Once the Marine Soldier discovered his weapons and revealed his true identity, it would only be a matter of time before Rowen arrived at the scene.
Drake was confident but not arrogant, he would never underestimate Rowen due to his young age.
Naturally, the most important factor was that he hadn’t mastered Armament Haki yet, leaving him at a disadvantage against Rowen’s Logia abilities and he was in a situation in which he would only be able to endure passive attacks from Rowen without being able to anything against him.
His loyal subordinates were willing to risk their lives to divert the attention of the Marines to them, just so that he could escape, so he had to stay alive for their sake as well as his!
They promised that they would face the challenges together!
However, the appearance of the Marine soldier in his place ruined everything. Killing the Marine Soldier was necessary to silence him as the G-10 branch, without a response, would undoubtedly increase their vigilance, leading to the blockade and search of the port.
Not silencing the Soldier would have resulted in a dead end for him if his hidden weapons were found!
Drake was a man of valor, and since the Marines were already suspicious, he decided to fight his way out!
Gripping a blade and an axe in his hand, Drake grinned while exhaling heavily with a hint of mockery on his face as he spoke, “A mere branch Lieutenant Commander dares to stop me? Get lost!!”
“Otherwise, don’t blame me for killing you all here! I won’t hold back just because we used to be colleagues!”
As a Headquarters Rear Admiral, Drake’s strength was beyond any doubt!
Moreover, after undergoing the stimulation of the Thunder-Lightning Stimulation Device, Drake surpassed his original Supernova period strength in every aspect except for his Haki proficiency.
Coupled with the enhanced body of the Ancient Dragon Devil Fruit, he had now become a Humanoid Ancient Dragon in every sense!
In his eyes, and even in the eyes of a normal person, Lieutenant Commander Dante’s attempt to intercept him was highly irrational.
In response, Dante’s gaze grew colder.
He admitted that he was still young and lacked the strength to stop him, he is also aware that he is not a match for Drake.
But let’s not forget why he chose to follow Rowen in the first place!
A swordsman’s sword heart is the sharpest and most resilient thing in the world. Once a target is determined, they will persevere until death!
No one knew how many countless nights Dante had spent training himself, Dante would still be hiding in the training room, exercising his body, with his hands fractured numerous times.
No one knew that in order to comprehend Observation Haki (Kenbunshoku Haki), he deliberately didn’t dodge bullets and forcefully tried to deflect them with his sword, coming close to the Gates Of Hell several times in the process.
This self-torturous training was even more extreme than Rowen’s self-inflicted training method, and it relied on his willpower and the nutrition-rich food of the One Piece World to sustain him!
But when Rowen formulated the self-inflicted training method, he had a self-healing physique that ignored hidden injuries, while Dante had nothing t help him in his training.
Every bit of progress left him with indelible scars, and his vitality was constantly depleted during this process, overexerting his own life.
He sacrificed too much to grow stronger…
Drake’s disdain was not only aimed at his military rank but was also a denial of his efforts!
A denial of the direction he was moving forward in!
Faced with such humiliation, Dante, who had always been calm and treated everyone with a friendly demeanor, even in life-or-death situations, became angry.
But the more enraged he became, the calmer his expression appeared, just like a still lake without any ripples on it. Only the endless desire to kill brewed at the bottom of the lake, ready to unleash its fury at any given moment.
Henry was still eager to join the fight, seeing it as a great opportunity to earn military merits. However, Dante silently took out a Den Den Mushi and made a call. After connecting, he notified, “Everyone, stand by. No one is allowed to disturb us without my orders.”
With those words, much to Drake’s surprise, Dante turned his head towards the fortress and shouted, “This is my battle! Don’t interfere!”
“Nani?!!” Drake was suddenly taken aback by Dante’s actions. For Dante to utter such words, the other party must be a high-ranking official in the branch… and even stronger than him! Considering that this was the G10 branch, the answer to who the person was was clear.
“Damn it! That Monster hasn’t left the base?!”
The primary objective of their plan to lure away the pursuers from the Marine Headquarters was indeed correct, but since they were sailing in this particular route, they also have the intention to divert Rowen’s attention.
As a newly appointed Vice Admiral, such a significant incident falling within his jurisdiction would undoubtedly prompt Rowen to take action.
However, the result was that Rowen didn’t move at all!
‘Could it be… he had already noticed me?’ Drake silently thought in his heart and the more Drake thought about it, the more scared he became and a sense of dread appeared in his heart while cold sweat instantly dampened his back.
What a wonderful misunderstanding this is!
Little did Drake know that Rowen had not been inactive but had actually returned for certain… um… reasons. Regardless, the outcome was the same. It was a fact that Rowen was currently stationed at the G-10 branch, and Drake could easily imagine his fate.
“Don’t worry, if you defeat me, the G-10 branch won’t stop you from leaving!” At this moment, Dante took slow steps forward and he spoke as he walked.
“On this matter, even our Vice Admiral would agree.”
Or rather… it was directly Rowen’s intention.
The exact words were as follows.
“You don’t want me to interfere? Are you sure about that?”
“If you say that, and if Drake defeats you, I won’t have the face to personally intervene… We both understand the consequences, right, Dante?”
These were Rowen’s words.
However, Drake didn’t relax his vigilance… It was a common Marine strategy to give the illusion of weakness and hope, only to shamelessly send out a powerful force to suppress the situation. He didn’t believe that defeating Dante would guarantee his own safety.
But… if he could capture this guy as a hostage, perhaps he could still find a glimmer of hope and escape from here!
Drake naively thought to himself.
Knowing Rowen’s temperament, if Dante was indeed captured, all Rowen needed to do was nod… because Dante would personally give the order to bombard this area with a saturation of cannon fire!
Then, no one would survive!
“Very well! I’ll admit, you’ve got some guts!” Having made up his mind, Drake sneered and jumped out from the breach in the ship’s cabin. The chubby captain happened to be standing there with a dumbfounded expression on his face and as Drake passed by, he slashed him with a backhand stroke.
“Ah!!”
Watching the captain fall into a pool of blood, Drake flicked off the bloodstains from his curved blade and smirked, “I’ve endured your stupidness for a long time, fatty!”
…
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