The two blades collided,
black-red and dark-purple Haki lightning tearing furiously at each other, roaring.
Beneath their feet, the remains of the island, already split in two, could no longer withstand the strain.
The instant they clashed, it disintegrated completely into countless chunks of rock that plunged toward the raging sea below.
"Fighting that bastard Roger was a blast too, but it was mostly a contest of Haki!"
"But you, Gern! You've let me feel what another version of myself, on an even higher level, would be like!!"
"So come on! Take the title of 'strongest' from me!!"
Whitebeard laughed wildly, turning Murakumogiri's downward chop into a sweep aimed at Gern's waist.
"Sorry." Gern's gaze sharpened. Not daring to take the blow head-on, he detonated a tremor beneath his feet. His figure blurred as he shot backward, escaping by a hair.
"That title... is already mine!"
As he spoke, Gern sheathed Eight Desolations at his waist and unleashed his Observation Haki to predict Whitebeard's movements.
"Heavenquake: Divine Mind..."
Before the blade moved, Vibration Particles had already torn through space along its future trajectory.
"Slash!!"
As the word left his lips, a purple slash wrapped in high-frequency tremors shot out-without him even drawing his blade!!
"Hah!" Whitebeard neither dodged nor retreated. His left fist, shrouded in intense white light, hammered forward!
Crack!
The space directly ahead shattered, instantly filling with spiderweb cracks that formed an invisible barrier.
The slash struck the barrier and was shaken apart!
But the instant the tremor barrier dissipated, Gern transformed into Vibration Particles and closed in again through the dispersing molecular turbulence!
He used the brief gap in Whitebeard's defense to unleash Tremor Flash!
"Black Quake: Flurry!"
Gern's fists became a blur. Compressed Vibration Particles around his knuckles made the space surrounding them warp faintly.
Each