The Variable Arrives

"Boom—!"

The spatial fissures on both sides of Hachinosu stretched to their limit. The two invisible spatial barriers, driven at full power by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and capable of shattering matter at its source, finally collided at their central point with a resolute force that seemed ready to overturn the ocean.

At the very core of the combined shockwave, Rain desperately held up a thousand-layer Obsidian basalt shield with both hands. Yet the microscopic vibrations that permeated everything still pierced through the rock's fundamental defenses like tens of thousands of invisible sledgehammers, violently exploding through his bones, muscles, and even his internal organs inch by inch.

"Puhah—!"

Even with a terrifying physique that stood at the pinnacle of the seas and advanced Haki defenses, Rain's throat still sweetened under that world-destroying double shockwave, and he spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood. The Armament Haki covering his body rippled violently from the impact. He dropped to one knee, smashing the Obsidian ground beneath him into a sprawling, web-like crater that stretched for miles.

"Zehahahaha! Down already, are you, you little 'Extreme Pressure' brat?! No one on the seas can take my combined quake attack head-on!!"

Blackbeard Teach laughed wildly in triumph even as he panted heavily.

Inevitably, in this intense stalemate, Rain had fallen slightly behind. He had continuously maintained a large-scale awakened domain while also having to divide his attention to guard against the Dark-Dark Fruit's close-range sealing.

Blackbeard's seamless switching between two Fruits—one capable of "absorbing abilities," the other possessing "the strongest physical destructive power"—combined with his freakish endurance, truly gave him an incredibly troublesome level of strength in prolonged combat and direct assaults.

But Rain's dark gray eyes remained filled only with cold stillness and absolute reason. His body stood firm as a rock. Though the immense