A tremendous roar shattered the air. With a final, unwilling wail, the massive beast's body convulsed, and a gush of scarlet blood sprayed outward as it collapsed to the forest floor, lifeless.
Atticus stood panting, his hair disheveled, his entire body battered and drenched in blood. He looked like a specter dragged from hell itself, a blood-soaked ghost emerging from the darkness. Even now, his brutal aura lingered, heavy and raw.
He coughed, sharp and ragged. Pain lanced through him, and with great effort he sank to the ground. His breathing came in ragged gasps as sharp pains stabbed through his limbs and chest. This had been without doubt the hardest battle he had ever endured. His wounds were grave and his stamina nearly spent. If not for his extraordinary recovery ability, he might have died here today.
Despite that, Atticus could not suppress the pulse of exhilaration surging through him. His gains were as real as his wounds. He flexed a trembling fist — now covered in a pitch-black sheen of hardened Armament Haki. Before, he could only muster invisible Haki; now it had solidified. This was a breakthrough.
Moreover, his Observation Haki had improved dramatically. Its effective radius, which once barely reached a hundred meters, had lengthened by ten meters. Ten meters — it might seem small, but in jungle combat, that little extra could decide life or death.
His physical resilience had grown too; his blood boiled, vitality surged, and he felt a renewed foundation beneath his bones. He remembered that the body was the base for everything.
Battle — only battle — was the shortcut to true strength, he realized. As long as time and opportunity remained, recovery would follow. What he needed now was an excuse — a reason to stay here and continue his training. Half a month on this island would pass quickly, but he didn't want it to end so soon.
Even as that thought crossed his mind, Atticus flickered out of existence from his spot, reappearing a hundred meters away in an instant.
A shockwave erupted. Air hammered through the trees and scorching heat burst outward. The earth where he had sat exploded into a crater tinged golden-red, seared by the residual heat of his presence.
Through the haze of smoke and dust, Atticus saw a figure emerging from the jungle, eyes alight with murderous intent. His voice was low, cold, and filled with menace.
"Akainu, you seek death?"
Akainu stood tall, magma dripping from his hands like molten rivers. His aura radiated deadly heat and raw destruction.
"Either you die, or I live. Only one of us leaves this place alive," he spat.
Atticus laughed, a hard sound filled with contempt.
"I don't trouble others without reason. But there are always vicious dogs that bite blindly. I don't mind turning them into dead dogs. Akainu, you disgust me."
Flames erupted around them almost instantly. The scorching heat soared, forming a blazing cloud overhead. The sky turned golden-red, shimmering with the intensity of their power.
"You claimed you serve justice," Atticus continued, voice echoing with fury. "You said you serve the Marines. But I've known since the first moment I saw you — your loyalty is not to justice, but to whoever pays you best. I have the right to eliminate you."
From deep within the earth, magma surged. Like a volcanic god, Akainu exuded a destructive aura so powerful it threatened to scorch the forest from root to crown.
Akainu sneered, his face contorted in anger.
"Justice? What a mockery. Justice isn't your right. You are nothing but trash with the nerve to call yourself Marine. Today I will show you what a real dog's fate looks like."
His words were filled with hatred and resolve. Atticus saw the lethal determination in those eyes — and returned it with a snarl of his own. He would not back down.
"All right, dog. Then die for justice!"
With a roar, Akainu raised both magma-fused fists into the sky. Golden-red heat rippled upward, forming a fist like a molten asteroid ready to strike.
Atticus responded in kind. Flames ignited over his body; his form blurred as he transformed. With a scream, the air around him burst as though a miniature sun had ignited at his core.
He launched forward as if he were a comet crashing down.
The ground ruptured beneath him, trees splintered, and a wave of heat radiated outward. Everything around them shuddered with the force of their clash — the jungle itself stood on the brink of collapse.
"Great Eruption!" Akainu bellowed, magma surging in geysers around him. A fiery meteor shower began, magma bombs crashing down like deadly hailstones, scorching the earth.
Atticus' response came almost immediately. He roared in rage and summoned his Haki-infused foliage of weapons.
"Endless Arrows!"
More than fifty blades, spears, swords, and halberds erupted into the air, their edges ignited in blazing heat, forming a fiery barrage that rained down like hellfire.
Magma and flame clashed with steel in a storm of destruction. Smoke, ash, and molten rock filled the air. The sky turned dark with embers, the jungle turned to ash and ruin under their assault.
From the distant ship anchored off the coast, two figures rose as the earth shook: Zephyr and Garp. Their eyes widened at the sight of the inferno, shock and fear etched deeply on their faces.
The heat waves reached them even from miles away — the force of the battle still rolled across the waves. Everyone aboard fell silent. This was no simple skirmish. This was a cataclysm.
Then, in a flash, Akainu roared, his voice booming like thunder.
"Atticus! Die for justice! Armament Haki: Canine-Fang Red Lotus!"
From the sky descended a monstrous shape — a giant spectral hound wreathed in magma, its jaws agape, huge and lethal, descending like a devil come to feast.
"Dead dog!" Atticus spat back, flames surging all around him. Around him the air twisted, light bent, and the world went red with heat.
"Three hundred thousand degrees Celsius! Armament Haki: High-Energy Fist Blast!"
The ground beneath him cracked and molten rock erupted like the earth itself was being torn apart.
The spectral canine charged downward, enormous claws tearing at the air. Rocks shattered, trees turned to ash, and the sky glowed like a furnace. The entire forest seemed to scream in pain.
In the inferno, every living being trembled. Not even flame-resistant beasts could stay. The forest was dying beneath the flames.
Yet in the center, two figures stood — a Magma Logia user and a half-human, half-beast warrior locked in mortal combat. Many would have thought the Logia user had the advantage — after all, magma, fire, destruction. But Atticus stood firm.
With feral speed, he leaped forward — claws out, Haki blazing black — and landed a strike aimed straight at Akainu's heart. For a moment, time stuttered.
Akainu snarled, attempting to dodge, but Atticus' speed — sharpened by battle, honed by desperation — was too great. The strike connected.
Blood sprayed. Flesh ripped. Internal organs exposed. Akainu screamed, eyes wide with shock and rage. Five deep wounds carved across his chest, magma sizzling out like burning coals.
Even monstrous beings could bleed. Even gods of magma could die.
Atticus spat a mouthful of blood, but the savage grin on his face held absolute clarity. He had won this round. He had torn flesh from flesh, claw from claw, and the beast that proclaimed justice now lay broken.
He collapsed to one knee, chest heaving, wounds bleeding, muscles trembling. The air around him still crackled with heat, smoke drifted in heavy waves, and the forest lay in ruin.
Akainu lay only a few meters away, chest rising and falling shallowly, his body battered, wounds wide open. The ground beneath him was scorched, magma seeped into the soil, and the echo of battle still vibrated in the air like distant thunder.
In that moment silence reigned. The only sounds were distant drips of magma cooling and the slow crackle of dying flames.
Atticus raised his head toward the sky, pain thudding through his limbs, but his eyes — fierce, burning — glowed with triumph.
He had fought a Magma Logia user — a monster among Marines — and survived.
He had broken through his limits.
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