Katakuri slowly rose to his feet, blood foam trickling from his nose. Listening to Finn's words, he felt a bitter helplessness wash over him.
Does he think I don't want to use my awakening? That I'm holding back by choice?
I literally can't.
In Finn's assessment, Katakuri's stamina was declining rapidly. But Katakuri himself knew the truth was far worse. It wasn't a question of speed anymore. He was running on fumes, barely maintaining consciousness through sheer pride alone.
Did Finn really think that "Planetary Devastation" had been easy to endure? The crushing gravitational pressure, combined with a warship-sized mass of earth and stone compressing him from all sides... the experience had been excruciating.
Katakuri was on the verge of complete collapse. That's why he couldn't finish Finn in one overwhelming assault. He was already giving everything he had, trying to maintain just enough awakened power to fight effectively, using it in small, controlled bursts rather than the devastating waves from before.
But that bastard is right. If this continues, I'll definitely lose. In that case... might as well gamble everything on one final eruption.
With that resolve crystallizing in his mind, Katakuri's faltering aura surged upward once more.
During their exchange, his Observation Haki had already detected the situation at the port. Something had happened there. Most likely the Marines, which meant his escape route was compromised.
The only way to retreat now was to defeat Finn.
Given the Rear Admiral's demonstrated strength and talent, he might not be famous yet, but he was undoubtedly highly valued within Marine Headquarters. If Katakuri could take Finn hostage, he might be able to force the Marines to withdraw and secure safe passage.
With that plan fixed in his mind, all hesitation vanished.
His momentum continued rising!
"That's right..." Finn said softly.
He slowly released his fighting stance, his own aura climbing to match. At the same time, a pale lavender energy halo shimmered into existence beneath his feet, ready to unleash gravitational force at a moment's notice.
"Muso Donuts!" Katakuri growled, activating his awakened power once more.
Several enormous donuts formed from mochi materialized in the air around him, rotating slowly like orbital rings.
Finn's eyes flashed. He extended his hand toward the ground. Sōzai, which had fallen during their earlier exchange, shot through the air guided by gravity, slapping into his palm.
"Gravity Blade: Roaring Tiger!" Finn raised the sword and slashed toward Katakuri.
The blade's energy transformed mid-flight into a spectral tiger, complete with a resonating roar that shook the air.
Katakuri responded immediately. "Mochi Singing!"
Massive arms erupted from each floating donut, wrapped in hardened Armament Haki. They struck like battering rams, shattering Finn's Gravity Blade before it could connect.
Finn's feet dug into the ground as he retreated violently. Rings of gravitational energy accumulated along his blade's edge, wanting to burst forth, but he forcibly suppressed the power, containing it within the sword itself.
After executing that sequence, Katakuri felt his strength guttering like a dying candle. His vision darkened at the edges. Classic signs of complete exhaustion.
But his will was iron. He stomped hard, stabilizing his wavering stance. His eyes blazed crimson, pupils contracted to pinpoints.
"Forward, Mochi Feast!" Katakuri roared.
In that moment, he released everything. Every last drop of strength, without holding back even a fraction.
In the blink of an eye, everything around them transformed into mochi. Like a spider's web, it erupted from the ground and descended from above, blotting out the sun. Within seconds, it enveloped the entire battlefield.
"This is..." Finn looked upward. Sticky white mochi fell like an avalanche, threatening to drown everything beneath it.
His feet were already stuck to mochi-converted ground, restricting his movement. He swept the area with Observation Haki, searching desperately for any opening.
There was none. The attack was absolute coverage.
Finn had no memory of this technique from the manga. Katakuri must have developed it specifically for his awakening.
"Gravity Blade: World Splitter!" Finn saw no escape route, so he committed fully. With a roar, he released all the accumulated energy he'd been suppressing within Sōzai.
The massive deluge of mochi crashed down, covering everything on the battlefield. After standing motionless and catching his breath for several seconds, Katakuri's eyes showed a flicker of relief.
Did I... finally win?
The momentum he'd been desperately maintaining immediately receded. In moments, he withdrew from his awakened state. At that instant, he looked utterly drained, as though even an ordinary civilian could defeat him.
After steadying his ragged breathing slightly, Katakuri took a tentative step forward, preparing to confirm his victory.
Then he noticed something wrong.
The enormous mass of mochi that should have settled was instead decreasing. It seemed to be flowing toward Finn's last position. Draining downward into the ground?
Before Katakuri could process what was happening, a slash erupted through the sticky, dense mochi. A figure emerged in an incredibly wretched state, staggered several steps, then half-collapsed to one knee.
It was Finn.
One of his arms hung at an unnatural angle, severely fractured. Looking closer, a bloody wound marred his forearm where mochi had adhered to torn flesh. A sharp fragment of broken bone jutted through the skin.
A compound fracture.
"Koff." Finn suddenly vomited blood. Not the casual spitting from before. This was deep, violent retching, expelling enormous quantities.
His uninjured arm gripped Sōzai, stabbing it into the ground for support, keeping himself from collapsing entirely.
After expelling the blood, Finn seemed to breathe slightly easier. He slowly raised his head. His body was covered in mochi, stained scarlet with blood. He looked utterly tragic.
His eyes locked onto Katakuri. Katakuri stared back.
They remained frozen like that for several long moments before the truth of the situation became clear.
Half a meter behind Finn, an enormous abyss had opened in the ground, as though a meteorite had struck. The pit descended into darkness, seemingly bottomless.
When the massive mochi deluge had fallen with unstoppable momentum, Finn's slash had targeted not Katakuri, but the ground beneath his feet.
The earth had already been assimilated into mochi at that point, but Finn had gambled that Katakuri couldn't possibly have converted the geology of the entire island. Only the surface.
His bet had paid off. The powerful gravity he'd accumulated in his blade had penetrated through the mochi layer and carved an enormous hole beneath him. That space had given him just enough room to maneuver, to avoid being instantly defeated by the cascading mochi.
Even responding in time, he'd still been gravely injured. It had been a near thing.
Now the sticky mochi was flowing into the deep pit like water down a drain. From above, it looked as though someone had deliberately excavated a massive storage basin underground.
"Koff... koff..." Finn coughed twice more. His lips twisted into a ferocious, yet somewhat manic grin. He looked at Katakuri with weakened voice. "You saw how badly I'm injured... yet you didn't attack. Katakuri, you're not the merciful type... Let me guess. It's because you're completely exhausted. Even standing is taking everything you have. You don't have the strength left to attack anymore, do you?"
Katakuri remained silent for a long moment, steadying his rapid breathing. "Perhaps you're right. But I'm the one still standing..."
"Not just you." Finn cut him off directly.
Under Katakuri's shocked gaze, Finn dragged his broken arm, using Sōzai as support, and slowly but inexorably rose to his feet. Once standing, he suddenly wrenched the sword from the ground and raised it, pointing the blade at Katakuri.
"You lose, Perfect Man!"
As the words left his mouth, gravitational force flowed along the blade and launched toward Katakuri.
The gravity was far weaker than Finn's earlier techniques. It seemed light, almost pathetic compared to his previous devastation.
But even that feeble force was enough. After passing over Katakuri's figure, the towering Sweet Commander could no longer maintain his stance. He fell backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
"Heh..." Finn chuckled, the sound wet with blood.
He couldn't even maintain his grip on Sōzai. The famous blade slipped from his fingers, its sharp tip piercing the ground and standing tilted before him.
Taking heavy, labored steps, Finn slowly approached Katakuri's fallen form.
He looked down. Katakuri's eyes were closed, his breathing irregular. He'd completely lost the power to resist. Unconscious.
Finn wanted to say something, to make some declaration of victory. But looking at those closed eyes, he suddenly felt it would be petty. Why mock a defeated opponent?
As the victor, he should show composure and grace.
Even if he looked absolutely wretched doing so.
"I wonder if Instructor Zephyr will curse at me when he sees me like this?" Finn chuckled weakly, murmuring to himself.
Then he turned toward the port.
But after raising his head, his movements froze.
"He's definitely unconscious, right?" Finn looked down helplessly.
Katakuri's hand had somehow seized his ankle.
Just as Finn prepared to break free, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from Katakuri's unconscious body.
The unexpected burst of pressure stunned Finn. His eyes rolled back, his body swayed, his legs weakened. He began falling backward.
Conqueror's Haki... Supreme King's Haki... The thought flickered through Finn's fragmenting consciousness.
But at the moment before he completely collapsed, his eyes suddenly snapped back into focus. At the same time, an equally powerful aura exploded from his own body!
"How is it possible," Finn snarled, "that after winning, I'd lose to your unconscious burst of Haki?!"
The clash of two Conqueror's Haki waves instantly spread across the entire island. The air between them vibrated violently. Pitch-black lightning erupted from the void, crackling between their auras. The space itself seemed to fracture under the pressure.
But the confrontation came and went quickly. After a brief collision, Finn's fighting spirit suppressed Katakuri's Conqueror's Haki.
After all, Katakuri had fainted. This was merely an unconscious outburst.
In truth, though Katakuri's Conqueror's Haki had awakened early, he'd never been able to control it freely. Otherwise, he would have used it throughout their battle. There would have been no question of holding it in reserve.
Meanwhile, on the warship anchored at the port, Zephyr observed the chaotic Conqueror's Haki clash erupting across the island. His weathered face showed genuine shock.
"Conqueror's Haki?" he murmured in disbelief. "That kid Finn... he has Conqueror's Haki too?"
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