"Cough, cough... Damn it." Queen Hathaway reluctantly stood up from the explosion, her eyes burning with rage like a demon. If she hadn't been in a weakened state and injured, she wouldn't have been overwhelmed so quickly, even though Admiral Kizaru was indeed incredibly powerful. But being beaten so one-sidedly was an experience she had never faced before, and she refused to die at the hands of the Marines.

With a furious roar, she forced out every ounce of strength left in her body, dashing out of the explosion with flames still clinging to her. A crimson glow enveloped her, making her appear ferocious.

"Still alive? Impressive," Admiral Kizaru remarked, slightly surprised but unfazed. To him, the earlier skirmish was nothing more than a warm-up.

"Yasakani no Magatama!" Kizaru leaped high into the air, crossing his hands and forming an "OK" gesture with his fingers. In an instant, a barrage of light bullets rained down like a storm, covering a vast area.

"Three Cuts of Ghostly Energy!" Three black-red sword slashes erupted from Hathaway's broken blade. However, the blade's incompleteness weakened the attack.

The sword slashes collided with the light bullets mid-air, canceling each other out in explosions. But Kizaru's light bullets were too numerous, and they continued to bombard the ground, shattering it into pieces. The earth crumbled, and massive chunks of rock were torn apart like paper.

The ground began to crack and shake, destabilizing the area where Hathaway stood. If the bombardment continued, the entire island could be obliterated.

"Dragon's Ascent Prison Slash!" Hathaway deflected many of the light bullets with her broken blade, but one slipped through and pierced her shoulder. The bullets were too powerful and fast; she couldn't keep defending passively.

In a desperate move, she unleashed the Dragon's Ascent Prison Slash. While it lacked the wide-area devastation of her Demon Prison Slash, its single-target damage was immense. She surged forward like a dragon rising from the abyss, her broken blade glowing with Haki and crimson energy as she broke through the barrage of light bullets, closing in on Kizaru in an instant.

Kizaru was slightly taken aback. He had expected to finish her off with one attack, but she had managed to break through and reach him. Not many in the Marines could achieve that, and he couldn't entirely dismiss her.

"Ama no Murakumo!" Kizaru summoned his light sword, slashing down at Hathaway as she charged. Their blades clashed, but Hathaway was quickly overpowered and sent crashing into the ground with a thunderous impact.

Kizaru then kicked a laser beam from his leg, piercing through Hathaway's body and engulfing her in a massive explosion. He landed lightly outside the blast zone, confident that the fight was over. While the Queen of Landis had some strength, it wasn't enough, especially in her injured state.

"Why struggle? Wouldn't it be easier to just stay down?" Kizaru turned to leave but stopped when he saw Hathaway rise from the explosion once more.

Hathaway remained silent, her injuries severe and worsening. Yet, she still believed she could fight until her last breath. The only regret was whether the people of Landis would perish if she fell. If she died, who would stop the Marine Admirals?

Trembling, she raised her broken blade, but two laser beams shot through her body, exploding behind her. She staggered and fell, her breathing growing faint.

"Let me end your suffering," Kizaru said coldly. He had no sympathy for an enemy who had caused so much damage to the Marines. Ignorant of the truth, he prepared to fire another laser, this time aimed at Hathaway's heart.

But just then, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air, and Kizaru's laser was deflected, blasting into a nearby hill. The explosion flattened the hill and everything around it. Kizaru looked up and saw a line of warships appearing on the horizon.

"The Buster Call? Weren't they supposed to wait for my report? Not that it changes much," he muttered.

The Buster Call had begun. A barrage of cannon fire rained down on the outskirts of Landis Island. As the warships drew closer, the entire island would soon be engulfed in flames.

Boom!

A cannonball landed near Kizaru, its explosive force leveling a small hill.

"Buru buru buru..." Kizaru's Den Den Mushi rang. He glanced at the black snail and pulled out a metallic-shelled one from his pocket, answering the call.

"Report! The Sasu Island Marine Base has been attacked by Shichibukai Crocodile! Commander Erik has been killed!" a panicked voice shouted through the snail.

"Erik is dead?" Kizaru was stunned. Had Crocodile gone mad? And how had he grown so strong? Erik had been killed in such a short time, and it had happened under Kizaru's watch. This was a significant loss, and the situation was dire.

"I'll return immediately," Kizaru said, hanging up. He didn't spare Hathaway another glance. With her severe injuries and the impending Buster Call bombardment, she was as good as dead.

"Your Majesty!" A group of soldiers, who had been ordered to leave earlier, returned. They had seen their queen injured from a distance and couldn't bear to abandon her. Defying orders, they had come back to fight alongside her, even if it meant death.

"Cannonball!" A shell screamed through the air, heading straight for Hathaway. She was too weak to move, and a direct hit would be fatal. But at the last moment, a soldier leaped in front of her, shielding her. The shell struck his back, its explosive force charring his body. If not for his strength, he would have been torn apart.

"Protect the Queen!" But this was only the beginning. The bombardment intensified, the deafening roar of cannon fire growing closer and more frequent, like a relentless death knell.

The outskirts of Landis Island were the first to suffer under the indiscriminate barrage. Fires raged, consuming everything in their path. These weren't ordinary shells—they were filled with highly flammable explosives, and the smoke they produced was suffocating.

Even without the smoke, the relentless bombardment and flames would turn the island into a living hell. The underground spaces would collapse under the intense attacks from above. This was the power of a Buster Call, capable of erasing an entire island from existence.

"Cannon fire?" Hathaway's consciousness wavered as she heard the relentless barrage. The sheer volume of fire meant the Marines and the World Government were determined to wipe out the people of Landis. Damn the Marines, damn the World Government—she cursed them with her dying breath.

(End of Chapter)

=========================================================

DROP THEM POWER STONES PLEASE

SUPPORT ME ON P@TREON IF YOU'D LIKE ACCESS ON ADVANCED CHAPTERS

PAT REON . COM / TurdTranslations (Just remove the space).