At this thought, Raiver Sky took a deep breath.
On the other end of the deck, Rocks seemed to sense something and glanced over.
Their gazes met in the air.
Rocks didn't speak, only giving a slight nod.
Raiver Sky used Space Leap, instantly appearing beside Golden Lion Shiki.
"Huh?! What are you doing here, kid?" Shiki glanced sideways briefly, but his attention remained fixed on Zephyr.
On the warship, Zephyr's expression turned stern.
Trouble.
In a one-on-one fight, he wasn't afraid of Golden Lion and was confident he could suppress Raiver Sky.
After all, according to intelligence, although the kid's Devil Fruit Ability was strange, his raw strength still fell short of top-tier levels.
But facing both of them simultaneously...
Raiver Sky grinned: "Shiki! Leave Zephyr to me! You go seize the Celestial Tribute!"
What?!
Shiki was momentarily stunned, then his eyes flashed with sharp understanding.
Right! As long as he could touch the treasure ship, his Float-Float Fruit Ability could make it float away.
Even if Marine reinforcements arrived, it would be nearly impossible to recover the tribute then.
And Raiver Sky stalling Zephyr was precisely creating an opportunity for him!
Raiver Sky could also use Space Buoyancy, so why didn't he go after the Celestial Tribute himself?
On one hand, he believed his mastery of buoyancy wasn't as refined as Shiki's.
After all, Space Buoyancy was just one branch among the many abilities of the Space Fruit.
On the other hand, stealing things wasn't as enjoyable as fighting.
"Understood!" Shiki nodded firmly, no longer hesitating.
He activated his Float-Float Fruit Ability at full power, transforming into a golden streak of light that shot toward the distant treasure ship like a meteor.
"Don't even think about it—!!"
Zephyr's face changed dramatically.
If the Celestial Tribute was stolen, not only would the encirclement plan completely fail, but Marine dignity would also be trampled.
More terrifyingly, those Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land would never let it go, and Marine Headquarters would face unimaginable pressure.
He absolutely couldn't let the pirates succeed!
Zephyr used Moon Walk, his body shooting out like a cannonball, closely pursuing Shiki in the air.
His iron arms hardened with Armament Haki again—even if he had to withstand Shiki's slashes with Iron Body Empty Tree, he would stop him.
But the moment he leaped into the air—
"Space Imprisonment!"
The next instant, Zephyr's charging form sank as if trapped in mud.
"What?!"
Shock and anger flashed in Zephyr's eyes.
He erupted with all his strength, muscles bulging as he tried to break free from this invisible restraint.
But every exertion felt like punching cotton.
Raiver Sky drew his Supreme Grade Sharp Blade "Black Dragon" and swung it down with his right hand.
"Wave Cut - Skyfall!"
The slashing energy didn't travel in a straight line but curved and accelerated like a living thing under gravitational manipulation, its trajectory too bizarre to predict.
Zephyr's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
Can't dodge.
Then—
"Black Arm - Absolute Defense!"
Zephyr condensed all his Haki, forming flowing Haki armor over his body.
Simultaneously, he crossed his fists in front of his chest, muscles tensed to their limit.
He chose to take it head-on.
BOOM——!!!
The blade energy struck.
The spot where Zephyr stood erupted in a blinding white light, the shockwave expanding in a spherical blast that shattered the main mast of the warship and sent deck planks flying in all directions.
The cries of the marines were drowned out by the explosion.
"Vice Admiral Zephyr—!"
"Impossible... How could Vice Admiral Zephyr possibly..."
"Silence!" roared a blood-soaked Marine Rear Admiral, cutting down a charging pirate with his blade:
"Vice Admiral Zephyr would never fall to pirates! Fight to the death! Dedicate your lives to justice!"
"Fight to the death—!!"
Grief and fury transformed into strength as the marines erupted with astonishing combat power, engaging the pirates in an even more brutal struggle.
Meanwhile, on another front, the battlefield between Sengoku and Whitebeard had escalated to cataclysmic proportions.
Whitebeard slightly bent one knee, his right hand clawing at the empty air. A semi-transparent vibration sphere spun and expanded rapidly in his palm.
With his Observation Haki fully activated, he firmly locked onto the golden giant Buddha charging toward him from a hundred meters away.
Sengoku similarly pushed his Devil Fruit Ability to its limit.
His fifteen-meter-tall Golden Buddha form swelled once more, reaching twenty-five meters.
The energy shockwave in the Buddha's palm no longer radiated outward but contracted inward like a black hole.
Both were gathering their strength—the next strike would decide the victor.
"Great Buddha - Secret Technique - Pure Land Requiem Palm!"
"Tremor-Tremor - Secret Technique - Heaven and Earth Shattering Break—!!"
They erupted simultaneously.
The golden Buddha palm thrust forward, its imprint detaching and transforming into a solid, hundred-meter-tall colossal hand.
Whitebeard threw a punch, shattering space like glass.
Whoosh—BOOM!!!
A perfectly spherical depression three hundred meters in diameter appeared on the sea's surface.
At its edges, the seawater rose like walls, forming a hemispherical water barrier.
Within this barrier, two figures stood proudly.
...
Elsewhere.
Zephyr had just burst out of the explosion's smoke and dust when he saw Golden Lion Shiki closing within a hundred meters of the treasure ship. As he prepared to rush forward and intercept—
Raiver Sky teleported, blocking his path.
"Get out of my way—!!"
Zephyr roared, throwing the strongest punch of his life with his iron fist.
This strike held nothing back—Armament Haki, Six Styles Secret Technique, and over a decade of honed physical strength all concentrated into a single point.
The air compressed into a solid state ahead of his fist, forming a conical vacuum tunnel.
Raiver Sky remained expressionless, raising his right hand with fingers slightly spread.
"Almighty Push—"
Just as Zephyr's iron fist was about to smash into Raiver Sky's face—
The air froze.
No—the very space within three feet of Raiver Sky became an absolute forbidden zone.
An invisible barrier, shaped like an inverted bowl, abruptly expanded.
Zephyr's iron fist, mere inches from Raiver Sky's nose, could advance no further.
Hum!!!
In the next instant, the invisible barrier erupted with a terrifying repulsive force.
"What?!"
Zephyr had no time to react—no, it was impossible to react.
Even though his Observation Haki had warned him of the danger, his body was meaningless against this spatial-level repulsion.
One moment, his fist hovered three inches from Raiver Sky's face; the next, he was sent flying backward a hundred meters!
"Guh—!"
Blood sprayed from Zephyr's mouth, tracing a stark crimson arc through the air.
His chest felt as if struck by an invisible ten-thousand-ton hammer—had it not been for his Haki protection, that blow would have critically injured him!
"Cough... Cough..."
He forcibly twisted his body mid-air, detonating seven consecutive sonic booms with Moon Walk beneath his feet, barely stabilizing his backward momentum.
"To repel all external force so completely..."
Zephyr wiped the blood from his lips, his gaze as hard and heavy as iron.
Raiver Sky gave Zephyr no time to think, his feet lightly tapping as his figure closed in like a phantom.
No afterimages, no sonic booms—only the eerie sensation of space being compressed.
A blade gleamed like a crescent moon, aimed straight at Zephyr's throat!
But Zephyr was, after all, a top-tier naval combatant tempered by countless battles.
At the critical moment, a pitch-black iron fist shot out as if preemptively calculated, striking squarely against the side of the blade.
Not blocking the edge head-on, but deflecting the trajectory of the slash!
Immediately after, fist shadows erupted like a torrential downpour!
"Six Styles Secret Technique—Hundred Fists Mayhem!"
This was Zephyr's uniq
ue martial arts secret technique, forged by perfectly blending the speed of Shave, the piercing power of Finger Gun, the sharpness of Storm Leg, and the hardness of Iron Body from the Six Styles.
Pitch-black fist shadows poured down like a storm from all directions.
Each punch carried enough force to shatter a steel warship.