"This kind of presence…"
Saturn had already transformed into his Hellish Gyūki form, resisting the raging flames around him. The other Five Elders had likewise revealed their true forms.
The flames that manifested as Ren spread his arms were absolutely not something an ordinary body could endure.
Even steel would melt in this sea of fire!
Yet no matter how Saturn thought about it, he could not understand why this newly appeared fruit could be so bizarrely versatile and so powerful.
Even Nika, represented by the Gum-Gum Fruit—that being once regarded as a god by countless people—had never possessed such terrifying Devil Fruit powers.
Besides, Devil Fruits were detested by the sea precisely because they were "unnatural."
Could such a heaven-defying fruit truly have been born beneath the sea's hatred?
"Wororororo! This brat really is much, much stronger than before."
The Azure Dragon in the sky twisted his body with a ferocious grin. "Old hag, since we're already teaming up, don't embarrass yourself in a situation like this."
Violent winds and thunder roared through the sky.
Seeing this, Big Mom threw out Zeus. Thunderclouds emerged overhead, then summoned a heavy downpour.
They believed these flames had been created by Ren's Devil Fruit power. Perhaps it was some kind of advantageous home-field effect.
But when the rain came pouring down, the scorching flames did not go out at all. Instead, they grew even wilder.
The raindrops vaporized before they even hit the ground, turning the entire area into something like a steam furnace.
'A little… naive.'
Ren looked at Kaido and Big Mom's teamwork in amusement. When the gap between them had stretched to an unreachable level, perhaps this sort of misunderstanding was inevitable.
He was merely releasing heat at will, as naturally as eating or drinking, yet the enemies of his past took it as a demonstration of power.
Then he would make it a little hotter!
In a realm unseen by anyone, the heat released by the Blazing Sun Furnace rose another level.
The temperature, already enough to melt steel, began advancing toward a realm that even inhuman bodies could not endure.
3,000°C—4,000°C—5,000°C… finally stopping at 6,000°C, nearly the same level as the surface of the sun.
With Blast Breath in combination with the Evil God Lighter, Nojiko could reach a maximum limit of 8,000°C, but only by concentrating it into a beam less than a kilometer in diameter.
Ren, however, had dragged the entire Onigashima rooftop, measured across dozens of kilometers, into this hellscape!
The earth melted at an astonishing speed, turning into magma, then vaporizing!
Before the soaring temperature, no matter could resist for even a moment. Even steel would turn into molten iron in the blink of an eye, then evaporate!
The seven people present all changed expression and simultaneously covered themselves in dual-color Haki for defense.
Only Ren remained completely natural, even somewhat comfortable, because this was the very environment in which a blazing sun existed!
"Kill him!"
Saturn growled. The Hellish Gyūki's vicious eye widened, and an invisible suppressive force bound itself around the enemy.
The gigantic boar was the first to charge across the magma earth, its four tusks turning into blades wrapped in dual-color Haki.
The sandworm burrowed beneath the magma, watching for the chance to strangle its prey.
The Bakotsu knight galloped to the side, Shodai Kitetsu in hand, wrapped in dual-color Haki.
Their attitude was very clear: they had to deal with the enemy as quickly as possible in this extreme, terrifying environment.
If they did not use Haki for protection, death was only a matter of how long they could last. But with Haki protection active… the consumption from full-body coverage was enormous!
Kaido and Big Mom realized the same thing. Although they did not know how Ren had acquired yet another terrifying method, what they needed to do had not changed.
Wound him heavily—or kill him!
Big Mom recalled Zeus, standing atop the black cloud together with Kaido, who had shifted into his human-beast form.
"Old hag!"
He raised Hassaikai. Big Mom, understanding instantly, raised Napoleon as well. The moment blade and club touched—
A massive amount of dual-color Haki gathered from the two weapons, forming an unimaginably terrifying strike.
It was a gigantic, rapid shockwave, powerful enough to destroy everything within hundreds of kilometers ahead.
In the original story, it was an attack that Luffy and the others together still could not take. Zoro, who could defeat King, attempted to block that move for only an instant and was severely wounded.
It was also the greatest trump card produced by the two of them joining forces.
Of course, They did not unleash it immediately. They needed the most suitable timing.
Their opponent's strength was clearly abnormal. If they attacked while planning to kill both Ren and the Five Elders together, they might very well end up ruining everything.
"This is… almost enough to make me laugh."
Ren grinned. Even when surrounded by seven peak-level fighters, he did not show the slightest trace of tension. Instead, he was filled with delight.
Good. Very good.
This was exactly how it should be. Only like this—would it be fun!
With a light movement, he crushed the invisible restraints, then spread his hands into the posture of drawing a bow without a bow.
Infinite heat gathered under the manipulation of the Float-Float Fruit, forming an arrow of light.
"Blazing Sun: Radiance!"
Within his aiming sight, the Fengxi beast opened its huge mouth, about to release a terrifying Conqueror's Haki roar.
At that very moment, the crimson arrow of light was released, turning into a red beam that sliced open the scene of the battlefield—and also sliced open the beast that was about to roar.
Starting from the center of its huge mouth, the Fengxi beast was split in two by a single arrow. Before that extreme temperature, even dual-color Haki could not block it for an instant.
Immediately afterward, an explosion that shook Onigashima swallowed the Fengxi beast whole, its shell turning to nothing within the flames.
The molten earth surged at that moment. A sandworm drilled out and bit toward Ren at point-blank range, rows upon rows of dense fangs snapping toward its prey.
Although Ren had instantly defeated Saint Warcury with one move, Saint Ju Peter, who had already drawn close enough, still launched a fierce attack.
Even someone as powerful as Whitebeard had been wounded by his strangling bite. How could this upstart possibly—
His thoughts stopped there. Observation Haki returned a sensation of ultimate danger.
The Blazing Sun Furnace in Ren's chest truly began to operate. The Float-Float Fruit manipulated accumulated heat, condensing a layer of golden flame over his body.
"Blazing Sun: Residual Sun Prison Garment!"
The sandworm lunged down with its own momentum. The instant its fangs touched the golden flame, they were erased. Saint Ju Peter seemed almost like a magician.
He performed a trick of entering water without leaving a ripple or a trace, turning into a handful of flying ash in an instant.
"!?"
The Bakotsu swordsman galloping toward him had his pupils shrink, but instead increased his speed. Frost condensed over Shodai Kitetsu.
His four skeletal hooves stomped against the earth. In the next instant, he halted and swung his blade, launching a Flying Slash wrapped in freezing cold toward the enemy.
Yet before it could truly approach Ren, it was mercilessly erased by that extreme temperature.
"Move. Attack!"
Saturn, who was also drawing close, spat out the brief command. As the Bakotsu swordsman frantically retreated, the invisible restraints once again pressed onto Ren.
And at that moment, the sky suddenly erupted with violent radiance.
"Conquest of the Sea!"
A pillar of light mixed with purple, blue, black, and red pierced through the sky in an instant. It was dozens of meters in diameter, a terrifying technique powerful enough to annihilate all matter across hundreds of kilometers.
It was a killing move no peak-level fighter could ignore.
And to Ren, it was enough to make him draw his sword.
He once again ignored Saturn's Evil Eye restraints. With five fingers extended, he summoned Zanka no Tachi into his hand, then applied the power of the Float-Float Fruit.
"Now this is a little interesting."
Ren raised his hand and launched a slash with an upward draw.
"Zanka no Tachi: Heaven and Earth End!"
It was the same slash that had slain Red Hair on Hachinosu, yet under the interference of the Float-Float Fruit, it underwent a different transformation.
In the direction pointed to by the blade slashing up toward the sky, the four-colored beam formed by Conquest of the Sea was shattered in the clash, vanishing like bubbles.
Before the scattered power could affect the surroundings, it was seized by the Float-Float Fruit's ability and mixed with the slash, turning into a soaring wave of light!
Boom!
Blazing light rose into the heavens. All of Mount Fuji trembled, and the Flower Capital below instantly felt tremors like an earthquake.
When the wave of light faded, the towering stone mountain that pierced the clouds had disappeared.
The Mount Fuji above Onigashima's rooftop had actually been completely erased by this one strike!
Kaido and Big Mom were naturally caught in the aftermath as well. Both of them were now charred black, smashed into the rock wall at the far edge of Onigashima.
In that strike just now, they had been sent flying over ten kilometers!
'This brat… is terrifyingly strong.'
Saturn finally realized something was wrong. If Ren could suppress any one of them one-on-one, that could still be understood. It could be treated as the emergence of an even more monstrous freak.
But he truly had not expected that the combined strike of two Emperors—a beam whose power even he would want to avoid—would be cut apart by Ren with one slash, while also destroying the top of Mount Fuji in passing.
'Saint Mars, return!'
Saint Warcury's voice echoed within the Five Elders.
While being refined into ash by the flames, he had sensed a power that surpassed even Whitebeard.
This was no longer about whether they could seize Ren's weakness and prevent him from escaping. It was now a question of whether all of them together could take Ren down at all!
At the same time, as Onigashima's earth turned into magma and the rooftop broke open to reveal the interior,
Akainu, who had been waiting all this time, finally sensed that something was wrong and decided to join the battlefield for a righteous gang-up.
A pentagram summoning circle unfolded, and a ferocious aura suddenly appeared in the sky.
An Itsumade hid within the pitch-black clouds, watching the battlefield below.
At this point, the situation had truly become eight against one.
'Well, let's play.'
Ren did not care. Zanka no Tachi hovered beside him, while he extended his hand and clenched his five fingers into a fist.
That gesture left the six watching him stunned, then enraged.
Not using his sword and using his fists instead—was that not just looking down on them?
But before they could retaliate, Ren's figure had already disappeared from where he stood.
Meteor Burst · Phase Four · Blazing Sun!
Light raced across the earth. The first to suffer the blow was the nearest Bakotsu swordsman.
'He's using me as the breakthrough point?'
Saint Nusjuro's expression changed. He tightened his grip on the already-blackened Shodai Kitetsu, Observation Haki sweeping out as he raised his blade to block.
In the next instant, a meteor shower of light erupted within his vision!
Scorching heavy fists hammered him tens of thousands of times in a single instant. The Bakotsu's lower body cracked with countless fissures from trying to disperse the force.
Saint Nusjuro was horrified. Even Whitebeard had never been able to make his body crack like this in an instant.
Boom—!
Amid a thunderous roar, the Bakotsu swordsman fell into the magma earth.
Ren's figure blurred into light, then dodged an overwhelmingly powerful strike.
Great Virtue: Thunder Bagua.
Kaido descended from the sky with Hassaikai in hand. Descending Third World: Ragnaraku smashed down into the magma earth, its rampaging force tearing apart a kilometer-wide region of molten ground.
Big Mom rode her cloud and charged over, sweeping past Kaido before leaping up and reaching out.
Zeus + Prometheus + Napoleon formed a Maser Sword wrapped in a massive amount of dual-color Haki, cleaving toward Ren across a thousand meters with astonishing speed.
Ren turned his head and punched.
A simple, direct fist slammed into the Maser Sword. Infinite thunder and fire illuminated Big Mom's changing face, then a radiating beam of light swallowed her.
Boom—!
The beam gushed out and severed one of Onigashima's two horns. Big Mom was sent flying an unknown distance, caught by Zeus before kneeling on the cloud and coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Strong.
So strong. Terrifyingly strong!
Even she, a natural-born monster, could not understand how Ren had become even more terrifying than he had been in Totto Land in such a short time.
At their level, shouldn't every further step be incomparably difficult?
There was no time to think. Another tremendous explosion erupted on Onigashima.
Akainu, transformed into a moving volcano and carrying unmatched power, directly increased his firepower and melted the entire rooftop.
The instant Ren's figure appeared, a kilometer-scale magma giant fist filled the opening!
"Die!"
Akainu's roar echoed at that moment, seeking to recover the face he had lost during the Buster Call.
Ren's response was very simple. He turned his head downward and opened his mouth.
Golden patterns spread from his chest toward his throat. A golden sphere of light gathered at his throat, wrapped in dual-color Haki. The black, gold, and red sphere became the roar of the blazing sun.
"Blazing Sun: Roaring Might!"
Dazzling golden light surged out, erasing everything it touched. The magma giant fist collapsed in the clash.
Shock flashed through Akainu's eyes. Before he could react, the wildly violent energy, controlled by the Float-Float Fruit, came crashing down.
Blinding light shot into the sky from the opening. High-energy release ignited wave after wave of fire, stacking them together into a divine flaming spear-blade stabbing toward the heavens.
The Itsumade, which had seized the opportunity to dive down for a surprise attack, failed to dodge in time and was pierced through by the divine flaming spear-blade.
Boom—!
A fire mushroom cloud with a radius exceeding ten kilometers rose into the sky above Onigashima. Saint Mars was torn into pieces within it.
'Fun.'
Ren laughed loudly and spread his arms. The Float-Float Fruit's effects were even better than he had imagined.
Rather than merely applying buoyancy to matter, it was more like applying control.
In his hands, whether it was the aftermath from his own attacks that could easily destroy everything, or the energy carried by his enemies' attacks,
All of it could be interfered with and reused by the Float-Float Fruit.
Just like the Itsumade that had tried to sneak-attack him and ended up killed in return.
Of course, This was not some important method. But it did resolve Ren's concern about accidentally destroying his own home with the slightest movement.
At that moment, the encirclement continued.
The Bakotsu swordsman emerged from the magma, his four hooves stepping across the molten earth as he galloped. His speed had already soared past Mach 4.
In the blink of an eye, he crossed several thousand meters. Frost condensed on Shodai Kitetsu—
Ready to strike!
The sandworm had likewise revived, hiding beneath the blazing tide of magma while rapidly approaching the enemy.
The Fengxi beast that had been refined into ash reappeared, blocking Ren's path.
(End of Chapter)