At the center of the ice field, on the battlefield stained dark red with blood and shattered ice, the fighting continued.
But at that moment, everyone's gaze was dragged in the same direction.
Akainu leaped from the warship's bow. The instant his boots crushed the ice, the entire sheet beneath his feet melted.
Magma poured from his arms, shoulders, and back. Its flowing orange-red glow scorched the surrounding ice with a sizzling hiss, sending white mist billowing upward.
He charged across the ice, heading straight for Norton!
Every step Akainu took collapsed the ice into a steaming crater. He accelerated, leaving the white mist trailing behind him like a long dragon.
"Hell Hound!"
His right arm turned entirely into magma as he swung. The fist of searing molten rock did not strike head-on, but snapped toward Norton's neck from the side like a hunting dog's fangs! The air ignited in its path, tracing a blinding orange-red streak!
It was too fast. So fast that the surrounding air had no time to escape and was compressed into a transparent wall by the force of the punch.
Norton turned his head, glanced at the fist, and raised his left hand. He spread his fingers and gently closed them around the magma.
The magma fist, hot enough to melt steel, was stopped cold by a single hand less than half a foot from Norton's neck.
Orange-red magma squeezed between his fingers and flowed over the back of his hand, hissing as white mist rose.
"That's hot!" Norton grinned and shook the lingering magma from his fingers.
The orange-red liquid fell onto the ice, burning steaming pits into its surface.
Akainu's pupils contracted slightly. Without answering, he stepped back half a pace and thrust both fists forward!
"Great Eruption!"
Two enormous molten fists broke