Marineford Central Plaza — Clash of Titans
In the heart of Marineford, Figarland Garling Saint's golden, meticulously sculpted hair whipped violently in the oppressive gale of Conqueror's Haki emanating from the plaza. His eyes narrowed as they swept across the scene before him.
One hundred thousand Marines formed an iron wall around him. On the high platform, Fleet Admiral Kong, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Garp watched with predatory focus. Below them, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino had Lipo completely encircled, their stances radiating an unshakable aura of protection.
Immediately, Garling Saint understood the Navy's plan.This wasn't a spontaneous defense—it was a carefully orchestrated battlefield. They intended to end this conflict on their terms.
"Heh… so that's why you're standing here alone, Gern," Garling Saint said, slowly raising his hand, rapier tip leveled at Gern. His voice was icy, piercing to the bone."But since that's the case… may I take it that you plan to resist?"
Gern's lips curled into a cold, deadly smile."You only just realized that?" With a single motion, his left fist slammed into the air to his left.
BOOM!
The air shattered like glass. An invisible shockwave rippled outward, cracking the ground, sending chunks of stone flying in every direction.
Garling Saint's pupils narrowed. He leapt back instinctively, rapier slicing a trail of icy light as it split the shockwave cleanly in two.
The residual force still shoved him several steps back. His boots scraped the plaza's stone with a harsh, grating sound.
"Tenshin… as the name suggests," Garling Saint muttered, stabilizing himself with a cold, twisted smirk."But you really think a trick like this can rival the God's Knights—"
Before he could finish, Gern's presence vanished entirely from Garling Saint's Observation Haki.
"What?!" His pupils shrank to pinpoints. His muscles tensed like coiled steel.
Garling Saint had never lost sight of an opponent with Observation Haki. Even facing the likes of Roger or Garp, he could detect the faintest fluctuations of their presence. Yet here, Gern was gone—completely erased from perception. Not a whisper of energy, not a trace of movement.
"This… is impossible…"
It wasn't just Garling Saint who froze. Even seasoned Marine powerhouses like Sengoku, Fleet Admiral Kong, Sakazuki, and Borsalino—none of whom had witnessed Gern's "Shock Flash"—felt their pupils flicker in subconscious astonishment.
The plaza itself fell into tense silence. Garling Saint's Observation Haki felt severed, as though a masterfully plucked string had snapped. The man he sought had simply… ceased to exist.
His mind blanked for a fraction of a second. But then, just as he frantically scanned for Gern's presence, the impossible happened.
Gern, who had seemingly been erased from reality, reappeared in the next frame—half a meter from Garling Saint's chest.
The distance was too short for reaction.
A blinding flash of white filled Garling Saint's vision.
Gern's grin stretched wide, teeth unnaturally white and sharp. His eyes glowed with a predatory red light, close enough to sear the soul.
"Try not to waste time with your little arrogant speeches when we're fighting," Gern said coldly.
His right palm had already formed a compressed orb of vibration energy. The air twisted and folded around it, humming at an unbearable, high-pitched frequency.
BOOM!
His palm slammed into Garling Saint's face. The shockwave detonated instantly, accompanied by a sickening chorus of bone-shattering cracks—as if a hundred eggs had been crushed under a hydraulic press at once.
Garling Saint's eternally proud visage contorted like melted clay under the assault. The spherical shockwave radiated outward, shredding the space around him. His golden hair stood on end, then disintegrated at the tips into a sparkling golden dust.
BOOM!
His body rocketed backward like a cannonball, carving a cone-shaped vacuum path through the air. He attempted to anchor his rapier into the ground to slow himself—but the weapon only sparked against the stone, unable to reduce his momentum by even an inch. He slammed into the plaza, gouging a trench tens of meters long.
"Cough!" Garling Saint spat blood, horror flickering across his eyes. He tried to right himself—but Gern gave him no time to recover.
BOOM!
Gern exploded forward again, a pale blur streaking across the plaza. The space around him twisted and folded like crumpled foil. The ground wasn't merely cracked—it looked as if some massive beast had gnawed through it.
"His strength…" Garling Saint's Observation Haki finally caught the movement, but it was too late.
"This speed… impossible!"
Before he could process it, his vision was swallowed by another burst of blinding white light. And within it… those crimson, deathly eyes were still there, closing in like a grim reaper.
Gern's right fist was wrapped in three layers of energy:
The outer layer pulsed with dark violet arcs of Conqueror's Haki.
The middle layer shimmered with a liquid-like surge of Flowing Justice Haki.
At the core, a pale orb the size of a grain of rice vibrated at a million times per second, fracturing the surrounding space with black spiderweb-like cracks.
"Black Shock… Instant Prison," Gern announced, his voice cold and slicing.
The moment his fist struck Garling Saint's chest, time seemed to pause.
A perfect circular indentation formed in the center of his chest. A blinding white light erupted from the impact point, sending the surrounding ground soaring three meters high—not shattering, but lifting entire slabs of stone.
Glass across the distant Marine Headquarters shattered in unison, suspended midair in a swirling, eerie nebula.
Garling Saint felt the chill first, as if the Arctic wind had been blown directly into his chest. Then came the excruciating pain—not from injury, but from every cell vibrating at a lethal frequency. His bones cried out, each crack a deafening scream of agony.
A golden figure streaked through seven reinforced walls, finally colliding with the remains of a docked warship. The vessel didn't merely capsize—it disintegrated into raw wood fragments, leaving a perfect, circular void on the water's surface.
Through it all, Gern maintained his stance, his fist leaving a three-second-long vacuum corridor stretching forward.
He slowly lifted his head, the crimson glow in his eyes fading into a lazy, confident smile.
"Now… you can continue your little arrogant speech."