Summit War 16: One Against Three!

But Natsu's gaze wasn't on the arrows; instead, it passed over the shield, over the arrows, over Akainu, and landed precisely on the woman standing on the Arrowhead Bird in the distance.

The Tomoe of his Sharingan slowly rotated in his pupils, a fleeting, eerie red light flashing by.

Gunko frowned subconsciously.

Across the vast battlefield, through the smoke and Kakkō, the instant those crimson eyes met hers, she suddenly felt as if a tiny needle had gently pricked her brain.

Then her arrow pierced through Natsu's body—no, that's not right.

The arrow struck the ground, scattering rubble, but the gray-white figure remained standing unharmed.

The pupils of the Gunko constricted slightly.

At the same time, Akainu also noticed something unusual—in his vision, the arrow, which should have hit its target precisely, was strangely deflected at an angle in mid-air, as if it had been forcibly bent off its direction by some unseen force.

He reacted in an instant and shouted sharply, "Watch out! It's hypnosis! Use Observation Haki!"

Gunko abruptly lowered his head, shifting his gaze away from those scarlet eyes, and simultaneously activated his Observation Haki.

She had conducted countless training sessions on resistance to mental abilities for the God's Knight, but that brief moment of disorientation had still left a thin layer of sweat on her back. She gritted her teeth and warned, "Don't look into his eyes, or he'll hypnotize you!"

Natsu was not surprised at all. Anyone who could sit in the position of the God's Knights would have a good foundation in Observation Haki. A basic "This Place Isn't Here Technique was enough to restrain her for a few seconds.

He withdrew his gaze, and the spinning of the Sharingan's Tomoe suddenly accelerated, as dark golden Chakra surged from his body like a tide.

First, his ribs—a thick, dark gold skeleton—condensed and took shape in the void, completely enveloping his body;

Then came the arms; veins and muscle textures began to emerge on the illusory bones, and a thick, menacing layer of samurai armor rapidly spread across the surface of the skeleton.

Akainu's Magma Fist was already upon her, and the scorching heat wave made Natsu's robes flutter wildly.

He didn't dodge.

Susanoo clenched its fist, and dark golden Chakra exploded with a dazzling halo on the fist, colliding head-on with Akainu's Hound Dog.

The moment the magma collided with the Chakra, the entire battlefield trembled.

On the Execution Platform, Sengoku stared intently at the dark gold giant who had forced Akainu back half a step, his fingers almost digging into the metal bars of the guardrail.

A few months ago in the Sabaody Archipelago, this kid had to rely on his Wood Golem and Flying Thunder God to hold his own against Kizaru. Now that he's Susanoo, even Akainu's Hound Dog can't pierce through a single rib of his.

This is no longer growth, this is evolution.

Akainu's Magma Fist fist exploded once more.

"Great Eruption!" A giant lava fist, thicker, fiercer, and more unreasonable than the Hound Dog, crashed down on the dark golden giant like a meteorite launched from the earth's core.

"Boom--!!!" The giant magma fist slammed solidly into the dark golden giant, and the spewing lava flowed down Susanoo's armor like a waterfall, burning large swaths of white steam on the ice surface.

Before the marines could even finish their cheers, Akainu's expression changed.

His fist was still pressed against Susanoo's breastplate, and lava and Chakra were tearing wildly at the contact surface, making a piercing hissing sound.

He could feel his attack being steadily held back by an invisible barrier—it wasn't a head-on collision, but rather like a mud ox sinking into the sea, or a heavy punch hitting a pile of cotton. All the force was dispersed, absorbed, and dissolved into nothingness on the surface of that dark golden armor.

The next second, a dark golden blade of light burst forth from the magma.

The Susanoo swung its Tang Saber diagonally upwards, the Chakra tail flames wrapped around the blade cleaving Akainu's body in two from his waist to his shoulder.

The magma-like body briefly separated in mid-air, with scorching lava gushing out from the fracture and splashing onto the ice surface, burning out countless hissing black holes.

"Admiral Sakazuki!" The surrounding marines turned pale.

Akainu's two halves fused back together as he landed, and the magma writhed and filled the grotesque crack.

He slowly straightened up, his face ashen. It wasn't from injury—it was commonplace for Logia users to be cut in half—but from the fact that in front of 100,000 marines, his Great Eruption had been blocked head-on by the opponent, who then slashed him with a backhand strike, leaving him no time to fully dodge even when he was in his elemental form.

This is the second time I've embarrassed myself today.

His right arm transformed into a magma dog's head once more, and Armament Haki stained the surging lava with a layer of iron-black luster.

"Hound Dog!!"

Just as Akainu roared, a blinding golden light exploded in the sky.

Kizaru had somehow broken free from his entanglement with Marco, transforming into a streak of light and hovering high in the air. With his arms crossed, countless compressed light bullets rained down on the dark golden giant like a storm.

"The Yasakani no Magatama!"

The bowstring of the Gunko was released at the same instant that Akainu's Hound Dog and Kizaru's Yasakani no Magatama exploded.

Three arrows shot out in a triangular formation, each trailing a semi-transparent trajectory line visible only to the caster. They drew three strange arcs in the air, bypassing Susanoo's frontal defense and heading straight for Natsu's back from the side and rear.

The Three-Star Chain Shot, the signature move of the Arrow-Arrow Fruit, once locked onto by a trajectory line, will follow the predicted path and hit the target no matter how they dodge.

Akainu's magma pressed down from the front, Kizaru's energy blasts poured down from above, and Gunko's arrows flanked from the side and rear.

Three Admiral-Emperor Level strength simultaneously surrounded the same target, and the air itself seemed to distort from the oppressive force.

Then they heard laughter.

It wasn't a sneer, nor was it mockery; rather, it was a hearty laugh that had been suppressed for a long time and was finally allowed to be unrestrained, a laugh that came from the depths of the heart.

"Hahahaha! Alright--Let's all come at him!!" Uchiha Natsu laughed loudly, his scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan showing no fear, no solemnity, only pure, burning excitement.

His hands flew through the Hand Seals, Chakra poured out of his body like a flood bursting its banks.

"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"

"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"

The earth cracked open with a deafening roar.

A wooden giant, nearly a hundred meters tall, rose from beneath the ice. Its shoulders were as broad as mountains, and its arms stretched out to block out the sky. The wood was covered with pale green Chakra patterns.