Chapter 152: "Defeating" Rayleigh with Ease

Gionmacho, grievously wounded, swam back to the battleship from the churning sea with great difficulty. The gruesome gash that ran almost vertically across his entire chest was still welling with fresh blood.

Aside from the profound weakness brought on by massive blood loss, every muscle and bone in Gionmacho's body was torn or fractured from the ferocious battle. It was only with the support of his subordinate soldiers that this formidable Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters could barely manage to stand.

The scene was unspeakably wretched, yet Gionmacho knew in his heart that this was already the result of Rayleigh holding back:

Had Rayleigh not been reluctant to commit arbitrary bloodshed, Gionmacho would have already died under that very sword strike.

However, Rayleigh's restraint did not breed any sense of gratitude within Gionmacho; instead, it filled this Marine general—who stood irreconcilably opposed to all pirates—with incomparable humiliation and a stifling, vented-up fury.

Yet these negative emotions did not linger for long. Like every spectator present, Gionmacho was soon plunged into an overwhelming state of shock and awe:

Far away on the distant sea, storms gathered, clouds churned, and white waves soared into the heavens...

With every stroke Rayleigh dealt, the sky and sea trembled in unison.

The black blade acted like the scepter of a deity, wantonly whipping up the wind and clouds while tearing the very space asunder.

Having faced Rayleigh's sword head-on, Gionmacho naturally knew how fierce and terrifying Rayleigh's slashes truly were.

And yet, the might Rayleigh displayed while swinging his sword now was even more majestic and awe-inspiring than it had been during their duel.

Even so, the peerless Dark King Rayleigh was being blocked by someone.

"He is actually this strong?!"

Straining to support his heavily injured body, Gionmacho stared with a shocked expression at Garen, who was currently clashing head-on with Rayleigh:

This young "Great Swordsman" had traded dozens of blows with the Dark King Rayleigh—fighting at full strength—without losing the upper hand. Facing that tempestuous, torrential sword aura, he remained entirely at ease, even managing to launch counterattacks against Rayleigh's onslaught.

The two of them exchanged blows in a lively flurry, gradually falling into a neck-and-neck stalemate.

When Gionmacho had previously seen Garen effortlessly thrash Gecko Moria, he had surmised that Garen's strength was roughly on par with his own.

Now, it seemed he had utterly underestimated the capabilities of this newly appointed Warlord of the Sea.

"Could it be... that he can actually defeat the Dark King Rayleigh?"

Monstrous waves churned within Gionmacho's heart as he watched this pinnacle duel with a mix of trepidation, excitement, and thrill.

As for the two protagonists of this duel...

They were indeed thoroughly absorbed in the fight.

Rayleigh played the role of chief visual effects artist, with the vast majority of the slashing shockwaves originating from him;

Assistant visual effects artist Garen was by no means outdone, flashing back and forth in golden, green, and red lights while his greatsword burned with fierce golden-red flames, yielding a magnificent visual spectacle.

Furthermore, Rayleigh's sword had initially felt light and effortless, but with every subsequent cross-slash, his strength grew by three parts.

It was only when Garen was forced to deploy his full strength to parry Rayleigh's slashes that this upward trend finally stabilized.

Having tested Garen's true strength, the hitherto silent Rayleigh wore a playful smile on his face:

"Young man, your strength is indeed impressive."

Amidst the clamor of clashing steel and roaring gales, Rayleigh's voice clearly reached Garen's ears:

"But this still seems to be quite a bit short of what Crocus described..."

"Haha..."

Cooperating seamlessly, Garen caught Rayleigh's sword and replied with a dry chuckle:

"Old Man Crocus simply overestimated me."

Neither of their movements lagged in the slightest; conversing while fighting did nothing to hinder this magnificent martial display.

"Oh?"

A hint of curiosity laced Rayleigh's tone: "Aren't you curious as to how I know Crocus?"

"I know he's the Pirate King's ship doctor," Garen replied with absolute candor.

"A steadfast ally of the World Government..."

Rayleigh repeated Garen's induction declaration shouted out earlier by Gionmacho, teasing him:

"How is it that you've gone to help a crewmate of the world's greatest pirate?"

"Aren't you Warlords supposed to be 'law-abiding citizens'?"

"Uh..."

Garen paused thoughtfully before answering with a straight face: "That was all made up."

"Hahaha..."

Laughing heartily, Rayleigh parried a stroke from Garen as his expression gradually grew solemn:

"To tell you the truth, I rather dislike people like you."

"You like to cloak everything in secrecy, love to wrap your actions in the banner of justice, and spout grand-sounding platitudes at every turn..."

"Because I don't want to be a pirate."

Garen boldly interrupted Rayleigh, his attitude resolute:

"Compared to the misunderstood and terrifying name of a pirate, I would much rather bear the title of a Knight of Justice."

Rayleigh looked at Garen, somewhat surprised by the resolute expression on his face, before questioning him further:

"A Knight of Justice?"

"I've looked into your background—"

"You've killed so many people all the way from the East Blue. Do they truly all deserve to die?"

"How can you, this so-called Knight of Justice, guarantee that everything you do is 'just'?"

"Is your 'justice' truly justice at all?"

Rayleigh's worldview was entirely different from Garen's. He believed that every individual life was exceedingly precious, and no matter how powerful or wise one might be, one could not arrogate the right to judge another's life and death based solely on personal opinion.

Rayleigh rarely killed, and he disliked those who casually stripped others of their lives.

Thus, while he appreciated Garen's chivalrous actions, he felt a deep aversion to Garen's brutal methods that left rivers of blood in their wake.

Rayleigh's words rang like great temple bells and echoing footsteps in a deep valley, sounding a warning bell in Garen's mind:

Having come this far, he had committed countless acts of bloodshed merely to level up. The people who had died at his hands perhaps even outnumbered some heinous pirate lords.

Perhaps those individuals had merely happened to stand in Garen's way, or happened to pick the wrong bad guy for a boss, only for their precious lives to be terminated by Garen's hands.

Human beings are complex, multifaceted, capable of change, and possessed of infinite possibilities.

What right did he have to decide a person's life and death?

At this thought, Garen could not help breaking out in cold sweat and trembling in his limbs, suddenly gripped by a terrifying panic over the bloody deeds he had committed these past few days;

Face after blood-stained face surfaced in his mind like nightmares, torturing him until he could barely breathe.

......

Naturally, this was impossible.

"Hahaha..."

Hearing Rayleigh's series of interrogations, Garen could not help laughing out wrong:

"I'm just a 'Knight of Justice'; how would I know what true justice is?"

"I'm no god!"

"To be a Knight of Justice, you just need to hack to death all the evildoers you see in your own eyes, and that's that."

"......"

Rayleigh fell somewhat silent upon hearing this.

This silence scared Garen out of his wits.

Fearing that his attitude had been overly arrogant, Garen ceased his laughter and immediately bowed his head in apology before the Dark King:

"Ahem..."

"Of course, I might hack the wrong person sometimes. There's just no helping that..."

"Senior Rayleigh, you're right! Killing is bad! Not killing means you won't kill the wrong person, not killing brings harmony, not killing is 'invincible'..."

"So be it!"

With a light sigh, Rayleigh's kind smile reappeared on his face:

"An answer like yours is quite straightforward... I approve of you!"

"If it were you, perhaps the tragedies Moria brewed these past few days might not have happened at all."

Rayleigh paused before adding:

"Well then, it's about time I took my leave."

"Huh?"

Garen's expression tightened as he asked, "Shall I just fall into the sea right now?"

"No need."

Director Rayleigh shook his head: "Just leave the rest to me."

As the words fell, Rayleigh swung another sword strike at Garen.

Unconsciously, Garen repeated the movement he had already executed hundreds of times, unleashing his full strength in a strike to parry Rayleigh's onslaught.

Yet unlike their previous evenly matched exchanges, this time one of them failed the clash and was sent violently flying backward.

It was Rayleigh!

Amidst the slack-jawed, shocked expressions of the Marine soldiers, Rayleigh plummeted from midair, hurtling toward their position like a meteorite.

With a deafening crash, Rayleigh's body slammed right back onto the deck of the warship.

"Rayleigh actually lost?!"

Gionmacho was so excited by the sight that his freshly bandaged wounds burst open once more amid his violent emotional fluctuations.

Yet Rayleigh was, after all, Rayleigh. How could he be easily defeated by a single "setback"?

He abruptly stood up from the giant crater he had smashed into the deck, an astonishing aura erupting from his body—Conqueror's Haki.

Before the Marine soldiers and the rescued civilians even had time to be stunned, they lost consciousness one after another under this intangible aura and collapsed to the ground.

As for Gionmacho, burdened with heavy injuries and having forced himself to watch the pinnacle duel for so long, he was now at the end of his tether.

After struggling to hold on for a few seconds, Gionmacho too collapsed limply to the ground, plunging into a deep, unconscious faint.

Stepping on the Moon Walk, Garen flew back onto the warship. Before he even landed, he asked Rayleigh with a face full of astonishment:

"Senior Rayleigh, what are you...?"

Rayleigh simply helped the still-unconscious Cavendish up into a sitting position and chuckled:

"Didn't you want to play the part of this Knight of Justice well? You couldn't possibly be an accomplice of a pirate like me, could you?"

"However, I haven't lost very often in my life, so I don't really know how to act it out."

"I had no choice but to let those meddlesome Marines fall asleep for a little while."

"This..."

Garen said somewhat awkwardly: "You really should have just made me fall into the sea..."

Rayleigh shook his head with a smile:

"Then I wouldn't have been able to complete the task Crocus entrusted to me."

"After all, those Marines all know this is my sword now."

"Task? Sword?"

Garen was somewhat puzzled.

Rayleigh, however, slid the black blade Wado Ichimonji—wait, Shusui—back into its scabbard and tossed it straight into Garen's hands:

"Hold onto it."

"This is your 'spoils of war'."