Chapter 7: Carnage
Meanwhile...
"What the hell is that guy…?! He's on a whole other level!"
"You know Yuji Tono's reputation, Ace! Don't act surprised."
Fire Fist Ace couldn't hide his shock. Fleet Admiral Sengoku, standing beside him, replied with cold detachment.
"I know! But that's not strength, it's fucking insanity!"
"Calling him 'insane' doesn't begin to cover it."
"G-Garp… You Bastard!"
"Old man…!"
Garp climbed the platform, his eyes locked on the carnage below. As a fellow Vice Admiral of the navy HQ, he knew Yuji's twisted evolution better than anyone.
"He trained. Started as a brat wanting to impress women. Then he mastered the Six Powers. Then Haki. All to be 'cool' and 'untouchable'."
"And that's why he's like this?!"
"He didn't stop there of course. He pushed further. Further. Too far."
"Too far?! Explain, you geezer!"
Garp's gaze darkened as he stared toward the bay.
"Simple. His Haki's reflex now. No thought. No effort. Observation cloaks the battlefield. Armament coats his skin the moment a blade nears. All… automatic."
"Bullshit…!"
Ace bit back a scream. Admitting Yuji's invincibility would crush his crew's morale.
"His Haki's a fortress. A fucking 100-million-berry rookie? Crushed by a flick of his finger."
"A 'Monster' you mean!"
Tono Yuji's current hobbies didn't matter now, only his bloodlust.
"Give up, Ace. Whitebeard dies today."
"The hell he will!"
"Still denying it after seeing that?"
"Tch…!"
"And Yuji? He's starving. Starving to kill Whitebeard."
Ace glared at Sengoku, demanding answers.
"We made him abstain. No women. No release. All so he'd blame Whitebeard. All so he'd snap."
"You sick fucks…!" Without even shouting that he should be the only one to die, Ace turned his eyes back to the battle.
Yuji's pent-up rage had one target. One excuse.
"Don't take it personal!! He's a pirate. We're Marines. This is… justice."
It was only natural that they would fight each other.
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"Kehahahaha!"
"Aaaaagh!"
"S-Shit…! I can't stop him…!"
"How the fuck do you even hurt this monster?!"
"Quit runnin', you piss-stained trash!"
Minutes into the battle, Yuji's body count had already surpassed 500 pirates. But to him, it felt lacking.
Why?
"Where's Straw Hat?"
"L-Like I'd tell you!"
"Cool. Die then."
A new prey had arrived. Straw Hat Luffy, fresh from breaking out of Impel Down with an army of convicts.
Yuji didn't care about the details, all that mattered was using Luffy as bait to snatch his treasures: Nami the "Cat Burglar" and Nico Robin the "Devil's Child."
"Ghk—!"
"If you ain't talkin', stay the fuck outta my way. These Pacifistas are annoying enough."
Yuji crushed a pirate's lungs and ribs into pulp with a backhand, then sprinted toward the chaos.
"Fuckin' tedious… Maybe a bird's-eye view'll help?"
He launched skyward with Geppo, scanning the battlefield.
"Oh, there you are~"
Below, a frenzy centered around Luffy. But why land yet? From this height, Yuji spotted a juicier target: Whitebeard's flagship, the Moby Dick.
"Hey, old man! Catch!"
"Shit—! Pops!"
Ignoring the pirates' screams, Yuji aimed.
"Tempest Kick: Ship-Splitter."
A colossal slash tore through the air toward Whitebeard. The legend blocked it with his naginata, Haki flaring, but the deflected strike cleaved an allied pirate ship in half.
"Gruuuuuuh…"
"Our ship!"
"That slash was on par with Hawk-Eyes?!"
Yuji landed, grinning at the pandemonium.
"Shut your whinin'."
"Eek—!"
Yuji landed where he'd leapt, zeroing in on the nearest pirate.
"Rankyaku: Neck Slicer."
"Huh…?"
His kick blurred—no, vibrated—through the air. The pirate's head stayed glued to his shoulders… for now.
"Wh-What did you… do…?"
"O' My bad. That one's a slow kill~"
The man's head toppled a heartbeat later, blood geysering from the stump as his body crumpled. A delayed decapitation, Yuji's signature fuck-you to the weak.
"STOP, STRAW HAT!!"
"GYAAAAH!"
"Ghk—!"
"HALT, YUJI!"
"Shigan: Ricochet."
Yuji's finger flicked, and a pirate's skull exploded like overripe fruit. He strode toward Luffy's crew, crushing pirates like stepping stones.
"Oh? Come to think of it, wouldn't it be fine if I just found Nami-chan and Robin-chan? ~I can't lay hands on Hancock-chan until she quits being a Shichibukai... Ah~ Fuck it"
"THE HELL YOU MUMBLING ABOUT, YUJI?!"
"Annoying."
A swordsman charged. Yuji swept his legs, then crushed his skull underfoot with a wet crunch.
"O' Right!! My Observation Haki'll sniff those juicy pussies out fast!! Well then, for now—"
He snatched a fallen pirate's sword, coating it in Busoshoku Haki until the blade gleamed black.
"Time for a fun, fun hunt."
"V-VICE ADMIRAL YUJI'S ARMED!! ALL HANDS, BRACE!!"
"Quit yappin'. I'm just warming up."
Yuji scoffed at the panicked Marines. 'Since when did I need a weapon to be lethal'.
"Alrighty then!! Just give us some fun, you guys!" Holding the black-stained sword, he turned his target to the surrounding small fry.
BANG…
The Haki-infused blade screamed as he swung. Pirates fell like wheat—limbs severed, guts spilling, screams harmonizing with his crazy-ass laughter.
"KEHAHAHA!"
"GYAAAH!"
"AHH! MY ARM—!"
"Pathetic. You're softer than a paper!" with each swing cleaved crowds. Blood painted the ice crimson.
"So, how many pirates do I have to kill before Sengoku-san gives me a bounty? 5,000?"
"M-Monster…!"
"Who're you callin' monster?" Yuji lopped off the critic's head mid-sentence.
"Tch. Boring… Wait, betting on my kill count could be fun."
Current tally: 259.
"Let's aim for 5,000. Only 4,741 to go~"
Yuji revved the blade again.
Meanwhile…
"Hah…! Hah…! Iva-chan, who is that guy? He's insanely strong!!" Luffy panted, sprinting past mountains of dismembered corpses.
"Don't slow down, darling~!" Ivankov snarled, their eyelashes fluttering with panic. "That's Yuji Tono—the Navy's Calamity. Only the Admirals outrank that depraved fuckstick in sheer body count!"
"Got it!" Luffy's eyes burned. Ace's chains clinked in his mind.
"They call him 'Devil Fruit Slayer' for a reason, darling! He's tossed more ability-users into Impel Down than you've had meat binges!"
"Devil Fruit Slayer…?"
"YES! Point is, you can't take him! Not yet, darling~!"
Yuji's kill tally since drawing his blade? 500+. Former Impel Down escapees—friends who'd fought beside Luffy, now decorated the ice as headless torsos.
"Hah…! Hah… but still old man Whitebeard's insane!" Luffy gasped, watching the legend tank Squard's betrayal like it was a papercut.
Seconds after Yuji's [Rankyaku] shredded the Moby Dick's hull, Whitebeard crashed onto the ice, quake-fists roaring.
"Forget him! Why the fuck are the Marines retreating?!" Ivankov hissed.
"…Wait. Then why's HE still here?!"
"BECAUSE HE WON'T DIE, LUFFY-BOY!"
"Jinbei!"
The Warlord-turned-ally lunged beside them, shark eyes locked on Yuji's blood-soaked silhouette.
"The Navy left their Calamity to clean up! That bastard's strong enough to solo this mess!"
"So… he's the only Marine left?!"
"Sharp as ever! He's planning something nasty…!"
Ivankov and Jinbei froze. Across the bay, Yuji stood alone—grinning—as the last 500 pirates charged.
"Oi oi… You really think numbers matter?" He licked blood off his blade.
"C'mon. Let's make Ace's execution look tame."
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