Roger wasn't bothered by Sakazuki's mocking tone. He just grinned.
The Conqueror's Haki swirling around his blade thickened, crackling in the air. With a sharp slash, he unleashed a concentrated wave of energy—like a blade of light—that tore through the space between them, screaming toward his opponent.
Sakazuki's eyes sharpened. In a flash, both his arms were wrapped in Armament Haki. He raised his left arm diagonally, bracing it against the incoming strike.
Clang!
With his right hand clenched into a fist, he drove his elbow into his own left arm with explosive power. The force surged through his body and redirected the dark blade of energy. It veered off course and shot toward the forest behind him.
Boom!
A mushroom cloud billowed into the sky. A gust of wind roared across the battlefield, followed by a wave of blistering heat. The force cleared the dense black smoke that had cloaked the town.
And then—
Swoosh!
Both men vanished from sight. A second later, their bodies collided in midair, only to disappear again.
Boom!
The ground beneath their last clash erupted like a buried bomb. Cracks split the earth as molten magma burst through the surface, flinging debris and molten rock high into the air.
The clash of steel echoed without pause. Their afterimages flickered around the battlefield like phantoms, moving faster than the eye could follow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Pillars of magma shot up like geysers. The two fighters reappeared high above the ground. Sakazuki's eyes glinted, sharp and dangerous.
Clang!
His pitch-black left hand gripped Roger's sword. Sparks flew as their Haki collided. With his right hand, sharpened to a spearhead by hardened Haki, he struck toward the enemy's heart.
But the pirate's left hand, also covered in Haki, caught Sakazuki's wrist before it could land.
Crack!
The faint sound of bones snapping rang out. However, the vice admiral didn't flinch. He turned his right hand into a claw and clamped it tightly onto Roger's wrist. At the same time, his right leg surged with Haki and drove toward the man's knee.
Clang!
Roger countered the attack head-on with a kick of his own. The two locked in brutal close-quarters combat, their bodies radiating sheer force.
Suddenly, six magma vents opened across Sakazuki's back.
With a thunderous roar, jets of magma blasted out like rocket engines. Still locked together, they shot toward the coastline, crashing through boulders and trees in a fiery blur.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each impact left a trail of destruction, and the heat around the vice admiral grew more intense and wild. Red light surged from his body as he clung tightly to Roger.
The overwhelming heat triggered alarm bells in the pirate captain's mind as Sakazuki's eyes burned with a hint of madness.
"Magma Burst!"
Roger's pupils shrank. There was no time to react—
BOOM!!!
A monstrous explosion erupted, and a towering column of magma surged into the sky, engulfing the entire beach in a flood of fire and smoke.
The molten tide poured out endlessly, consuming everything. Within seconds, trees, rocks, and sand vanished beneath the seething wave.
The earth itself shattered at the center of the blast. Tremors rippled across the island, shaking it like a ship in a storm. Blistering heatwaves swept across the land, dragging thick smoke and magma along with them. Like a fiery mudslide, the molten destruction devoured all in its path.
Where the beach had been, only a colossal crater remained—over a thousand meters wide and a hundred meters deep. At its center, magma bubbled and frothed.
And there, standing amid the inferno, were the two men facing each other.
Magma flowed from Sakazuki's body in thick streams. Whether it was blood or liquefied rock, it was impossible to tell. Cracks webbed across his body, refusing to close, his magma form flickering under the strain.
Roger was still standing tall, but even he couldn't emerge unscathed from an explosion of that magnitude. Even with Armament Haki, his body was riddled with numerous small wounds.
Half of his coat had been burned away. And under the extreme heat, there was no sign of blood—everything had been vaporized.
The usual grin was gone from Roger's face. He stared at Sakazuki with cold intensity.
"Kid," he growled. "Do you have a death wish?"
Sakazuki met his gaze calmly.
"I do."
Boom!
A fresh crater formed beneath them as their feet pushed off the ground. Their silhouettes vanished again. Twin shockwaves crashed into each other midair. The impact sent slicing wind blades flying in all directions, shredding everything nearby.
Moments later, a figure was launched into the air and thrown backward. Roger appeared right behind, chasing without pause. He raised his foot and stomped down toward the falling vice admiral.
Sakazuki raised an arm, coated in Armament Haki, and blocked just in time. The impact drove him into the earth with devastating force.
From above, Roger didn't hesitate. He gripped his sword in both hands. The air twisted around the blade as Haki condensed into a visible aura.
He slashed downward.
Sakazuki didn't think twice; he rolled to the side. Roger's blade struck the ground, splitting it apart. A surge of magma erupted from the fissure.
Seizing the opening, Sakazuki activated his Devil Fruit.
A massive magma gauntlet formed, wrapping around his right arm. A large exhaust port opened on his shoulder. Armament Haki coated every inch of the weaponized limb.
He aimed it straight at Roger. With a deafening blast, volatile magma erupted from the back of the gauntlet, propelling the molten punch forward with violent speed.
Clang!
Boom!
Roger reached out with his left hand and grabbed the gauntlet, holding it back a split second. But the massive force launched him through the air, slamming him into the lava at the bottom of the crater.
Embedded into the lava-slick rock, Roger grinned savagely. With his left hand, he grasped Sakazuki's right arm. His right hand raised his sword, Haki swirling violently along the blade as he brought it down hard.
Splat!
Too close to dodge, Sakazuki managed to block with his own Haki for just a moment. He activated Life Return. His body shrank slightly in an instant. Then he used the technique again, causing the bones in his shoulder to swell and tighten.
At the same time, he snapped his head sideways, clamping down on the blade that had already dug a few inches into his neck. Blood and magma hissed together.
His eyes stayed locked on Roger.
"Magma Burst."
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