The officers wanted to hone the strength of the Seventh Division's ordinary members, hoping to develop a few officers capable of holding down a territory on their own.
Besides, Lind was thoroughly enjoying his battle with Zephyr in the sky and showed no sign of losing.
So the officers stayed aboard the ship to watch, only stepping in to rescue members when they were in danger.
The battle continued like that for ten hours. Before the officers even joined the fight, the Marines could no longer hold out. They began falling one after another, either killed or taken prisoner.
"Zephyr, looks like your men can't hold out anymore. You Marines really never learn, do you?"
"The same thing happened to Sengoku last time. Without any powerful backup, all his men were captured!"
"And now you've done it too. Aside from yourself, you didn't bring a few more strong rear admirals or vice admirals!"
"See? Your men have been captured again!"
Noticing the situation below, Lind gloated as he taunted Zephyr.
Zephyr's expression darkened. He clearly hadn't expected this.
By his calculations, Lind's men were all newly recruited pirates, with no major pirates among them.
Given his subordinates' strength, even if they couldn't win, they should have been able to maintain a stalemate until he defeated Lind.
Lind's strength had also exceeded his expectations. According to Sengoku, Lind's physique was still far inferior to his own; only his Devil Fruit ability was particularly powerful.
With his strength, he should have been able to easily overwhelm Lind and force him to retreat.
He really had been careless this time. Fortunately, Hill should have called for reinforcements once he began losing ground. Judging by the time, they should be arriving soon.
Things were indeed as Zephyr had expected. Vice Admiral Tanuki, who had been patrolling nearby, had already been there for a while.
But Vice Admiral Tanuki was very levelheaded. She knew that even if she joined the battle, she would only be feeding reinforcements into it piecemeal. She couldn't change the situation and might instead prompt the officers to enter the fight early.
Besides, the Marines had still been barely holding on, so she hadn't rushed into battle. Instead, she circled the outskirts of the battlefield, waiting for more Marine reinforcements.
Unfortunately, even now, with Zephyr's men on the verge of collapse, only Vice Admiral Rock Wolf, the commander of the G-1 Branch, had arrived. The other reinforcements were still on their way.
Although Vice Admiral Rock Wolf was an elite vice admiral, stronger than an ordinary vice admiral, the two of them still weren't confident they could handle the five officers on the other side.
But confident or not, they had no choice. If they delayed any longer, Zephyr would lose all his men.
So the two stopped waiting and led their subordinates into battle.
The arrival of two fresh forces gave the Marines a much-needed boost. In particular, the addition of Vice Admiral Rock Wolf and Vice Admiral Tanuki immediately reversed their disadvantage.
Both sides had already been fighting for ten hours, and the Seventh Division's members had exhausted much of their stamina and suffered plenty of wounds!
Faced with the assault from the Marines led by Vice Admiral Rock Wolf and Vice Admiral Tanuki, they were clearly struggling to keep up.
Axel noticed the situation on the battlefield and knew it was time for the five of them to act. He planned to have Calvin and Rex deal with Vice Admiral Rock Wolf and Vice Admiral Tanuki.
But before Axel could act, Lind's voice rang out from the sky.
"Axel, stop holding back. Finish them off as quickly as possible, then retreat!"
Rock Wolf and Tanuki's appearance told Lind that it was about time to end this battle. The other Marine reinforcements would soon arrive one after another, so it was best to quit while they were ahead.
Two vice admirals, one of them a base commander-they had definitely landed some big fish this time. He needed to know when to be satisfied.
Hearing Lind's voice, Axel and the others quickly understood his meaning. All five immediately went all out, surrounding and attacking Rock Wolf, Tanuki, and Axel.
With the cooperation of the division's other members, they captured all the Marines aboard the three ships in just half an hour.
Clearly, the five also knew Lind didn't want to antagonize the Marines too much. Unsure of his exact intentions, they only captured the Marines rather than deliberately killing them, planning to wait until they returned for Lind to deal with them.
"Hahahaha! Well done! Take the Wanderer and retreat first! I'll be right behind you. Don't worry about the other three ships. I'll bring them back!"
Seeing his men successfully defeat and capture the opposing Marines, Lind burst out laughing.
He planned to do the same as last time: let the others leave first while he stayed behind to keep Zephyr occupied.
As Lind laughed, he intensified his offensive, preventing Zephyr from leaving.
"Ah! Unforgivable! Lind, sooner or later, you'll pay for this!" Zephyr roared at Lind, his eyes reddening.
"Hahahaha! I'm more interested in how much ransom you'll pay. Of course, don't even think about buying back those two vice admirals!"
"As for Hill, that depends on how much sincerity you Marines show!"
"Otherwise, he'll join Rock Wolf and Tanuki as the first guests in my Base Prison!"
"Who knows? They might be pirates the next time you meet. I wonder if you'll be able to bring yourselves to attack your own colleagues then!"
Facing Zephyr's impotent rage, Lind was taking some painful hits, but his words betrayed none of it. Instead, he kept provoking Zephyr.
After another half hour of being beaten back by Zephyr, Lind downed another bottle of liquor to recover from his injuries and restore his stamina.
After finishing it, Lind thought for a moment, then drank a bottle of coconut juice made from Divine Dragon Coconut to replenish his telekinesis.
"Hahahaha! Zephyr, stop chasing me. Accept your fate and pay up for your men!" After recovering his telekinesis, Lind didn't immediately head toward the Wanderer. Instead, he led Zephyr around in circles.
"All right, Zephyr, I'm leaving. No need to see me off!" After leading Zephyr around for an hour, Lind reckoned Zephyr wouldn't be able to find the Wanderer and decided to shake him off.
Lind accelerated Autumn and shot away. Flying with Geppo, Zephyr couldn't keep up with him at all and was soon left behind.
Unable to do anything about Lind, Zephyr could only remain where he was and furiously vent his anger on the sea and clouds, blasting gaping holes through them with the force of his punches.
Meanwhile, after shaking off Zephyr, Lind first returned to the three warships.
He lifted the three warships with telekinesis, then took out Axel's Vivre Card, intending to catch up with the Wanderer.
"Shit, Vivre Cards! Doesn't that mean leading Zephyr around in circles was a complete waste? Zephyr can find the Wanderer directly through Hill's Vivre Card!" Lind's expression changed, and he slapped his forehead.
"Let's just run for now. Once we reach the base, things will be easier!"
"The Marines probably won't mobilize two Admiral-level fighters just to gang up on me, right?"
"After all, that would practically be a declaration of war! The rest of the Rocks Pirates definitely wouldn't stand by and watch."
"With the current balance of strength, the Marines alone are actually a little weaker than the Rocks Pirates when it comes to top-tier fighters. They won't start a war lightly."
Thinking about what might happen afterward, Lind hurriedly kept reassuring himself.
I didn't notice while writing, but now that I'm rereading it, doesn't the protagonist's performance this time seem a little exaggerated?
Before you continue