He stomped down fiercely, cracking the ground beneath his feet into spiderweb-like fissures. Then, with brute force, he hurled Saint Garling toward the distant sea.
Boom—!
A sharp, piercing screech rang out in rapid succession. Ren vanished from Sphinx Island together with his prey.
Just as he had arrived without warning, he abruptly left this battlefield without warning.
All that remained were Sengoku and the others, dumbfounded, standing there in the wind in complete disarray.
After all that effort, reinforcements had finally arrived—only to reinforce them for a single moment before disappearing in the blink of an eye!
"Ren!"
Sengoku recognized the meddler almost instantly.
Right now, on this sea, only that bastard shone so blindingly the moment he made a move, dazzling like a damn lightbulb.
Had the title Demon been given to him later, perhaps Ren's current epithet would have been something like Blazing Sun or Sun God.
No matter what, the current situation was extremely bad!
The only explanation was…
Sengoku subconsciously looked toward Shanks. Red Hair had a grudge against Ren.
'Ren, huh…'
In truth, Shanks was indeed slightly tempted, but he immediately remembered that Ace was still here.
Moreover, the time he had agreed upon with Ren was three years. Calculating carefully, that deadline had not yet arrived.
Most importantly, the reason he had compromised was that his crewmates' relatives would be threatened. Until that factor was removed, he could not casually tear up the agreement.
Compared to taking that risk, he would rather kill his enemy in a duel.
"Sengoku, stop dreaming."
Benn Beckman said coldly, "Handing over Ace is impossible. On the contrary, you still have time to leave now."
"…Military orders cannot be disobeyed."
Sengoku did not retreat. He merely said, "If Ren is your trump card, then I have to admit this truly exceeded my expectations.
"Even I never imagined he would appear on Sphinx with you here.
"But do not underestimate that man too much, Shanks. Saint Garling was already able to contend with Roger and the others back in God Valley.
"He is a king from the Pirate King's era. Even compared to the Pirate King, he is not inferior."
"But he has grown old. Otherwise, he would not need me to return."
Shanks said coldly, "Enough meaningless chatter, Sengoku. If you want Ace, then cross me first!"
"Lord Garling has made his move. Will we finally get to witness the strength of a king this time?"
"I want to see that arrogant bastard die."
"Shanks, was it? That man really is an eyesore. He clearly has that blood flowing through his veins, yet he became a pirate in the filthy mortal world."
"But that guy's strength truly is formidable. Otherwise, Lord Garling would not have always wanted him to return."
"None of that matters. If he dares stand against us, then he can be destroyed together with those foolish mortals."
"It would be fine if he died. This year's Human Hunting Tournament is about to begin preparations anyway. If he dies, then that matter will fall to us."
"I wonder how many Devil Fruits will be put up this time…"
On the massive ship, several God Knights were conversing in low voices, their words filled with no shortage of malice toward Shanks.
They were not God Knights from the same generation as Saint Figarland Garling.
Instead, they were the next generation of God Knights currently being cultivated. Youth and strength were their defining labels.
But one had to admit that there were always people who were younger, stronger, and more outstanding.
For example, Shanks, whom they had mentioned. If this member of the Figarland family chose to return, then the position of Supreme Commander of this generation would most likely belong to him.
That was also the reason they hoped to see Shanks killed by Saint Garling.
As for the Human Hunting Tournament they mentioned, it was a Celestial Dragon custom held once every three years.
Its purpose was to cultivate the wild nature and combat abilities of battle-oriented Celestial Dragons, so extremely precious Devil Fruits and other items would be prepared as prizes.
When the tournament was held, they would select a Non-Member Nation, then release disobedient slaves into that country.
At the same time, they would dispatch Cipher Pol agents—or simply enter the field themselves—to dismantle that nation's defensive capability through assassination.
After that came a point-based competition where slaughtering living beings became entertainment.
At this point, one God Knight could not help saying, "I heard Lord Garling was originally supposed to obtain that Azure Dragon fruit, but it was apparently snatched away by some bastard from who knows where."
"That is true, but Lord Garling still became the king of God Valley through his own power."
Another God Knight said with a look of admiration, "With that lord's ability, the matter on Sphinx should be over very soon, right?"
The moment his words fell, the light outside the giant ship suddenly brightened by several degrees.
The God Knights who had been chatting subconsciously turned their heads. Through Observation Haki and their own eyes, they captured the sight of—
The sun?!
Boom—!
A streak of racing light cut across the sky and slammed straight into the giant ship, which was several hundred meters long.
In the next instant, a thunderous explosion and scorching waves of fire tore the giant ship apart.
A continuous surge of high-energy Haki erupted, raising a massive mushroom cloud where the giant ship had once been!
Those God Knights had no time to react before the merciless blazing light swallowed them together with the ship.
And the light that had caused all of this had already pierced through the bottom of the vessel and plunged into the sea below.
Ren pressed one hand against Saint Garling's face, his savage strength pinning him into a sinkhole on the seafloor.
The air was squeezed away by that violently overwhelming force, forming a vacuum.
Layer after layer of circular shock rings bloomed. The seabed collapsed in spiraling layers, sinking hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.
A raging tide surged across the sea from this strike, but it was not as exaggerated as when Ren had pressed King down back then.
That was because Ren's control over his strength had risen to another level. He had concentrated his power even more precisely onto the enemy.
Crack.
A faint sound of bone cracking rang out. It was as if some switch had been triggered. Dense, violent sword light suddenly outlined a cold moon.
The sword light was clear, cold, and silent. In the blink of an eye, it cut Ren into countless lightning particles, while also slicing apart the surging seawater and opening up an undersea abyss that stretched for over a thousand meters.
"So strong."
Countless lightning particles gathered back together and formed Ren. He looked down calmly from above, having obtained the information he wanted.
Strong. Extremely strong.
Right now, Ren was in his peak state with Meteor Burst stacked on top of other traits. His strength was so terrifying that even Big Mom had been beaten into fleeing with her head covered.
Under such circumstances, someone who could endure so many of his attacks without dying was truly rare.
At the very least, Saint Garling's strength was at Admiral level, and most likely in the upper reaches of that level.
Although he did not have any Devil Fruit ability, his Haki mastery was extremely powerful.
If judging by swordsmanship alone, he could already be compared to Mihawk to some extent.
That was Ren's first impression after their brief exchange.
However, his enemy's experience was not nearly as relaxed and carefree as his.
"Madman!"
Inside the sea-bowl-shaped sinkhole now being flooded by seawater, Saint Garling leapt up in incomparable fury. After locking onto his enemy with Observation Haki, he launched a Flying Slash.
Ren reached out and grasped. Heavenly Might appeared, slashing with a single stroke.
Endless white light erupted, crushing that slash wave and cutting Saint Garling, who had been trying to leap out, back down to the seafloor.
The seabed was once again cleaved open, forming an undersea abyss several kilometers long. Immediately afterward, the high heat and high energy carried by the slash erupted.
Boom—!
A scorching mushroom cloud several kilometers wide rose from the bottom of the sea.
"He is indeed an enemy worth fighting."
After that strike, Ren voiced his judgment.
Below him, waves of fire boiled the sea on both sides of the abyss. Within the bottomless fissure, a cold "moonlight" lit up.
A crescent moon drilled out of the sea and arrived before Ren in the blink of an eye.
Heavenly Might swept horizontally, blocking Saint Garling's rapier with a clang.
Ren took advantage of the momentum and pressed down, once again knocking Saint Garling—who had no firm footing—back into the sea.
But this time, he did not look down on him from above, because this opponent truly was very strong. He was not suitable for testing out techniques.
A meteor plunged into the sea, and a Six-Winged Angel swooped down to kill.
"?"
Saint Garling frowned. His rapier, wrapped in dual-color Haki, thrust forward at extreme speed. Sword light transformed into a full moon, blocking the way ahead.
The surrounding seawater was still pouring back in, but Heavenly Might and the full moon had already collided once more.
Conqueror's Haki Infusion versus Conqueror's Haki Infusion. The terrifying power leaking from their clash distorted even space itself. As the ball of light flickered and vanished, another shock wave was released, pushing away the millions upon millions of tons of seawater that had been pouring in.
This time, with solid ground beneath his feet, Saint Garling found a point from which to exert force. The full-moon sword light instantly shifted, forming crescent slashes one after another.
At the same time, his feet moved at high speed, sending out crescent slashes while moving at over a thousand meters per second!
Opposite him, Heavenly Might in Ren's hand once again became something akin to light.
His crimson eyes turned and locked onto the high-speed Saint Garling. Then Heavenly Might danced out chaotic sword light, pouring terrifying power across this narrow stretch of seafloor.
Boom, boom, boom…
The sea shook endlessly, giving birth to a small-scale tsunami.
The seafloor serving as their battlefield was ravaged, shattering or melting across an area measured in kilometers.
Ren and Saint Garling's battle entered a white-hot stage at that moment.
Although they were fighting beneath the sea, their strength was powerful enough that the shock waves produced by each casual movement could repel the seawater into the distance, so it was not particularly dangerous.
Boom, boom, boom…
Continuous thunderous roars accompanied mushroom clouds rising one after another.
This was the inevitable result of Ren making his moves.
The battle continued, and even grew increasingly intense.
Ordinary people would be almost completely unable to see the movements of the two combatants. They would only see densely packed afterimages and all manner of traces left behind.
Only Ren himself knew that they were clashing madly at several times the speed of sound.
Conqueror's Haki clashed against Conqueror's Haki. Countless balls of light flared and vanished, while the scattered aftershocks stirred up disaster after disaster beneath the sea.
The affected range expanded rapidly, from several kilometers to dozens of kilometers, then to a hundred kilometers!
The battlefield of the two continued shifting and expanding.
But if one looked carefully—they would discover that Ren still held the upper hand!
'How can this be…?'
As Saint Garling attacked, he felt shock welling up inside him.
By now, he had finally reacted. The one who had ambushed him and was now fighting him was the dangerous factor whom the Five Elders had deemed necessary to erase in the future—Demon Ren.
According to the intelligence he knew, the other party was powerful enough to defeat the Yonko Big Mom.
But he had truly never imagined that Ren would be strong to this degree.
Or rather, bizarre to a completely unreasonable degree.
He was clearly a Devil Fruit user, yet he fought him to the end inside a pit in the sea as though he did not fear seawater at all.
(End of Chapter)