The reef field Rocks had mentioned was not particularly close to Beehive Island, but neither was it hard to find.
Following the direction he had indicated, Nereus quickly spotted the exposed stretch of reefs revealed by the falling tide and arrived there first.
There was a vast difference between hovering and true flight.
Although Rocks could remain airborne, he still lacked genuine flying ability, and his speed simply could not match Nereus.
Across all of Beehive Island, only Shiki, wielder of the Float-Float Fruit, could barely keep pace with Nereus's flexibility in aerial combat.
"I won't hold back then, Nereus!"
Rocks arrived close behind him, already drawing the long blade hanging at his waist.
A terrifying Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the sharp edge of his sword so densely that it almost seemed tangible.
Though this was called a sparring match, to any outsider it looked no different from an attempt to kill.
A vast slash wave surged forward, wrapped in overwhelming Haki, cutting savagely toward Nereus.
As the slash tore across the sky, even the surrounding air seemed forcibly ripped apart.
Below them, the calm sea split open under the pressure alone, carving a massive abyss-like fissure across the surface.
Faced with such a horrifying attack, Nereus did not dodge.
He remained exactly where he was and allowed the slash to pass directly through his body, while the sea behind him was thrown into chaos.
A gruesome wound nearly split him in half.
Yet Rocks showed no regret at all.
To him, this was already familiar.
The next moment, that terrifying wound regenerated at an extraordinary speed, as though nothing had happened.
"Wahaha! Still that monstrous regeneration.
That nickname Undying Creature really isn't for nothing.
I checked the Devil Fruit encyclopedia—
from ancient times until now, you're the only one who's pushed that fruit this far."
Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Vampire Form.
A Devil Fruit once located in Sleepy Ancient Town, known in game lore as the fruit of the Red Count, Patrick Redfield.
As a Mythical Zoan, its abilities included enhanced physical strength, life absorption, and restoring youth—
but those were only part of its potential.
This terrifying regenerative ability was another part.
Logia intangibility worked by turning the body into an element to evade attacks.
But if one could damage the true body, injuries remained.
Mythical Zoans were different.
Nereus's ability resembled Marco's Phoenix Fruit to a certain degree—
without Haki, his body could not truly be harmed,
and even Haki-inflicted injuries could be regenerated through the fruit's power.
"Xebec, if this is what you meant by wanting to see my full strength...
that's disappointing."
Nereus did not respond to Rocks's praise.
Under the fruit's transformation, his hands had already lengthened, and his nails sharpened into blades.
The wings behind him expanded wider.
Muscles across his body grew denser and more pronounced.
In Redfield's case, the vampire hybrid form produced wing membranes connected directly to the arms.
But for Nereus, the wings were fully independent.
Zoan transformations naturally possessed unusual variability, even influenced by medicine in some cases.
This form was the result of Nereus's own mastery over the fruit.
He had never favored weapons.
His own hands were his most familiar blades.
At that moment, he drew one hand together into a spear-like palm.
A surge of Conqueror's Haki, no weaker than Rocks's—and even more concentrated—instantly wrapped around his fingertips.
"Hell Thrust."
Nereus's body became like an indestructible spear, shooting forward at a speed almost impossible to track with the naked eye.
Clang!
Rocks reacted instantly.
He raised his blade horizontally before him.
The sword—coated in both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki—firmly blocked the vicious thrust.
"Don't aim for my face, bastard!
I don't have your regeneration—what if it scars?!"
The very fact that Rocks used his weapon to block already showed how seriously he was taking this.
For most who merely awakened Conqueror's Haki, it functioned only as pressure—something to intimidate or knock out weaker enemies.
But for top-tier fighters like these two, who had mastered advanced Conqueror's coating, it became both spear and shield.
If an opponent's Haki lacked sufficient strength, they could not even breach the invisible barrier formed by that power.
Even if Rocks simply stood still, most enemies would be incapable of harming him at all.
Across these seas, only a tiny number of people truly stood at this level.
Nereus and Harald were unquestionably among them.
"You blocked it just fine, didn't you?"
"Fair enough.
Then next...
this is serious."
Abyssal Curse!
Before the words fully settled, Rocks twisted his wrist sharply.
With perfect control, he deflected Nereus's thrust aside and immediately followed with a heavy downward slash.
The blade roared forward.
Nereus's body suddenly dissolved into crimson mist, vanishing from where he stood and reforming elsewhere.
He twisted at the waist and struck downward.
Though unarmed, his arm itself became sharper than any blade.
"New Moon!"
BOOM!
Midway through the downward strike, Rocks changed direction, turning it into a violent side slash.
Blade and hand never directly touched.
Before they even met, the overwhelming Haki overflowing from both sides had already collided through the air itself.
The thick clouds overhead were torn apart by invisible force.
The sea below was driven backward, creating a massive depression.
Schools of fish beneath the water and seabirds in the sky instantly lost consciousness under the violent collision of supreme Conqueror's Haki.
Then the shockwave hurled them away mercilessly.
The reefs beneath cracked and shattered under the pressure, fissures spreading rapidly across the stone.
Even from Beehive Island, that terrifying force could be felt clearly.
At Nereus's camp, none of his subordinates looked worried.
Only admiration filled their eyes.
"Has Big Brother gotten stronger again?"
"Of course he has.
That's exactly why he's our leader!"
Meanwhile, back at the shore near the tavern—
the young pirate who had run there hoping to witness true power had only just arrived.
The torn sky above him now silently answered what strength truly meant.