"First match: Vergo versus Strawberry."
"Second match: Chaton versus Onigumo."
"Third match: Smoker versus Kuzan."
"Fourth match: Momonga versus Jonathan."
On the new day, the battles began with exceptional intensity. Everyone gave it their all. Though some won and some lost, they still delivered a visual feast for the crowd.
In the first match, Vergo defeated Strawberry, while Smoker ultimately failed to hold out against Kuzan and suffered another defeat.
Now, the final match was about to begin.
"Fifth match: Sakazuki versus Ye Chen."
In the end, under the major referee's decision, Sakazuki and Ye Chen stepped into the center of the arena.
The true clash of monsters had officially begun.
The entire venue fell silent, everyone staring unblinkingly at the two figures in the center.
"I've finally waited for this."
Sakazuki's face was grim as he looked at Ye Chen, his entire body brimming with fighting spirit.
Ye Chen, meanwhile, remained calm and indifferent.
Without a sound, an oppressive aura began to envelop the arena. Then, the two vanished at the same time. Accompanied by a thunderous collision, Sakazuki was blasted backward, his feet digging fiercely into the ground and leaving two long tracks.
The air rippled as Ye Chen flashed into view before Sakazuki, driving out his right fist.
Scorching heat began to boil. Sakazuki's right hand turned into magma as he forcibly met Ye Chen's punch head-on.
With a deafening boom, a shockwave erupted from the two of them and tore up the ground.
The tremendous force made Ye Chen grunt. He flipped backward several times before crashing heavily onto the ground, leaving the area in ruins.
Shaking his hand, Ye Chen stared gravely at Sakazuki, narrowing his eyes.
Light and darkness flashed as the ground exploded. Two dazzling slashes shot toward Sakazuki.
The magma shattered, and half of Sakazuki's face flowed away. He forcibly smashed Ye Chen's Rankyaku apart, but Ye Chen appeared behind him at that moment, his right leg coated in Armament Haki as he kicked out with an explosive crack.
Boom!
The massive explosion sent smoke and fire sweeping recklessly through everything, turning into monstrous waves that surged outward.
At the center, a crater with a diameter of 0 meters had been blasted apart, shaking the entire arena.
Not far away, magma churned as Sakazuki reformed his body. If he had been a step slower just now, he might have been caught in the blast.
On the other side, Ye Chen slowly emerged from the billowing smoke, half his body rapidly regenerating.
Meteor Volcano.
Raising his hands, Sakazuki continuously fired massive blobs of lava from both fists. Like countless shells, they densely filled the sky like fiery meteors and rained down on Ye Chen.
Ye Chen frowned as he watched the wide-range attack surge toward him. He was somewhat puzzled, because this move did not pose much of a threat to him.
He vanished from where he stood as the ground was smashed apart by magma. Ye Chen appeared in midair, stepping through the air with Geppo.
Great Eruption.
At that moment, Sakazuki suddenly appeared beneath Ye Chen. A force capable of splitting mountains and shattering earth erupted from the ground, shaking the entire arena.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The tremendous force was like a volcanic eruption. Ye Chen's expression changed drastically as his entire body exploded. A black mushroom cloud, ringed by a halo, crashed down like a mountain.
The arena was thrown into chaos. The surrounding spectators cursed loudly, because a visible Shockwave carrying all sorts of debris was sweeping toward them.
At the critical moment, dazzling golden light shone from the elevated seats. A tall and majestic Buddha descended from the sky and suppressed the storm in an instant.
At the very center, chaotic forces continued to intertwine. At the edge, Sakazuki reformed his body with blood dripping from his mouth, his gaze fixed firmly on the smoke.
"Hmph."
A muffled groan came from the center. Ye Chen's face was deathly pale, his body battered and torn as it rapidly regenerated.
Earlier, when most of his body had exploded, Ye Chen had felt unimaginable pain. Moreover, that brush with death had sent a chill through his soul.
When Death Embrace came, Ye Chen had been afraid, because that feeling was too real—so real that it filled him with despair.
Raising his gradually recovering, battered hands, Ye Chen's pale face suddenly turned vicious.
A sharp whistle tore through the air as Ye Chen vanished from where he stood and launched another attack on Sakazuki.
Their fists collided, blasting apart the ground. Ye Chen was forced back. In terms of strength, he had actually fallen into a disadvantage.
Sakazuki's ability simulated volcanic eruptions. The impact generated by that kind of power left Ye Chen's mind unsettled.
Boom!
A small explosion erupted, and Ye Chen's speed instantly increased. Before Sakazuki could react, a kick blew Sakazuki apart.
As Sakazuki reformed his body, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His Observation Haki spread out in every direction without a single blind spot.
A sharp whistle came from the left, but Ye Chen was too fast. After taking another blow, Sakazuki turned into magma.
His feet kept exploding and recovering. Relying on his speed, Ye Chen suppressed Sakazuki so thoroughly that Sakazuki could barely lift his head, leaving him extremely frustrated.
Dark Hound.
Deliberately exposing a slight opening, Sakazuki condensed a high concentration of magma in his right hand and burned it toward Ye Chen's chest.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The terrifying explosion flattened everything once more. Sakazuki reformed in the distance, his face covered in blood and his chest heaving violently.
Within the smoke, Ye Chen's body slowly healed amid the smoke and fire.
Suppressing the stabbing pain in his soul, Ye Chen vanished from where he stood. Sakazuki roared and charged out as well.
Their powerful collision shattered the magma, and another terrifying explosion spread outward.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
At that moment, the people in the stands truly understood what a human-shaped bomb was.
With every collision, Ye Chen would explode—sometimes an arm, sometimes a leg. The force of those explosions leveled the entire battlefield again and again.
The whole island even began to crack, opening several enormous fissures.
"Damn it!" Covered in blood, Sakazuki appeared in the distance amid another massive explosion, his face pale.
This battle was extremely frustrating for him. It was like fighting Borsalino—utterly powerless.
"I acknowledge your strength. You're just like that bastard Borsalino—infuriating. There's no need to continue this battle. How about we call it a draw?"
Sakazuki looked solemn. He no longer wanted to waste time fighting. Unless they fought to the death, there was simply no way to determine a winner.
More importantly, this battle was utterly disgusting to him.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Ye Chen nodded with a cold expression, because he was not confident he could defeat the man before him either.
Sakazuki was unlike Borsalino. Although he lacked speed, his destructive power and defense were both top-notch.
Even Ye Chen's victory over Borsalino in the previous match had been a matter of luck. If they fought again, it was impossible to say who would win or lose.
Since Sakazuki and Ye Chen, the two parties involved, had chosen a draw, many people were left disappointed. Though the battle had been fierce, it somehow felt anticlimactic, as if something was missing.
Only Sengoku and the others in the elevated seats understood, and they even nodded in agreement. After all, unless two evenly matched contestants fought to the death, it was difficult to determine a victor.
This was only a competition, not a fight to the death. Ye Chen and Sakazuki had already done enough. There was no need to further display their abilities, because everything had been made clear.
"Hmph, wasn't the result different from what you expected? How was that twist? Was it too plain, too unsatisfying? Do you want to hit me? Tell me, are you mad? Come on, torment me!"
Before you continue