087 The Demon in a Young Heart (4)

Robin, run... run now... The woman set the little girl down, her face going pale with shock as she turned to stare warily at the blaze hanging in the air.

"Mother!" the little girl cried, standing frozen on the ground.

"Go, hurry!" The woman grew frantic, pushing the girl away, her eyes brimming with apology. "Forgive me. Forgive me for failing as a mother. Run. Run with everything you have, and never come back."

"No, I don't want to..." The little girl clung to the woman's leg, shaking her head again and again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you a complete love. If you still love me, then run now." The woman pushed her once more, then charged toward the flames as if marching to her death.

Watching coldly, Xuan Ye's eyes were icy, his expression unreadable as the woman rushed toward him.

"You should have thought of this before. Now you want to play the mother? Who are you trying to fool? Just like that other woman, you never cared how the rest of us felt."

He roared in fury. Xuan Ye was overcome with rage, because this woman before him reminded him of the woman in his past life who had abandoned him and Xiao Xi.

"You deserve to die!"

Grinding his teeth, Xuan Ye could no longer contain his anger. He raised a hand; his index finger shone gold-red, and the next instant a blaze, brilliant as starlight, pierced through with a spray of blood.

Thud...

She hit the ground heavily. Blood soaked the earth. Her chest had been completely pierced, and she was on the verge of a ghastly death.

"Mother..." The little girl broke down, rushing to her side and clutching both of her hands tightly.

"Run... hurry... run..." The woman lifted a hand, filled with remorse, trying to touch that tear-streaked face.

"Waaah... no, I won't!" Tears fell like rain as the little girl sobbed, a sight that made one ache with pity.

"Go... hurry... I'm sorry. Forgive me." In her final flicker of light, the woman forced herself upright, pushing the little girl with all her strength. Then her pupils widened, and the light left her eyes.

"Waaah... waaah..." The little girl dropped to her knees, her cries heartbreaking. So small and helpless, she was swallowed by darkness.

"Nico Robin. Too bad this is the real world. I'm sorry. Forgive my selfishness." The tip of Xuan Ye's finger glowed faintly red. A trace of pity stirred in him, but in the next instant he hardened his heart.

Whoosh...

Cold and merciless, a beam of flame burst forth.

Boom...

Suddenly, a colossal black fist came crashing down from the sky. A giant nearly fifty meters tall stood there, breathing heavily, glaring fiercely at Xuan Ye.

"Sky Bird Xuan Ye Tang!" The roar was deafening. It was a giant, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Jaguar D. Saul.

"Jaguar D. Saul, so Aokiji still couldn't bring himself to finish the job." Xuan Ye glanced sideways at the frozen giant leg and smiled faintly.

"Robin, run! Leave this place forever!" The giant reached out and grabbed the distraught Robin, his face anxious.

"Saul, my mother... my mother..." The little girl was helpless, like an abandoned angel, pitiful beyond measure.

"Go, now! Don't let your mother die with her eyes open in sorrow." With a thunderous cry, Saul roared and charged toward Xuan Ye.

"Robin, remember this: your mother was great, and Ohara was great too. The history of this island will one day be carried on by you. Even if you are alone now, one day you will surely meet companions who will protect you. Born into this world, you will never be truly alone forever!"

"Waaah..." Crying helplessly, the little girl in her tattered dress looked back at that towering figure and, like a wounded white rabbit, stumbled toward the shoreline.

Boom...

A fist the size of a house descended straight toward Xuan Ye, roaring through the air.

"Can you stop me? This mission is the destruction of Ohara. Leave no one alive. That includes you, Marine traitor Jaguar D. Saul."

He raised his right fist, flames coiling around it, and met the blow head-on.

Bang...

Dust and stones flew. The earth cracked open. Xuan Ye was driven deep into a crater, his arm slightly numb, while Saul was knocked back several steps and collapsed weakly to the ground.

"I thought you, Sky Bird, would be different from the other Marines. But now it seems I was wrong." Saul struggled to his feet, his hand trembling, his voice low.

"Aokiji intended to let you go. Why didn't you leave?" Xuan Ye leaped from the crater and looked calmly at Saul.

"Heh heh heh... I have my own convictions." The giant laughed, his expression solemn.

"It seems everyone has something they refuse to abandon. In that case, if Aokiji can't do it, then I will." Xuan Ye stepped forward. Flames spread, and he rose from the ground, bathed in fire.

Whoosh...

Leaving only an afterimage, Xuan Ye appeared above Saul. His right leg, wrapped in fire, slashed downward.

Bang...

Saul raised a fist. Darkness enveloped it as he blocked the strike.

"Flame Impact..."

Boom...

The violent force erupted. A blazing stream sent Saul flying backward.

Boom, boom, boom...

That massive body smashed through the ground, countless fissures spreading out in all directions. Saul spat blood and crashed into a deep crater.

"Piercing Beam."

With both hands joined, then parted, flames condensed into a triangular shaft of light that fell from the sky like a streak of brilliance.

"Ice Pillar."

The world turned cold. A gigantic pillar of ice rose from the earth.

Crack...

Flames seethed, ice chips scattered, and a figure appeared in front of Saul.

"Do you want me to do it, or will you handle it yourself?" Standing in the air, Xuan Ye was wrapped in flames. His face was calm, neither angry nor surprised.

"I'll do it." Aokiji's face was twisted with pain, cold aura surging from his whole body.

"In that case, I'll take care of the others." With a faint glance at Aokiji, Xuan Ye vanished into the sky.

In the distance, near the shore, a small figure hurried anxiously to that place.

Strangely, there was already a guarded path of ice here, and a little boat bobbed as it waited.

"Saul, I've done what you asked. That little girl—I believe she'll make it out." Standing on the ground, Aokiji looked at Saul with unwilling pity.

"Sky Bird..." Saul breathed heavily, his voice anxious.

"Don't worry. He knows what I am about to do." Aokiji paused, then said, "Do you regret it?"

"Heh heh heh... never once. Give me a clean end, my friend." Saul laughed aloud.

"Goodbye, my friend." With a sigh, Aokiji pressed both hands to the ground. A tide of frost swept out in all directions, and a gigantic ice sculpture appeared upon the frozen plain.

At the same moment, above the ruined Tree of Knowledge on Ohara, a figure stood straight and still.

"One hundred million degrees: Armed God Sun."

Both hands raised high, endless flames surged. In an instant, a fireball the size of a room appeared in the sky, radiating an unstoppable brilliance.

In that moment, Ohara seemed to welcome a sun of its own—scorching, majestic, overwhelming.

Seeing this, the Marines on the island withdrew at once.

And over the smoke-choked sea, a little girl, face wet with tears, stared in terror at the figure beneath that sun.

"Fall."

Boom... boom, boom...

The air shuddered under the pressure. Winds howled. A sun came crushing down.

The heavens lost their color. A black storm erupted. The entire island convulsed with thunder and lightning, and a mushroom cloud that pierced the sky and earth devoured everything in its path.

"Go... to Water Seven!" Firelight flickered as Xuan Ye appeared aboard the warship. He glanced toward the east, then at Aokiji, and said nothing more.

"Thank you." Aokiji's voice was dim.

"I'm your friend." Xuan Ye patted Aokiji on the shoulder.

"Drink with me. I want to get drunk."

"All right."

"Squeak, squeak... I want some too!" The golden figure stared wide-eyed, drooling.

"Leave this place. Find the nearest town. We'll throw a banquet." With a wave of his hand, Xuan Ye gave the order.

"Yes..."

Smoke billowed, flames rose high, and the shattered earth continued to sink. Before long, this place would become an endless stretch of sea.

Thus, Ohara was completely destroyed.