Chapter 887 - 887: Necessary Sacrifices Are Worth It

However, just as Juste was preparing to increase the output of his flames and burn through both the blade and the man behind it, the next second, "Hehe, all's fair in war, little brother Juste."

Under the reflection of the flames, Momonosuke's lecherous face suddenly revealed an extremely sinister grin.

Buzz!

Accompanied by the strange sound of flowing water, the blade of the great-grade sword that had originally seemed ordinary suddenly began spraying out a powerful current, as if a high-pressure water valve had been opened.

Whoosh!

The distance was too close, and the angle was too strange.

That deep-blue current instantly turned into a net of water in midair and poured directly over Juste's head as he was putting everything he had into his flames.

"You bastard... AHHH!"

The instant the flames came into contact with the water, a large amount of white steam erupted.

But that wasn't the most deadly part.

The water, carrying an extremely pungent salty smell, not only instantly extinguished Juste's flames, but also flowed across his scalp and into his eyes and mouth.

As everyone knew, seawater was the natural enemy of all Devil Fruit users.

For those powerful individuals who had developed their bodies and Devil Fruit abilities to the extreme, getting splashed with some seawater might still be something they could endure for a while.

But for Juste, who relied excessively on his Devil Fruit ability, this was practically a devastating blow.

Although this tiny amount of seawater wasn't enough to make him completely collapse like someone fully submerged in the ocean, that overwhelming sense of weakness still swept through his entire body in the blink of an eye.

Juste's knees buckled. His body, which had been as solid as a rock, staggered violently, and the flaming fist he had thrown instantly went out, becoming as limp as cotton.

"Hahahaha! Feeling the pain now, Juste? You brainless wild boar, you've fallen for my trick again!"

Momonosuke burst into an extremely arrogant laugh, madness filling his eyes at having gained the upper hand.

"That's why! In terms of talent, in terms of brains, you fake son really can never compare to me, Momonosuke!"

"Fall down!"

Taking advantage of Juste's stiffness after being weakened by the seawater, Momonosuke didn't hesitate in the slightest. The great-grade sword in his hand traced a dazzling crescent of cold light through the air and broke straight through Juste's defenses.

Slash!

Blood sprayed.

Juste let out an extremely suppressed, deep grunt, and his burly body fell backward as if struck by a heavy hammer.

A deep wound that exposed bone had been cut across his chest, running diagonally from his left shoulder to his right abdomen.

Blood instantly stained his body, already covered in old scars.

"That was despicable!"

Seeing the brother who had come to protect him knocked down and covered in blood after being ambushed, Luffy, who had been anxiously standing in the back, completely lost his temper.

"Gum-Gum!"

Luffy suddenly kicked off the ground with both legs. Like an angry slingshot pulled taut, he roared and charged toward Momonosuke.

"Brainless brat, don't get in the way!"

After only a few steps, Momonosuke, who had just heavily wounded Juste with a single slash, sneered in contempt.

He suddenly turned around and, without even using his sword, delivered an extremely fast side kick that landed squarely on Luffy's abdomen.

Bang!

With an extremely heavy impact, Luffy, who couldn't even use Haki, was sent flying backward like a mosquito struck by a flyswatter, crashing straight toward the enormous Poneglyph.

"Hm?"

Robin, who was fully focused on recording the Poneglyph, and Crocodile, who was using sand to make precise engravings, both frowned almost simultaneously and reacted in perfect sync within 0.1 seconds.

[Twenty-Fleur: Net!]

Robin crossed her hands in front of her chest.

On the wall in front of the Poneglyph, twenty arms made of flower petals suddenly bloomed out of thin air like lotuses. They intertwined with one another, forming an extremely elastic cushioning net.

[Sandstorm: Soft Pad!]

Crocodile waved his left hand.

A mass of extremely soft yet highly viscous loose sand appeared directly along the path Luffy was about to take before hitting the Poneglyph, like a huge sandbag.

Thud!

Luffy was caught by the invisible hand-net before landing heavily on the soft sand cushion. Completely unharmed, he rolled down to the foot of the Poneglyph.

"Ah... th-thank... thank you...", Luffy shook his head, still dizzy from the impact, and was just about to get up and thank them.

However, the two didn't even look at him. Their voices rang out simultaneously in the quiet side hall, cold and remarkably identical, "Shut up. Don't move around. Stay there."

Luffy was stunned by the completely emotionless words and could only stare ahead.

Meanwhile, under the cold firelight, Momonosuke had completely escaped. He was now standing over Juste, pressing the sole of his shoe firmly against his chest.

Looking at his former brother lying in a pool of blood, his eyes bloodshot yet unable to do anything, Momonosuke laughed wildly.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk... You're really pathetic, Juste."

Momonosuke arrogantly raised his foot and ground it against the constantly bleeding wound on Juste's chest, looking down at him with disgusting mockery.

"When that old bastard Whitebeard and the remnants of the old era on this sea regarded you as Roger's heir, did you ever think that one day you'd end up like a dead dog under my foot?"

Juste lay on his back in the pooled water mixed with seawater and blood. His bloodshot eyes glared furiously at the lecherous face above him.

He ground his back teeth together. A beast-like rasp came from his throat as he endured the pain and the numbness caused by the seawater. His fists dug deeply into the stone floor, veins bulging as he stubbornly tried to force himself back onto his feet.

"Oh? You're still not dead? You still want to resist your Brother Momonosuke?"

Seeing this, a malicious grin flashed across Momonosuke's eyes.

He raised his free hand and curled a finger toward a pile of miscellaneous objects not far behind him.

Whoosh!

A huge, extremely sturdy wooden barrel was suddenly pulled out of the shadows by an invisible force.

And sloshing inside the iron barrel was a full barrel of seawater that had just been drawn from the sea.

"Good boy, don't rush. Let me cool you down!"

Momonosuke laughed wildly and waved his hand.

Splash!

The entire barrel of seawater was poured straight down over Juste's head.

Juste was already in an extremely weakened state from his heavy blood loss and the small amount of seawater earlier. Now, under the full baptism of an entire barrel of seawater, he let out an extremely painful muffled groan.

The body he had just managed to raise halfway with the last of his stubborn willpower seemed to have its final bit of strength drained away in an instant. With a bang, he fell heavily back into the pool of bloody water, his limbs going completely limp.

This time, he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.

Even so, Juste still didn't close his furious eyes.

Unable to move, he used the last bit of strength he had and roared with everything his body could muster, "You despicable bastard! A piece of trash who sold your soul like you could never earn Dad's approval! You think you're worthy of being his son? Spit!"

After being spat with blood, Momonosuke wasn't angry. He casually wiped his shoe and sneered.

"Ha! Hahahaha! That's exactly why I'm the one who survived in the end! You muscle-headed idiots are already about to die, and you're still talking that bullshit about honor?"

Momonosuke sinisterly pressed the great-grade sword against Juste's neck. The cold blade made Juste shudder, and Momonosuke's voice became extremely mocking and cruel.

"But you just reminded me of something. Juste, do you know why the World Government wants me to keep you alive?"

"Before long, once this whole mess is over, the World Government will hold the grandest public execution for you at Marine Headquarters Square."

Looking at Juste's pupils shrinking in shock, Momonosuke grinned like a devil.

"Then I'll sit together with the gods and watch carefully. We'll see whether that old man Whitebeard you call Dad will be stupid enough to bring those remnants of the old era to Marine Headquarters to die just to save you."

Those words stabbed deeply into Juste's heart.

Juste clenched his teeth tightly, salty seawater and tears mixing together as they flowed into his mouth.

A public execution at Marineford...

If it really happened, Juste didn't know whether Whitebeard would come.

After his identity had been exposed as fake, after discovering that he wasn't Roger's son at all, he no longer knew what Whitebeard and the others would think of him.

The current him wasn't worthy of being Whitebeard's son at all.

Was someone like him really worth Whitebeard and the others coming to save?

But at the same time, Juste was conflicted.

At this moment, he wanted Whitebeard and the others to come, yet he also prayed that they wouldn't.

If they came, they really would only be coming to their deaths.

Regardless of what Whitebeard thought of him now, the other man had genuinely treated him like his own son before.

At least in Juste's heart, all he had for Whitebeard was respect.

The fatherly love that man had given him was something he could never repay in this lifetime.

'Dad... please... don't come...'

Juste cried out in despair inside his heart.

It was enough for one insignificant soldier like him to die.

'Absolutely! Absolutely don't let Dad get dragged into this!'

———

"I've finished my part! Shanks, get ready to retreat!"

Just as Juste was trapped in a desperate situation, Crocodile, who was closest to the Poneglyph, suddenly stuffed the completed rubbing into his clothes.

His usually calm, hoarse voice now carried urgency.

As he shouted, he swung his left hand, and the sand instantly transformed into a giant hand that grabbed Luffy by the collar as he tried to rush over and rescue Juste.

Ignoring Luffy's struggles, Crocodile turned around and charged wildly toward the passage at the entrance like a frightened fox.

He had already thought everything through.

He could still use Luffy as a card later.

Now that he had obtained the Poneglyph, they might still need Luffy's connections to decipher it and find Pluton later.

He didn't trust Robin.

Although he didn't trust Shanks and the others either, with the two sides keeping each other in check, he could become the fisherman who profited in the end.

"I'm done too."

Almost at the exact moment Crocodile started running, Robin's eyes finally closed.

She didn't even intend to look at Juste. She turned around with extreme decisiveness and likewise chose to run for her life without looking back.

The situation was already clear. If they didn't run, they could only wait to die.

Juste had already been defeated, while Shanks could only hold off Hiyori.

The situation had already collapsed for them.

Vivi could arrive at any moment.

Once Vivi arrived, there would be only one outcome for them: death.

"Juste!"

Hearing the signal to retreat, Shanks, who was fighting Hiyori in midair, glanced toward Juste, who was lying in the pool of blood with his life or death unknown, and shouted urgently.

Clang!

Shanks poured everything he had into compressing his Conqueror's Haki to its absolute limit and instantly unleashed two extremely fierce slashes in succession.

He intended to use the sword energy to force his opponent back, then use the extremely brief opening created by the recoil to charge toward Juste.

If the only thing blocking him there was someone like Momonosuke, Shanks was confident that he could knock him down with a casual slash.

Unfortunately, his idea was good, but he couldn't accomplish it.

Standing between him and Juste was an insurmountable mountain.

He had only taken a single step when....

Clang!

Sparks flew.

That figure dressed in a pink cherry-blossom kimono casually shattered the red Conqueror's Haki slash.

As if she had foreseen it, Hiyori brought that beautiful yet suffocating blade light down like a natural barrier, forcibly blocking Shanks and driving him back.

"Shanks, if you want to stay here and play with me, I don't mind. But if you don't retreat, I'll kill you."

Hiyori said it with a smile, her expression still calm.

In terms of pure strength, she was roughly equal to Shanks.

But this was Alabasta.

She had reinforcements. Shanks did not.

At this moment, Shanks's sword arm slowly lowered.

With his strength, how could he not see the situation clearly?

Hiyori couldn't kill him in a short period of time.

Likewise, from the very beginning, she had never intended to kill him here.

The purpose of every one of her attacks was extremely clear and singular.

That was to hold him back while paying the smallest possible price.

The World Government's target, from beginning to end, was probably only Juste.

But understanding that was one thing.

With Shanks's strength, he likewise couldn't kill Hiyori, who was on the same level as him, in a short period of time.

Nor could he force his way past her and rescue Juste.

Even with Crocodile and Kuro currently running away, it was still impossible.

"Juste... I'm sorry!"

Shanks bit through his lip, blood dripping down his chin.

He took a deep look at the boy lying on the ground and let out a low sigh.

Then....

BANG!

He suddenly turned on his heel, forcibly suppressing the foolish urge to stay behind and fight to the death, and rushed into the darkness of the escape passage at a speed that abandoned even his dignity.

Reason told him that he absolutely could not die here.

If the entire army were wiped out, not only would everything be over, but it could also destroy Luffy, their greatest hope.

Necessary sacrifices were worth it.

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