Chapter 38: Battle at Marienford! - Rias vs. Akainu
Rias smiled slightly as she watched from the corner of her eye as Marco caught Luffy, Zoro, and Ace in their transformation, holding them by their clothes with his claws. She had been waiting for this to happen so that she could fight more freely. Up until now, she had only been slowly releasing her aura and power, causing Akainu to be cautious and not make any hasty moves.
Now, however, the Marine base had been destroyed, Aokiji was defeated, and Zoro had cut off Kizaru's arm. Trees filled the place, and Rias stood atop a huge trunk with Akainu in front of her.
Akainu gritted his teeth and thought furiously, "This woman! She's clearly been watching me and pressuring me with her power to not make any moves!... If it wasn't for her, Aokiji wouldn't have been defeated and that blonde brat would have died for us."
"However... There's no denying that she's powerful. I'll have to be careful with my movements."
"Am I done thinking, Admiral-san?" Rias asked as she tilted her head slightly to the side. She maintained a slight smile at all times. She knew that these little things angered many people, especially when it came to a battle.
"Nnnguh!" Akainu growled before clenching his fists and leaping forward.
"Dai Funka!!" Akainu's fist and almost the entirety of his forearm turned into magma and gained a large amount of momentum before extending and enlarging as he traveled forward. The tree trunk he was standing on burned as the blow traveled forward and exploded slightly, releasing small rocks boiling with magma, striking omnidirectionally and thus preventing Rias from escaping.
Sadly, this battle was never destined for a victory for the admiral.
When Rias saw the attack, she raised her hand and left her palm facing forward. Her hand released a scarlet red energy and it shot out like a large pillar that swallowed the magma and destroyed it.
Akainu moved to the side in surprise, noticing that there wasn't even any ash or dust left from his previous attack; everything was absolutely destroyed without leaving anything.
"You don't even introduce yourself, how aggressive. Well, I recognize you... but I will introduce myself. My name is Rias Gremory," Rias said calmly, but then raised her hand.
"But, you have to be careful, Admiral-san," Rias laughed in amusement as she pointed a finger at Akainu's shoulder. "You never know when you might get a surprise attack~"
Akainu had black lines all over his face as he moved his head slightly and saw a small scarlet sphere floating beside his shoulder. Seeing this, he immediately reacted and dropped to the ground, but the sphere grew larger and ended up taking a part of his shoulder away, revealing blood, muscle, and a small part of bone.
"Gah!" Akainu screamed in pain before rolling to the side and standing up while gritting his teeth and glaring fiercely at Rias.
"Ryuusei Kazan!! 2," Akainu growled before clenching his arms tightly and pointing towards the sky. In an instant, he released dozens of fists made of magma that began to fall like fiery meteors towards Rias and around her.
However, Rias only moved her hands slightly, with her palms pointing towards the sky. Her power of destruction was released from both of her hands and formed two dragons that slowly surrounded her before opening their mouths and shooting into the sky, swallowing each of the magma fists.
"Unfortunately, Admiral-san, you are unlucky that your opponent is not suitable," Rias sighed a little, there was no need to prolong the battle much longer. "My power eliminates and destroys everything, even the connection of a person's soul."
"None of your attacks will work."
Rias now looked at Akainu with cold eyes and pointed two fingers at him.
Ten swords created with the power of destruction appeared surrounding the Admiral and at a simply ridiculous speed, they stabbed into his body before exploding. Navy Admiral Sakazuki was destroyed without leaving anything behind, not even a scream of agony could be heard when his existence was eliminated.
Rias let out a sigh before looking at her hands for a few seconds.
"I really... wasted a lot of potential. If it weren't for the chat... I wonder how weak I really would be at this point?"
. . .
"I'm done... Huh?" Shirohige smiled as he watched Akainu die and Marco begin to descend with Luffy, Ace, and Zoro.
"Oyaji... I..." Ace looked at his father in embarrassment.
"Don't apologize, Ace! I have a responsibility in this too! If I had stopped you, this wouldn't have happened!" Shirohige exclaimed before slamming the back of his Naginata, Murakumogiri on the floor of his ship.
"Kids!! This war is over for us!! Everyone, get back to your ships and let's party again!!"
"OHHHHH!!", everyone shouted excitedly before they started running towards the ships.
Sengoku had an ugly expression as he watched all this. But, he also glanced sideways at Garp, who was sitting near him. Monkey D. Garp had barely moved, and even if he could have caught Ace, Luffy, and Zoro when they arrived and were falling because of the Mokuton, he didn't. He simply dodged the trees and pretended he couldn't catch them.
And, even though they had lost, Sengoku couldn't completely blame his old friend. Even if he didn't have children or grandchildren, he understood family love and understood what his friend might be going through.
In fact, no one expected the appearance of Roronoa Zoro alongside three extremely powerful people. They couldn't blame themselves right now. But, that didn't mean he wasn't angry and frustrated as he watched the enemy ships retreat into the sea, some descending beneath the sea with coatings, others sailing on the surface.
Sengoku gritted his teeth with more fury as he saw the bloody trees and dead marines hanging from some branches. Aokiji was still lying down, but now completely unconscious. Kizaru had been so shocked to lose an arm, that he practically didn't participate in the war. He had been told multiple times not to rely too much on the power of his devil fruit, but he ignored each of those words.
Akainu was dead, leaving nothing behind.
And the Shichibukai... They barely moved. They seemed more interested in watching the massacre of the Admirals. But, not much could be expected from them either. After all, they were powerful pirates and they had only accepted the position of Shichibukai simply so that the world government would ignore their misdeeds. Well, most of them, there were only two who were actually more respectable.
"Garp..."
"What's wrong, Sengoku?"
A vein nearly popped on Sengoku's forehead as he looked at his old friend.
"STOP SMILING, BASTARD!!"
"Bwahahaha! I'm sorry, I know it's wrong with everything that happened, Sengoku!", Garp laughed exclaiming in joy, but then looked more seriously at the battlefield below him: "However, this will really cause trouble: The appearance of three apparent pirates capable of killing admirals without too much effort, the recovery of Ace, Shirohige still alive and more... So many things have piled up in one place, at the same time"
"... ", Sengoku was silent for a long moment before dropping his body and sitting next to Garp, sighing at everything that had happened.
"I'm too old for all this shit..."
"Bwahahaha! Yeah, you're pretty old, aren't you?!". Garp laughed.
"Shut up! You're just as old!"
"Bwahahahaha!"
"...*Sigh*... "
. . .
Several hours later – somewhere in paradise
"KANPAI!!"
The entire crew of Shirohige's pirates and their fleet had anchored their boats around an uninhabited island. Bonfires and bonfires lit up the night as music reverberated and brightened the atmosphere. Barrels of alcohol were stacked in various places as everyone shouted, drank, sang, and had fun with glee.
"Shishishishi!! This is great!" Luffy laughed loudly before taking a bite of a large piece of meat.
"Also, it's good to see you well, Zoro!"
"Ah… I was all screwed up, but the guys helped me out," Zoro replied after finishing a large glass of sake and pointed at the trio from the other world.
"Woah~... This meat is great!" Naruto said with shining eyes as he held a huge piece of meat by the bone sticking out from both sides. He had already taken a big bite out of it.
"I don't think it's a good idea to drink though..." Rias mentioned as she looked at her large wooden cup filled with Sake, it smelled especially good, but she was hesitant to drink it or not.
"...."
"Harry?" Rias asked, having expected an answer from the one who might be the most intelligent and sensible of the group, but when she turned her head, she saw Harry gulping down the sake in his cup in one go.
"Puah~! This Sake is too good!" Harry smiled with his cheeks slightly flushed from the alcohol, but by no means drunk. "Eh?... Drink some, Rias! They've been fighting in a war and I transformed for the first time! I need some rest and fun for my body! Especially when I haven't had this much fun since.... Well, ever!"
"Gurarararara! They're interesting brats!" Shirohige laughed before drinking Sake from his huge bowl. Naruto had healed his wounds, but the strongest man in the world hadn't returned to his prime. Even though his wounds had healed, they had been on for a while, so he won't be able to return to his peak anymore.
Well, it's not like he'll need it too much, the old man was just a monster.
"Right..." Ace stood up and stood in front of the trio before bowing. "Thank you very much for helping Luffy's friend, me too."
"Hahahahaha... don't worry, it's normal to help when you can," Naruto mentioned before tasting the sake. "I see... I understand why old Tsunade likes this. Even though it burns a little, it tastes good."
"Right, guys!" Luffy shouted and stretched his neck so that his head was wrapped around Harry's neck. "Why don't you join my crew? You're interesting!"
"Sorry, Luffy. But we formed our own crew before we got to where Zoro was."
"Ehhh~?!" Luffy sulked a bit but turned his head back to where he was and started dancing and singing while holding his meat in one hand and his sake cup in the other. Not only had they saved his brother, he also reunited with Zoro and learned that the rest of his crew were probably alive and well somewhere. He was happy and his worries had largely vanished.
"Gosh... I really needed something like this," Harry chuckled softly as he commented, pouring himself more sake and taking his own piece of meat. Rias just looked at him before smiling and looking ahead where everyone was dancing and singing with laughter. She had never been to a party like this or met people like the pirates of the Shirohige crew. Each person seemed unique and while they could be cruel to strangers, in confidence they could be the most protective and friendly.
If she had declined the invitation to the chat room, If she hadn't been in the group, then she wouldn't have grown as much mentally as she did physically and spiritually. She couldn't have met Harry and Naruto. She couldn't have been a part of this party and had such an experience.
Rias laughed joyfully and loudly for the first time in a long time before drinking the entirety of the Sake in her cup and taking Harry's hand.
"Huh?"
"Isn't it time to have some fun? Let's go dance a little!" Rias said excitedly and Harry just followed her. Naruto rubbed his chin as he watched his two closest friends starting to dance.
"Mmm~... Maybe?..." Naruto narrowed his eyes almost into slits and after a few seconds, he smiled loudly, giving him the appearance of a playful fox.
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