This was a technique Bege had developed recently during his practice of absorbing shadows. This slash contained Bege's ideals and will, and it could be said to be his strongest sword technique to date.
"Ptooey!"
After unleashing this slash, Bege instantly spat out a large mouthful of blood, coughing continuously. The ground before him was stained crimson.
As he coughed, shadows flew out of his mouth, flitting in the air. However, they had nowhere to go.
Bege's body also rapidly shrank back to its normal size. He knelt on the ground, coughing up blood incessantly.
Just then, Moria strode over. Rear Admiral Fedeler was no match for him; Moria had defeated him in mere minutes.
"You're reckless. With these injuries, don't expect to recover in less than a year," Moria said, shaking his head as he looked at the coughing Bege.
"Let's get out of here while we can," Bege said with a wry smile.
Moria scooped up Bege in one arm and began to run at full speed.
"Don't forget Riki and the others," Bege called out weakly.
"Damn it, you're still thinking about others at a time like this," Moria cursed under his breath, but turned and rushed towards Riki and Gilon. Both had been knocked unconscious by Moria. Bege quickly pulled them into his inner castle, and then Moria dashed towards the direction of the ship.
In the distance, amidst the destroyed ruins, Mad Tiger pushed aside the stones pressing down on him. His face was pale, his suit in tatters, and several conspicuous blade wounds marked his body, bleeding profusely.
He suddenly coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
He clutched his wounds, his expression extremely ugly, a trace of fear in his eyes. Bege's slash just now had been terrifying. If he weren't an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit user, proficient in Armament Haki and the Rokushiki technique Tekkai, boasting formidable defense, the outcome might have been severe injury.
"Bastards, don't even think about escaping." Mad Tiger was filled with fury. He pursued at full speed, rushing through the air towards the battlefield from earlier, but Bege was nowhere to be seen.
Mad Tiger scanned his surroundings and spotted a Marine figure in the distance. He flickered over to him and said grimly, "Which way did they escape?"
"That way," the Marine said, pointing in a direction, fear evident in his voice.
"Immediately notify the Sabaody Archipelago Marine Base. Send out all Marines to find the location of their ship. We must stop them," Mad Tiger said quickly, then sped off in pursuit.
Moria carried Bege, running wildly, crashing through the streets.
But his speed was no match for Mad Tiger using Soru at full throttle. In less than fifteen minutes, Mad Tiger had caught up.
A blade of light flew from afar. Moria quickly dodged, the blade energy exploding on the ground, causing panic in the streets as civilians fled in terror.
"He still has this kind of fighting strength after my strongest attack." Bege looked at Mad Tiger, who was rapidly approaching, and clenched his fists in frustration.
The panicked civilians gave Mad Tiger pause, preventing him from carelessly launching attacks. He instead focused on closing the distance with Moria even faster.
"Keep running. I'll deal with him," Bege growled through gritted teeth. Moria placed Bege on his shoulder.
Castle gates cracked open on Bege's chest, and a large number of disciples emerged, pushing cannons to the gates.
"Fire!" Bege roared.
Cannonballs flew out, growing larger the instant they left Bege's body. Dozens of cannonballs shot towards Mad Tiger.
Mad Tiger swung his sword, blades of light exploding the cannonballs in a series of blasts.
Mad Tiger constantly changed direction, the cannonballs unable to hit him.
"Moria, he's coming," Bege said, staring intently at Mad Tiger. The instant he disappeared, Bege sensed danger and shouted.
The next moment, Mad Tiger appeared beside Moria, kicking him.
Moria crashed into a nearby building, destroying the wall.
"Damn, that hurts," Moria groaned, climbing out of the rubble, clutching his waist in pain. Just then a powerful slash came bursting in, directly cutting through his body, slicing half of it off. But, no blood was visible. The body parts quickly reformed.
Moria was horrified; He was able to react just in time to use Shadow Warrior to switch a portion of his body with his shadow, and dodge the deadly blow.
Mad Tiger was surprised that his attack had failed.
"Shadow's Spear!" Moria's eyes turned violent, his shadow transforming into a black triangular spear that shot towards Mad Tiger, who dodged with a grimace.
Bege climbed out of the rubble, lying on the debris and watching Mad Tiger and Moria fight. Although Mad Tiger had the upper hand, he surprisingly couldn't quickly defeat Moria. This indicated that Mad Tiger had been significantly injured in their battle.
Disciples jumped out of the castle gates on Bege's chest, holding guns and protecting him.
Suddenly, gunfire rang out. Mad Tiger's expression changed. He dodged a series of bullets, but a few were extremely fast, weaving through the rain of bullets and targeting his vital points.
Mad Tiger's face changed drastically. He dodged, or slashed to deflect bullets. But he unexpectedly failed to completely evade, and a bullet struck his shoulder.
"We hit him! Excellent! Keep firing, cover the Godfather!" Seven disciples holding unique sniper rifles stood beside Bege, taking careful aim at Mad Tiger.
They were the ones who had just hit Mad Tiger.
These seven were his elite snipers, experts he had gathered from the West Blue, skilled in coordination. The sniper squad formed by the seven of them possessed immense destructive power.
In that instant, Mad Tiger's body weakened, and his brief distraction gave Moria an opening. He punched Mad Tiger, sending him flying.
Mad Tiger rolled on the ground for over ten meters, his expression changing drastically. He knelt on one knee.
"Seastone bullets." Mad Tiger was extremely weak at this moment. He felt his Devil Fruit abilities being suppressed and immediately understood that the bullet lodged in his shoulder was made of Seastone.
"Moria, stop fighting. Let's escape while we can," Bege shouted, simultaneously pulling his disciples back into his inner castle.
Moria turned, unwilling, and picked up Bege, beginning to flee.
Mad Tiger watched them escape, punching the ground in extreme frustration.
Moria ran all the way to Grove 44's harbor, where a gunfight was taking place. Marines were battling his disciples.
Fortunately, Modi and the others were all at the harbor, and the Marines were clearly at a disadvantage.
Moreover, Hank and the others were also at the harbor, which relieved Bege. His greatest worry had been that Hank and the others hadn't escaped.
Moria rushed to the harbor, his shadow transforming into Shadow's Spear, taking down several Marines.
"Board the ship! Prepare to depart!" Bege said weakly.
Everyone quickly boarded the ship. Laboon pulled the ship, beginning to leave the harbor.
At that moment, a blur flashed to the edge of the harbor. It was Mad Tiger.
He roughly pulled the Seastone bullet from his shoulder with his hand and then charged forward rapidly.
Mad Tiger leaped into the air, once again swinging his sword.
"Shoot him down!" Bege roared. All the castle gates on his body opened, and cannonballs shot towards the sky.
Modi stepped onto the bridge, swinging his sword abruptly. A fierce gale erupted, and countless wind blade-like slashes shot towards Mad Tiger.
"Raining Tigers!"
Mad Tiger roared. Dense blades of light shot out, exploding the cannonballs and blade energies, continuing to shoot forward.
Modi swung his sword frantically, trying to block the blades of light. Moria's shadow transformed into shadow bats, colliding with the blades of light.
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