"You're nothing but an ant!"
Saint Sanjuan Wolf's roar tore through the heavens, shattering clouds across a radius of nearly a kilometer.
His 180-meter-tall body advanced one step at a time, and with each step, the sea beneath him was crushed into solid mass by sheer force alone—forming temporary "landmasses" hundreds of meters wide.
Yet those makeshift islands collapsed in the very next instant, detonating into towering walls of seawater like countless deep-sea charges exploding at once.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Sanjuan Wolf's fists were suddenly coated in pitch-black Armament Haki.
Before the punches even landed, the pressure alone carved a vacuum trench across the ocean—stretching for over a kilometer—while the seawater on both sides rose like vertical cliffs.
"No wonder Instructor Zephyr said that super-colossal Sea Kings are terrifying,"Gern Reginald Sigmar muttered calmly.
"For a guy who's 180 meters tall, just moving around already makes you a pain to deal with."
The black blade Bahuang rose horizontally before him.Armament Haki and vibrating particles interwove around its edge, forming a black-and-white radiance that pulsed violently.
CLANG—!!!
The moment fist and blade collided, a sphere of energy over a hundred meters wide erupted outward.Inside it, white lightning of extreme-frequency vibration raged uncontrollably.
As the sphere expanded, the sea within a kilometer radius was forcibly blown away, exposing bare rock and ocean floor beneath.
Spray froze into crystalline shards along the edge of the sphere—then vaporized into mist a heartbeat later.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—
The seabed fractured violently.
Gern's vibration power triggered micro-tectonic shifts, and beneath their feet, a jagged "island" of broken rock forcibly rose from the depths.
"Hah… interesting."Gern's boots sank into the stone, yet a thrill curved his lips upward.
Sparks burst wildly as Bahuang ground against the giant's fist—each spark detonating like a miniature explosion.
Across from him, Sanjuan Wolf's pupils quaked.
He could feel it clearly now.
Gern's raw strength… wasn't inferior to his at all.
"I'm a super-giant…! So why the hell can you match me in strength?!" he roared.
"No choice," Gern replied casually."Physical strength is basically my only obvious talent."
Then his eyes sharpened.
"And besides—if you can't push me back…"
He suddenly withdrew his blade.
"Then it's my turn."
Sanjuan Wolf stumbled forward, his massive body unable to stop its momentum.
At the same instant, Gern's left fist ignited with Armament Haki.A vortex of vibrating force condensed around his knuckles, twisting space itself into visible distortion.
"H–Hey, wait—!"Sanjuan Wolf's expression changed, but his enormous frame was already too slow.
"I've wanted to try this one for a while now," Gern said with a grin."Take this—Supreme Shockwave Fist!!"
BOOM—!!!
The instant the punch launched, all air along its trajectory was annihilated, forming a vacuum tunnel.
When it struck Sanjuan Wolf's abdomen—
A kilometer-wide cylindrical shockwave erupted behind him, ripping the ocean clean in half.
"GAAAAH—!!!"
Blood sprayed like a waterfall as Sanjuan Wolf crashed to his knees atop the temporary island.
Gern flicked his wrist and leveled Bahuang toward him.
"Still want to keep going?"
"Y-You…!"Sanjuan Wolf tried to curse him out—but before the words finished, a familiar chill ran down his spine.
"I know, I know," Gern interrupted cheerfully."Raising your hand isn't an apology—it's another Supreme Shockwave Fist, right?"
"SUPREME SHOCKWAVE FIST!"
"Again!"
"God, this feels good—your body's basically built for this—maximum damage—SUPREME SHOCKWAVE FIST!"
For a time—
Facing the extra-large experimental punching bag known as Saint Sanjuan Wolf,Gern said nothing.
He simply kept throwing Supreme Shockwave Fists.
...
"Haah…"Much later, Gern exhaled deeply, finally satisfied.
"Heh… you still can't take me down," Sanjuan Wolf growled, forcing his battered body upright.
Every inch of him was broken—yet his mouth stayed stubbornly defiant.
"Shattering the sky? That's all you've got?"
As he spoke, he suddenly launched a sneak attack.
His massive left palm descended with the force to pulverize mountains and split seas.
Before it even landed, the pressure crushed the ocean into a kilometer-wide depression.
The temporary rock island collapsed instantly—stones disintegrating into dust before even touching the palm's edge.
Gern's justice cloak snapped violently in the gale.
He didn't move.
Just before the massive hand reached his hair—
"Vibration Blink."
His body dissolved into countless pale particles, vanishing at the final instant.
In the next heartbeat, those particles reassembled before Sanjuan Wolf's forehead.
"It's been a while since I used this one…"Gern gently brushed his fingers along Bahuang's blade.
Where his touch passed, space itself twisted unnaturally.
Vibration particles converged toward the blade like rivers flowing into the sea, compressing into an unstable density that made the air emit a deep, ominous hum.
Sanjuan Wolf's pupils shrank violently.
Even his mediocre Observation Haki screamed danger.
This… this is worse than that damn Supreme Shockwave Fist!!
But now, his 180-meter body had become a curse—far too slow to escape.
"Go on, then!" he roared."If you've got the guts, hit me again, you Marine bastard!"
"Perfect timing," Gern replied calmly."Let's strengthen it a little."
"...And use you as a test."
His eyes flared crimson.
Conqueror's Haki erupted like a volcanic detonation—but unlike before, it didn't expand outward.
Instead, it condensed.
Funneled.
Drawn directly into Bahuang.
Dark purple lightning wrapped the blade as Armament Haki followed, merging into something far denser and far more terrifying.
"I learned a few things last time I fought Kizaru…"
The sword trembled with delight.The crimson patterns along its guard darkened into a deep violet-black.
It was responding—drawing in his will.
BZZZZT—!!!
The low hum rose into a shrill scream as space itself began to fracture.
Each flicker of dark-violet lightning tore spiderweb cracks into the void.
"And now… with Bahuang assisting…"
Gern raised the blade with both hands.
A simple high stance—yet the seawater within a hundred meters began floating upward, defying gravity.
"This strike…"He stared into Sanjuan Wolf's terrified eyes, voice calm to the point of cruelty.
"…will teach you what it truly means—"
"To shatter the heavens."
"Heavenquake — Sky Rend!!"
For a single instant—
The world stopped.
CRACK—!!
A clean, crystalline fracture echoed through reality.
Starting from the blade's edge, space itself shattered like a mirror struck by a god.
Cracks surged outward, climbing thousands of meters into the sky, each one erupting with violet-black annihilation.
Sanjuan Wolf instinctively raised his palm—
—and it was severed the moment it touched the裂痕.
"No… way…"
His expression froze in horror.
The fractures passed through his colossal body without resistance.
Time stretched.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
His 180-meter frame collapsed like a sand sculpture struck by a tidal wave.
A massive gash tore across his chest as every fragment of flesh disintegrated into violet lightning and dust.
A blood mist erupted thousands of meters into the sky.
The shockwave evaporated the sea itself, exposing the seabed hundreds of meters below.
When the mist finally cleared—
Sanjuan Wolf's shattered, shrunken body floated lifelessly on the water, like a beached whale.
Gern stood behind him, sword lowered.
The violet lightning faded from the blade.
"…Can you still stand now?"