143 Liberation of the Tyrannical Will (5)

"Gulp..." Someone swallowed hard, snapping back to reality with a terrified expression, and screamed, "A Celestial Dragon has been killed!"

"Boom..." The entire area exploded, the shockwave rippling outward to encompass the entire Sabaody Archipelago.

"Run!" Some pirates scattered in panic.

"Madman, madman, who is this guy?!"

"He actually dared to kill a Celestial Dragon!"

"Damn it, what are you doing?" With a pale face, Onigumo roared in disbelief. He couldn't believe it; even though he had mentally prepared himself, now that it had actually happened, he still couldn't accept it.

"Vice Admiral Xuanye..." Some marines who recognized Xuanye secretly cheered inwardly, but the consequences were simply too much for them to bear.

Meanwhile, in a shadowy corner, a silver-haired old man stood stunned, muttering to himself, "This fellow not only survived, but he's even more ferocious than before. Roger, is this the descendant of the Dragon you spoke of?"

"Whoosh..." At that moment, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared in the air.

Pupils contracting, that lecherous face was now etched with gravity. Hovering high in the sky, he found it almost unbelievable, even though the brutal truth lay right before his eyes.

"Am I still too late? The consequences are going to be a nightmare."

With utterly lifeless eyes, Xuanye stood atop Charlos's bloated corpse. Nearby, Roswald and Shalulia had lost all four limbs, weakly wailing as the pungent stench of blood stained the earth crimson. Before long, they would bleed to death.

Raising his head with a slight smirk, Xuanye calmly looked at that lecherous face and said, "Kizaru, are you here to stop me?"

"You lunatic, do you have any idea what you're doing?" Landing on the ground, Kizaru wore an exceptionally grim expression. Aokiji hadn't arrived yet, and relying on himself alone, he simply couldn't take Xuanye down.

Moreover, even if Aokiji were here, the outcome might not change. Right now, Kizaru's mind was filled with a torrent of curses.

"What am I doing? I've endured this for far too long; right now, I'm merely venting. So..." A chilling look flashed in his eyes as an intent to kill quietly vanished.

"Not good." Kizaru's pupils constricted, the hairs on his entire body standing on end. Without a second thought, his figure dissolved into points of light and vanished.

"Boom..." Smoke billowed and flames raged. The ground shattered into rubble, tearing open a deep, spiderweb-like crater.

At the center, Xuanye's right foot was deeply embedded in the earth. As he raised his head, his eyes shone with a golden-white brilliance, and the image of a spreading-winged Golden Crow materialized upon his forehead. Without a doubt, Xuanye had directly unleashed his deification.

Scorching flames swept outward, bathing his entire body in fire. Xuanye looked calmly at Kizaru and said coldly, "It's just you and Aokiji who came this time? What a shame it wasn't that stray dog, otherwise... Never mind. Before Aokiji gets here, I'll just kill you first!"

"Damn it, you've truly made up your mind." Driven to exasperation, Kizaru wore a dark expression.

"Hmph, I've endured enough. Time and again, you people have bullied me, humiliated me, and now you've even destroyed my only hope. Die, go to hell, all of you!" With a violent and ferocious look, Xuanye twisted his face in pure murderous intent.

Kizaru's heart sank to the abyss. His expression was abysmal because he knew Xuanye's tolerance had finally snapped, and the very thing they feared most had actually come to pass—caused by those handful of idiotic Celestial Dragons.

"Damn it, this is a mess." With a heavy expression, Kizaru wished he could drag those dead Celestial Dragons back up and whip their corpses all over again.

"Kizaru, prepare yourself to die. Consider this a chance for me to see what you've got to justify becoming an admiral these past few years." With a cold look, Xuanye's figure instantly appeared beside Kizaru, treating him like a formidable enemy.

His pitch-black right leg, wreathed in blazing flames, tore through the atmosphere with the impact of a meteor, sweeping horizontally toward Kizaru's waist.

With a gloomy expression, Kizaru raised his leg, similarly blackened and radiating dazzling golden light, colliding with a thunderous crash.

"Clang..." The blow carried the weight of a mountain, heavy as diamond and deafening. A beam of golden light plummeted from the sky, shooting downward at an angle.

Instantly, the earth sank, countless boulders flipped into the air, and a pillar of smoke surged toward the heavens.

"Whoosh..." As the fire flickered, Xuanye transformed into flames and plunged into the fog.

"Damn it, how is this guy's strength so terrifying?" With his right foot slightly numb, Kizaru rose to his feet inside the deep crater, his clothes rumpled and creased.

"It seems you haven't made any progress during all this time, Kizaru." A voice as cold as ice rang in his ear. Kizaru's expression shifted drastically in alarm. Looking up, he saw Xuanye wielding blazing fire blades in both hands, plunging downward like a falling comet to slash right at him.

"Ama no Murakumo."

Golden light flared. With a grim expression, Kizaru quickly manifested a blade of light in his right hand, gripped it with both hands, and bolted upward from the ground through sheer grit.

"Clang..." A piercing screech echoed. The already shattered crater collapsed once more, spiderweb cracks spreading further outward. Countless falling rocks blasted through the air, and a thick cloud of dust engulfed the entire area.

With a muffled grunt, Kizaru's lower body sank deep into the earth, looking thoroughly wretched.

"Whoosh..." The air vibrated, a shifting current of wind causing Kizaru's eyes to twitch.

"Swish... Swish..." Without hesitation, Kizaru transformed into golden light once more, vanishing into the fog and reappearing outside with an enraged expression.

Meanwhile, amidst the dust and smoke, with a concussive blast, Xuanye pulled his right foot out of the ground, his entire body slowly ascending into the air.

"Are you truly determined to sever ties with the Marines?" Stepping forward, Kizaru's tone was dead serious, unlike anything before.

Hovering in place, surrounded by blazing flames, Xuanye looked like a god high above, inspiring awe and forbidding sacrilege.

"Do you think I still have a chance to turn back?" With a cold gaze, Xuanye looked at Kizaru devoid of any emotional fluctuation. At this moment, his heart was remarkably calm; he didn't understand why he was choosing to rebel right now.

If he were going to rebel, he could have done so long ago. Yet at this specific juncture, it was far from the best timing. And yet, he couldn't comprehend it—Xuanye truly couldn't understand why, time after time, these people had bullied and humiliated him, and why he had managed to endure it for so long.

Perhaps, the moment Vegapunk handed him that photograph, he should have already left the Marines.

Or perhaps, his psychological endurance simply wasn't as formidable as he had imagined. Finally, the long-suppressed spirit of rebellion had erupted, reaching a point even Xuanye could no longer control.

"Damn those Celestial Dragons." Looking gloomy, Kizaru gritted his teeth as he glared at the three lifeless figures lying on the ground below.

"Xuanye, is there truly no way to turn back?" At this moment, Onigumo stepped forward, his expression filled with deep pain.

"Onigumo, you and I are not the same kind of person. You hold justice in your heart, and I hold justice in mine as well—it's simply different from yours. I only care about what matters to me. Therefore, from the very beginning, our paths were bound to diverge."

Lowering his gaze slightly, Xuanye looked calmly at Onigumo and said, "Leave. I don't want to fight you."

"Damn it! How do you expect Master Zephur to maintain his footing in the Marines after this?!" Onigumo cursed furiously.

Narrowing his eyes, Xuanye maintained a calm and merciless expression, stating coldly, "From this day forward, I have no relation to the Marines. And naturally, I have no relation to Zephur either. I am simply myself, Xuanye Tang."

"You..." Onigumo's chest heaved, his entire body trembling with rage.