"Huh, now that's impressive," Jerry mused, standing suspended in mid-air as he surveyed the apocalyptic scene surrounding him. "Making the very sky and earth change color, altering the wind and clouds themselves—truly worthy of one of the most devastating Logia-type Devil Fruits."
The battlefield had been transformed into something resembling the end of the world itself. The ground cracked and split in massive fissures that stretched for kilometers, volcanoes roared to life where none had existed moments before, and torrents of molten lava churned and bubbled across what had once been solid earth. In the distance, he could make out the tiny figures of Fujitora and Cavendish, who had been forced to retreat to a much safer range by the sheer scale of destruction.
Jerry casually patted his shoulders, straightening his clothes that had become somewhat disheveled during the intense combat. The corner of his mouth curved upward in an unruly smile that spoke of absolute confidence despite the hellish landscape around him.
Beside him, his newly condensed water clone was stretching its limbs with fluid movements, testing the range of motion in its reconstructed form. In front of them both stood Admiral Akainu, his expression grim and blood trickling from the corners of his mouth—clear evidence that the previous exchanges had not gone entirely in his favor.
The Admiral gritted his teeth as he stared at both Jerry and the water construct with barely contained fury.
After Aramaki had been completely defeated and eliminated from the battlefield, Akainu found himself forced to face the coordinated assault of both Jerry's original body and his water clone. This new tactical reality had made him acutely aware of just how difficult the water construct was to counter, as well as the extreme fighting style that Jerry had developed around its capabilities. The Admiral had quickly found himself at a significant disadvantage.
The water clone was, after all, a creation of pure elemental water. If the tactical situation demanded it, the construct showed no hesitation in trading injury for injury, or even sacrificing itself entirely to create an opening for Jerry's real body. This fearless approach to combat created an unpredictable and dangerous dynamic that few opponents could match.
What made the situation even more challenging was Jerry's masterful dual control over both bodies. The water clone could transform into various supernatural forms at a moment's notice to assist the main body in both attack and defense. It wasn't limited to maintaining human shape at all—its flexibility was far beyond what most fighters could even imagine, let alone counter effectively.
Combined with Jerry's own formidable recovery abilities, he had proven virtually fearless when it came to directly confronting the Magma-Magma Fruit, which was widely recognized as possessing the most devastating natural attack power among all Devil Fruits.
It had been Jerry's exquisite coordination between his two forms that allowed the water clone to transform into a solid defensive barrier at the precise moment when his main body was engaged in direct combat with Akainu. This tactical maneuver perfectly absorbed the Admiral's counterattacks, allowing Jerry to inflict damage while avoiding harm to himself.
Where there was one successful exchange, there would inevitably be another. Jerry felt completely confident that with proper management and timing, he might very well be able to defeat Admiral Akainu without sustaining any significant injuries whatsoever.
Thinking of this tactical advantage, he shook his head with obvious pride and satisfaction. "If this is truly all you're capable of, Sakazuki, then even if you transform this entire island into an active volcano, it will prove utterly useless against me. In fact, you may very well end up staying on this island forever."
"I never imagined that Admiral Akainu would also find himself in such a desperate—huh?"
However, before Jerry could finish his taunting observation, a brilliant yellow flash streaked across the sky and shot toward him from a considerable distance, moving with the speed of light itself.
The tremendous noise of the impact shook everything in the surrounding area, and countless fragments of molten magma and rocky debris were scattered and spread by the explosive shockwave that followed.
"This situation has become quite troublesome indeed, Sakazuki..." Kizaru's characteristic strange tone suddenly echoed across the battlefield, though his words were quickly interrupted by Akainu's angry response.
"Stop talking nonsense, Borsalino! Coordinate with me and let's destroy him here once and for all!"
Looking at the prominent shoe print now visible on Akainu's abdomen and the fresh blood at the corners of his mouth, Kizaru remained silent for several seconds before responding in a more subdued tone. "Let's just follow our operational instructions, shall we..."
Akainu snorted coldly and interrupted again with obvious irritation: "I have my own principles to follow!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Jerry called out with amusement, standing leisurely in mid-air while balancing on top of a massive water dragon, his fishing rod held firmly in his grip. "Are you two really going to plot what you're planning to do to me right in front of me, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear?"
Naturally, he had noticed the unusual tactical movements of the Marine forces around the island, and he suspected that these developments were probably related to his decisive defeat of Aramaki. However, Jerry had no intention of allowing these considerations to alter his primary objective—he remained focused on defeating Akainu as efficiently as possible.
After all, as the most prominent representative of the Marine's hardline "Absolute Justice" philosophy, Akainu had never made any effort to conceal his murderous intent toward all pirates, regardless of their individual circumstances or actions.
Hearing Jerry's casual comment, Akainu fixed his blazing gaze directly on his opponent and spoke through gritted teeth, every word dripping with venom and absolute conviction.
"Pirates should be completely and utterly eradicated from this world!"
The moment he finished speaking, Akainu suddenly raised his foot and stomped down on the ground with tremendous force.
A deafening roar resounded throughout the entire island, and violent seismic vibrations suddenly spread outward from beneath the ground, shaking the earth and causing mountains to tremble in response to his power.
"Sakazuki! Stop this immediately!" Kizaru exclaimed, his expression changing dramatically as genuine alarm crept into his voice. In a rare display of emotion, he abandoned his usual lazy, mocking tone and shouted with obvious anxiety. "There are still many Marines on the island who haven't made it back to the shore!"
However, Akainu turned a completely deaf ear to his colleague's protests and showed no signs of abandoning his chosen course of action.
He continued staring at Jerry in mid-air with an unchanged expression of grim determination, speaking in a deep voice that carried the weight of absolute conviction: "When facing such evil pirates, we must be utterly decisive in our response. If we truly want to eliminate this scum from the world, then necessary sacrifices are not just inevitable—they are morally required!"
As he finished speaking these chilling words, the entire geological structure of the island seemed to change abruptly and dramatically. Countless new volcanoes emerged from the surface like deadly flowers blooming from hell itself, and streams of molten lava began gushing out continuously from these newly formed vents.
It was immediately obvious that although Akainu's eyes remained focused on Jerry, the range and scope of his devastating attack would affect absolutely everyone still present on the entire island, regardless of their affiliation or circumstances.
Kizaru stared at his fellow Admiral in genuine astonishment, his heart filled with conflicted emotions. Although he had always known what kind of man Akainu was—his reputation for extreme measures was well-established—the scene unfolding before him still filled the Admiral of Light with deep confusion and moral uncertainty.
The tactical reality was undeniable: since the Marines had received their orders to retreat from the island, only approximately half of the ground forces had successfully returned to the shore and boarded the waiting warships for evacuation.
Therefore, under the comprehensive coverage of Akainu's ultra-large-scale attack technique, not only would every pirate remaining on the island be targeted for destruction, but even those Marines who hadn't yet had sufficient time to complete their retreat would be unable to escape the indiscriminate devastation.
No matter which faction someone belonged to, no matter their rank or allegiance, as long as they remained on the island at this critical moment, they would face Akainu's merciless volcanic assault without exception.
Akainu's tactical decision wasn't the result of blind fury or madness, despite how it might appear to outside observers. He had calculated that this approach would allow him to eliminate all the pirates on the island simultaneously in one decisive stroke. Moreover, the widespread destruction would create an opportunity for him to attack Deuce and the other Black Star Pirates who were currently engaged in combat in the center of the island.
The Admiral understood perfectly that if he could injure or kill members of Jerry's crew, their captain would inevitably reveal an emotional vulnerability at that crucial moment—and Akainu would be positioned to exploit that weakness for maximum tactical advantage.
"Since you speak so eloquently about necessary sacrifices," Jerry replied, his eyes flashing with cold light while his words carried the chill of the deepest winter, "why don't you volunteer to be that necessary sacrifice yourself?"
Jerry had also recognized the strategic implications behind Akainu's ruthless actions.
The moment Jerry finished speaking, the giant leviathan formed from his water clone released a tremendous roar that echoed across the heavens and carried him toward Akainu on the ground with the unstoppable force of divine thunder.
Facing Jerry's aggressive assault, Akainu maintained a solemn expression while molten lava began flowing across his clenched fists. Waves of heavy Armament Haki gathered around his arms like dark armor, making it obvious that he was prepared for the ultimate confrontation.
"Borsalino!" Seeing that Kizaru remained hesitant and motionless, Akainu erupted in fury and shouted his colleague's name.
Then he raised his molten arms and launched a devastating attack that would affect the entire island.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Hundreds of massive lava fists erupted from the ground and shot toward the sky, each one capable of devastating city blocks. The attack was centered on their immediate battlefield but would rain destruction across every corner of the island.
Looking at this apocalyptic display of raw power, Kizaru released a light sigh and made the decision to put all his personal reservations aside. He would deal with the enemy before them first and worry about the moral implications later.
The Admiral of Light stretched his tall frame and leaped gracefully into the sky, crossing his hands in his characteristic attack pose. Countless bullets of compressed light began pouring toward Jerry like a supernatural storm.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Noticing hundreds of light projectiles approaching him with pinpoint accuracy—and recognizing that many of them were positioned to predict and block all possible evasive paths—a metaphorical question mark appeared above Jerry's head.
"Where's that casual, sloppy aim you're usually famous for, Kizaru?"
Even as endless light bullets and giant lava fists flew toward him from multiple directions, Jerry maintained his focus and continued gripping his fishing rod tightly. The weapon crackled with advanced Haki that manifested as black lightning dancing along its length as he secretly gathered his strength for the decisive moment.
The massive water dragon beneath his feet seemed to be racing against both the light bullets and the molten projectiles, rushing straight toward Akainu at an astonishing speed that defied conventional physics. The distance between the two combatants was reduced to less than ten meters in the blink of an eye.
Just as Akainu was preparing to launch his next devastating attack, the ground—which had been shaking continuously due to the ongoing volcanic eruptions—suddenly began trembling even more violently than before.
The next second, a series of deafening explosions echoed one after another across the battlefield. The earth within a radius of several thousand meters around Akainu's position suddenly cracked and split open like a massive spider web. From these newly formed fissures, endless torrents of water began gushing upward, rushing straight toward the sky like countless angry dragons emerging from the depths of the ocean floor.
"Seawater?" Akainu made his identification the moment his enhanced senses detected the liquid's composition.
But the Admiral showed no signs of concern or retreat. After all, the extreme high temperature generated by his lava-based abilities was more than sufficient to easily vaporize any amount of water that came into contact with his attacks.
Locking onto Jerry's rapidly approaching figure with predatory focus, Akainu made a split-second tactical decision. He transformed the lower half of his body into pure molten rock, then launched himself into the air with explosive force to meet his opponent head-on.
The final clash between Admiral and pirate was about to begin, with the fate of everyone on Treasure Island hanging in the balance.