"Armament: Hardening!" Drake instantly coated his forearms in obsidian Haki, crossing them before his chest.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several shells scored direct hits on Drake, engulfing him in a thick cloud of acrid black smoke.
"This..." Emerging from the haze, Drake was pleasantly surprised to find the damage was negligible. It wasn't just his Haki; his fundamental physical durability was far beyond anything he had imagined. Coming from Earth, his perception of artillery was rooted in modern warfare—weapons that turned human bodies into unrecognizable red mist.
As a youth raised in Huaxia, his instinctual fear of such high-caliber weapons was hard to shake. But in this moment, Drake finally realized that he was no longer an ordinary man. This was the world of One Piece!
He possessed superhuman power—the flight unit at his back, the Spirit Sword in his hand, the cultivation of a Swordsman Master, and the crushing force of Haki. Drake felt like he could cry from sheer exhilaration. This was everything he had ever dreamed of.
A hero...
Heh... heh-heh...
Suddenly, a wave of blistering heat snapped him out of his reverie. As the smoke cleared, the sky turned a hellish crimson. Molten rock rained down—the signature mass-slaughter technique of the "Red Dog."
Sabo and Kenshin had already been forced back. Akainu had clearly realized the tactical disadvantage: his three opponents could fly, while a Devil Fruit user was a sinking stone the moment they hit the water. He only had one warship; if it sank, he was finished.
"Great Eruption!"
"Damn, this guy really shows no mercy!" Drake hissed. This was the same move that had decimated the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet. Akainu was looking for a total wipeout. But it wouldn't be that easy.
"Ten Thousand Thunderclaps!" "Fire Fist!" "Eight Desolations Sweep!"
The trio dodged the falling magma, unleashing their own ultimate moves simultaneously. Sword aura, spiraling flames, and jagged lightning converged into a singular, devastating force.
"Combined Art: Thunder-Flame Desolation!" Drake bellowed the name on a whim. The more he shouted out these move names, the more he felt himself truly integrating into this world. His naming sense was evolving by leaps and bounds, but they needed a change in strategy. Akainu was a monster; a frontal clash was a war of attrition they couldn't afford.
Predictably, Akainu countered the combined strike with his own magma.
"Kenshin, Sabo—here's the plan..." Drake whispered the details of his sudden inspiration, his lips curling into a smirk.
Three highly mobile, high-tier combatants vs. one ship? It should be a walk in the park, even if that ship carried the Marines' greatest military power.
Schwing! Drake lunged forward, sword in hand, an image of peerless arrogance. He spiraled through the gaps in the magma rain and thrust his blade forward.
"Coming to your death?" Akainu tilted his head slightly, the blade whistling past his ear, and countered with a magma-heavy left hook.
BOOM! Drake was sent hurtling back hundreds of meters by the sheer force of the impact, plunging straight into the ocean.
"Drake!" Sabo and Kenshin screamed in unison. As Fruit users, the sea was their absolute taboo. Or so they—and Akainu—believed.
"Bastard!" Sabo and Kenshin unleashed a double-barreled assault on the Admiral.
"Fire!" the Marines yelled, finally realigning their cannons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Hellhound!" A massive magma fist collided with the lightning-wreathed flame punch.
KABOOM!
"Ugh..." Sabo and Kenshin were blown back several meters by the shockwave. They looked at Akainu, who stood tall and unshaken, with growing dread. They had gained incredible powers, but Akainu was a reminder of the summit of this world.
"Who are you people? Why are you here?" Akainu asked, his face a mask of stern indifference.
"Heh, finally decided to talk?" Kenshin drew his long blade, his voice cold. "Admiral Akainu, you didn't even know who we were, yet you started with lethal force? Are you not afraid of killing an innocent? Your magma is hot enough to melt anything it touches."
"Hmph. Intuition," Akainu replied dismissively. "I don't know you, but the man beside you is Sabo, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army. That proves my intuition was correct."
"I wonder what the Revolutionaries are doing so close to Marine Headquarters?" The Red Dog flashed a look that made Drake's skin crawl. That weathered face was simply begging to be punched.
"Intuition!? You'd kill someone on a hunch?" Kenshin couldn't believe it. "What if you're wrong? What about the innocent lives?"
"If they truly were innocent, they would have the honor of sacrificing themselves for the sake of Absolute Justice. There is nothing to say; they should feel proud." Akainu slowly removed his cap, smoothing his short-cropped hair with an expression that suggested he was simply doing his job.
Watching his insufferable arrogance, Sabo and Kenshin bit their tongues in rage. This man was truly infuriating.
"One of your companions is already dead. Now, surrender quietly," Akainu stated, putting his cap back on.
"Is that so?" Sabo and Kenshin exchanged a glance, their lips curling into identical smirks.
Simultaneously, deep beneath the surface, Vale D. Drake snapped his eyes open. The blade of Rainbow's Remnant flashed with a cold, killing light.
"Eight Desolations Sweep!"
The move wasn't a wide-area attack; it was Ryuo compressed to its absolute limit, forming a razor-thin crescent of sword intent. Its cutting power was the pinnacle of Drake's current ability.
Zip! Though he was underwater, the thinness of the blade-aura allowed it to slice through the current with minimal resistance. It shot toward the warship's hull like a bolt of golden lightning.
SKRIIIII—!
A golden flash erupted from the sea, soaring into the sky and cleaving Akainu's warship clean in two.
"What!?" Akainu realized the trap, but it was too late.
The ship collapsed instantly. His footing vanished, and he began to fall toward the water.
"Fire Fist!" An unannounced blast of flame roared down, shattering the remains of the deck into splinters.
"200 Million Volts!"
The moment Drake breached the surface, Kenshin slammed his palms into the sea, discharging his maximum electrical output into the water. For anyone—especially a Fruit user—this was a death sentence.
"We did it!" Looking at the empty, churning surface of the sea, the three brothers allowed themselves a triumphant smile.