On the Marine warship, Lipo's long, drooping ears snapped upright, standing on end as she stared at the distant deserted island. Violent shockwaves kept erupting there one after another, and every collision made her heart pound as if it might burst.
"Gern…"
She could feel it clearly—the aura of that samurai was terrifyingly strong, nearly on par with Gern Reginald Sigmar himself.
"Sergeant!" Lipo suddenly spun around, her ears crackling faintly with static. "Contact Uncle Sakazuki—now!"
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki!" The sergeant snapped out of his daze and rushed toward the communications room, trembling fingers dialing a channel that was kept under the strictest secrecy.
This was the only remaining communication line between Gern and Sakazuki.
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki!" the sergeant shouted hoarsely, panic bleeding into his voice. "We've encountered the Whitebeard Pirates! Brigadier General Gern is currently engaged in combat with the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander—the 'Samurai' Kozuki Oden, bounty 1.87 billion Beli!"
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Then came the ominous sound of boiling magma—gurgle… gurgle….
"Location."Sakazuki's voice was cold enough to freeze blood.
The sergeant rattled off the coordinates. The moment he finished speaking, the line was cut off—brutally.
He stood there gripping the receiver, cold sweat beading on his forehead."Ensign Lipo… Vice Admiral Sakazuki, he—"
"He'll come," Lipo interrupted, turning her gaze back toward the sea, her eyes shining with unwavering resolve."And Gern won't lose."
...
On the deserted island, the battlefield had already been utterly transformed by their clash. The coastline had been torn apart by sword slashes, and the island's center was riddled with enormous craters like meteor impacts.
Before the dust could settle, Oden dragged his twin blades, red-black Ryuo trailing behind them like burning ribbons, carving searing arcs through the air.
"Hahahaha! Again!" he roared with wild laughter. Blood still stained the corner of his mouth, yet the battle lust in his eyes burned even brighter.
His kimono had long since been shredded, leaving his bare torso exposed—crisscrossed with countless fine wounds.
Gern watched him coldly. The black blade Bahuang trembled faintly in his hand, pale-white particles coiling around the edge like living things.
A deep wound, bone clearly visible, split his left shoulder, blood dripping steadily down his arm.
With a sudden thunderous shout, Oden crossed his twin swords and unleashed a sweeping slash. Red-black Haki condensed into two roaring dragons, tearing up the ground as they surged straight toward Gern.
Wherever they passed, stone was sliced apart like tofu. Seawater poured into the裂开的 fissures, whipping up towering waves.
Gern's pupils shrank. He drove his blade into the earth.
"Earth Resonance."
"BOOM!"Centered on him, pale, high-frequency vibration particles erupted outward like a tidal wave. The ground fractured layer by layer as Oden's slashes collided head-on with the shockwave, detonating in blinding light.
The recoil blasted both men away.
Oden flipped several times through the air before landing, his wooden sandals sinking deep into the stone.Gern skidded dozens of meters backward, his blade carving a scorched furrow across the ground.
"Not over yet!" Oden stomped forward, vanishing in a blur. His twin blades became afterimages."Two-Sword Style: Peach Sever!"
The crossing slashes came in like a swallow's tail. Gern raised his sword to block—only for Oden's trajectory to suddenly shift. Ame-no-Habakiri slashed upward from a vicious angle, straight for Gern's throat!
"Clang!"Gern twisted aside, narrowly avoiding a fatal hit, but the blade still opened another bloody line across his cheek.
At the same time, Gern countered with a Supreme Vibration Shock Fist to Oden's abdomen—only for it to be stopped cold by Enma's hilt.
In that split second of deadlock, Oden grinned savagely."Just like Whitey-chan said—your vibrations… are really interesting!"
Before the words even finished, Oden's Ryuo exploded outward. The Haki on his blades boiled like flames, forcibly pushing back Gern's vibration particles!
"Trouble?!" Gern's heart jolted.
"Take this!" Oden's muscles bulged as he brought both swords crashing down."Two-Sword Style: Return to Heaven!!"
"BOOOOOOM!!!"The red-black slash descended like the sky collapsing. Gern's defense shattered instantly, and he was hurled away, smashing through several massive boulders before finally stopping.
Oden didn't let up—he surged forward again, spinning violently, twin blades whirling toward Gern's waist.
Gern retreated half a step, Bahuang held horizontally. The instant the blades collided, vibration particles detonated, reflecting the force back.
Oden's arms went numb, but he used the rebound to leap, flipping midair and bringing his swords down once more.
Gern looked up, the falling blades reflected in his eyes. His left hand snapped open—his fingers tearing a visible fold in the air itself as blinding pale light erupted.
"Heavenquake: Rend!"
"SHHHK!"Five parallel spatial fractures tore through the atmosphere, invisible vibration blades slicing through everything in their path.
Oden twisted his body violently in midair, barely managing a block—but the impact blasted him hundreds of meters away, smashing through several giant trees before he finally skidded to a halt.
He coughed up blood, yet his grin only widened."Hahahaha! Now that's more like it!"
Gern breathed heavily, thinking grimly:This guy's stamina is practically endless…
Yet he didn't retreat. His fighting spirit surged instead.
Pale particles gathered once more along Bahuang's edge, the surrounding air screaming with high-frequency vibration.
Gern said nothing. He leveled the blade before him as the pale particles abruptly compressed—
"HNNNG!!"A piercing hum echoed across the island as the vibrations were forced to their absolute limit. Even the air itself began to twist and collapse.
Seeing this, Oden didn't retreat—instead, he charged forward, laughing madly."Come on!!"
"Heavenquake: World Collapse."Gern spoke the words coldly and swung.
"CRACK!!"Space shattered like glass. A pale slash tore straight through the earth, annihilating everything in its path.
"RUMBLE—!!!"A pillar of light erupted from the island's center, punching a massive hole through the clouds. Tsunami waves surged outward from the island in all directions.
Through the smoke, both figures were blown away.
...
Oden stood at a distance, twin swords hanging low, chest heaving violently. Still, he bared a bloodstained grin.
"What? Is that all the Navy's got?"
"Heh."Gern, battered and bleeding, wiped the blood from his chin, eyes icy."You really love forcing me into sword duels."
"Since that's the case…""Let me treat you to something nice."
Before the words finished, the air around Gern warped violently. Eight pale-white vibration spheres formed out of nothing, floating around him.
Each sphere was laced with spiderweb-like cracks, the deafening hum of high-frequency vibration making the surrounding air tremble.
"Heavenquake: Eight Extremes Orbs!"The spheres locked onto Oden and shot forward like meteors!
"Hey—hey—HEY! That's cheating!!" Oden yelled, seeing Gern fully disengage as he gritted his teeth and swung his blades to meet them.
"Clang!"The instant Enma shattered the first sphere—
"BOOM!!"Space detonated!
A terrifying shockwave expanded outward, hurling Oden several meters away as his arms were instantly torn open, flesh splitting.
Before he could even land, the second and third spheres were already upon him!
"Two-Sword Style: Return to Heaven!"Oden spun his blades frantically, forming a defensive barrier. He barely absorbed two explosions—but the fourth came from a blind spot!
No surprise—his side was struck dead-on by another vibration blast, blood spraying wildly.
He grunted, forcing himself upright—only to find the fifth and sixth spheres sealing off his retreat.
"Damn it…" Oden snarled, hardening his entire body with Armament Haki and tanking the blasts head-on!
"BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!!"Three consecutive explosions ripped into the island's surface, carving deep craters. Oden dropped to one knee at the center, blood spilling from his mouth, twin swords stabbed into the ground to keep him standing.
Armament Haki blocked most of the damage—but the stamina drain was immense. His breathing grew heavy, like a bellows.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Gern sneered, pulling both hands back sharply."Not done yet!"
"Heavenquake: Thousand-Light Wheel!"Hundreds of rotating white ring-shaped energy constructs appeared behind Gern, each radiating destructive high-frequency vibrations.
The next second—
They rained down like a storm.
"Hey—WAIT!!" Oden's eyes widened, but Gern gave him no chance to recover.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!"Each ring exploded on impact, shockwaves tearing outward as the island's surface shattered layer by layer like fragile glass!
Oden dodged desperately, but there were simply too many. Even with Armament Haki, you couldn't tank damage like this!
"SPLASH!"One ring grazed his shoulder—his flesh instantly pulverized into a mist of blood.
"Two-Sword Style: Dragon Twister!"Oden roared, unleashing a raging storm of slashes that barely carved out a small safe zone—but more rings were already sealing off his escape.
From afar, Gern watched coldly as the vibration bombardment continued.
"Damn… now you know what 'cheating' really feels like, huh?"
This is battle.
If you use your advantage as a swordsman to force me into close-quarters swordplay—Then I'll use my advantage as a Natural-type Heavenquake wielder…
And bury you beneath an indiscriminate, catastrophic carpet-bombing of natural disaster–level destruction.