"It's over."
With a dramatic snap of her fingers, Esdeath struck a stylish pose.
The final, razor-sharp ice spike plummeted from above—tons of solid ice compressed into a spear sharp enough to pierce any defense.
But to Esdeath's surprise…
Delocas merely looked up, his massive lion head twisting into a sneering grin.
'Shlk!'
The ice spear impaled his body—
Yet in the exact moment it struck, Delocas melted into a massive pool of sludge.
A Logia—Swamp-Swamp Fruit!
During his decades as a CP0 lapdog for the Celestial Dragons, Delocas hadn't wasted his time.
For over ten years, he hunted down four different Logia users.
And finally, from the last Swamp-Swamp Fruit user, he had successfully extracted the most fundamental Logia ability—
Elementalization!
"Oh? That's similar to my darling's power…"
Esdeath had once fought Kizaru to the death.
She immediately recognized the nature of Delocas' ability.
But compared to the effortless grace of Kizaru's Light-Logia form, Delocas looked downright pathetic.
As a mud-like entity, he had to squeeze himself through the gaps between the ice spikes just to reassemble his body.
"Mehahahaha! No matter what you try, it's useless!"
Even as another ice spear pierced through him, Delocas—still in his swamp form—laughed mockingly.
Where the hell had Kizaru picked up this wild woman?
Her power resembled Aokiji's so much, yet she didn't even understand the basic Logia ability to become immune to attacks!
If she kept wasting time with these pointless attacks—
Wait.
Something felt off.
Delocas glanced back—
And realized.
Each time he escaped, he left behind small amounts of his muddy body.
And those remnants…
Had been completely frozen by the frigid ice spikes.
A true Logia user wouldn't care about losing small portions of their elemental body.
After all, they could easily regenerate by consuming stamina.
For instance—
Aokiji and Akainu could reshape entire islands into frozen wastelands or magma hellscapes. No matter how much of their bodies were lost, they could always regenerate.
But Delocas…
His elementalization wasn't natural.
He had stolen it through his Devil Fruit ability—it didn't possess the true characteristics of a Logia.
To restore himself, he had to spend an enormous amount of stamina.
Worse yet—
To increase his chances of successfully stealing Logia powers, Delocas had first forced ordinary people to eat the Devil Fruits.
Then, he would extract the abilities from them.
His method guaranteed that all Logia users could be stolen from.
But it also meant…
That the abilities he acquired had never been properly trained.
And his stamina consumption was absurdly high.
If this battle dragged on—
He would be the first to collapse.
"Chimera Flame!"
Realizing the danger, Delocas immediately abandoned his swamp form—
His body shifted, transforming into a Chimera hybrid with the head of a lion and the body of a goat.
As another ice spike fell toward him—
He breathed out a torrent of multi-colored, eldritch flames.
The solid ice melted instantly under the supernatural fire.
Yet instead of turning into water—
The ice became a viscous, liquid-like substance.
The Unique Power of the Mythical Zoan—Chimera Form.
No matter the material—
Once touched by Chimera Flames, it would melt.
Of course, Seastone, Haki, and seawater were immune to this terrifying fire.
"Hmph. That's interesting."
Esdeath's lips curled.
"Then let's try this next—"
Esdeath tapped the heel of her boot against the ground.
Instantly, an icy chill erupted from beneath her feet, spreading outward in a freezing wave.
Despite the blazing midday sun over Marineford, the temperature plummeted in an instant.
Even Aokiji, who was locked in a fierce battle with a mysterious hooded man, turned his head in shock.
The fighter Kizaru had found—not only did she possess an ability similar to his own, but her sheer output was ridiculously high.
If not for the ice tornado restraining the freezing effect, half of Marineford would have already been encased in ice.
Inside the icy vortex, Delocas was struggling—
Half his body had already been frozen solid.
Though he managed to shatter the ice with raw strength, the moment he tried to move, the cold seized him again.
"Damn it! This woman… Where the hell did Kizaru find this monster?!"
Furious, Delocas spat a blast of Chimera Flames onto his own body.
Even as the wielder of this strange, eldritch fire, he still had to coated himself in Haki before using it.
In a single heartbeat, the white-furred Chimera hybrid turned completely black, its fur shining like metal under the full-body Haki coating.
Then, the multi-colored demonic flames ignited over him—
A terrifying beast from the underworld charging straight at Esdeath once more.
"It's been a while since I hunted dangerous beasts. Perfect time for a little nostalgia…"
Esdeath casually snapped her wrist—
An ice crystal whip materialized in her hand.
As the snow and frost swirled around her, her divine beauty only intensified—
But the smile on her lips was anything but angelic.
Meanwhile…
At the same time, CP agents finally found the Seastone key—
Unlocking Kizaru's Seastone handcuffs at last.
Immediately, the CP0 agents formed a protective formation around Kizaru—
As if their presence could actually shield him while he held the Pure Gold.
The scene was almost comical—
Like a group of tiny kittens baring their claws, trying to guard a lazy tiger mid-yawn.
"Admiral Kizaru, the Five Elders are calling."
A CP0 agent, wearing a white mask, respectfully presented a transponder snail to Kizaru.
Normally, CP0 agents had no reason to act subservient to a Navy Admiral.
But anyone in the CP Organization knew—
Admiral Kizaru was not someone you pissed off.
He never cared about political hierarchy.
If he didn't like you, he wouldn't hesitate to throw hands—
And unfortunately for CP0, not a single person in their entire organization could throw hands harder than him.
Even when he had pushed things too far, the Five Elders had only been able to scold and warn him.
But after that warning—
Kizaru camped outside CP0's largest base for an entire month.
He blocked the entrance, not allowing anyone to leave.
He cut off all supplies, forcing the agents inside to roast and eat rats just to survive.
In the end, it took Fleet Admiral Sengoku himself to drag Kizaru away—
Since then, CP0 agents had avoided Kizaru like rats avoiding a cat.
"Moshi moshi~ This is Kizaru."
Kizaru lazily inspected the high-end transponder snail—
Making a mental note to get one for himself later.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Well done, Kizaru! The Navy has truly exceeded our expectations!"
The Five Elders' voices came through, excited and exhilarated.
For years, the World Government had searched in vain for Pure Gold—
Even declassifying its existence to all CP0 operatives in hopes of finding it.
Yet after all this time, they had nothing to show for their efforts.
And now, out of nowhere, Kizaru had delivered it to them.
"When Fleet Admiral Sengoku retires, I want his job."
Holding the Pure Gold in his hands, Kizaru didn't even hesitate—
He immediately named his price.
"No problem!"
The Elders didn't even pause before agreeing.
"We'll convince Kong to retire, promote Sengoku to Commander-in-Chief, and appoint you as Fleet Admiral!"
The Five Elders chuckled through the transponder snail.
Among them, the oldest was already nearing 200 years old—
Kept alive solely by Lord Imu's favor.
But what if, one day, Imu got bored of them?
Compared to that terrifying possibility, Kizaru wanting to be Fleet Admiral was nothing.
Hell, if he asked to be Commander-in-Chief, they'd still consider it.
And since Sengoku had also done a good job, they might as well promote him too—
That way, everyone wins.
…Well, everyone except Kong, but that guy never found a single trace of Pure Gold when he was Fleet Admiral, so tough luck.
"The Navy needs more funding to recover from this battle—at least 5 trillion Berries. And for the next two years, the military budget needs to increase by 50%."
Kizaru saw his chance—and he took it.
He knew the Elders had no choice but to swallow his extortion for the sake of Pure Gold.
This battle had cost the Navy dearly—
Countless soldiers, ships, even his own flagship had been sunk by the Whitebeard Pirates.
And Marineford itself?
It needed massive repairs.
Obviously, the World Government—the biggest suckers in history—would be footing the bill.
As for Pure Gold—sure, Kizaru could hand it over.
For now.
After all, Dragon definitely had more.
And Pure Gold wasn't a consumable—
It was just sitting there, waiting to eventually return to his hands.
"That's too much! Absolutely not! The most we can do is 500 billion! Five trillion is impossible!"
For the first time, the Elders hesitated.
Even in their Pure Gold-induced euphoria, they weren't completely brain-dead.
"500 billion is too low. Let's compromise—2 trillion. No further negotiations."
Kizaru knew he'd spooked them—
But their counteroffer was laughable.
At that rate, they could patch up Marineford and maybe build a few ships—but that was it.
No way was he letting them cheat the Navy out of a proper budget.
"…Fine. But you must personally deliver the Pure Gold to Mary Geoise. Not a single mistake can be made."
In the end, the Five Elders caved.
Their minds were consumed by the allure of immortality.
Under normal circumstances, they would have sent CP0 to transport the Pure Gold—
But this time?
They didn't trust their agents enough.
They couldn't afford any mistakes.
"Then it's settled. First, I'll help Sengoku deal with the Whitebeard Pirates…"
Kizaru grinned, entirely satisfied with the deal.
Technically, he was already richer than the Five Elders—
But spending his money?
Why do that when he could drain the World Government instead?
Besides, he had big plans for the funds under Tesoro's control.
The gold from Skypiea was reserved for launching a new global currency, tied to the Dimensional Coin system.
The only real cash flow he had access to was the dividends from his various business investments—
Like the World Economy News Paper.
But not every business partner was as smart as Morgans.
Some idiots actually thought they could skim off Kizaru's money.
Luckily, Nami could sniff them out in an instant—
And then Kizaru would personally collect his debts, with interest.
"Just focus on protecting the Pure Gold. Let CP handle the transport."
The Five Elders spoke coldly.
Unless it was Delocas before his betrayal, there was no way a hundred CP agents could guard Pure Gold as securely as Kizaru could.
Delocas's defection had made them uneasy—
If one CP0 agent had betrayed them for Pure Gold, who's to say there weren't a second or third waiting for their chance?
In the face of immortality, even CP agents couldn't be trusted.
In fact, a clueless Marine like Kizaru seemed far more reliable.
"Oh… You heard that? The Five Elders want you guys to go deliv—cough, I mean, go take out Whitebeard!"
Kizaru, of course, had no intention of actually killing Whitebeard.
As far as he was concerned, CP agents and pirates were equally annoying—
So letting them tear each other apart was just double the fun.
The dozens of CP agents surrounding Kizaru fell silent.
They couldn't shake the feeling that Admiral Kizaru was singling them out.
With their strength, charging at Whitebeard was just suicide—
If Whitebeard was feeling merciful, he'd one-shot them, one by one.
If he wasn't, he'd wipe them out in a single swing—in every possible sense of the phrase.
Even their strongest CP0 agent had zero confidence they could survive a direct punch from that monster.
"Admiral Kizaru, shouldn't our top priority be ensuring your protection…?"
The CP agents forced stiff smiles onto their faces, all while internally cursing the idiot CP agent who had pissed off Kizaru in the past.
Did they not know who to mess with and who to avoid?!
Now they were the ones suffering for it!
"Well, if you guys won't go, I guess I'll have to do it myself~"
Kizaru's words sounded casual, but his feet didn't move an inch.
Instead, he casually placed his hand on the transponder snail.
The CP agents winced—this was a clear threat.
If they refused, he'd just have the Five Elders personally order them to go.
And if that happened, it wouldn't just be them suffering—their entire division would be screwed.
°°°
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