Crushing Defeat

PS: Thanks to 'Fleeting Years Sing a Sad Song', 'Rem Loves Ram', 'Make It Better', 'Blow Away the Story', 'Depend on You From Now On', 'Shen Suan', 'Sad and Painful', 'Fleeting Years Sing a Sad Song', 'Ask What Books Are For', 'The Snow Didn't Stop That Year', and others for the tips. Thank you for your support!

PS2: Sweat, I overslept today and didn't get up to write until nearly seven in the evening. I only managed to write two chapters, totaling nearly 6,000 words...

The raging fire grew ever more intense, nearly engulfing the entire Terminal Gray.

Yet, amidst this terrifying inferno, four figures walked at a leisurely pace. Trailing behind them, Kubo Yamato, his wrists bound by Seastone shackles, was dragged along by a chain.

"To think a powerhouse like that would choose to live in a place like this; I truly don't understand it!" The leader of the group appeared to be around forty years old, with a scar across his left eyebrow and a zebra-patterned trench coat draped over his shoulders.

"Indeed. After receiving the report from the Goa Kingdom, it was fortunate that the higher-ups sent more of us because of the Celestial Dragons' upcoming visit. Otherwise, it might have been dangerous!"

"True enough. I had intended to test the combat prowess of our new recruit, Lucci, but I never expected such a formidable existence. With his current strength, he couldn't even intervene!" The speaker was a man with wavy hair wearing a black top hat. His seemingly well-intentioned words were dripping with mockery.

The last member was a youth of about seventeen or eighteen—the very Lucci the man had spoken of. Upon hearing this, he cast a cold glance at the man but offered no retort.

It was true that he had lacked the qualifications to intervene in the battle just moments ago, but this did not discourage Lucci. He believed that one day he would reach that level, or perhaps even surpass them by a wide margin.

"Tch!" Seeing that Lucci did not respond, the wavy-haired man couldn't be bothered to pay any more attention to the "parachuted" brat. He turned to the man in the zebra trench coat and asked, "Brother Stussy, your transfer order has come down, hasn't it?"

The burly man known as Stussy nodded and said with a smile, "After this mission, I will be heading to CP0." He was quite pleased about his promotion to CP0, the organization that served the Celestial Dragons directly; after all, every member of CP0 held the authority of a General.

"Sigh, I'm really going to miss you. But I've heard that us old-timers might all be getting promoted and assigned to various posts. Future CP9 members will all be youngsters just like that brat," the wavy-haired man said with a sneer.

"Hm?"

Just then, Stussy's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He looked back toward the way they had come and chuckled, "Heh, it seems two little bugs have caught up to us!"

The others sensed the disturbance behind them as well. Turning around, they saw two youths, aged fifteen or sixteen, sprinting toward them at high speed. If memory served, these were the same two brats who had been sent flying by a single palm strike from Brother Stussy back at the dojo.

"Truly courting death!" the wavy-haired man sneered.

Kubo Yamato looked back, his expression turning grim at the sight of the two boys. He turned his head and shouted, "Hijikata, Zongcilang, get back! Get back immediately!"

Before he could finish, the wavy-haired man yanked the chain, dragging him to the ground. He ground his boot into Kubo Yamato's cheek and sneered, "Heh, what a touching display of master-disciple affection."

"Master—"

Seeing this, Hijikata and Zongcilang's eyes turned bloodshot, and they roared as they charged forward.

"Time for you to show your worth, kid!"

The wavy-haired man curled his lip and said to Lucci with a grin.

Lucci didn't even look at him; he simply raised his leg and kicked toward the direction of Zongcilang and the other.

"Rankyaku!"

The vacuum blade generated by the kick tore through the air, striking directly at the two charging youths.

Zongcilang and Hijikata Yoshitoyo leaped to either side simultaneously, narrowly dodging the incoming slash.

"Soru—"

But the moment they landed, Lucci vanished from his spot, reappearing behind Hijikata in an instant.

"Too slow!"

Hijikata Yoshitoyo's expression shifted violently as he sensed Lucci behind him, his body instinctively moving to turn.

"Shigan—"

Lucci gave him no time to react. His index finger, sharp as a blade, pierced into his chest in a heartbeat.

"Aaaah—"

Although he had managed to avoid a fatal strike to the heart at the last second, the impact carried by the Shigan still forced a scream from Hijikata. Blood sprayed from his chest as the strike pierced clean through him, and the internal shock caused him to lose consciousness instantly.

"Take your filthy hands off him!"

At that moment, Zongcilang appeared behind Lucci, his longsword descending with the force of a falling mountain.

"Tekkai—"

Seeing this, Lucci tossed Hijikata aside but did not move, standing his ground.

Clang—

The collision between the sword and flesh produced the sound of striking metal.

Zongcilang was startled, but his movements remained swift. He kicked Lucci and propelled himself backward.

"What a monster!"

As he landed, Zongcilang sneered. His longsword suddenly ignited with azure flames, and he charged at Lucci once more, wreathed in blue light.

Seeing this, a flicker of surprise crossed Lucci's eyes, and his figure vanished in an instant.

He reappeared at Zongcilang's side, delivering a diagonal kick.

"Foolish!"

Yet, a smirk tugged at the corner of Zongcilang's mouth. His sword shifted instantly, changing from a slash to a swing, aiming directly at the incoming Lucci.

"Tekkai: Utsugi!"

Though slightly surprised by Zongcilang's rapid reaction, Lucci did not alter his kick. Instead, he increased his force, driving his leg down with the howling wind.

'Bang--'

A deafening explosion erupted at the point of impact. Zongcilang was sent flying almost instantly, rolling across the ground several times before collapsing, blood spraying from his mouth.

"Cough--"

Blood poured uncontrollably from Zongcilang's mouth. The shockwave reverberating from that last strike had damaged his internal organs simultaneously. With bloodshot eyes, Zongcilang glared at Lucci, attempting to stand once more, but he lacked the strength. After casting a ferocious look at Lucci, he lost consciousness.

Lucci lifted his leg, gently brushing the flames off his pant leg with his hand, and said expressionlessly, "Too weak!"

"Then... what about mine--"

Just then, a voice of extreme coldness rang out as if from hell, and a terrifying killing intent instantly permeated the area.

"What!!!"

Lucci's pupils constricted, his body instinctively activating Iron Body, yet in the next second, he was sent flying by a pitch-black slash. The moment it made contact, his Iron Body disintegrated, and blood sprayed along with his retreating form... finally landing at the feet of the others, where he struggled a few times but failed to rise again.

Though not dead, he had lost the ability to fight. This caused Lucci to look toward the direction of the slash in horror, his expression freezing the moment he saw the small figure.

"Hm? This one is interesting!" The wavy-haired man looked toward the source of the slash with interest, but when he saw who had unleashed it, his expression mirrored Lucci's, and he even instinctively rubbed his eyes.

"Damn, are all the brats these days this terrifying?"

The expressions of the others couldn't help but shift slightly.

Bai Ina walked slowly out of the sea of fire, his cold gaze sweeping over each of them before landing on Kubo Yamato, who was being trampled by the wavy-haired man. His killing intent surged instantly, his eyes turning red.

However, in an instant, his killing intent vanished as if it had never existed. Bai Ina swept his cold gaze over their faces one by one and said, "I am taking those two away!"

Seeing this, a look of relief appeared on Kubo Yamato's face.

"Taking those two away?" The wavy-haired man emphasized the word 'two', saying with a playful expression, "So you aren't planning to save this man?" As he spoke, he forcefully ground his shoe into Kubo Yamato's face, splitting the skin and letting blood stream down his cheeks.

Kubo Yamato seemed not to feel it, maintaining a gentle smile as he watched Bai Ina quietly.

Bai Ina remained silent, the icy aura around him growing thicker. He stared fixedly at the wavy-haired man, etching his appearance into his mind. Then, he stepped forward, hoisted Zongcilang and Hijikata Yoshitoyo up, one in each hand, and turned to leave.

However, things in this world rarely go as one wishes.

"Since you've come, don't bother leaving!"

At that moment, Stussy, the leader, said coldly. His sudden intervention startled the two men beside him; after all, CP9 rarely captured people unrelated to their targets.

Much like the future capture of Franky, even when Lucci initially defeated Luffy, he hadn't captured him—this could be considered an instinctive behavioral pattern within CP9.

Bai Ina paused, slowly setting the two people on the ground. The impulse he had been suppressing could no longer be contained, and endless killing intent and Sha Qi began to permeate his body.

"Heh, looks like we have a god of slaughter here..." Seeing this, a flash of killing intent appeared in the wavy-haired man's eyes.

The Black Blade Dawn at Bai Ina's waist unsheathed in a flash. As he turned, a massive, pitch-black slash swept out horizontally.

"Let me play with him!"

The wavy-haired man sneered, walking forward as if he didn't see the massive slash at all. Just as the slash was about to collide with him, his arm suddenly turned pitch-black as if drenched in ink, emitting a metallic luster under the glow of the flames.

"Haha, utterly useless!"

Accompanied by a wild laugh, the wavy-haired man's metallic-lustered right arm, carrying immense wind pressure, collided directly with Bai Ina's pitch-black slash.

Snap--

With a crisp sound, Bai Ina's slash was shattered into pieces, finally dissipating into mid-air.

"Flying Dragon Black Flame!"

The moment the slash was broken, Bai Ina appeared instantly before the wavy-haired man. The Black Blade Dawn in his hand was shrouded in black flames, striking directly at his neck.

Seeing this, the wavy-haired man sneered. Without retracting his right hand, he pivoted his body and slammed it directly into the Black Blade Dawn.

Bai Ina felt a terrifying shockwave travel from the blade to his hand. His hand went numb, and the Black Blade Dawn nearly slipped from his grip, his body thrown off balance.

"May Rain--Tornado Flash."

But in an instant, he released the Black Blade Dawn, caught it in his left hand while spinning his body, and a pitch-black tornado of slashes instantly engulfed the wavy-haired man.

The wavy-haired man was momentarily surprised, but his face was full of mockery. In a split second, a pitch-black metallic luster covered every inch of his exposed skin.

Snap, snap, snap...

A series of crisp sounds echoed as countless slashes shattered the moment they struck the wavy-haired man.

Bai Ina's expression darkened. Although he had expected this, the result was still hard to swallow. If he couldn't even cut through steel, how could he hope to cut through Armament Haki, which was harder than steel?

"Tempest Kick Ten-Fold!"

With a cold shout, ten powerful slashes shot out from the range of the Tornado Flash, heading straight for Bai Ina.

Bai Ina's expression shifted slightly. The Black Blade Dawn in his hand turned into a blur of afterimages, parrying the incoming slashes one by one.

"It's over--brat!"

The wavy-haired man appeared before Bai Ina, his left hand gripping Bai Ina's head while his right fist, coated in Haki, slammed heavily into Bai Ina's abdomen.

"Pfft--"

Excruciating pain radiated from his stomach. A mouthful of blood sprayed from Bai Ina's mouth, landing on the wavy-haired man's face.

"Hahaha, it's not over yet!"

The wavy-haired man licked the blood that had splattered onto his lips, let out a sinister grin, and then slammed another punch into Bai Ina's abdomen. Fresh blood erupted from his mouth once more, yet the wavy-haired man showed no sign of stopping, raining blow after blow onto Bai Ina's stomach.

Blood poured out as if it were worthless, and Bai Ina's complexion grew increasingly deathly pale.

After landing over a dozen strikes, the wavy-haired man finally ceased, lifting the corpse-like Bai Ina into the air with one hand before slamming him heavily onto the ground.

The impact of the fall caused further trauma to Bai Ina's body, yet he still did not lose consciousness; instead, he glared at the wavy-haired man with a ferocious expression, his eyes filled with madness. Despite his injuries, he actually forced himself to crawl back up and swung the Black Blade Dawn in his hand toward the wavy-haired man.

Clang—

The feeble strike was casually swatted aside by the wavy-haired man, sending the Black Blade Dawn flying from Bai Ina's grip to land behind him.

The wavy-haired man didn't even spare a glance at the unremarkable blade, instead sneering at the unsteady Bai Ina before him as he grinned, "Time to go, brat!"

With those words, his right fist, encased in Haki, surged forward with terrifying force, aiming directly for Bai Ina's skull...