Whitebeard and Red-Hair struggled to get back on their feet. The two exchanged a quick glance, then unleashed their respective abilities, launching another attack at Kaito.
With a flick of his wrist, the Susanoo Blade appeared in Kaito's hand, clashing with Red-Hair's Gryphon.
At the same time, his other hand released an Almighty Push toward the charging Whitebeard. This time, however, Whitebeard was ready—his muscles swelled in an instant, and a mass of quake energy enveloped his entire body.
The repulsive force of the Almighty Push slammed into the quake field, filling the air with countless cracks. Whitebeard staggered back several steps, but compared to being blasted hundreds of meters away earlier, this was a major improvement.
This new trick caught Kaito's interest—Whitebeard had never shown such a technique in the anime.
Forcing Red-Hair back with a slash, Kaito transformed into a bolt of lightning and appeared right in front of Whitebeard. The back of his hand was covered in the markings of Destructive Armament, and he drove a punch straight into the quake field surrounding Whitebeard's body.
The moment his fist touched the quake field, Kaito felt a fierce vibration surge through his arm. His right horn immediately released a milky-white halo, absorbing every trace of the quake energy that had entered his body.
Whitebeard seized the opening and swung Murakumogiri down hard at Kaito's back.
Clang!
Whitebeard's arm went numb from the impact. Looking closely, he saw that a set of deep-purple energy armor now encased Kaito's upper body. The blade had struck it and only produced faint ripples.
It was the exact same armor worn by the half-body giant from before.
Whitebeard knew well the giant's terrifying defense—it had easily blocked his and Red-Hair's combined assault.
This smaller version seemed even tougher. Without hesitation, Whitebeard pulled back Murakumogiri and retreated quickly, widening the distance.
Meanwhile, Kaito glanced at his own fist in thought. The vibration he had just felt inside his body left quite the impression—he hadn't considered that the Quake-Quake Fruit could be used in such a way.
After a moment, a faint smile formed on his lips. The better the Quake-Quake Fruit performed, the happier he felt—because it might just be the final tomoe of his Rinnegan.
From a distance, Whitebeard saw the smile on Kaito's face and felt a surge of danger. He once again wrapped himself in quake energy, this time coating his body with Armament Haki as well.
Kaito looked up at him, but instead of charging in for close combat, he extended a finger in Whitebeard's direction. A purple sphere of energy formed at his fingertip before erupting into a thick bolt of lightning.
"Blast."
This Blast was far stronger than the one he had used against Blackbeard earlier. Whitebeard used Observation Haki to predict its path, crossing his arms in front of his face. The lightning slammed into them, leaving charred black marks.
But that was just the first shot. A Blast, like Kizaru's finger lasers, could be fired repeatedly.
One after another, blasts hammered into Whitebeard, forcing him backward across the ice. His feet carved two deep grooves into the frozen surface.
Just as Whitebeard was struggling to endure Kaito's onslaught, Red-Hair finally moved—he swung Gryphon, releasing a deep crimson slash wreathed in red-black lightning.
Kaito didn't take it head-on. In a flash of lightning, he vanished from his spot.
Red-Hair's attack missed, but it gave Whitebeard precious breathing room. With a powerful push of his legs, he appeared at Red-Hair's side.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, facing Kaito.
...
On the other side of the battlefield—
Beckman seized the chance to slip out of Kizaru's grasp. Kizaru just shrugged indifferently—he hadn't expected to subdue the Red-Hair Pirates' first mate that easily anyway.
Beckman reappeared in front of him without a word, raising his pistol and unleashing a rapid volley of shots.
Kizaru's body broke into countless motes of light, scattering in all directions. But Beckman—one of the few true masters of firearms in the pirate world—had honed his Observation Haki to its absolute peak.
He aimed at an empty spot and fired several more times. A split second later, Kizaru's body reformed exactly where Beckman's bullets were headed.
It wasn't Kizaru's first time fighting Beckman, and he didn't panic. Swinging the Ama no Murakumo, he cut down every bullet in his path, then pointed a finger at Beckman and fired a series of golden laser beams.
In moments, the ice beneath them was shattered by the combined assault of Haki-infused bullets and searing lasers. Fortunately, Aokiji's ice was frozen deep enough to hold—otherwise, this terrain would have been a real problem for Kizaru.
After a prolonged exchange, Kizaru suddenly scattered into light again, gathering high in the air. The amber lenses of his sunglasses flashed as he crossed his arms, fingers pinching together, two crossed beams of light forming in front of him.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Countless light bullets rained down like a storm, blanketing the area around Beckman in an indiscriminate bombardment.
Beckman twisted and dodged with every explosion, but the barrage was far too dense. When it finally ended, his clothes were torn in several places, revealing skin beneath.
Kizaru chuckled lightly and reappeared on the ground. Hands in his pockets, his tone rose and fell almost lazily.
"That's scary, Ben Beckman… only a few minor injuries from that?"
Beckman's face remained dead serious. Glancing down at the burns on his body—some still glowing faintly with golden light—he muttered under his breath,
"Damn it… why does it feel like this guy's different today?"
It wasn't just Beckman—Aokiji, watching from another part of the battlefield, was taken aback as well. Raising a hand to push up his eye mask, he said in disbelief,
"Ara ara… is that really Borsalino?"
But he quickly shook his head. If even Kizaru, who was usually content to slack off, was going all out, then he couldn't afford to hold back either.
With that thought, Aokiji lifted his gaze, eyes narrowing dangerously at Marco.
The ice on Marco's arms had already been shattered earlier in the fight. Seeing the look in Aokiji's eyes, he felt a bad premonition and immediately spread his wings to take to the skies.
But Aokiji didn't give him the chance. A concentrated beam of freezing air, almost solid in form, blasted into Marco's legs before he could lift off.
Ice clamped onto his feet, locking him to the frozen ground.
As he struggled to break free, Aokiji appeared right in front of him, driving a fist down onto his pineapple-shaped head.
"You'd better behave yourself."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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