Magma versus Dragon Claw

"It seems that words alone cannot correct your flawed thinking!" Sakazuki began to emanate a terrifying red light and intense heat.

The sulfur concentration in the air skyrocketed, giving one the feeling of being next to an active volcano.

"I don't think it's wrong." Dragon's face was grim. If he was wrong, wouldn't that mean his father was wrong too?

This was something he found hard to accept, given his immense admiration for Garp at the time.

What right does a mere trainee in a Special Training Camp have to judge the actions of a naval hero as wrong?

So what if they're Logia Fruit users!

Just fight.

Sakazuki, whose body was already covered in lava, made the first move, as usual, throwing a rapidly expanding lava fist!

"Great Eruption-- "

"Dragon Claw Fist!!"

Dragon showed no fear, even taking two steps forward in front of the lava, his right hand forming a claw that gleamed with a dark sheen as he brazenly took the blow.

[Boom--]

"The Navy's justice will be disgraced by your weakness!"

"Killing is never justice!"

Their fists collided, unleashing powerful shockwaves. Two equally furious eyes met across the distance. From the very beginning, they skipped any foreplay or probing and went straight into the most intense battle.

[Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!]

The black claws and the Giant Fist clashed head-on, neither showing any intention of dodging first, as they were both brimming with confidence in their attacks.

Before long, the mountainous area under the cover of night was a complete mess, with craters and flowing lava everywhere.

Sakazuki was actually quite surprised, surprised that Dragon's hands could block the onslaught of lava, and the force transmitted during the collision was not to be underestimated.

But if that's all there is to it, it's still a bit lacking!

And that was indeed the case. As the number of head-on clashes increased, Dragon's advance began to retreat steadily, and the pressure he felt was immense.

He discovered that Sakazuki's Lava Fist, besides its incredibly high temperature, was most troublesome because it was accompanied by a strange explosive force.

Dragon didn't know whether it was Sakazuki's own power or an ability added by the Devil Fruit.

In short, I realized that I was at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation!

However, he wasn't really affected mentally. After all, he had been taught a lesson by Garp's Iron Fist for over a decade, and he was too used to being unable to defeat him head-on.

I'm just surprised that I can't compete with someone my own age.

Sakazuki unleashed another Lava Fist, but this time Dragon didn't choose to take it head-on. Instead, he used 'Shave' to disappear from his spot and reappeared behind Sakazuki to deliver a punch.

[Bang!]

The punch, Hardening by Armament Haki, was extremely powerful. Sakazuki felt a sharp pain in his back and slammed into a distant hillside with a muffled groan, splashing up countless brilliant bursts of molten lava.

Since eating the Magma-Magma Fruit, he had never felt pain again, never expecting that Dragon would have the ability to hurt him.

At this time, Sakazuki had just come from that small place in the North Blue and had no idea what Haki was.

After all, many Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels there didn't know or even hear of such a thing, so naturally no one explained Haki effects to him.

However, after experiencing the pain firsthand, Sakazuki knew he needed to be careful from now on.

He didn't know what Haki was, but he knew that Dragon had the ability to ignore his elemental transformation, and that was enough.

Sakazuki was very strong; a single heavy punch wouldn't have made him cough up blood.

Before acquiring the power of the Magma-Magma Fruit, in order to have the power to kill all pirates, he had been trained for over twenty years since being adopted by the Navy, using superhuman willpower to complete a training volume far exceeding that of adult soldiers.

Although the quality of training could not compare to Garp's personal instruction, and he had never been exposed to advanced martial arts such as the Six Powers.

But his height of over three meters gave him more than just a height that made him several levels taller than humans. To put it bluntly, his aptitude was superior to most normal human races, and even to the so-called Fish-Man Race, who were said to be ten times taller than humans.

Sakazuki once again transformed into a lava man and pounced, but this time he paid more attention to his surroundings.

Just as Dragon flashed to the other side again, he reacted instantly and blocked the attacking black claw with his left fist.

But the next second, he was struck hard in the abdomen and slid four or five meters, leaving a long, scorched mark covered in lava.

On the other side Dragon slowly lowered his raised right leg, which was also Coating a strong aura of Haki.

As mentioned before, he had been suffering from Garp's beatings for a long time, so he had always been thinking about how to quickly retaliate after being beaten.

Although every counterattack I came up with ended in failure, they all became valuable lessons and remained in my heart.

Dragon discovered that while these countermeasures were ineffective against Garp, they worked surprisingly well against Sakazuki.

To be honest, he didn't expect that kick to actually hit; he was still preparing his next attack after it was blocked.

This is what Vidal once said: the fundamental difference between those who have received early training and those who haven't; their Qidian in training were worlds apart.

Fortunately, Sakazuki's talent, coupled with the boost from the top-tier Logia Fruit, makes it difficult for Dragon to defeat him in a short time.

The highest-level battle in this Special Training Camp is far from over, just as long as tonight.

On a hillside in the southeastern part of the central area of Z Island, five wooden houses suddenly appeared on the bare yellow earth.

Four wooden houses surround a much larger three-story wooden building in the middle, and there is even a four- or five-meter-high wooden wall surrounding the entire complex.

In the open space in front of the wooden gate, there is a wooden table and several wooden chairs, and three or four kinds of fruit trees are growing around it.

The wooden table was now laden with fruit on wooden platters and filled wooden cups with juice, while six Special Training Camp trainees, led by Vidal, sat in chairs.

These are opponents encountered since Comil and Strawberry.

Besides Benson, a familiar face, there are also three outstanding individuals who got here through their own abilities: Yamakaji, Momonga, and Morgan.

However, they were still too inexperienced against Vidal, and they all chose to stay and follow him on his journey.

Everyone wanted to witness Vidal clash with the other three monsters.

"I never expected to spend the night in such a comfortable place." Yamakaji took a sip of the refreshing juice in his glass and smiled as he looked up at the starry sky.

"Indeed, Vidal's abilities are incredibly convenient in the wild." The Momonga looked at the bunch of green grapes in its hand, which it had already eaten most of.

"Now I'm more worried. Can those wooden prisons really hold those guys?" Morgan, who hadn't appeared in the future, looked at the three-story wooden building with concern.

"There are twenty-four not-so-weak criminals locked up inside."

These words made the other five people look at Vidal, who was lying on the wooden chair pretending to be asleep. Vidal opened his eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry, the wood I make isn't ordinary wood; some of you have probably already seen it."

"And even if they escape, aren't there still you guys? Six promising young naval officers."

Benson, Comil, Morgan, Yamakaji Momonga, Strawberry looked at each other, the young men all in high spirits from the flattery, so naturally none of them dared to refute it.

"Go and rest after you finish eating. We all have a tough battle to fight tomorrow."