13 Breaking the Siege (Part I)
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The medic swiftly administered first aid to Brontes, bandaging his wounds. After a few minutes of rest, he managed to regain some of his strength and rose to his feet. Although he was far from his peak condition, he was still capable of handling the weaker pirates.
His battle with Shiki had drained him, both physically and mentally, and his internal injuries further hampered his combat effectiveness. He could still fight, but only against those with lower combat power.
The marine warship was entirely encircled by the Golden Lion's pirate ships. They were vastly outnumbered, exacerbating their predicament.
Fortunately, they had sent a distress call to Marineford the moment they were ambushed. Reinforcements should be arriving soon, provided they could hold off the Golden Lion Pirates.
The sky seemed to tremble under the force of the clash between Shiki and Zed. Their battle was an epic representation of the eternal struggle between pirates and marines.
In the One Piece movies, both Zed and Shiki were depicted in their twilight years, their powers significantly diminished. Brontes had always regretted not witnessing these legendary figures in their prime. But now, both Zed and Shiki were at the height of their powers, and Brontes watched the spectacle unfold with a heart pounding with excitement.
"So this was their true strength in their prime..." Brontes murmured.
Relying on his exceptional physical skills and Haki, Zed was able to hold his own against Shiki in the air. Even if he couldn't defeat Shiki, he could certainly stall him.
If it had been any Vice-Admiral other than Garp leading this mission, Brontes could only imagine the dire outcome.
With Zed engaging Shiki, the recruits were free to fight. Among them, Borsalino was an invincible mobile fortress.
Despite his usual laziness, his logia devil fruit ability was formidable. His ultra-long-distance attacks, each laser shot capable of causing an explosion, could easily carry out large-scale strikes on the ships below from the air.
However, Borsalino couldn't execute such an operation due to the proficient snipers among the Golden Lion Pirates. They effectively blocked Borsalino's attacks with their sharpshooting skills.
Indeed, Shiki's crew was not to be underestimated. If they didn't have numerous strong pirates among their ranks, how could they have stood against the Roger Pirates and nearly decimated them in the battle at Edd War, relying solely on their captain Shiki?
During this time, Shiki's ranks were bolstered by numerous cadres of formidable combat prowess, and the captains of each pirate ship were far from ordinary pirates.
Shiki commanded dozens of pirate groups, several of whose captains were highly skilled marksmen.
Although firearms were not the weapon of choice in this world, those who wielded them with proficiency were a force to be reckoned with.
At the very least, the few gun masters under Shiki's command could restrain Borsalino, preventing him from decimating too many of their vessels.
"Watch out! He's a Logia devil fruit user, he can manipulate magma!"
A terrified cry echoed behind Brontes. A pirate ship on the verge of nearing the warship was engulfed in flames as a magma fist struck it, and a cloud of smoke laced with the acrid scent of sulfur permeated the air.
"Pirates should exist in the world! All of you die!!" After an extended battle, Sakazuki had descended into a state of frenzy.
Sakazuki was not adept at naval warfare, yet he outperformed Borsalino. He had already obliterated two pirate ships, and nearly all the pirates aboard had fallen to his wrath.
Brontes had heard some rumours about Sakazuki's past. He was an orphan, his family eradicated by pirates, and was ultimately rescued by the Marines.
Perhaps influenced by the Marine who saved him, he harbored a deep-seated belief in justice from a young age, firmly convinced that the Marines should uphold justice and absolute self-righteousness.
An extremist by nature, he showed no mercy when confronting the pirates he despised.
"I have rested enough, it's time to act." Brontes rose slowly after a period of rest, but his spear was nowhere to be found. In his previous skirmish with Shiki, his spear had shattered into fragments, prompting him to discard it.
"Are you okay?" Yoshida inquired, seeing Brontes approach.
"I'm okay now, I can continue to fight." Brontes affirmed with a nod.
"That's good. Although we've called for reinforcements, they won't arrive immediately. If you join the battle, we can break the siege much faster."
Aware of the perilous situation they were in, Yoshida didn't attempt to dissuade Brontes.
"Let's join the battle." A surge of lightning erupted from Brontes's body, and then he vanished, reappearing atop a pirate ship.
"Rumble!! ZliZli!!"
"It's the lightning guy! He's here!" The rapid movement of lightning caused a thunderous rumble.
The pirates aboard the ship, hearing the crackle of lightning and seeing the electric sparks above their heads, were thrown into a state of panic.
"Knock him down quickly!" A pirate's voice echoed in the tumult.
"50,000,000 Volt Lightning Pillar!"
Brontes, perched atop the ship's mast, spread his arms wide, and in an instant, a myriad of lightning bolts erupted from his body.
"ZliZli!!! Crack!!! Boom!!!"
In the ensuing moment, the entire ship was enveloped in a shroud of electricity. Those aboard were assaulted by the electric onslaught, their bodies succumbing to a numbing stiffness.
"Lightning Dragon!"
Brontes' voice thundered above the chaos.
A colossal dragon, wrought from pure lightning, vaulted into the heavens before plummeting back down, crashing into the pirate ship with unrelenting force.
"Boom!!!"
The impact was cataclysmic.
The pirate ship detonated, reduced to mere fragments adrift on the ocean's surface. The seawater, a natural conductor, carried the residual electricity from the Lightning Dragon. The pirates who had miraculously survived the initial attack found themselves besieged once more by the electric current. Their bodies were rendered immobile, paralyzed, and one by one, they were claimed by the unforgiving sea.
To expedite the destruction of the pirate ships, Brontes eschewed the time-consuming one-on-one combat approach, opting instead for a more direct, devastating method.
Their position was dangerous, surrounded on all sides. If the battle were to persist, the enemy's reinforcements would only multiply.
Shiki commanded a formidable fleet of over a hundred pirate groups. If they were all to join the fray, the consequences for the marines would be catastrophic.
"Hmph!"
Observing Brontes' swift and efficient ship destruction, Sakazuki, engaged in combat on a separate ship, scoffed dismissively.
He was dispatching pirates and obliterating their ships with a speed that was nothing short of extraordinary.
He could have easily matched Brontes' long-distance destruction, perhaps even surpassed it. However, Sakazuki preferred the satisfaction of eliminating these pirates with his own hands, never once considering an escape from the encirclement.
Brontes, suspended in the air, turned just in time to catch Sakazuki's upward glance. He instantly discerned the man's thoughts and chose to disregard him.
Despite both serving the Marine, their principles diverged significantly. Each was steadfast in his belief that his own brand of justice was the most righteous.
Brontes' thoughts were consumed by the safety of those aboard the warship. His priority was to guide them to safety as swiftly as possible.
However, thought and action were two distinct entities. The sheer number of pirates within the Golden Lion Pirates was overwhelming.
As the minutes ticked by, the threat grew. Over 30 pirate ships were closing in on their position.
