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Chapter 93
"A Last Word..."
Byrnndi Waldo panted slightly, murmured softly, and his eyes became dazed. He subconsciously turned his head to look in a certain direction not far away. At that location, there was a pile of scorched black bones, and black smoke was coming out. It was Byojack's body.
Facing the big explosion just now, he was weaker than ordinary people and had no ability to resist at all.
"Brother..."
He suddenly laughed.
"Hehe... hahaha... hahahahaha!!!"
The curvature of the corner of his mouth gradually became crazy, and various complex emotions such as helplessness, unwillingness, and despair gradually permeated from the wild laughter. Two lines of bloody tears leaked from his skull-like eyeballs covered in flesh and blood.
Tick...
Tick...
He stretched out his bloody hands, propped up his body with difficulty and trembling, and stood up from the scorched and barren ground. He exhausted the remaining strength in his body, exhausted all his willpower and the last will, commanded his body to stand up, and supported himself to stand upright with trembling legs.
He swept across the faces of Sengoku, Borsolino, and the many Marines who kept coming with weapons, spat out a mouthful of blood with a look of disdain, and finally landed on Colonel Marine. He laughed wildly. This will be his final victory, and he will never allow himself to show the slightest cowardice before he dies.
He exhausted all his strength and breathed again:
"Do it, Darren brat!!"
"My's life... was wonderful!!"
Byrnndi Waldo raised his head resolutely, his voice was deafening:
"Why do you need a last word!?"
Darren smiled.
"As you wish."
As he spoke, he took out a coin and flicked his thumb up. The silver coins flipped continuously in mid-air, quickly reflecting faces one by one under the weak winter sun. Sengoku with a dignified expression, Borsolino with a teasing expression, a group of Marines who were facing an enemy, Darren with blood at the corner of his mouth...
Time seemed to slow down at this moment. In the cold winter wind, petals of pure white snow fluttered down smartly and soon melted into the scorched earth.
Byrnndi Waldo stared blankly at the falling coin, and flashed through its smooth surface the memory images hidden in the deepest part of his mind—
When I was a child, I stood on the edge of a cliff and looked at the sea; the first voyage to sea encountered the danger of a storm; fear when encountering fierce pirates for the first time; recruiting crew for the first time, fighting for the first time, killing people for the first time...
Byrnndi Waldo's violent eyes gradually softened. In the deepest part of his mind, a childish and familiar voice slowly sounded:
"Look, Waldo... don't you think it's great that this sea connects islands and countries we've never seen before?"
"Waldo, you must go to sea in the future... At the end of this boundless sea, there must be adventures beyond imagination waiting for you."
"You have to go to the distance instead of me, to see the world, and to thrive."
The young child looked at his elder brother who raised his hands high in front of him with a confident expression, and a bright light gradually appeared on his face.
Brother, I'm sorry... Without you, even if I reach the end of the world and see more scenery of this sea, what's the point?
Byrnndi Waldo smiled. He faced up to meet the sun and snow.
A flower of blood exploded on his chest. The coin that fell to the lowest point suddenly shot out, directly piercing his heart.
Byrnndi Waldo slowly closed his eyes and fell heavily to the ground. Sengoku watched this scene silently, with a solemn expression.
According to normal regulations, facing a pirate like Byrnndi Waldo who has a powerful Devil Fruit ability, Marine will try to capture him alive as much as possible and then send him to Impel Down for long-term detention. This ensures this mighty Devil Fruit doesn't respawn elsewhere in the sea and fall into the hands of some ambitious pirate.
But he made no move to stop Darren. Because in Observation Haki's perception, Byrnndi Waldo's breath was already as weak as floating silk.
With such serious injuries, no one could survive.
Granting Byrnndi Valdo's wish and allowing him to die at Darren's hands was Sengoku's last gesture of respect for his old rival.
The coin flew back into Darren's hand deftly. He turned his eyes to Sengoku, smiled, and said, "Mission accomplished, Admiral Sengoku."
Sengoku was startled and immediately turned his head to give orders to his subordinates. "Depart immediately, sink the last pirate ship of the Ward Pirates, and wipe out the remnants of the Ward Pirates!"
"No, no need," Darren smiled weakly, took out a blood-stained phone bug from his pocket, and dialed.
"... Darren, Base Commander," Flying Squirrel's steady voice came from the phone bug.
"Is the target locked?"
"Yes."
"Then kill him immediately."
"No problem."
As soon as the words fell, Sengoku looked up in astonishment.
In the North Blue fleet suspended in the sky, one of the Marine warships slowly adjusted its direction. A black missile suddenly protruded from the side of the hull.
Then,
Boom!
The tail of the black missile ejected orange-red flames, separated from the hull of the warship, and shot towards a specific direction in the distant sea. Two seconds later, a muffled explosion was heard from far away, and flickering flames appeared in the thick sea fog.
Sengoku stared at this scene, dumbfounded.
That's... what the hell!?
"Report to Base Commander Darren, the target has been sunk," the voice of Flying Squirrel came from the phone bug again.
"Nice job," Darren laughed, hung up the bug comm, and looked at Sengoku.
"Report to Admiral Sengoku, mission accomplished. During this campaign against the Ward Pirates, the North Blue fleet sank five enemy ships and killed more than 3,000 pirates. The captain of the World Pirates, Byrnndi Valdo, and the deputy captain, Byojack, were executed on the spot! North Blue fleet suffered zero damage."
Sengoku opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say. Before he could answer, Darren's body shook suddenly, his eyes went dark, and he fell back to the ground.
"Colonel Darren!!"
"Save him quickly!!"
"Where's the doctor!? Get the ship doctor over here!!"
The eager voices of the surrounding Marines continued to sound.
"That's the end..." Borsolino looked at the unconscious Marine Colonel on the ground and smiled.
"Yeah, that's the end..." Sengoku murmured dreamily.
"So, Admiral Sengoku, it seems that this operation could have happened with or without you," Borsolino said casually.
Sengoku was struck by lightning when he heard the words.
Yes... apart from yelling "stop him," I did nothing...
At least Borsolino, that unreliable bastard, arrived just in time to save Darren's life and hold off Byrnndi Valdo.
This crusade against the World Pirates... really had nothing to do with me?
With me or without me?
Sengoku came to this absurd conclusion and froze in confusion. But in the next second, meeting Borsolino's half-smiling eyes, Sengoku's face immediately swelled with anger.
"Damn!! What kind of eyes are those!? Old man, this is strategy!! What do you know about strategy, Borsolino!? If it weren't for my keen eyesight and decision to hand over command to Colonel Darren, how could this operation be so smooth!"
After saying this, he turned around and walked towards the warship as if fleeing, his pace quickening.
Borsolino watched Sengoku's back running away in a panic, a slight smile on his lips. He withdrew his gaze, looked at Colonel Darren being carried on a stretcher, and said in a low voice, "You always make difficult things easy, don't you?"