The wind roared violently across the shattered island as two overwhelming wills collided above the sea. The sky had already split once, black lightning tearing through the heavens as Conqueror's Haki clashed at its highest level.
Whitebeard stood at the edge of the Moby Dick, bisento resting on his shoulder, eyes narrowed.
He was shocked.
His Haki had been overpowered—just slightly.
It had pushed back a fraction before stabilizing, meeting Ren's force in a deadlock. But that brief moment told him everything he needed to know.
The man in front of him looked barely in his twenties.
"Gurarararara!" Whitebeard laughed, deep and booming. "Shakky really has quite the taste… to find such a monster!"
Behind him, his crew stood frozen.
Marco stared at Ren, wings half-spread in disbelief. "Pops' Haki… got pushed back?"
Vista's grip tightened on his swords. "That's impossible."
Jozu frowned. "He's just a kid…"
Oden, barely conscious in Whitebeard's grasp moments ago, now stood on deck with blood still drying on his cheek. His eyes burned with excitement.
"So that's the man who sent me flying."
Shakky sighed as if bored by the tension.
She grabbed Toki's wrist gently.
"Come on."
Before anyone could react, she leapt from the island and landed gracefully on the Moby Dick's deck. Whitebeard moved at the same time, stepping off his ship and crashing onto the island below.
The ground split beneath his weight.
"Stay back," Shakky told Toki calmly. "You're about to see something rare."
The island became their battlefield.
The moment Whitebeard landed, he disappeared again in a burst of monstrous speed. His bisento came crashing down toward Ren, coated in Conqueror's Haki infusion and advanced internal destruction Armament.
The air screamed.
Ren met it with his bare fist.
Black lightning exploded outward as his own Conqueror's infusion surged upward, advanced Armament roaring like a rising tide. Their attacks collided mid-air.
The clash was deafening.
For a moment, it felt as if the world had lost its color.
Half the island was torn apart instantly. The ocean recoiled. The heavens split once more.
Both men laughed.
"Gurararararara!"
"Hahahahaha!"
They pushed off each other, landing dozens of meters apart.
"Good!" Whitebeard grinned. "It's been a while since someone met that head-on!"
Ren cracked his knuckles. "You swing harder than I expected."
Whitebeard lunged again, this time abandoning his Devil Fruit and focusing purely on Haki and swordsmanship. His blade carved arcs through the air, each strike precise and devastating.
Ren moved like flowing water.
His future sight gave him an edge, letting him see seconds ahead. He slipped past strikes by hair-width margins and countered with fists that carried the weight of mountains.
Whitebeard took a clean hit to the ribs.
"Gurararararara!" he roared. "Your punches hit like Garp's!"
Ren smirked. "I trained my fists by breaking mountains."
"Brat!"
Whitebeard swung low. Ren blocked, but the force launched him through a ridge of stone. He emerged seconds later, wiping blood from his lips.
The battle escalated.
For an entire day and night, they clashed.
The island's terrain reshaped itself with every exchange. Trees were vaporized. Cliffs collapsed. Waves rose in towering spirals.
Oden watched from the ship, jaw clenched.
"If I were at my peak, I could've kept up," he muttered.
Marco snorted. "Yeah? With that guy?"
The crew laughed.
Even Oden knew.
Anyone who forced Pops to fight seriously was beyond him.
Meanwhile, Toki stood at the railing, fingers tightening around the wood. Her heart was torn.
That man below—the one laughing in battle—wanted to take Wano.
Oden was a Kozuki. The future Shogun.
Should she follow her homeland's heir?
Or the man who spoke of an empire where every race could live together?
Her mind drifted.
Wano, isolated and proud.
An empire of unity, impossible yet hopeful.
She stepped toward Oden.
"You are a Kozuki, right?" she asked quietly. "I heard Wano is being invaded by pirates."
Oden shrugged casually. "Wano has my father and the other samurai to protect it."
His dismissive tone made her chest tighten.
"That's not what I meant," she whispered.
He grinned. "Wano is strong. It'll be fine."
Toki looked back toward the battlefield.
Ren and Whitebeard were still laughing mid-clash.
She felt it then.
Resolve.
She turned back to Shakky.
"I want to see Wano," she said. "But… I'll go with you."
Shakky studied her for a moment.
"Not going with them?" she asked knowingly.
Toki shook her head. "I want to see for myself what kind of man he is."
Shakky smiled faintly. "We're heading to Wano anyway."
Morning arrived with blood and steam rising from the battlefield.
Whitebeard stood tall, grinning.
"Enough warm-up!" he declared. "Let's start the real fight!"
His bisento glowed white as he activated his Devil Fruit. The air cracked as shockwaves condensed around the blade.
Ren's grin widened.
His body shifted.
He entered his human-beast form.
Nine massive fox tails unfurled behind him. Fox ears rose through his hair. Whisker-like markings spread across his cheeks. His fur shimmered red-orange and silver-white under the stormy sky.
Thunder roared.
Massive clouds gathered unnaturally overhead.
Ren's fists ignited in fox flames intertwined with frost. Ice weapons formed around him—swords, spears, blades—all coated in Conqueror's infusion and advanced internal destruction Haki, suspended in the air through telekinesis.
Even Whitebeard's mouth twitched.
On the ship, silence fell.
Marco whispered, "Is that… a Mythical Zoan?"
Vista's voice dropped. "That thunder… he's been gathering it this whole time."
Toki felt her breath hitch.
"He planned this…"
Whitebeard swung first.
A quake-infused slash tore forward, splitting the sea behind Ren. Ren met it head-on, his Conqueror's-infused punch detonating against the shockwave.
The island cracked in half.
Ice swords attacked from every direction, forcing Whitebeard to move constantly. As he dodged one, Ren appeared in front of him, fox-flame and frost fists crashing into his chest.
Whitebeard coughed blood.
Ren staggered back as a shockwave struck him directly, blood spilling from his own mouth.
Whitebeard grinned through it.
"You really are a dangerous brat to fight head-on! Gurararara!"
Ren wiped his lip. "And what about you, destruction incarnate? That single swing destroyed half the island—and nearly my insides. If not for Mythical Zoan regeneration, I'd be done."
Whitebeard felt it.
The burning cold inside his body.
Ren's ice and flame, layered with internal destruction Haki, had seeped deep.
Above them, thunder condensed into a terrifying mass.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed.
Three layers.
If he focused on the thunder, the ice blades would pierce him.
If he dealt with the blades, Ren himself would strike.
A layered trap.
A genius battlefield setup.
Whitebeard slowly lowered his bisento.
"Hahaha…" he exhaled.
Ren watched carefully.
The thunder dispersed.
To the crew, it looked like a draw.
But Shakky knew.
Oden knew.
Toki understood.
Whitebeard had sensed it.
This was his loss.
Whitebeard burst into laughter.
"Gurarararara! You're insane, brat!"
Ren laughed back.
The tension dissolved.
They sat together later, eating food prepared by Shakky and the Whitebeard Pirates. Meat piled high between them as if nothing had happened.
Whitebeard chewed loudly.
"You stole Shakky," he complained. "The entire sea was chasing that flower."
Ren grinned.
"If the world wants her," he said calmly, "it can come. I'll burn it if I have to."
Whitebeard roared with laughter.
"Gurarararara! I like you!"
Toki watched Ren quietly.
With that power, he could take Wano.
The question wasn't whether he could.
It was what kind of ruler he would become.
And she intended to find out.