The Thrill of Battle

The World Pirates had never been weak.

On the vast, brutal stage of the seas, they were not the "washed-up remnants" of later rumors, easily crushed by the Straw Hat Pirates on the fringes before making a swift exit.

Quite the opposite—

In the old era, when Roger still roamed the Four Seas, Whitebeard loomed over the New World, and Golden Lion swept through the sky routes,

The World Pirates had stood alongside them as equals.

The four powers had clashed head-on many times across different seas, tearing apart the waters and leveling islands.

Those battles had produced no decisive victor.

[No victor decided]

Those three words alone said it all.

And Byrnndi World was the heart of it all.

He was forty-five now.

Neither an aging wreck nor an unseasoned, hot-blooded youth.

Instead—

He was at his peak, his strength, experience, Haki, and killing intent all honed to near perfection.

He had long since trained his Armament Haki to cover his entire body, and his Observation Haki was equally sharp.

Combined with the almost unfair multiplication ability of the Paramecia-type More-More Fruit—

His speed could be amplified.

His strength could be amplified.

His projectiles could be amplified.

Even the pace and pressure of battle could be forcibly raised to a level his enemies could barely endure.

This ability to utterly warp the rules of combat was the fundamental reason Sakazuki was struggling.

On the deck of the World Pirates' enormous flagship, the battle was quietly entering another phase.

After a brief but unmistakable signal exchanged through their eyes, the elite Marines began an orderly retreat.

This was not a rout. They were clearing the field.

A battle of this caliber was already far beyond anything ordinary soldiers could withstand.

Staying would only make them burdens, or even get them