"Damn it, he knows Fish-Man Karate."
The Donquixote Family had a Fish-Man among their ranks; how could Gladius not know about Fish-Man Karate?
Under Bellamy's control, the ocean current transformed into an iron curtain, hurtling towards Gladius. Bellamy's own figure was hidden beneath it, staying close to the current, following right behind.
At this moment, Gladius was forced into a dilemma. Should he save himself, or should he attack Bellamy?
To save himself, he just needed to trigger a massive explosion and he could blast his way out from above. But Bellamy would certainly take that opportunity to attack. With Bellamy's reaction speed, if Gladius's attention was divided for even a moment, he would surely be unable to defend himself.
If he attacked Bellamy, he could probably repel him, but the falling seawater was clearly the more dangerous threat. A punch from Bellamy might not kill him, but being drenched in seawater certainly would.
"This is the only way!"
A hint of madness flashed in Gladius's eyes. As a user of the Pop-Pop Fruit, his most powerful move wasn't detonating inorganic objects, but detonating himself. Ever since eating the Pop-Pop Fruit, Gladius's entire body had become a highly explosive substance. But this was obviously not a move to be used lightly. If he hadn't been forced into such a corner, Gladius would never have used this technique.
"You asked for this, Bellamy!" he roared. "Burn to ashes in the flames! Ultimate Explosion!"
Gladius's body began to rapidly inflate like a balloon. In the blink of an eye, he had swollen into a perfectly round sphere. At that moment, Bellamy's instincts screamed at him with a sense of fatal danger.
"Is this your final move?" Did he really think a mutual destruction tactic would be that simple? Was he just going to stand there and take it?
Gear Third: Iron Body!
Godspeed: Shave!
Bellamy's hands stopped moving, and the surging ocean current instantly fell away. Just then, a world-shaking explosion erupted from ahead.
In the seas near Sun and Moon Island, following a deafening roar that shook the area for hundreds of miles, a massive mushroom cloud shot into the sky. The entire roiling battlefield was stunned into a momentary silence by the terrifying blast.
But then, a voice cut through the air, and the battle grew even more intense.
"Don't stop! Keep killing!" Bellamy's figure appeared in the air, completely unharmed. At his command, Drake and the others raised their weapons once more and plunged back into the fray.
Such speed, but unfortunately, the blast radius was too small, Bellamy thought.
The suicide blast had only covered a few hundred meters. With Bellamy already prepared, it couldn't harm him in the slightest. But he knew that Gladius wouldn't be out of the fight because of this. A user of the Pop-Pop Fruit could not be harmed by their own explosions.
"Now that the ship is destroyed, let's see where you're going to stand."
Gladius's ship and some of his combatants had been completely annihilated in the massive explosion. If Lao G hadn't been kicked into the sea by Bellamy, he likely would have been blown to bits or at least seriously injured. The raw explosive power of that attack even surpassed Bellamy's own maximum output.
But the true power of the Pop-Pop Fruit was far greater than this. If Gladius could grasp even a fraction of the mysteries of "the nucleus," the power of this fruit could reach an absolutely terrifying level. Sengoku had once described the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as a power capable of destroying the world. In Bellamy's eyes, the Pop-Pop Fruit was in no way inferior.
However, for a worthless character like Gladius, even if you explained the concept of a nucleus to him, he probably couldn't develop any truly powerful moves. Gladius must have had the Pop-Pop Fruit for many years; any abilities he was capable of developing, he would have developed already. This was his limit.
A moment later, as the mushroom cloud dissipated, Gladius's figure fell from the sky. Having returned to his original form from his explosive state, he looked exceptionally wretched. The custom-made armor that once covered his body was now mostly shattered. His spiky, hedgehog-like hair was mostly burned away.
Just by sensing his aura, Bellamy could tell that the last move had consumed at least half of Gladius's stamina.
"So a move like that can only be used twice."
Bellamy had easily sounded out Gladius's limits. If he had no other tricks up his sleeve, then he could just prepare to die.
At this point, there was nothing for Gladius to stand on in the sea below. Bellamy didn't know if he could fly, but even in the New World, flight was an extremely rare ability.
"If you can't fly, things are about to get interesting."
It went without saying what happened to a Devil Fruit user who fell into the sea. How would Gladius respond? Bellamy spun and kicked out several vacuum blades, making Gladius's escape just a little more difficult.
Meanwhile, Gladius, who was plummeting from the sky, was in a state of panic.
"Lao G, you bastard, get out here and save me!"
Gladius did, in fact, have a way to keep himself from falling into the sea, but then the fight would turn into him standing on the ocean's surface against a monster who could fly anywhere he pleased. How could he possibly win a fight like that?
Just as he was about to hit the water, two discs suddenly shot out from under his feet.
"Frog-Web Suction Cups!"
The specially made suction cups landed on the surface of the sea, creating a foothold for him. Immediately after, his spiky hair began to rapidly expand, launching itself towards Bellamy's vacuum blades.
"Steel Helmet Burst!"
A violent explosion shattered all the vacuum blades, but the residual force sent his body skittering across the sea's surface for several hundred meters. Gladius's footing was unstable, and he nearly fell into the water.
"Lao G, if you don't come out now, I'm going to die!" He was at his wit's end, now shouting for help from his companion whose whereabouts were unknown.
"Don't worry," a strange voice suddenly sounded in Gladius's ear. "He's still swimming at the bottom of the sea."
"What!"
Gladius was startled, but it was too late to react.
A single, jet-black finger silently pierced the back of his head, turning his brain into paste.
As it turned out, while Gladius was being knocked back hundreds of meters, Bellamy had zipped through the air, soundlessly appearing behind him. The Silent Step technique had left Gladius completely unaware of his presence.
This Assassination Finger was a stroke of genius on Bellamy's part.
"Assassination can be quite useful sometimes," he mused, though he wasn't particularly fond of this style of fighting.