"Oh scary completely caught by Observation Haki? Really strong like a monster~ Black Gun Aus."
From among the Marine officers stepped a sleazy guy in striped clothes with a Marine cape draped over his shoulders.
That weird-ass tone immediately pissed everyone off.
Marine Vice Admiral, Glint-Glint Fruit user, Borsalino.
Aus just smiled with interest.
"Well... I've gotten pretty used to being called a monster by now.
So to deal with this monster, you're all gonna gang up? Real classy."
"Black Gun Doctor Aus!!! Against a world threat as evil as you, the Marines don't need to show any damn honor!!!"
"Great Eruption!!!"
Sakazuki didn't want to hear one word from Aus. No more bullshit—his entire body instantly transformed into scorching magma.
Waves of sulfur stench rose from his body. Layers of thick magma rolled around, his whole outfit glowing red-hot.
On his leather-gloved fist, power rivaling a volcanic eruption built up while continuously expanding.
A killing move right off the bat. Even from way back, heat waves hit first. Aus's long hair whipped wildly in the steam.
The fruit with the strongest attack power—the Magma-Magma Fruit?
Made sense. Power that could launch hundreds of tons of volcanic rock thousands of meters high having this kind of explosive force was totally normal.
But this move had a major flaw.
Too damn slow.
Unlike light with its insane mobility, or the Ice-Ice Fruit's massive area coverage, the Magma-Magma Fruit's unprecedented attack power came with equally terrifying startup time.
At least against Aus's Future Sight, this impressively charged Great Eruption had zero chance of connecting.
Natural-types were blessed as hell, Aus had to admit.
But some Paramecia involving conceptual rules stood above them all.
Aus could totally dodge this move, but that would defeat his whole purpose of showing his real strength.
After all, opponents at his level didn't come around often—everyone else was either too weak or way too strong.
To this day, Aus had never fought a truly satisfying all-out battle.
This was actually bad for his Conqueror's Haki's future growth.
So...
Facing Sakazuki's magma giant fist head-on, Aus's eyes flashed continuous red light, showing zero emotional change.
Obviously, the future he saw matched his expectations perfectly.
"Clang—"
Against such terrifying magma, Aus slowly clenched one fist. Flowing Armament Haki instantly wrapped around it.
The Marine officers who'd spread out to avoid friendly fire from the high-temp magma saw this and their pupils shrank.
They couldn't believe it.
"What the hell? Is he planning to clash head-on with Sakazuki?"
"Too reckless! Even with Armament Haki theoretically able to hit natural-type users' real bodies, against that kind of explosive power and heat, even using Armament Haki for protection, his hand would get cooked instantly!"
"Arrogant brat!!!"
But Aus's true strength clearly exceeded their estimates.
The next instant, on the surface of that flowing Armament Haki, streams of black-red lightning gathered again!
Pressure that shocked everyone continuously cracked the earth, like this power just existing in the world carried terrifying weight.
"That brat!!!"
This aura instantly grabbed the attention of the three fighting in the distance.
Even their intense battlefield paused for a moment.
"Impossible!!! Conqueror's Haki coating at fifteen!?!!" Sengoku's eyes blazed with sharp light, bloodshot veins visible.
"Guhahahaha! Worthy of being the monster Roger talked about! That gun-wielding brat's got what it takes to compete for the world at his age!"
Garp laughed his ass off. "Then let's keep him here forever!!!"
"Hey!!! You two getting distracted during our fight? Really not taking me seriously! I'm Golden Lion!!!"
Obviously, Garp and Sengoku's chat pissed off this lion. Pressure instantly doubled!
Even Garp and Sengoku got serious facing this power, let alone twenty-something Sakazuki.
"What!? This kind of Haki!!"
Cold sweat dripped down Sakazuki's face before getting instantly evaporated by rolling magma. He could only grit his teeth and pour everything into his attack.
The Magma-Magma Fruit's explosive power showed its stuff. That giant magma fist rocketed toward Aus.
Aus's response? An equally full-power Ryuo Conqueror's coating punch.
The two forces collided. Massive pressure and heat instantly melted the entire ground into liquid.
BOOM!!!!
Both forces locked in struggle. Weirdly, that bone-and-flesh-melting heat couldn't directly touch Aus's fist.
In front of that fist crackling with black-red lightning, there seemed to be an invisible barrier the magma just couldn't break through.
Sakazuki's face turned ugly as hell.
Every Marine looked on in disbelief.
"This is Conqueror's coating power, Sakazuki!"
"Including that volcanic explosive force you're so proud of—looks pretty weak to me..."
Black-red lightning flickered nonstop on his fist. Aus stared down the magma's explosive power, just slightly crouching to build momentum.
Terrifying monster strength rose from his core.
Under the Marines' slack-jawed stares, the ground within a hundred meters instantly sank, like it couldn't handle the weight.
Devastating reactive force blanketed the earth. The absolutely insane display showed this power's dominance.
In just one instant, that figure wrapped in black-red lightning and flowing Haki burst through the magma giant fist's body, appearing right in front of the stunned Sakazuki.
That figure looked like the demon king from hell, crimson light flashing nonstop in his eyes.
Terrifying Haki surrounded his fist. One power-up.
Sakazuki's chest caved in instantly. The flowing Ryuo and Conqueror's coating made elementalization completely impossible for defense.
He ate this monster punch clean.
That beaten-up look was even worse than when he got turned into hamburger meat during the Paramount War.
Seeing Sakazuki's eyes roll back as he coughed blood, Aus wanted to finish him off, but the other Marines weren't just standing around.
Laser beams shot over along with massive glaciers, forcing Aus to pull back and teleport outside their attack range.
But the black-red lightning on his fist hadn't faded.
Under the wind and rain, that proud figure in his windcoat stood with long hair and coat tails whipping in the wind, that handsome face still wearing that calm smile.
Right now, gripping Conqueror's coating with Future Sight's red glow never leaving his eyes, just this one guy made all of Marineford's young Marines despair.
"So—who's next?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
The story isn't over...
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