Susanoo!

"Canine Red Lotus!"

At Kizaru's reminder, Akainu immediately reacted. His hands turned into fiery-red magma, and he raised a fist and hurled a punch at Ye Yang.

The magma, radiating terrifying heat, formed into a dog in midair and charged straight at Ye Yang, baring its fangs and claws with an imposing air!

Ye Yang's expression remained indifferent. He glanced up without making any attempt to defend or dodge. His gleaming black eyes suddenly changed, turning blood-red with three black dots forming a circle in the middle. The mere sight of them gave an ominous feeling. These were none other than Madara Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!

His lips parted slightly as he said mildly, "Susanoo."

Rumble!

Canine Red Lotus struck the ground, instantly melting the entire stretch of earth and releasing white, scalding steam and pungent black smoke.

The Marines all craned their necks in anticipation. None of them had seen Ye Yang make any defensive move, and they wondered whether taking that attack head-on would kill him outright.

"Is he dead?"

"He should be, right? How could he survive taking Admiral Sakazuki's attack head-on?"

"That's not necessarily true. It's not like you didn't see how strong his accomplice was. Maybe he's an expert too?"

"I'd rather he died. Then we could pull out and go back!"

Akainu's face was grim as he frowned at the spot where his attack had sent thick smoke billowing up.

He would not naively assume, as the Marines did, that the attack could take his opponent's life. Even inflicting a little damage would be a good result.

Boom!

Just then, the spot Sakazuki had attacked suddenly exploded.

Then, under everyone's gazes, stunned rigid with horror, a skeletal giant wreathed in blue flames, with two heads and four arms and standing hundreds of meters tall, slowly rose from the ground. Inside it, Ye Yang stood with a calm expression, looking down at everyone below!

In midair, Kizaru stared in horror at one of Susanoo's heads before him and blurted out, "What kind of monster is this?!"

"Daring to get distracted in battle-you certainly live up to the title of Marine Admiral."

Ulquiorra suddenly appeared behind him. He coated the Moonlight Sword in his hand with pitch-black Armament Haki and slashed straight down at Kizaru.

Kizaru quickly twisted around and formed Ama no Murakumo with both hands, blocking Ulquiorra's strike.

Below, Akainu looked at Susanoo, which blotted out the sky and sun before him, and his expression turned exceedingly ugly. "Damn it, another awakened ability user?"

With such overwhelming might, he could think of nothing other than an awakened ability user.

And this was no ordinary Awakening, either. He was probably an awakened Mythical Zoan Fruit user!

A single organization actually had two Admiral-level awakened ability users. This was almost on the level of a Four Emperors pirate crew.

A force of this caliber had lurked in the shadows for so long without them knowing a thing. What exactly was its purpose?!

"Great Eruption!"

Knowing full well that he could not sit and wait for death, Akainu punched straight out. Blazing magma condensed in midair into a gigantic magma fist, trailing red flames as it hurtled toward Susanoo!

Ye Yang watched the incoming magma fist, a trace of disdain flashing through his eyes.

"Don't embarrass yourself by bringing out such childish tricks!"

He controlled Susanoo, raising a long blade formed from chakra and slashing it fiercely down at the gigantic magma fist!

Rumble!

One blue, one red-the chakra blade collided with the gigantic magma fist, unleashing a deafening explosion. After a stalemate lasting less than a second, the chakra blade cleaved the magma fist apart, sending streams of magma scattering down in every direction.

"How is that possible?!"

Seeing the gigantic magma fist he had launched cleaved apart with a single slash, Akainu was startled.

That was his magma. Even Whitebeard, the strongest of the Four Emperors, could not have dispersed it so easily using his Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers.

Could this guy be stronger than Whitebeard?!

The moment that thought arose, he immediately quashed it.

Who was Whitebeard? He was the acknowledged World's Strongest Man, with Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers capable of destroying heaven and earth. This guy couldn't possibly be stronger than Whitebeard. Those strange powers of his must counter mine.

But one thing was beyond doubt: this guy... was also at the level of the Four Emperors!

A fighter at the level of the Four Emperors was already beyond what I could handle alone. If this fight continued, we might be the ones who never left.

I have to find an opening to retreat and report the situation here to headquarters!

The thought of retreat had only just arisen in Akainu's mind when he looked up and saw a gigantic blue blade growing ever larger in his eyes.

His pupils contracted. He wanted to defend himself, but it was already too late. He could only raise both fists and release two streams of magma, trying to create a chance to dodge.

However, the magma he released could not hold it off for even a moment. The instant it touched the gigantic blue blade, it was cleaved apart. He could only watch helplessly as the blade grew ever larger in his vision.

Rumble!

With one slash, the entire ground shattered in an instant. Huge cracks spread like a spiderweb, leaving everything within a hundred-meter radius devastated beyond recognition.

At the center of the attack, streams of magma slowly gathered into Akainu's body. He slowly straightened, his eyes filled with confusion.

He had thought that blow would surely kill him, yet he was unharmed. Ye Yang had not used Armament Haki in that strike, and attacks without an Armament Haki coating were completely harmless to Logia users.

Could it be that this guy's weapon couldn't be coated with Armament Haki?

That guess had barely formed, with no time to verify it, before Susanoo swung its gigantic blue blade down again, cleaving him back into liquid magma.

Before he could reform his solid body, Susanoo slashed down yet again, scattering him once more.

The first time, the second time, the third time...

Only after being scattered three whole times did Akainu finally understand.

It was not that Ye Yang's weapon could not be coated with Armament Haki. Rather, his opponent was deliberately swatting him like a fly.

Being cleaved into liquid again and again without being able to fight back left Akainu so frustrated that he wanted to cough up blood!

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