It was not only the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit that could shatter the air.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit relied on intense vibrations to smash the air apart, even causing space itself to quake.
Over the past three years, Rosinante had absorbed insights from countless martial artists and masters of physical combat. Combined with his deep research into the King's Fist, his Shattering Punch had become increasingly refined.
As the Shattering Punch grew more complete, its power accumulation became more and more concealed, its force increasingly condensed, and its instantaneous burst ever more terrifying. It was precisely this refinement that allowed Sakazuki's Observation Haki to detect nothing at all before Rosinante threw his punch.
At the same time, through constant tempering and modification of his body, Rosinante's cells were now able to store far greater amounts of power. During battle, when stimulated, those cells could automatically begin accumulating strength.
Moreover, unlike Elizabello II, who needed to constantly throw punches to warm up and build power, Rosinante only needed to control his muscles to vibrate at a certain frequency to activate his cells and begin storing strength. This meant that even in the midst of combat, he could continuously accumulate power.
Because his cells could now hold so much energy, Rosinante could casually throw out a Shattering Punch at any time. He could even unleash them continuously, without interruption. This was completely different from the past, when he had to break through his body's self-imposed limits and recklessly unleash multiple Shattering Punches at the cost of severe strain.
In short, the perfected Shattering Punch had become a standard attack. Any punch he threw could be a Shattering Punch.
And once the Shattering Punch became a regular technique, Rosinante began experimenting with stacking them.
When the force of multiple Shattering Punches was layered together and released at a single point, a phenomenon appeared that even shocked Rosinante himself.
The air shattered.
It was pulverized.
While it could not truly be called a vacuum collapse, the air was undeniably broken apart.
Air was light. Punching through air was easy, something even a three-year-old child could do.
Yet precisely because air was so light, it was also extremely difficult to destroy. It was like trying to cut water with a blade; the water would simply flow back together.
Even the most powerful martial artists could punch through the air, twisting it violently where their fist passed, but to actually shatter the air itself was something almost no one could accomplish.
Whitebeard, known as the strongest man in the world, could use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to shatter the air with a single punch, even creating spatial tremors.
Rosinante's punch could not shake space, but when the layered force of his Shattering Punch struck a single point, it truly smashed the air apart.
The fractured air tore open again and again, the cracks spreading outward until they reached the Crimson Lotus Fang.
Instantly, the Crimson Lotus Fang was torn apart by dozens of fissures created by the shattered air, losing all forward momentum.
The stacked force, shattering the air in unison, formed a powerful shockwave that continued to surge forward.
That shockwave ripped straight through the remnants of the Crimson Lotus Fang and slammed toward Sakazuki.
The moment Rosinante shattered the air with a single punch, Sakazuki's expression had already changed drastically. He immediately tried to evade, but it was far too late.
Though the explanation took time, the speed of that punch was beyond imagination. In an instant, it struck Sakazuki head-on.
"Pff!"
Even someone as powerful as Sakazuki could not withstand such a shockwave. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body was blasted backward.
Boom!
Sakazuki was hurled dozens of meters away before smashing heavily into the ground, the surface cracking apart on impact.
Not only that, the overwhelming force continued to drag him backward across the ground, carving a long fissure in its wake.
He slid another ten meters or so before finally coming to a stop.
Thankfully, the Marine plaza was large enough. Otherwise, Sakazuki would have been blasted straight into the sea.
Seeing Sakazuki's miserable state, the spectators around them all stood frozen in shock.
"T-the air… even the space was shattered," someone muttered in a daze.
Because shattered air looked much like fractured space, he mistook what he saw for space itself being broken.
Others stood there with their mouths hanging open, unable to utter a single word.
Even Sengoku and Garp wore expressions of utter astonishment.
They had never imagined that Rosinante's Shattering Punch could produce such an effect, or possess such terrifying power.
And this was without even using his Devil Fruit abilities.
If he were to use his Devil Fruit on top of this… what kind of monster would that be?
Sengoku and Garp exchanged a glance, both seeing the same hint of unease in each other's eyes.
They knew very well that in the past, although Rosinante's primary means of attack had been his fists, his raw physical power alone had not been enough to place him at the very top.
Rosinante's terrifying record had largely been due to the overwhelming support provided by his Devil Fruit abilities.
Abilities such as healing silence, attack silence release, and the heaven-dimming suppression brought forth by his awakened Devil Fruit.
Individually, these abilities did not seem especially destructive.
Yet it was precisely these support abilities that made Rosinante so frightening.
But now, setting everything else aside, just this single punch alone was enough to place Rosinante among the world's top-tier powerhouses.