Chapter 73: You Can Leave!
"Little girl, what's your name?" Borsalino suddenly asked as Hancock was preparing to make a move.
"Hancock." Hancock did not reveal her family name, simply to avoid bringing trouble to the people of Kuja.
"Then the words you spoke earlier, do they still count?" Borsalino continued to ask.
"What words?" Hancock asked, somewhat in disbelief.
"Of course, it's that if I stay out of the matter with Sarkozy IV, you'll let me leave. What else could it be?" Borsalino said with a relaxed expression.
"You're willing to back down voluntarily?" Hancock was clearly a bit skeptical.
Not just Hancock, but even Buggy and Mihawk on the ship's bow found it incredible when they heard it.
"If I had brought two Vice Admirals with me this time, I certainly wouldn't be wasting my breath with you now. Unfortunately, I didn't. And I don't feel my subordinates should be sacrificed for someone irrelevant. So, isn't stepping back a very normal judgment?"
After hearing Borsalino's answer, Buggy's eyes narrowed.
At this moment, Buggy was contemplating whether to risk losses to take down this Marine Admiral.
Originally, Buggy had thought that among the Marine Admirals, the most difficult to deal with would be Akainu Sakazuki. But from Kizaru's performance, this guy was likely the most troublesome one; he was too capable of making trade-offs.
If Sakazuki were here, he would absolutely not back down unless he was beaten senseless.
But Borsalino had made a choice after just one clash with Hancock. It was indeed surprising.
"You can leave!" After considering for a moment, Buggy gave his answer.
While taking down a Marine Admiral would certainly deify the Red Nose Pirates, the cost was definitely not something Buggy was willing to pay. Forcing an Admiral to retreat in their debut battle was enough. There was no need to go so far as to exchange sacrifices for fame.
As soon as Buggy's voice fell, Borsalino flashed and retreated several hundred meters in an instant. With another flash, his figure had already disappeared from the sight of Buggy and the others.
And in the distance, Sarkozy IV, watching Borsalino leave, was completely dumbfounded.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Sarkozy IV would never have believed that without much of a fight, facing a mere handful of pirates, Marine Admiral Borsalino would directly flee.
Does the reputation of the Marines have no importance in the eyes of an Admiral? Doesn't this guy know what kind of punishment he'll face when he goes back? That damn bastard, couldn't he have taken me with him when he ran?
It's just an unknown Red Nose Pirates crew, is it necessary to go this far? To use his own name as an Admiral to make this unknown pirate crew famous, is that red-nosed guy your illegitimate son?
Watching the Red Nose Pirates rapidly approaching him, Sarkozy IV was filled with despair.
It was impossible not to be. After fleeing Sarkozy Kingdom two days ago, that damn birdman had vanished after one night. After discovering this fact, the remaining three ability users all disappeared after passing by an island.
Now, beside Sarkozy IV, apart from some sailors from Sarkozy Kingdom, there was no combat strength to speak of.
It was over. Everything was over.
Although he was extremely unwilling, and even had the thought of fighting to the death and taking one of them down with him, watching the figures appear on both sides of him, their aura so oppressive he couldn't even make a move, Sarkozy IV closed his eyes with great reluctance.
If only I hadn't coveted the wealth of the White Town!
With two pfft sounds, two sharp pains accompanied by endless darkness engulfed Sarkozy IV's entire body.
"Captain, was it necessary to do that?" Mihawk, who arrived shortly after, asked, looking with a slight frown at Buggy and Hancock who had attacked simultaneously.
"His Slow-Slow Fruit isn't a huge problem, but fighting him one-on-one would have been a bit of a hassle for any of us. Kizaru retreated too cleanly; I feel like something is off. So it's better to resolve this quickly so we can leave quickly," Buggy naturally had his own considerations for attacking together with Hancock.
As for things like "this kind of person is not worthy of the captain's attention," Buggy couldn't care less. After all, he was an extremely pragmatic person.
Meanwhile, Borsalino, who had retreated to his own ship, did not hesitate at all and directly ordered all defensive measures to be prepared.
As for fleeing, Borsalino had not considered this question at all, let alone hastily ordering his men to leave.
Borsalino didn't know Buggy well; he wouldn't know about Buggy's credibility when it came to promises. Of course, even if he did, Borsalino would not leave in a hurry.
After all, what Buggy had promised was that he would be allowed to leave if he stayed out of the Sarkozy IV matter. He never said he wouldn't attack if they met at sea.
With a threat like the "Thor," hastily retreating was worse than making a stand and waiting for Buggy and the others to leave.
Even if the Red Nose Pirates didn't keep their word in the end, fighting it out on land was much better than being a sitting duck at sea.
After personally arranging the defenses, Borsalino dialed a Den Den Mushi.
"Moshi moshi, is that Kizaru? What was the result of the battle?" Before Borsalino could say anything, Sengoku at Marine Headquarters was already eager to know the answer.
"Fleet Admiral, this is quite a headache. If you don't receive a call from me after a day, please trouble someone to come to Mex Island to retrieve our bodies."
He truly doesn't speak unless it's to say something shocking. Borsalino's words made Sengoku's face on the other end turn incredibly grim.
"Are the Red Nose Pirates that strong?" Vice Admiral Tsuru leaned over and asked very seriously.
"That's Vice Admiral Tsuru's voice, isn't it? You can help me analyze this and see if there's a way to retreat in one piece. The range of the 'Thor' is currently unknown, but it was able to destroy the King of Sarkozy's royal ship with a single solid shot from a distance where it was just a black dot. I won't mention its sailing speed again. That's the intelligence on the warship. As for the crew, I didn't fight Red-Nosed Buggy or the Great Swordsman Mihawk. I merely exchanged one move with that girl with the toy-making ability, and then a piece of my pants turned into sheet iron. I didn't have a chance to test the others, because there were already three Conqueror's Haki users standing in front of me."
After Borsalino finished speaking, Vice Admiral Tsuru was stunned, and Sengoku's eyes revealed a look of shock.
"What's the situation now?" The door to the Fleet Admiral's office was suddenly pushed open. A stern-faced Garp walked in and asked into the Den Den Mushi.
"I abandoned Sarkozy IV and temporarily received a promise that I could leave." Borsalino said it very lightly, but the three top Marine officials who heard it wore expressions of anger and helplessness.
The atmosphere froze for a long while before Sengoku finally spoke in a deep voice, "You have been wronged."
(End of Chapter)
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