Within the lingering haze of gray dust, Whitebeard Jr. rose once more his towering silhouette looming like a shadowy beast.
Whoosh!
The smoke split open, and a flickering blur burst forward. His gleaming naginata tore through the air with a sharp screech, slicing straight toward Ren's head aiming to decapitate him in one clean strike.
Ren reached out with his right hand, fingers coated in Armament Haki, and firmly caught the four-to-five-meter-long naginata mid-swing, instantly halting its overwhelming momentum.
The massive force behind the weapon crushed down. The deck beneath Ren's feet shattered with a thunderous crunch.
Yet Ren stood unshaken, unmoving like an unbreakable rock. The cracks beneath his feet continued to spider outward.
"Bastard! I'll kill you!"
Whitebeard Jr. had never met anyone who could stop his naginata barehanded. Rage exploded within him.
His bulging arms flexed with explosive muscle, yanking the blade free from Ren's grasp through sheer brute force.
"This guy's strength is insane!"
CRACK!
The naginata slashed down again. The ship cracked apart.
Ren leapt into the air, knees slamming into Whitebeard Jr.'s head, followed immediately by two iron fists hammering into his temples.
BOOM!
A wave of vertigo hit Whitebeard Jr. from the powerful blow.
But Ren wasn't done.
He launched into the air and, without hesitation, unleashed a barrage of golden laser beams.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The power of the Glint-Glint Fruit turned his strikes into piercing rays that riddled Whitebeard Jr.'s body.
BOOM!
Like explosives detonating, each hit burst into a flash of energy on impact.
The resulting shockwaves were so intense that even Marine warships a kilometer away trembled from the aftershocks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM…
Yet Ren could still sense Whitebeard Jr.'s wounded body regenerating at an astonishing pace.
"Damn it, this is ridiculous."
Ren clenched his jaw. This opponent was way too durable.
"I'll avenge my mother!"
Whitebeard Jr. stood up again, bellowing with rage like a raging beast. He launched himself into the air, naginata flashing down like a bolt of lightning aimed at Ren's head.
Ren sidestepped the blow and suddenly let out a deep roar.
"New Six Styles: Iron Fist Gatling Cannon!"
His fists, coated in blazing red Armament Haki, moved in a frenzy—striking like a machine gun set on fire.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The fierce metallic clashes rang out as Whitebeard Jr. desperately tried to block with his naginata. But even with wild swings, he couldn't keep up with the storm of blows.
In just ten seconds, Ren had landed over a thousand punches!
CRACK!
The naginata gave out a painful screech. Cracks spread across its surface.
The once-indestructible weapon shattered completely under Ren's relentless assault.
As shards scattered, Ren directed them with precision, turning them into glittering cold flashes that pierced into Whitebeard Jr.'s body.
Still, with that crazy self-healing ability, such attacks didn't matter much.
Ren knew this all too well. This kind of strike might cause him pain, but it didn't damage any vital parts.
"Whoa… our boss is fighting someone that terrifying?!"
Clark and the others had finished mopping up the rest of the battle. Aside from a few minor injuries, their side had minimal casualties.
That was mostly thanks to Ren holding back the strongest opponent. Whitebeard Jr. was more of a lone wolf anyway—the pirates he brought were all weaklings.
None of them posed any threat. Zephyr, Ain, and the others had taken care of them easily.
"Yeah, this guy's just unkillable. If that kind of attack hit me once, I'd be done for… but this fat bastard's still standing!"
Even the four-meter-tall Dahl shivered slightly. He knew he couldn't take a single hit from that monster.
"Thankfully, we've got Ren. Without him, this would've ended very differently…"
Zephyr's expression remained somber. He was aging, and if he had to endure such a drawn-out battle himself...
He might not have made it through. The morale of the recruits would've collapsed, and things could have gone south fast.
This current outcome—minimal casualties, smooth control—was far better than what could've been.
Whoosh!
Ren vanished again.
When he reappeared, he was right in front of Whitebeard Jr. His fist, infused with destructive energy, drove straight into the man's abdomen.
BOOM!
The punch cratered Whitebeard Jr.'s chest inward, releasing a colossal shockwave.
A blinding white wave of force exploded out of his back, tearing through the air and vanishing far into the sea.
RUMBLE!
A massive wall of seawater, hundreds of meters high, surged upward from the impact. The terrifying force even tore a trench thousands of meters long and over ten meters deep across the ocean.
The sea split clean in two creating a breathtaking sight of divided waves.
GAGH!
This time, Whitebeard Jr. couldn't walk it off. Blood gushed from his mouth.
His massive body was launched like a meteor, crashing into the far end of the ship before plummeting down toward the sea.
"Light-Speed Fist!"
This was a move Ren had developed by mimicking the style of the Saints—built on one principle: Speed!
With Armament Haki layered over his fist, he struck Whitebeard Jr. with pure velocity and overwhelming force.
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