The brief clash shattered all the arrogance in Raul's heart. The faint ache in his arms kept warning him, too.
"So this monstrous body of yours is what gives you the confidence to defy the Five Elders? Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson and knock some sense into you."
"Overwhelming force is the only way to make an idiot sit still and listen to me." Figo answered indirectly. He held out his right hand and beckoned Raul with a little curl of his fingers. "All right, enough with the nonsense. If you're not going to run, come on. Let's keep going."
How arrogant! Raul's gaze hardened. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and a gentle breeze stirred as countless tiny blue wind blades gathered before him!
Then, as he swung his arms forward, the blades swept toward Figo like a vast storm!
Figo strode straight into the wind blades and toward Raul, quickening his pace with every step. He stretched out both hands, half-clenched his fists, and positioned his index fingers and thumbs as if preparing to flick someone's forehead. Then he began flicking.
'Flying Finger Pistol—Flick!'
One after another, black bullets wrapped in Armament Haki shot from Figo's fingers, colliding with the oncoming wind blades and annihilating them.
Figo flicked faster and faster, gradually adding more fingers until all four were moving.
Flying Finger Pistol—Buckshot!
A dense swarm of black projectiles swiftly swallowed the blue wind blades, then surged toward Raul. Amid a rapid series of thwacks, they riddled him with holes!
But they had no effect.
Armament Haki could indeed hit Logia Ability Users, provided it actually struck them.
Using Observation Haki, Raul had turned every part of his body that the bullets could hit into nothingness ahead of time. The attacks seemed to connect, but had actually passed through him, so they couldn't hurt him.
Instead, Raul charged straight into Figo's barrage, diving toward him at high speed. The rush whipped up a raging gale, cracking the ground before Figo and sending stones and sand swirling toward him!
With sand whipping into his eyes, Figo stopped and closed them, using Observation Haki to sense his surroundings. When he sensed Raul at the right distance, he lashed out with his right leg. Cloaked once more in flowing Armament Haki, it struck Raul's wind-transformed body across the waist!
Whoosh—
The blow split Raul in two. His lower half scattered into the wind, while his upper half spun and twisted away, instantly reappearing behind Figo. His right arm transformed into a wind drill and bored straight toward Figo's spine, piercing his Armament Haki defense and twisting his muscles into a spiral as it went for his internal organs!
"You can't hit the wind!"
"You can't hurt your old man!"
Figo swung his right arm back, unleashing his strength!
With a thunderous boom, Raul was sent flying once more. At the same time, a furious tornado abruptly rose beneath Figo's feet, a hundred meters in diameter and nearly a thousand meters tall, carrying him high into the sky!
The rapidly spinning tornado held Figo captive, tossing him around and leaving him unable to break free.
Raul, who had bounced along the ground several times, dropped to one knee to brake. Then he shot upward, clasped his hands above his head, and spun faster and faster, transforming his entire body into a massive wind spear with an attack powerful enough to surpass anything else!
Inside the tornado, Figo clenched his right fist.
The structure and density of the muscles in his right arm rapidly changed. It swelled until it was twice its usual thickness, wildly out of proportion!
At the same time, Figo's weight rapidly increased. Defying the laws of science, he unleashed a hidden store of energy within himself, going from less than 500 jin to nearly 500 kilograms!
The extra weight would slow him down a little, but it gave him greater strength and a steadier center of gravity. His twice-as-thick arm seemed capable of smashing anything to pieces!
'Life Return—War God's Arm!'
Boom—
His fist, twice its normal size, collided with the tip of the wind spear formed by Raul's entire body. In an instant, the gale around them exploded, turning into streaks of blue light that swept into the distance. At the heart of the collision, blue flames and light blazed with dazzling brilliance!
Rumble—
Not far from the battlefield, Impel Down naturally began to shake, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.
At the exit from the Level 0 platform, Deputy Director Rado lay flat on the ground, holding a Den Den Mushi in both hands as he trembled. "Impel Down is going to collapse! Impel Down is going to collapse! Five Elder, send a warship to get us! We'll drown in the seawater, and the Sea Kings will eat us!"
"Shut up!" Saint Mendsbin's furious voice came from the Den Den Mushi. "When Impel Down was first built, its walls were reinforced to the highest standard, strong enough to withstand repeated attacks from the most powerful pirates on the sea!
"Unless they're deliberately attacking it, Impel Down will never collapse! Rado, I'm asking you about the fight! Go take a look, now!"
It really won't collapse? Rado reluctantly lifted his head and got to his feet, then suddenly froze.
"How's it going? Has Gaston Figo really gained the strength to fight Raul?!"
Rado murmured, "F-Five Elder, the s-s-s-sky has split open!"
High above, a tremendous force had cleaved the thick clouds completely in two. Even the blue sky seemed to have split open into an abyss!
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise,
Saint Mendsbin turned toward the window and saw the strange sight in the distant sky. His face darkened completely. After a moment of silence, he picked up another Den Den Mushi and made a call. "Moka, mobilize the warships immediately..."
"Huh? F-Five Elder, it's been quiet for a while. The fight seems to be over? The seawater—it's flowing back!" Rado's voice came through, making Saint Mendsbin stop speaking.
Over? No matter who won or lost, the fight shouldn't have ended so quickly!
The seawater was flowing back? As the thought crossed his mind, Saint Mendsbin's heart sank... This was bad!
"If we were fighting fair and square, there might be no telling who'd win even after a full day and night. But I don't have that kind of time."
Figo pinned Raul firmly against the slightly shattered outer wall at the bottom of Impel Down with one hand. Raul could offer no resistance as Figo said, "You've got no reason to complain. Without the Wind-Wind Fruit, you wouldn't stand a chance against me. You enjoy the strength the Fruit gives you, so naturally you have to accept its drawbacks."
"Besides, I was a little Captain who could only draw everyone's attention by working hard?
"You, a Jailer Chief who does nothing, have some nerve judging me. You haven't even remembered that Impel Down added Seastone to its walls to keep Sea Kings out. I dared to slam you into this wall, and you really went and hit it?"
Raul glared at him furiously. What a despicable bastard!
I was drawn in by the way he charged around so recklessly. I let my guard down—damn it!
He had also needed to guard against the seawater surging back in after their earlier collision broke through the wind barrier. He'd failed to notice that Impel Down's outer walls were made entirely of Seastone, and now he was stuck in this awkward predicament. The fight, which had just reached its peak, had abruptly come to an end.
"What are you trying to do, Figo?!"
"Put you in Impel Down for a couple of days and see if certain people can manage to talk to me calmly this time. That's right—you're a hostage."
"Bastard! What happened to your justice?!"
The waves came rushing back and swallowed Raul's final furious shout. His strength drained away completely, and seawater gurgled into his mouth!
When you're winning, you say you'll teach someone a lesson.
When you're losing, you bring up justice.
Was justice still justice if you only followed it when it suited you?
Figo smiled and hauled him up.
Before you continue