This slash shook the entire sea!!

"Crack-BOOOOM!!!!!"

The instant their blades met, the world fell eerily silent for one ten-thousandth of a second... then space itself collapsed!

Two forces of vibration, born from the same source yet utterly opposed, clashed wildly between their blades, devouring and annihilating each other!

Gern's vibration particles, capable of high-frequency cutting and collapse-induced annihilation, tried to pierce and break down Whitebeard's vast, overwhelming shock waves that shattered everything in their path.

Whitebeard's vibrations, meanwhile, surged like a boundless tsunami, crushing forward with absolute power to pulverize Gern's supremely condensed "point"!

Compressed to its limit, the atmosphere formed a momentary sphere of absolute vacuum around them, warping the light!

Gern and Whitebeard roared in unison, their voices seeming to explode from the depths of their souls: "Shatter... for me!!"

A blinding radiance erupted-not white light, but chaotic colors spilling out because space itself could no longer contain them.

A devastating shock wave expanded outward in a perfect sphere, utterly silent!

"RUMBLE-BOOM!!!" Only when the shock wave swept past did the sound finally arrive!

The entire stretch of sea fell into absolute, deathly silence, followed by a terrifying sight that defied comprehension.

A perfectly smooth, bottomless abyss thousands of meters across was forcibly "erased" from the sea!

As though lifted by an invisible giant hand, the seawater formed a ring of waterfalls towering into the clouds, surging backward into the sky!

This slash shook the entire sea!!

"Damn it..." The muscles in Gern's arms bulged. Black Blade: Eight Desolations shook violently, the vibration particles along its blade flashing madly as they tried to suppress Murakumogiri's power.

Yet Whitebeard's Murakumogiri remained steady as a rock, its white vibration light growing ever more dazzling!

For a moment, the two utterly different forces of vibration clashed wildly between their blades, compressing the atmosphere to its limit.

Astonishingly, as Gern pushed himself with reckless abandon, his highly condensed, collapsed vibration particles

actually began drilling backward into Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor power, eroding and breaking it down!

At the point of contact on Murakumogiri's edge, fine, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the white crystal, as though it had suffered hundreds of millions of high-frequency impacts!

When Whitebeard noticed this, his ever-present, hearty grin froze for the first time, and a flicker of genuine astonishment crossed the depths of his eyes!

"This Marine brat's ability... is it a Logia?! A vibration ability turned into a Logia?"

Before he finished speaking, the keel of Marco's ship, which had been pushed several nautical miles away, let out a chilling groan, overwhelmed and on the verge of snapping!

At the sight, Whitebeard's gaze sharpened. "Marine brat... your ability is far more terrifying than mine!

"And without a ship... I'd be in quite a bind."

"So, sorry about this!!" As he spoke, a crimson light erupted from the depths of Whitebeard's eyes, almost tangible!

No longer an invisible pressure, it became a thick, almost solid torrent of destruction, wreathed in dark red lightning, that thundered around Murakumogiri's blade!

Conqueror's Haki coating!!

The once-white vibration aura instantly turned an intertwined black and red!

"BANG-CRACK!!" All it took was the instant of contact!

"BANG!" In that single instant, Gern felt an unprecedented force bear down on him like an avalanche.

Black Blade: Eight Desolations let out a piercing wail as his vibration particles were forcibly scattered by Conqueror's Haki!

He had no chance to resist! His body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, carving a thousand-meter trench across the sea.

Only by forcing himself into elemental form-and because Whitebeard had not struck to kill-did he barely manage to crash back onto the warship's deck like a cannonball.

He plowed two charred furrows deep enough to expose the ship's frame before barely steadying his body on the brink of collapse.

Aboard the warship, Gern knelt on one knee deep in the shattered deck, his feet embedded in it. The combat uniform covering his entire right arm had long since turned to ash.

Beneath it lay a gruesome sight: torn muscle fibers, bones riddled with cracks, and blood pouring from an arm that resembled a shredded sack.

Black Blade: Eight Desolations was buried deep in the molten steel deck, its blade dull and lightless.

"Cough-agh!" Gern violently coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his organs. His body swayed violently, blood spilling continuously from the corners of his mouth.

He struggled to raise his head. Through his blurred vision, he could barely make out the figure standing like a mountain in the distance.

Out on the distant sea, Whitebeard stood proudly at his ship's bow. Murakumogiri, still wreathed in lingering black-and-red arcs of electricity, struck the deck heavily with a dull boom.

The lingering force of his Conqueror's Haki still crackled through the air, like countless tiny serpents of dark red lightning slithering about.

"Gurararara! To make me get serious, and even use Conqueror's Haki coating..."

Whitebeard's booming laughter rang out, while undisguised admiration gleamed in his eyes.

"You little brat... you're far too interesting!!"

My all-out strike... was merely "interesting"?

Amid the dizziness from excessive blood loss and the lingering pressure of Conqueror's Haki, Whitebeard's figure gradually vanished from Gern's sight.

Meanwhile, once Whitebeard had indeed left, the Marine warship was utterly silent.

Every Marine stood rooted to the spot, their eyes fixed on the figure kneeling on one knee on the deck.

Gern Reginald Sigma!

Just moments ago, they had witnessed this young Marine Second Lieutenant

clash head-on with the legendary monster of their era, a man ranked alongside Roger and Golden Lion-"Whitebeard," Edward Newgate!

He had even... forced Whitebeard to use Conqueror's Haki!

"W-was that really... Second Lieutenant Gern? Not Vice Admiral Gern?" a Marine asked, his voice trembling, barely able to hold his gun steady.

As far as he knew, only the strongest Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals, men like Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr, could fight those monsters.

"It was! He actually... traded blows with Whitebeard..." another man murmured, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"No, he didn't just trade blows..." A Marine Vice Admiral drew a deep breath, his voice low and awestruck.

"Didn't you hear what Whitebeard said just now? He admitted that Second Lieutenant Gern made him get serious."

In an instant, the way every Marine looked at Gern changed completely.

The contempt and doubt they had felt when picking him up at the West Blue Branch had become... reverence!

And mingled with it was even a trace of indescribable fervor!!

Yet Gern seemed oblivious to the gazes around him. He slowly raised his right hand, blood dripping from his fingertips, his entire arm still trembling uncontrollably.

"The gap... is still too great after all?" he murmured, his voice hoarse, yet carrying an unprecedented clarity.

But, surprisingly, his eyes shone brighter than ever!

That was not defeat, but... excitement!

"I saw it... I saw it..."

"What I'd been hoping for..." Before he could finish, his body finally gave out, and he pitched forward heavily!

"Second Lieutenant Gern!!"

At the sight of Gern collapsing, the Marines aboard the warship panicked, and several medics rushed forward frantically.