The smoke slowly dissipated with the sea breeze.
Calebari Island, which once sat upon the sea... had now completely disappeared.
In its place were countless pieces of floating rubble, wooden planks, and waves dyed red with blood. This area of the sea looked as if it had just experienced an apocalyptic catastrophe.
And beneath those murky waters, a massive dark shadow was slowly sinking downward with the ocean current.
That was "Drought" Jack.
This Great Pirate, with a bounty as high as one billion Berries, had completely lost consciousness. His eyes were rolled back, and his limbs hung limply at his sides.
That proud Ancient Zoan fur of his had been charred black by the light bullets. On his chest, there was an even more shocking, massive depression—the injury left behind from when Hulk had used him as a literal club to smash the ground earlier.
Combined with Kizaru's wave of indiscriminate carpet-bombing, even Jack, with his cockroach-like tenacity, finally couldn't hold on any longer. Like a piece of worthless scrap metal, he plummeted toward the cold, dark abyss of the seabed.
The once insufferable "All-Star" now met an end where his life or death was unknown. It was, truly, a great irony.
However, in the sky at this moment, Kizaru, one of the victors, did not have the slightest look of ease on his face. On the contrary, his brow was furrowed even tighter.
His eyes, hidden behind tea-colored sunglasses, stared fixedly at a section of ruins on the sea surface.
There, atop a huge reef that had not yet completely sunk, stood a green figure.
He was covered in blood. Not a single patch of skin on his body was intact. He looked like a Shura demon that had just crawled out of a pool of blood in hell.
But he did not fall. He didn't even... sway for a second!
"Roar..."
A low growl squeezed out from deep within the monster's throat. It made one's scalp tingle!
Zzzzt—!
That despair-inducing sound of wriggling granulation tissue rang out again! Amidst the twitching of Kizaru's eye, the wounds on that monster once again began that common-sense-defying rapid healing!
Charred dead skin fell away, revealing the new, tender flesh beneath. Then it quickly turned into tough green skin!
In just a few breaths' time, those terrifying injuries, enough to kill an ordinary person a hundred times over, were actually... fine again?!
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Kizaru felt a bit of bitterness at the corners of his mouth. Even for him, who was used to great storms, he had an urge to curse at this moment.
This was too much of a cheat, wasn't it?! Can't be killed? Can't be blown apart?
And Kizaru keenly discovered that the monster's size seemed to have grown even larger than before! His height, which was originally around three meters, was now close to three and a half meters!
Those bulging muscles looked as if they contained nuclear energy, ready to burst at any moment. What was even scarier was the aura of his body.
If he was just irritable before, then now he was simply... berserk! In those deep green eyes, no trace of rationality could be seen anymore. Only pure fury that wanted to destroy everything remained!
Anger—it was Hulk's source of power. The angrier he got, the stronger he became!
Kizaru's wave of light bullet carpet-bombing just now had not only failed to wound his foundation, but had instead completely enraged this beast! It caused the gamma energy within his body to soar exponentially like an erupting volcano!
"ROAR!!!"
Hulk suddenly raised his head. Those eyes full of killing intent instantly locked onto Kizaru in the air.
"Bug... hurts... Hulk... VERY ANGRY!!!"
Boom!
That massive reef shattered instantly! Hulk's legs compressed like springs and then exploded! The massive counter-force kicked up a hundred-meter-high water column!
Relying on pure physical strength, like a green intercontinental missile carrying a piercing sonic boom, he charged straight toward Kizaru, who was hundreds of meters up in the air!
Fast! Too fast! This explosive power was simply inconceivable! Almost in the blink of an eye, that hideous green face had already appeared in front of Kizaru!
"Give Hulk... COME DOWN!!!"
Whoosh—!
That palm, several times larger than a fan, carried a gale that tore through the air as it clawed fiercely toward Kizaru! If this grab landed solidly, even a Zoan-type ability user would probably have the life squeezed out of them!
"Truly... an energetic monster," Kizaru sighed.
Facing this attack that was close at hand, he did not show much panic. After all, he was light. In this world, nothing can be faster than light.
Just as that large green hand was about to touch the corner of his clothes...
Buzz!
Kizaru's body instantly turned into countless dazzling light particles. Like a dissipating firework, he flowed directly through Hulk's fingers.
Logia · Pika Pika no Mi · Elementalization! Physical attacks are ineffective!
Whoosh!
Hulk's grab caught nothing but air! Massive inertia carried his body upward, and he shot up nearly a thousand meters into the sky.
Finally, his kinetic energy was exhausted. At that moment of suspension in the air, Hulk looked at his empty palm. Those green eyes were filled with confusion and an even more berserk rage!
Why?! Why couldn't he catch him?!
That feeling of powerlessness—clearly seeing but unable to touch—made this simple-minded beast almost go insane!
"ROAR!!!"
He roared in impotent fury in the air, flailing his limbs wildly. He tried to grab something, but besides air, he could catch nothing.
And just then, above his head, countless golden light spots were rapidly condensing, as if time were reversing.
It was Kizaru. He looked down from above at Hulk, who was in free fall. That puckered face was now written over with coldness.
"Although your strength is great... and your recovery ability is also perverted... but..."
"As long as it's a living creature, there must be a weakness, right?"
Kizaru pushed up his sunglasses. His right foot was raised high again. Dazzling golden light instantly illuminated the entire sky.
"Since I can't kill you... then go down there... and cool off for a bit!"
This is the sea—the grave of all ability users. Although Kizaru still wasn't sure whether this green monster was a Devil Fruit user or not, one thing was certain.
Since it was a living creature, it needed to breathe! As long as I kick you thousands of meters into the deep sea, even if you were a god, you'd have to obediently suffocate for me!
"Light Speed Kick · Deep Sea Burial!!!"
Kizaru gave a low shout. His figure, like a golden lightning bolt, instantly caught up with the falling Hulk! That right foot, which had condensed all the photon energy, kicked Hulk squarely in the chest!
With this kick, Kizaru held nothing back! He even used every ounce of his strength!
BOOM————!!!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted ten thousand meters in the air! The terrifying shockwave directly dispersed the clouds within a ten-mile radius!
Hulk's massive body instantly turned into a green meteor. At a speed almost impossible to capture with the naked eye, he smashed straight toward the sea below!
Bang!
That was the sound of breaking the sound barrier! Air friction created a long tail of fire. In just an instant, Hulk had already crossed the thousand-meter distance!
BOOM!!!
The sea surface exploded instantly! It was as if a depth charge had been detonated! A terrifying wave hundreds of meters high shot into the sky!
The massive impact force smashed a crater over a hundred meters in diameter directly into the sea! One could even see the black reefs on the seabed!
Then, the seawater rushed back in. That green figure was like being pressed down by an invisible giant hand. He smashed through countless layers of rock all the way toward that dark, bottomless abyss.
He sank at high speed!
Gurgle... huge bubbles churned. The sea surface finally slowly returned to calm. Only the ripples still spreading out in circles proved what kind of terrifying scene had just occurred here.