Black-red lightning continuously exploded above the camp.
The once lively, brightly lit concert troupe camp had now been reduced to ruins.
The ground had been peeled apart layer by layer, cracks crisscrossing it like a spiderweb spreading to the edge of the square.
The newly erected stage was reduced to a few twisted steel frames jutting crookedly from the rubble.
Shattered light signs swayed in the wind.
Tattered curtains were swept into the air by the aftershocks of Haki, then ripped to pieces by the force of the tremors.
Amid the dust that filled the sky, Teach and Shanks faced each other from afar.
Pitch-black energy churned endlessly beneath Teach's feet. His right fist trembled as he gathered power, making the air boom in waves.
Shanks gripped his long sword in one hand, Conqueror's Haki tightly coiling around its blade, its edge sharp and chilling.
Their gazes collided without either yielding an inch. The battle had truly reached a fever pitch.
Teach now wielded both the Dark-Dark and Tremor-Tremor Fruits, and his combat power had long since entered the ranks of the Emperor Class.
The Dark-Dark Fruit could devour and suppress all abilities, while the Tremor-Tremor Fruit could shake and tear apart space itself. In both offense and defense, it was nearly unbeatable.
But Shanks's strength was just as unfathomable.
His swordsmanship was pure to the extreme, while his Conqueror's Haki was tyrannical and razor-sharp. Every slash seemed capable of tearing through darkness and splitting open the void.
Yet even he could not decide the victor in a short time against Teach at the height of his power.
More importantly, Uta had been successfully rescued, and the concert troupe and island civilians were being urgently evacuated.
If they continued fighting to the death, it would no longer be as simple