Even though Koshiro was no match for Akainu, fighting with everything he had still gave Akainu plenty of trouble.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Sword light flashed all around Akainu, cold-edged afterimages filling the air. He moved a fraction too slowly, and Koshiro's blade pierced his shoulder. Akainu flinched, his face twisting in pain. When he turned to look, blood was running down his shoulder.
"You..."
Making Akainu bleed was no small feat. It took more than Haki; Koshiro had also needed to overcome Akainu's Haki at the moment his blade struck.
If his Haki had been too weak, he could have hacked Akainu to pieces and Akainu would still have re-formed without shedding a drop of blood.
Boom!
Akainu gritted his teeth and threw a vicious punch at Koshiro. Koshiro drifted aside like a scrap of paper caught in the wind. Rather than meeting the blow head-on, he dodged it with ease.
Akainu's strike missed, but before he could attack again, Koshiro slipped back in like a phantom.
Akainu held a clear advantage in strength; in speed and footwork, Koshiro had the edge. But Koshiro was already wounded. The longer the fight dragged on, the more strength and blood he would lose. And Akainu would not miss every time. One solid hit could put Koshiro in grave danger.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Akainu thrust both hands skyward, sending countless massive chunks of magma hurtling into the clouds. Moments later, they had vanished from sight.
Koshiro's heart sank. As they clashed again, he realized his situation had become all but hopeless.
A deafening rumble rolled across the sky like thunder. One blazing red mass of magma after another plunged toward the ground, as though an unprecedented meteor shower of molten rock had begun.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Magma boulders crashed down amid thunderous explosions, gouging