CHATER 82- “A Breath That Erased a Sea”
"Damn you, Navy brat! I'll see just how strong the new admiral really is—how dare you look down on the Beast Pirates' Flying Six!"
Saul roared, gripping his massive axe tightly.
With a thundering stomp, he exploded forward, pushing his speed to the limit.
At the same time, from among the hundreds of pirates, a black shadow darted out into the air.
"Lord Saul, I'll cover you!"
Thrum!
A crisp sound rang through the air—two black arrows tore across the battlefield, screaming through the wind, aimed directly at Luo Yu.
Luo Yu arched a brow.
That figure... if he wasn't mistaken, that was the so-called "Bat King"—rumored to have knocked Luffy away with a single punch.
But as the deadly arrows came flying toward him, Luo Yu only sighed.
"Now you're just forcing me to work overtime. Do you even know how much my time is worth? Every minute's worth a fortune."
"I was saving this move for someone with a real bounty. But fine, guess I'll take the shift."
A golden radiance exploded from Luo Yu's body.
Bang!
The two incoming arrows shattered mid-air, stopped dead three feet in front of him.
Then, beneath the astonished gazes of all present, a phantasmal Thousand-Hand Guanyin took shape, flickering into being in front of Luo Yu.
Saul's face darkened.
But despite his rising unease, he didn't hesitate.
The giant axe in his hands came crashing down—no fancy tricks, just raw, brutal strength.
BOOM!!!
The strike landed with force worthy of a pirate worth 270 million Berries.
The shockwave alone blasted out like a hurricane, sweeping through the ruins and sending the already-injured Luffy and the others tumbling backward.
Bogard instantly flashed to their side, voice low and urgent.
"Now's your chance. You need to leave—once this 'farce' ends, it'll be too late to escape."
Leave?
Nami and the others hesitated.
To escape from Luo Yu… that had already felt like an impossible dream.
They never imagined the Marines themselves might let them go.
"No," Zoro growled, forcing himself up. "This is a Yonko crew. That guy's bounty is 270 million. I want to see the difference between us."
Sanji quietly lit a cigarette.
"Me too. If we ever face an admiral again… I don't want to be so weak I can't even protect Nami-san or Robin."
"We need to see just how wide the gap really is."
Bogard's breath hitched.
He glanced back toward Luo Yu and sighed.
"It's too late. He's working overtime now. That means… he'll actually take this seriously."
"When that happens, you'll see what a true admiral looks like."
The Straw Hats froze.
Only during overtime?
Was everything before this… just him holding back?
They turned their gaze again to the battlefield.
Saul, whose first strike had been blocked, had leapt back dozens of meters.
Now, his hulking body shimmered—muscles swelling like stone—and he transformed into a massive prehistoric lizard, easily five or six meters tall.
With a crash, he landed, shaking the ground and raising a storm of dust.
His enormous tail coiled around his axe. His blood-red eyes locked on Luo Yu, glowing with bloodlust.
But in the next instant… that bloodlust vanished.
His pupils shrank.
Even the hundreds of pirates behind him recoiled in silent horror.
Standing amidst the dust and ruin…
Luo Yu balanced calmly on one foot, his other leg raised in mid-air.
Both hands slowly pressed together in a prayerful gesture, fingers interlaced.
At that moment, the very air froze.
It was as if time itself had been suspended.
Everyone on the ruined dock suddenly felt as though they were being dragged into quicksand—a heavy, suffocating stillness.
Behind Luo Yu, a colossal, golden Guanyin silently bloomed.
This one was different from the earlier projection. Its expression wasn't fierce, but instead sorrowful—its eyes weeping, its aura drenched in solemn compassion.
And yet, that sorrowful gaze from above carried crushing dominance, like a divine verdict.
Even Sengoku and Garp, watching from afar, tensed.
If the first Guanyin was merely an illusion—
This one… was real.
Its hundred arms moved in perfect harmony, exuding an overwhelming pressure.
Paired with Luo Yu's meditative pose, it created a transcendent, almost religious dread.
A god descending, not with mercy… but with judgment.
Saul, frozen in place, suddenly felt it:
A creeping, bone-deep terror.
Before he could react—
Luo Yu's eyes snapped open.
His right hand formed an "OK" gesture—index and thumb together.
He drew in a long breath.
Then—
"Hundred-Form Guanyin: Type Zero."
HUMMMMMMMM—
The weeping Guanyin's mouth opened wide.
The pressure, once restrained, now exploded outward.
With a breath—
BOOM!!!
A pillar of white energy erupted from its mouth like a dam burst, tearing through the battlefield with devastating force.
The distance of a hundred meters vanished in a blink.
A blinding white flash swallowed the sky.
And then…
A hurricane-strength shockwave rolled outward, devouring everything.
Sand, stone, debris—all reversed course in a violent tempest.
Zoro and the others, who had insisted on staying—
Didn't even have time to react.
They were blown away like leaves in a storm, hurled hundreds of meters before crashing down.
No one knew how long had passed.
Eventually… the dust began to clear.
Zoro and the rest groaned, bodies aching from the impact, but still conscious.
They forced themselves to look back toward the docks.
What they saw made their pupils contract in pure disbelief.
The dock… was gone.
The pirate ship… gone.
The ocean itself had been split down the middle.
A massive vacuum trench had formed across the water, cleaving the sea in two.
Exposed seabed—still smoldering with magma—told the story of unimaginable heat.
They tried to piece it together.
All they remembered… was Luo Yu making a strange gesture.
Then, he breathed.
Just one breath…
And everything vanished.
A single breath… erased a pirate ship, a Flying Six member, and half the coast.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes…
They'd never believe it.
The terrifying part?
That attack…
Was merely Luo Yu's overtime work.