"Marine Admiral! Sakazuki!"
Seeing Sakazuki, who was walking slowly towards them, Benal's entire body went numb.
Who would have thought that a Marine Admiral would appear here, and from his demeanor, he was full of hostility towards Shengzhu.
"I don't think just any cat or dog can join the Marines, even if this thing can speak human language."
Sakazuki's words filled Benal with dread, but the truly terrified one was not Benal, but Bai Qi behind him.
This was Marine Headquarters. If the two were to fight here, the damage would be immeasurable.
Benal turned back to Bai Qi and said, "Leave it to me, I will handle this properly."
Bai Qi nodded, agreeing.
After appeasing Bai Qi, Benal quickly approached Sakazuki.
"Sir, Shengzhu sincerely wishes to join the Marines. His strength is immense. To show his resolve, he has already killed many pirates with bounties on the way here. And the Marines are in dire need of personnel right now, so why not let him join?"
Without even looking up, Sakazuki replied to Benal's plea, "Killing pirates is the duty of every citizen. Although the Marines are in urgent need of talent, we cannot break the rules. If he truly wishes to join the Marines, he should start from the basics, not resort to such crooked methods."
"But sir, aren't we using Ace to lure..."
Before Benal could finish, Sakazuki rebuked him.
"You are stationed in the East Blue, and Ace's matter is a top secret. You dared to investigate it without authorization. You have already violated Marine discipline. Go to the Military Court immediately to receive your punishment, or don't blame me for being ruthless."
As he spoke, streams of scorching magma dripped from Sakazuki's hand, hitting the ground with a sizzling sound.
"It seems you haven't convinced him."
Bai Qi pushed Benal aside with his telekinetic power and walked up to Sakazuki himself.
The immense height difference allowed Bai Qi to look down on Sakazuki.
Sakazuki also looked at Bai Qi. Even when facing this colossal being, Sakazuki's face showed no fear.
In Sakazuki's eyes, Bai Qi was just a slightly unusual Sea King.
A Sea King, he had killed at least eighty, if not a hundred, of such creatures. They looked huge, but were actually fragile.
"So you're very brave, 'Red Dog'."
"What did you say!?"
Bai Qi's words instantly ignited Sakazuki's rage.
The nearby Marine soldiers also gasped at Bai Qi's words.
It was known that the strength of the three Admirals was second only to Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Marine Hero Garp. More importantly, Sakazuki was known for his short temper among the three Admirals, never showing mercy even to his own men. This Sea King dared to provoke him, he truly didn't know how he was going to die.
Sakazuki, enraged, let out a sarcastic laugh. He took out a cigar, put it in his mouth, and lit it with his finger, taking a deep puff. "I am indeed very brave. Now, I will let you witness it."
With that, Sakazuki's entire body elementalized, and he swung his arms, spewing a large stream of magma towards Bai Qi.
It's over. This Sea King will surely be burned to ashes.
This was everyone's first thought.
But what happened next shocked everyone present.
There were no screams, no cries of agony.
The magma struck Bai Qi, but he seemed completely unfazed. The places where the magma flowed showed no signs of burning, as if it were just water. If not for the sizzling white smoke rising from the ground afterward, everyone would have believed it was just water that looked like magma.
"How is this possible!"
Seeing that his magma was ineffective, even Sakazuki was too shocked to speak.
"You little 'Red Dog', your temperature is not even enough to light my birthday candles."
With that, Bai Qi waved his hand, and all the magma on his body was flung away.
As a joke, Shengzhu was the Demon of Fire, whose greatest authority was flame. Let alone the magma released by Sakazuki, even bathing in boiling lava would not cause the slightest harm to Shengzhu. On the contrary, it would make him feel comfortable.
"You're done, then it's my turn."
With that, Bai Qi opened his right hand, and a large shockwave condensed from telekinesis shot towards Sakazuki.
Fortunately, Sakazuki's Devil Fruit was well-developed. The moment he was hit by the shockwave, he elementalized parts of his body, thus dodging Bai Qi's attack.
It is said that Logia-type Devil Fruit users are immune to all attacks except Haki. This statement is not entirely accurate. Just like in the original story, Luffy defeated Crocodile by using water.
Haki, in essence, is also a form of energized attack.
Bai Qi's attack also falls into the category of energy attacks, so even Logia-type Devil Fruit users cannot be immune to it.
"Not bad. Then how about this?"
With that, Bai Qi opened his hand and cast a large net of telekinesis, enveloping Sakazuki completely.
Sakazuki tried to escape by elementalizing, but unfortunately, the density of the telekinetic net gradually increased, eventually forming a telekinetic sphere, trapping Sakazuki inside and completely shattering any thought of escape.
Bai Qi subtly moved his fingers, and the telekinetic sphere trapping Sakazuki continuously compressed. Even though Sakazuki inside used all his strength to resist, he could not break it, nor could he stop the telekinetic sphere from shrinking for even a second.
The telekinetic sphere grew smaller and smaller. If this continued, Sakazuki inside would be completely crushed to death in no time.
"That's enough."
Just then, a voice came.
Then, a figure fell from the sky, and a hard iron fist smashed into the telekinetic sphere.
Crack.
The indestructible telekinetic sphere actually showed several fine cracks under this punch.
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
Before Bai Qi could speak, the surrounding Marines shouted out this person's name in unison.
This person who descended from the sky was none other than Garp, known as the Hero of the Marines.
Not long after Garp appeared, another major figure in the Marines appeared: Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral, the Buddha Sengoku.
The appearance of these two instantly set the entire port ablaze.
These two were legendary figures in the Marines. Take Garp, for example. He had repeatedly forced the Pirate King Roger into desperate situations and, with his own strength, had held off the unstoppable attack of the Rocks Pirates at God Valley, achieving remarkable feats.
The last time these two appeared together was when they were dealing with Shiki the Golden Lion, who had destroyed more than half of Marineford.
Unlike Sengoku, Garp was much more spirited. Upon seeing Sakazuki trapped and in a sorry state within the telekinetic sphere, he could no longer contain himself and burst into laughter, tears streaming from his eyes.
He laughed for about ten seconds, then realizing it was somewhat inappropriate, he quickly stopped and said to the surrounding Marines, "Just pretend I didn't laugh."
Well, that was very Garp-like.