Defeating Former Marine Admiral Gokai

"Former Marine Admiral, Great Swordsman Gokai, is this all the strength you have? What a disappointment!!!"

Li Yuan taunted him as he attacked with his sword.

After fighting for an entire day, Li Yuan had indeed learned quite a lot from Gokai.

Yet he still could not defeat Gokai and could only fight him to a draw. Moreover, he sensed that Gokai was still holding something back.

He could not understand it. Why was Gokai still hiding his strength against a pirate like him? Shouldn't he use his full power to kill him before he could grow stronger?

"Humph!!!!"

No matter how Li Yuan tried to provoke him, Gokai maintained his current fighting style and refused to take the bait.

"Hahaha, die!!"

After a full day of battle, the Marine Vice Admirals who had barely been able to hold back Ochoku and the others—

Gradually weakened. After Ochoku severely wounded one Vice Admiral with a single slash, the other two Vice Admirals could no longer handle him.

Once no one could restrain Ochoku, the Marines completely fell into decline.

Ochoku then turned his attention to the Vice Admirals besieging John and the others, joining forces with them to defeat those Marine Vice Admirals.

"Hahaha, looks like you Marines are going to lose!!"

"If this is all the strength you have, then you should lose too!"

"Life Return: Limb Enhancement!!"

After his Observation Haki detected the changes on the battlefield, Li Yuan decisively used Life Return to enhance his limbs.

As his physique continuously grew stronger, it became increasingly difficult to use Life Return to enhance his limbs.

Now, his Life Return limb enhancement, which had originally increased his power fivefold, could only increase it by forty percent.

"Slash!!!"

The instant his limbs were enhanced, Li Yuan's speed suddenly soared. With a flash of Soru, he appeared behind Gokai and fiercely slashed at the back of his head.

"Clang!!!!"

At the critical moment, Gokai turned and blocked Li Yuan's sword, but Li Yuan's tremendous power sent him flying over a hundred meters.

"Clang, clang, clang!!!"

Li Yuan's attacks grew faster and stronger. Gokai had originally been evenly matched with Li Yuan.

But now he could only barely defend himself. His Marine uniform had already been shredded by slashes, and fresh sword wounds constantly appeared across his body.

"Kid, let me show you the true power of a Great Swordsman!!"

Suddenly, Gokai's Sword Intent surged explosively. His nearly tangible Sword Intent all gathered upon his Sword Body.

With a single slash, Armament Haki and Sword Intent fused perfectly into the attack. The powerful Sword Intent compressed and solidified the slash's force, making it even stronger!

The massive three-hundred-meter slash seemed to have locked onto Li Yuan. No matter what he did, he could not escape the fate of being struck.

"Interesting. Using Sword Intent to lock onto an enemy, like a mental lock that makes the enemy believe from the bottom of their heart that they cannot dodge?"

Watching the enormous slash bear down on him, Li Yuan analyzed it excitedly. This was one application of Sword Intent.

Although Li Yuan had yet to comprehend Sword Intent, his spiritual power was innately powerful, allowing him to easily grasp the principle behind this technique.

"Understanding it is one thing, but there isn't enough time. This is my first time facing this kind of attack. I can't dodge it—I can only take it head-on!"

"Limitless: Crescent Moon Skyward Strike!!"

Li Yuan raised the Zanfeng Sword in his hand. Boundless Sword Qi transformed into a crescent moon hanging behind and above his head.

As the Zanfeng Sword came down, all the Sword Qi merged into the slash, becoming a three-hundred-meter-long crescent-shaped attack.

Crescent Moon Skyward Strike was an evolved Sword Skill of Half-Moon Slash. Its incomparably powerful sky-piercing momentum seemed capable of cutting even the moon from the heavens.

"Boom!!!!"

The two equally massive slashes collided in midair, and countless Sword Qi shockwaves instantly tore apart the surrounding land.

The violent shockwaves spread for a thousand meters. Every stone on the ground was shaved flat by Sword Qi, and the surface of the earth sank over ten centimeters.

"Crack!!!"

In the end, Gokai's slash shattered the Crescent Moon Skyward Strike, but by the time it reached Li Yuan, less than one-tenth of its power remained, and Li Yuan blocked it.

"The true Great Swordsman strength you spoke of is nothing special after all!!"

Li Yuan grinned and charged forward again, resuming his battle with Gokai.

In response to Li Yuan's words, Gokai could only silently call him a monster. Although his physique had deteriorated greatly—

His swordsmanship had barely declined. That strike could have instantly killed even a Vice Admiral, yet Li Yuan had blocked it without injury.

Though Li Yuan's attainment in swordsmanship was not strong enough, he could perfectly integrate Haki into his swordsmanship and temporarily enhance his physical strength, making up for the gap between their swordsmanship.

As time passed, the Marines retreated step by step until they were forced back onto the Warships at the shore, relying only on the Warships' cannons to make up for their disadvantage.

"Yohohoho, die!!!"

With Ochoku's help, John successfully dealt with the three Vice Admirals besieging him. Then the two quickly went to assist Silver Axe.

"Retreat!!!"

Seeing that defeat was imminent, Brac hastily gave the order to retreat.

"Boom!!!"

However, Brac's momentary lapse gave Rocks an opening. Rocks struck Brac with a punch, making him cough up blood.

Seeing this, Steel-Bone Kong and Army General Sora Duer hurriedly stopped Rocks from continuing his pursuit of Brac.

"Retreat, retreat now!!"

"Charge! Kill Navy!!"

"Get on the Warships, hurry!!"

"."

After the Fleet Admiral gave the order to retreat, the Marines hastily withdrew. The pirates took the chance to beat the fallen dogs, causing the Marines even heavier losses.

"Great Swordsman, you've exposed an opening!"

The moment the Fleet Admiral gave the retreat order, Gokai revealed an opening, and Li Yuan seized it.

"Limitless: Crescent Moon Skyward Strike!!"

A Bright Moon descended from the sky and merged into the Zanfeng Sword. A crescent-shaped silver light flashed, instantly cutting across Gokai's chest.

The ultimate sharpness tore through Gokai's Armament Haki defense, and the violent impact hurled him onto a Warship.

"Cough, cough, cough!!!"

Just as he was about to smash through the Warship, Gokai forcibly stabilized himself with Geppo, preventing himself from breaking through it.

But now, he could only support himself with one hand gripping his sword to keep from collapsing, while the other clutched the ribs severed across his chest.

"Hm???"

Looking at the Gokai he had defeated, Li Yuan frowned at him and did not continue the pursuit.

He was deeply puzzled. He could clearly sense that Gokai still possessed stronger power that he had not used.

Furthermore, Li Yuan's last strike should not have inflicted such a severe wound on Gokai.

It was not that Li Yuan thought too highly of himself. He and Gokai should have been evenly matched at most; he should not have been able to defeat him. Yet this unexpected result had appeared.

"Now, even Brac won't be able to stop me from retiring, right?"

Though Gokai's face was twisted in pain, inwardly he was overjoyed. With his current severely wounded body, he refused to believe Brac could still force him to keep fighting.

Even if Brac had no shame, did the Marines not care about their reputation?

By returning to fight alongside the Marines against the pirates, he had already given Brac plenty of face.

Now that he was seriously injured, he naturally had to retire. He no longer cared about anything else. Otherwise, next time he might truly die on the battlefield.

"Wahahahaha, the Rocks Pirates have won!!!"

Watching the defeated Marines depart, Rocks loudly declared.

"Hahahaha, the Rocks Pirates are invincible!!!"

"The Rocks Pirates are invincible!!"

"The Rocks Pirates are invincible!!"

"."

After the Rocks Pirates defeated the Marines, all the surviving pirates raised their weapons and cheered loudly. They had defeated the Marines!!!

"How is it?"

Li Yuan had no urge to cheer like a madman. Instead, he came to his subordinates and asked about the situation.

"Boss, ten died. Everyone else is injured."

"Senior Brother, all the junior brothers survived, but quite a few suffered serious injuries."

Kano and Mari answered.

Li Yuan's crew was mainly divided into two groups. One consisted of his junior brothers, while the other consisted of recruits he had gathered from the Rocks Pirates. Kano and Mari commanded them respectively.

"Once we're back aboard, have Lazuli treat the wounded."

Li Yuan nodded. This surprised him somewhat. He had thought some of his junior brothers would die, but unexpectedly, all of them had survived.

"Brothers, board the ships! Return to Hachinosu Island!"

After the cheering ended, Rocks gave the order to return. Their purpose in coming out this time had been perfectly accomplished.

They had plundered the wealth of numerous kingdoms and defeated the Marines, raising the prestige of the Rocks Pirates to another level.

After this great battle, quite a few New World kingdoms would surely submit to the Rocks Pirates. If that happened, Rocks's objective would be achieved.

If any kingdoms still refused to know their place, Rocks would not mind launching several more raids. After all, he had his eye on those kingdoms' Treasure as well.

He wanted to become the absolute overlord of the New World, so those kingdoms had to submit no matter what!

"President, President, this is Big News—unprecedented Big News!!!"

At the World Economic News Agency, Morgans, not yet ten years old, excitedly ran into the President's office while clutching photographs in his hands.

"Morgans, don't make trouble. This isn't Big News; it's clearly a death warrant."

Mensa, the current President of the World Economic News Agency, said while holding his forehead.

These photographs had been specially sent over by the Rocks Pirates, and they had arrived in bulk.

They showed the Rocks Pirates plundering numerous kingdoms before defeating the Marines.

The World Government had previously explicitly warned him not to publish any news related to these matters,

Which was why he had such a headache now. On one side stood the World Government, and on the other stood the Rocks Pirates.

Although the Rocks Pirates could not compare to the World Government, as a news journalist, his heart was wildly dancing along the edge of courting death.