The Branch Falls

The remaining adjutant staggered backward in terror before collapsing onto the deck, his face twisted in utter horror.

What kind of fire was that?! Even Haki couldn't stop it?!

Seeing this, Withered Bone, standing atop the flagship, felt no fear over his subordinates' gruesome deaths.

Instead, his shriveled, skull-like face was overtaken by a feverish frenzy—sickeningly obsessive and greed-crazed!

Withered Bone stared fixedly at Rochi's bleeding eyes, trembling all over with excitement.

"A miracle! This is nothing less than a miracle of creation!"

"An ultimate power even more terrifying than the Illusion-Illusion Fruit! The source of that power must be hidden in his body—in those eyes of his!"

Withered Bone licked his cracked lips and tore off his white cloak without hesitation, revealing a gaunt, shriveled body covered in horrifying scars.

"Capture him alive!"

Withered Bone issued a death order to every remaining agent. "I want to dissect him alive and study him piece by piece! A man like this is the research treasure the World Government needs most!"

Boom!

The moment his words fell, Withered Bone's body swelled several times over.

Life Return! Combined with terrifying Armament Haki comparable to a vice admiral's!

He became like a black tyrannosaurus, stomping the deck apart and transforming into a black meteor as he charged straight at the enormous Susanoo!

"I'll personally crush that turtle shell of yours!"

"Big words for an old fossil!"

Rochi roared, controlling the Susanoo as its enormous black blade came crashing down with the force of a mountain.

Boom—!!!

A tiny fist collided head-on with Susanoo's massive sword in midair.

The terrifying ring-shaped shockwave forcibly pressed the seawater down dozens of meters!

Under Susanoo's unreasonable brute-force suppression, even someone as powerful as Withered Bone had both arms numbed by the impact. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as he was smashed back onto the deck like a cannonball.

"We won! Colonel Rochi has suppressed that monster!"

The branch marines in the distance erupted in cheers of relief, as though they had survived a disaster.

But before they could celebrate for even half a second—

Rochi, standing within Susanoo's forehead, suddenly began to tremble violently.

"Gah—!"

A mouthful of bright red blood sprayed from Rochi's mouth, soaking the white shirt over his chest.

His eyes felt as though ten thousand steel needles had pierced them at once, and his vision began to blur.

The burden of the Mangekyo Sharingan was too great.

With his current physical strength and limited energy reserves, he simply could not sustain a complete Susanoo and continuously cast Amaterasu for long!

Crack... crack...

Amid Withered Bone's sinister sneer, the invincible black demon god enveloping Rochi finally developed its first crack.

Then, like falling dominoes, Susanoo's armor began to peel away and disperse across wide areas!

Bang—!

With the shattering of the final fragment of black energy, the massive Susanoo completely vanished amid the raging wind and rain.

Having lost his support, Rochi crashed to his knees on the cold, rain-soaked bluestone pavement, gasping heavily.

Two streams of crimson tears of blood stood out starkly against his pale cheeks. Even the Mangekyo patterns in his eyes, which had been slowly revolving moments ago, now looked dim and powerless.

His energy had been completely exhausted.

He had pushed himself to the limit without restraint in order to kill his enemy quickly, and now the deadly backlash had finally come.

"Colonel!"

Major Lace and the branch veterans' eyes were bloodshot as they desperately tried to rush forward, only to be pinned in place by Rochi's back as he forced himself to stand.

"Don't come over! Cough, cough..."

Rochi coughed up bloody foam and shouted with every last ounce of strength.

If even he could not stop him, these ordinary soldiers would gain nothing by charging in except throwing their lives away.

"Hehehehe... What's wrong? Is that all you've got?"

Withered Bone wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and descended from the warship at an unhurried pace, like an old cat savoring the sight of its dying prey.

"I wondered how long you could maintain such terrifying power. Looks like the price is extraordinarily steep."

Withered Bone's shriveled face was full of contempt and arrogance as he sneered.

"No matter how monstrous your talent may be, before the absolute gap in foundation, you—with your strength exhausted—are now worse than a dog!"

"Submit quietly and come back to the laboratory at Mary Geoise with me. When I cut open your head, I might consider using a little less anesthetic!"

Faced with Withered Bone's utterly humiliating taunts, Rochi did not waste another word.

He slowly drew the standard long blade at his waist, stained with the blood of countless pirates, and gripped it in reverse.

There was no fear in those black eyes, clouded with blood—only the resolve of a wounded wolf!

Rochi bit through his tongue, using the intense pain to forcibly awaken the last of his consciousness.

Boom!

The bluestone beneath his feet exploded as Rochi squeezed out every remaining ounce of strength and Haki in his body, charging at Withered Bone like a desperate bolt of white lightning!

"You're still resisting? Foolish!"

Withered Bone snorted and had no intention of using the Six Powers.

He casually raised his right arm, coated in pitch-black Ryou, and met Rochi's life-risking blade without a care.

Clang!

The sword and Haki collided, throwing off a shower of piercing sparks.

Without the advantage of his level gap and chakra support, Rochi's basic martial arts were full of openings before a martial arts master at near-admiral level!

"Too slow! Too weak!"

Withered Bone grinned viciously and shot out his left hand like a venomous snake, seizing Rochi's wrist.

Crack!

"Urgh!"

Rochi gave a muffled groan as the bones in his wrist were crushed, and his sword clattered to the ground.

But that could not stop the madness of a man carrying a blood feud as deep as the sea!

Rochi did not retreat even half a step. He did not even furrow his brow. Using the distance created by his broken wrist, he forcibly twisted his waist and smashed his left elbow toward Withered Bone's face.

Bang bang bang bang!

A brutally savage close-quarters brawl, devoid of any elegance, unfolded miserably in the rainy night.

Thirty exchanges.

Rochi's left leg was broken.

Fifty exchanges.

Rochi's breastbone caved in across a wide area. Blood gushed from his mouth, and he was nearly reduced to a man drenched in blood.

One hundred exchanges!

When Rochi was struck in the face once more by Withered Bone's heavy punch, half his cheek swelling high as even standing became unsteady—

His vision completely blurred.

"Even if I die... I'll tear a piece of flesh off you!!!"

Rochi threw all caution aside, completely abandoning defense. He let Withered Bone's fists rain down upon him, spread his arms, and lunged at Withered Bone like a mad dog!

"Madman... You're a madman through and through!"