Aokiji, Kuzan!

"Found me? Then let's fight!"

In an instant, a large amount of black substance surged from Mislanda's left hand, forming a black sphere!

The next moment, the dark sphere was slammed directly into the ground by Mislanda.

Centered around Mislanda, the surrounding ground began to churn continuously. It looked less like earth and more like a pool of black water.

"Black Hole Path!"

Mislanda let out a loud roar, and the black aura around his body rapidly spread in all directions.

Before long, everyone was enveloped within it.

"Ah, what is this? What's going on?!"

Deep inside the Black Hole Path, Spandine realized in horror that he was slowly sinking!

Soon, everything below his knees had already been submerged!

"Damn it, stop this at once!"

Seeing this, the three powerful men attacked Mislanda from three directions.

But before they could get close, Mislanda vanished into the darkness like a diver!

The Black Hole Path could absorb all kinds of things. As a Dark-Dark Fruit user, Mislanda could naturally enter and leave it freely!

"Where is he? Where did he go?"

"Find him quickly! And come save me!"

Spandine immediately issued his orders.

But the next moment, he no longer dared to speak, because Mislanda had appeared behind him like a ghost.

"Save you? Dream on!"

With that, he grabbed Spandine by the head and forced him into his own Black Hole Path. Mislanda followed him inside.

The darkness vanished, and the surroundings returned to their original state.

Although they had not fought head-on, Mislanda was certain that all three of those powerful men could use Haki, and the strongest one was also a Devil Fruit user!

Mislanda had just learned that man's information through the system.

[Taliris, World Government agent, Zoan-type Ant-Ant Fruit user, power level: Diamond, defeating him grants 1,000 points]

A Diamond-level powerhouse. He had already mastered Haki, on top of possessing a Devil Fruit ability.

In this situation, he had to accomplish his objective and run immediately. Otherwise, he might very well get himself killed!

Elsewhere, Saul, who had been running forward, suddenly stopped because he had encountered Olvia!

"Saul, what are you doing here?!"

"Olvia, there's no time to explain. The Marines are about to arrive. Hurry and make everyone run, or it'll be too late!"

With that, he scooped up Olvia and ran toward the enormous Tree of Knowledge.

Olvia had wanted to say something, but then she thought about it. Perhaps the person Professor Clover had told her to find was Saul!

Thus, when Professor Clover saw Olvia return with a giant, his heart collapsed.

I told you to find Pluton Rayleigh. How did you come back with this guy? Who is he?

"Enough talking. I'll take you all away!"

Before Professor Clover could say anything, Saul used his enormous body to carry away all the scholars inside the library.

Although the library was huge, there were not many actual scholars. Saul could carry them all by himself.

But before Saul had gone very far, an ice spear suddenly shot out and pierced his right leg.

Blood sprayed everywhere, and Saul fell directly to the ground.

He turned his head and saw a tall, thin man slowly approaching.

"Oh my, Saul. I never expected to run into you here!"

"Kuzan, it's you!"

That's right. The newcomer was one of the five vice admirals of the Buster Call—and the future Marine admiral, Aokiji!

Although they were both Marine vice admirals, the gap between Aokiji and Saul was enormous.

In front of Aokiji, Saul was completely outmatched!

"I don't want to say much. Surrender. Don't force me to act!"

"Hmph, you want me to surrender? Kuzan, do you think that's possible?"

As he spoke, Saul rose directly to his feet and swung his enormous fist at Aokiji.

Bang!

For a moment, the entire ground seemed to shake.

But when Saul withdrew his fist, even more ice spears appeared, and blood immediately sprayed from all four of his limbs.

"Ah!"

The intense pain made Saul cry out in agony.

But it wasn't over yet. In the next instant, Saul's four limbs were directly frozen in ice, leaving him lying on the ground, unable to move!

After dealing with Saul, Aokiji walked over to Olvia and Professor Clover.

"Come with me. I guarantee the Marines won't slaughter any innocents!"

In this situation, the group had no power to resist at all.

But then, a somewhat childish voice suddenly rang out.

"I don't think they can go with you, Vice Admiral Kuzan!"

Hmm?

The voice immediately drew everyone's attention. A Mislanda was standing not far away, holding a golden Den Den Mushi in his hand!

Seeing this, Aokiji froze.

He naturally knew what that golden Den Den Mushi was. It had been handed to Spandine by Sengoku!

How had it ended up in his hands?

"Boy, where did you get that thing?"

Spandine must have run into trouble. Otherwise, how could he have lost something as important as the Buster Call?

"I obviously took it from him, Admiral Kuzan. If you don't want someone to die, leave this place and give them a chance to live!"

As he spoke, Mislanda had already begun checking Aokiji's various attributes.

[Kuzan, Marine vice admiral, Logia-type ability user, power level: Starshine, defeating him grants 2,000 points]

Aokiji was only in his twenties at this point and did not yet possess the immense combat power he would have in the future.

But it was merely a matter of time. Before long, Aokiji's strength would reach the King level, putting him on the same level as Rayleigh.

Still, handling a Platinum-level Mislanda was effortless.

Although Aokiji despised the people from the World Government, he could not stand by and watch Spandine die. There was no other reason—Spandine was a member of the World Government, and the Marines were subordinate to the World Government!

If he ignored Spandine today, the Marines would surely encounter trouble at every turn in the future.

Moreover, Aokiji himself was a rational man. He had never wanted to kill anyone in the first place.

After weighing everything, he nodded.

"Let me see Spandine!"

"Sure!"

Mislanda snapped his fingers. A mass of black aura immediately appeared on the ground, and a person was then 'spat' out from within it.

Cough, cough, cough!

After being released, Spandine coughed several times before gasping for breath.

The Black Hole Path was a plus version that Mislanda had developed based on Blackbeard's ability.

It could absorb and compress many things, and then release them again.

The difference was that Mislanda could control the pressure inside the Black Hole Path. He could absorb something and then release it completely unharmed.