The Whitebeard Pirates and Marine Headquarters were both mobilizing like mad.
Ten days flashed by.
Rakuya brought Peach Rabbit and the Nine Tails to an island in the New World. It rained year-round here, the vegetation lush and dripping. Locals called it Fruit Island.
On the shoreline, Rakuya stood with his hands behind his back. The Nine Tails had shrunk to its compact form, waiting quietly at his side.
"Boss, will Whitebeard really come?" the Nine Tails asked, curious. It did not know Whitebeard well enough to guess.
"He will." Rakuya's gaze was distant.
Peach Rabbit stood nearby in her red-cloud robe, silent.
"In a bit I'll go to the exchange," Rakuya said. "You stay on the island. I'll set a barrier. Nothing will touch you in there."
She wanted to see the spectacle, so he had brought her. And he planned to meet the Marines too. Hardly fitting to leave Peach Rabbit behind.
"Okay." She blinked and nodded.
"Repulsive Force, Ring Cyclone."
Rakuya's eyes narrowed. Air along the island stilled, then a circular current rose like a transparent shield that wrapped the entire mass of land. Space itself seemed to wobble.
A repulsive-force domain. While Peach Rabbit remained within, no one would lay a finger on her. Even the Quake-Quake power would not scuff a pebble on Fruit Island.
"Rest easy in there."
Rakuya smiled, drew on the black robe patterned with red clouds, and pulled on his mask. Then he stepped onto the air and walked forward with the Nine Tails.
In a blink they were a hundred meters out.
Rakuya lifted his head. A kilometer ahead rode forty or fifty pirate ships. On their flags a skull flashed a white grin, two bones crossed behind it, and above the skull curved the iconic crescent moustache.
"The Whitebeard Pirates."
At the same time, the Whitebeard fleet spotted the Nine Tails and the small figure walking the sky in front of it.
The Moby Dick plowed a furrow through the sea, waves fanning from her bow. Behind her, a swarm of ships covered the water, tens of thousands of pirates pressing forward in a black tide.
When they saw Rakuya pacing across the air, a murmur ran along the decks.
"Devil Fruit user?"
"Walking on air. Same as the Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit?"
"Marco can fly because he has wings. This guy is just... walking?"
"Hmph. Whatever he is, he will not get the better of Whitebeard."
While they talked, Rakuya smiled and crossed a hundred meters in an eye-blink. Under a hundred stunned gazes, he and the Nine Tails stepped down onto the Moby Dick's deck.
"Whitebeard, how are those Devil Fruits coming?"
Masked, Rakuya stood before Edward Newgate.
"Gurararara. The fruits are in the chest," Whitebeard rumbled as he rose, towering, "but Flowing Cloud, you little brat, you dare threaten me? Not afraid I crush you with one punch?"
His presence filled the deck. He looked down at Rakuya with undisguised contempt. Since the brat had shown himself here, Whitebeard was confident of taking him alive.
Sea Prism Stone was ready. They had come prepared. He had every confidence he could seize Flowing Cloud.
Which was why he was so calm.
A body like that? One punch.
"Whitebeard... who were you saying is short?"
Rakuya dug a pinkie in his ear, distracted.
"You," Whitebeard said with a grin. "Kid, you can't even reach my knee. Think you're tall?"
Pfft.
Laughter burst from the deck.
"Too much, Pops. Knee? He cannot even reach your ankle."
"Hahaha. An ant wants to bargain with Pops."
"Pops is a beast, built like a mountain. This scrawny chicken cannot compare."
"Leave him some face. Marco is still in his hands. Hahaha, sorry, I cannot help it."
"So what if Marco is in his hands? He will not run. Once he set foot on Pops' ship, he signed his death warrant."
"Kid, since you came, you are not leaving. Be smart and hand Marco over. You are already surrounded."
As Diamond Jozu spoke, the sea heaved. Behind Rakuya, towering curtains of water rose. With a series of booms, fifteen or sixteen more ships surfaced from a submerged screen and locked into a ring.
An armada boxed him in.
Jozu folded his arms over his chest, self-assured. Fourth Division Commander Thatch grinned, eyes cocky.
With Sea Prism Stone on their side, they did not fear ability users. Even if this Flowing Cloud was monstrous, in front of Sea Prism Stone he would be brittle glass.
That was their trump card.
On the Moby Dick, captains and crew stared at Flowing Cloud with light, lazy disdain. As far as they were concerned, he was already a turtle in a jar.
"Kid, you are too small. I can squash you with one foot. Hand over Marco, or I will not mind quaking you to death."
Whitebeard loomed, gaze icy.
"I am small?"
Rakuya's smile was mild. The old man was asking to be taught the spelling of fear.
"You are not?"
Whitebeard's eyes were arrogant. He meant to stomp the whelp straight away.
"Kid, if your body is that small, your little bird must be smaller."
"Hahaha. Come on then, let's measure. If it is not up to standard, cut it off and I will lend you one."
"That flimsy body. One slap and..."
The jeers piled on. The Nine Tails' eyes went red with anger.
"Boss, let me vaporize them with a Tailed Beast Bomb."
"No need."
Rakuya's chuckle was cold. He unleashed Body at Max Level.
Before the Whitebeard Pirates' mocking, arrogant eyes, his frame began to surge upward.
Jaws dropped. Pirate after pirate froze mid-laugh. Jozu stared like he had seen a ghost as Rakuya kept growing. Even Whitebeard's face shifted.
"How... how is that possible?"
"Is he a giant?"
"How is he that tall?"
"Damn. Compared to that, we are the ants."
A moment before they had mocked. Now the slap across their faces rang.
Rakuya ignored them and kept rising. In moments he stood higher than Whitebeard, then kept going. From a meter-something man to a giant forty or fifty meters tall.
Timbers groaned. The Moby Dick sank on her waterline, straining.
Only then did Rakuya stop. If the ship had not been at its limit, he would have kept growing.
Five stories above the deck, the titan dipped a head seven or eight meters long and smiled.
"Whitebeard, am I still small now? Can you still kill me with one punch?"
He did not wait for an answer. Rakuya lifted a foot as long as a mast and brought it down toward Whitebeard.
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