"You Are the One."
Alastor's gaze locked onto a figure amidst the chaos of the battlefield. Without hesitation, he moved toward his target, each step purposeful and charged with menace.
The man in question, Vice Admiral Dauberman, was no weakling. A veteran of countless battles, his instincts screamed of impending danger. He turned sharply, only to be greeted by a crackling figure wreathed in thunder and lightning.
His breath caught as he recognized the man before him.
"Thunder Calamity Star?! Alastor?!" Dauberman's voice trembled despite himself.
Alastor's lips curled into a smirk. "It's me. A pleasure to meet you, Vice Admiral Dauberman. You were part of the Buster Call sent to crush me. So, I'll be taking your head as payment."
Without waiting for a reply, Alastor drew his blade, its edge jagged with arcs of lightning, and lunged forward.
Dauberman's instincts screamed louder than ever. Summoning all his strength, he raised his sword to block the incoming strike.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the two blades collided, the sound of metal on metal echoing across the battlefield. Dauberman gritted his teeth, his palms bleeding as the sheer force of Alastor's strike reverberated through his body.
For a fleeting moment, relief washed over him. He had blocked it.
But Alastor's mocking voice shattered that hope.
"You're celebrating too early," he said, his tone cold. "Ordinary steel won't stop my Thunder Blade."
With a deafening crack, Dauberman's sword split in two.
"One-Sword Style: Thunder Sword – Thunderbolt!"
The lightning-infused blade flashed, severing Dauberman's head cleanly. His lifeless body crumpled to the ground, marking him as the first vice admiral to fall in this war.
The Navy's ranks erupted in outrage.
"This monster doesn't hold back! He kills without hesitation!"
"He's treating our Navy like fodder! This arrogance must end!"
"Surround him! Kill him now!"
Enraged, several vice admirals moved to encircle Alastor, their blades and haki-infused fists poised to strike.
On the execution platform, Sengoku's sharp eyes finally tracked Alastor amidst the chaos. His voice carried both urgency and hope.
"Hold him there!" Sengoku barked, his tone commanding. "Don't let him escape! Keep him occupied long enough for us to bring reinforcements!"
But Sengoku's expectations crumbled almost instantly.
Before the vice admirals could land a decisive blow, a surge of lightning exploded from Alastor's body, forcing them back. The crackling energy filled the air with a suffocating heat.
"Too slow," Alastor muttered, disappearing in a flash of thunder.
Even with their haki, the vice admirals couldn't keep up with his speed. In the blink of an eye, Alastor slipped through the gaps in their formation, leaving them scrambling to track him.
High above the battlefield, Admiral Kizaru stood on the edge of a crumbling tower, hands casually tucked into his pockets. His trademark apathetic smile remained as he observed the chaos below.
"Hmmm," Kizaru mused aloud. "That Alastor is moving quite fast. Faster than I expected. If he keeps this up, the death toll will climb dramatically."
The nearby sailors exchanged nervous glances.
"Admiral Kizaru... shouldn't you be stopping him? Your speed is the only thing that can match his lightning!"
Kizaru tilted his head lazily, as if considering their words. Then he yawned.
"Ah, but my afternoon tea time hasn't even started yet," he replied, unbothered. "Standing here and watching this unfold is already quite tiring."
The sailors were rendered speechless.
"Kizaru!"
A booming voice thundered from the execution platform. Sengoku, his veins nearly bursting from his temples, pointed an accusatory finger at the relaxed admiral.
"Stop loafing around and take down Alastor! If you don't, the Celestial Dragons will hound you relentlessly. Is that what you want?!"
Kizaru sighed, finally removing his hands from his pockets. The mention of the Celestial Dragons seemed to stir something in him—or perhaps he just couldn't bear Sengoku's shouting anymore.
"Ah, what a nuisance," Kizaru muttered. "I suppose I'll have to make this quick."
In a flash of golden light, Kizaru activated his devil fruit power.
"Yata no Kagami."
Light refracted across the battlefield, and in an instant, Kizaru appeared directly above Alastor. His arrival was marked by a radiant gleam, drawing the attention of all around.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" Kizaru asked nonchalantly, raising his leg as it shimmered with golden light.
The clash between Alastor and Kizaru was inevitable. The battlefield seemed to hold its breath as the two forces prepared to collide—thunder against light. One a force of nature, the other a weapon of precision.
The fate of the war teetered on the edge of their impending confrontation.
Alastor raised his head just in time to see Kizaru's gleaming foot descending toward him, the attack infused with the speed and destructive power of light itself.
"Have you ever been kicked by lightning?" Alastor retorted.
In an instant, he released every volt of electricity stored in his body. His muscles surged with power, veins crackling as arcs of energy danced across his frame. His hair and eyebrows turned a stark white, giving him the appearance of a storm personified—Thor's wrath incarnate.
With this transformation, Alastor's speed surged to unprecedented levels. He not only dodged Kizaru's light-speed kick but reappeared at the admiral's side, delivering a thunderous kick that collided with Kizaru's torso.
For a moment, Kizaru's usually smug expression faltered.
"Ah, scary, scary," Kizaru murmured in his usual drawl, his body shimmering into golden particles as he dodged the full brunt of the attack. He appeared a few feet away, brushing imaginary dust off his coat. "You've really frightened this old man."
Alastor wasn't fooled. As someone who had traveled through time into this world, he had expected Kizaru's nonchalant antics.
"Always the same lazy ape," Alastor thought. "The acting is part of the package with him."
Using his enhanced observation haki, Alastor sensed something critical—Trafalgar Law's submarine had arrived at the sea just beyond the port. The timing was perfect; he only needed one final push to reach his goal.
Turning back to Kizaru, Alastor smirked, his voice dripping with mockery.
"Your 'justice,' Admiral Kizaru, is nothing but ambiguous hypocrisy," Alastor sneered. "You serve the Celestial Dragons willingly, let them weaponize your powers, and you have the gall to call it justice? Or are you just in it for the stable paycheck?"
The barb struck a nerve. Kizaru's golden eyes narrowed slightly, though his lazy smile didn't waver.
"And you know," Alastor continued, his tone mocking, "yellow doesn't just symbolize light. Sometimes it's just... poop."
The insult hung in the air. For a moment, the battlefield seemed to pause. Kizaru's previously detached demeanor shifted, irritation flickering across his face.
"My, my," Kizaru said, his tone still slow but tinged with annoyance. "You're the first to say that, boy. I suppose I'll have to take you seriously now."
"Eightfold Jewel of Light!"
With a flick of his hand, Kizaru unleashed his attack.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
A barrage of golden light bullets rained down from the sky like a divine storm. The sheer volume—thousands upon thousands of projectiles—covered the battlefield, leaving Alastor little room to maneuver.
Alastor retaliated with thunderous force, releasing bursts of lightning to counter the light bullets. The clashing elements lit up the battlefield in a dazzling display, but the onslaught was relentless.
Some light bullets broke through, tearing into Alastor's body. Blood spattered the ground as his form became riddled with wounds.
From the execution platform, Sengoku's face lit up with rare joy.
"Now's your chance, Kizaru! Finish him!" Sengoku roared.
Kizaru nodded, preparing to deliver the final blow.
But just as Kizaru launched forward, Alastor's form vanished. No trace of lightning, no trail of movement—just an empty space where he had been moments before.
Even Kizaru, with his mastery of light-speed movement and haki, was caught off guard. He halted mid-step, his head tilting in confusion.
"Strange," Kizaru muttered, scratching his chin. "Even at light speed, I should've seen something... but he's just gone."
On the execution platform, Sengoku's brow furrowed.
"What trickery is this?" he growled, scanning the battlefield for any sign of Alastor. "Even if he escaped, he shouldn't be able to move without leaving a trace."
Though Sengoku tried to reassure himself, he couldn't shake the unease that crept over him. Alastor was injured—severely, even—but his sudden disappearance hinted at a deeper strategy.
On the deck of the Moby Dick, Whitebeard stood as steady as a mountain, his presence commanding amidst the chaos. Though his expression remained stoic, his keen eyes flicked briefly toward the area where Alastor had vanished.
"So, the Thunder Kid still has cards up his sleeve," Whitebeard mused, a faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "He's not done yet."
Marco, standing nearby, glanced at his captain. "You think he'll come back?"
Whitebeard's booming laugh resonated across the battlefield. "Of course. He's too stubborn to die so easily."
As tension hung thick in the air, the battlefield shifted.
Jozu, the Third Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, roared as he transformed his arm into solid diamond. With a single motion, he ripped a massive chunk of ice from the frozen sea and hurled it toward the execution platform.
The massive ice block hurtled through the air, creating a windstorm in its wake.
"Let's see if the Navy can handle this!" Jozu shouted, a confident grin on his face.
But his confidence was short-lived.
From his perch on the execution platform, Admiral Akainu finally made his move. His right arm transformed into molten lava, growing in size as he prepared to counter the attack.
"Great Eruption!" Akainu roared.
The magma collided with the glacier, instantly melting the ice and sending steam billowing across the battlefield. The excess magma fragmented, raining down as deadly meteorites that incinerated dozens of Whitebeard's pirates and melted large sections of the icy ground.
The battlefield descended into chaos once more.
Though Alastor had disappeared, the war was far from over. The Navy and Whitebeard Pirates continued their fierce struggle, with the balance of power shifting like the tides.
And somewhere in the shadows, beyond the gaze of Sengoku and Kizaru, the Thunder Calamity prepared for his next strike.
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