Rumble!
The wrath of the Thunder Dragon!
Lightning exploded!
The slashing strike from the cursed blade, Kitetsu II, transformed into a raging thunder dragon, carrying the fury of the storm as it roared toward the enemy!
Vista's slash—the proud strike of a great swordsman of the New World—was torn apart the instant it met the Thunder Dragon!
The audience was stunned!
The difference in strength was obvious.
This mysterious man had suppressed the famed swordsman Flower Sword Vista in front of everyone!
Victor's furious Thunder Dragon slash instantly became the center of the battlefield's attention.
Even after shattering Vista's slash, the dragon of lightning did not fade. It surged forward, still tearing across the battlefield, aiming straight for Vista!
Vista reacted with the instinct of a seasoned swordsman, crossing his twin blades and unleashing multiple counter-slashes to cut through the storm.
But to his horror, every one of his slashes was ripped apart as if they were nothing.
"How… how could this guy be so strong!?" Vista's face contorted, sweat pouring down.
Just moments ago, he had thought Victor weak. Now, he was facing a slash he could not stop!
He had no way to escape the wrath of thunder!
"I underestimated him… this man is terrifying!"
Even Mihawk's eyes narrowed. His hands tightened on Yoru as his sharp, hawk-like gaze locked on Victor—wreathed in lightning, standing tall like the God of Thunder himself.
For the first time, Mihawk felt he had made a mistake in his judgment.
"Roooaaaarrr!"
The Thunder Dragon howled, splitting into two. One half lunged for Vista, the other veered and roared toward Mihawk!
Swordsmanship: One into Two!
Victor had aimed at both swordsmen simultaneously!
BOOM! BOOM!
The ice cracked apart as thunder consumed the battlefield. A hundred meters of Marineford's frozen bay became a storm of lightning. In the dazzling flashes, everything vanished into blinding light.
On the Moby Dick, Whitebeard's expression hardened.
In the Marine ranks, Garp's jaw tightened.
From the execution platform, Sengoku's gaze sharpened.
Even the three Admirals turned their attention to the thunder-wreathed figure.
Every powerhouse on the battlefield grew serious.
An unknown man had emerged—and in that instant, he looked every bit like the God of Thunder descending upon the world!
Sengoku stared hard at Victor, as if trying to confirm something.
"Wooooaah! So strong! Victor's gotten even stronger! Damn it—I can't fall behind! Ace, I'm coming!!"
Luffy shouted, eyes wide in awe, before charging forward again.
"Tch… that brat," Crocodile hissed. Even he looked unsettled. "What the hell is going on? That little punk is way stronger than he was back in Impel Down!"
"Husband… you…" The one most shaken was Boa Hancock herself.
She was closest to Victor, and she could feel it more than anyone. His strength had grown beyond recognition.
But her shock quickly turned into joy.
Her beloved had become stronger.
"Hancock, don't be so reckless next time," Victor said gently, turning to check her wounds.
"Mm… I understand," she replied softly, her heart swelling with relief.
This display of affection was out of place on the battlefield, but no one—Marine or pirate—dared to mock them.
Because the man standing before them, cloaked in thunder, had just proved his might.
"Hancock, protect yourself. The real battle is only just beginning," Victor said firmly before turning back.
The Battle of Marineford—his battle—was far from over!
Kitetsu II gleamed with lightning as Victor raised it again.
That previous strike had been his strongest slash yet, infused with 60 million volts of Thunder Dragon's fury.
The fusion of cursed swordsmanship and Thunder Fruit powers had created an attack strong enough to suppress even Mihawk and Vista for a time!
It had cost Victor dearly in stamina, but rage still burned inside him. Those two had dared to wound Hancock—and they would pay.
His fury made his presence all the more overwhelming.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Several slashes cut through the storm. Mihawk and Vista finally shattered the Thunder Dragon.
When the lightning faded, only Vista remained in place—bloodied and gasping, clearly wounded.
Mihawk, untouched, moved like a black gale.
In a flash, he slashed at Victor himself!
Most of Victor's power had been aimed at Vista. Hurting Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world, had never been realistic.
For anyone else, Mihawk's strike would have been unavoidable. But Victor now carried the Thunder Fruit within him.
Though he hadn't fully mastered combining Observation Haki with the magnetic field of his thunder powers, his speed alone surpassed nearly anyone present—save Kizaru.
Boom!
Mihawk's slash split the ice into a massive abyss.
But Victor had vanished.
"Ohhh~ such speed… where did this guy come from? That's frightening," Admiral Kizaru mused in his usual mocking drawl. For once, even he sounded impressed.
Mihawk's eyes flickered with genuine surprise. He had never heard of a man wielding such power—commanding both thunder's fury and thunder's speed.
Victor's control of the Thunder Fruit was still raw, still unpolished. But even so, his strength was undeniable.
If this man survived and grew… another top powerhouse would rise upon these seas.
Victor and Mihawk's clash was blinding, their movements nearly invisible to ordinary fighters.
Steel met thunder in dazzling bursts, each strike shaking the battlefield.
Their duel raged so fiercely it spilled onto the Moby Dick itself. Only Whitebeard's intervention, with his massive naginata, brought the battle to a sudden halt.
Neither man had claimed victory.
Later generations would remember this as a duel without winner or loser.
As Mihawk stepped away from the Moby Dick, Victor turned for the first time to face a true Emperor.
Edward Newgate—the strongest man in the world—stood before him.
"Gurarara… little brat, what's your name?" Whitebeard asked.