One Piece: Building the Roxas Empire

As the smoke of war continued to spread, the battlefield seemed to transform into a cold and ruthless meat grinder, mercilessly devouring every living life. No matter whether they were brave naval soldiers or wild pirates, they all quickly perished in this sea of ​​blood.

However, on this hopeless battlefield, Darius was like an unshakable god of war. No matter how hard the navy attacked, they could not shake him. His body seemed to be endowed with immortality. No matter how badly he suffered, he could recover at an astonishing speed. This scene filled the hearts of the naval commanders present with unprecedented despair and powerlessness.

The eight-hour battle, which lasted from night to dawn, was a test of the physical strength and will of everyone. Slit, an animal-type awakener, even though he possessed extraordinary strength, gradually showed signs of fatigue in this continuous high-intensity confrontation.

In his demonic state, Darius completely abandoned defense and adopted an almost crazy offensive posture, vowing to force Slit into a desperate situation. Slit knew that if he relaxed a little, Darius's destructive power would ruthlessly turn to other navy forces, and his demonic ability was so wide that any warrior who tried to get close would be in a desperate situation in an instant. What was even more desperate was that no one in the navy could stand up and effectively curb Darius's rampage. Even Slit himself felt deep despair and helplessness.

At this moment, Slit already understood that as long as Darius maintained this near-perfect fighting state, the balance of victory would always tilt towards him. Although he tried his best and continued to attack for eight hours with high intensity, causing Darius to be injured and vomit blood many times, it was all in vain. The two men's observation Haki had reached the pinnacle, and they could accurately predict the opponent's offensive, which made the battle more stalemate and more tragic.

Darius was injured, but he could rely on demonic sublimation to devour the vitality of others and recover quickly, while Slit was injured and could only rely on his own recovery ability. Every confrontation was like a knife cutting through his heart, excruciatingly painful.

Faced with such a situation, Sleet knew that if no action was taken, the navy would probably be doomed to be annihilated.

Slit stared at Darius, who was in a standoff. The surroundings were filled with frightening shadow demons, which were like invisible blades, ready to penetrate his body and devour his vitality. In order to resist this all-pervasive threat, Slit had to maintain the peak state of his armed color domineering at all times, which caused his domineering consumption to be abnormally alarming, as if every moment was consuming the flame of his life.

At the same time, Darius has changed into a more flexible human-beast form, because no navy dares to approach Darius easily now. Now Darius only needs to face Slit, the vice admiral and substitute admiral.

At this moment, the battle between the navy and the pirates was in full swing, and the two sides were in a melee. Darius knew that if he tried to attack the navy now, the shadow demons released by the demon sublimation would not distinguish between friend and foe, and would also drag the pirates into the vortex of destruction. In this situation, every time he approached, the navy and the pirates would scatter like frightened birds, so now he wanted to get rid of Slit first compared to the rest of the navy. After all, Slit had consumed more in this war than him.

If he was seriously injured, he could run towards the navy at any time and let the shadow demons suck his blood, so that his injuries could be healed quickly.

Darius looked at Slit, a cold smile on his face, as if everything was under control: "Now, no one will disturb us, this battlefield belongs only to the two of us. Today, your escape route has been completely blocked."

Slit's face was grim, and his eyes revealed an unyielding determination: "As a vice admiral of the Navy Headquarters, running away is not something I would do. Even in the face of despair, I will stick to my belief in justice until the last moment, even at the cost of my life." However, despite his resolute words, Slit's heart was filled with despair. In Darius's demonic sublimation state, he seemed to see an insurmountable gap. This ability was so powerful that it almost made people feel desperate and powerless.

The long battle made Slit realize that only by possessing extraordinary power and domineering spirit could he resist those shadow demons that followed him everywhere. Domineering masters like Garp and Sengoku might be able to gather elite troops under certain conditions to avoid the invasion of shadow demons and deal a fatal blow to Darius. But at this moment, facing such a desperate situation, Slit obviously could not defeat Darius alone, and this time, not only did it not help him at all, but it became a burden to him. Facing a guy like Darius, the number of people was meaningless.

"Then let's put an end to it all!" Darius let out a deafening roar and pounced on Slit again like thunder. The two figures intertwined in an instant, and a more intense confrontation began.

The faint flame of hope that had once burned in Slit's heart to defeat Darius had now completely extinguished, replaced by the cold reality - he realized that he was powerless to turn the tide in this duel of unequal power. The long and fierce battle had completely put him at a disadvantage. Facing every attack from Darius, he could only barely maintain his defense and had no power to fight back.

Finally, Slit made a painful decision. His voice was calm but full of unquestionable determination: "All navy, listen to my orders. I will personally cover the rear. You must retreat immediately!"

These words hit his heart like a heavy hammer, meaning the complete failure of this mission, a frustrating defeat.

The navy heard this, although they were unwilling, they also felt a sense of relief. After all, fighting the pirates to the death was not what they wanted. As navy, they were fighting for justice, but more for a way to make a living. Why risk their lives? Especially when facing a powerful opponent like the Roxas Pirates, the instinct of survival made them want to escape.

The pirates cheered and wanted to pursue the pirates, but the navy showed admirable discipline. Even when they were retreating, they kept an orderly pace without any panic. This scene surprised Darius and made him even more disdainful. He sneered, "Heh, didn't you say before that running away is a shame for the navy and that you would uphold justice to the end? Now you are in a hurry to run away. It's really ironic."

Hearing this, Slit smiled bitterly. He suppressed the humiliation in his heart to maintain the dignity of the navy. "Hmph, how can you understand? This is just a necessary strategic adjustment to better preserve strength for future battles. How can a pirate like you who only knows how to kill understand the profound significance of 'strategic transfer'?"

Darius sneered when he heard this, his tone full of disdain: "Oh, you can even make the term escaping sound so high-sounding, and even call it a 'strategic transfer'. Even if you can really get away with it, I want to see if your group of defeated soldiers can be as lucky as you to escape from my clutches."

Slit was enraged, his roar resounded through the sky, and he stood resolutely before Darius like an insurmountable mountain.

Although Darius performed Demonic Sublimation, it did not bring him a leap in speed and strength, but only enhanced his recovery ability. However, it was this super recovery ability that made Darius almost invincible among his peers.

Darius raised a cruel smile, his tone full of provocation: "Want to stop me? I want to see how you can do it. Besides, you are still thinking of retreating? There is not even a shadow of a warship. Where can you escape to?"

Slit snorted coldly, his eyes were like torches, and he had his own thoughts in his mind: "This kind of thing doesn't need you, a pirate, to worry about."

The navy is a huge military organization. With just one phone call, the nearby naval branch will rush to reinforce, and the warships will arrive in a blink of an eye, so the road to retreat is naturally unobstructed. However, as a navy, choosing to retreat in the face of a powerful enemy is undoubtedly a sulliment to the name of justice.

Slit was almost certain that after he made the decision to retreat, he would be punished when he returned, and his position as a candidate for admiral might not be secure. But Slit had understood very well over the years that strength was the foundation of survival in the world. And his strength was still among the best even in the navy.

Continuing to fight would only lead to more soldiers being sacrificed in vain, and he might even die here. He had an unfulfilled dream, which was to become a navy admiral, or even a navy marshal, so how could he easily die here? Therefore, retreat became his only option.

As for the responsibility of covering the rear, Slit, as the strongest person here and the highest commander of this operation, naturally could not shirk it, but at this moment his physical strength was almost exhausted. Even though he had the ability of the animal-type devil fruit, he was already unable to do it after experiencing a fierce confrontation with Darius and a brutal battle of exchanging injuries. He secretly decided that after holding on for a while, he would escape with all his strength to preserve his strength.

After all, Slit is also a normal person and has his own selfish desires. As the saying goes, it is better to die than to let a fellow Taoist die. What's more, he can help the navies of these branches resist Darius for a while and make his conscience feel at ease. It is impossible for him to sacrifice himself for them. Slit is not that great.

Slit was also absolutely confident in his speed. All he could do now was to try to buy more time for the navy to escape. As for whether he could finally escape, that would depend on the will of heaven and the luck of his comrades. As for the post-retreat investigation report, he would also be solely responsible for it, and its content would naturally be measured by the ruler in his heart.