Chapter 157: Sakazuki Defeated!
"Petty tricks. You dare draw a sword before the master?"
Strawberry, bound entirely by Robin's arms, snorted coldly without the slightest hint of panic. Though these arms were troublesome, in his view, they merely required some effort to break free.
He took a deep breath. His entire body's muscles suddenly tensed as pitch-black Armament Haki covered him like tidal waves. He was about to exert force to break free—but at that exact moment, Robin's lips curved into a meaningful smile.
She'd been waiting for this opportunity.
Crackle!
A dazzling lightning flash appeared without warning. Enel's elementalized form materialized like a phantom behind Strawberry.
What?!
Strawberry's Observation Haki only reacted after Enel fully appeared, but it was too late. A slender palm already pressed lightly against his back.
"One Hundred Million Volts: Discharge!"
Enel's indifferent voice sounded like death's whisper.
Within his palm, raging lightning crazily converged, transforming into a surging thunder flood that poured mercilessly into Strawberry's body!
"Gah—aaahhhhh—!!!!"
A piercing scream tore through the battlefield. Strawberry's entire body convulsed violently. Thick electric currents surged visibly through him, exploding outward everywhere. Extreme heat and numbness swept through every nerve. Charred smoke rose from various parts of his body. Even Robin's created arms dispersed in the overwhelming lightning.
"Damn it!"
Strawberry's eyes nearly split from rage. Enduring soul-tearing pain through the iron will forged by years of combat, he suddenly exerted force below.
"Soru!"
His form flashed. He barely escaped from Enel's palm, appearing over ten meters away. Then he viciously drove both swords into the ice surface, barely supporting his trembling body.
"Hah... Hah..."
Strawberry gasped heavily, smoke rising from his entire body. His originally neat military uniform was now burnt black and tattered. His burnt skin was a horrifying shade of charred black. Every breath brought fresh pain searing through his battered frame.
He raised his head, gaze mixing towering rage with barely concealed fear as he stared at that bizarre man who suddenly appeared. If he hadn't pre-emptively covered his body with Armament Haki, he would have collapsed already.
Strawberry's hoarse voice harshly demanded, "Who are you?!"
Internally, he cursed the CP intelligence agent responsible a thousand times over. They constantly boasted about their intelligence abilities, yet failed to even detect such a powerful hidden enemy in the opposing camp. Absolute dereliction of duty!
Enel didn't immediately respond.
He leisurely looked over the disheveled Strawberry from top to bottom, slightly nodding. This so-called Armament Haki indeed possessed unique merits. Back on Sky Island, nobody could take this strike without falling.
However
This long-headed fellow, compared to Kai, was still far too distant. The road to becoming a master was still very long.
Thinking this, Enel shook his head with some regret before suppressing his distractions. He redirected his arrogant gaze toward Strawberry, looking down like a god upon ants.
"Since you've asked so sincerely, this god shall mercifully tell you."
Enel slowly spread both arms, lightning swirling around him as his voice carried unquestionable majesty. "This god's name is Enel!"
He smiled with overwhelming pressure. "Rejoice! You shall be this god's first defeated enemy in the Blue Sea!"
"Hmph! Arrogant boasting!"
Strawberry forcibly straightened his body, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. Losing the battle doesn't mean losing dignity. "Just a lunatic relying on Devil Fruit ability!"
He'd seen many who thought possessing a Devil Fruit meant unchallenged dominance.
"Mere carelessness before. Next time, I'll make you regret coming to this world!"
Before finishing, he suddenly drew both swords. The ice beneath his feet exploded as he madly charged toward Enel.
Enel's eyes narrowed. The golden staff in his hand was instantly wrapped and melted by magnificent lightning, then reshaped in an instant into a trident bristling with sharp edges.
The next moment, both clashed fiercely.
Deep in the ice field, far from the main battlefield
Kai and Sakazuki tacitly chose this empty space as their arena, allowing them to unleash power without restraint.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Fists, elbows, knees, legs—every body part became a lethal weapon. Their forms crazily crossed and collided at speeds barely visible to the naked eye. Each contact erupted with thunder-like dull roars. Scattered shockwaves continuously lifted and shattered the surrounding ice.
In just minutes, they'd exchanged over a hundred blows.
Boom!
Another unadorned heavy fist-to-fist clash. Both simultaneously retreated, landing steadily on the ice with deep furrows carved beneath their feet.
Kai shook his somewhat numb fist. Admittedly, Sakazuki's fists were genuinely heavy, nearly matching elderly Garp's. Clearly, his Armament Haki was top-tier
Meanwhile, Sakazuki, watching Kai's steady breathing and unchanged expression, felt even more shock internally. During that previous fight, I showed no restraint. I'm already exerting full power! Yet the opponent not only matched my rhythm perfectly but even showed no disadvantage in strength and defense? Defense even slightly dominated?
All distractions were merely fleeting.
Sakazuki's eyes instantly regained their magma-like intensity. Facing evil that must be eliminated, his only response was to unleash everything to destroy it.
Sizzle!
He suddenly ripped off his Marine justice coat, already tattered in intense battle, tossing it onto the ice. His muscular bare upper body was exposed to the cold air. His left arm's intricate purple tattoos and pink cherry blossoms were particularly conspicuous.
"Yo, quite the flowery arm there," Kai chuckled, his tone somewhat teasing.
Simultaneously, he ripped off his own upper garment, exposing his well-defined physique.
Sakazuki ignored Kai's banter as if it were insignificant noise.
His right arm began swelling and melting violently again, radiating stifling heat. Dripping magma sizzled on the ice, steaming up thick white mist.
"Hound Crimson Lotus!"
Amid Sakazuki's angry roar, a dog-headed magma giant fist erupted outward. The ferocious dog head opened its maw, wrapping volcanic-eruption-level terrifying power, devouring everything toward Kai!
"Flame Burst!"
Kai's eyes flashed red as he simultaneously spewed scorching torrents. Flame and magma collided violently in midair, scattering explosive energy wildly splashing outward.
However, after brief stalemate, magma overwhelmed the flame torrents with superior impact force. Kai unhurriedly sidestepped.
Seeing his attack dominating, Sakazuki's mouth curled into a ferocious grin. "Hmph, magma absolutely surpasses flame!"
"Fair point," Kai casually shrugged. "My flame temperature certainly isn't low, but ultimately it's just flame. Being restrained by your magma is normal. After all, one is elemental flame while the other is burning liquid rock."
But
"Hound Crimson Lotus!"
Another magma giant dog howled, approaching. This time, Kai didn't dodge or evade. Instead, he opened his mouth and released a blast of extremely cold air that gushed outward.
"Ice Beam!"
Extreme cold and extreme heat—two opposing forces collided violently, triggering a deafening explosion! Dense white water vapor instantly dispersed, obscuring vision.
Sakazuki's brows furrowed. This fruit's ability was too complex. Was this truly a Mythical Zoan's strength?
He decisively abandoned ranged exchanges, both fists instantly covering pitch-black Armament Haki. His form flickered before suddenly vanishing through the steam!
The next instant, his tall figure burst through the vapor with a ruthless, heavy punch aimed straight at Kai's face. But the opponent seemed to anticipate it, simply tilting his head slightly as the punch wind grazed past his hair.
Sakazuki's expression remained unchanged, his left foot suddenly stomping the ground for leverage as a vicious flying knee followed immediately. Yet Kai simply slid backward half a step, letting this sure-hit move miss again.
Impossible!
Shock rippled through Sakazuki's mind.
"Again?" Kai extended his left palm, tauntingly curling his fingers.
"Stop being arrogant, brat!"
Sakazuki's forehead veins bulged, fury intensifying as pitch-black iron fists rained down like a violent storm.
But the following battle fell into bizarre cycles. Kai no longer counterattacked, merely dodging all attacks with razor-thin margins. Every movement was precise, as if it were a pre-rehearsed script.
"Too many 'coincidences' stopped being coincidences." Sakazuki suddenly retreated and jumped, catching his breath before asking decisively. "You've mastered predicting the future?"
"Congratulations, you're correct," Kai's mouth curved upward. "So, surrendering? Half-surrender counts as losing."
"My dictionary never contained the word 'surrender'!"
Sakazuki seemed insulted, his eyes blood-red as he growled. "You're merely seeing the future! Who do you think I am?!"
His right fist again turned pitch-black, carrying scorching momentum as it blasted toward Kai. Kai prepared to dodge as before, but suddenly froze. His eyes flickered with surprise. "Interesting, can you really do this?"
Only to see Sakazuki's back suddenly spurt scorching magma! Leveraging this powerful recoil, his already merciless heavy punch suddenly accelerated another three percent!
Even with precognition active, body reaction speed struggled to keep pace with this sudden explosion.
Indeed, predicting the future wasn't omnipotent.
"Then bring it on!"
It's just a fist exchange. Who's afraid!
Kai's right fist instantly covered pitch-black Armament Haki, meeting directly without dodging!
Boom!
Double fist collision erupted in muffled thunder.
And this was merely the beginning. The instant fists contacted, both sides' concentrated Haki at the punch tip erupted outward like two invisible giant waves, slamming violently!
Crack! Crackle!
The thick ice field beneath them could no longer endure this power. Spider-web cracks instantly spread everywhere. Freezing seawater crazily surged from fissures.
If both hadn't simultaneously reinforced the ice beneath their feet with Haki, they would've plunged into the sea.
As energy surged, both leveraged their forces to retreat, each landing on a larger ice floe, their gazes locked in intense focus.
"This really packs quite a punch," Kai swung his somewhat numb arm, gazing at the grave-faced Sakazuki before grinning. "However, time's about up. The game should end now."
Through preceding combat, he'd confirmed that his beast form couldn't create huge gaps with Sakazuki. At most, he had slightly superior defense and regeneration. However, the opponent was also a blood tank. In the Marineford War, he hardened after taking the enraged Whitebeard's strike, soon returning to battle.
Fortunately, Kai possessed one trump card the opponent absolutely wouldn't have.
Sakazuki assumed a battle stance, eyes narrowing. "What nonsense are you spouting!"
Kai said no more. The ice beneath him explosively shattered as he shot forth like an arrow toward Sakazuki. Sakazuki equally tensed his iron fists, meeting him head-on!
But the next second, his pupils drastically contracted.
That was
A fist wrapped in black-red Haki lightning, heavily imprinting on Sakazuki's chest. Simultaneously, Sakazuki's heavy fist solidly smashed Kai's body.
To pursue a quick, decisive victory, Kai simply abandoned dodging. "Cough!" Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
However, his opponent suffered far worse.
Hundreds of meters away, Sakazuki collapsed on fractured ice, his chest slightly caved, blood overflowing from his mouth and nose, momentarily unable to rise.
Conqueror's Haki coating. The true ticket of entry for top powerhouses on this sea.
Clearly, the current Sakazuki hadn't yet mastered this power. Perhaps only after becoming Fleet Admiral would he be able to.
Kai didn't hesitate, quickly retrieving pre-prepared Tears of Healing from his pants pocket before tilting his head back to consume. Tears of Healing, combined with his own top-tier self-healing abilities, meant that previous injuries instantly improved substantially.
This was one of Dragon Ball's most shameless tactics. Senzu Bean combat. No wonder both Senzu Beans and Mansherry required banning in plots. Such instant healing effects broken beyond balance would leave opponents without gameplay.
Kai didn't linger, flashing before Sakazuki's face. He who'd been unconscious was now recovering consciousness!
"Good thing I didn't miss it."
Kai's mouth corners rose, his right hand suddenly turning pitch-black, viciously pressing onto Sakazuki's chest.
Boom!!!
Multi-meter-thick ice layer, like crushed cookies, shattered inch by inch. Unable to escape before recovering strength, Sakazuki could only watch himself being punched by Kai into the seawater.
"Glub glub"
Bubbles rose from the location.
Kai firmly gripped Sakazuki, neither letting him sink to the seafloor nor escape the seawater's restraint. No matter how powerful a Devil Fruit user was, upon contact with seawater, they couldn't escape powerlessness.
Luckily, they battled on the surface of the sea. Otherwise, Kai couldn't capture Sakazuki so easily. At minimum, he'd need awakened power.