. 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 worked hard to catch him," 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 humiliation he could not bear.

"Tell me, what conditions will make you release Saint Makazu and Kizaru?" Garp asked.

"No conditions. As long as you can beat us, letting them go is not impossible.

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