Unlike when he'd faced Charlotte Linlin, where Finn had felt somewhat confident, facing Whitebeard, the strongest man who was basically invincible at present, he had no certainty in his mind.
According to Garp's theory, even if he and Whitebeard were equally strong, victory or defeat would depend on luck, timing, terrain, and circumstance.
But from the current perspective, Whitebeard wasn't just stronger. He also had timing, terrain, and circumstance all on his side!
"No one is allowed to interfere!" Newgate shouted.
The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly stepped forward and rapidly closed the distance with Finn. The blade in his hand fell and slashed directly toward Finn's figure.
Wherever his blade passed, transparent vibration energy caused cracks to form in space itself.
Finn's eyes were filled with extreme focus. He didn't dare hold back, nor did he feel any need to test the waters.
Testing whether Whitebeard was strong enough? That would be ridiculous.
Shindokutō hanging at his waist was unsheathed. Rich purple gravity coiled around the blade. He slashed toward the falling Murakumogiri.
Vibration force collided with invisible gravity. Space exploded directly where the two blades intersected.
In this exchange, neither of them used Armament Haki. It was purely the power brought by their physical capabilities and the confrontation of their Devil Fruit abilities.
After a moment, Finn's palm gripping the sword's hilt felt numb. The trembling force was obviously transmitted to his hand along the blade. At this moment, his internal organs also began to vibrate. Although he wasn't seriously injured, he felt extremely uncomfortable!
Compared to Finn, Newgate seemed fine, a smile on his face. But if you looked closely, you'd notice the ground beneath his feet was constantly crumbling. There was no doubt that Finn's gravitational ability had also been transmitted into his body through the blade.
After about three to five seconds of stalemate, the muscles in Newgate's arms suddenly swelled. His strength increased.
The ground beneath Finn's feet suddenly shattered, causing his center of gravity to become slightly unstable. He was unable to apply force in time and was suppressed by Newgate's blade.
With a skillful twist of his wrist, Finn carefully deflected Murakumogiri's blade, then stepped back several paces. With each step, the ground shattered a little more. After several steps, he'd completely expelled the vibration force Newgate had invaded his body with.
At this moment, Newgate didn't give Finn any chance to adjust his condition. He punched directly through the air with his other hand.
Crack!
Space shattered. Vibration force burst forth rapidly.
Finn stomped the ground. His body became weightless. He vanished from the spot at extreme speed before the air quake arrived.
The next moment, the space where he'd just stood was directly blown apart.
At the same time, Finn's figure appeared before Newgate. As he fell from the air, Shindokutō in his hand burst forth with powerful wind pressure.
Newgate couldn't dodge at this moment. He actually extended one hand. The gaps between his five fingers emanated trembling force. Facing the sharp wind pressure, he grabbed it and directly crushed the wind pressure erupting from Shindokutō.
But it seemed as if Finn had been waiting for precisely this opportunity. He roared in mid-air and grasped Shindokutō's hilt with both hands. Powerful gravity was released again, beginning to permeate Shindokutō from the hilt. In a moment, it dyed Shindokutō pitch black.
It was the Absolute Void that had nearly severed Charlotte Linlin's arm.
Even Newgate didn't dare use his fist to forcibly block this technique. He stepped back, actually forced to retreat one step by Finn. At the same time, he swung the long, slender Murakumogiri forward and blocked Finn's blade very smoothly.
Newgate knew very well that Charlotte Linlin had been injured. Even if Murakumogiri was ranked among the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades, it definitely couldn't withstand Finn's sword.
But he still blocked it like this. Just when Murakumogiri was about to be severed by Finn's blade, an extremely pure vibration force suddenly burst from the blade, stopping Finn's sword in mid-air.
There was still no Haki involved. From the moment Finn had fought Charlotte Linlin, Newgate had already noticed that Haki had no effect whatsoever against Finn's blade. Instead of that, it would be better to go all out with his Devil Fruit ability!
To be honest, Finn hadn't wanted to use Absolute Void so early, but he had no choice. When fighting Newgate, he had to use full strength to resist.
If he held back his power, perhaps after fighting a while longer, he'd be completely unable to release this technique at all.
The Absolute Void slash struck Newgate's extremely pure vibration force. They seemed to enter a struggle for dominance.
But after a brief moment, a hint of surprise appeared in Newgate's eyes. Even his so-called strongest vibration force couldn't block that blade. The invisible vibration force was clearly being rapidly devoured by Finn's sword.
Seeing this, Newgate didn't waste any more time. He took two steps back, retracted Murakumogiri, and withdrew the attack before the blade could be severed.
At this point, facing Finn's Absolute Void, even the strongest man, Whitebeard, was forced to retreat three steps.
You could only dodge. You couldn't take it head-on!
While the power in his hands hadn't yet dissipated, Finn took a step forward, caught up with Newgate, and slashed with his blade again.
However, as the blade passed through the air, Newgate keenly noticed that Shindokutō, originally wrapped in dark gravity, had begun fading from the tip of the sword!
His eyes lit up. He stopped dodging. Instead, he launched a counter-attack, deflecting Finn's blade away. Then, he looked at Finn, now lying not far away, and said, "It seems the technique you just used can no longer be deployed..."
At this moment, Finn was somewhat overwhelmed and could no longer pretend to be calm. He began breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Sweat began flowing from his forehead.
"Although I can't use that technique just now, that's all," Finn said, shaking his head. He calmed his breathing and said with a smile.
"That's why you've lost..." Newgate said softly. Then, with a hint of regret in his eyes, he continued, "The sea loves to bury the brave, Finn. Today, that saying will come true for you..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Newgate didn't hesitate at all. He brought forth Murakumogiri with even greater power and slashed at Finn.
Speaking truthfully, Newgate did admire Finn greatly.
He'd even invited him to join the Whitebeard Pirates, but had been sternly rejected by Finn.
But no matter how much he admired him, Newgate would never show mercy here.
Perhaps this duel was unfair. Finn had fought Kaido, fallen from the sky, then fought Charlotte Linlin without any rest at all, and was now fighting Whitebeard at his strongest.
However, even so, Newgate wouldn't hold back. After all, he wasn't fighting some random Marine!
And he was very certain that if Finn had a chance to exploit his weakness, he'd definitely bring a massive fleet of Marines to eliminate him without hesitation.
Newgate could even see that Finn admired him greatly, perhaps out of respect for the strong!
But this was where they stood!
Let this sea bury the brave!
But at this moment, the ground beneath Newgate's feet suddenly changed. A scorching breath gushed forth. Then the ground instantly turned to magma, as if a volcano had suddenly erupted, directly enveloping Newgate.
Sakazuki's burly figure then erupted from the magma, roaring, "Hellhound!"
A swift punch was thrown at Newgate's head. If this blow landed, perhaps Newgate would have half his head destroyed by Sakazuki, just like in the original story.
But Newgate at this time wasn't the old and frail Newgate who needed an IV drip to maintain his life. On the contrary, he was in the strongest period of his life.
The moment Sakazuki's Hellhound launched, Newgate was completely wrapped in Haki. At the same time, vibration power burst forth. He released Murakumogiri, first blocked Sakazuki's Hellhound, then punched back.
The brutal vibration force instantly penetrated Sakazuki's body. Sakazuki suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Unable to withstand this overwhelming vibration force, he was directly blasted out from the erupting magma.
Finn's reaction speed was naturally extremely fast. He'd emerged from the crater first to cover for Sakazuki and hide himself.
At this moment, Sakazuki had made a powerful move. Although it hadn't achieved any real effect, it had helped interrupt Newgate's devastating attack.
Therefore, at the moment Sakazuki flew backward, Finn imposed weightlessness on Sakazuki, stomped the ground, and grabbed Sakazuki's collar with his other hand. At the same time, he seized the opportunity, crossed the lava field, and picked up the unconscious Kaido from the ground.
"Sakazuki!" Finn roared.
Before Sakazuki had finished spitting blood from his mouth, a jet of magma erupted from his body again, carrying Finn and Kaido directly into the sky.
At the same time, Finn's gravity also exploded, further accelerating their speed.
No one could react to this sudden change. When Newgate walked out of the lava, he looked somewhat disheveled. Many parts of his long golden hair were burned and bent at the ends.
"Don't even think about running!" Newgate roared. He suddenly grasped at the air with both hands. Heaven and earth flipped over. Large sections of space shattered. Powerful trembling force chased after Finn's figure.
But in the next moment, a deafening thunderclap suddenly exploded in the sky. Then thick lightning condensed into a beam more than ten meters wide, falling from above and directly penetrating the vibration force Newgate had released.
"What is this!?" Newgate looked up at the sky and saw a warship descending with balloon octopuses attached to it.
"Whitebeard!" Garp roared. His figure shot from the warship like a cannonball.
"Garp!?" Whitebeard was stunned for a moment. Then he stopped caring about Sakazuki and Finn. He punched out with trembling force and powerful Haki.
That's right. Conqueror's Haki Infusion!
Then, Garp's fist, falling from the sky, was also wrapped with invisible Conqueror's Haki...
As expected. How could he not know Conqueror's Haki?!
The two fists collided in mid-air. The clash of Conqueror's Haki swept across the entire island in an instant. The sea outside the island surged violently. Houses and trees on the island were all crushed by this overwhelming pressure.
The warship in the sky began to sway. At the same time, heaven and earth changed color. Clouds rolled!
The strongest Marine and the strongest pirate had clashed!