"Jie hahaha! Since you're so eager to die, I'll gladly fulfill your wish!"
Kabalu raised his head, eyes gleaming with madness. In the next instant, he kicked off the ground with explosive force—his entire body shot forward like a black bullet, aiming straight for Kronos!
Seeing Kabalu charge head-on, Kronos didn't underestimate him.
With a calm expression, he activated his Devil Fruit power. A thick black mist slowly spread from his right hand until it wrapped his entire arm, forming a dense, armor-like gauntlet.
As the distance between them rapidly closed, Kronos carefully judged the perfect moment to strike.
Just as he was about to swing his armored fist toward Kabalu's face—
Boom!
A sharp, cone-shaped pillar of earth suddenly shot up from beneath him, aiming straight for his chest!
Fortunately, Kronos' advanced Observation Haki sensed it the moment it formed. But it had come so abruptly, he could only barely react in time.
He quickly created a spatial barrier on his flank and used it to leap into the air, narrowly dodging the earthen spike!
Had it been an ordinary person, they would've been impaled before realizing what had even happened.
"Jie hahaha! As expected from a pirate with a 3.4 billion bounty! You actually dodged that!"
Despite the failure of his sneak attack, Kabalu just laughed maniacally.
"But that's not the only surprise I prepared for you!"
With a wild swing of both arms, the ground around Kronos began to quake.
The moment Kronos landed and tried to stabilize himself, two massive walls of earth erupted from either side—rising rapidly and enclosing him from both directions!
This was all part of Kabalu's ability—his Lion Fruit let him manipulate earth and terrain at will.
Kronos, now trapped inside the earthen walls, remained still.
"Jie hahaha! This ability is ridiculously convenient, don't you think?! Have you realized how powerful I am, Kronos?!"
Without waiting, Kabalu commanded the twin earth walls to collapse inward—squeezing together with immense force, intending to crush Kronos between them!
From the outside, it looked as though Kronos was swallowed whole—crushed by the colliding walls of stone and earth.
Kabalu's twisted grin grew even wider.
"Jie hahaha! So this is the so-called Fifth Emperor? What a joke!"
"You fell for it so easily! Those Marines kept warning me to be cautious, that Kronos was dangerous? What a joke! Now he's nothing more than a pile of meat paste under my power! Jie hahaha!"
But as Kabalu was still basking in his imagined victory—
Crack!
Fissures began to appear on the surface of the compressed earth!
BOOM!!
In the next second, the earth walls exploded outward! Shards of stone flew in every direction.
One jagged chunk of debris even grazed Kabalu's cheek, leaving a bleeding scratch!
And from within the crumbling wall, Kronos emerged—unharmed.
He stomped forward with such force that he left a crater in the ground behind him!
The black mist that had once formed an armored gauntlet now extended into a long, shadowy sword.
He appeared in front of Kabalu in an instant, eyes flashing coldly.
"A bit too confident, aren't you? Trying to finish me off that easily?"
Kronos' voice was calm, but the weight behind it was chilling.
He swung the sword with a blur, his voice rising with the motion:
"Who the hell do you think I am?!"
Kabalu instantly felt a wave of death crashing over him.
Cold sweat broke out all over his body. His instincts screamed—move now or die!
Driven by sheer survival instinct, Kabalu twisted his body and raised his arms to block—
Slash!!
The black blade cut through his defense with ease. Blood sprayed into the air as half of Kabalu's arm was severed, flying through the sky before slapping wetly onto the ground.
The once-arrogant Kabalu collapsed, howling in agony, clutching his bloody stump as he writhed on the ground.
"You're lucky you dodged in time," Kronos said coldly, lowering his sword.
"Otherwise, it wouldn't have been just your arm."
Even though Kronos had aimed to end it in one strike, Kabalu had still managed to evade death—barely.
But the cost was steep.
The wound inflicted by Kronos' sword was more than just a cut. The shadow blade left behind a layer of corrosive black mist on the injury—gnawing at flesh, burning nerves, and inducing unbearable pain that even the strongest warriors couldn't endure.
Meanwhile, the wider battle was nearing its conclusion.
On the other side of the sea, Konan, Gojo Satoru, the Six Paths of Pain, and Albedo had nearly finished wiping out the enemy forces.
Most of the enemy warships and submarines lay in ruins—floating wreckage bobbing across the ocean.
The Marines, CP agents, and Pacifistas had been utterly defeated, their bodies scattered or submerged beneath the waves.
Of the original six warships and four submarines, only one ship still struggled to resist—and not for long.
With the combined power of Gojo Satoru, Konan, and the Six Paths of Pain, it would soon meet the same fate.
Back on the battlefield, Kronos looked down at the howling Kabalu without a trace of emotion.
He extended his hand, and the black mist sword shifted—transforming into a black spear glowing with ominous energy.
He hurled the spear with incredible force, sending it flying straight toward Kabalu's chest.
"Ughhhhhh!!"
But just before the black spear could pierce him—
Kabalu let out a roar that shook the sky.
A blinding surge of energy exploded from his body!
The spear—just inches from impact—froze midair, suspended unnaturally as if stuck in time.
From a short distance away, Kronos' expression darkened.
He could feel it—something was wrong.
Kabalu, who had just been on the brink of death, was now releasing a terrifying new wave of power!
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