Magma fists boomed from Sakazuki like a chain of volcanic eruptions.
Where the blazing punches swept, tens of thousands of tons of seawater flashed to vapor. Each fist tore through a waterspout, then plunged into the depths, sending heat surging for leagues. In a heartbeat the sea itself seemed to boil, turning ruddy as steam fanned outward. Lesser Sea Kings rolled belly-up and floated dead.
On the other flank, a forest of ice spears rose.
Before Kuzan, more than a dozen sky-piercing ice pillars formed in the blink of an eye. Between the two of them, every last water dragon was checked and broken.
"Admiral Sakazuki!"
"Admiral Kuzan! Incredible!"
"They held it back!"
Across the frozen expanse, panic-stricken Marines found their voices, cheering as extinction-scale waterspouts stalled under ice and fire.
High above, Rakuya watched it all, eyes cool.
Three figures still hounded him. Kong lunged first, a finger pistoning forward with Armament hardening. From the other side, Garp's iron fist crashed down from above. In the same instant, Borsalino flowed into photons, slid into point-blank range, re-formed, and snapped a kick across.
"Light-Speed Kick."
"Heh."
Rakuya rolled upside down, then whipped his left leg up. The counterblow landed like a mountain. Garp skidded back through the air under the impact.
Kong's finger strike speared in for Rakuya's chest.
Cold flashed in Rakuya's eyes. A brutal, murderous force blasted from within as he clenched his fist and met it head on. The air popped and tore.
Space shivered.
Thud.
Something in Kong's finger clicked, the tiniest crack. His pupils shrank and he jerked away.
Borsalino's golden arc swept in, chasing the opening.
Rakuya slipped back at an angle, letting the beam-bright leg slice past.
A clean dodge.
Borsalino froze for a beat. Few could evade his kick at light speed. Even Garp at full tilt usually chose to harden and block rather than try to slip it. Yet this pirate dodged lightly while taking heat from two powerhouses at once.
That was not blocking. That was matching speed.
Don't tell me his speed is flirting with light.
"Impossible."
Stung by two clean whiffs, Borsalino's face twitched. He snapped into pure light.
"Yasakani no Magatama."
The black ceiling flashed gold. A miniature sun spilled a storm of scintillant beads, hundreds upon hundreds, a radiant rain that scythed across the sky.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Like Sakazuki's Meteor Volcano, it was a wide-area purge. Needle-bright bullets of light fanned outward in an indiscriminate deluge.
"Damn."
Kong and Garp both grimaced. Borsalino's magatama was a nightmare to deal with. Coverage like that left even them no choice but to yield ground.
Moonwalk.
They kicked back hard, but even the fastest steps were clumsy beside light. In the blink of an eye, the golden barrage was on top of all three.
"Iron Body."
"Armament."
Caught midair, the two old lions hardened up, forearms black as ink.
"Try dodging this."
Borsalino's gaze cut to Rakuya, confidence returning.
"Dodge? Why would I dodge?"
Rakuya lifted his right hand. A blackness bloomed. Space puckered.
A singularity yawned open.
The world bent. The straight flight of the light-bullets curved, warped by a swallowing pull that had no edges. The glittering storm that should have lacerated Rakuya poured into the dark throat and vanished.
Strays punched holes through the thunderheads, blasting ragged windows of gray-white. A few seconds later the gaps healed, refilled by boiling cloud.
"Tch."
Borsalino ground his teeth.
"Don't flatter yourself," Rakuya said mildly. "Armament isn't the only answer to Logias. I have my own ways."
Nature-type monsters, and he handled them like a father cuffing unruly sons.
"Hmph."
Borsalino reconstituted, scowling. His beautiful, indiscriminate rain had bloodied Kong and Garp far more than it had troubled his target.
"Seal."
Rakuya's smile was thin. The black hole winked out. The air settled.
Four figures hung in a tense silence.
Kong and Garp's faces were a shade paler; that last volley had cost them more than they liked to show.
"Playtime's over. Thunder."
Rakuya's voice fell, and the temperature with it.
Clouds flipped like cards. A lance of lightning tore the sky from sea to sky.
Crack.
The world strobed white. The sound rolled forever.
One, two, three, four.
Bolts as thick as houses crawled from cloud to ocean, each one a hungry serpent. They fell for Garp, for Kong, for Borsalino.
Rakuya stood beneath the storm, hair streaming, a sovereign crowned in black.
"You have had your turn," he said softly. "Now it is mine."
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