He did not use his ocular techniques right away, instead meeting the attack head-on with taijutsu.
Their fists collided in midair. Armament Haki and the power of magma clashed thunderously, and a ring of pressure pulverized all the rubble beneath their feet.
"Your punches are much softer than Blackbeard's," Kei said flatly.
Akainu said nothing.
He merely gritted his teeth harder and drove his magma to even greater heat.
His left fist smashed out from the side, magma coalescing in midair into a savage hound's head that opened its enormous jaws to bite Kei's shoulder.
Kei's Sharingan caught the attack's trajectory in advance. He leaned back slightly, and the hound's head swept past his chest, its scorching heat charring and curling the front of his clothes.
Kei completed his hand seals as he retreated.
With his left palm facing down and his fingers spread, a mass of eerie green chakra took shape in his hand.
Itsumade: Seed of Plague.
The chakra sank silently into the magma beneath Akainu's feet, without any warning.
Akainu froze, then felt an extraordinarily strange weakness spread upward from the soles of his feet.
His magma flowed more slowly, and something was wearing away his Armament Haki layer by layer.
He glanced down at his hands. The molten rock on his fists was visibly dimming.
"What is this...?" For the first time, a trace of alarm and uncertainty entered Akainu's voice.
"Plague." Kei watched him calmly. "My left eye can make anything 'sick.' Your magma, your haki, your body—none of them can escape it."
Akainu gritted his teeth and forced his Devil Fruit power into action. His magma brightened a little again, but the weakness did not disappear. It was only temporarily suppressed.
For the first time, he faced an opponent against whom his disadvantage could