Escape

"His vitality is incredible!"

"What a pity! Against this move of mine, that little bit of resistance is completely useless!" The sparks of electricity flickering at his fingertips had finished gathering. His still-immature technique was ready.

Using the principle of electromagnetic induction, this iron pellet would bloom into a flower that delighted Gray.

"Railgun!" There was no earth-shattering blast, just a flash of orange-red light. The iron pellet shot out at three times the speed of sound, accelerating and growing more powerful as it flew.

The iron pellet melted into ash from the intense heat the instant it was fired, but it had only ever been a primer serving as ammunition.

Gray watched the beam shoot out with Observation Haki. The magnetic force enveloping the area forcibly corrected its trajectory.

It might have felt like a long time, but from the moment Gray launched his attack to the moment it reached Tokikake, only the blink of an eye had passed.

Even though Observation Haki had seen it coming, his body couldn't react in time.

"Damn it!" Tokikake could only try to dodge to the left, using all his Armament Haki to defend his right side.

When he attacked, the bullet had only a tiny surface area, so he couldn't bring his powerful Armament Haki to bear on it, let alone use Emission to coat the bullet in Haki.

But simply using Haki for defense, with basic Hardening, was the best option.

On top of that, the excessive Haki coating let Tokikake project Haki outward, weakening Gray's Railgun attack a little.

"Boom!"

"Tokikake!!!"

The dazzling red beam pierced right through Tokikake before slamming into the island.

Rumble!!!

A devastating shock wave swept across Minion Island, leaving nothing standing above ground.

"Phew..." Gray took a deep breath to calm his panting body, then used his powers to slowly lower his wheelchair to the ground.

"Looks like using this move right now is still a bit of a stretch!" Feeling that less than a tenth of his stamina remained, Gray sighed inwardly, then looked toward Tsuru and Gion.

But the moment Gray looked their way, Tsuru came to her senses. She had already made up her mind. "Go!"

Picking Gion up, Tsuru used Shave repeatedly to race away. While the Donquixote Family members were still stunned by the power of Gray's move, she had already broken through the encirclement.

"What are you all staring at? Hurry up and give chase!" Gray's exasperated shout finally brought them back to their senses.

It was no wonder. Gray had never used this move in front of them before.

After all, their training had only involved sparring and honing their martial arts, not fighting to the death.

The Railgun's initial speed and power made it impossible to use casually like an ordinary technique.

To be honest, this was only the second time Gray had used it since developing it. The first had been on a mission the previous month.

"Oh!"

"Fufufufu, nice work, Gray. Wait for our good news. We'll make sure they stay here too!"

"Hurry after them! Don't let them reach the ship!"

"Yes, young master!"

As the others left, the place finally fell quiet.

Gray glanced around before using his powers to roll his wheelchair over to the huge crater where he had killed Tokikake.

But before he could get close, Tokikake suddenly leaped out of the crater and sprinted toward the shore. Gray, who had thought he'd already killed him, had never imagined he could survive an attack like that.

"What?!"

Though shocked, Gray quickly activated his Observation Haki, which he had turned off.

"I see!"

A glint of red flashed in his eyes. Through Observation Haki, Gray saw what had happened. "His right arm is gone, and the right side of his body has been charred by the heat. Did that keep him from bleeding too much?"

"And it looks like the attack didn't do much damage to his internal organs. Was the temperature so high that it prevented further injury?" Even now that he understood the situation, Gray could no longer pursue him.

For Gray, the Railgun was his strongest attack after breaking through his limits.

It was the most stamina-consuming technique he had apart from the Limit Break series.

His sneak attack and strongest move hadn't killed the enemy. He had no stamina left to waste on another attack.

If Tokikake had turned back to kill him instead of fleeing, Gray wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight.

"That was too dangerous! Next time, I shouldn't turn off my Observation Haki before I've completely taken the enemy's head off."

"Celebrating too early is never a good idea!"

"If only I'd managed to kill him!" Gray didn't have any particular grudge against Tokikake—or, rather, against the Marines.

He wanted to kill them only because they were on the opposing side.

After learning that the previous owner of his body had lost his country because of the Celestial Dragons, Gray had already become an enemy of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government and Marines they represented.

He wouldn't show any mercy to the lackeys serving his enemies.

He had made a mistake by letting Tokikake escape this time. But next time, he wouldn't make the same mistake.

And Gray was confident that he could kill any opponent below Admiral level.

The space-shifting attack and Railgun were just some of the progress he had made over the past three years.

"My body should be ready for Armament Haki training now, right?" As he headed toward the shore, Gray thought over the battle and considered how to strengthen himself next.

"I've developed my Devil Fruit powers to a certain point. From here, I just need to keep refining them over time."

"As for physical strength, it's the same as ever. I can only improve by training under gravity."

"If I want to get stronger quickly now, Armament Haki is my only option!"

"But it's also time to perfect the Personal Magnetic Field Project. After three years of continuous development, I've finally figured out what the problem is."

Brrring!

Brrring!

"Hello, this is Sengoku." Seeing that Tsuru was calling, Sengoku answered in a relaxed tone.

"Tsuru..."

"Don't talk. Send people to support us right away! The Donquixote Family is far stronger than we expected. Tokikake has been killed!"

Tsuru didn't yet know that Tokikake had escaped. She could only report what she had seen to Sengoku.

"I'm heading out to sea with Gion now. Send Kizaru to support us at once!"

Click!

Tsuru hung up as soon as she finished speaking. Only then did Sengoku's brain register what was happening.

"Shave!" Without stopping to look for a messenger, Sengoku used Shave and raced toward Kizaru's office.

Fortunately, the Admirals' office and the Fleet Admiral's Office were on the same floor, so he didn't have far to run.

"Kizaru! Kizaru!"

"Oh, it's Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Care to join me for a..."

Sengoku cut Kizaru off and spoke hurriedly. "Get to the North Blue and support Staff Officer Tsuru. The North Blue Donquixote Family is hunting them down."

"And Tokikake has been killed!"

At those words, Kizaru instantly transformed into a yellow flash and disappeared from the office.

Tokikake and Kizaru weren't just colleagues; they were friends.

Well, it was more that Kizaru got along with all the Vice Admirals.

Among the Marines' upper ranks, Kizaru belonged neither to the Dove Faction nor the Hawk Faction.

If he had to be assigned a faction, he was probably part of the Slacker Faction in the middle.

He didn't offend either side. Even someone as fiercely hawkish as Sakazuki could still chat with him.

Of course, that was partly because they were both elite Marines from the same graduating class. They had studied under Zephyr and graduated together.

A yellow flash streaked across the sky. Setting out from Marineford, Kizaru passed the Sabaody Archipelago, plunged straight into the Calm Belt, and sped across the sky above it.