A single Senzu Bean slid down his throat.
The black-haired boy floating in the air suddenly erupted with scorching white steam. Broken bones snapped back into place; charred skin peeled away like a serpent shedding its scales, replaced instantly by new flesh.
His aura climbed higher and higher. He rolled his neck crack-crack-crack, making sounds sharp enough to set teeth on edge.
Akainu's expression darkened to pitch-black.
He really recovered… completely… back to peak condition.
How?! Where did this brat get this ability?!
"Ten minutes!"
Descending lightly from the sky, Shanu looked down at Akainu, still embedded in the crater, and raised one finger:
"Old mutt, I'll give you ten more minutes! Let's see if you can break me for real. If not…"
"Then I'm done playing. Don't blame me for not keeping you company!"
Ten minutes.
Enough time for the Curtainfall to escape completely…
And enough time for him to slip away too.
"Arrogant brat…"
Akainu's magma-body surged violently as he stood back up, voice low and dangerous:
"You think recovering your stamina changes anything? If you still want to buy time for your crew… then you can stay here,
Forever!!"
BOOM!!!
The ground under him exploded.
Akainu turned into a streak of molten light, shooting skyward!
His right fist liquefied into magma, twisting and writhing like a living thing, condensing into three enormous hell-hound heads.
Jagged fangs, twisted snouts, blazing manes whipping violently,
The heat alone scorched the air, turning it into rippled distortions.
"Crimson Lotus Biting Hound (Inugami Guren)!!"
The three magma hounds roared out at insane speed, dragging bloody-red afterimages behind them, snapping toward Shanu's skull!
Even before contact, the heat curled and burned the hair on his forehead.
"Oi oi oi, damn that's hot!"
Shanu laughed, eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"But that's perfect!"
He clenched his right fist,
POP!
The air detonated, ripples shaking outward in rings.
His entire fist turned pitch-black with thick, dense Armament Haki.
"Rokushiki Secret Art: Tekkai Fist!!"
His strongest defensive technique,
A fusion of ultimate Rokushiki conditioning and high-level Armament.
BOOOM!!!
The magma hounds collided with his fist, and vanished like stones sinking into the sea.
The shockwave blasted Shanu back ten meters, gouging deep marks under his feet.
But he raised his head, blood staining his lips,
laughing even more wildly.
"That's it?!"
This level of power, ten minutes?
He could last half an hour and they still wouldn't beat him!
"Not done yet!!!"
Akainu's eyes were deadly cold. Magma surged as he slammed forward again.
Shanu didn't dodge, he charged straight in.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!!
Their silhouettes blurred, trading blows at insane speeds along the coast. Magma and Haki clashed, black lightning crackling wildly around them.
Shockwaves rippled out like tidal waves.
By now, the fight's tremors had consumed the entire southern island.
Even dozens of kilometers away, cherry blossoms were ripped from the trees and scattered like a blizzard.
Spring Island… now looked like it was struck by winter. Every blossom stripped. Only bare branches remained, swaying bleakly in the violent wind.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Akainu didn't speak, but his attacks grew more savage, more ferocious.
The longer he failed to take down Shanu, the more the rage and humiliation consumed him.
He abandoned defense entirely, allowing Shanu's blows to carve bloody gouges into his magma-body, In exchange for even heavier attacks.
Shanu spat a mouthful of blood, his skin sizzling in the magma's heat, yet he only grinned, eyes burning with madness.
"Yes… yes… That's it, old mutt! But still not enough! Put some REAL force into it!!!"
Akainu's killing intent skyrocketed.
He cocked his fist,
"DIE!!!"
But before the blow landed,
"SAKAZUKI-SAN!!"
Dalmatian and Bumaya burst across the treetops, using Geppo to rush toward the battlefield.
"Oh?"
Shanu glanced sideways, mocking.
"Calling backup now? You realized you can't handle me one-on-one?"
Akainu knew the brat was provoking him, but days, minutes, seconds of fruitless fighting had fried his patience.
He swung upward, hitting Shanu's jaw and launching him skyward.
Shanu soared high, and looked southward.
The Curtainfall was already a tiny speck at the horizon.
"So far already? Looks like it's been more than ten minutes."
He grinned, bloodied teeth gleaming.
Time's up.
Snap!
His body swelled, bones thundering, muscles ballooning. He expanded into a towering 3.9-meter giant, muscles bulging like steel.
BOOM!
He landed, shaking the earth.
Each heavy footstep thundered like a drum.
"…"
A shadow fell over Akainu.
He looked up at the figure towering over him.
"So that's your true body."
Akainu could tell, this massive form was Shanu's real physique. That earlier human-sized form was merely a battle-focused mimicry. A CP-style transformation technique.
"Oi, old dog."
Shanu leaned down, grinning viciously.
"I don't know when we will meet again, so I'll leave you a farewell gift."
BOOM!
He stepped forward, his right arm expanding again, power surging like a volcano.
"Elbaf Spear, "
The air shook violently, ripples spreading from his fist like shockwaves.
This punch, stronger than the one he used to shatter the mountain at Little Garden. So strong it nearly emptied his remaining stamina.
Akainu's pupils shrank.
"Land of Destruction! (Hakai no Kuni)!!"
BOOOOM!!!!!
The shockwave split the land, Akainu crossed his arms, coating his magma-body in armament haki, but the strike arrived instantly,
KABOOOOOM!!!
He was blasted like a cannonball, shattering rock after rock, flying nearly a kilometer before smashing into the northern coast!
A tsunami rose from the impact. Even the northern town shook violently.
"Old mutt, that punch hit the spot, right?!"
Shanu's laughter echoed from afar.
He shrank back to his slender Kami-e Form, turned, and launched himself toward the open sea.
"Soru, Flash Burst!"
He shot forward like lightning, flying hundreds of meters instantly.
"SAKAZUKI-SAN!"
Dalmatian and Bluejamia finally arrived, just in time to see Akainu smashed into the horizon.
"Damn it, !"
Bumaya screamed, eyes bloodshot.
But Shanu didn't spare them a glance. He tested their approach, both wounded, exhausted, unstable.
"My crew did well," he smirked.
He stopped suddenly, spun around, and dropped a massive axe-kick.
"Rankyaku , Meteor Drop!"
BOOOOM!!!
Dalmatian barely blocked, still got smashed into the earth, arms breaking with a loud crack.
Bumaya shrieked,
"DIE YOU FILTHY PIRATE!"
Both arms shifted into long needle-lances and thrust toward his throat.
Shanu slipped aside, grabbed her shoulder,
"Too slow, psycho hag."
CRACK!
He ripped her right arm clean off.
Her scream tore through the coast. She rammed a hidden chest-needle into his stomach,
"DOCTOR'S MERCY , LETHAL INJECTION!!"
Poison flooded his veins.
Her grin twisted,
"Feel that? That's my strongest shot, even monsters, "
Her smile died mid-sentence.
Because, Shanu's skin returned to normal instantly. His wound closed.
"Your poison's weak. Send Magellan next time."
He grabbed her throat.
CRACK!
Her neck snapped.
Even dying, she was still smiling crazily.
"Bumaya!!!"
Dalmatian roared.
Akainu exploded from the sea cliff, magma blazing.
Shanu hurled the corpse at him and dove into the ocean, Akainu obliterated the body with Dark Hound (Meigō) and vaporized half the sea.
He unleashed,
"Meteor Volcano (Ryūsei Kazan)!!"
Hundreds, thousands, of magma fists rained down, turning the entire sea into a boiling hell.
Shanu sliced the sea apart with,
"Dust-Severing Void Slash!"
Twice. Three times.
He blinked kilometers away, barely leaving the inferno.
He burst from the surface, breathing hard, but grinning.
"Tch… can't catch me now, can you?"
Back on shore
Akainu stood, magma dripping from his fist, staring murderously at the horizon.
How…
Did that brat escape…
"Sa-… Sakazuki-san…"
Dalmatian approached, then froze, terrified.
Akainu's hat gone. Clothes destroyed. Chest covered in bruises. Magma-right-arm bent unnaturally. And, his neck had been blasted with blackened holes. His right ear, half gone.
Permanent injuries. That brat had truly wounded a Marine Admiral. Dalmatian swallowed. He tried to explain, tried to reassure him. Akainu turned his head slowly, voice like a volcano in its last moment of silence:
"Are you brain-damaged, Dalmatian?"
"If I can't take him down in an hour, her trash-level poison… kills him?"
The implication: If Shanu died to that? Then Akainu himself would be a joke.
Dalmatian fell silent.
Akainu stepped forward, magma hissing,
"One more thing."
"How… did you let that brat's crew escape?"
Dalmatian gritted his teeth and explained: The girls, both terrifying sword and martial monsters. Smoker and Zeff pinning Bumaya down.
And worst, the giant wolf, spitting lightning and fire.