Faced with another storm of laser projectiles from Kizaru, Jozu remained remarkably calm and showed no intention of retreating.
He stood his ground like an immovable mountain and pushed his awakened Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit to its absolute limit.
In an instant, a thick layer of diamond covered his entire body. Every facet was flawless and transparent, refracting light thousands of times brighter than the sun.
The brilliance spread outward in almost tangible waves, illuminating everything around him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A deafening series of explosions rang out like pounding war drums and crashing thunder.
The laser projectiles, each powerful enough to pierce the hull of a steel warship, bombarded Jozu's indestructible diamond body with devastating force.
Yet astonishingly, they failed to harm him in the slightest.
Each impact merely scattered dazzling fragments of light across his surface like fireworks blooming in the night sky. Not even the thinnest crack appeared in his diamond armor.
More shocking still, the diamonds covering Jozu's body seemed to come alive, producing a strange pattern of refraction and resonance.
Almost as though they possessed a will of their own, they absorbed part of the lasers' energy and transformed it through some mysterious process.
"Kizaru! You can have your light back!"
Jozu threw back his head and roared, his voice shaking the heavens.
Fighting spirit blazed in his eyes as his presence surged to an entirely new level.
His enormous diamond fist shot forward with enough force to overturn mountains and seas.
The distinctive white halo of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit wrapped around his knuckles alongside the dazzling radiance of his diamond body. Yet there was something else as well—
A scorching stream of golden light.
It was the energy from Kizaru's own attack, absorbed and converted by Jozu to amplify the power of his punch.
The fist moved faster than human vision could follow, leaving only a blurred shadow behind.
Its force seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth apart.
The air ahead of it compressed into a transparent wall and released a piercing howl, while everything nearby trembled before its overwhelming power.
"What?!"
Kizaru's pupils contracted sharply.
Relying on his monstrous light-speed reactions, he evaded at the very last possible instant, narrowly slipping past the devastating punch.
The wind from Jozu's fist swept past him like a physical blade.
Its remaining force continued onward and crashed into a medium-sized Marine warship behind him.
BOOM!
The reinforced bow shattered instantly.
Wooden splinters and twisted metal fragments exploded through the air in a spectacular yet horrifying display.
Kizaru transformed into light and reappeared dozens of meters away.
For the first time, genuine disbelief appeared on his face. His usual careless smile vanished, replaced by a deeply troubled expression.
Even his familiar teasing tone now carried unmistakable shock.
"You must be joking?! You can absorb and transform my attacks?!
"I've never heard of anything like that!
"How exactly am I supposed to fight you now?!"
Kizaru's thoughts raced.
The abilities that had once made him nearly unstoppable were now almost completely ineffective. Not only could they fail to injure Jozu, they might even become fuel that strengthened his opponent.
It was a predicament unlike anything he had encountered before.
Within moments, however, Kizaru forced himself to calm down and reached a decision.
Since his Devil Fruit attacks were ineffective, he would have to rely on the most basic and dependable form of combat—
Raw physical strength.
"It seems… I'll have to use this instead."
Kizaru's gaze sharpened like a star suddenly appearing in the depths of the night.
The brilliant photons flowing freely around his body gradually receded, drawn back inside him by an invisible force.
He focused his full strength upon close combat.
A dense layer of pitch-black Armament Haki slowly covered both his legs, radiating an oppressive presence like darkness made tangible.
Then he moved.
Countless sharp afterimages appeared as Kizaru combined the Marines' finest Soru and Moonwalk techniques with his natural light-speed mobility.
Like a ghost, he closed the distance to Jozu in an instant.
"Light-Speed Kick: Armament Haki!"
Kizaru shouted, his voice filled with strength and determination.
His leg rose high, carrying tremendous force and concentrated Armament Haki as it came crashing toward Jozu.
He poured everything he had into the strike, determined to break the stalemate before him.
Jozu met him without hesitation.
"Come on, then! Diamond: Earthshaking Smash!"
His entire body radiated brilliant light, making him resemble an indestructible diamond statue as he charged straight into Kizaru's attack.
"Hahahahaha!"
Jozu threw back his head and laughed with fearless delight.
His booming voice rolled through the open sky like thunder, without the slightest trace of fear.
It was as though nothing left in the world could ever force him to retreat.
Every muscle in his body tightened as power surged through him like an erupting volcano.
His colossal diamond fist, coated in top-tier Armament Haki and resembling a small mountain, smashed forward with world-shattering force.
BOOM—!!!
The earthshaking explosion seemed powerful enough to tear the universe apart.
Fist and foot collided violently in midair, unleashing a terrifying shock wave like two enormous meteors crashing head-on.
Their Haki collided and twisted together without elaborate techniques or deception.
It was a contest of nothing but the most primal and absolute strength.
A clearly visible ring of compressed air burst outward from the point of impact.
Wherever it passed, the once-calm sea was pressed into a deep crater. Water exploded upward in towering pillars, creating a magnificent and terrifying scene that resembled the arrival of the apocalypse.
...
When the violent clash finally ended, the result only made Kizaru's heart sink further.
In terms of Armament Haki, Jozu was anything but ordinary.
His Haki had been repeatedly tempered through the use of multiple Devil Fruit powers, then carefully refined under Ron's personal guidance.
Now, it had surpassed Kizaru's own.
In their direct contest of strength, the Admiral had clearly come out worse.
The recoil from the collision stabbed through his leg bones like countless steel needles, leaving them faintly numb and trembling despite his efforts to remain steady.
"It's not over yet! Future sight!"
Kizaru gritted his teeth, resolve flashing through his eyes.
He pushed his Observation Haki to its absolute limit, intending to perceive every path Jozu's next attack could take.
A moment later, his expression changed sharply again.
Jozu's Observation Haki had already reached an almost unimaginable level, as vast, deep, and unfathomable as the open ocean.
Not only did it easily see through every one of Kizaru's intentions, but it also interfered with his own attempt to predict the future.
This was clearly the highest level of Observation Haki—a realm normally possessed only by Emperor-class monsters standing at the summit of the pirate world.
Bang!
At that critical moment, a heavy diamond elbow came at him like lightning, precisely exploiting the opening created by his failed prediction.
The blow carried overwhelming force and crashed into the arm Kizaru hurriedly raised to defend himself.
The impact swept him backward like a kite whose string had snapped.
His body tumbled several times through the air, his clothes snapping violently in the wind before he finally managed to regain his balance.
Blood and energy churned violently inside Kizaru's body.
His expression shifted slightly as alarm spread through him.
'Damn it… His abilities have mine completely restrained, and even the Haki I've always relied on is being suppressed.'
'At this rate, this battle is going to be far more difficult than I expected.'
"Wahahahaha!"
Jozu threw back his head and released a wild, challenging laugh.
His mountain-like body advanced with overwhelming pressure, each heavy step shaking the ground and kicking dust into the air.
He looked down at the slightly disheveled Kizaru, then suddenly remembered the grand plan Ron had once described to him in vivid detail.
Jozu drew a deep breath until his broad chest swelled, then shouted loudly enough for his voice to carry across the entire battlefield.
"Kizaru! Open your eyes and take a good look at the world around you!
"The World Government has rotted all the way to its core. It's like an ancient tree hollowed out by insects, barely able to remain standing!
"And those arrogant Celestial Dragons sitting above everyone else—when have they ever treated Marines like you as fellow human beings?
"To them, you're nothing but insects they can trample, enslave, and discard whenever they please!
"So why keep risking your life for them? Why waste your youth and your blood serving a rotten government with no future?"
Jozu's voice grew even louder.
"For old times' sake, I'll give you a way out—surrender and join our Divine Kingdom!
"Ron intends to create a new world built on true equality and justice!
"With your strength, you could finally uphold the justice you actually believe in under that new order instead of serving as a guard dog for those Celestial Dragon scum!"
His words struck like a hammer.
They did not merely pound against Kizaru's heart. Even some of the distant fighters who could faintly hear him underwent sudden changes in expression.
On a battlefield, breaking the enemy's will could be more effective than breaking his body.
Jozu's powerful appeal rolled toward Kizaru like thunder.
Every word became an enormous hammer carrying crushing weight, battering mercilessly against the defenses surrounding the Admiral's heart.
For generations, the Celestial Dragons had used their supposedly noble blood to justify running rampant and grinding the dignity of others beneath their feet.
Within the World Government, countless dark corners remained hidden from public view. Struggles for authority and tangled interests formed an invisible web that covered the entire system.
Even the Marines were often forced, at critical moments, to betray the convictions that had once led them to enlist and carry out orders that violated both morality and conscience.
Kizaru had buried all those complicated thoughts deep inside himself beneath the convenient shield of his so-called "ambiguous justice."
Now, Jozu's words had forcibly torn that covering open.
They cut through the shell around his heart like a surgeon's blade, exposing thoughts he had concealed for years.
'A new world of true equality and justice…'
'A place where I could follow the justice in my own heart…'
Those heavy words echoed through his mind like the tolling of a vast bell.
Each repetition sent another ripple through the depths of his heart.
Kizaru had to admit that every sentence Jozu spoke struck the one place within himself that he had always refused—or perhaps feared—to confront.
It was where his doubts about the current order remained hidden.
Where his desire for genuine justice endured.
Where the contradiction between his convictions and the position he occupied had never truly disappeared.
Nevertheless, Kizaru was still Kizaru.
He was a veteran Admiral who had weathered countless battles and storms, and his ability to conceal his emotions had long since reached perfection.
Though powerful waves churned within his heart, none of them appeared on his face.
His familiar sunglasses formed an impenetrable barrier, hiding any flicker that might have crossed his eyes.
Even after receiving such a powerful emotional blow, the faint, unreadable curve remained at the corner of his lips, as though everything Jozu had said were nothing more than idle conversation.
He still appeared relaxed and composed, as if the situation remained completely under his control.
"Ooh…"