https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-201-Beckman-Use-Your-Unbeatable-Brain-/13536456/
Chapter 200: This Place Is Marineford!!!
Chapter 200: This Place Is Marineford!!!
"Kuro!"
At this moment, Lida ran over, followed closely by Klah.
"Ben Beckman!"
The moment Klah reached Kuro, he spotted Ben Beckman locked in battle with Lucius Kro and immediately halted. "That genius-level intellect equal to mine—"
"Your face?"
Kuro rolled his eyes at Klah's words.
"What exactly is that? Do you know what it is?"
Kuro pointed at the colossal white shadow swirling like a whirlwind through the battlefield, tearing through pirates.
"It's Kas", Lida said uneasily.
"What?"
Kuro blinked in surprise, staring intently at the figure. The willpower radiating from it felt disturbingly familiar.
The massive white shadow was indeed composed of Navy soldiers, but their surrounding air twisted grotesquely from their speed, making it hard for Kuro to recognize them at first.
Their velocity was utterly unbelievable.
"Has Kas always been this fast?" Kuro asked skeptically.
"Not before, but now they are", Klah said grimly.
"Frankly, if I'd known this ability existed, I would’ve eaten it."
"Huh?"
Kuro turned to Klah, who continued, "A Devil Fruit appeared in Miss Lida's backpack—it's the 'Godspeed Frank' ability."
Lida nodded, her face scrunched in disgust. "I almost ate it! Scared me half to death. How can something so revolting keep ending up in my bag?"
"What's going on?" Kuro frowned. "Another Devil Fruit?"
"That's right", Lida explained.
...
The memory returned to when Kuro was battling the Blackbeard Pirate crew.
On the battlefield's rear flank, Lida had plopped down to eat snacks from her backpack.
Nearby, Klah adjusted his glasses, watching the carnage unfold while swallowing hard.
His injuries were severe—no one could emerge unscathed from such a brutal battlefield, only varying in severity. While resting, he kept a wary eye on the surroundings, fearing pirate attacks.
Nearby, Kas' group was also regrouping.
"Mr. Klah, rest easy! We'll block any pirate attacks while you recover!" Kas clenched his fist passionately. "Even if our strength is modest, for Justice, we'll never let pirates break through!"
"You're hardly weak", Klah muttered. The sheer power of Kas' will could easily crush him with just a few strikes.
Yet Klah noticed something—only those inspired and loyal to Kas could share his battle will. Navy with strong independent willpower remained unaffected.
As they rested, Klah observed fear creeping into some of Kas' followers.
"Quickly restore your physical strength—we need to keep fighting. Kuro's situation looks stable", Lida said, finishing a peach anxiously. At their level, intervening would only make them burdens.
"This battlefield..." Klah stared grimly at the blood-soaked slaughter ahead. Even he felt chilled now, though the initial frenzy had numbed his senses.
Whitebeard was dead. Ace the Fire Fist had been executed. Yet the war raged on, everyone mindlessly killing, turning both Navy and pirates into mere "lives"—simple, meaningless.
Thud!
A Navy fell, bleeding out, while the pirate who struck him was gunned down from the side by another sailor before roaring back into battle.
Klah clenched his fist, his face darkening.
He recognized the fallen comrade. During Headquarters training, they'd sparred. Afterward, the man had proudly shown him a smiling photo of his son.
At the time, Klah had envied that happy family life.
Now, he was just another corpse, another Navy nameless among the fallen.
Life had never felt so fragile.
"When will this war end?" Klah whispered.
Even he, a former pirate killer, feared this carnage now.
"Huh?"
Lida suddenly gasped, staring at the Devil Fruit in her hand with a weird expression.
Klah's eyes widened. "Yuck! A Devil Fruit?"
It was a red pineapple-shaped fruit with spiral patterns—unmistakably a Devil Fruit.
"Again with this revolting thing!" Lida tossed it away in disgust.
Klah's forehead twitched as he rushed to pick it up, dusting it off. "Miss Lida, this is a Devil Fruit! Even selling it would fetch a fortune! Why do you keep getting these?"
"I don't know! It just randomly appeared in my bag! Ugh, another snack ruined!" Lida stuck out her tongue in disgust, recalling its taste.
"A Devil Fruit..." Klah examined it, his glasses glinting.
This could boost his strength—especially in this battlefield where carelessness meant death. Eating it might greatly increase his survival odds.
"Want to eat it, Klah?" Lida asked, seeing his hesitation.
"No." Klah shook his head. "Without knowing its ability, eating it might weaken me instead.
"Though Mr. Kuro's Float-Float Fruit let him defeat Shanks, this isn't the Quake-Quake Fruit—that was documented in Mendeltown's mayor's records.
"This fruit's unknown. I specialize in speed and unarmed combat. If it doesn't enhance me, it's useless."
As Klah prepared to store it, Kas approached solemnly.
"If Mr. Klah won't eat it, please give it to me!"
"You?" Klah blinked.
"Exactly!"
Kas' eyes blazed with fervor.
"I follow Mr. Kuro's path, but... but I'm too weak! We're all too weak to help him! To become his ultimate shield, I must gain extra strength!"
"Wait, you're serious?" Klah said. "Devil Fruit abilities are unpredictable—even the records don't cover everything. If it doesn't suit you, you'll grow weaker!"
“Don’t worry!”
Kas steeled his resolve and declared:
“This Devil Fruit might be rejected by Commander Klah’s strength, but for someone as weak as me, any ability is an enhancement. I also want to help Commander Kuro faster, even if it’s just a tiny bit more strength! Please, Commander Klah, Miss Lida!”
“Sure, why not,” Lida nodded. “No one else is eating it, so you might as well take it.”
“If you insist,” Klah said, handing him the Devil Fruit. “Then go ahead and eat it.”
“Thank you!” Kas accepted it solemnly, then turned toward Kuro, murmuring, “Commander Kuro, to become your strongest shield, no matter what demon I face, I’ll overcome it!”
He brought the Devil Fruit to his lips, inhaled deeply, and roared, “Just a petty demon can’t shake my determination to follow Commander Kuro! No matter what ability I gain, I’ll help him!”
With that, he opened his mouth wide and bit into the pineapple-shaped red Devil Fruit.
As the Devil Fruit was consumed, Lida and Klah watched with anticipation. Kas lowered his head, his expression obscured. After a pause, he lifted his face, his gaze solemn and reverent, staring at the distant Kuro as if worshiping a deity.
“Thank you deeply, Commander Kuro. This is the greatest strength you’ve bestowed upon me!”
Turning to his comrades, he bellowed, “Comrades, it’s time to join the battle! Follow me!”
However, at this moment, several Navy members glanced at each other, their bodies subtly retreating. The bloodshed unnerved them.
“Mr. Kas, my injuries are already severe. Perhaps we should rest a moment?” one Navy suggested.
“Right, Mr. Kas, I’m also struggling to keep going,” another Navy clutched his chest, blood at the corner of his mouth. He’d charged ahead with Kas earlier and bore the heaviest wounds.
“You…”
Kas swept his eyes over them, his voice low but firm. “Comrades, I understand. We’re the weakest among us. Our offensive power is lacking, our physical stamina inferior, our vitality not as robust as the strong. We can’t freely maneuver on this battlefield. But we’re still alive. Who can tell me—why?”
“W-Why?”
Even Lida couldn’t help but ask, curious.
Despite being weaklings easily crushed individually, together they’d grown surprisingly strong, startling even her.
Could willpower reach such heights?
Even Kuro’s Killing Intent wasn’t this intense. Yet now, it seemed Kas’s resolve was also faltering.
Kas’s words left the Navy men exchanging uneasy glances, too timid to answer.
“Answer me!” Kas roared.
“Because we uphold ‘Resolute Justice’?” a Navy weakly raised his hand.
“Because of Mr. Kas’s leadership?”
“I don’t know, but I believe in Mr. Kas. You’ll lead us forward. Following Mr. Kas, we’ll reach Commander Kuro!” This came from a young Navy, barely older than Koby.
“Wrong!!!”
Kas snapped, “That’s not your true thought! You’re just blindly following, tagging after me, who was guided by Commander Kuro! That’s wrong! That’s why you’re injured, why you’re afraid!”
Silence fell. The men lowered their heads, too cowed to speak.
“Look! Look at our most revered—no, my most revered Commander Kuro!”
Kas pointed to Kuro, locked in battle with Blackbeard in the sky. “He faces alone the vile former Seven Warlord of the Sea who released Impel Down’s prisoners, yet still fights relentlessly. You might say, ‘Commander Kuro is strong, so he can fight freely, while you’re injured and must rest or die.’
“But if we all think that way, we’ll lose this war. Because this is war—not a child’s play of a few individuals. Look at those comrades! Don’t you see how they fight to the death against opponents stronger than themselves? We’re alive because great warriors like Commander Kuro stand between us and death!”
“But the Navy isn’t just Commander Kuro, the Fleet Admiral, or the Admirals. We are the Navy too—the very foundation of its strength. If we retreat even one step, Justice retreats. Marineford crumbles. If we all flee, the world’s Justice will vanish, and global peace will be destroyed!”
“Therefore, we cannot yield! We stand here—in the Navy Headquarters, invaded by pirates! We stand on this soil soaked with our blood and honor! And those pirates—trample it freely!”
“Here, this land is Marineford!!!”
The thunderous speech reverberated. The Navy men raised their heads, looking at their fallen and wounded comrades, clenching their teeth one by one.
“Right! We may be weak, but before the strong, everyone is weak! I was wrong to feel fear—it’s disrespectful to our fallen comrades!”
“They’re Navy, and so are we! There’s no reason they can fight to the death while we cower in fear!”
A rising fervor surged, the air around Kas warping with a distorted heat, infecting the Navy men. Their own twisted auras flared, merging into a chaotic distortion.
Kas surveyed them, nodding solemnly. “Even if we’re small, so long as we strive, we can contribute to Justice. This is the true meaning of our ‘Unyielding Justice’!”
“Therefore, for Marineford!”
Kas raised his hand.
As one, the Navy men raised their arms, roaring, “For Marineford!!!”
“For Commander Kuro!”
Kas turned toward Kuro, his arm thrust high.
“For Commander Kuro!!!” The Navy’s arms shot up as one.
“For Justice!” Kas clenched his fist.
“For Justice!!!” The Navy’s fists clenched in unison.
“Now, I’ll use the strength Commander Kuro bestowed upon me!”
Kas slammed his fist into his left chest.
Boom!!!
The Navy men struck their chests in unison. Their aura grew even more distorted, their faces contorted into inhuman grimaces.
“Fivefold!!”
A glowing veil enveloped each Navy member, blending with their aura, twisting their forms into indistinct shadows. Only the sea of white Navy uniforms remained visible, merging into a colossal white Monster.
“Charge!!!”
With Kas’s roar, the gathered white Monster surged forward like a shimmering wisp, barreling into the battlefield.
“Gulp—”
Lida stared in shock, her food slipping from her hands unnoticed. After a long moment, she shuddered, exchanging a sweat-drenched glance with Klah beside her, both whispering in unison:
“That’s terrifying…”
(End of Chapter)
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