Buddha Form

"That's some strength!"

Oak leaned against the railing and shook out his fist. Though his brief clash with Sengoku had not injured him, it had left a faint ache.

As expected, someone who would rise all the way to Admiral and eventually become Fleet Admiral was no pushover even in his youth. Besides, Sengoku was already in his thirties, at the age when his strength was steadily entering its prime.

He just did not know whether Sengoku had already eaten that Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit, Buddha Form Devil Fruit.

With that in mind, Oak prepared to take the initiative and test Sengoku's strength again, but a sharp howl came from behind him.

"Lion: Thousand-World Slice!"

Several golden sword slashes shot straight toward the warship.

Shiki had caught up to Oak and attacked the warship without hesitation.

"Golden Lion... Shiki!"

Sengoku leaped into the air, instantly crossing over Oak to appear before the warship. He blocked the incoming sword slashes, then spoke in a grave tone.

"Why are you here too?"

As he spoke, he glanced back at Oak. The two appearing at the same time was no coincidence.

"You hijacked a World Government transport ship and rescued this guy?"

Tsuru also looked up at the Golden Lion floating in the distance and quickly guessed the reason.

"Jiehahahaha, smart!"

Golden Lion readily admitted it.

"Why?"

Tsuru asked again.

"Logically, the two of you should have had no connection. Our intelligence contains no information about any relationship between you and this person. Why did you come all the way from the New World specifically to save him? Don't tell me Rocks ordered it?"

Tsuru wanted to know the exact reason. When she mentioned Rocks's name, she did not nearly tremble like the Cipher Pol Aigis Zero agents earlier, but she still could not suppress the gravity in her expression—or the deeply buried humiliation.

Because, in this era, he had killed an Admiral head-on!

No one understood the weight of that accomplishment better than the Marines. An Admiral stood at the pinnacle of the Marines in every era, a position only the strongest Marine could hold. Yet Rocks's feat had slapped the Marines across the face. The Marines, tasked with maintaining peace and stability across the seas and suppressing pirates, had instead been overpowered by a pirate.

"You're Tsuru, right? I didn't expect the Marines to have someone like you. I think Sengoku's title of Strategic General should go to you instead!"

Golden Lion did not answer directly, but his praise for Tsuru undoubtedly confirmed her guess.

"It seems Rocks has some enormous scheme. Over these past few years, he has kept recruiting monsters who have risen to fame across the seas, building up his strength!"

Tsuru glanced at Golden Lion Shiki, then at Oak.

Though she did not know Rocks's exact plans, his continued recruitment of these monsters showed that he must possess tremendous ambition. That made her expression grow even more solemn.

"Hmph. I've long wanted to meet the villains Rocks recruited. I never had the chance before, but running into you here is perfect. No matter what Rocks is plotting, today I can cut away part of his strength."

Sengoku snorted coldly, intending to leave both Shiki and Oak behind. He had only heard of the infamous villains under Rocks before and had never fought them. Now that he had encountered Shiki, he was full of confidence and determined to take him down.

"Just you?"

Seeing Sengoku tear off his cape and toss it aside, then hover in the air using Geppo, Shiki's eyes were filled with disdain.

"If you want to fight me, send one of your Admirals or Garp. That would be more appropriate!"

Clearly, Shiki did not think highly of Sengoku, who was still merely an ordinary Vice Admiral with some reputation within the Marines. In this era, he believed the only Marines worth his attention were the current Admirals and Garp, who had made his name with a pair of Iron Fists.

"Then let's see whether I'm qualified to be your opponent!"

Sengoku was unaffected by Shiki's mockery. Instead, his gaze became even more resolute. As soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling golden radiance burst from his body, his suit exploded apart, and a towering golden Buddha as massive as a giant stood in midair.

"Buddha Shockwave!"

The floating Buddha raised its enormous palm and struck down toward Shiki. A golden shockwave formed a semicircular barrier around him, continuously battering him.

"A rare Mythical Zoan?"

Shiki was slightly surprised. He had not expected the Marines to have someone so deeply hidden, someone possessing a Mythical Zoan yet remaining unknown.

But he quickly calmed down. So what if it was a Mythical Zoan?

"Swish, swish—"

Two sword slashes shot into the sky, tearing open the shockwave barrier and striking Sengoku directly, producing two sharp clangs.

"Clang! Clang!"

"That really is some sturdy defense!"

Watching from the side, Oak sighed in amazement. The sword slashes Shiki had launched with full force struck Sengoku's Buddha body without even making him sway, let alone breaking through his defense. Not a single grain of golden sand fell from the Buddha; only an invisible scratch was left behind, and it quickly healed.

"Bang! Bang!"

Just as Oak watched intently, trying to find some weakness in Sengoku's Buddha Form, two gunshots rang out behind him, and two bullets struck the back of his head.

"You actually launched a sneak attack, Sister Tsuru. That's a little lacking in martial ethics, isn't it?"

Oak rubbed the back of his head and turned around. He saw Tsuru aiming a standard-issue Flintlock at him, thick smoke still pouring from the barrel. Clearly, she had attacked while he was watching the battle.

"How could he be so hard?"

Tsuru could not hide her shock as she watched Oak, who appeared completely unharmed and was now looking her up and down. The two shots she had fired with full force had failed to break his defense.

"What's this? I've got something even harder. Sister Tsuru, want to try it?"

Oak looked at the stunned Tsuru and spread his hands with a deliberately lecherous expression.

"Shameless bastard!"

Having been teased again and again, Tsuru's face flushed red with anger. Without hesitation, she fired another two shots.

"Fuck!"

Seeing the Armament Haki-coated bullets heading his way, Oak felt a chill between his legs, and his whole body broke out in cold sweat.

This woman was ruthless. She actually wanted to ruin his future happiness!

Though he prided himself on having flawless defense from head to toe, and Tsuru's two shots could not possibly break through it, Oak instinctively raised both hands. He did not dare gamble his future happiness on that one-in-a-million chance.

With two crisp dings, his hands collided with the bullets. Then, with a light flick, he knocked them aside and sent them falling into the nearby sea.

"Rumble—"

Two explosions erupted from the sea. Immediately afterward, two abyss-like vacuum whirlpools appeared on the ocean surface, showing just how powerful those attacks had been.