Have you surpassed even the future I can see?
Darren's words made Redfield frown on instinct—then his expression smoothed back into cold composure.
"Pure, absolute speed," he said evenly. "So even Observation Haki that can see the future can't keep up with you?"
With Redfield's experience and sharp instincts, he understood immediately. Future sight was ultimately just Observation Haki refined to an extreme—reading intent, predicting movement, catching the next moment before it arrived.
But if the target moved faster than the user's perception could process, the "future" fractured. The vision splintered into chaos—dozens of futures at once—just like what had happened a moment ago.
"You should answer that yourself," Darren said, lips curling.
His figure vanished in a flash.
When he reappeared, he was already above Redfield, right leg raised high. The black military boot came down like a falling star, violent penetration behind it—violet-blue electricity coiling around the strike, crimson-black Armament Haki threading through it like barbed wire.
The descending kick carved a brilliant arc of light, throwing Darren's face into sharp relief—almost divine in its menace.
"Thunder Axe!"
Redfield's expression flickered. For the first time, unmistakable wariness surfaced in his eyes. Future sight had shown him the weight of that blow.
Crimson flared in his pupils. The blood-red umbrella swept up in a crescent.
CLANG!
The crash split the air—and the impact that followed blew the floor apart, ripping a massive crater into the corridor. Smoke and dust billowed up like a dragon waking.
Redfield shot out of the cloud, flipping through the air before landing cleanly and skidding ten meters back.
He lowered his gaze to the hand gripping his weapon. A bruise had already begun to bloom across his wrist.
Just a hurried block—and the backlash had bruised him.
What monstrous power.
Even against Kong, that fossil, he'd never taken a hidden injury like this.
It isn't just speed. His raw strength and explosive force have climbed by at least thirty percent.
Redfield watched the young silhouette taking shape through the rolling smoke, his thoughts tightening.
What did he just activate?
His Devil Fruit should be Paramecia—yet this state shows none of the telltale signs of Awakening. No environmental distortion. No spread. No assimilation.
It's unlike any Paramecia user I've ever fought.
And more than that… in their earlier exchange, Redfield's Observation Haki had caught something deeply wrong with Darren's current physical condition.
It was as if a terrifying power source had been bolted into his body—a pressure like a volcanic furnace—energy constantly on the verge of bursting free.
Redfield drew a slow breath, forcing calm into his veins, and raised his eyes.
Thud… thud… thud…
Measured, heavy footsteps emerged from the dust. Then two crimson points pierced the haze.
Darren's eyes.
Redfield's frown deepened.
Even without Observation Haki, he could feel it—Darren's presence was changing. In those glowing red eyes, a savage, manic fury was catching fire, blooming into a bone-deep urge to destroy.
It wasn't just Redfield.
The other hardened criminals of Eternal Hell felt it too. Faces paled. Bodies shifted backward without a word.
These weren't common pirates who shouted bravado on deck. These were men and monsters who'd survived slaughter after slaughter, hands soaked in blood, thrown into Impel Down's deepest pit because the world couldn't keep them anywhere else.
Predators recognized predators.
And the aura leaking off that kid now was suffocating—like something that sat at the top of every food chain.
So that's it…
Redfield exhaled, his gaze turning steady and cold as Darren stepped fully out of the smoke.
"By forcing your body to endure the stimulation of a mutated magnetic field… you're prying open hidden potential and amplifying your combat power."
"A remarkable method."
His voice hardened.
"But burning your body like that comes with consequences. Severe ones."
Steam curled from Darren's breath. He bared his teeth in a vicious grin.
"Does it matter?"
And he moved again.
The moment his knees dipped, the floor groaned under the pressure. His launch shook the corridor, shockwaves rippling outward in rings as he tore forward like a projectile.
Don't you dare die too easily.
Lightning-like afterimages ripped through the air.
Thunder Meteor!
Redfield's eyes burned crimson as he drove his Observation Haki to the limit.
In the next instant—
He swung.
CLANG!
The umbrella—wrapped in crackling crimson-black Haki—caught a blazing, Haki-coated fist.
Redfield's pupils snapped tight.
He could see it clearly: his Haki-reinforced umbrella bowed inward under the impact, forced into a sharp bend.
Impossible…
"Your Observation Haki really is exceptional," Redfield said, voice taut as he held the line. "Pushing it to the edge, reading the future… you even traced my trajectory."
His eyes narrowed.
"Of everyone I've faced… your Observation Haki is the strongest."
Darren's grin turned feral.
"But my fists aren't soft either!"
The words were barely out before Darren roared—Haki and sheer power detonating again from his fist in a savage second burst.
BOOM!
Redfield was blasted backward, slamming into the wall with a heavy impact that cratered stone. Blood seeped to the corner of his mouth.
"Don't underestimate me, brat," he spat, ignoring the blood. He kicked off the wall and vanished—appearing beside Darren in a blink.
Darren's fist shot out.
But in that instant, something strange flashed through Redfield's eyes—and he slipped aside without warning.
ROAR!
Darren's punch skimmed past Redfield's hair. The force behind the miss still exploded outward in a spiraling vortex, ripping through multiple prison cells down the line.
A sure hit—missed.
Darren's gaze flicked with a moment of disbelief.
And in that heartbeat, a crimson arc of blade-light swelled in front of him, filling his vision.
To be continued...