Chapter 277: The Death of T-Bone

The battle of Seven Waters Capital had already faded into desolation with the Jin Shizi's defeat.

Big Mom hesitated not a moment, riding the thunder cloud Zeus to speed away; Wang Zhi likewise relied on the Teleport-Teleport Fruit's ability to withdraw directly from Seven Waters Capital.

"A scale like this..."

Aokiji glanced up at the floating island plummeting from the high sky, then dismissed the notion of using his own power to create ice pillars to intercept it.

The difference in scale was simply too vast!

He too disregarded everything and retreated toward the beaches of the nearby sea.

Logia-type users naturally feared mere physical impacts not at all, since elementalization could completely evade damage, yet the churning seawater all around was the bane of ability users.

Once swallowed by the sea, no matter how powerful the ability user, there was only one ending.

Even if Aokiji could freeze the seawater, being buried directly beneath the earth rendered that ability largely meaningless.

Ah Jin and Xiang Keluo were the same; after Wang Zhi retreated, Xiang Keluo transformed completely into his Kamaitachi form, relying on his ability to manipulate air currents to carry Ah Jin and the others speeding toward the outskirts of Seven Waters Capital.

Even the warships surrounding Seven Waters Capital were now running at full throttle, steering toward the rear.

Even Navy warships would be swallowed by the tsunami triggered by the impact; this was no longer a natural disaster that human strength could withstand.

At this very moment, even a single second of delay meant only one thing awaited them: death.

At the edge of Seven Waters Capital.

Several CP0 members standing aboard the World Government warship had long lost the composure they displayed earlier; even the pale-faced CP0 agent who had just narrowly escaped death under Akainu's hand cared for nothing else now.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Akainu stood on the deck, gazing at the crowd in the distance that had fallen silent out of despair, feeling nothing but a block of fire stifling his heart.

Even though he was unwilling to abandon the ordinary people present, he understood one thing clearly: he could not save these people.

The most rational course of action before his eyes was to retreat!

Yet looking at T-Bone lying on the beach, alive or dead unknown, Akainu could no longer concern himself with those matters.

Boom!

Akainu leaped into the air and landed steadily beside T-Bone,

He reached out to check the latter's breath, and after confirming T-Bone was still alive, prepared to carry T-Bone away in retreat.

But pairs of hopeful eyes all around made him halt his steps.

Many refugees, having lost their reason to panic, were searching everywhere for cover, hoping to survive the impending impact.

Yet Akainu knew clearly that all of this was futile.

The Jin Shizi was dead, yet he had brought an end to this city; even without the Buster Call, the commoners of Seven Waters Capital could not survive.

This was what hurt the most.

They had done nothing wrong, yet they had to perish in this entirely man-made catastrophe.

As if guided by spirits.

Akainu abandoned the idea of evacuating; disregarding the calls of the marines on the warship, he stood together with these dying commoners, and at that moment T-Bone's weak voice reached his ears.

"Sakazuki, justice should not be like this... *cough cough cough*..."

Threads of fresh blood spilled from T-Bone's mouth.

He was already severely injured, and having just been shot by the pale-faced CP0 agent, he was now exhaling far more than inhaling.

Akainu was no professional doctor, yet he could judge that T-Bone did not have much time left; his eye sockets gradually turned red:

"Peng En, what should the justice in your heart look like?!"

"During my time in Seven Waters Capital, I inadvertently heard Vice Admiral Lancelot mention once that no matter how brutal the order, it should at least allow these innocent people to live..."

"Survival is the final bottom line."

Akainu lifted T-Bone up, shook his head, and said:

"There is no vice admiral named Lancelot in Navy Headquarters."

"Who cares?!"

T-Bone curled the corners of his mouth into a faint smile; his face covered in blood, paired with that extremely ferocious expression, now even appeared somewhat ridiculous.

Akainu, however, could not smile in the least.

He had already realized who exactly the Lancelot spoken of by T-Bone was.

After all, only Gao Wen, who had caused such massive shifts in the philosophies of Aokiji and Zephyr, could have spoken words like these.

"If these commoners believe they are the righteous Navy, then they are."

"Are they not?!"

"Ah..."

Akainu responded with a sound, then opened his mouth to say:

"Stay alive first, then talk about anything else."

"It's useless."

T-Bone shook his head, smiling bitterly:

"With an impact of this scale, let alone the people on the island, even the retreating warships will be swallowed by the sea in an instant."

"But you can survive."

"Hey, Sakazuki, stop deceiving yourself."

"That justice of yours, which appears radical and iron-blooded, showing no mercy, yet in reality compromises at every turn, will only reduce you to a tool, saving no one."

Akainu fell silent.

He knew T-Bone spoke the truth, yet the unwillingness in his heart was difficult to describe in words, so much so that his tightly clenched fists now trembled from the excessive force.

The concept of justice he had always firmly believed in was gradually collapsing at this moment.

At the center of the battlefield.

Gao Wen pressed one hand against the long blade at his waist, feeling the air pressure screaming down from above, nearly crushing the earth beneath his feet, and for a moment, his brows knitted tightly together.

If this floating island were allowed to fall, neither the commoners of Seven Waters Capital nor Gao Wen's companions would survive—not a single one.

Gao Wen could accept neither of these outcomes.

Thus, only one choice remained before him!

Zeng—!

Amidst the ear-piercing sound of metal grinding, silver brilliance and crimson lightning flashed; the long blade in Gao Wen's hand swept across the sky like a streak of flowing light.

The floating island plummeting from the high sky halted for an instant, then split evenly into two halves from its center.

Boom—!

Blinding brilliance poured in from the smooth cut, like a slash mark that had sliced through the entire Seven Waters Capital.

And at this very moment, Luo stood right at the center of that slash mark.

He stared blankly at the island splitting apart in the high sky, his lips slightly parted, already rendered speechless by shock.

This is... the man who defeated the Jin Shizi?!

A monster who sliced an island in half with a single strike!

Luo found it difficult to describe the shock in his heart.

Yet merely an instant later, he was grabbed by Bepo and dragged into a frantic sprint toward the edge of Seven Waters Capital.

Although the floating island in the high sky had been split, its momentum of falling remained unstoppable.

That wind pressure even grew stronger as time passed; many damaged buildings began to collapse.

"Tsk—!"

Gao Wen spat out a mouthful of saliva, his expression exceedingly grim.

The Jin Shizi was dead.

But the floating island he left behind brought immense trouble; Gao Wen could slice it open, yet he found it difficult to halt its falling momentum.

Just as he prepared to try again, his movements stopped, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed at that moment.

"Has it come?!"

"Issho!"

In the distant horizon.

Tall of stature and clad in a purple haori, Fujitora sat upon a small boat, coming screaming forth.

Having lost the Jin Shizi's control, the floating island falling from the sky exceeded ten kilometers in diameter, its weight beyond estimation.

Simply lifting it through human strength was no longer something humans could accomplish.

But Fujitora could!

Or rather, the Gravity-Gravity Fruit that Fujitora possessed could!

"Ho ya~"

Fujitora rose from a half-squat, sensing Gao Wen's aura, a slight smile curling the corners of his mouth:

"So it really was you pretending to be a Marine here?!"

Gao Wen laughed:

"Cut the nonsense, help out!"

"Then this humble one shall embarrass himself."

After a faint, calm laugh.

Fujitora suddenly drew the cane-sword at his waist; with a single slash, layers of pale purple rings of light expanded from his position toward the high sky.

"Gravity Blade - Reverse Force!"

Gu—!

As the gravity rings made contact with the falling floating island, the latter's descending speed abruptly slowed.

Finally, it came to a complete halt less than a hundred meters above the ground and began to float back up into the high sky.

This crisis, which originally would have been enough to bury Seven Waters Capital along with the vast majority of people on the island in the deep sea, was resolved by Fujitora with effortless ease.

Among the three types of Devil Fruits, if the Logia type boasts the highest floor and the most exaggerated range of destruction, and the Zoan type is truly the number one in close combat, then the Paramecia type produces all sorts of mechanism-based monsters.

The Jin Shizi with his Float-Float Fruit was one; Fujitora was another.

This ability to resolve natural disasters with a mere gesture was something even Gao Wen could not achieve.

The falling island abruptly halted, then immediately began rising back into the high sky.

Everyone who witnessed this scene fell into a stupor at that moment.

"The Jin Shizi isn't dead?!"

"No!"

"That guy's aura clearly vanished!"

In the high sky.

Riding atop the thunder cloud Zeus, Big Mom, who had originally intended to watch a good show, felt as though she were in a dream as she watched the floating island slowly rise.

Having accompanied the Jin Shizi for many years, she naturally understood the extent of his power.

Even though his body had aged and he was no longer in his prime, he remained powerful, and the ability of the Float-Float Fruit could be called invincible.

With a floating island ten kilometers in diameter falling, everything would be crushed.

Actually, Gao Wen dying alongside everyone in Seven Waters Capital in the deep sea was originally the best script.

Now, it had been completely shattered.

"That guy did it!"

Very quickly.

Big Mom noticed Fujitora hovering in the distance, her eyes filled with immense wariness:

"To develop a Devil Fruit ability to this extent, this fellow is absolutely no nameless nobody, and he carries such a dangerous aura..."

"Is this the hidden reinforcement Gao Wen prepared?!"

Thinking this,

Big Mom could not help but feel a chill in her heart; the danger level Gao Wen represented in her mind had risen another gradient.

"Damn it!"

"We've fought until now, with Shi Ji dead, only to force him to reveal his full strength?!"

"We've been calculated! Calculated from start to finish!"

"First, Navy Admiral Aokiji appears, then this ability user who completely counters the Jin Shizi... a conspiracy by the World Government!"

"It must be so!"

"After all, Knight Gao Wen is a Warlord of the Sea authorized by the World Government!"

The more Big Mom thought, the more alarmed she became; now that she had obtained the Pluton blueprints, she only wanted to retreat with Katakuri safely, return to Whole Cake Island, and construct Pluton.

By then, nothing would be a problem!

On the other side, Wang Zhi was the same; he flashed repeatedly and vanished from the sea in an instant.

Whoosh—!

The sea wind howled.

The surviving commoners on the beach no longer knew what expression to wear on their faces.

They had experienced too many drastic ups and downs recently; their spirits were already numb, and at this moment, they only felt the sunlight shining on their bodies was so warm.

"It's truly warm~"

"But, it's wonderful that everyone could be saved..."

T-Bone whispered, the string constantly tensed in his heart finally snapping at this moment, his heaving chest slowly calming down.

He died.

He died under the sunlight, died at the moment hope arrived.

Akainu let go of T-Bone's hand, gazed at the warship in the distance, and his vision hardened at this moment.

He pointed a finger.

Shoo—!

A magma bullet shot out, instantly killing the CP0 member responsible for live-broadcasting the Water Seven footage to Mary Geoise, along with the Den Den Mushi projector in his hand.

The latter did not even have time to make a sound before plunging into the sea.

Seeing this scene, the group of CP0 members felt a chill run through their hearts; instinctively, they pulled Den Den Mushis from their robes, preparing to report what was happening before them to Mary Geoise.

But before the Den Den Mushis could connect, they, along with the warship beneath their feet, were swallowed by the surging magma.

Bang!

Akainu landed back on the warship's deck; he said not a word, yet the surrounding marines already understood what he intended to do.

"Lord Sakazuki, we saw nothing."

"No, we saw it: members of the CP organization, along with their vessel, were caught in Big Mom's attack and perished in the sea!"

Loud, high-pitched shouts drifted across the sea surface.

Akainu remained expressionless, yet the emotions in his heart were like a pent-up volcano about to erupt.

Always, others said he was the representative of the iron-blooded radical faction within the Navy, but only T-Bone knew he had always been compromising.

Choosing the lesser of two evils was itself a form of compromise!

But now... he did not want to endure it anymore!

Aokiji, who had hurriedly arrived near Water Seven, saw this scene and for a moment could not utter a single word.

He slowly walked to T-Bone's corpse, which had not yet grown cold, opened his mouth, and whispered:

"With you gone, fellow, if I start arguing with Sakazuki, who will be able to persuade us?"

"Truly..."

"Kuzan!"

Akainu's cold, hard voice woke the distracted Aokiji; he lifted his head and saw Akainu's bloodshot eyes.

No one valued T-Bone more than Akainu, and no one could understand Akainu's feelings at this moment.

But from his gaze, Aokiji saw a sense of conviction never before present; that was not the look one would expect from the Akainu who was once like steel, like ice!

Without need for more words, Aokiji understood Akainu's intent; he slowly walked to the seawater and placed one hand upon its surface...

"Ice Age!"

Cold air spread, and in an instant, the seawater froze into a glacier, extending all the way to the horizon.

The originally surging sea fell silent at this moment.

Having done all this,

Aokiji turned to look at the commoners present and spoke in as gentle a tone as possible:

"This path formed by the glacier will last for three months; at its end lies a port where you can choose your next destination."

"Go quickly."

The crowd, their expressions numb, instantly froze.

The sound of breathing among the people, accompanied by the passage of time, grew heavier and heavier.

Until a sob completely broke this silence.

"Waaah..."

At this moment, everyone knew that this nightmare, which had stretched on for nearly two months, would finally end right here.

They scrambled over one another to step onto the road to freedom before them; though the ice was slippery and the path ahead unknown, it represented true hope!

(End of Chapter)