At the central lake of Punk Hazard, the brutal battle still raged on—
but now one of the combatants had changed.
The opponent standing before the magma giant was none other than Davy Jones.
"Akainu" Sakazuki was a Logia-type Magma-Magma Fruit user—
his "Magma-Magma Fruit" was a superior version of Portgas D. Ace's "Flame-Flame Fruit,"
possessing even greater destructive force, capable of burning nearly everything to ash.
Sakazuki's magma had already dyed half the sky above Punk Hazard crimson.
The island's crust had become a molten inferno—
a hellscape where even those who didn't directly touch the magma would suffer severe burns merely by being near it.
And yet, despite wielding such terrifying power, the Marine Admiral could not gain the upper hand.
On the contrary—
Sakazuki's uniform had been torn apart, exposing his tattooed torso,
the "cherry blossom pattern" across his chest slashed and bloodied.
He half-knelt on the shattered ground, panting heavily,
before raising his gaze toward the distant figure of Davy Jones.
"His Armament Haki's at the top level… Observation, too… both refined."
Sakazuki's expression darkened.
"To meet him now of all times… this is troublesome."
Had he been at full strength, Sakazuki might have fought Davy Jones evenly—or even triumphed.
But after eight days and nights of unbroken combat with Kuzan,
his stamina had fallen to perhaps twenty or thirty percent of normal.
His fighting power had plummeted.
There was no way he could match Davy Jones at his peak.
The fact that he was still standing at all was testament to sheer willpower.
If Davy Jones didn't wield Haki—or if his Haki were too weak to pierce Sakazuki's magma defense—
then even in this state, Sakazuki could have overwhelmed him.
But Davy Jones was a master of Haki,
and that mastery had greatly diminished the destructive reach of Sakazuki's magma.
Then came the sound—
a deep, rhythmic heartbeat, pounding like a death knell.
Thump… thump… thump…
With each beat, Sakazuki could feel his stamina draining away,
the rhythm of his pulse inescapably tied to Davy Jones' will.
By the time he realized it, he was already trapped—like a lone traveler sinking helplessly into a mire.
"So this is the man who defeated Kuzan…" Sakazuki muttered, his tone low. "No wonder…"
He glanced toward the distant horizon.
Kuzan had become a speck far away, still lost in his hallucination,fighting an imagined foe with all his might.
Across the ice field, a dozen towering ice spires jutted skyward—monuments to his delusion.
All of it meaningless effort.
Sakazuki could expect no aid from Kuzan nor from Vergo, Smoker, or Tashigi.
There would be no miraculous salvation.
Against Davy Jones, he could rely only on himself.
He rose to his feet.
Haki surged from his body.
The wounds across his skin split open anew,revealing flesh that glowed molten red, like magma incarnate.
I am Justice itself… I must not lose!
BOOM—!
The ground shattered as Sakazuki launched forward,the stones not yet fallen before he was already upon Davy Jones.
Davy Jones had been waiting for this.
Their fists and feet collided in a blur—
blows so rapid they left phantom afterimages,
the impacts shaking the island beneath them.
In an instant, magma erupted upward from the ground,consuming everything it touched in blazing fire.
Soon, the entire landscape had become a "Crimson Lotus Hell,"
a "Sea of Magma,"as though they fought upon the surface of the sun itself.
The two figures flashed through the air—clashing, separating, colliding again—their movements too fast for the eye to follow.
To an onlooker, they might have seemed evenly matched.
But Sakazuki could feel it.
The humiliation of being a mouse toyed with by a cat.
He knew Davy Jones still wasn't fighting seriously.
Bastard… You're mocking me?! I'll make you regret that!
His right arm transformed into a Blade of Magma,slashing apart the writhing tentacles surging toward him.
The blade arced like a crimson crescent moon,swinging straight for Davy Jones's head.
The pirate's heartbeat never faltered.
He made no effort to end the fight quickly—
almost as if he wanted to see just how far Sakazuki could go.
As the Magma Blade came down, Davy Jones reached out—and caught it in his bare hand.
The blade burst apart, molten fire splashing in all directions like a detonated sun.
Then—
Sakazuki's fingers snapped together, middle and index aligned, and he slashed upward.
From the roiling magma sea rose a colossal Crimson Lotus Demon Dragon,
its jaws of black and red flame yawning wide to engulf Davy Jones whole.
Sakazuki's hands closed together,as if grasping something solid between his palms.
At his command, the Demon Dragon's jaws clamped shut,
fire lashing from its nostrils.
"HRAAAAH—!"
Sakazuki roared, forcing every ounce of strength into his arms.
Under the crushing compression, the dragon's internal temperature soared to unimaginable heights.
But then—
the Crimson Lotus Dragon began to tremble.
Once.
Twice.
Sakazuki's eyes turned blood-red;blood trickled from his nose, running to his mouth.
Combined with his glowing wounds,he looked every bit the demon of hell itself.
He couldn't hold on any longer.
BOOM—!
The dragon's head exploded apart in a deafening blast.
Sakazuki spat blood, sent hurtling backward through the air.
Davy Jones stood in midair, untouched—
or if he had been wounded, the injuries had already vanished,healed in the blink of an eye by his super-regeneration.
Sakazuki tumbled back over ten meters before forcing himself upright in the air,his Haki quivering as he steadied his stance.
He clenched his teeth, glaring at Davy Jones—a rare trace of despair creeping into his eyes.
But he was Admiral "Akainu" Sakazuki—a man who walked the path of extremity,one who would never yield to a pirate.
Even knowing victory was all but impossible,he would not disgrace the title of Marine Admiral!
He summoned another Magma Blade,its glow bright as the sun itself.
"Beautiful blade," Davy Jones remarked lightly.
His tentacles writhed,and from within emerged a black trident,which twisted and reshaped itself in his hand—spiraling, compressing, transforming—until it finally settled into the form of a long black sword.
Sakazuki frowned but didn't dwell on the weapon's strange metamorphosis.
Instead, he asked the question that had burned in him since the start.
"Davy Jones—why are you here?
Is your goal to kill me and Kuzan… and strike at Marineford next?"
He feared the possibility of some larger scheme.
But Davy Jones only shook his head.
"I came only to claim Punk Hazard," he said.
"To clear out its resistance.
I didn't expect to find you here…
But it's convenient—I wanted to test something."
"Something I can only test against one of the Admirals—and especially you.
Only through you can I gauge the true difference."
"Coincidence? A test?" Sakazuki's voice trembled with disbelief.
"So Kuzan and I are to die… for that absurd reason?"
He could not accept it.
He raised the magma blade high above his head,taking the upper stance of a swordsman.
The magma beneath his feet responded to his will,surging upward, building into an immense wave of heat and pressure.
Across from him, Davy Jones merely angled his black blade to the side—as though doing nothing at all.
But Sakazuki's Observation Haki caught it.
That subtle, inward flow of power—
Davy Jones' Haki, no longer wild and outward,but drawn inward, condensed,concentrated along the blade's edge.
Whoosh—
He swung.
The strike began softly, like a gentle wind—
but in an instant, it exploded into a storm of lightning and fury—Conqueror's Infusion: Overlord's Slash!
Sakazuki's eyes widened.
He realized what it was—
but there was no time left to react.
The infused strike had already arrived.
It tore through the surging magma tides,blew away the clouds of white steam—
Sakazuki brought his Magma Blade down to intercept,and their weapons met in a blinding clash.
Screeeech—!
The ear-piercing sound of colliding energy filled the air—and then, a long, drawn-out hiss.
For a heartbeat, the world went still—
colors fading into stark black and white.
Then, the hues of life returned.
Sakazuki's upper body—along with the upper half of his Magma Blade—was severed cleanly.
With a wet splash, both halves fell into the sea of magma below.
The molten ground seemed to try to help him,
writhing upward, attempting to mend his body—but it was useless.
Sakazuki's life was slipping away fast.
Half his face submerged in magma,his expression frozen somewhere between pain and fury.
He never would have imagined it—to fall once again to the same power.
He had been defeated by Whitebeard's Sacrificial Conqueror's Infusion once before.
And now, he had fallen to Davy Jones' own Conqueror's Infusion.
No wonder Davy Jones had insisted on testing that technique—he had witnessed firsthand how Sakazuki was felled by Whitebeard's blow not long ago.
And now, Davy Jones had recreated that scene.
Though not as powerful as Whitebeard's strike,
it was more than enough.
In Sakazuki's weakened state, this "Infusion" was a killing move.
Death had come so close.
He still had so many ambitions,so many names left on his long list of hunts—and now, it all ended here.
He died with eyes unclosed.
The magma, stripped of its master's will,transformed into a raging beast—
roiling upward to devour Sakazuki's flesh,melting his bones, consuming him completely…
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