"Your opponent is me!!"
"Is that so?" Gern grinned, glancing at the scar on Shanks's chest. "Looks like you've forgotten the pain now that the wound's healed."
"If you kneel again this time, I won't grab your hair. I'll cut off your head!!"
"Heh. Take it yourself, if you can!"
As Shanks finished speaking, he drove his wrist forward. Griffon pressed down, actually forcing Gern's Slash back half an inch!
At the same time, his left leg swept sideways, kicking straight at Gern's right ribs!!
Gern reacted just as quickly.
Rather than pull his blade back, he used Shanks's upward pressure to lean backward until his body was almost parallel to the sea, letting the kick skim past his chest.
Meanwhile, his newly freed left hand gathered high-energy Vibration Particles at its fingertips and aimed at Shanks.
"Sorry, I'm disabled myself, so don't get jealous!"
"Heavenquake: Crying Light Five Blossoms in Full Bloom!"
Five straight, pale particle beams shot directly at Shanks's face!!
Shanks's pupils contracted. Griffon snapped back, its guard barely managing to deflect three of them.
"Clang!" Three crisp rings sounded, and the lingering vibrations left his wrist slightly numb.
Gern had already used the recoil to slam both feet against the wall of water behind him!
"BOOM!!!"
The water wall exploded. Amid the spray, Gern shot backward like a cannonball, instantly escaping the hurricane corridor's central suppression zone.
But just as he broke free, the light overhead abruptly dimmed.
Dragon had leaped high into the air at some point, his dark green coat snapping in the wind. His hands were clasped together, and between his palms,
a highly compressed, violently spinning ball of gray-green wind had taken shape.
He looked down, his gaze icy.
"Tornado."
He pressed both palms downward.
The wind ball did not fall directly.