"Yes, yes, I will definitely lose," Rakuya nodded, lazy as ever. "Can we start already? I am getting hungry."
"Argh!"
Hearing that lukewarm reply, Sakazuki felt completely toyed with. Humiliated in front of everyone, rage flared in his eyes.
"Hellhound!"
His magma fist thrust forward. A torrent of molten rock roared toward Rakuya like a starving beast.
Marines gasped. If that hit them, they would be dead men walking.
Rakuya only lifted his eyelids. "Repulsion Field, tenfold output."
Hum.
Waves rippled out from him. A denser, fiercer barrier blossomed, layers of distortion rolling off his body.
Akainu had already anticipated a shield. The instant his first strike landed, he chained another.
"Great Eruption!"
Jaw clenched, he poured everything into it. Colossal magma fists, wreathed in flame and smoke, hammered down on Rakuya like a pack of rabid hounds.
There were too many to count. A red tide of molten knuckles blotted out the sky, each one carrying crushing force.
Even the Marines could not help it.
"So strong."
"So this is the power of the Magma-Magma Fruit. I finally get to see it."
"Can that kid really block Sakazuki?"
Even Borsalino stared from afar, taken aback. In the short time since their last bout, Sakazuki had grown this terrifying? Looked like he had work to do.
Zephyr watched too, a rare hint of pride in his eyes. That was his student. How could a teacher not be pleased?
Boom.
In the blink of an eye, meteoric magma smashed into the outer skin of Rakuya's Repulsion Field. Thunderclaps rolled. The ground shuddered. Smoke and gravel geysered upward. Black fumes hissed and billowed, swallowing Rakuya whole.
"Did he go down?"
"Who is stronger, that kid or Sakazuki?"
"He lost for sure."
"Not so fast. He made three of them eat dirt a minute ago. He is no pushover."
Voices tangled. Every gaze locked on the island's blasted center.
Crack.
A fine fracture line skittered through the barrier. The sound was needle sharp. Marines, nerves taut as bowstrings, stared harder.
The smoke peeled back.
Rakuya was lying on his back.
He looked unconscious at first glance, but anyone careful would notice his stomach rising and falling in an easy rhythm.
"He got knocked out by the blast?"
"Whoa, so Sakazuki won? He crushed him with his own power."
"Unconscious. Sakazuki is a monster."
"No, look. He doesn't look out cold."
"What? Lemme see."
Marines argued in hisses, yet no one blinked, eyes glued to the figure inside the fading field.
"He isn't out. He is sleeping," a pirate blurted, face twisted in disbelief.
"Sleeping? Are you kidding me? He is fighting the man with the Magma-Magma Fruit and you say he is sleeping, that is, wait, I hear snoring."
"Holy... he really is asleep."
"Asleep, while fighting Sakazuki."
Akainu had thought victory was in hand. Then he saw Rakuya's peaceful, snoring face, heard the stunned cries around him.
It lit a fuse.
He had gone all out. His opponent chose this moment to take a nap. The contempt was like a slap.
This was provocation. Naked, undisguised mockery.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Sakazuki roared. Both fists punched the sky. A storm of gigantic lava fists erupted upward, then rained down like a burning meteor shower.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
The heavens turned blood red. A world-ending tide of heat and flame came crashing in.
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