Chapter 308: Kizaru (Part 1)

"The time is almost up; Admiral Kizaru should be arriving soon." Sensing that the time was near, Daniel Davis ordered the Celestial Dragons to stop humiliating the Navy. He then dragged the five of them toward the plaza on the west side of Island One.

The Navy, seeing Daniel Davis taking the Celestial Dragons away, could only follow helplessly. They dared not take any action, given the previous lessons and the words of the Celestial Dragons.

Daniel Davis had been venting his frustration with the Celestial Dragons by torturing them. He had always wanted to do this, and now that it was happening, he also intentionally humiliated the Navy to provoke their anger. Although the Celestial Dragons were arrogant, the Navy still had certain privileges when dealing with them, such as not having to kneel before them. The Celestial Dragons had been pampered for 800 years and had become as complacent as pigs, but the Five Elders of the World Government were no fools, even if they didn't always value the Navy highly in their words.

By humiliating the Navy, even if he couldn't provoke a full-scale mutiny, angering a small portion of them would be enough. In his future plans, the Navy would need a complete overhaul. Of course, there were many good people in the Navy, including Sengoku, Garp, and the three admirals, but that was just a part of it. After 800 years of rule by the World Government, much of the Navy had rotted from within. Otherwise, why would Luffy, a pirate, become so popular as he traveled? It was because the Navy had decayed.

"Quick response, huh." As Daniel Davis advanced, he noticed a large number of Navy personnel converging on Island One. After all, the Celestial Dragons had been attacked, so the Navy's reaction speed was naturally fast. However, because they were wary, the Navy only dared to follow from a distance and didn't dare to get too close.

Besides the Navy, many others were watching as well. After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Even though the Navy was trying to drive people away, many still observed from a distance, using binoculars to watch the plaza Daniel Davis was heading toward. There were no obstructions or buildings, making it a perfect place for them to watch.

"You are surrounded. Release the hostages immediately and seek leniency." The highest-ranking officer stationed in the Sabaody Archipelago, a Rear Admiral, shouted through a loudspeaker from the edge of the plaza. The area was now surrounded by roughly a thousand Navy soldiers.

Since the Celestial Dragons frequently visited the Sabaody Archipelago, the Navy hadn't placed much emphasis on the forces stationed there. The garrison wasn't large, and their main task wasn't to capture pirates but to maintain order in the more orderly half of the archipelago.

The Sabaody Archipelago was a place where justice and chaos intertwined. On the side where the Navy was stationed, order was relatively good, especially when no Celestial Dragons were present. This was the only island connecting to the Red Port, where those entering and exiting the first half of the Grand Line and the New World through legal channels would wait.

"Leniency, my ass." Daniel Davis laughed at the Rear Admiral's words. Given his actions, he was already considered a heinous criminal in this world, and they were still talking about leniency.

"Make them kneel," Daniel Davis ordered, pointing his gun at Saint Rosward and the others.

"Kneel, all of you! Did you hear me, you worthless scum?" Threatened by Daniel Davis, the Celestial Dragons immediately shouted loudly. While they dared not act rashly toward Daniel Davis, they had no qualms about taking out their frustrations on the Navy.

"These Dragons really wouldn't make good revolutionaries," Daniel Davis thought. There were many ways to oppose the Navy and the World Government, but the Revolutionary Army hadn't thought of this. Daniel Davis hadn't directly participated in the Revolutionary Army's actions because he didn't think much of their strategies.

Rushing straight to the Red Line without clear intelligence was bad enough, but the fact that the Revolutionary Army had never openly attacked the Celestial Dragons was even worse.

They were already rebelling; why worry so much?

Hearing the insults from the Celestial Dragons, the Rear Admiral's face turned dark, and many of the Navy personnel around him showed angry expressions. Unfortunately, none dared to rebel.

"The revered words of the Celestial Dragons are as useless as ever. Since they won't obey the orders of the Celestial Dragons, they have no reason to exist. Go ahead, teach them a lesson." Daniel Davis had originally planned to shoot the Celestial Dragons when the Navy didn't kneel, but then a better idea occurred to him. He returned the golden pistol to Saint Rosward.

"All of you scum, die!" Saint Rosward, now armed with the golden pistol, began shooting at the surrounding Navy. Even after emptying the bullets, he continued pulling the trigger.

"Don't worry; there are more weapons here." After Saint Rosward ran out of bullets, Daniel Davis handed other golden pistols to the remaining Celestial Dragons, along with several other weapons.

Except for Saint Charlos, who was too injured to lift a weapon, the other four Celestial Dragons, including the one with a swollen face, began shooting at the surrounding Navy.

"Who told you to dodge? Stand still!" The Celestial Dragons shouted as the Navy tried to evade. While the Navy resisted kneeling, they hesitated to disobey other orders from the Celestial Dragons.

Even after Saint Rosward had shot and killed several Navy personnel and injured others, the remaining soldiers merely showed expressions of grief and anger but did not retreat or lie down.

The same happened when the four Celestial Dragons opened fire together. With their constant shouting, the Navy was trapped in a dilemma, and more soldiers fell as the gunfire continued.

"Have they become so subservient?" Daniel Davis sighed inwardly. It was true that angering the Celestial Dragons could result in heavy casualties, comparable to the wrath of an emperor. But seeing the Navy lack any will to resist left him speechless.

The wrath of an emperor could indeed be terrifying, but so could the fury of an ordinary person, capable of spilling blood within three feet.

This was a world where there was no such thing as an ordinary person's righteous anger. Even powerful figures like Whitebeard and Kaido merely ruled over their own territories.

"Rear Admiral!" As more Navy soldiers were shot down by the Celestial Dragons, some finally turned to the Rear Admiral for guidance. But he just stood there, unmoving. His luck was remarkable, as none of the bullets had hit him.

Just as Daniel Davis was about to take further action, three golden beams of light suddenly shot toward him, aiming directly at his vital points.

"You arrived faster than I expected." The sudden attack made Daniel Davis wary. His right hand immediately moved, and the blade of his sword turned pitch black, hardened with Armament Haki.

At the same time, his inner energy surged, and his psychic abilities activated. With a single swing of his sword, he deflected the three golden beams, and then he moved his left leg, kicking toward the left.

Bang!

As his left leg kicked forward, a golden figure appeared a short distance away. Kizaru, with his usual lecherous expression, blocked Daniel Davis's attack with his left leg.

However, the next moment, Kizaru's body turned into light, and he was sent flying by Daniel Davis's kick.

Boom!

The golden light crashed into the ground, creating a large crater. Moments later, as the light gathered, Kizaru reappeared at the edge of the plaza, his body unscathed.

"It's Admiral Kizaru!"

"The admiral is here; we're saved!"

Kizaru's appearance immediately lifted the spirits of the surrounding Navy, who had been feeling extremely low. It was as if they had found their backbone, and all eyes turned to Kizaru.

"You don't want to fight me head-on because you're afraid of hurting the Celestial Dragons, right?" Daniel Davis wasn't proud of kicking Kizaru away. He knew that Kizaru had withdrawn his strength the moment their legs clashed. Otherwise, with their power, if they had fought full-force, the Celestial Dragons would have been the first to suffer.

"It's been a while. You've improved a lot since last time," Kizaru said with an uncharacteristically serious expression after glancing at the Celestial Dragons.

Kizaru had no choice but to be serious. The situation was completely different from the incident where Luffy attacked a Celestial Dragon. Daniel Davis had no qualms about killing them, and Kizaru couldn't afford to let his guard down.

"Seems like I ruined your plan. Sorry about that." Daniel Davis had to admit that Kizaru was formidable. If Daniel Davis had still been at his previous level of strength, the Celestial Dragons would likely have been rescued by Kizaru by now.

The three golden beams that had initially attacked Daniel Davis were merely a distraction, while Kizaru's real body had turned into light and hidden behind them. If Daniel Davis had hesitated even slightly, Kizaru would have rescued the Celestial Dragons in an instant.

As for the bombs strapped to the Celestial Dragons, they posed no real threat to Kizaru. Even Rayleigh could easily remove slave collars, so Kizaru certainly could handle these bombs.

There had always been debates about the relative strength of Admirals and Yonko. Only after coming to the world of One Piece did Daniel Davis truly understand that Admirals were indeed on the same level as the Yonko.

 While there might be differences in strength, they were definitely on the same tier.

An Admiral might not be able to defeat a Yonko alone, but two Admirals could certainly take down a Yonko. If the Navy didn't have this level of power, the Yonko of the New World wouldn't behave so obediently.

Not to mention that Kaido, the so-called strongest creature, had been captured by the Navy multiple times.

"What do you want?" Kizaru asked directly, not wasting time with pleasantries.

"My demands are simple, but we'll discuss them in a moment. First, I have a question. Based on my calculations, you shouldn't have arrived so quickly. Did you fly straight here?"

Although Marineford wasn't too far from the Sabaody Archipelago, it would still take some time to travel by ship, which Daniel Davis had factored into his plans.

Since he had decided to target the Navy and the World Government, he naturally needed to gather some essential intelligence.

When Kizaru didn't respond, Daniel Davis understood. "I'll take your silence as confirmation," he said. Kizaru must have flown directly to the Sabaody Archipelago after receiving the report, using his Glint-Glint Fruit powers.

"Now let's discuss my demands. I want 30 billion Berries and two Zoan-type Devil Fruits—not ordinary ones, at least Ancient Zoans, and Mythical Zoans would be even better. Additionally, I want the technology that allows objects to consume Devil Fruits. Those are my three conditions."

"Impossible. Your demands are too much." Kizaru refused without hesitation.

"You want to negotiate? Fine, we can take our time. I'm in no rush, but I'm not sure how long Saint Charlos can hold out. He's already lost quite a bit of blood," Daniel Davis said as he pointed his sword at the pale-faced Saint Charlos.

Daniel Davis couldn't help but marvel at the Celestial Dragons' resilience. He hadn't provided any treatment for Saint Charlos, and the man had been bleeding profusely from the start. Yet, he was still alive.

Kizaru frowned, not because he cared about the possible death of a Celestial Dragon, but because he regretted staying at Marineford instead of taking a mission elsewhere. If he had known this would happen, he would have left the base immediately and returned only after the situation was resolved.

If Daniel Davis knew what Kizaru was thinking, he would have apologized. In his plan, it didn't matter whether Kizaru or Akainu appeared, although he would have preferred Akainu. If Akainu lost his temper and used his "Hellhound" attack to kill the Celestial Dragons, it would have been quite amusing.

The only reason Daniel Davis didn't want to face Aokiji was because of the latter's Ice-Ice Fruit, which would be particularly troublesome in a rescue situation, even more so than Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit.

If Aokiji hadn't been present at Marineford, the outcome of the war would have been very different.

Glancing at the pale-faced Saint Charlos, Kizaru raised his left hand and spoke into a small Den Den Mushi on his wrist, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, you heard the demands."

From the beginning, the Den Den Mushi had been transmitting the conversation.

"Do you realize what consequences your actions will have?" Sengoku's voice was filled with barely suppressed anger, something even Daniel Davis could hear.

"Consequences, Fleet Admiral Sengoku? We'd love to see what you're talking about. But it seems you don't care about these so-called descendants of the creators. If they're no longer valuable as hostages, then this has all been for nothing. What a waste of effort."

As Daniel Davis spoke, he casually slashed a Celestial Dragon's neck with his sword. The next moment, a large head, trailing blood, flew into the air.

The scene left everyone who witnessed it speechless. Many of the Navy soldiers surrounding the plaza even dropped their weapons.

Even after everything Daniel Davis had done to the Celestial Dragons, nothing had been as shocking as this moment. He had actually killed one of them, and the head that rolled on the ground had eyes filled with confusion, as if unable to believe that they had died.

Even the remaining Celestial Dragons wore the same expression.

"Stop!"

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