"What--!"
Imu squeezed his fingers tightly, and the Iron Thunder made a soft "crack" sound.
A fine crack appeared on the hammerhead.
"That's impossible!"
Loki roared, veins bulging on his arms, trying to snatch the hammer from Imu's hand.
But Iron Thunder remained completely still.
Imu's hand was welded to the hammerhead; no matter how hard Loki tried, he couldn't pull it out.
"Do you think you can challenge God with just a fruit and a hammer?"
Imu's voice was so cold it sent chills down your spine.
With his other hand he held a knife, the Black Blade slicing in an arc from Loki's chest to his waist.
Loki's body was torn apart like paper by this blow, and black blood gushed from the wound.
His massive body fell backward, but Imu didn't give him a chance to fall.
Imu's knee rammed into Loki's abdomen, sending Loki flying into the air.
Then he teleported above Loki, gripped the Black Blade in a reverse grip, and stabbed it down from mid-air, engulfed in black flames.
"Boom--!"
Loki was pierced by the Black Blade, his massive body pinned to the ground.
Black flames surged from the wound and spread throughout his body.
"Ughh ...
This is Imu.
When he gets serious, even Loki, Awakening Nidhogg, can't withstand it.
In the distance, Luffy's pace quickened.
He watched as Loki was pinned to the ground by Imu, his chest wound throbbing again, but his steps did not falter.
"Faster, faster..." Luffy gritted his teeth, unleashing the full power of Gear Fifth's steam, his body flying as if propelled by the wind.
"Hehe... Hahaha!"
Black and red Conqueror's Haki Inazuma exploded from his body once more.
Using the ground's elasticity, Luffy's speed increased once again.
"Smack!"
The air was compressed to its limit, and then burst forth with amazing elasticity.
Luffy, like a shooting star, streaked across half the battlefield, his fist, imbued with Conqueror's Coating, slamming towards Imu.
Imu was about to pull the Black Blade out of Loki's body.
Luffy's fist was already behind him.
This punch contained all of Luffy's anger, pain, and protectiveness towards his comrades.
" Gum-Gum -- Giant Bazooka--!"
A fist slammed into Imu's back.
"Boom--!"
Imu's body was blasted away.
He flew hundreds of meters, smashing through all the obstacles in his path—ruins, boulders, ancient trees—before finally crashing into a mountainside. The entire mountainside collapsed with a deafening roar, sending dust billowing into the sky.
Luffy next to Loki, still panting.
He glanced down at Loki, Loki, though pinned to the ground, was still conscious.
"How did you get like this?" Luffy said.
"What's it to you?"
Loki forced out a few words through gritted teeth and struggled to slowly pull the Black Blade from his chest.
Black flames burned on his hands, but he refused to let go.
That guy is my rival!
After the knife was pulled out, Loki staggered to his feet. His wound healed rapidly, but his complexion was extremely poor.
Luffy rolled his eyes:
"What are you talking about? That guy is also my opponent."
Whoever hits it first gets to keep it.
"You bastard..." Loki glared angrily at Luffy.
"You're the bastard! Didn't I knock him away first?!" Luffy glared back defiantly.
The two actually started arguing on the battlefield.
The sound was so loud that even the Straw Hat Pirates in the distance could hear it.
Zoro and Sanji both wore the same speechless expression, a rare occurrence for them.
"These two idiots." Zoro wiped the blood from his face.
Sanji spat out the blood and foam from his mouth. "They're a match made in heaven."
Meanwhile, on the distant sea, the fleet of the Hachinosu Allied Forces was rapidly approaching.
On deck, Bullet was already impatient.
He leaped to the bow of the ship, his muscles bulging, the stripes of a white tiger emerging from beneath his skin, and his pupils transforming into beastly eyes.
"Hahaha--The day has finally come!"
Tesoro stood behind him, gold seeping from the gaps in the deck and condensing into a thin layer of golden armor on his body.
Three bolts of Lightning struck down from the Thundercloud of the Ark Maxim, leaping at Tesoro's fingertips.
"After this war, I want to gild the whole world," Tesoro said.
Kaido has already flown over the fleet.
The azure dragon's body gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and its roar drowned out the waves.
" Imu--! I'm coming--!"
Roy to the very front of everyone.
His Telekinesis formed a transparent barrier in the air, absorbing all the wind pressure generated by his high-speed flight.
"Don't panic."
Roy's voice rang in everyone's ears, neither too loud nor too soft, like a sword quenched in ice water.
"There's only one thing you need to do—"
"Crush all enemies except Imu."
"And Imu, let those two restless suns take care of him."
Roy's lips curled into a slight smile, and a bright glint flashed in his eyes.
·········
On the battlefield, Imu Luffy, crawled out of the mountain wall.
His black robe was torn in several places, and the hem was scraped to shreds by the stones.
Black blood slid from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the ground with a sizzling sound, scalding the scorched earth.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked down at the back of his hand.
Black blood.
Eight hundred years.
He lived for eight hundred years and never shed a drop of blood.
Being punched and bleeding by this brat enraged him more than any physical injury.
"A mere mortal... how dare you..."
Imu's voice was forced out through clenched teeth, carrying a coldness that seemed inhuman.
His fingers slowly tightened, the sound from between his knuckles like bones grinding against each other.
He raised his head.
The Conqueror's Haki erupted in full force.
Black and red Inazuma erupted from him again, like a Tatsumaki that pierced the sky and earth, engulfing the surrounding debris, black flames, and air.
The clouds in the sky were torn to shreds.
Everyone on the battlefield felt this pressure.
It's not as brutal and savage as Kaido's Conqueror's Haki, nor as precise and sharp as Roy's Conqueror's Haki.
Imu's Conqueror's Haki is pure and utterly overwhelming.
Like an ocean poured down from the sky, it flooded in from the top of the head, spreading along the blood vessels and nerves, soaking the soul within.
The giant warriors knelt down one by one.
Chopper's body uncontrollably transformed back into his reindeer form, his limbs trembling.
Nami and Usopp collapsed to the ground.
Zoro was forced to kneel on one knee, barely able to support himself with his sword stuck in the ground.
Sanji's legs bent slightly, but he mustered all his strength to stand up again.
Gaban lay on the ground, but showed no reaction.
He looked at Imu in the sky, as if he were witnessing an ending that should have come long ago.
"This is..." he said with difficulty, " Imu...?"