"Kairos!"
Doberman suddenly let out a sharp roar.
His right fist darkened as Armament Haki wrapped around it in an instant, the black sheen so dense that even the sunlight seemed to warp around it.
Boom.
Doberman moved.
He lunged in, closing to within a single step of Kairos. His upper body twisted like a drawn bow, muscles swelling as every ounce of strength in him poured into his right arm.
A savage, icy expression flashed across his scarred face. His iron-hard body rumbled under the strain, and even the surrounding air seemed dragged by his breathing, as though some brutal beast were exhaling heat before a kill.
Boom!!
At last, the punch carrying all of Doberman's power came crashing down, like a bolt of thunder slamming into the battlefield. Wild wind howled outward, crushing everything nearby.
That punch went straight for Kairos' face.
Kairos' eyes flickered. A faint red glow flowed through them.
He did not panic.
His body sank slightly into a drawing stance. His thumb pushed against the guard, and a thin line of cold light flashed free.
Shing!
In that single instant, that sliver of steel became a rain of dazzling sword-light.
Endless.
Beautiful.
Deadly.
Chilling silver arcs burst outward like countless moons slashing in unison.
"Hm?!"
Doberman's pupils shrank violently.
That blinding storm of sword-light sent a chill through his very core, but retreat was no longer an option. His right fist still drove forward, and his left-hand sword slashed down at the same time, forcing his battle power to its peak.
Clang! Clang!
At that moment, the sword-light attacking Doberman grew even brighter.
It had come alive.
Each arc danced in the air like a crescent moon, dazzling beyond belief, each collision ringing with a metallic chime.
This technique was called—
No-Moon Style: Yaksha Flash Void.
Then—
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
A string of muffled impacts echoed across the deck.
Every Marine aboard widened their eyes.
Their mouths hung open.
"Vice Admiral Doberman!!!"
A heart-wrenching cry erupted from the warship.
Doberman staggered back two steps.
Then—
thud.
He collapsed to the deck.
The Armament Haki on his right fist had long since shattered. His entire arm was mangled and bloody, and his sword had snapped apart into several broken sections.
Drip.
Blood ran steadily.
Fine cuts covered Doberman's body and face, blood pouring from them in ugly streams, like scarlet centipedes crawling across his skin.
Beneath him, a thick pool of blood spread across the deck.
Kairos, by contrast, stood in front of him in spotless white, not a single trace of battle marring his clothes.
The contrast was almost cruel.
The red blade in Kairos' hand began to dissolve, breaking apart into drifting motes of light like fireflies in midsummer.
"Vice Admiral Doberman really lost…"
"Were the reports on Kairos wrong?"
"He's even stronger now than when he fought Vice Admiral Garp…"
The Marines swallowed hard, their bodies trembling.
They had thought they had found Kairos' weakness.
But Doberman's defeat had smashed that illusion into dust.
Doberman, sprawled in the blood, lifted his head. The look in his eyes as he stared at Kairos was complicated.
He opened his mouth—
but in the end, said nothing.
Kairos gave him one last glance.
Then he tapped lightly off the deck, rose into the air, and landed on Robin's small boat.
Robin startled and instinctively took a step back.
But then something flickered in her eyes, and she looked at Kairos' back with quiet thoughtfulness.
Doberman kept watching as Kairos landed beside Robin, then forced himself shakily to his feet.
He was weak from blood loss.
But he knew the worst damage wasn't the sword cuts. It was the backlash from having his own attack forcibly broken.
"Kairos…"
Doberman straightened his back and stared at the man standing on Robin's boat, speaking his name quietly.
That single move—
Kairos stepping onto Robin's boat—
already said everything.
This mission to capture Robin had failed.
And from this day onward, Doberman's face would bear several more scars.
Scars left by Kairos.
"All forces… withdraw."
Doberman drew a deep breath and forced the order out, word by word.
The instant the command left his mouth, the blood caught in his throat sprayed out, and he collapsed again.
"Vice Admiral Doberman!!"
The Marines rushed to him in panic, shouting in alarm as the fleet slowly pulled away.
Soon, only Robin's little boat remained on the wide sea, along with Kairos' own small craft floating farther off.
Kairos watched Doberman leave.
He had spared him.
Their conflict was one of opposing positions, not one that demanded death.
Besides, Kairos had already guessed that the force truly behind his bounty was CP, not the Marines. There was no need to make the Marines pay for that.
He let the thought pass and checked the spoils of the fight.
"Ding. Host has defeated Vice Admiral Doberman and obtained Sasaki Kojiro Card (Fate/stay night version, 1 use)."
That made him pause.
So repeated cards could be obtained after all?
But the surprise only lasted a moment.
He remembered that when he killed Kuro earlier, the system had increased the remaining uses of his Assassin Wu Liuqi card. That had effectively been another duplicate already.
A thought rose in Kairos' mind.
If enough duplicate cards accumulated…
would something change?
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