The Gap in Equipment

Rebrus was already sixty-five this year. Fifty years of sailing the seas, he had experienced countless battles, and after becoming the king of the seas, he was truly invincible, with no one able to stand against him!

Three Navy Admirals?

In a one-on-one fight, even the strongest, Moka, had to give him a little leeway!

The last time an Admiral had brought him any pressure was thirty years ago, when that shorty Aokiji hadn't yet been promoted to Fleet Admiral.

As for the newly promoted Admiral Raul?

What was that? Still too green!

But the Figo before him was even younger, and yet this battle today made Rebrus smell danger for the first time in ages!

The disparity in troops and the disadvantage of the terrain forced him to defeat Figo as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, he had used most of his tricks, and Figo was still stubbornly holding on with only minor injuries.

The island had already been split into four pieces, and these four smaller islands couldn't sustain his fight with Figo for much longer. If he kept fighting conventionally, he would never defeat, let alone kill, Figo before losing his footing!

He had to find a breakthrough.

Fortunately, his First Mate, Tony Toa, was a very clever fat man. Suddenly, a whooshing sound came from the side, and a round shield flew like a disc straight toward Rebrus!

Figo's Observation Haki had already sensed it, and he moved ahead of time, crossing the newly formed chasm of over ten meters with an unstoppable momentum, swinging his fist to smash the spinning shield!

Rebrus sidestepped, using his own body to block Figo's attack.

With a dull thud, Figo's fist turned into fingers, trailing a streak of light as they pierced into Rebrus's flesh, blood splattering! Rebrus's body swayed, his right leg plowing a deep furrow in the ground to absorb the force, while his other hand finally caught the flying shield firmly!

Then he spun his body, swinging the shield to slap Figo. The shield was instantly coated with flowing Armament Haki, and small crimson thunderbolts formed in front of it!

Crack!!

Figo dropped his elbows, meeting the attack wrapped in Conqueror's Haki once more, sending a thunderclap exploding in the sky! The ground beneath his feet shattered with a rumble, sliding and falling into the chasm. Seeing this, Rebrus deliberately released his force to retreat, but Figo steadied himself, slid one hand to grab the edge of the shield, leaned back deeply, and fought for it!

Either give me the shield!

Or come down for a bath with me!

The two wrestled in a stalemate, the ground breaking and sliding faster. Suddenly, a fat foot emerged from the center of the shield, kicking Figo hard in the chest and sending him into the water!

Blowing two bubbles, Figo surfaced with a frown and saw Rebrus holding the shield, retreating to a relatively inland position.

"That hurt, boss. This guy really is strong. Sorry, I'm not good at attacking—I'm no match for the Blind Witch." Tony Toa's voice came from inside the shield.

"No, you did well. You can't lose!"

Rebrus praised in a deep voice.

With the island bound to be completely destroyed by their fight sooner or later, Rebrus, as an Ability User, would quickly fall into a disadvantage if he couldn't fly. But with his First Mate in hand, it was completely different!

He also happened to need a suitable weapon.

The Hell Pirates had two First Mates, the Spear of Hell and the Shield of Hell, originally the captain's equipment! Rebrus's strongest combat state was holding the Shield-Shield Fruit user Tony in one hand and the Chop-Chop Fruit user Jackson in the other!

Only when using both First Mates could he unleash his full power.

Unfortunately, Jackson had been knocked out by Figo's two punches at the very start and had probably fallen into the Navy's hands by now. He only had the shield left.

But that was still better than nothing.

With one hand wreathed in purple flames and the other holding the huge round shield that automatically used flowing tassels, Rebrus's figure seemed even more imposing, and his Conqueror's Haki aura seemed to have grown slightly.

Figo went ashore to observe. A Shield-Shield Fruit user wouldn't affect the big picture. Based on the power of that kick just now, even if Figo stood still and let him hit him, it would take five minutes to cause any real damage.

The troublesome part was that Figo had just gotten used to Rebrus's attack patterns, and now they were likely to change.

Behind him, Sapphire, with snow-white wings sprouting from her back, flew over and said, "Sorry, I couldn't stop him."

"It's fine. Support me." Figo nodded and stepped forward.

Instead of attacking Rebrus, he stopped a hundred meters away, suddenly smiled, and stomped his right foot heavily on the ground!

Attacking the island!

A thunderous roar erupted, and deep cracks spread out. Rebrus had never seen such a shameless opponent. A flash of shock and anger crossed his dog face as he charged at Figo like a ten-thousand-ton ship, the shield smashing through the air!

Figo had already gathered his strength and struck with both fists.

Boom! The ground shattered, and the sky instantly tore open a massive hole, as if answering the call!

His feet plowed into the earth, Figo was pushed back a distance by the shield, when suddenly Sapphire's voice came from behind: "Lower left gap!"

His eyes moved, and his body twisted. The tall Figo suddenly turned into a thin sheet of paper, using the lesser-known Kami-e technique among the Six Powers to slip through the lower left gap of the huge shield!

At that moment, Rebrus's right fist, wrapped in purple flames, smashed down, and a purple moon burned through the spot Figo had just occupied, turning it into a molten crater. But Figo had dodged it with precognition!

Leaning around to Rebrus's side, Figo seized the opportunity and delivered a whip kick that could shatter a mountain, slamming heavily into Rebrus's body!

Blood sprayed from the dog's mouth as Rebrus flew a hundred meters, tumbling as he landed. He stood up with a dark glare at Sapphire hovering high above, then charged at Figo again with the shield, each step sinking deep into the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust!

"Upper left!"

"Right center!"

"Down!"

Short, urgent warnings came from Sapphire's mouth in rapid succession. Rebrus, charging at Figo, heard them and changed his moves repeatedly, unable to land a single real attack.

Figo was the same, twisting his body under Sapphire's direction, searching for openings.

The two kept a distance of about ten meters between them. Even though it would take less than half a second for an attack to land on the opponent, they stubbornly refused to close in. Following Sapphire's words, they both broke into a mechanical dance.

They danced until Sapphire stopped giving reminders, then suddenly swung his sword in a slash at Rebrus.

Rebrus, mid-dance, hurriedly ducked his head, the fur on top of his scalp sheared off. Figo seized the moment, landing a frontal kick on Rebrus's knee, sending Rebrus—shield and all—tumbling backward again!

Then he looked up at Sapphire, couldn't help but crack a smile, and said, "Keep going!"

Rebrus, you have your gear, and now I have mine. But there seems to be a gap between our equipment.

Your chubby round shield.

Can't compare to my Prophecy Gem!

Figo sounded the horn of counterattack!