Chapter 503: A Sea Dyed in Blood

Boom! Boom!

Even with three of them teaming up, they were still ruthlessly swatted away by Kuma.

“Damn it, this intel was dead wrong. Kuma’s strength is nowhere near just a vice admiral.”

Alsto had received reports that the Revolutionary Army only had one general-level fighter—Monkey D. Dragon. Everyone else was supposed to be mere pretenders or vice admiral class.

But with real fighting, it was clear: Kuma far surpassed any vice admiral.

“Unless we get some reinforcements, we might lose here.”

Alsto spoke, defeated.

With Kuma and Dragon pinning down their top forces, the lesser soldiers were completely outmatched. If they didn’t call for help, the Fifth Army Corps would vanish from history today.

“Alsto, get reinforcements! We’ll hold the line.”

Marty and Russ realized just how bad things had gotten. The Revolutionary Army wasn’t nearly as weak as the World Government’s intel suggested. Just the East Blue branch had such strength—when you added up all Four Seas, their power might rival the entire World Government army.

“Okay, it’s up to you. Buy us a few minutes.”

Alsto immediately broke away from the battle, trying to report their intel to the World Government’s Five Elders using a Den Den Mushi.

But there was no way Kuma would let Alsto get away with that.

He’d held back so far just to prevent them from reporting. If word got out, the ambush wouldn’t end perfectly.

With his right hand, Kuma kept sending out compressed air bubbles, making Marty and Russ struggle to keep up. Meanwhile, his left hand quietly shaped a clear bubble. As the other two were distracted, Kuma flashed over and sent the bubble hurtling toward Alsto.

“Look out!”

The moment Kuma let go, Marty and Russ shouted at the top of their lungs.

Luckily, their warning came just in time—Alsto dodged away. But the clear bubble exploded, and the shockwave killed his Den Den Mushi. Now he had no way to contact the World Government.

“Enough! Time to end this farce.”

Boom!

Kuma’s huge frame appeared behind Russ in an instant. “No! Don’t!”

“Russ, get out of there!”

“What?” Russ only caught the cries of his comrades before a cold wind hit his back. His chest erupted in pain, and he looked down slowly.

A bloody hand was clutching a fiercely beating, still-hot heart.

“Is that…mine?” Russ opened his mouth, but blood gushed out uncontrollably.

Splatter!

“One!”

Kuma squeezed Russ’s heart without mercy, then yanked out his hand and flicked the blood clean.

Plop…

Russ collapsed limply to the ground. He didn’t make another sound, lying in a pool of his own blood.

“Kuma, damn you!”

Alsto, gripping his blade, charged at Kuma in a fury. With a swing, golden sword aura shimmered through the air.

The three of them had grown up together and joined the Fifth Army Corps as deputy commanders. They were as close as brothers.

Watching his best friend die right before him, Alsto’s rage flared. He threw everything he had at Kuma, determined to avenge Russ no matter the risk.

“Two!”

Instead of clashing with Alsto right away, Kuma flashed behind Marty. Using the same brutal method, he crushed Marty’s heart with a sickening crunch.

“Aaaaagh!”

“You’ll pay for this!”

Alsto’s eyes blazed red with fury, like he was possessed. The sword aura he unleashed turned a deep, vicious blood-red. Rage made his attacks even fiercer.

But no matter how angry he got or how hard he fought, there was still a gap between a vice admiral and a general.

“Three!”

“Wh-what…”

Alsto never saw Kuma move. Suddenly, pain tore through his chest—his own heart sat in Kuma’s palm.

Crunch!

Watching his heart get crushed, Alsto felt an empty ache spread through him. His body shook uncontrollably. As he sank down, he jammed his blade into the ground and barely managed to kneel.

“So…this is what it feels like…”

“It’s over.”

Kuma turned his gaze to the battlefield. After the army landed, they were battered by Revolutionary Army artillery. Only a handful of soldiers had made it this far, and even fewer could keep fighting.

Faced with the Revolutionary Army’s tight defense—especially Sabo, who led the charge with vice admiral strength—the battle ended quickly. Aside from the ten thousand or so soldiers taken prisoner (including those who swam back from the sea), every last one was cut down.

“Looks like Dragon’s running into some trouble.”

Viaz definitely had the strength to back up his arrogance. He’d reached the peak of general class and was evenly matched with Dragon. Neither could get the upper hand.

But everything changed the moment Kuma joined in and tipped the scales.

“Cowardly! Gah!”

Kuma appeared out of nowhere behind Viaz and landed a devastating pressure cannon on his back. Viaz staggered forward midair, and Dragon seized the chance—sending a flurry of wind blades his way.

Viaz dodged easily, but that was exactly what Dragon wanted. While Viaz was focused on the wind blades, Dragon closed in above him.

“Dragon Claw Strike!”

Dragon’s hand, wreathed in Conqueror’s Haki Infusion, clamped on Viaz’s head. His fingers drove straight into Viaz’s skull.

“You…”

Viaz couldn’t make sense of what just happened.

Shock surged through him, quickly replaced by a bone-deep terror.

Conqueror’s Haki Infusion—how could the Revolutionary Army know this? He was doomed!

“Air Bubble!”

Gah!

Just as Viaz opened his mouth, Kuma stuffed a thumb-sized air bubble inside—a compressed mass of gas, strong enough to make him cough up blood with just an external hit.

Shoved directly into his body, there was no way Viaz could survive. Death or critical injury was certain.

“I…you…wha…”

Boom!

Viaz wasn’t a martial artist—he was a sword grandmaster. His body had only just crossed into the lower ranks of general class. If his sword skills weren’t so sharp, Dragon wouldn’t have bothered dragging this out. But with Kuma’s help, Viaz exploded into a bloody mist. There wasn’t even enough left to find the corpse.

Meanwhile, two anxious Holy Knights hid behind a dark cloud. Four of their comrades had already died in the Four Seas.

So, for safety, they chose to follow the fleet in secret—if the battle was close, they’d step in. If it wasn’t, they’d just hide and send word back to the World Government.

But right in front of their eyes, the Fifth Army Corps was completely wiped out by the Revolutionary Army. If they reported this, their own lives probably wouldn’t be safe either.

“Maybe we should…”

“Let’s just leave it.”

They decided to cover it up, keeping the news to themselves. If worst came to worst, they’d find some scapegoats back home. Thinking this through put them in a much better mood, and they slipped away from the area at once.

From the start, Kuma and Dragon had already seen the Holy Knights hiding in the sky. But they were in a hurry to finish off the Fifth Army Corps and didn’t bother dragging those two into the fight.

Who could’ve guessed they’d be such cowards—they ran off before the battle was even over.

“Dragon, news from the other seas: the World Government has already sent Army Groups 2, 3, and 4 across the Red Line.”

“The wind’s picking up.”

Dragon looked toward the rising sun. A breeze drifted through the world.

“Let the sea become the army’s grave.”