Pirates: A Family Slaughtered, Every Celestial Dragon Must Die!

"Damn that Most Evil Criminal!"

Tsuru nearly ground her teeth to dust.

The Marines' situation was dire. It was nothing short of a rout.

Zephyr, Sengoku, Garp, and Kong had all suffered serious injuries.

They could no longer stop Rocks, Whitebeard, and Shiki from cutting down everyone in their path!

And it had all begun when Rono killed a Celestial Dragon.

With the Most Evil Criminal Rono joining the fight, the Marines could no longer gain any advantage over the Rocks Pirates!

Could one person's strength really change so much?

"Leave the Celestial Dragons to Rono. Finish off the Marines in front of us first!"

Rocks gave the order without a moment's hesitation.

The order was clearly meant for Golden Lion and Whitebeard.

If they could kill Sengoku, Zephyr, Kong, and Garp, his grand plan to become King of the World would succeed!

He Could Still Grow Stronger! The Greatest Physical Gift: Iron Balloon

Rocks, Golden Lion, and Whitebeard were not the only ones winning their battles!

Silver Axe, Ochoku, John, and Charlotte Linlin also sensed the dramatic shift in the battle!

Their morale surging, the four Division Commanders were on the verge of breaking through the combined assault of the elite Vice Admirals from Marine Headquarters!

"Kill them!"

A sharp gleam flashed in Rocks's eyes. He moved to kill the badly wounded Kong and Garp first!

With those two dead, the Marines would be crippled. They might need twenty years to recover!

Rocks flashed before Kong and Garp and drew back both fists.

His immense Conqueror's Haki erupted!

Dark crimson waves surged around his fists like a long-starved tiger about to devour its prey!

This would be the killing blow!

Garp and Kong sensed the danger to their lives. Their faces turned grim.

But wounded as they were, they could no longer trade blows with Rocks as they had before!

Boom! Boom!

Each fist drove toward one of them!

At the same time, Golden Lion finally reached the ground.

"Lion's Might: Earth-Curling!"

Golden Lion touched the ground and unleashed the terrifying power of the Float-Float Fruit!

The earth churned wildly. Countless stones formed a massive lion's head and hurtled toward Zephyr, who knelt on one knee, his strength greatly diminished!

Whitebeard, however, did not move to kill Sengoku.

He was not bloodthirsty by nature, and he would not blindly obey Rocks's orders.

To be safe, though, Whitebeard intended to cut off Sengoku's hands.

That would greatly weaken him.

"Murakumo Slash!"

Whitebeard roared, sending a terrifying sword wave toward Sengoku's hands!

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected 3,985 Strength.]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected 1,357 Speed.]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected 2,951 Stamina.]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Top-Tier Conqueror's Haki. Current progress: 34.9%!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Top-Tier Armament Haki. Current progress: 38.7%!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Top-Tier Observation Haki. Current progress: 36.2%!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Great Swordmaster-Level Swordsmanship. Current progress: 43.6%!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Murakumogiri!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected Lion: Thousand-Cut Valley!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have collected the physical gift Iron Balloon!]

As Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Rocks continued their attacks, the system kept sending notifications.

Murakumogiri and Lion: Thousand-Cut Valley—two more powerful techniques were his!

All Three Types of Haki, along with his Swordsmanship, had improved to varying degrees!

His speed, strength, and stamina were also rising sharply!

A pleasant warmth flowed through Rono's body as his muscles memorized Murakumogiri and Lion: Thousand-Cut Valley!

What delighted Rono even more, though, was that he had acquired perhaps the greatest physical gift in all the seas—

Iron Balloon!

Rono immediately felt a tremendous change in his body!

His flesh and bones felt as hard as steel. Even without Armament Haki, he could withstand blades, axes, bullets, cannon fire, and bombs!

Only one person present possessed such a fearsome gift: Charlotte Linlin!

Just moments ago,

while Rocks, Whitebeard, and Golden Lion had used their advantage to overwhelm Kong, Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr,

Charlotte Linlin had ridden that momentum and struck down the giant with a single swing of her Famous Sword, Napoleon.

The other three elite Vice Admirals seized the chance to slash Linlin in quick succession!

To their astonishment, their Armament Haki-coated blades struck her as though she were a steel plate—and bounced right off!

Their blades even came away chipped!

That was the terrifying physical gift known as Iron Balloon!

And that was Linlin now.

Even at five years old, she could kill a giant bear with one slap.

When her Hunger Pangs struck, she had even killed a giant with ease!

Back then, she knew nothing of Haki or Swordsmanship.

It was easy to see how terrifying the Iron Balloon gift was!

And at that moment, the system had collected Linlin's fearsome physical gift!

"I've gotten quite a bit stronger again!"

Rono could feel his strength rising!

He had already reached Admiral level, yet he could still grow stronger. Even he had not expected such a welcome surprise!

Good. Very good!

He wanted more gifts like this!

They would help him kill every last one of those Celestial Dragon swine!

"But there's no way Rocks can kill Kong, Garp, Zephyr, and Sengoku here."

"Because reinforcements have arrived!"

Rono's Future Sight had already shown him a glimpse of what was to come!

Reinforcements sent by the World Government would stop Rocks, Golden Lion, and Whitebeard!

And the World Government had sent no small force!

There were at least five Admiral-level presences!

Nearly ten others had auras no weaker than the elite Vice Admirals from Marine Headquarters!

Had they deployed enough troops to fill another Marine Headquarters?

The World Government's reserves ran deeper than Rono had imagined!

Sure enough, just as Rocks, Golden Lion, and Whitebeard's killing blows were about to land,

several figures appeared and blocked all three attacks!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three terrifying explosions tore through the center of the battlefield, scattering dust in every direction!

When the smoke cleared, everyone saw

five elderly men with graying hair and beards standing at the center of the battlefield!

Two had stopped Rocks.

One each had stopped Whitebeard and Golden Lion!

The fifth stood before Rono!

One had curly hair, another was bald, one wore a suit, another wore a kimono, and the last held a Famous Sword!

All five had gray hair or beards and looked at least sixty years old!

Yet their auras were as vast and deep as the sea!

Judging by their auras alone, none was weaker than Zephyr, Sengoku, Kong, Garp, or the other Marine powerhouses present!

They were none other than the Five Elders, the World Government's highest authority in the public eye!

"Astonishing. The Marines have been routed this badly?"

"The Rocks Pirates have grown even stronger!"

"Terrifying. It's fortunate we made it. Another second, and the consequences would have been unthinkable."

"We must reassess just how dangerous the Rocks Pirates are!"

"For now, let's end this battle."

Once they took in the situation, even the usually composed elders could not keep their expressions steady!

They were utterly stunned!

Before arriving, they had believed that even with the Most Evil Criminal joining the fight, the Marines might fail to suppress the Rocks Pirates, but they would not lose.

Now they saw it was worse than a loss. It was a rout!

They had come within a hair's breadth of catastrophe!

If the elders had arrived even a moment later, the Marines would have lost at least four Admiral-level fighters!

Losing four such fighters would leave the Marines an organization in name only!

Could the World Government alone withstand the Rocks Pirates' relentless attacks then?

The five elders shuddered at the thought.

P.S.:

To all you handsome readers, the book's debut is almost here. Three updates a day, right on schedule—sound good?

I wanted to ask which you'd prefer: one update at 7 a.m., one at noon, and one at 7 p.m.,

or all three at 7 p.m.? This is my first book on Fanqie, so I'm not sure which works better.