Sakazuki

"Garp, this guy needs to be captured alive." Sengoku's grave voice rang in Garp's ear.

Hearing this, Garp rolled his eyes immediately. "It's still up in the air whether we can even take him down in this situation, and you're already thinking about capturing him alive?"

Looking at Akainu, who wore a look of astonishment before him, a trace of a sinister smile curled the corners of Lu Ge's lips. The Nascent Dimensional Power within his body churned once more, and a glowing white light welled up in his hand, eroding all the way along the arm of Akainu, who was tightly grabbing Lu Ge's arm. In a flash, it had enveloped his entire body.

The reason he allowed Akainu to grab him and get trapped in the magma pool was precisely for Akainu's Devil Fruit Ability. Since this guy was being so proactive, it would be a bit unfair to Akainu's enthusiasm if he didn't cooperate a little.

"Wh-What is this?!!" Akainu felt the abnormality inside his body and was instantly alarmed, wanting to blast out with a fist to shake Lu Ge off. To his shock, however, his body suddenly couldn't move, and at the same time, an extremely weak sensation flooded his entire body, as if Lu Ge's arm were a piece of Seastone, causing his ability to spin out of control.

"Wh-What's going on with this guy?!!" At this moment, Akainu felt a hint of terror. Not only could this guy devour Haki, but could he devour Devil Fruit Ability too? Suddenly, a chill rose from the bottom of his heart.

Seeing this, Garp and Sengoku were both startled. "Akainu's complexion isn't right! Quick, save him!"

Garp kicked off the ground, his figure instantly blasting forward. Just as he drew close to Lu Ge, however, he suddenly passed straight through space and returned to his original spot.

Garp's expression instantly turned solemn. "Damn it! That guy is surrounded by doors; it's completely impossible to get close. Sengoku, can you use your massive size to smash those doors directly?"

"I'll try." With a stern expression, Sengoku moved his giant body, walking toward where Lu Ge was, and then, relying purely on his immense size, leaped high into the air for a Mount Tai Press.

"Damn! Playing like this, huh!"

Lu Ge was instantly speechless. This golden Buddha's body was massive; even just a single Buddha palm could blot out the sky, let alone such a colossal frame. If he wanted to open a door to accommodate this Buddha body, it couldn't be formed in a split second—it still required a bit of time. Yet Sengoku's attack wouldn't grant him that opening time.

Lu Ge truly hadn't expected Sengoku to launch an attack that disregarded even his own ally. On second thought, though, Akainu was a Logia Magma-Magma Fruit user and could transform into elements, so Sengoku's Mount Tai Press likely wouldn't cause him any true, substantial harm, whereas he, who couldn't elementalize, would be the one placed in danger.

"What a shame." Lu Ge glanced at Akainu before him, feeling somewhat helpless in his heart. If he had been given just a little more time, he definitely could have devoured Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit, but trapped on the battlefield, he didn't have that time anymore.

A fist coated in Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki Infusion slammed fiercely into Akainu's chest. Accompanied by a miserable scream, Akainu's eyes suddenly went wide and round, a mouthful of blood spewed out, and his body flew backward like a kite with a broken string.

At the same time, the crushing descent of Sengoku's attack arrived as well. Lu Ge stepped forward, and his figure had already vanished.

With a loud rumble, Sengoku's massive form smashed into the ground like a meteor striking the earth, erupting with a terrifying roar. The surface of the earth fractured layer by layer, spreading all the way out and sending tremors through a crater hundreds of meters wide while completely demolishing the surrounding buildings.

Yet just the moment Lu Ge dodged Sengoku's attack, his precognition triggered a warning, and he abruptly flashed aside, evading a Galaxy Impact that suddenly appeared from Garp.

Facing Lu Ge's evasive maneuver, which looked as though he had long since foreseen the attack, Garp wore a solemn expression. "Could this brat's Observation Haki have already reached the level of foreseeing the future?"

At this moment, Garp's heart was filled with nothing short of shock. Peak Three Types of Haki, a near-awakened Devil Fruit ability, peerless swordsmanship, and hand-to-hand combat techniques that didn't belong to him—could a person's focus really span so many options? And what was more, each one had practically reached the pinnacle.

Right at that moment, Akainu's furious roar suddenly rang out. "Lu Ge, go to hell!!"

Fire soared into the sky. Transforming into a terrifying molten magma body, Akainu leaped high into the air, plunging downward from above. He clenched his palm into a fist and smashed it down in a single blow!

That gigantic molten fist, resembling a descending meteor, burned with raging flames and crashed down toward Lu Ge like an extraterrestrial meteorite. With its fierce momentum, the very sky rippled slightly as a result.

"That guy is actually fine?"

Facing Akainu's ferocious attack, Lu Ge wore a look of surprise. He had put his all into that previous punch, even employing Conqueror's Haki Infusion, yet even with such a direct hit straight to the chest, this guy was still able to move.

"As expected of a guy who could take an attack from Whitebeard head-on and still stand back up. This defense is truly astonishing! Is it Armament Haki hardening combined with Tekkai of the Six Powers? The Six Powers actually seem like a pretty decent skill."

"Still, you really don't learn your lesson."

With a thought from Lu Ge, a dark door quietly formed in midair.

Opening doors at will like this was naturally the coordination of the Door-Door Fruit and the Time-Time Fruit. Ordinary users of the Door-Door Fruit's Devil Fruit Ability certainly couldn't pull it off, because opening doors usually required them to touch things with their hands.

The reason Lu Ge could open doors however he pleased was because of the Time-Time Fruit. The Time-Time Fruit could not only foresee the future and travel through time, but it could also brand a target with a time mark. Anyone marked with a time mark would be influenced by the Time-Time Fruit's Devil Fruit Ability, such as being dragged through time or having their time accelerated so they aged in an instant—though Lu Ge hadn't yet mastered that particular capability.

However, precisely because this time mark could attach itself to any matter, Lu Ge discovered that as long as the time mark was present, he could still open doors at will without even using his hands. This was one of the reasons why Lu Ge was able to wield the Door-Door Fruit with such marvelous skill.

Of course, the most crucial reason was that his development of the Door-Door Fruit had reached an extremely high degree, nearly bordering on awakening, which was why he could achieve such coordination with the Time-Time Fruit. If it were merely the simple application of the Door-Door Fruit, he still wouldn't have been able to achieve this kind of effortless door-opening.

The moment the dark door appeared, Akainu already sensed the slight fluctuation. He kicked off empty air, and his body abruptly veered mid-turn, dodging that dark door.

Seeing this, Lu Ge slightly furrowed his brow. "Geppo? This guy's battle instinct is truly freakish. In just this short moment, he's already able to sense my door-opening trajectory and react to it."