However, Redfield was extraordinarily powerful. Unable to adapt initially, as the fight prolonged, he managed to turn the situation around and gradually eliminate his disadvantage.
This demonstrated that his strength genuinely surpassed Fleet Admiral Kong's!
Moreover, he was cheating with his mind-reading. This couldn't continue!
Just when the situation reached a stalemate, Finn suddenly had an epiphany and activated his Iron Will.
Since Redfield could read minds, could his inexplicably strong willpower suppress Redfield's ability in this area? Could it prevent him from listening?
However, he wasn't certain about this. After all, he'd never tested it in practice.
Therefore, Finn didn't take direct action. He prepared to test the waters first.
He thought about secrets that would interest Redfield. Like information about immortality.
Given Redfield's yearned to escape time and mortality, as well as his years searching for immortality, he'd definitely react upon hearing this type of information from Finn.
If he reacted, it meant Iron Will couldn't restrain mind-reading. Wasted effort.
If he didn't react, Finn could turn the passive situation active. Take action!
To attract Redfield's attention, Finn raised Sōzai and gestured in the air, as if preparing something.
Kuzan, standing nearby, froze. He quickly said, "Finn, you..."
"I'm trying something," Finn said in a deep voice.
The changes on his side attracted not only Kuzan, but even Kong glanced at him from the corner of his eye, feeling slightly puzzled.
This was even more true for Redfield, who instinctively used his listening power on Finn, then frowned.
Something was wrong!
His ability had never failed. Even facing someone as strong as Kong, he could still hear their thoughts.
Kong and others had found ways to counter it: controlling emotions, not thinking clearly, replacing thoughts with anger. In this way, nothing he heard proved useful.
But he still heard something.
At this moment, however, when he tried listening to Finn, he found his power seemed blocked by something when it touched Finn's consciousness, repelled outside his mind.
This had never happened before!
Finn observed Redfield carefully. When he saw his expression change, doubt appearing in his eyes, he felt somewhat relieved.
It seems to really work!?
I know the location of theBat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire
Finn kept pondering. For a man who had spent his life chasing immortality and wasted countless years studying it, if Redfield discovered that someone actually knew where his dream lay, his reaction would be unimaginable.
But no matter what Finn was thinking, Redfield displayed no particular emotion. He just looked at him occasionally with a puzzled expression.
This further convinced Finn that the bastard couldn't hear him!
After confirming this, Finn breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he'd promised Admiral Sengoku he wouldn't let anything happen to the Fleet Admiral. He couldn't just stand there and explain himself.
He had to find a way to break the deadlock, end this battle quickly, and achieve victory.
"I'm taking action, Kuzan!" Finn said suddenly.
Kuzan froze momentarily, then quickly responded, "Don't make things worse! He can hear what you're thinking. In this situation, if you act, you'll only hinder the Fleet Admiral!"
In Kuzan's opinion, if Redfield didn't have this ability, Finn's intervention could be considered help. But if Redfield could hear Finn's thoughts, he'd be a complete hindrance!
"He can't hear me!" Finn said without hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished with Soru. When his figure reappeared, a slash followed. Rankyaku, one of the Marine Six Powers!
Both Kong and Redfield were startled by this sudden change.
Kong was initially alarmed, then felt annoyed. Couldn't this kid read the situation?
But before he could complete this thought, he noticed Redfield also looked surprised!
Veteran masters were different. In an instant, Kong understood. This guy couldn't hear Finn's thoughts!?
He didn't know what was happening, but he wouldn't let this opportunity slip.
With a sudden flip of his wrist, Kong grabbed Redfield's hand. Originally, both could dodge the Rankyaku, but with this grab, neither could avoid it!
"Bastard!" Redfield cursed angrily. In an instant, he understood Kong's thinking.
After all, if he couldn't hear Finn, how could he not hear Kong?
The Marines had superior numbers. After Finn's powerful attack, Kong would be decisive, not caring about injuries.
Kong knew perfectly well it was impossible to eliminate someone like Redfield without paying a price.
His advantage now was that Redfield was alone and could no longer hear Finn's thoughts, preventing him from countering Finn.
If Kong did this, trading injuries with Redfield and ultimately falling together, he had no worries. The Marines would definitely rescue him. There were excellent ship doctors on the warship.
But Redfield would face serious trouble!
Therefore, the moment Finn made his move, Kong had already decided to drag Redfield down with him.
Being dragged by that bastard Kong and unable to dodge, Redfield used his Haki to directly withstand the Rankyaku's slash.
He wasn't hurt at all. Neither was Kong.
But this change had already broken the previous stalemate. Kong laughed. "Finn, attack with full strength! Don't worry about me. Just leave me breathing! Quick and decisive, we must finish this bastard here today!"
"Understood, Fleet Admiral!" Finn agreed without hesitation.
As soon as the words fell, Sōzai left its sheath in an instant, bringing cold light. Inexplicable energy released.
"Gravity Blade: Tiger Kill!" Finn roared.
The slash came with tremendous gravitational impact, sweeping out instantly. The glacier collapsed, surging toward Redfield and Kong like a tsunami.
Redfield tried to dodge, but Kong held him tightly, clearly determined to perish together.
During this pause, neither could avoid it. Both were hit by Finn's gravity slash.
Powerful force passed through their bodies. Redfield and Kong spat blood simultaneously.
Kuzan in the distance was dumbfounded!
What did he just witness?
The Commodore was beating up the Fleet Admiral?
What the hell... Was Finn planning to become a pirate after finishing this job?
Though surprised, Kuzan obviously understood what was happening. He thought for a moment and realized something important.
The Marines had three fighters against only Redfield.
If that was the case, he'd take action too. In the end, as long as they beat both of them severely, the Fleet Admiral could receive complete treatment without problems. Then Redfield would be captured, right?
Wouldn't that be a Marine victory?
Looking at the current situation, the Fleet Admiral obviously wanted this, so there was nothing to worry about.
Thinking this through, Kuzan's eyes flashed. The power in his hands moved!
Simultaneously, Redfield seemed to hear something. Unable to break free from Kong's grip on his wrist, he simply stopped struggling and pulled Kong toward him with a sudden yank. At the same time, he took a step back.
Kong stumbled and lost his footing when an ice spike suddenly emerged from the glacier, nearly impaling him.
This unexpected change made the Fleet Admiral panic. He cursed angrily, "Kuzan, don't mess around!"
Unlike with Finn, whom Redfield couldn't hear, when facing Finn, Kong and Redfield were on equal footing. Neither could get information first. Therefore, as long as they could restrain each other, they'd suffer together.
But Kuzan was different. Redfield could hear Kuzan, so when facing Kuzan's attacks, he had predictive cheats enabled, extremely unfriendly to Kong.
This was also why the Fleet Admiral didn't want to drag Redfield into being beaten by Kuzan. If Redfield could hear the attacks, Kong would be the only one hit. Pointless!
Kuzan was also confused. He'd only thought about imitating what Finn did, but had ignored this point and nearly killed the Fleet Admiral with a single icicle.
"What is going on?" Kuzan thought helplessly.
Finn's attack power was quite formidable. After all, the Press-Press Fruit was a top-tier Devil Fruit ability. Even without extra development, just violently releasing power was enough to break through Redfield and Kong's defenses.
Reckless Finn was extremely brutal. He didn't even consider Kong as his superior. He attacked without reservation. In just a short moment, he'd slashed out more than ten times, each extraordinarily powerful.
Redfield and Kong dodged several times, but most often they were restrained and took the damage.
Injuries on their bodies accumulated rapidly.
Redfield knew this wouldn't work. If this pace continued, he'd definitely lose. With a fierce look in his eyes, he swung his cane-sword...
Kong raised his hand with Haki, ready to block the attack, but felt no pain. On the contrary, his hand felt lighter and a flash of blood appeared in his vision.
Redfield was indeed ruthlessly decisive. He'd actually cut off his own arm that Kong was tightly grasping!
After severing his arm with one slash, pain flashed across Redfield's face. No longer needing to fight Kong at close quarters, he exerted force with his feet and rushed toward Finn at extreme speed.
He had to kill Finn first!
The enraged Redfield attacked with full strength. Finn couldn't even see his figure!
One could imagine how fast this speed was!
"Gravity Domain: Lockdown!" Finn made a split-second decision and shouted.
His body was quickly surrounded by powerful gravity, a defensive measure.
When Redfield stepped into the Gravity Domain, his figure suddenly stumbled, but only for a moment. He still carried the gravity and pounced toward Finn.
Compared to the situation where he couldn't see Redfield at all, this time, Finn could see clearly.
However, the moment he saw Redfield clearly, he also realized that even seeing him, he couldn't avoid this attack!
This was the difference in strength!
It couldn't be smoothed over by being clever!
"Go to hell!" Redfield roared.
"You're the one who should die!" Finn also became furious and cursed.
He had no intention of dodging. On the contrary, he even rushed directly toward Redfield!
Redfield's sharp cane-sword was finally affected by gravity. Finn advancing instead of retreating slightly mitigated the blow that was supposed to behead him!
Just a palm's length from his armpit, Redfield's cane-sword slashed through Finn's body, the blade completely piercing inside.
Simultaneously, Finn's Sōzai also completely penetrated the shoulder of Redfield's severed arm!
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