At the site of the Cliff-Splitting Sword.
Sakazuki and Whitebeard both noticed the change in Roger.
Hovering in midair, Whitebeard naturally knew what had happened.
A trace of guilt flashed through his eyes.
Then he fixed Sakazuki with a fierce stare.
Sakazuki, meanwhile, had finally recovered somewhat.
He reformed his body and gave Whitebeard a mocking smile.
Neither attacked, tacitly choosing to recover their strength and wait for an opening.
They could be ruthless toward their enemies or risk their lives to kill them.
But only when they had some confidence of success.
In their current condition, one wrong move could kill them both.
No one truly wanted to die.
Sakazuki now stood on the ruins of the Cliff-Splitting Sword, barely above the sea.
If he slipped into the water, there would be no saving him.
Whitebeard was in much the same position, with injuries even worse than Sakazuki's.
Recovery took time. Getting dragged into the water by Sakazuki would not be worth it.
Time ticked slowly by.
As the final crack beneath Whitebeard's feet vanished in midair, both men moved at once.
Sakazuki plunged both hands into the solidified lava beneath him.
He activated his power, continuously drawing magma up from underground.
"Magma Land Formation!"
Just as Whitebeard descended from the air, a quake bubble wrapped around his foot.
Sakazuki pulled his hands free and darted aside.
Whitebeard stomped on the spot where Sakazuki had just used his power.
Crack!
His power erupted, sending shock waves surging downward.
Cracks spread across the ground amid a rumbling tremor.
The ground rose slightly, as though something were pushing it up from below.
No magma erupted from the surface.
Instead, magma continuously spilled out around the solidified Cliff-Splitting Sword, spreading outward.
In mere moments.
The total area of solid ground had more