Shanks had no choice but to hold his longsword in front of him, simultaneously channeling his Armament Haki to protect himself.
Used to withstand the subsequent impact.
Shanks ' body was thrown backward by the shock, his feet carving two long furrows in the ground, and the gash in his hand widened, with blood dripping down the hilt of his sword.
But a smile played on his lips.
Because he saw that Garp had also taken a step back.
Although it's only one step.
But that was a setback for the naval hero; it was Shanks forced him back using Captain Roger's signature move.
And on that most "peaceful" battlefield.
Aokiji stopped slacking off the moment Roy unleashed his Conqueror's Haki.
Roy's Conqueror's Haki was all too familiar to him; whenever that guy got serious, he'd rely on being Conqueror's Haki user to unleash this attack.
This means he's about to unleash his deadly move.
He'd learned his lesson from Roy before, so he knew exactly what was going to happen next.
The ice beneath his feet suddenly shattered, Aokiji's figure flashed, transforming into an ice-blue streak that bypassed Beckman and charged straight at Akainu's battlefield.
Wherever it passed, the air condensed, and frost carved a crystalline path on the ground.
But Beckman was faster than him.
As the strategist of the Red Hair Pirates, Beckman had already anticipated this situation when Roy gave the order to assign opponents.
His greatest strength has never been one-on-one combat, so he had been waiting for this moment.
The moment Aokiji gave up paddling and went all out to support.
" Yasopp!" Beckman shouted.
The gunshot rang out almost simultaneously with his shout.
"Bang bang bang--!"
Three bullets, imbued with Armament Haki, formed a triangular shape, blocking Aokiji's path.
The trajectory is accurate to the millimeter, and the impact point is calculated to the millisecond, preemptively sealing off every possible change in the trajectory of the ice ball.
This was not a spur-of-the-moment response; it was a pre-planned ambush.
Aokiji was forced to break the ice path, his body twisting in mid-air to narrowly avoid three bullets.
The bullets grazed his ice armor, one of them grazing his temple and leaving a crack in the armor.
But he didn't stop. The moment he landed, he pushed off with his right foot, the ice cracked, and he accelerated again.
But he had barely started moving when Beckman was already waiting at his landing spot.
Beckman appeared less than five steps in front of Aokiji, holding a short gun in his left hand, the muzzle still emitting wisps of smoke from a fired bullet.
I already said that.
He raised the gun and pointed it at Aokiji's forehead.
"Your opponent is me."
Aokiji looked at Beckman, his brows furrowing slightly.
This vice-captain of the Red Hair Pirates may not be the strongest on this battlefield, but he is definitely the most troublesome.
The trouble wasn't due to a lack of strength, but rather the suffocating feeling of knowing every step was anticipated.
It's impossible to break through this kind of person and go to support Akainu without paying a price.
And at that moment—the earthen ball encasing Akainu exploded with a deafening roar.
Magma gushed out of the cracks, and the terrifying heat instantly vaporized the soil.
Before the fragments of the earthen ball could scatter, they were swallowed by the lava, turning into drops of dark red lava that rained down on the battlefield.
Akainu's figure burst forth from the magma, which surged around him, making him resemble a god of destruction emerging from a volcano.
The stinging pain in his brain had subsided, and the Gravity Suppression had been significantly reduced by Akainu's Armament Haki.
He was not injured. Although Roy's Mental Shock and the clay ball wrapped around him temporarily restrained him, they did not cause any real harm.
It only delayed things by a few seconds.
What can you do in a few seconds?
The moment the thought crossed Akainu's mind, he sensed the answer.
The space to his right rippled.
Space itself distorted in that instant, like a transparent cloth being pierced from the other side, and then a figure emerged from that distorted node.
Roy's figure flickered.
In that instant when Akainu broke through the earthen ball, his vision had not fully recovered, and his senses were still in disarray,
Roy had already locked onto the spatial node beside Akainu using his Telekinesis Domain, teleporting himself directly from tens of meters away to Akainu's right side.
Akainu suddenly turned his head.
He saw a face.
A face that seemed to be smiling but wasn't.
The expression on that face wasn't murderous intent, anger, or mockery.
It's something even more infuriating—effortlessness.
From the start of the battle until now, from dodging to counterattacking, from Haki to using Devil Fruit abilities, this man has maintained the same expression.
It was as if this battle against the Marine Admiral was merely a casual pastime for him.
" Admiral Akainu."
Roy's voice was soft, as if he were greeting an old friend.
"Try this trick."
Dark red arcs of electricity crackled wildly across the jet-black blade of Shusui.
The power gathered on the blade, causing the air to vibrate and buzz.
Akainu's pupils shrank to pinpoints. His Observation Haki was screaming warnings, but he knew it was too late.
There's no escaping it.
Roy's timing was too precise; the lingering pain in his brain hadn't completely subsided yet.
The Gravity Suppression was still interfering with his reaction speed, and the turbulent lava flow after the earthen ball exploded obscured his perception of Roy.
More importantly, Roy sensed that he had been waiting for this attack for an entire afternoon.
From dodging Akainu's Great Eruption the first time, to repeatedly striking Akainu's mouth with the back of his sword until blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
This was the moment he had been waiting for, waiting for Akainu's anger to reach its breaking point, waiting for him to take the initiative and demand a direct confrontation.
When his attention was drawn to that inevitable crack in his anger.
Then, a single strike will decide the outcome.
Shusui swept out horizontally.
This strike was completely unpretentious, just a simple horizontal sweep.
From right to left, the force originates from the waist, travels through the shoulder, and explodes onto the blade.
But the power contained in that strike caused the air on the entire battlefield to freeze.
Dark red arcs of electricity, Conqueror's Haki Coating, exploded along the path the blade traversed the air, tearing fine black cracks into the very space itself.
There's not much Akainu can do.
He could only frantically channel Armament Haki into his waist at the last moment before the blade struck his body.
A dark, Armament Haki luster appeared on his waist, and a metallic texture emerged from his hardened skin—this was the limit of his defensive capabilities.
"Boom--!!!"
The power of Conqueror's Haki Coating erupted even before the blade touched Akainu's body.
The dark red arc of electricity tore through Akainu's magma armor on his waist first; the hardened magma layer, harder than steel, was shredded like paper in front of the Conqueror's Coating.
Armament Haki's defenses only held for a moment before being pierced by that overwhelming force.
Akainu felt as if he had been hit in the side by a meteorite.
It doesn't feel like being cut by a sharp weapon.
It felt like being crushed. The force poured in from his side, penetrating his skin, muscles, and internal organs, raging wildly within him.
Dark red arcs of electricity exploded inside his body, tearing at his flesh, shattering his bones, and crushing his internal organs.
"Cough--!"
Akainu's body caved inward from his waist, forming a visible curve. The fabric of his shirt was instantly pulverized, revealing his bruised and purple skin underneath.
The blood vessels under the skin bulged out, and blood was squeezed out of the pores under high pressure, forming a fine mist of blood.
A large mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed from his throat.
It dispersed into a bloody mist in the air, a horrifying sight under the sunlight.