Chapter 19: Reenactment

An incomparably enormous fist suddenly appeared from Kaido's right side.

"Hm?"

While Kaido was still thinking about having a proper fight with Whitebeard, that massive fist slammed into Kaido and drove him into the ground.

"Urwah."

The giant hand vanished, and one of Luffy's legs stretched out at an absurd speed and length, taking a single stride to the spot where Kaido had been sent flying, then using the rubber's rebound to leap back.

"Hahaha, Kaido you bastard, where'd you suddenly pop out from?"

Luffy laughed. In this state, no matter what, he felt utterly overjoyed, with an inexhaustible stream of power welling up from within his body.

"I thought it was that guy Su Lin coming back."

"Didn't expect it to be you yourself."

Luffy spoke toward the crater.

The next second, the ground behind Luffy bulged slightly.

Then—

Kaido leapt out, raising his kanabo above his head with both hands.

"Thunder Bagua!"

Duang~!

Luffy was hammered straight into the same crater Kaido had made earlier.

"So that guy's called Su Lin, huh. Thanks for that."

"That hurts!" Luffy covered his head and leapt out from underground, still wearing that exaggerated grin.

Looking at the three-way standoff, the onlookers—

only now realized that this Kaido did not appear to be the impersonator.

"It's the real Kaido!"

"Another real Emperor of the Sea has shown up."

"Just where will this war end up?"

Even the members of the Whitebeard Pirates were a little dumbfounded.

Warlords like Gecko Moria and Doflamingo were already at a loss for words, silently drifting away from the heart of the conflict to watch the show from the sidelines.

They had come to help the Marines fight the Whitebeard Pirates, not to throw their lives away for the Marines.

The level of fighting over there was already beyond what they could join without taking serious damage.

Watching the excitement from here was plenty fine.

Doflamingo's face darkened—his plans had been thrown into chaos by this bunch.

Boa Hancock watched Luffy's fighting with rapt attention, fantasizing about the scene of Luffy defeating Kaido and proposing to her.

The Marines seized the opportunity: with Kaido here to keep the Straw Hat entangled, they could focus their main force on pursuing the Whitebeard Pirates.

The situation seemed to be shifting once again.

"Not bad. Looks like you won't bore me."

After realizing Luffy's strength, Kaido transformed into his Azure Dragon form and began to battle Luffy.

Surging thunder and flames spewed forth, and rampant Conqueror's Haki reverberated across the battlefield.

Luffy in his Nika form, wrapped in elemental attacks, ignored the thunder and began his second bout with Kaido.

Although Luffy had already fought Kaido once before—

this Kaido could be said to have gone all out from the start, which was still a little different from that time.

Thanks to the experience gained from the previous battle, Luffy still held the upper hand, regardless of whether Kaido used Flame Bagua or any other technique.

Wounds began to appear on Luffy's body, and the rate of healing could no longer keep up with the rate at which new wounds were added.

The two traded injury for injury, and the shockwaves of their battle caused the ground of Marineford to tremble nonstop; every strike from either of them came wreathed in flame, thunder, and gale.

Su Lin, who had disguised himself as a Marine soldier and was recuperating in the rear, watched the scene with a shudder of dread.

If he got caught up in that, there really wouldn't even be scraps left of him.

The system's points had reached the threshold of 7,000.

He did not choose to exchange for items directly, but instead opened the "bicycle to motorcycle" interface.

"System, gacha!"

This system's gacha was unlike common gachas—it was a tiered gacha.

For example, with a minimum investment of 1,000 points, the probability of drawing an item worth less than the points spent was 45%, equal in value was 30%, and above in value was roughly 25%; the higher the value, the lower the probability.

But people, after all, always have to take a gamble.

Especially a young man like Su Lin, who had gotten rich overnight from a single battle, was now already fired up and had thrown in 3,000 points.

The gacha interface was utterly unremarkable; only a wisp of grey flowing light appeared, then entered Su Lin's body.

【Sequence 3? Ancient Scholar? Historical Projection】: Freeloading, nesting dolls, escaping—the price of the gift has already been paid. PS: Don't even think about exploiting system bugs.

This was a good thing. Wait—this was from the Lord's World, wasn't it?!

Su Lin searched the search bar, and there was no such product listed.

It seemed the types that appeared in the gacha pool were more varied.

This ability was pretty good, very suited to him.

Feeling the ability being poured into him, Su Lin gradually mastered its usage, and also sensed roughly how many times he could use it—projecting different things consumed different amounts.

He had no Spirituality, so the consumption was fixed from the start.

Since it was merely a standalone ability, no bodily mutation occurred.

Su Lin, who always followed his heart, immediately chose to slip into the gaps of history, leaving his previous self outside.

Tsk.

So I really can't exploit any bugs.

His historical projection and the main body share the same system item duration.

The pocket watch... can't be manifested.

Forget it. It's about time for a glorious curtain call.

"Hey, you two old-timers over there!"

Sensing that the present moment could not be missed, that this was the time to give it everything, Whitebeard held nothing back, no longer caring about his old wounds. After giving Ma Erke some instructions, he leapt straight into the heart of the chaos with an invincible martial bearing.

The center of the fighting in Marineford now raged like a violent storm.

Anyone careless enough to get swept in would have to pray for their own good fortune.

Garp and Sengoku went after Whitebeard.

Aokiji and Kizaru also held nothing back, fighting it out with the numerous commanders.

Perhaps in a one-on-one fight, aside from Ma Erke, there were few who could battle an Admiral for long, let alone win.

But there were simply more people on this side, and more Devil Fruit users too, so they could impose some degree of restraint.

With the top brass of the Marines all joining the battle, the morale of the Marine elites returned once more under these circumstances.

"Whitebeard's defeat is only a matter of time." Su Lin observed the situation below through a spyglass from atop the clouds.

While changing his historical projection into a dashing set of entrance clothes.

【Dazzling Entrance】 1 point: This book has compiled and constructed over a thousand different entrance methods for various occasions. (Supporting abilities must be purchased separately.) — A thunderous roar from the sky

"Kaido's appearance is rather unexpected, but even if Kaido hadn't shown up, getting away like this would still be pretty hard."

"Red-Haired's ship will need some more time to get here."

"Whitebeard's remaining ships definitely can't carry that many people, and they won't be able to escape Aokiji and Kizaru's pursuit either."

Red-Haired's ships had already come into view through the spyglass, though still at some distance.

"Admirals really are something else."

Looks like Akainu is about to recover too — is that sit-up skill just a regular skill for people in the world of pirates?

That move is called Life Return, I think.