Care to Guess Why Devil Fruits Are Called Devil Fruits?
A huge gap, several meters in diameter, appeared in the chest of Madara's Susanoo, Chakra at the edge of the gap was constantly churning, flowing away, and disintegrating.
That gap will not heal.
For the first time in battle, Madara deliberately retreated.
Susanoo retreated several hundred meters, his feet landing on the void, creating a series of explosive shockwaves.
The Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan spun rapidly, its ocular power surging to its limit within its pupils as it attempted to analyze the essence of the gap.
He understood.
That's an attack at the rule level.
Imu's weapon does not destroy Chakra, but rather directly rewrites the rules of the area where Chakra is located.
Similar to Madara's own Kotoamatsukami no Souhi, but even more ancient and primitive.
Ban didn't panic.
The curve of his lips deepened slightly compared to before.
He raised his right hand, Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan suddenly lit up, with crimson eye power ripples exploding from his pupils and covering the entire sky.
"The Kotoamatsukami."
Rule suppression.
Ban redefined the upper limit of power above Imu's head, attempting to suppress Imu's power level downwards.
But when his eye power touched the layer of dark red Demonic Energy surrounding Imu, he noticed something was wrong.
His pupil power was advancing, but the pace was much slower than he had anticipated.
Every inch forward felt like opening up a whole new world.
It didn't feel like suppressing an opponent; it felt more like fighting against the rules of an entire world.
His Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan slightly contracted, his pupil power surging to its limit in his eye sockets, forcefully suppressing the Demonic Energy downwards.
Imu's power level was reduced somewhat, but it was far from reaching the Super-Kage Level.
She tilted her head slightly, looking at Ban. Her crimson almond eyes held no surprise, only a knowing "I knew it" in them.
"Rules?" Imu's voice was ethereal and cold, with a hint of extremely faint mockery at the end. "If we leave here, perhaps Im will be a little more wary."
She paused.
The long red hair drifted silently in the Demonic Energy, and the pair of giant scarlet eyes on its back lit up for a moment.
Why don't you try to guess why the Devil Fruits found in the ocean are called Devil Fruits?
Ban's pupils contracted slightly.
He did not answer.
But he understood.
Devil Fruits are considered cursed by the world on this ocean; those who eat them are rejected by the sea and given the name "devil."
Imu was telling him that the rules of this sea were itself a part of her.
She is not the ruler of this sea; she is the rule-maker of this sea.
In her field, she is the rule itself.
Ban was silent for a moment.
Then he put away the "Kotoamatsukami" and slowly put his hands together in prayer.
The Susanoo sheathed its Tachi, clenched its fists, and drew back sky-blue Chakra from the blade, which then coalesced into its massive fists.
He no longer used rules to suppress Imu, but instead used pure force.
The two exchanged blows for dozens of rounds in the void.
Each collision sent towering waves hundreds of meters high crashing into the sea below, causing the ruins of the Sabaody Archipelago to tremble once more.
Susanoo's giant fist slammed into Imu's weapon array, sending the Void Sword and Chaos Sword flying. However, the Heaven's Punishment Sword sliced in from the side, leaving another crack on Susanoo's right arm.
Imu's weapons pressed in from all directions simultaneously. Madara's Susanoo parried, dodged, and counterattacked, his massive figure twisting and turning in the void, each movement leaving a sky-blue afterimage.
In a fleeting moment, Ban's giant fist and Imu's array of weapons collided head-on, the two forces locked in a stalemate in the void for several breaths.
The sky-blue Chakra and dark red Demonic Energy corroded each other, preventing either from advancing.
Madara's Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan suddenly lit up, his eye power flowing into his giant fist, forcefully smashing back Imu's weapon array.
Imu took a half step back.
Everyone below looked up, watching a battle they had no way of intervening in.
Killing Hall's Mangekyō Sharingan had stopped spinning; he was simply watching.
His fingers were clenched so tightly on the hilt of the knife that they turned white, but he had no intention of making a move.
He couldn't get involved in that level of combat.
Taki and Yan beside him were the same; the three of them stood silently in the shallow water, heads tilted back, their scarlet eyes reflecting the interplay of light and shadow in the sky.
Shanks stood beside Shamrock, his left hand resting on the hilt of Gryphon's sword, his long red hair fluttering in the sea breeze.
His gaze remained fixed on Ban and Imu.
He saw more and more cracks Susanoo, and he also saw more and more weapons being smashed, knocked back, and shattered in Imu's weapon array.
The two fought to a strange stalemate.
Madara's power level is higher, but Imu's rule-based attacks can erode Madara's defenses;
Imu has more trump cards, but Madara's Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan can predict the trajectory of each of her attacks.
Neither can suppress the other.
Then Imu stopped.
She floated in the void, her long red hair flowing in the Demonic Energy, her crimson almond eyes quietly watching Ban.
The eleven weapons returned to their positions, hovering beside her and slowly rotating.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze passing over the spots, over the battlefield below, and landing in the direction of Mary Geoise.
She was looking down at the ruins.
Her gaze pierced through the rock layers of the Red Line, through eight hundred years of dust, and landed on a location in the deepest part of the earth.
That location lies beneath the ruins of Mary Geoise, within the very foundations of the Red Line, in a place unseen by anyone.
Madara glanced in the direction of her gaze, his Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan slightly moving in its socket, trying to pinpoint the exact location of her gaze.
But he couldn't sense anything.
That depth was beyond his perception.
Ban frowned slightly.
He noticed the direction of Imu's gaze, and also the faint curve at the corner of her mouth, as if she was finally about to reveal her hand.
He subconsciously tightened his grip on the Susanoo Tachi, the crimson six- Tomoe spinning half a circle in his pupils.
Imu withdrew her gaze and looked back at Ban. The curve of her lips deepened, and her voice was ethereal and cold.
"You think Mu only has one trump card?"
Ban did not answer.
He simply stood Susanoo's eyebrows, his Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan quietly gazing in the direction of Mary Geoise.
Everyone below was waiting for his reaction.
He didn't say anything.
The dark Demonic Energy surrounding Imu suddenly quieted down.
The surging, boiling, and swirling Demonic Energy solidified in an instant, freezing within a few meters of her.
The eleven suspended weapons simultaneously stopped rotating, and a dark red light flickered on their surfaces.
Then the solidified Demonic Energy began to flow again, intertwining, interweaving, and weaving with each other at an extremely slow pace, like a deep-sea current.