On the warship, Finn looked down at the juice staining his clothes, then glanced at the Marine lieutenant commander who was watching the battle between Gion and Mihawk with rapt admiration.
Finn cleared his throat. "What's your name?"
This was an Admiral's warship, and there were many colonel-level officers aboard, some of them new. Finn genuinely couldn't remember all their names.
The major was startled, then quickly straightened. "My name is Shū, sir."
"Shū?" Finn raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. "Are you a Devil Fruit user?"
"No, I'm not a Devil Fruit user, sir," Major Shū quickly clarified.
"Really?" Finn nodded thoughtfully.
Looking at this guy, Shū appeared quite young. Finn had thought he might be the user of the Rust-Rust Fruit, the one who would eventually destroy Zoro's Yubashiri.
But maybe it was him, just without the signature mask yet, and he hadn't eaten his Devil Fruit yet.
"Does the Admiral have any orders?" Major Shū asked again.
"What do you think?" Finn glared at him.
But Shū was clearly dense. He looked at Finn with a bewildered expression.
Finn kicked him lightly on the rear. "Go get me a towel and a basin of water. You're completely clueless. If this were Sakazuki's ship, you'd be dead!"
Shū staggered after being kicked by Finn, rubbed his backside, smiled sheepishly, and hurried away.
He wasn't angry at all. Through their interactions during this period, he'd come to realize that Admiral Finn wasn't the "Violent Tiger" of rumor. On the contrary, his temper was quite good.
Being able to kick him casually actually meant the Admiral was comfortable around them.
It wasn't real corporal punishment.
Meanwhile, Gion and Mihawk had resumed their battle.
Lightning flashed and crackled. Haki collided. Slashes tore through the air with reckless abandon. The entire sea surface was being torn apart by these two combatants.
If Finn hadn't been standing on the deck, casually deflecting stray waves, slashes, and shockwaves from time to time, the warship would have already been sunk by the aftermath of their fight.
At that moment, the two were fighting fiercely on the small, narrow boat. There was danger in every inch of that cramped space. Sharp blades constantly brushed past cheeks, throats, and other vital areas. It tested their skill and reflexes to the absolute limit.
Clang!
Gion's Konpira blocked Mihawk's black blade Yoru.
She took a step back to disperse the force.
And it was that single step that crushed the last bit of structural integrity in Mihawk's surprisingly durable boat.
At that moment, the boat beneath their feet suddenly splintered, breaking apart into several pieces of floating wood.
Mihawk wasn't panicked at all. He wasn't a Devil Fruit user. The fact that he dared to travel the world in a tiny boat proved he wasn't afraid of seawater.
But Gion was a Devil Fruit user. With a flash of lightning beneath her feet, she stepped onto a wooden plank and stood on the sea's surface. However, the board certainly couldn't support her weight, and it began to sink the instant she landed.
Still, Gion only needed a foothold. The moment she gained leverage, her figure vanished from the sea.
Actually, Gion wasn't afraid of seawater, because her Rumble-Rumble Fruit allowed her to float in the air.
It was just that the battle had been so fierce. Facing a sword master like Mihawk, she couldn't afford to relax, so the situation had seemed more dangerous than it was.
The next moment, Gion reappeared behind Mihawk. Konpira flashed with crackling lightning in her hand as she slashed downward.
The wooden plank beneath Mihawk's feet obviously couldn't bear his weight, and he knew that in this situation, he couldn't engage in a contest of raw strength.
Otherwise, he'd sink directly into the sea. So, at the same instant Gion's lightning-fast slash fell, Mihawk kicked off the plank, used the momentum to leap into the air, and slashed upward.
The black blade Yoru collided with Konpira. He used the force to retreat violently, landing with perfect precision on another wooden plank.
Then, as expected, the plank began to sink under the force, threatening to drag Mihawk down with it.
Just as Mihawk was about to change position again, he suddenly felt the wooden plank beneath his feet solidify, supporting him.
Like stepping on solid ground.
Not far away, Gion also landed on a wooden plank. Like Mihawk, she didn't sink.
At that moment, the two of them tacitly stopped their attacks and looked toward the warship in the distance.
Finn was holding a damp towel, wiping the juice from his clothes, when he noticed Mihawk and Gion's gazes.
Finn smiled. "Go on. Don't worry about me. I've just built an arena for you. As long as it's wooden, feel free to step on it. It won't sink."
Mihawk glanced down at the floating plank beneath his feet. Sure enough, the edges of the plank emitted a faint purple glow.
"The legendary Press-Press Fruit..." Mihawk's heart grew heavy.
This Admiral's ability gave him a natural advantage in naval battles. Even if he could defeat Gion, he probably wouldn't stand a chance against that man.
However, there was no time to dwell on such questions. Gion trusted Finn completely. Since Finn said the wooden planks were stable, she didn't hesitate for even a moment. She pushed off with her feet, applying force that should have shattered the fragile plank.
Yet it held firm.
At the same time, Gion's figure dove toward Mihawk like a falcon. Konpira flashed with lightning in her hand as she shouted, "Thunder!"
At first, she moved like a ferocious falcon. Then, in that instant, her figure transformed into a streak of lightning, so fast that she closed the distance to Mihawk's face in the blink of an eye.
Although Mihawk didn't fully trust Finn, he couldn't afford to hesitate now. He didn't even try to dodge. Instead, he suddenly raised the black blade Yoru and positioned it defensively in front of him.
The next moment, Gion's blade, filled with endless thunderous power, crashed down on his sword.
A powerful force erupted. Mihawk's feet sank into the plank. Unexpectedly, the wooden board didn't sink or break. It actually supported his stance, allowing him to withstand the force of Gion's strike.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw plasma as solid as matter erupting from Konpira. Then, Gion's entire body transformed into the color of thunder and lightning. Under the clear sky, a thunderbolt suddenly fell from above and struck Gion directly.
The next second, that thunderbolt acted like a fuse.
Gion exploded.
Endless torrents of thunder directly engulfed Mihawk.
With the two of them at the center, violent lightning spread instantly across the sea's surface. In just a short moment, the entire area near them was covered with a layer of crackling electricity, completely obscuring the seawater.
At that moment, no one could see anything. The space where they fought was filled with blinding lightning, making it impossible to discern the situation.
However, before Finn could activate his Observation Haki to get a feel for what was happening, a dark green slash shot into the sky, directly cutting through the dense wall of thunder. Mihawk's disheveled figure emerged from the sea of lightning and leapt into the air.
Mihawk was indeed in a mess. His elegant, aristocratic demeanor could no longer be maintained. The luxurious suit that had looked so refined was now tattered, and the top hat on his head had vanished, revealing his slightly wild black hair.
Before Mihawk could fall, a blade suddenly shot out from the dissipating lightning around him.
It was Konpira!
Although Mihawk was disheveled, his reaction speed was still razor-sharp. He raised his hand and positioned the broad black blade Yoru defensively. Konpira stabbed directly into the blade in Mihawk's hand.
Then, Gion's figure emerged from the fading lightning, not giving Mihawk any chance to catch his breath. With a fierce cry, she shouted, "Pierce him, Thunder Falcon!"
Before Gion finished speaking, a dazzling bolt of lightning suddenly burst from the tip of Konpira's blade. The lightning shot forward like a high-energy beam, aimed directly at Mihawk through his black blade.
If Mihawk's black blade hadn't been of the highest quality, and if it hadn't been wrapped in his powerful Armament Haki, he might have been pierced straight through by Gion's attack.
But even though it failed to penetrate Mihawk's sword, the sheer power of the lightning blast directly knocked Mihawk backward, sending him flying hundreds of meters in an instant.
At that moment, Mihawk had been knocked completely out of range of the wooden planks by Gion's technique.
There was nowhere to land. At the same time, regardless of whether he'd eventually learn techniques like Geppo in the future, he had no idea how to use them now. With no other option, he fell directly into the sea.
It took only a moment for Mihawk's head to emerge from the water. Before he could even speak, he looked up.
In the distance, Gion's body crackled with electric sparks. Like a god of thunder, she floated in the air. Massive amounts of thunderous power radiated from her body, shooting upward like arcs of electricity.
In just a short moment, a moderately sized dark cloud had gathered in the sky, which had been perfectly clear just moments before.
The dark clouds were thick and heavy, pressing low over the sea, with flashes of lightning flickering through them constantly.
"Thunderstorm Cloud!" Gion suddenly shouted.
Her palm curled into a claw. Dazzling lightning crackled between her fingers. At the same time, she suddenly pulled downward through the void.
The thick thunderclouds in the sky, following her guidance, instantly erupted with a dense barrage of lightning bolts, directly covering the area of sea where Mihawk was struggling.
The sea's surface was struck directly by the cascading plasma. It was as if something had ignited, causing massive explosions across the water.
After completing this attack, Gion remained floating in the air. Plasma coursed through her body, and her hands were raised upward. Her long black hair, which had originally been tied behind her head, had now come loose and was flowing upward toward the sky.
Her blade, Konpira, was also wrapped in lightning and hovered behind her, radiating majesty.
Mysterious and intricate lightning patterns appeared on both sides of Gion's cheeks. The pupils of her eyes had turned a blank indigo. The aura emanating from her body was so powerful that even Finn, watching from a distance, looked at her with newfound respect.
"Is this... the Rumble-Rumble Fruit that's said to be the strongest and most invincible?" Finn murmured, his tone tinged with awe.
To be honest, ever since Gion had eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Finn had never seen her use her full strength. Nor had he sparred with her seriously since then.
All he knew was that Gion had an impressive battle record. Since consuming the fruit, she had never been defeated. Every enemy who fought against her was crushed by her overwhelming strength.
Oh, right. Except for Crocodile. That fight had been fifty-fifty. Because of Marco's appearance and a change in the plan, Crocodile had managed to slip away from Gion's offensive.
Besides, that had only been within the sea area under G-7's jurisdiction, in the first half of the Grand Line. The enemies Gion had encountered weren't particularly powerful, so Finn hadn't placed too much importance on her "invincible" record.
It wasn't until this moment, when Gion defeated Mihawk with overwhelming force, that Finn realized just how powerful Gion had become.
No wonder she'd dared to claim Mihawk was no match for her before they'd even fought.
There was no arrogance in that statement at all.
Perhaps in pure swordsmanship, Mihawk was stronger than Gion. But in terms of overall combat strength, Gion had surpassed Mihawk completely.
After the lightning continued to bombard the sea for a while longer, Gion raised her hand and grasped at the void again. The violent, rampaging lightning seemed to be tamed in an instant, flowing along her arm and back into her body. Then, the thick thunderclouds in the sky dissipated in mere moments, as if everything that had just happened had been an illusion.
The turbulent sea gradually returned to calm. Mihawk's battered figure slowly emerged from the water.
He looked at Gion, still floating in the air, in silence. He didn't say a word.
Gion caught the hovering Konpira in her hand. She looked down at Mihawk and said, "I have to admit, you're stronger in pure swordsmanship. But you lost this battle, Dracule Mihawk."