"Two-Sword Style: Death: Flaming Lightning Slash!"
Lightning burst from Kuina's body, which bore numerous wounds.
Lightning Release Chakra stimulated her physique, synergizing with her superhuman endurance.
The blade light, mingled with deathly aura, condensed almost into a single line, leaving a sharp trail in the void.
Clang!
Gion raised his sword to block. Armament Haki transmitted through the blade, seeking to shatter Kuina's will.
However, it was countered by the deathly aura seeping from Muramasa, corroding his blade in return and piercing the cursed sword's malice into Gion's soul.
"A cursed sword wielder this young?"
Three blades interwove, clashing in a shower of sparks. Faint blood trails appeared on Momousagi's arm.
"Tch, too shallow a cut."
Kuina frowned, wincing as she clutched a wound at her side.
"Damn pirate! Die!"
Seizing the moment during their exchange, Onigumo used Life Return to manipulate his hair. Strands like a spider's eight legs extended from his waist, drawing swords as he charged Kuina.
"Not good!"
Her Observation Haki sensed the danger from behind. Kuina tried to flip away.
But Gion before her slashed his katana with great force, forcing Kuina to cross her swords to block, locking them in a stalemate of strength.
Onigumo's body overflowed with Haki, coating and blackening all his blades. He leaped high, aiming every sword at Kuina.
"Eight-Sword Style: Thrust!"
His large frame used gravity, plummeting rapidly with a roar.
At this critical juncture...
Lightning flashed within the dark clouds. A furious gale howled as if in lament. Amidst this weather,
alongside the torrential downpour, Enel descended… completely transformed into a bolt of lightning.
Onigumo, flying highest and carrying eight metal longswords, undoubtedly became the first sacrifice for the descending thunder.
Boom!!!
A rainbow glint crossed Onigumo's pupils, the Observation Haki warning, but it was no match for the speed of light.
Then, dazzling lightning filled his vision. Dozens of bolts converged on his body.
In almost an instant, he was charred to a crisp, blasted away, his fate unknown.
"Onigumo..."
Tsuru, who was besieging Tiger alongside Yamakaji and Dalmatian, also noted the distant scene, her brow furrowing.
Less than half an hour into the battle, and the first Vice Admiral was already down.
Yet, this only hardened her resolve not to let the Higanbana Pirates escape. Armament Haki bloomed in her hands, her strikes gradually becoming fiercer.
"That Enel guy... now all the pressure's on me, isn't it?"
Tiger smiled bitterly, muscles tensing to staunch his bleeding wounds. His red skin was stained black by Armament Haki. Water Release chakra conjured a flood beneath his feet.
The boost from Water Release Chakra was immense. Creating water on land drastically amplified the power of his Fish-Man Karate.
Especially when his opponents included Devil Fruit users!
[Fish-Man Jujutsu: Super Ocean Current!]
No need for Ninjutsu to compress water. This technique alone could compress tons of water into a massive tidal wave, blotting out the sky as it crashed towards his enemies.
"Not good! Vice Admiral Tsuru, evade!"
Doberman and Yamakaji, who had been closing in on Tiger with large swords, turned back in unison, urgently warning the older woman behind them.
"You youngsters worry about yourselves first! This old woman hasn't decayed to the point of being useless!"
Tsuru had already taken to the air using Geppo. Her gaze, however, shifted to Doberman and Yamakaji, now immersed in the flood.
The two, about to respond to Tsuru, suddenly felt a bone-piercing chill.
Immediately, a sudden change occurred.
Frost and freezing ice fog of extremely low temperature spread. The water rapidly froze under the covering of frost and snow.
Ice surged forth. From the gushing of the ultimate cold flow emerged earth transformed into permafrost.
Frost sang its praises… a snow kingdom descended!
Unresistable Conqueror's Haki followed close behind, forcing everyone present to turn their attention to the pure-white girl who grasped the ice and snow with such ease.
"Haa~"
Sakura exhaled a long plume of white mist. With each light step, frigid frost spread recklessly.
The magma on the island had long since solidified into hard obsidian under this unreasonable theft of heat.
Before her, Akainu frowned deeply. "How is this so terrifying? Has this monster's Devil Fruit Awakened?"
"No. It doesn't have that feeling of arbitrarily distorting matter that comes with Awakening."
Zephyr raised a hand, watching as frost continuously formed on his arm. Armament Haki surged, and he clenched his fist, shattering the ice.
Akainu glanced silently at the extinguished magma on his hand, suddenly regretting not having listened to Zephyr more carefully years ago about honing Armament Haki to its peak.
"It's not too late now. Haki is honed in battle. It's never too late to start polishing it!"
Zephyr walked to his side, offering quiet encouragement.
Akainu snorted coldly, wrapped his arm in Armament Haki, and crushed a stone in his grip.
"Let's go!"
With a shout, the two launched another assault on Sakura, though this time Zephyr took the lead.
Amidst the blizzard and thunder, the radiance of Haki broke through all obstructions, charging straight towards the queen standing amidst the ice and snow.
"You're doing pretty well! Instructor Zephy~r~"
Sakura sheathed Kumotsuna and raised her hands, clenching her blackened fists.
"Don't call me 'instructor'! And... I am dead yet, brat!"
A wild grin on his face, Zephyr closed the distance to Sakura. A fist surging with Haki smashed down.
Sakura met him head-on, throwing a punch in return.
Zephyr, who had been in mid-air, bizarrely took a step to the right, evading Sakura's punch with ease. His own vicious iron fist then slammed into Sakura's abdomen, sending her flying back to embed into the earth.
"Cough, cough... what a troublesome old man."
Sakura pushed the frozen clods of earth aside and stood up in the crater, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
That last strike was clear. Before Sakura's Observation Haki could react, Zephyr had already foreseen the direction of her attack.
To put it in more common terms… Observation Haki: Future Sight.
"Don't look down on the elderly! We keep up with the times too!"
Slowly retracting his fist, a triumphant smile tugged at Zephyr's lips.
Ever since his defeat by Sakura, he had reflected deeply and returned to the basics of Haki training.
God knew how many beatings he'd taken from another old friend to obtain this power to glimpse the future.
Now, with the past humiliation washed away, the satisfaction in his heart was indescribable.
"Good chance!"
Akainu seized the opportunity, breaking through the frost to appear before Sakura.
Seething magma overflowed from his palm, forming a sharp cone. He used the external ice and snow to cool and solidify it, then wrapped it in Armament Haki, thrusting it at Sakura's head.
"Armament of this level isn't enough, Admiral!"
With a fierce, near-manic smile, the girl raised a fist through which highly concentrated Haki flowed.
She threw the punch!
It shattered the outer layer of obsidian, along with Akainu's fist protected beneath the rocky shell.
The attack drove straight in, hammering his chest and slamming him into the ground. Frost instantly spread, freezing the magma man solid in ice.
Unsatisfied, Sakura raised her fist again, but Zephyr had already arrived behind her. "You damn pirate! What do you think you're doing to my student?!"
"Just continuing this thrilling battle, of course!"
Expending a large amount of Haki, Sakura's Observation Haki locked onto Zephyr's every movement.
Punch! Counter-punch!
Their iron fists moved like phantoms between them. The constant sound of air bursting and the blizzard they kicked up blurred their figures, making the center of the battlefield increasingly perilous.
Akainu, frozen to the ground, struggled to lift his head, looking on with profound unwillingness.
"...Damn it!"