Chapter 283: [283] : Emperor Straw Hat Luffy Mobilizes!

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“Those who know the Six Powers—use Moonwalk and land on the island!”

Seeing the aerial defensive line formed by the two Logia Devil Fruits, Flare-Flare and Sand-Sand, which they couldn’t break through, Marine HQ Vice Admiral and Admiral Candidate Chaton began to command.

On another warship, the other Admiral Candidate, Gion, gripped her famed sword, Konpira, her expression grave.

Although the current generation of three Marine HQ Admirals—Kizaru, Fujitora, and Ryokugyu—had been completely wiped out by Sky Sovereign Rowen, leaving three vacancies in the Admiral positions, the World Government and Marine HQ still hadn’t promoted Chaton and Gion to Admiral.

The reason was simple: they weren’t strong enough.

An Admiral represented the highest combat power of Marine HQ, and by extension, the World Government.

They had to possess the strength of a peak powerhouse on the seas. An Admiral Candidate only had the potential to become a future Admiral—in essence, they were still Vice Admirals.

Even with the Admiral positions vacant, they wouldn’t promote an under-qualified Admiral Candidate. It wouldn’t serve to intimidate the seas—on the contrary, it would bring shame to Marine HQ and the World Government.

Just like after the Summit War, when Kuzan was killed by Rowen and Akainu was promoted to Fleet Admiral, leaving two Admiral vacancies, the World Government still held a World Military Draft to fill the gaps—instead of promoting Gion and Chaton.

Now, the World Government and Marine HQ would rather leave the Admiral positions completely vacant than promote the under-qualified Gion and Chaton.

Gion and Chaton’s combat strength, even among Yonko Commanders, was top-tier. But they still couldn’t take a full-power Haōshoku Coating strike from a peak Emperor.

Being instantly killed by Sky Sovereign Rowen was one thing—after all, even the combined might of Kaido and Big Mom was defeated by him. On the seas now, on the surface, there was no one qualified to fight Sky Sovereign one-on-one.

But to be one-shotted by another Emperor?

The position of Marine Admiral, the symbol of the highest combat power of the Marines and the World Government, would become a complete joke.

A Marine HQ Admiral could be defeated, even killed in battle.

Just like in the past, the sea ruler Rocks had killed a Marine HQ Admiral and successfully escaped.

Sky Sovereign Rowen had also, in a live broadcast to the world, publicly killed Marine HQ Admiral Aokiji, and in the subsequent battle, wiped out all three of the current generation of Marine HQ Admirals.

But the title of Admiral was still one of the absolute strongest combat powers on these seas, capable of intimidating the ocean.

This was the deterrence brought by absolute strength.

It didn’t require defeating the strongest ruler on these seas—it just needed to have a crushing advantage over other pirates—Gion and Chaton, who couldn’t crush most pirates, naturally couldn’t be promoted to Marine HQ Admiral.

In the eyes of the Five Elders, such combat power was just a slightly stronger type of insect, nothing more. They would never allow them to be promoted to Admiral.

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Furthermore, a Marine Admiral had another duty that set them apart from Vice Admirals and Admiral Candidates…

They were directly subordinate to the Celestial Dragons.

The fact that an Admiral would be dispatched if a Celestial Dragon was harmed was just a small part of it.

In times of peace, an Admiral was required to guard the Celestial Dragons’ home base, the Holy Land of Mariejois. And when needed, they had to accompany the Celestial Dragons on missions.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that a Marine HQ Admiral was the strongest fang of the Celestial Dragons.

This was a major reason why Garp had repeatedly refused promotion to Admiral—he was unwilling to become a direct subordinate of the Celestial Dragons.

Gion had no regrets about not being promoted to Marine HQ Admiral.

A position also meant responsibility.

Once promoted to Admiral, she would have to face the Emperors themselves, not just their commanders. With her strength, facing an Emperor was suicide.

Now, with the Navy having no Admirals left after Sky Sovereign’s purge, even the Fleet Admiral, Akainu, had to deploy personally.

Although she didn’t have to face an Emperor herself, as the strongest fighter in the Navy after Akainu, Gion still had to face Commander-level opponents.

But at this moment, she had a grim realization.

The commanders of Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet and the Straw Hat Pirates… were nothing like the commanders of the old Emperor crews that she and Chaton could match.

These monsters… they were Admiral-level!

Fire Fist Ace, needless to say, with his Flare-Flare Fruit ability alone, possessed Admiral-level combat strength. And while the Desert Princess’s Sand-Sand Fruit was a notch below the Flare-Flare Fruit, the current Desert Princess also possessed incredibly strong Haki.

To break through the defensive line of these two powerful Logia users… it was impossible with just her and Chaton’s strength.

Their Haki couldn’t even break through the two’s Devil Fruit defensive line.

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“GREAT ERUPTION——!!!”

Accompanied by a roar.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A terrifyingly huge magma fist instantly made the atmospheric temperature boil violently. The horrifying flame net burning in the atmosphere was instantly pierced by a hole.

The continuously roaring sandstorm, under the frightening energy of the magma fist, was also instantly pierced.

Before the Magma-Magma Fruit, which possessed the greatest localized destructive power of the three great disasters of the One Piece world—a volcanic eruption—the powers of the Sand-Sand and Flare-Flare Fruits could not form an effective barrier.

“FLEET ADMIRAL AKAINU!”

Seeing this familiar Devil Fruit ability, countless Marines cheered excitedly.

“Tch, Akainu…” Ace’s eyes narrowed.

Akainu—the culprit who had killed his Pops during the Summit War.

Although his Pops could now briefly return to the world of the living thanks to Rowen’s Devil Fruit ability and could still watch over his sons as they grew, death was still death. Whitebeard could never again stay in this world for long periods like before.

Even the duration of a soul’s existence in the underworld was uncertain.

Not even Rowen could give a definite answer.

The vast number of soul energy fragments in the underworld was proof of this. These fragments, which Rowen used as fuel for his Revive-Revive Fruit’s attacks, were the remnants of souls from this world whose consciousness had completely dissipated.

Everyone dies eventually. Even in the underworld, where souls truly existed, it was the same. Sooner or later, all consciousness in a soul would completely dissipate, becoming a part of the endless soul energy in the underworld.

Although it was the result of their opposing factions, Ace still yearned to avenge this grudge with his own hands.

But Akainu’s strength was simply too great. Even though he could now initially master Haōshoku Coating and wasn’t completely helpless against Akainu despite his Devil Fruit being completely countered, he was still no match for him.

The attack power of the Magma-Magma Fruit was just too terrifying. Before Rowen, it was the Devil Fruit with the highest attack power of all.

Even Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which could split the coastline, was a step below the Magma-Magma Fruit in terms of attack power.

The sheer destructive force of this fruit was unimaginable…

Ace initial mastery of Haōshoku Coating was no match for the Magma-Magma Fruit.

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“MOONWALK——!”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Countless Marines in their “Justice” coats soared into the air, pouring through the gap Akainu had created with his magma.

These were almost exclusively Commodore-rank officers and above.

Captains were a rare sight.

Under the defensive line created by Ace and Vivi, only those who had completely mastered the Six Powers were qualified to land.

Mastery of the Six Powers, which made one a superhuman in the world, was just cannon fodder in front of Rowen and the others. But in the Marines, it was enough to earn the rank of Commodore.

These elite Marines, with Gion and Chaton as the spearhead and the numerous Vice Admirals as the shaft, charged towards Egghead, intending to open a path to the research lab.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A laser beam instantly exploded, and a Marine HQ Rear Admiral, his body charred black, lost consciousness and fell downwards.

“Be careful! Don’t use Moonwalk to go too high! There’s a Defense System around the Egghead Research lab made from the Glint-Glint fruit’s lasers! Our mission is to open a path into the Egghead Factory area!”

Gion shouted.

Though it was just the Glint-Glitter Fruit’s laser ability, even a Marine HQ Vice Admiral couldn’t break through such a defensive line.

Even she and Chaton could be severely injured if they weren’t careful. An Admiral-level attack was devastating to a Vice Admiral; they couldn’t possibly block it.

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“The Marines who know the Six Powers have landed.” Vivi looked at the figures in the air, her eyes flashing with a crimson-black light.

“Let’s go. Time for the next step of the plan,” Ace smiled.

FWOOSH!

Vivi’s figure elementized, turning into a sandstorm and completely disappearing from the spot.

FWOOSH!

Ace’s figure also turned into flames, leaving this area in an instant.

“Why was it so easy?”

Gion and the others landed on Egghead smoothly. But she felt no joy. Instead, her eyes were filled with worry.

“The Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s ability wasn’t activated, and they let us land so smoothly? Could it be that Sky Sovereign isn’t on Egghead?” Chaton was also very surprised.

“Don’t say such stupid things! Even if Sky Sovereign isn’t here, don’t forget, Cat Burglar can also use the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s ability!” Gion’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat.

“There’s only one possibility… THEY LET US LAND! And… it’s too quiet here.”

Gion scanned the surroundings.

The factory layer of Egghead should have numerous robots and researchers. But at this moment, she couldn’t see a single figure.

“Are they all in the research layer?” Gion looked up at Vegapunk’s research institute, which was located on the artificial Sky Island.

“Let the regular Marines land,” Chaton issued the order.

“Are you letting the Marines come to their deaths without figuring it out?” Gion glared at Chaton.

“The Five Elders’ orders are absolute. You should know that, Gion,” Chaton’s tone was heavy.

Gion could only clench her fists, veins popping on her forehead, and unwillingly accept it.

“LAND! DESTROY EVERYTHING ON EGGHEAD! BRING THE HEAVY CANNONS UP!”

The Marines began to land.

Though the flame net had been pierced by Akainu, there were still a large number of flames burning in the atmosphere. Long-range artillery fire could no longer achieve the Buster Call’s goal of destroying everything on Egghead.

They could only land, move the heavy cannons from the warships onto Egghead, and completely destroy Egghead from the land.

The highest authority Buster Call issued by the Five Elders was absolute. Everything on Egghead, including all the buildings, had to be completely destroyed.

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“FIRE!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The heavy cannons, which the Marines had worked hard to move to the shore of Egghead, immediately began to roar. Countless cannonballs were unleashed towards the buildings of Egghead’s factory layer.

BUT—

GURGLE!

All the buildings and the ground began to writhe abnormally.

WHOOSH!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

These cannonballs that landed on the buildings of Egghead’s factory layer were immediately bounced back. Countless explosions sounded—and the Navy’s heavy cannons suffered heavy losses.

“The environment has been rubberized. THIS ABILITY IS—” Gion and Chaton’s foreheads broke out in cold sweat.

All the Marines showed expressions of fear.

“Shishishi!”

A cheerful laugh rang out.

A pure white giant… poked its head out from one of the factory layer buildings.

“IT’S… IT’S THE EMPEROR! STRAW HAT MONKEY D. LUFFY!”

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