Clash

"Report, Admiral Sakazuki, we've reached Rexeno Island!"

"I can see that."

Since Rexeno was already an abandoned island with no harbor at all, the warship could only anchor in the sea relatively close to shore.

Akainu narrowed his eyes. Observation Haki instantly enveloped the entire island, but he detected no human presence.

"Looks like we can fight to our hearts' content!"

Cifer's Neural Scan swept across the small island as well, and he found no signs that anyone lived there.

"Once we land, move the warship farther away."

"Sakazuki, are you planning to..."

Jonathan still could not believe it. Were these two really going to fight at full strength on the island?

But before he could finish asking, Cifer and Akainu had already left the warship using Sound Step and Geppo respectively.

The two kept accelerating, reaching the center of the island in the blink of an eye.

The place was breathtakingly beautiful, with lush mountains, clear waters, singing birds, and fragrant flowers. It could even be called paradise on earth, and even Cifer and Akainu could not help stopping to admire it.

"What a shame. After today, such beautiful scenery will no longer exist," Cifer sighed.

"A clash between the strong always destroys the weak." Akainu's body had already begun to heat up, and a trace of magma seemed to seep from his gloves.

"You really are impatient!"

This time, Cifer no longer suppressed his Spiritual Pressure. Black rain poured down, only to evaporate into steam before it could touch Akainu.

"Seal away, Black Winged Great Demon!"

With a beat of his wings, Cifer completed his Resurrección. His Spiritual Pressure crushed every tree in the surrounding area.

The beasts that had initially been hiding nearby to watch were cowed by that aura. Birds scattered and beasts fled, while even the fish in the rivers sank to the bottom and swiftly swam away.

"How terrifying!"

The people aboard the warship hardly dared breathe. Even from such a distance, Cifer's Spiritual Pressure filled them with fear.

Hina's expression was the grimmest of them all. She had spent so long aboard Cifer's ship, yet she had never felt such a terrifying aura from him before.

They had not even started fighting yet, and their mere presence was already shocking beyond belief. If they truly fought with this level of power, neither of them would come out unscathed.

"Come on, Sakazuki!"

Cifer crooked two fingers, and Akainu's fist, coated in Armament Haki, came hurtling straight at him.

Cifer twisted aside and answered with a powerful punch, only for Akainu to block it with his elbow.

After dozens of exchanges, neither gained the upper hand.

Wherever they passed, the earth split apart. Even the force and wind spilling from their hand-to-hand combat alone had caved in the base of a towering mountain.

"Bang!"

Their fists collided.

"Hell Hound!"

Akainu's right fist turned to magma and wrapped around Cifer's fist. The outer layer then heated up, transforming into lava that surged toward Cifer.

Cifer hurriedly covered his entire body in Spiritual Pressure. The magma shattered completely upon impact.

"Not good!"

Realizing that Hell Hound had failed, Akainu immediately tried to turn his arm into an element and escape, only for Cifer to seize it with Spiritual Pressure instead.

Unable to elementalize his arm, Akainu swung his other fist at Cifer, only for that hand to be caught as well. Cifer then exerted force with both arms, violently yanking Akainu into the air, spinning him once, and slamming him hard into the ground.

Akainu hit the ground face-first. When he raised his head again, several scars had appeared on his face.

Just as Cifer planned to repeat the move and yank Akainu up from the ground before smashing him down again, Akainu kicked forward with both legs in midair, landing squarely on Cifer's abdomen.

The blow forced Cifer to release him and stagger back several steps. He clutched his stomach as a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

After only a brief moment to catch their breath, the two launched into another barrage of punches and kicks, fighting for hundreds more exchanges without a clear victor.

"Cero Oscuras!"

As Cifer leaped backward into the air, Akainu grabbed his left leg midair. Cifer immediately raised a finger and fired at him. Cero Oscuras was far faster than Cero; at this distance, there was no way to dodge it.

"Ah!!!"

The instant Cero Oscuras struck Akainu's chest, pain surged through him like a cannonball exploding in the sea. It felt as though every bone in his body were trembling.

Yet he did not let go. Instead, the pain made his grip even tighter. Using the same method, he slammed Cifer down from the air.

Cifer landed on his back, his entire body embedded in the ground. Blood gushed from his mouth, while his left leg—tightly gripped by Akainu—felt as though it were being scorched by magma.

Before Cifer could break free from the ground, Akainu pressed down on him and began raining his iron fists onto Cifer's head.

Cifer could only raise both arms before his face and block passively. Akainu's repeated heavy blows left his arms numb.

Akainu raised his right fist high and brought it down with a charged strike. Cifer jerked his head aside, and the fist smashed fiercely into the ground.

Cifer seized the opening. With a powerful beat of his wings, he tore himself free from the earth and used the momentum to punch Akainu in the face, blasting him dozens of meters away and embedding him in a mountain.

"What a lunatic!"

Cifer panted heavily. His High-Speed Regeneration gave him astonishing healing ability, but the pain was real. He could not ignore everything the way Ulquiorra did.

This was pain and pleasure all at once! In the month since he had come to this world, he had never fought so evenly and freely as he had today.

Invincibility was a lonely thing. A journey was far more exciting with an opponent, and that was another reason he had always been unwilling to use Second Resurrección. But he had a feeling that he would need it today!

Akainu's strength exceeded his expectations!

A wave of Heat Breath spread through the air. Magma continuously flowed from that mountain toward Cifer, then erupted before him and took on Akainu's form.

"Moonlight Sword!"

Shining Spiritual Pressure gathered in his hand and formed a treasured blade. Akainu had already begun to half-elementalize, and Cifer had no intention of trading fist for fist with him forever.

"Inugama Kurenai!"

Akainu's arm turned to magma again, taking the shape of a dog's head as it flew toward Cifer.

Cifer swung hard. A tyrannical sword wave shot skyward, splitting Inugama Kurenai in two as though it were solid. The divided attack flew past either side of Cifer, burning the fallen trees to ash.

The remaining sword wave surged onward, its mark extending all the way to the mountain behind Akainu.

"Boom!!!"

A thunderous impact rang through the heavens. Akainu glanced back slightly and saw the mountain behind him sliced cleanly into two smooth halves as though it were tofu.

For a moment, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. Cifer's strike seemed to have provoked the anger of certain creatures.

Under their Observation Haki and Neural Scan, countless red dots were drawing closer.

"The anger of having their homes destroyed seems to have outweighed their fear, huh?"

During that rare moment of rest, Akainu removed the cap marked with Marine lettering from his head and smoothed his cropped hair.

"I already gave them a warning. If they insist on seeking death, there's nothing I can do."

Cifer's overwhelming Spiritual Pressure could have knocked every one of these weak creatures unconscious, but he had dispersed it, merely scaring them away.

If they had obediently left the battlefield, they might still have had a chance to live. But if they came back, Cifer would show no mercy.

Wolves, tigers, leopards, and all manner of beasts of different shapes and sizes began gathering around them. In the distance, there seemed to be an exceptionally enormous figure as well.

Countless gazes fell upon Cifer and Akainu, but neither paid them any mind. At this moment, only the person before them mattered!

"Great Eruption!"

Scalding magma dripped from Akainu's arm, then swiftly wrapped around itself and continued growing larger. Finally, it solidified into a fist-shaped mass of lava and attacked Cifer ferociously.

"Garganta!"

Against an attack with immense power but relatively slow speed, Cifer naturally raised a finger and answered with an attack that shared the same strengths and weaknesses.

The two forces collided violently. With them at the center, the earth cracked apart inch by inch, and amid cries of agony, the beasts caught in the blast were strewn across the ground as corpses.

"Look!"

A Marine who had been watching the island's situation shouted from the warship, drawing the attention of Jonathan, Hina, and the others, who had been playing chess nearby.

Following the direction of his pointing finger, Hina stared wide-eyed in disbelief, not even noticing the chess piece falling from her hand.

As Akainu's close friend, Jonathan had seen many grand scenes, but this was the first time he had witnessed a battle so terrifying. He swallowed and forced himself to remain calm.

They looked in the direction of the many horrified gazes.

The sky had split apart.