**Meanwhile, the Straw Hat Pirates were in a tough spot.** They had just managed to take down one of the Pacifista cyborgs, a modified version of Bartholomew Kuma, with their combined strength. But before they could even catch their breath, a more formidable enemy appeared. Sentomaru arrived with another Pacifista, instantly pushing the Straw Hats to the brink of defeat.
"Another Warlord?" The Straw Hats were clearly in disarray at the sight of more Kumas.
"Whether they're real or not, we don't have the strength to fight anymore," Sanji said, dragging his heavily injured body. "What do we do, Captain?"
"Run!" Luffy shouted immediately. "We can't run together. Everyone split up and meet back at the Sunny!"
With a loud "Bang!", PX-1 launched its attack, and Sentomaru immediately gave chase. The Straw Hats split into several groups and fled in different directions, but escaping wasn't easy.
Despite being pursued by both Sentomaru and PX-1, one of the three groups seemed to be on the verge of escaping. Sentomaru was a bit troubled, as it was just the two of them. But just as he was wondering what to do, he saw a beam of light in the sky and immediately relaxed. Admiral Kizaru seemed to have finished his business and was coming to help.
However, something surprising happened. Instead of attacking the Straw Hats, Kizaru sped past them and stopped beside Sentomaru. Sentomaru was puzzled and asked directly, "What's wrong, old man? Why didn't you stop them?"
"Don't worry about those small fries for now. We need to figure out how to deal with the one chasing me," Kizaru said immediately.
"Chasing you?" Sentomaru was taken aback. Only then did he notice that Kizaru looked a bit disheveled, covered in dust and seemingly having coughed up blood. Sensing Kizaru's weakened aura, Sentomaru was slightly alarmed. Judging by Kizaru's state, had he encountered a formidable foe? But who could it be? The Supernovas shouldn't be able to push Kizaru to this extent.
Just as he was about to ask, he heard the Straw Hats exclaiming, "What... what is that?"
Sentomaru looked up and saw a giant black figure diving towards them. With a loud "Boom!", the black giant landed right in the middle of the battlefield, its immense pressure silencing everyone around.
The Straw Hats momentarily stopped their escape and stared blankly at the black giant.
"What is that thing?" Chopper's tongue nearly flew out in shock.
"Another new enemy?" Zoro and Sanji, despite their injuries, prepared to fight.
"Wait." Robin, the calmest among them, noticed the person in the black giant's hand. "Captain, the one in his hand... looks like your uncle."
"What?" Luffy exclaimed and then shouted, "Damn it, let go of my uncle, you black monster!"
"Are you crazy?!" Linton shouted at Luffy, who seemed ready to attack. If Luffy really attacked, he would have to knock him out again, which was beyond his control. "I'm the one who summoned this!"
"Huh?" Luffy, who was about to attack, froze and then his eyes lit up. "Uncle, you summoned this? So cool!"
Linton breathed a sigh of relief after preventing Luffy from self-destruction. Looking at the state of the Straw Hats, he sighed and said, "See? I told you guys you're not strong enough. You're all messed up just from fighting some robots."
"These guys are not ordinary robots, they..." Usopp retorted, but before he could finish, Linton turned his head and threw a punch. With a loud "Bang!", PX-1 exploded into a mixture of blood and parts.
"They're just ordinary robots," Linton said flatly.
"What?!" Usopp's nose almost started to bleed.
"That's too exaggerated." The others were also stunned. They had just experienced the strength of these things firsthand, and it took all of them working together to barely take one down. Yet, Linton just destroyed one with a single punch?
Of course, Sentomaru was equally shocked. As Vegapunk's bodyguard, he knew better than anyone how powerful these cyborgs were. Facing Linton, who could destroy them with one punch, Sentomaru naturally didn't dare to underestimate him.
"Old man, who is this guy?" Sentomaru asked.
"A very troublesome guy. In short, he seriously injured a Celestial Dragon, and we must capture him," Kizaru said.
"I'll block his attacks," Sentomaru said immediately.
It seemed that Kizaru still wanted to capture Linton. After all, he was an admiral, and being defeated and forced to flee in public would be a huge blow to the Navy's prestige. Of course, Kizaru wasn't reckless. He came here to seek Sentomaru's help in confronting Linton. After all, Sentomaru was no weakling either. One focused on offense, the other on defense; this was the best plan Kizaru could come up with at the moment.
"Was it this guy who beat you up, nephew?" Linton pointed at Sentomaru.
"Huh?" Luffy was confused, not understanding the situation.
"Now that I've acknowledged you as my nephew, you need to understand that no one in this world can bully you except me," Linton said.
"Why do you have to exclude yourself?" Sanji couldn't help but retort.
Ignoring Sanji's吐槽, Linton continued, "Uncle will avenge you now." He then controlled Susanoo to throw a punch at Sentomaru on the ground.
"Ashiku no Yukue!" Sentomaru had already assumed his stance. Facing the incoming punch, he immediately used his technique. However, his long-range attack failed to stop Susanoo's fist. Fortunately, Sentomaru was prepared and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
With a "Bang!", Sentomaru slid back dozens of meters, leaving two long marks on the ground. However, he still stood firmly, the first person today who wasn't sent flying by Linton's punch. His performance was even more impressive than Kizaru's.
"Truly worthy of the self-proclaimed strongest defense. You do have some skills," Linton was slightly surprised. However, before he could observe further, he suddenly sensed something attacking his body. He quickly released control of Susanoo.
Yes, there was a drawback to controlling his body like this. While he could control his actions, his body couldn't react to danger on its own. But now that he had let go, his body started to move on its own.
"Lightspeed Kick!"
The attacker was, of course, Kizaru. He had seized the opportunity while Sentomaru was blocking Linton's attack to launch a surprise attack. This Lightspeed Kick was faster and more powerful than the one Linton had received before. It seemed that Kizaru wasn't serious last time. He had probably also realized that Linton's real body was the target, and since Susanoo would repair itself no matter how much he attacked it, he stopped targeting it.
With a "Bang!", Linton was sent flying the next second. Kizaru's attack had landed. Although he saw Linton raise his hand to block with Armament Haki, it clearly couldn't completely block his attack. Kizaru saw hope for victory.
However, what he didn't know was that Linton, who was flying through the air, was asking the Battle Princess, "Did it stick?"
"Mark successfully placed," the Battle Princess replied.
"Good, that's reassuring... Let's begin."
With a "Whoosh!", Linton suddenly vanished from mid-air. Seeing this, Kizaru's expression changed drastically. He had been planning to pursue Linton while he was still in the air and unable to defend himself, but Linton suddenly disappeared. What was going on? Where did he go?
"Wondering where I went?" Linton's voice suddenly appeared, sending chills down Kizaru's spine. The voice came from behind him! How could he be behind him? This was impossible!
Kizaru, unsure of the situation, quickly tried to escape, but a hand grabbed him. Because of the Armament Haki, he couldn't transform into light and flee.
"Shinra Tensei."
With a "Bang!", a tremendous repulsive force erupted, sending Kizaru flying. Fortunately, his Armament Haki was strong and blocked most of the damage. His body flashed in the air, partially transforming into light to stop the impact. But as soon as he looked up, he found that Linton had disappeared again.
"Speed is power." To Kizaru's dismay, Linton's voice appeared behind him again, and these words sounded somewhat familiar. Sure enough, Linton continued with a smile, "Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
With a "Bang!", Linton sent Kizaru flying with a kick. However, Kizaru didn't suffer much damage. Although Linton called it a Lightspeed Kick, it was essentially just a kick empowered by Armament Haki. It was powerful, but Kizaru was gradually becoming accustomed to this immense force. He was more concerned about Linton's uncanny ability to appear and disappear at will, which even his Observation Haki couldn't grasp.
"This can't be speed..." Kizaru landed on the ground and said, "It must be some kind of Devil Fruit ability..."
He said this, but Kizaru was just making a random guess. Linton's methods were simply too bizarre. If this was a Devil Fruit ability, then what about the black giant beside him? Could one person possess multiple Devil Fruit powers? So, although he sounded certain, he was completely clueless.
"This doesn't work either?" Linton ignored Kizaru and continued, "Then let's try this..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Linton vanished right in front of Kizaru's eyes. Kizaru was taken aback for a moment, and in the next second, his Observation Haki sensed an immense danger coming from his left side. He immediately tried to defend, but it was too late.
With a "Thud!", a black object pierced Kizaru's body. Kizaru looked down at his chest in a daze... he was bleeding.
(End of chapter)