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God's Cry · Falling Thunder Guns!
Bang!!
Black-red lightning streaked down like a meteor, slamming heavily into Imu. Terrifying electric currents erupted in an instant, annihilating everything within range.
There was no shattering, only erasure!
Except for Imu…
Buzz!!!
A dazzling Tremor-white light wrapped around him, blasting the lightning apart. Forcing himself to endure the numbing sensation of thunder surging through his body, black lightning snakes crawling over him, Imu let out an angry snort and clenched his right fist.
Boom!!
An indescribable shockwave squeezed in from all directions, crushing Rowen's body. It gave him the same sense of weakness he had felt back in Birka, when he first fell into the sea, as if the whole world rejected him.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit at its peak, its power truly could overturn heaven and earth!
However…
Zī zī… Boom!!
Black-red flames burst across the surface of Rowen's body. The immense power of Awakening spread out, instantly erasing the vibrations.
But at that moment, Imu had already seized the opportunity and lunged forward again.
Bang! Bang! Boom!!
The two clashed repeatedly in midair. Every collision was accompanied by shockwaves powerful enough to obliterate entire islands. Orange-yellow sparks scattered in all directions as the clang of metal rang without end.
The evolved lightning of annihilation was incomparably dangerous, but Imu, burning seven Devil Fruit powers simultaneously within his body, was no weaker.
Speed, strength, and destructive force, every aspect matched.
In the blink of an eye, they exchanged hundreds of blows, neither gaining the upper hand.
Slash! Boom!
At that moment, Rowen seized an opening and tore a massive gash across Imu's chest. Yet Imu refused to fall behind, striking back with a punch that ripped Rowen's flesh apart as well.
Blood sprayed from the wounds, but Imu's aura showed no sign of weakening.
He indeed lacked Rowen's unreasonable regenerative ability, but in this state, superficial injuries to flesh were just as meaningless to him.
Huff!
Blackness spread over his chest like writhing swarms of dark insects. In moments, the massive gash that had exposed his internal organs vanished as well. The Dark-Dark Fruit's ability to absorb damage was simply that unreasonable.
If PX-0, Bartholomew Kuma, the Paw-Paw Fruit user known as the "Tyrant", hadn't been handed over to the Revolutionary Army the moment Rowen took control of the Holy Land, denying Imu the chance to act, his recovery ability would have been even stronger.
The two caught their breath briefly, and then,
Boom!
They plunged back into battle.
No one knew how long it would take to decide the victor, not even the two of them. But both were clear on one thing: the other had limits.
Either one would force out the other's limit first, or reach their own limit first. There was no third possibility.
No, perhaps there was.
Buzz!!
After another violent clash and separation, a white light suddenly lit up the distant horizon. A terrifying energy fluctuation, no weaker than theirs, swept across heaven and earth, forcing both of them to halt.
"That location…" Rowen frowned silently, then his expression tightened.
"It's the sanctuary!" 2
Shuā!
The two exchanged a glance. White light burst from Imu's body. Among Devil Fruits, the Space-Space Fruit, like the Time-Time Fruit, was too restricted for direct combat, but at this moment, it was an ability capable of changing the entire battle.
Bang!
A thunderbolt split the white light apart, but struck nothing.
Above the East Blue, the white glow dispersed, revealing Imu's figure.
Seeing the brilliantly glowing stone egg outside the ruined temple, joy flashed across Imu's face.
"A perfect chance, she's weakened again!"
Though he didn't know what method the Marines had used to seal her once more without taking her life, this was effectively a home invasion. Whether the owner was weak or dead made little difference.
Landing outside the small island of the sanctuary, Imu raised his hand and pressed toward the void.
Pa!
A pure white light shield appeared again, trying to block the intruder. But with the main body once more heavily damaged, the shield's effectiveness dropped sharply.
This had always been the problem that plagued Imu.
Back then, he had been on the verge of defeat, barely managing to prevail thanks to the betrayal of the Twenty Kings. He only had enough strength to tear out her soul and seal it away to prevent recovery, but lacked the power to forcibly seize her own strength.
If Orrick hadn't kidnapped Shirahoshi, making it clear he wasn't allied with Imu, she would never have escaped, no matter how many chances she had.
After all, once she possessed a body, she would gain a fatal weakness, handing Imu the opportunity to kill her completely.
And as Imu continued to disperse seeds over the past eight hundred years to create Devil Fruits, his main body grew weaker and weaker. If at the beginning he still harbored thoughts of deliberately setting a trap, later on he simply didn't dare to release her at all.
Eight hundred years ago, both sides had suffered grievously, with Imu barely emerging victorious. That clash resulted in a deadlock, one neither side could break, lasting for eight full centuries.
But they had both made the same mistake, overlooking the most crucial link of all!
This world was not only their world. It was also the world of mortals!
While they treated the world as their personal property, mortals had risen up to resist them!
zī zī, !
A burst of electricity shot straight at the back of his head. Rowen's towering figure dove down from above, the heavy halberd smashing downward.
"We agreed on half each, Lord Imu. What exactly are you trying to do?"
So fast!
From the Grand Line to the edge of the East Blue, the distance was measured in thousands of miles!
Imu was instantly shocked that Rowen had arrived so quickly and spun around to block.
Just one more second and he could have shattered the light shield, but if Rowen were given even a single second to attack, Imu was certain he would be chopped into pieces!
After all, Rowen's strongest ability was the speed granted by the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder Thunder Fruit)!
Boom!!!
Sure enough, this strike was fully powered.
Imu's feet crushed the stone beneath him as he was driven into the ground. His hardened skin and muscles struggled against the berserk lightning, only to be torn open by the thunder halberd, which embedded itself into flesh and blood.
Had he been greedy for that single second, the outcome would have been obvious.
At that moment, however, Rowen's nostrils flared, his eyes turning greedy as he looked toward the temple.
"I can smell it… the scent of food!"
"What?!"
Imu was instantly alarmed. The scent of food, didn't that mean Rowen had grasped methods on the same level as theirs?!
But Rowen gave him no time to think.
A ring of electricity saturated with annihilating aura burst outward, erasing everything outside the small island's light shield. It then rapidly compressed and wrapped around Rowen's body.
zī zī…
Bang!!
Human artillery!
"Pff…!"
Blood sprayed everywhere!
The move looked ridiculous, but it was effective every single time.
After all, who the hell would ever expect to be launched like a cannonball by their opponent?
He even had supercharged travel for launching himself.
Caught completely off guard, Imu was subjected to terrifying acceleration, dragged along like a cannonball and smashed straight into the light shield.
Thud!
The resilience of the shield bounced him forward, but right ahead, Rowen followed close behind, thrusting his halberd to kill.
pū chī…!
The savage heavy halberd pierced straight through Imu's chest, emerging from the other side.
For someone who wielded the Dark-Dark Fruit, tearing wounds were actually more dangerous than piercing ones, but Rowen still chose to do this.
Because his target was never Imu himself.
It was the light shield behind him!
zī zī…!
Shrill electric screeches rang across the sky. With Imu as the center, terrifying lightning spread across the light shield, dyeing it black and red. The shield encasing the temple immediately caved inward like a balloon, continuously sinking deeper with the thunder halberd as the focal point.
Finally, it reached a critical threshold.
With a bang, the shield shattered, like an exploding lighter, or glass bursting apart, scattering white fragments across the sky.
Far away in the depths of the New World, at Laugh Tale, Akainu and Dante, waiting for the pursuing forces to regroup, both clutched their ears.
Behind them, the stone monument sealing that God suddenly let out a violent tremor, as if wailing. The sound waves were deafening.
"Rowen never mentioned this part!"
Under the crushing, heaven-collapsing pressure, Akainu barely resisted as he roared.
Dante's mouth twitched, like hell I'd heard about it either!
Boom!
The stone monument erupted with a shockwave that blasted them both away, along with over a thousand Marine soldiers guarding the area, and even the endless yellow sand, sending everything flying.
Above the small temple island in the East Blue, an identical shockwave erupted.
But to those two, the disturbance wasn't even enough to make them blink.
Feeling the overwhelming power saturating the air, Rowen retracted his thunder halberd and chuckled softly.
"It seems you lied to me… Lord Imu."
"This power is something no mortal could possibly absorb!"
But Imu ignored him completely.
The instant he broke free, relying on the speed granted by the Vampire Fruit, he transformed into a black streak and shot straight toward the depths of the temple.
He had already seen it,
The source of that power came from a seated statue within the temple itself!
(End of Chapter)