Chapter 145: Breaking Away from the Marines and Hunting Down Xuan Ye (Part 2)

The screen shattered into pieces. Zephyr stared intently at the Den Den Mushi in his hand, standing there in silence, utterly motionless.

"Ze... Zephyr..." Tsuru said with a trace of worry, while Sengoku and the others also turned their gazes toward their old friend.

"Sengoku, I'm tired. I want to take a proper rest for a while." Gently putting down the Den Den Mushi, Zephyr walked calmly out of the office.

Standing outside, he raised his head and gazed up at the cloudless sky. A look of profound fondness crossed Zephyr's face as he muttered to himself, "It was the Marines that bound you. No matter what you do, you will always be my disciple."

Watching his friend's slightly desolate and aged back, Sengoku cursed angrily and once again dialed Kizaru's other Den Den Mushi.

"Kizaru, capture that bastard for me! Remember, he is no longer a Marine Vice Admiral, but a dangerous outlaw!" Extremely furious, Sengoku spoke with an agitated expression.

"My, my, this is so troublesome! Just like that, he's become an enemy." Holding the new Den Den Mushi, Kizaru's cynical face twisted into a grimace.

"Marshal Sengoku, you can't do this. Hanyue didn't mean to do it." Nearby, Onigumo tried desperately to explain.

"Enough! What's done is done. Mary Geoise has already issued orders: capture Hanyue Tang with absolute authority." Sengoku was utterly enraged.

Onigumo wanted to say something more, but Kizaru interrupted him, "Marshal Sengoku, I can only stall him."

"I know. I'm ordering Aokiji right away to head to the Sabaody Archipelago at full speed." With that, Sengoku abruptly hung up the Den Den Mushi.

His face darkening, Kizaru put away the Den Den Mushi and looked up, gazing solemnly at Hanyue, who was hovering up and down in mid-air.

Meanwhile, out on the vast ocean, a massive battleship was slowly making its way toward the Sabaody Archipelago.

"Buru... buru..."

"Hello!" At the bow of the ship, Aokiji stood draped in his Marine coat, silently staring out at the endless sea.

"Head to the Sabaody Archipelago at full speed."

"Did that guy really kill the Celestial Dragons?" Without any surprise, Aokiji held the Den Den Mushi.

"All three Celestial Dragons are dead. Mary Geoise has issued an order to capture the Heavenly Bird, Hanyue Tang."

"I understand." Hanging up the Den Den Mushi directly, Aokiji sighed and muttered to himself, "As expected, you went ahead and did it."

Turning around, Aokiji instructed his adjutant, "Reduce our speed."

"Huh...?" Beside him, the adjutant wore a bewildered expression. If he hadn't misheard just now, the order was supposed to be heading to the Sabaody Archipelago at full speed, wasn't it?!

"Did you not hear me?" Frowning slightly, Aokiji deepened his tone.

"Yes!" Saluting sharply, the adjutant quickly vanished from the deck.

However, Aokiji could never have imagined that this single, sentimental command of his would nearly cost the Marines an Admiral—something Kizaru would hold against him for a long time to come.

***

"Are you done talking? Looks like it's time to hunt me down, then—those pieces of trash in Mary Geoise." Hovering in mid-air, Hanyue had watched Kizaru and Sengoku's conversation quietly from the very beginning.

"No help for it. Ever since I became an Admiral, I haven't really stretched my limbs properly. Looks like I'll need to get a good workout today." Loosening his tie and shedding his slightly tattered coat, Kizaru shrugged.

The corners of Hanyue's mouth curled upward. His golden-white eyes burned as intensely as fire as he declared, "Despicable as dogs, Mary Geoise will vanish one day. What do you think, Kizaru?"

Landing on the ground, Hanyue was enveloped in flames as his divine-transformed body began to radiate heat, causing the earth beneath him to rumble and shake.

"My, how terrifying! You madman, you're not actually going to do that, are you?" With golden light beginning to flicker across his body, Kizaru patted his chest.

"Who knows? Be careful, though—people die here!" Narrowing his eyes, Hanyue flashed Kizaru an eerie smile.

"The pressure is immense, you know." Kizaru's expression turned grave.

"Hey, Kizaru! Have you ever been kicked by light?"

"That line of yours is really quite annoying."

"Boom... boom..." The ground fractured as two impact craters instantly spread outward. From the spot where they stood, a flash of fire and a streak of golden light simultaneously shot into the sky.

"Boom..." A shockwave erupted, sending a dull, deafening roar crashing downward. In an instant, a gale-force tempest swept outward, shattering the surrounding buildings directly into ruins.

High in the air, a golden leg and a crimson leg, both wreathed in pitch-black armament Haki, clashed dead-lock against each other. Successive shockwaves tore through the atmosphere, rolling outward wave after wave like crashing surf.

"Hmph!" Grunting softly, Kizaru felt a numbness in his right foot, as though he had kicked against solid diamond—unyielding and hard.

"Swish... swish..." Transforming into particles of light, Kizaru vanished in an instant, reappearing directly above Hanyue. His left leg, wrapped in Haki and condensed with super-dense photons, came crashing down from above.

"Boom..." Having barely enough time to raise a single hand, Hanyue was driven downward at high speed.

"Boom... rumbling..." The ground exploded as Hanyue's feet sank deep into the earth. He raised his head and gazed up at Kizaru in the sky.

"My! Why is your speed so slow?" Standing in mid-air and looking at Hanyue, who was completely unscathed, Kizaru teased.

"Are you showing off?" Tilting his head slightly, Hanyue pulled his feet free from the ground, leaped out of the crater, and remained expressionless.

"Show me your true power! To tell you the truth, I've been wanting to wipe away my past humiliation for a long time." Landing on the ground, Kizaru looked calmly at Hanyue.

"As you wish." With an eerie smile, Hanyue bent his knees slightly, and flames erupted from his entire body. In an instant, a scorching heat wave completely blanketed the entire space.

"High-Speed Flash."

"Boom... crack-crack-crack..." The ground fractured as streams of fire continuously erupted from the soles of Hanyue's feet, forming bubbles of compressed heat one after another.

Kizaru's pupils constricted as he braced himself like a man facing a formidable enemy; he would never forget this technique.

"Fortunately, I successfully improved this move. How lucky that you get to experience it once more." Surrounded by flames and with both feet encased in Haki, Hanyue's figure vanished with a deafening roar.

"Boom... rumbling..." In a flash of lightning and flint, accompanied by a thunderous blast, Kizaru gritted his teeth, bent his upper body forward, and crossed his hands defensively over his head. Beneath his feet, the previously level ground instantly collapsed, forming a spiderweb-like abyss in the blink of an eye.

An irresistible shockwave whipped up debris and shattered rocks, hurtling straight up through the air.

Above Kizaru, Hanyue's right leg came crashing down with overwhelming weight, causing Kizaru's face to flush red.

"Rumbling..." Once again, a continuous series of explosions echoed through the air.

Spinning in mid-air where his figure was barely visible, Hanyue brought his left leg down like a falling meteor.

"Swish... swish..." Transforming into photons, Kizaru vanished instantly. Below, the ground exploded anew, expanding the already shattered terrain until it covered a radius of five hundred meters in an instant.

Standing within the deep crater with glowing golden-white eyes and trailing wisps of fire, Hanyue vanished once more.

"Ama no Murakumo." With dazzling golden light, Kizaru materialized holding a blade of light in both hands, slashing backward.

"Too slow!" A demonic voice resounded directly above him, filling Kizaru's eyes with utter disbelief.

"Flame Ray."

"Swish..." With glowing red fingertips, ten beams of fire plunged downward.

Utilizing elementalization once more, Kizaru flickered and reappeared at a distance.

"Puff... puff..." The ground shattered as ten glowing red holes, radiating astonishing heat, plunged deep into the earth with no visible bottom.