Chapter 34

How could the world be that vast? Who did you think you were, Zoro?

"Serious Punch."

Tiny arcs of Haki crackled continuously from Naito's pitch-black right fist. As he threw the punch, the force wrapped around it abruptly turned violent.

The air caved in under an invisible force. Before Naito's fist even struck Leonard, the great pirate felt a violent force slam into his chest, as though it would smash his body to pieces!

Leonard's eyes widened.

He couldn't help recalling what had happened four years ago.

Back then, he had just swept his way from Paradise into the New World again, and the world had called him a pirate Supernova.

But just as he had been preparing to challenge the great pirate Big Mom, full of ambition, one of her sons had utterly crushed the Leonard Pirates before he even got to see the monster herself. He had escaped with his life only through luck.

He had felt just as powerless then as he did now.

This brat-

The fist crashed into Leonard's chest like a meteor. His breastbone caved in instantly, and his spine snapped. The man's back bulged outward like rubber.

Boom!!

Leonard went flying so fast that ordinary people couldn't even make out his figure.

The Haki spreading outward became a cataclysmic shock wave. In an instant, it obliterated the already collapsed palace, then surged onward with undiminished force, crushing everything in its path and carving out a fan-shaped passage hundreds of meters long, starting from Naito.

"Phew-"

Naito let out a long breath, and the Haki wrapped around his fist dissipated.

That punch had felt better than Luna.

After Koby erupted with power on Hachinosu, he had been able to smash the Corrupt King's enormous stone arm with one punch. Naito could probably do the same now.

Leonard was roughly at the Tobi Roppo's level, so Naito, who had crushed him using only Haki, had at least reached the threshold of a Sweet Commander or Calamity, hadn't he?

Although the Dream Projection didn't mesh very well with physical combat, he should have been at an emperor's right-hand man's level if he went all out.

Still, he should use moves that unleashed vast amounts of Haki all at once to produce a super shock wave sparingly. They were a sheer waste.

At the royal palace—no, beyond the ruined palace walls behind Naito.

The battle was only just reaching its climax.

Summoned pirates hurried toward the area, pouring in like a tide.

And the officers stood in their way.

The good news was that the pirates hadn't scattered, instead gathering in accordance with their captain's final order.

The bad news was that there were rather too many of them.

"What's that-"

Rear Admiral Marcus, who was in the middle of cutting down one of Leonard's minor officers, stared in astonishment. "What?"

The entire palace had suddenly been blown away!

Was that surging force Haki?

Zephyr stood atop a house. On the ground below, all the Leonard Pirates' senior officers lay sprawled out. Although he had only just started rehabilitating, not one pirate of that caliber could withstand a casual punch from him.

Now, the admiral of the Marine Guerrilla Unit also looked in astonishment toward where the palace had stood.

His astonishment quickly turned into a smile. The corners of Zephyr's mouth rose higher and higher until a radiant grin spread across his face. "Amazing, Naito!"

Although he had always been confident in Naito, he had still believed that Naito would have to go through a tough battle before finally making a breakthrough.

It seemed he had underestimated Naito again.

"Was that him?"

Doll kicked several pirates flying, unable to keep a look of amazement from her face.

So he'd succeeded? In training advanced Armament Haki!

It had barely been any time at all. What a monster!

His efforts hadn't been in vain.

"Good chance!"

Just then, a pirate shouted and charged at her, slashing with his blade.

Doll immediately frowned. Couldn't he see I was busy being impressed?

"Sound Soul Impact!"

The pirate flew back, crashing into and sending a large number of other pirates flying with him.

But before Doll even had time to catch her breath, more pirates came swarming at her.

"Don't be afraid of them! There are only a few of them!"

"Kill them!"

The pirates' defining trait was their stubbornness.

"There are still this many?"

A leisurely voice rang out.

Doll looked back and saw Naito standing leisurely atop the ruined palace wall, holding a burly man who had gone limp as a puddle of mud.

"Teacher Zephyr,"

Naito casually tossed Leonard to the ground. "You're taking too long, aren't you?"

Leonard was already a dead man. Naito had gotten too excited and put a little too much force into that punch.

It was actually a bit of a shame. Leonard had been a formidable fighter on the Tobi Roppo's level, after all, and Naito could originally have tried to develop him into a hub.

"I didn't expect you to be so fast either. In that case, I'll leave this to you too, Naito."

Zephyr's smile didn't fade. "Use that move. As you are now, you should be able to take care of them all at once, right?"

"Being too talented really does mean having to suffer,"

Naito said as his drooping eyelids gradually opened and his listless eyes came into focus. "Is this the trouble with being a genius?"

Buzz!

An invisible force of will immediately swept toward the pirates like an overwhelming tidal wave.

In an instant, a great number of pirates were foaming at the mouth and lying unconscious on the ground. The few who could barely withstand it immediately went limp and collapsed as well.

In that single instant, thousands of pirates had essentially all been rendered incapable of fighting.

Naito nodded in satisfaction.

Luffy had knocked out fifty thousand people at once on Fish-Man Island. If Naito couldn't handle even a few thousand, that would have been far too embarrassing.

"Is that-"

Doll stared at Naito in a daze. "Conqueror's Haki?"

This guy!

Later.

Five enormous warships had docked.

Marine soldiers swiftly came ashore and began arresting the pirates.

There were rather too many pirates, though, and they filled the holds of all five warships to bursting.

"Hey, Naito! Did you really beat Black Axe Leonard?"

On the shore, Binz excitedly questioned Naito.

Naito was currently gathering Haki at various points across his body with great enthusiasm.

Although he had indeed mastered the move, that didn't mean his training in it was over.

Faster, more efficient, more powerful.

There was still plenty to work on.

"He was just a pirate. Was that supposed to be hard?"

Naito took a moment out of his busy schedule to answer Binz.

"You bastard! Hahaha! That's incredible!"

Binz became a fountain of praise. "He was a great pirate with a bounty of over five hundred million!"

"Naito..."

Ain, who had come to find Naito with Binz, suddenly spoke up.

Naito looked up at her.

"Over there."

Ain raised a hand and pointed to a spot not far away.

Naito looked over. Behind the ruined walls, several gaunt, disheveled old people were watching them cautiously.

They seemed to notice Naito looking at them and immediately fled in terror.

"They're residents of this country, right?"

Binz said with some dissatisfaction, "We did save this country, after all. Can't they even say thanks?"

"Not we, Binz,"

Naito said calmly. "Mainly me, then the others. You were watching."

"Hey!"

Binz was furious.

Naito calmly looked away.

He could completely understand the residents' reaction.

For countries not affiliated with the World Government, the Marines were sometimes more frightening than pirates.

Still, there were at least tens of thousands of people on this island. He could actually try letting them enter the Dream World; they would never be able to resist its beauty.

But after thinking it over, he decided against it.

The reason was simple: this country was finished. Although the Leonard Pirates had been taken down, more hyenas would still come swarming in.

And he had no spare forces to protect this country. He couldn't keep an eye on it at all times and send his consciousness over whenever there was trouble, could he?

He might as well stop doing anything else and devote himself to cleaning up this country's mess.

Besides, it was far too close to the territory under the World Government's direct control.

He would wait for Luna and the others to make their move.

In any case, after all the pirates had been captured, the five warships gradually sailed away from the island.