Chapter 98: Madara Uchiha VS Suzaku!
[The Pola - Dining Hall]
The challenge hung in the air like the blade of a guillotine.
WHOOSH...!
Instantly, the atmosphere in the dining hall shifted from tense to lethal.
Every eye in the room focused on Uchiha Madara.
Akame and Pola stopped eating, food still in their mouths, their instincts screaming danger. Rem and Ram stopped moving, their eyes narrowing with vigilance as sparks of lightning and wind mana gathered at their fingertips.
Ulquiorra, standing silently by the window, finally turned his head. His dark green eyes flashed with a faint, analytical glimmer.
But the most intense reaction came from Albedo.
The "holiness" smile on her face—the mask of the gentle wife—vanished instantly. It was replaced by a mask of extreme coldness and indifference that hid a volcano of rage.
Her beautiful golden eyes stared fixedly at Uchiha Madara. Her black wings twitched.
CRACK.
The spoon in her hand bent into a U-shape.
An indescribable, terrifying pressure, like a tide of darkness, spread out from her body. The temperature in the restaurant seemed to drop by more than ten degrees Celsius. Frost began to form on the water glasses.
"A mere newcomer..."
Albedo's voice was no longer charming. It was low, vibrating with a sacred and icy killing intent that made the air heavy.
"Dares to speak to the Supreme Lord Suzaku in such a tone?"
She stood up, her armor clanking softly.
"It seems you need to learn what 'rules' are first. Know your place, mongrel."
Feeling this undisguised hostility, Uchiha Madara didn't flinch. Instead, a savage grin spread across his face.
"Hmph."
He snorted disdainfully. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan began to rotate slowly, hypnotic and blood-red.
BOOM!
An equally overbearing aura of blue Chakra shot into the sky from his body, colliding fiercely with Albedo's pressure in mid-air!
The air distorted. Sparks flew. The wooden table groaned under the strain of two monster-class auras clashing.
The atmosphere was explosive. Violence was a heartbeat away.
Just at this extremely tense moment, a crisp sound rang out.
Ding.
Suzaku put down his empty milk cup, the porcelain making a soft, deliberate clink on the saucer.
The sound cut through the tension like a knife.
He picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth elegantly. Then, he slowly raised his eyelids.
He first gave a somewhat helpless look at Albedo, who had transformed into a protective demon ready to destroy the ship to save his honor. He raised a hand, signaling her to calm down.
"Albedo. Sit."
"But Lord Suzaku..."
"Sit."
Reluctantly, Albedo sat back down, though her glare remained fixed on Madara's throat.
Suzaku turned his gaze to Uchiha Madara. He smiled, his tone as relaxed as if he were inviting a friend for a post-dinner stroll, not accepting a duel to the death.
"Of course," Suzaku said.
"Since I promised to stretch your muscles after dinner, I naturally won't go back on my word. A host must accommodate his guest."
He stood up, pushing his chair back.
"This place is too small," Suzaku said, gesturing to the steel walls. "There's no room to really move. And I don't want you to break my new ship."
He walked past Madara, heading for the door to the deck. As he passed the legendary shinobi, he whispered:
"Let's go outside. Once you witness my strength... you won't think what I said earlier about 'immortality' was false."
The tone of these words carried an undeniable air of superiority. It bordered on arrogance, a challenge to the Ghost of the Uchiha.
However, the anger in Uchiha Madara's eyes slowly receded.
He wasn't angry. He was intrigued.
Because he knew very well that someone who could make powerful individuals like Albedo and Ulquiorra willingly bow down could never be a fool who only spouted big words. Confidence without power is arrogance; confidence with power is Kingliness.
"Hmph. Interesting."
Madara turned, his cape swirling. His tall figure exuded a sense of oppression that made the air heavy.
"Then I hope you don't disappoint me. I haven't danced properly in a long time."
[The New World - Open Sea]
Above the vast, turbulent sea, far from the Pola, the wind died down.
The waves, which usually crashed with the violence of the New World, seemed to calm under the pressure of two presences.
Suzaku and Uchiha Madara stood a hundred meters apart.
They weren't flying. They were standing on the surface of the ocean. Madara used Chakra to walk on water; Suzaku used his mastery of energy (or perhaps just Geppo principles) to do the same.
The salty breeze whipped their hair.
Not a single unnecessary word was spoken. The time for talk was over.
"Here I come," Madara whispered.
The next moment, two distinctly different invisible auras shot into the sky!
Suzaku: A golden-red aura of Haki and Fire.
Madara: A deep blue aura of Chakra and Hatred.
BOOM...!
The two wills collided violently in mid-air.
It made no sound at first, yet it caused a phenomenon more terrifying than any explosion.
Centered on the sea between them, the thick, grey storm clouds in the sky... split.
It was as if an invisible divine sword had slashed the heavens. A gigantic crack spanned the sky, pushing the clouds apart for miles. Sunlight poured down from the fissure, illuminating the two combatants in a spotlight of gold.
The Heaven's Split. The hallmark of an Emperor.
"Whoa..."
Nami, watching from the deck of the Pola with binoculars, dropped her jaw. "The sky... they broke the sky! Just by standing there?!"
Akame, gripping the railing, felt a shiver run down her spine. This was power on a scale she couldn't comprehend.
Suzaku looked up at the sky he had just torn open. He smiled.
"Seeing it firsthand," he mused, "the manga didn't lie to me. The ultimate clash of Conqueror's Haki really can cause celestial phenomena. It feels... exhilarating."
His calm and composed demeanor made Uchiha Madara frown intensely.
He's smiling? Madara thought. Is this brat looking down on me?!
"Hmph!"
Madara snorted coldly. His hands moved in a blur.
Horse - Serpent - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Tiger.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame (Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku)!"
Without any reservation, he unleashed an earth-shattering, B-rank (but Madara-scale) ninjutsu from the start!
He inhaled, his chest expanding, and then exhaled a stream of fire.
WHOOSH...!
It wasn't a stream. It was a tsunami.
A terrifying wall of fire, over a hundred meters wide and fifty meters high, erupted from his mouth. It swept towards Suzaku with the power to incinerate the heavens and boil the seas.
The sea surface instantly evaporated under the high temperature, raising a massive cloud of white steam. The entire world seemed to be painted in destructive crimson.
On the Pola, Akame's red eyes widened in panic.
"This... this scale of flame!" She gripped Murasame so tight her knuckles turned white. "It covers the horizon! Do we really not need to help? He'll be burned to ash!"
In her view, this was a natural disaster. No human could survive being engulfed in a sea of fire.
"It's alright, Akame."
Rem, standing beside her, spoke softly. Although her small face was also filled with tension, her azure eyes held absolute trust.
She explained to her new companion, her voice steady:
"Please rest assured. Suzaku-sama's ability... is the absolute bane of fire. He is the Fire. This level of attack cannot harm him."
Indeed, just as Rem's words fell, an incredible scene unfolded in the arena.
The sea of raging flames, powerful enough to turn an island into scorched earth, rushed toward Suzaku like a hungry beast.
But when it reached three feet in front of him... it stopped.
It didn't hit a wall. It hesitated.
The violent momentum instantly dissipated. The flames swirled, lost their aggression, and then began to gather towards Suzaku's outstretched palm with a docile, almost fawning attitude.
It was as if the fire recognized its King.
[Vermillion Bird Bloodline: Fire Dominance]
"Good fire," Suzaku whispered.
In the blink of an eye, the towering sea of fire was completely compressed. It swirled and shrank, finally condensing in Suzaku's palm into a constantly rotating sphere the size of a human head.
And this sphere was no longer its original crimson color. It was a brilliant, sacred Gold.
It looked like the core of a miniature sun. The energy contained within it was several times more terrifying than the sea of fire Madara had unleashed earlier.
"What?" Madara's eyes narrowed. "He absorbed the chakra?"
Madara didn't wait. He vanished.
Body Flicker Technique (Shunshin).
The next moment, he appeared behind Suzaku in mid-air. He held his Gunbai (War Fan) in one hand and a scythe in the other.
"Too slow!"
He swung the fan, aiming to decapitate Suzaku with a wind-infused strike that tore through the air with a sonic boom!
However, Suzaku seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He didn't even turn around.
"I see you," Suzaku said.
He simply tossed the golden "sun" in his palm backward over his shoulder with a casual flick of his wrist.
The golden fireball appeared slow, floating lazily. But in reality, it moved at the speed of thought.
It hit precisely the path of Uchiha Madara's surprise attack.
"Oh?"
Madara's pupils contracted. His Sharingan spun, predicting the explosion.
Dangerous.
He abruptly stopped his attack in mid-air, twisting his body violently to retreat rapidly backward.
"You can detect my position even like this?" Madara landed on the water, sliding back fifty meters. "Brat, your perception is indeed good. Is that a sensory jutsu?"
Suzaku then slowly turned around, a playful smile on his face.
"There's no need to use such petty tricks like sneak attacks, Madara. By the way, let me enlighten you: this is called 'Observation Haki'."
Suzaku tapped his temple.
"It is a perception of all things in the world. Intent, emotion, future. When fighting in this world, this is something you need to learn. Chakra is loud to me."
"Haki..." Madara tested the word.
"It seems a fight with you is necessary," Suzaku continued. "You'll need to be careful against enemies in the future! Logia users won't die from just physical attacks."
Before Uchiha Madara could get angry at being lectured by a brat, the golden fireball he had dodged... pulsed.
"Vermillion Nova."
SNAP.
Suzaku snapped his fingers.
The golden fireball exploded with a roar right before Madara's eyes!
"BOOM...! ! !"
No words could describe the terror of this explosion.
A small golden mushroom cloud shot into the sky, its dazzling light forcing everyone on the ship to involuntarily close their eyes.
This was followed by a deafening roar and a world-destroying shockwave!
Centered on the explosion point, the seawater within several hundred meters was instantly evaporated and pushed away, forming a giant, bottomless void in the ocean. You could see the seabed for a split second.
Massive amounts of seawater were blasted into the sky, then turned into torrential rain, falling in all directions.
Gigantic waves—tsunamis—surged outward, crashing violently towards the Pola!
"Waves!" Nami screamed. "Shields!"
Seeing this, Ram waved her hand.
"Wind Magic: Fura."
An invisible wind barrier instantly appeared around the ship, blocking all the waves and rain that could have overturned a giant vessel. Not a single drop of water touched the people on board.
Once the light dissipated, the giant pit on the sea surface was being furiously refilled by the surrounding seawater, emitting a thundering roar as the ocean rushed back in.
Steam rose from the surface, obscuring everything.
"Suzaku-sama... is amazing!"
Rem looked at the apocalyptic scene and couldn't help but exclaim, her hands clasped.
Albedo, standing nearby, however, revealed a knowing, seductive, and slightly fanatical smile. Her golden eyes pierced through the steam.
She gently brushed her hair back, her red lips parting slightly.
"No, little maid," Albedo purred.
"This is only... the beginning. The dance has just started."
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