One Piece: A Warlord's Path

Chapter 830: Overwhelming the Kid Pirates

The pirate ship, over a hundred meters long, had been snapped clean in half. The two severed sections of the hull were sinking slowly into the depths, surrounded by a sea of floating debris and wreckage.

On the surface, dozens of pirates struggled in the water, watching in horror as countless floating corpses drifted past them.

"Blegh—!"

Eustass Kid lay sprawled across a large fragment of the deck, painfully retching up a mouthful of seawater mixed with streaks of blood.

"Are you alright, Kid?" Killer asked grimly, steadying Kid by the shoulder.

"I’m... I’m fine. Good thing you were there," Kid gasped, shaking his head to clear his vision.

As a Devil Fruit user, falling into the ocean was a death sentence. If Killer hadn’t pulled him out, he would have already drowned.

"He destroyed our ship in a single blow. I’m afraid we’re done for this time!" Killer surveyed the area; the sea was a graveyard of ship parts and crewmen desperately treading water.

Meanwhile, on the Kid Pirates’ second ship, the rest of the crew watched in terror. Seeing their captain’s flagship split in two by a single shockwave had drained the color from their faces.

"How... how is this possible?"

"Look at the sky! There are three people flying!"

"Dammit, they must be Ability Users from the Chris Pirates!"

"Turn the ship! Turn around! We have to save Captain Kid!"

Under Wire’s command, they abandoned their assault on the merchant ship and veered back toward the wreckage.

"Yawn..."

Aeridar let out a bored yawn, standing firmly on the half-sunken remains of the bow. He looked down to see a dozen or so Kid Pirates clutching weapons, desperately trying to scramble up the tilting hull toward him.

"Curse you, ’Golden Ring’ Aeridar! Die!"

"You dare destroy our ship!"

"Fire! Kill him!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The pirates snarled as they drew their flintlocks and opened fire. Muzzle flashes flickered through the thick smoke as lead balls whistled toward Aeridar from all directions.

"Ridiculous."

Aeridar didn’t even blink. The dozens of high-speed bullets suddenly slowed, then ground to a complete halt, suspended in mid-air exactly three meters away from him. They formed a dense, shimmering ring around his body.

In the next instant, a powerful repelling force exploded outward, acting directly upon the frozen bullets.

Whiz! Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!

Propelled by the intense impact, the bullets shot backward with even greater velocity than before.

Puch! Puch! Puch! Puch!

The dozen pirates charging up the hull were decimated instantly. The high-impact rounds tore through them, erupting into a mist of blood. In a heartbeat, the deck was a crimson mess, and the bodies rolled back into the sea, dyeing the water red.

"You bastard! Haa—!"

The zombie-like Heat leaped into the air, roaring as he exhaled a torrent of searing flames toward Aeridar.

"Get lost!"

Aeridar barked coldly, throwing a punch through the air.

BOOM—!

A terrifying burst of physical force erupted, causing the very air to vibrate. The sheer pressure of the punch-wind dispersed the surging flames and struck Heat directly, sending him spiraling backward while coughing up blood.

"Heat!"

Kid and Killer cried out in unison, watching helplessly as Heat plunged into the ocean.

"You son of a bitch!"

Kid was pushed past his limit. His face flushed a deep red as purple electrical arcs danced across his skin. An invisible magnetic field surged outward, violently yanking every piece of metal within range.

Sabers, swords, spears, bullets, cannonballs, flintlocks, cannons, even iron cots and cooking pots, all rose into the air. This mountain of metal swirled toward Kid, adhering to his right arm and gradually forming a colossal, mechanical limb.

"Go to hell!" Kid roared, swinging the giant metal arm with bone-shattering force toward Aeridar.

CRASH—!

The metal arm, over ten meters long, whistled through the air and slammed into the bow section. The impact was so great the wreckage disintegrated into splinters.

"Too slow!"

Aeridar was already sprinting nimbly up the length of Kid’s giant metal arm.

"Kid! Use the metal to link the bow to the stern wreckage! Create a temporary platform! I’ll hold him off!" Killer realized they were at a severe disadvantage in the water and shouted a quick reminder.

Killer leaped onto Kid’s giant metal arm as well, his dual scythes spinning at high speeds as he aimed a lethal slash at Aeridar’s throat.

"I’ve got it!"

Kid knew the floating debris was too unstable. Keeping his right arm extended, he reached out with his left.

Bzzzt—Bzzzt—

Purple lightning crackled between his fingers. Under the pull of his magnetism, a massive pile of metal began to fuse together, rapidly forming a makeshift metal bridge thousands of meters long.

At that moment, Killer engaged Aeridar.

CLANG—!

Metal clashed against flesh, sending sparks flying. A hand, blackened and hardened like iron, firmly caught the high-speed spinning scythe.

"No!"

Killer gasped. He tried to yank his right-hand scythe back, but it wouldn’t budge. The gap in raw strength was overwhelming.

Aeridar remained expressionless, throwing a punch straight at Killer’s face.

"Armament: Hardening—Spinning Sickle Slash!!!"

Killer growled. A deep black hue coated his left scythe, hardening it as he swung the spinning blade with everything he had against the incoming fist.

CLANG—!

A deafening explosion of sound erupted, sending three rings of shockwaves rippling outward.

Crr-ack!

In the next heartbeat, the scythe snapped. The broken half of the blade spun uselessly into the sky.

Aeridar’s blackened fist continued its trajectory toward Killer without mercy. Even before the hit landed, the terrifying pressure of the wind was enough to make Killer’s breath hitch in his throat.

POW—!

A dull thud was followed by a massive release of energy. Killer felt a searing pain in his chest as his body was transformed into a black blur, hurtling backward. A trail of blood mist lingered in the air behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The blur crossed nearly a hundred meters of open sea instantly, triggering several sonic booms in its wake.

CRASH!

Killer smashed directly into their second pirate ship. Wood exploded in every direction, and a cloud of dust billowed into the sky. The entire ship rocked violently, nearly capsizing in the turbulent wake.

"Killer!"

Kid looked at his fallen comrade, his teeth grinding so hard they nearly shattered.

Thud! Thud!

The narrow metal bridge was finally complete. One end was lodged firmly into the stern wreckage, while the other rested on their remaining ship. The path was barely three meters wide and jagged with the edges of blades and spears, a treacherous walkway that could easily slice open a man’s foot.

Whoosh—

Kid used his magnetism to hurl Aeridar into the air, then scrambled onto the metal bridge he had built.

Aeridar flipped several times in mid-air before stabilizing himself, hovering in the sky. He looked down at the makeshift bridge and mocked, "I’ve never seen a bridge like that. You really have zero sense of aesthetics, don’t you?"

"I’m going to slaughter you!"

Kid screamed at the sky, aiming his giant metal arm at Aeridar. Suddenly, the massive arm disintegrated, transforming into thousands of blades.

Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!

The blades shot out in a spectacular, lethal torrent, forming a river of steel in the sky.

"Ha! Impact Wave!"

Aeridar shouted, throwing a punch into the empty air.

Whoosh—!RUMBLE—!

The terrifying impact compressed the air, instantly throwing the atmosphere into chaos within a fifty-meter radius. A blinding white light erupted, forming a massive, visible ring of shockwaves.

The rising river of metal collided with the wave. The dense collection of weapons and scrap was pulverized instantly. Even the heavy iron cannons were shattered into fragments. A rain of metal shards began to fall, forcing Kid to raise his mechanical left arm to shield his head.

Pop~

Aeridar vanished again. A second later, he was standing directly in front of Kid.

"Get out of my sight!"

Aeridar delivered a sweeping kick. With a sickening thud, his foot connected with Kid’s midsection.

"Puh—!"

Kid didn’t even have time to react before he was coughing up blood. His body doubled over like a cooked shrimp as he was sent flying dozens of meters.