Clearing the Field

Steel Country, outer harbor.

Five massive Marine warships had just dropped anchor. Their gangplanks had yet to be fully lowered.

"All troops, listen up! Land immediately! Our target is the Highland Fortress!"

Vice Admiral Momonga drew the Famous Sword at his waist and loudly gave the order to charge. Thousands of elite Marines poured off the warships like a tidal wave, racing toward the highlands.

However, the one-armed old man standing at the bow of a warship had no patience for waiting for the main force to assemble.

"Too slow."

Zephyr looked at the black smoke billowing above the distant highlands and yanked the Justice Coat off his shoulders with his remaining left hand.

"Bang!"

The deck beneath his feet boomed, and the sturdy planks instantly cracked. Zephyr's massive, iron-tower-like frame shot skyward like a meteor flying in reverse!

"Teacher Zephyr!" Seeing this, Vice Admiral Momonga immediately turned to the two Commodores behind him. "You two, come with me. We'll go ahead and provide support!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Four deafening sonic booms erupted in succession above the harbor. Zephyr, Momonga, and the two Marine Commodores rapidly kicked off the air, using Geppo, an advanced movement technique from the Six Powers.

The four figures shot through the sky like arrows, leaving the Marines racing below far behind as they hurtled toward the Central Highlands with murderous intent.

At the same time, at the breach in the Highland Fortress.

Ace stood quietly atop the rubble.

The terrifying presence that had been circling the distant waters suddenly grew at an unreasonable speed within the web of his Observation Haki.

"They're flying straight here with Geppo?"

Ace narrowed his eyes slightly, a fierce fighting spirit kindling in his deep black gaze. The Marines were worthy of their reputation. Their swift, no-nonsense approach was far better than the warlords who only knew how to hide behind others.

"Sabo."

Ace glanced down at the three still surrounded by a ten-thousand-strong army and its war machines. "The Marines are coming with Geppo. They'll reach the battlefield in ten minutes at most."

Sabo tightened his grip slightly on the Alloy Staff. "Should I go down and help?"

"No."

Ace's voice wasn't loud, but it cut clearly through the noise of battle and carried to Jeno, Leona, and Buggy below.

"Marine reinforcements will arrive in ten minutes. Take out the leaders quickly. Don't waste time."

Down on the battlefield, the three heard Ace's words and felt their hearts jolt.

"Damn captain! Easy for you to say!"

Buggy cursed, but his movements instantly grew more frenzied. He knew Ace wasn't joking. The Marines were close, and they couldn't afford to keep tangling with these cannon fodder.

"Looks like we don't have time to waste on you anymore."

Jeno spat and the Mechanical Exoskeleton on his right arm creaked under the strain. The prolonged, high-intensity hammering was rapidly draining his stamina.

The warlord leaders at the rear of the army had heard Ace, too.

"Marine reinforcements are coming! If we hold out for just ten minutes, they're the ones who'll die!"

The one-eyed leader waved his command saber and shouted to the others. "Pull back and tighten the line! Musketeers, hold the front! We'll retreat behind you! Don't engage those three madmen in close combat. If we hold out until the Marines land, we win!"

The warlord leaders understood at once. They immediately ordered their men to form dense shield walls and a barrage of gunfire, hoping to build a wall of flesh and blood to buy time.

But Jeno, Leona, and Buggy had no intention of letting them have their way.

"Trying to stall for time? Keep dreaming!"

Jeno snorted as high-pressure steam blasted from the machinery on his back. He charged straight into the dense web of gunfire. Ordinary lead bullets only sparked against his heavy exoskeleton armor, doing nothing to slow him down.

Like a human bulldozer, he smashed through a shield wall of dozens of soldiers and went straight for the one-eyed leader hiding behind them.

"Big guy, you think I'm afraid of you?"

With nowhere left to run, the one-eyed leader gritted his teeth and drew a heavy cleaver, swinging it down at Jeno. As a leader whose strength was on par with a ten-million-berry pirate, his blow was powerful enough to split rock.

"Clang!"

Jeno raised his thick mechanical right arm and blocked the blow head-on. The hydraulic tubes in his arm rumbled.

"That all you've got?" Jeno grinned and swung the Hydraulic Power Hammer in his left hand. "I put more force into smashing scrap metal than that!"

With a tremendous hiss of escaping pressure, the hammer slammed into the one-eyed leader's chest with a burst of ferocious power. The man managed to shield his vitals with the back of his blade at the last second, but the sheer industrial force still bent the cleaver out of shape. He spewed blood as he and his weapon were sent flying into an abandoned war machine.

On the other side, Leona's battle was just as swift and decisive.

She didn't even bother using her great blade against the oncoming soldiers. Drawing on the terrifying physical prowess she had honed hunting ancient beasts for years, she moved effortlessly through the crowd. With every flash of her silver Boning Knife, she precisely severed an enemy's weapon or cut the tendons in their hand.

Before long, she had found another warlord leader clad in thick steel armor from head to toe.

"Woman, your blade may be fast, but it'll never cut through this armor, made from Premium Black Steel!" the armored leader roared, swinging his meteor hammer.

Leona's eyes turned cold. She drew the enormous Black Steel Bone-Cleaver with her right hand and brought it down hard against the meteor hammer.

"Clang—!"

Sparks flew, and the heavy recoil sent them both back half a step. Leona glanced at the shallow white mark left by her slash on the man's armor and pursed her lips almost imperceptibly.

"So I still can't cut through solid steel. What a troublesome turtle shell."

Though her technique far surpassed his, she hadn't yet mastered the art of cutting steel, so dealing with an enemy in heavy armor took a little more effort. But as a top-tier chef, she had no shortage of patience when it came to butchering prey.

She dodged while carefully studying his weaknesses.

"If I can't cut through the shell, I'll strike through the gaps!"

Leona lowered her body to evade the meteor hammer's sweeping blow. The silver stiletto in her left hand darted forward like a striking snake, slipping with pinpoint accuracy into the gaps in the armor at the warlord leader's knees and beneath his arms.

"Argh!"

The armored leader screamed. The wound to his joints made him lose his balance instantly. Leona leaped up and brought her Black Steel Blade down on his helmet with all her strength. The tremendous shock passed straight through the helmet, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

On the other side of the battlefield, Buggy's fighting style was the hardest to guard against.

"Chop-Chop!"

Buggy's upper body floated in midair, his hands like two fighter planes freed from gravity, smashing wildly through the crowd.

The last warlord leader, armed with a spear, was overwhelmed by Buggy's flying limbs. As he parried with his spear, he keenly spotted Buggy's feet hiding behind cover.

"I've found your weakness, Red Nose!"

A vicious glint flashed in the spear-wielding leader's eyes as he hurled his weapon straight at Buggy's legs.

"Bang!"

A crisp gunshot rang out from the ruins in the distance.

A perfectly aimed lead bullet knocked the spear off course in midair. It grazed Buggy's shoe and plunged diagonally into the dirt.

"Hey, Red Nose! Hurry up. Ten minutes are almost up."

Carina stood behind a high vantage point, holding up a smoking flintlock pistol with one hand. She calmly blew on the muzzle. Though she hadn't joined the melee, her accurate aim and keen view of the entire battlefield were making their own contribution.

"Shut up! I'm finishing this right now!"

Buggy blushed and angrily recalled his hands. The instant the spear-wielding leader's weapon slipped from his grasp, Buggy drove his fist, wearing a Seastone Knuckle, into the man's fist. Strangely, while their fists were still locked together, Buggy had already slammed into him with a fierce shoulder charge. As the man fell backward, Buggy swiftly controlled his fist and landed a punch to his head.

Then Buggy pulled two special red bombs from his clothes. He threw one at the spear-wielding leader's chest and tossed the other with pinpoint accuracy into the ranks of the soldiers still resisting desperately.

"Special Buggy Ball!"

A massive fireball erupted in the enemy ranks, and the violent blast sent dozens of soldiers flying.

With the three warlord leaders on a ten-million-berry level defeated, the remaining thousands of soldiers, who had already lacked any will to fight, completely broke. Fear spread through the army like a plague. Their lines crumbled, and countless men threw away their helmets and armor as they fled down the highlands, screaming.

Jeno, Leona, and Buggy stood amid the wreckage of the battlefield. The fight was over, but their eyes still burned with fighting spirit. Their abilities had been put to the truest test in the chaos of battle.

At the breach in the fortress.

Ace watched the army fleeing below and, satisfied, looked away.

"Right on time."

The instant Ace finished speaking—

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Four rapid, muffled sonic booms exploded in the sky ahead of the highlands, rolling in like thunder.

The wind howled, and the clouds were torn apart.

Four figures radiating murderous intent plummeted from hundreds of meters above like meteors, crashing down with a deafening boom in the open ground between the fleeing warlord soldiers and the Eclipse Pirates.

The hard rocky ground cracked beneath the impact, sending dust billowing in every direction.

As the dust cleared, the purple-haired old man at the front slowly straightened his massive, iron-tower-like frame. His empty right sleeve fluttered in the wind. His weathered eyes, filled with murderous intent, passed over the three below and locked directly onto the black-haired captain in the dark red coat atop the fortress.

"So you're the brat causing trouble here?"

Zephyr's low voice echoed across the open battlefield. The ironclad presence of a man who had stood at the pinnacle of the old era pressed down like a tangible force, making Jeno, Leona, and Buggy struggle to breathe.

Ace stood atop the broken wall, meeting Zephyr's gaze from above.

He didn't back down or speak, only slowly clenched his fists. In his deep black eyes, a long-suppressed, burning desire to clash with a true monster surged.