Chicken, Dog, and Monkey: The Future Three Admirals Were No Match

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Rono had held back because he was feeling his power grow!

A stream of notifications kept sounding, and his blood surged.

The battle had lasted less than ten minutes, yet his Three Types of Haki had already advanced by leaps and bounds!

He was growing several times faster than he had during three months of sparring with Whitebeard!

It was just as he had thought!

If he wanted to break through and gain even greater power, he had two options.

He could challenge someone stronger than himself and pick up their power!

Or he could join a war on this scale and let countless gains add up to a breakthrough!

The time had come for him to strike and deal the Marines a crushing blow!

"Brothers, charge with me! Find the Celestial Dragons and kill them all!"

Blood pumping, Rono led the Seventh Division into battle!

Swish, swish, swish!

The moment he entered the fray, Rono drew Kotetsu and unleashed several razor-sharp arcs of Sword Aura.

At least thirty Marines screamed as the arcs swallowed them in an instant!

"Damn it! It's Rono, the Great Pirate with a 1.5-billion bounty—the Most Evil Criminal!"

"That Sword Aura was vicious. I nearly died."

"We don't stand a chance against a Great Pirate like him!"

The few Marines lucky enough to survive spoke with lingering fear.

Swish!

Rono unleashed another terrifying arc of Sword Aura.

As his Swordsmanship improved, his Sword Aura had grown no weaker than that of Great Swordmasters like Golden Lion and Whitebeard!

Screams rang out.

In an instant, dozens more Marines were swallowed by the attack!

They fell like crops before a scythe, a whole swath with every stroke.

"Follow Boss Rono! Charge!"

Behind Rono, Kaido's blood was boiling too!

Rono cut down Marines as easily as chickens!

This was his idol—Rono the Hero!

He had made the right choice. Golden Lion and Silver Axe couldn't compare to Boss Rono!

"Seventh Division, charge!"

Kaido raised his spiked club and barreled headlong into a cluster of more than a dozen Marines.

The next moment, he sent them all flying!

For the past three months, Kaido had practiced Armament Haki's Ryuo every day under Rono's supervision!

With his extraordinary natural talent, he had mastered Ryuo in that time.

Combined with Ryuo's ability to destroy a target from within, each swing of his club was practically a death sentence!

"Charge!"

"Kill the Marines! Kill the Celestial Dragons!"

The members of the Seventh Division unleashed their abilities too!

Led by Rono, they tore through the battlefield as though no one could stop them!

Wherever the Seventh Division went, the Marines suffered heavy losses!

Everyone feared death.

Even Marines who stood for Justice!

Knowing they would be killed with ease, Marines who encountered the Seventh Division retreated without even trying to fight.

Marine morale plummeted.

The balance that had held across the battlefield shattered in an instant!

After all, the Marines' strongest fighters had almost no strength to spare to stop Rono.

Forget Rono—they couldn't even free up anyone capable of dealing with Kaido!

If this continued, it wouldn't be long before the Marines lost.

"You damned Most Evil Criminal! It was the Celestial Dragons who killed your parents! Why are you slaughtering Marines?"

Nearby, Vice Admiral Tsuru glared at Rono, her eyes blazing with anger!

A casual swing from Rono could bury a dozen Marines.

In just a few minutes, at least two hundred Marines had died by his blade!

Her earlier fears had been right. The Most Evil Criminal's entry into the battle had broken the balance between the two forces!

The Marines and the Rocks Pirates had maintained a delicate balance until now.

Even without Rono, the Marines had only barely managed to hold the Rocks Pirates back.

Once Rono joined in, that balance was bound to collapse!

And it had!

"Heh. Spare me. You're a Marine and I'm a pirate. If I don't kill you, should I wait for you to kill me?"

Rono gave a cold snort.

He disliked attacking civilians, but that didn't make him a good man!

Good and evil were hard to define in the first place.

Good or bad, he would kill anyone who stood between him and the Celestial Dragons!

That was the rule Rono had set for himself!

Besides, Marines and pirates were enemies by nature.

If he didn't kill the Marines, they would kill him.

"Damn it. The World Government's reinforcements won't arrive for a while. All I can do now is try to buy time."

Tsuru was known as the Wise Strategist, better suited to working behind the scenes than fighting.

But with things as they were, she had no choice but to risk everything.

Even if it cost her life, she had to stop Rono here!

Otherwise, the Marines might lose before reinforcements arrived.

"Vice Admiral Tsuru, we can't let you handle the fighting!"

Noticing that Tsuru was about to act, several figures stepped in front of her.

As chief strategist, Tsuru held great prestige among the Marines and had their deep respect.

"Vice Admiral Tsuru, let us go!"

"We're Marines fighting for Justice too! We won't back down in the face of evil!"

Tsuru looked closely. The three before her were Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino!

All three were talents the Marines had taken special care to cultivate!

Their talent, potential, Devil Fruit Abilities, and dedication to Justice were exceptional.

They were proving it now.

After all, the three were still Recruits, at the height of their zeal for Justice.

Even Kizaru, who would later become notorious for slacking off, was no exception.

"I was right about you three. I'll leave it to you."

"Remember, Rono is extremely strong. Avoid a head-on fight if you can. Focus on buying time."

Tsuru did not turn them down, but she made sure to warn them.

They might be newcomers, but all three were extraordinarily gifted!

Their Haki and Hand-to-Hand Combat had already reached the level of Rear Admirals. They were nothing like ordinary Recruits!

With their Logia abilities added to that, each of them had at least the strength of a Headquarters Vice Admiral.

Three Vice Admirals should be able to hold Rono off long enough for the World Government's reinforcements to arrive.

"Understood."

The three nodded, then used Shave, one of the Six Powers, to appear before Rono and the Seventh Division!

They blocked the division's path.

"Who are they?"

"The Marines' Logia users!"

The Seventh Division's members recognized them at once.

These were the three who had joined forces to destroy Golden Lion's aerial assault: Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino!

"We're the ones who'll stop you, Most Evil Criminal!"

"Well, well. You're a newcomer like us, but your bounty is already 1.5 billion. Talk about pressure."

"Ooh, the Most Evil Criminal. How scary."

The three stood before the Seventh Division, resolute in their Justice!

"Hahaha! This is good. Have the Marines run out of people? They sent you three to stop me?"

Looking at the still-green Chicken, Dog, and Monkey, Rono burst out laughing.

If the three had been at their peak, he might have given them a wide berth.

But they were newcomers who had joined the Marines just three months ago!

Sweeping them with his Observation Haki, Rono found that even counting their top-tier Logia Devil Fruits, they were Vice Admiral level at best.

To put it bluntly, if the Marines hadn't run out of options, these three wouldn't even qualify to fight him.

"Damn you, Most Evil Criminal! Don't look down on us!"

"You're just as much a newcomer as we are!"

"Justice will triumph over evil!"

The hot-tempered Sakazuki bristled at Rono's words.

Rono clearly didn't take him seriously at all.

In that case, he would show Rono what he could do!