Bab 194: Battlefield of Emperors, Last Stand and Slaughter
_________ POV Narration _________
Whitebeard's will flared as he crouched slightly and picked up his Naginata.
The sand underneath him was blown away, and the ground nearby was cracked and segmented as the large man jumped towards the flying Dragon Emperor with rage.
Whitebeard ignored the pain in his body, it was nothing to someone like him. He ignored the weakness he felt, instead, he willed his body to continue.
His mind was sharp, his will unbending.
The blade of his naginata turned black and shined in green lightning as he swung it towards the gigantic dragon with an energetic shout.
Just before his blade came into contact with Kaido's body, the Dragon transformed, his form contracting into itself as Whitebeard's naginata passed through the air near him.
Kaido roared as he turned and grasped his spiked kanabo with both of his hands, aiming for Edward's torso with a devious smile on his face.
Whitebeard managed to intercept his kanabo with the hilt of his naginata, grunting a bit as the two emperors physically clashed for the first time.
The seas around them rolled, the clouds dispersed and any fog that may have remained was blown away completely.
Purple lighting clashed with Green, as the two of them fought for dominance in that brief exchange.
Whitebeard clenched his teeth and roared once more, his will flared up and Kaido's eyes widened.
Just as he was about to be pushed back, Whitebeard coughed out a mouthful of blood and lost all of his momentum.
Kaido then smiled, taking that opportunity in stride. His kanbo broke through the Strongest Man's guard and sent him flying back towards the shores where he had come from.
"WORORORORO!" The Dragon Emperor burst into boisterous laughter as he eyed his adversary.
"You've certainly grown weaker, Whitebeard!" Kaido roared as he landed on the shores near Whitebeard.
Edward slowly got up, supporting himself on his Naginata as he scowled at his former crewmate.
"Weaker? As if a scared brat like you has any right to say that..." Whitebeard rose to his full height, still shorter than the Dragon Emperor, who was currently in his Devil Fruit's Hybrid form.
"Tsk, you're still clinging onto the past... The world's changed old man!" Kaido flexed his hands as he grasped his Hassaikai, his eyes shining red as purple lighting rolled off the spikes of his metallic weapon.
"Maybe I am clinging to the past... But I assure you... My past is a lot more glorious than your future will ever be..." Whitebeard spoke through the occasional cough, his muscles flexing as he grasped his Murakumogiri with both hands.
Green lightning rolled around the hilt of the gigantic naginata as a gigantic white halo trembled around the edge of the blade.
"Worororo! I'll see about that... Too bad you won't be there to see it!" Kaido chuckled a bit more as the emperors clashed once more.
And while they were clashing, the residents of the island were forced to watch in fear as their protector struggled with his life on the line...
Fear gripped their minds, and the situation wasn't much better for the members of the Whitebeard pirates that were present.
Vista could only curse his own weakness, knowing that he had no way of helping his father against someone like Kaido.
Even if he could provide a distraction, that would mean that no one was left protecting the residents of Sphinx Island, his father's hometown.
He couldn't allow that to happen... He braced himself for the hordes of pirates that were bound to come rolling in. The pirate ships that Whitebeard had pushed back were already returning...
Now, Vista wasn't stupid. He knew that the situation was hopeless. He knew that he would most certainly fail to defend the island from the pirates that encroached from all directions...
But he was going to die before he ever gave up.
He still had plenty of pirates on his side, the commanders were away, but they still had enough people to man cannons.
Whitebeard's ship, The Moby Dick was beached on one side of the island, and a good part of the crew had already gotten to work, trying to sink as many ships as possible using its cannons.
Vista could at least give and allow them to protect that side... His father was taking care of one as well...
So, he was left with two sides... The South and the East of the island... And he prepared his resistance straight in the middle.
He unsheathed both of his blades and exhaled a breath of air that he had been holding in his lungs ever since seeing his father's injured form.
'I'll put my life on the line, a last dance...' Both of his blades shined, petals rolling around him as the first of the pirates stepped onto the island.
Vista's twirled his moustache with a calm look as he held his position and waited...
More and more pirates disembarked, prepared to strip the island of everything it had.
And that was when Vista started, his blades cleaved through the pirates in a bloody fashion as he sent flying slashes towards all of the ships that he could see.
He managed to kill hundreds in a few dozen seconds, he wasn't unmatched, however...
Vista's attention was captured by a fiery explosion, as he was forced to cross his blades and block a strangely serrated blade.
His hands trembled slightly as he watched the tall masked man in front of him... Large black wings fluttered behind him...
"King..." The flowery swordsman scowled as he truly prepared for his last stand against the Beast Pirates Alliance.
"..." King was silent, not bothering to engage with Vista verbally in any way.
He stepped back as Vista's swords swiped forwards. He immediately took to the air, dodging Vista's slashes with ease as flames rose up around him.
King circles around, trying to find an opening in Vista's defences.
But the Whitebeard pirate was too skilled to be caught off guard, and he parried each of King's attacks with precision and finesse.
Vista's entire body turned black as he struggled to stand up to the Lunarian's flames.
King himself was uninjured, he probed and slashed at Vista occasionally, sending flames towards him as well whenever he found an opening.
Vista's stance was hard to break through, but he was still only human. He was bound to get tired eventually... Especially since he was forced to send flying slashes towards the other pirates as well.
Eventually, the inevitable happened... The other pirates started advancing into the island. The flowery swordsman tried to send a few flying slashes their way, something that King noticed and took advantage of.
"I don't think you have the luxury to worry about that..." King's tone sounded indifferent as his serrated blade slashed the Whitebeard Pirate across the chest in a gruesome fashion.
The serrated edge caused chunks of flesh to fly off as Vista in turn swung both of his blades and almost cut off King's arm.
Vista heaved as he clutched at his chest with one of his hands, his defence had fallen, and he had barely managed to do anything to King in the process...
Every time he somehow managed to push King back, the Beast Pirate was just able to bounce right back without any issue. It felt almost insulting to Vista...
'Marco... You better take revenge for us...' Vista continued to clutch at his chest as his grip on his swords became stronger.
He was about to dash towards King, to at least attempt to take him down with him... But a yellow laser hit the ground right in front of him, creating a large explosion that blasted him backwards, his back hitting a few rocks.
King looked to the side, his face unreadable underneath his mask.
"Stop fooling around Queen... You should've just killed him." King's voice sounded just as calm as before as he berated his crewmate.
"Muhahaha~ Where's the fun in that? This invasion's almost a wrap anyway..." Queen's rolled onto the battlefield as he slapped his huge belly with an amused smile on his face.
"No more fooling around. We still have to go help kill Whitebeard." King shook his head as he looked back at Vista, who shakily stood up, still determined to fight to the very end.
"What a nuisance..." King shook his head as he clenched his fist, flames rising up all around him. Those flames helped obscure his vision for half a second, as he prepared an attack to swallow up the Whitebeard pirate...
It was at that moment that a figure appeared at Vista's side...
"I'm borrowing this one..." Vista only managed to hear a voice near him before he felt one of his swords being yanked out of his hand.
"Wha-" Vista didn't even get to finish his question before the figure disappeared... And then the screams started.
Gruelling, gut-wrenching screams filled the island that very moment, as King looked around with wide eyes.
All of the pirates that had advanced onto the island... They were lying dead on the ground, pools of blood were just beginning to fill up as some of the bodies weren't even done hitting the floor.
King then heard a scream from behind him, forcing him to instantly turn around, only to see the figure of Queen, faceplanted into the ground as a figure stood by his neck, sword raised and prepared for decapitation.
King tried to intervene, his serrated blade inching towards the figure... But in the blink of an eye, Queen's head fell to the ground and rolled.
King gulped as he then recognized the figure...
'Guzman...'
The swordsman in front of him had been able to completely overwhelm them even when he was an almost dying old man... Now he was back in his prime.
Their captain had already warned them all against facing Francisco under any circumstance... But it seemed that the old swordsman just had it out for them...
Vista was still looking at the situation with wide eyes, his confusion rising by the second as he then heard explosions raging in the distance.
"FIRE FIST!" Shouts were heard on the seas, as ship after ship burned. Ace jumped from ship to ship, destroying as many as he could while in a desperate bid to reach the island quickly.
'Ace and...' Vista still didn't recognize the second figure, but it was the last he saw before finally succumbing to his injuries and passing out.
The blonde swordsman looked at the grievously injured Vista as he collapsed, before looking back at King.
"Didn't think much of you back then, but I guess you really are a Lunarian..." Francisco shook his head as King flinched slightly and prepared himself to clash with the blonde swordsman.
"Hmm?" Francisco just raised an eyebrow at that.
With overwhelming speed, the swordsman dashed to King's side, before the latter could even react.
"I can't believe you're actually considering this... Is your lineage giving you confidence?" Francsico's voice sounded sadistic as his blade came down onto King's wings...
The air pressure immediately blew the flames on his back away, as the blade almost cut cleanly through his wings before he finally managed to intercept it with his own serrated sword.
King's eyes widened in fear for the first time since stepping on that island.
His blade held up well for a few seconds... But eventually the inevitable happened.
Francisco's Conquror's Coated blade cut through the serrated sword and sliced off King's wings completely.
King's painful screams were cut short, as Francisco drove the tip of his old blade into the pirate's neck without any hesitation.
King gave his last breath as Francsico inspected Vista's blade with a smile on his face.
'It's certainly been a while since I've fought someone to the death with a good blade...'
He then felt the entire island shaking underneath him, with a smile, he looked into the distance, where Kaido was still facing off against an injured Whitebeard.
'Better step in... Good old Whitebeard isn't allowed to die till we've spoken properly... He's also captain's ally if I remember correctly.'
The swordsman then turned into a blur as he dashed towards the two clashing emperors.
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Hope you like the chapter!
The backup's here!
Kaido's gonna have a bad time. But this time it won't be as easy as the last, the same trick won't work twice.
Today had an exam, it went shit, but hey, it is wat it is.
Still raising patr-on benefits btw, this is the 4th triple upload in a row on there(both stories combined) :))
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 14 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
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