Although the place where the two fought was far from Rainbase, and the aftershocks had almost no effect on the city, the meteor falling from the sky, the slash that cut it apart, and the sundered clouds were all clearly visible from Rainbase.
Several News Birds circled anxiously above Rainbase.
They knew there was big news, but they didn't dare get close now.
Because a few fearless ones who had tried to get a closer look at what was happening had already vanished without a trace.
Robin stood outside the Rain Banquet, looking up at the sky beyond the city.
She wasn't worried, though.
Since Cyrus had told her his plan, he must have been very confident.
On the outskirts of Rainbase, Crocodile, who had just arrived, looked at the distant desert with a grave expression.
Even from here, it seemed he could feel the surrounding temperature starting to rise.
...
Issho held his sword horizontally in front of him, his expression grave as he watched Cyrus walk out from within the flames.
The massive pillar of fire from just now had contracted and disappeared into Cyrus's body.
"You are the strongest person I have met since I set out to sea." Issho said with a solemn expression.
"Does that mean you've met many strong people?" Cyrus asked casually, shouldering Flame.
"Not really!" Issho replied in all seriousness.
"Is that so? Then doesn't that statement lose its meaning?"
"No, what I mean to say is, since you are this strong, I will now go all out." Issho said, shaking his head slightly.
"So you were still holding back?"
Cyrus was taken aback.
Although in their previous exchange, Issho had reached the level of an Admiral in some respects, his overall performance was not quite there.
But if you were to ask if he could become an Admiral in the future, he was definitely qualified.
"We are not mortal enemies, but it seems it's fine to get a little more serious now."
As his voice fell, Cyrus's Observation Haki saw it.
An invisible gravitational influence spread outwards, in the blink of an eye covering an area of several thousand meters.
Cyrus's body suddenly sank.
This gravitational pressure was even stronger than before.
Under this pressure, the area enveloped by gravity began to sink.
Swish!
Cyrus suddenly swung the sword in his hand, blocking an incoming slash.
Boom!
Cyrus was sent flying by the single blow.
"Gravity plus strength, erupting with even greater power?"
Cyrus, who was sent flying, immediately understood the nature of that strike.
By imbuing gravity into the blade, the power of the swung sword was amplified several, or even more than ten times.
Coupled with the influence of the massive gravity field around them, his movements became sluggish.
To some extent, this could be considered a gravity domain controlled by Issho.
Those affected would be suppressed by gravity, and their agility and other aspects would be impacted.
Meanwhile, Issho, who controlled gravity, was enhanced by its augmentation.
This technique was quite interesting.
Cyrus landed, rolled, and got up. Issho, his body enhanced by gravity, was already in front of him, delivering another horizontal slash.
Clang!
Cyrus held his sword with both hands.
Armament Haki coiled around the blade, and a dark red light condensed on its surface.
The gravity-enhanced blade and the Armament Haki-wreathed blade clashed.
A shockwave spread out in all directions.
Even the desert, under immense gravitational pressure, couldn't withstand this impact.
Wave after wave of shockwaves spread outwards.
A look of astonishment appeared on Issho's face.
In this state, coupled with such a slash, he was more than ten times stronger than in his normal state.
Why could this young man still withstand it?
When he sensed the Armament Haki coiled around Cyrus's blade, Issho's brow furrowed.
"If this is a life-or-death struggle, it does not align with my principles."
After noticing Cyrus's condition, Issho spoke.
"It's fine. This is my normal state. This level of consumption is not severe for me."
Cyrus understood what Issho was saying.
For anyone else, desperately consuming Haki and stamina like this might be overdrawing on their life force.
But for him, with his data-based body, he was merely consuming HP to strengthen himself.
His powerful physique not only made him stronger in all aspects but also enhanced his HP recovery speed.
With an accelerated recovery speed, this level of HP consumption was something he could barely sustain.
Issho's Observation Haki was very powerful.
After all, since going blind, his Observation Haki had been greatly enhanced, allowing him to sense a target's aura and some of their vague thoughts.
He could feel that Cyrus was speaking from the heart.
"What a monster!"
Issho couldn't help but exclaim.
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Cyrus replied, then suddenly exerted force with both hands, sending Issho flying.
Then, he abruptly pushed off with his legs.
Under the immense gravitational pressure, his body appeared before Issho as if he had teleported.
Issho, who had been sent flying, noticed Cyrus's movement and a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing his smile, Cyrus felt the gravity that had been pressing down on him suddenly vanish.
Whoosh!
Cyrus's body shot right past Issho.
Just as he rushed past, Cyrus felt the gravity return, and his speed dropped once more.
The sword from behind came slashing toward him.
His body turned into flame, and the slashing Gambler's Fire Wire passed through Cyrus's body.
The flames reconverged.
Cyrus retaliated with a backhanded slash.
This technique was quite tricky.
Forcing Issho back with a return slash, Cyrus turned around.
Issho's free manipulation of gravity, strengthening and nullifying it, would make him less sensitive to the control of his own power.
This would cause his attacks to lose their form.
Cyrus frowned slightly.
And so did Issho.
He had never used such a tactic since mastering it.
He had thought that under these environmental effects, his advantage would be magnified to the extreme.
Within this domain, he should have held an absolute advantage.
But the first time he used it, he ran into a monster.
Especially that last slash, which was imbued with Armament Haki, yet Cyrus had used Elemental Transformation in advance to avoid it.
If it continued like this, he wouldn't even be able to touch Cyrus.
Not to mention, Cyrus also had that terrifying defense.
The two stood opposite each other, not far apart. Issho's whitened eyes faced Cyrus.
Cyrus raised the sword in his hand, and flames converged upon it.
Red patterns spread across the rough blade of Flame.
Issho subconsciously took a step back, his expression wary.
Within his Observation Haki's perception, the sword in Cyrus's hand was growing scorching hot.
The temperature was rising rapidly, getting stronger and stronger.
The searing heat was becoming almost unbearable even for Issho.
Cyrus's longsword was covered in red flames.
As he raised it and brought it down in a vertical slash, the world fell silent.
The sound seemed to vanish in that instant.
A massive slash mark appeared in the desert.
The yellow sand churned silently.
Issho, who had used gravity to push himself away, perceived the silent, immense canyon that had appeared, a momentary look of stupor on his face.
It wasn't that he couldn't produce such a slash, but he definitely couldn't do it to this extent.
'This slash was a bit outrageous.'