Around them, Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, Gion, Kuzan, and Smoker clashed in a storm of violence. Lightning cracked the sky. Ice shattered against flame. The ground itself trembled under the weight of their battle.
Yet in the eye of this hurricane, Finn and Newgate stood utterly still.
Neither had moved. They simply watched each other, measuring, calculating. The air between them felt thick, compressed by the weight of their scrutiny.
After a long moment, Newgate's eyes narrowed. "This is beyond your expectations, isn't it? What Smoker said was true. You don't actually consider me an enemy."
Finn's expression flickered with something unreadable. "What makes you think that?"
"You don't have enough Marines." Newgate's voice was quiet, almost conversational. "If you'd brought Sakazuki or Borsalino, you might have been able to annihilate us all here."
So the old man had heard Smoker's earlier words. Finn kept his face neutral, but internally he acknowledged the point. Another Admiral would tip the scales decisively. With three Admirals and two Admiral candidates, they could crush all three pirate forces here and solve multiple problems at once.
But Newgate's thinking was too limited. He was still operating on the logic of the old era, still believing that pirates were the Marines' primary concern. The truth was far more nuanced. It wasn't that the Marines couldn't deal with these pirate forces. The time simply hadn't come yet.
Finn didn't bother explaining. Instead, he shrugged, letting a hint of disdain color his voice. "You're right about one thing. Smoker's trying to use us to inflate his own reputation. He's just a clown who thinks his Warlord title puts him on our level."
The contempt in his tone was carefully measured, just enough to be convincing.
Newgate showed no signs of suspicion. He'd heard the rumors about the bad blood between Finn and Smoker. Perhaps the Marines had sent Finn precisely because they wanted an excuse to eliminate their troublesome Warlord?
But Newgate kept such speculation to himself.
"What a pity," Newgate said softly. "You missed a good opportunity."
He raised one hand and waved.
Not far away, Marco and Teach had been standing awkwardly to the side, still trying to process the rapid shifts in the situation. One moment they'd been locked in desperate combat with Kaido and Charlotte Linlin. Then Smoker arrived, and suddenly the Marines appeared, and the entire battle formation had collapsed into chaos. What kind of absurd situation was this?
But when Teach saw his captain's gesture, his instincts kicked in. He quickly retrieved Murakumogiri from where it stood embedded in the ground and carried the massive bisento over to Newgate.
Finn's gaze shifted to Teach, his expression one of idle curiosity. "Who's he?"
"Gurararara!" Newgate's distinctive laugh rolled across the battlefield. "This is my son, Teach. Please take good care of him in the future."
Teach's face arranged itself into something that might have been nervousness, the expression of a young pirate facing down a Marine Admiral for the first time.
But Finn saw the truth beneath the mask. There, in Teach's eyes, was a flicker of greed.
Is this bastard eyeing my Devil Fruit ability?
The thought was almost amusing. Here Teach was, supposedly waiting for the Dark-Dark Fruit, and he was already sizing up other options? Greedy fool. Just go find your precious Yami Yami no Mi already. Lucci's been embedded in your crew for years waiting for exactly that.
Finn smoothed his expression into a pleasant smile. "Teach? I'll be sure to take very good care of you."
His hand settled on Shindokutō's hilt.
Newgate hefted Murakumogiri, testing its weight. His expression shifted, becoming serious.
A hundred meters away, the other combatants were engaged in spectacular displays of power. Ice and fire, lightning and earthquakes, the roar of battle filled the air. Yet somehow, in the space between Finn and Newgate, Teach felt an oppressive silence descend. The atmosphere grew heavy, suffocating.
A stray bolt of Gion's lightning lanced between the two men, exploding against the ground in a shower of sparks.
Finn moved.
Shindokutō sang free of its sheath in a blur of motion. The demon blade's curse erupted around Finn like a living thing, dark and malevolent. Cold malice radiated from the narrow blade, and its edge gleamed with a vicious light. Armament Haki flowed across the steel until blade and Haki became inseparable, a single instrument of destruction.
"Hah!"
Finn's roar split the air as he brought Shindokutō down in a devastating arc.
The power behind that strike was monstrous.
Newgate's eyes flashed. Murakumogiri rose to meet the attack, its massive blade wrapped in his own Haki. Facing Finn's overwhelming assault, the strongest man in the world didn't retreat a single step.
BOOM!
The two weapons collided. Conqueror's Haki exploded from the point of impact, a brief but violent discharge that sent shockwaves rippling outward.
Both men stepped back simultaneously. Murakumogiri spun in Newgate's hands, the blade reversing its angle, and he struck again from a different vector.
Finn's response was instantaneous. Shindokutō traced a complex pattern through the air, meeting Murakumogiri's second strike with perfect precision.
BANG!
Another explosion of Haki. Again, neither man allowed the clash to become a contest of raw strength. They disengaged, shifted, and attacked again.
In the span of a few heartbeats, Shindokutō and Murakumogiri met dozens of times. Each collision sent out a dull thunderclap and a pulse of pressure that disturbed the air itself.
"Hah!"
Finn struck again, Shindokutō screaming toward Murakumogiri.
His eyes widened slightly. Had Newgate's weapon just trembled?
The ground beneath Newgate's feet cracked. His stance wavered, and he took a half-step backward.
In this pure contest of strength and Haki, Finn had gained a slight advantage.
Without hesitation, Finn pressed forward. Shindokutō scraped along Murakumogiri's long shaft, throwing up a spray of sparks. The screech of metal on metal was deafening.
Newgate was forced to adjust his grip to avoid the demon blade's edge.
In that instant of adjustment, Shindokutō slipped past Murakumogiri's guard and drove straight toward Newgate's chest.
"Gravity Blade: Tiger Bite!"
Finn's voice was cold, murderous.
The curse on Shindokutō seemed to awaken. A spectral tiger materialized around the blade, its jaws wide, its roar shaking the air. It lunged for Newgate's heart, intending to tear through flesh and bone.
A flash of triumph crossed Newgate's eyes.
If Finn had arrived earlier, he might have seen this exact technique used to devastating effect against Kaido. But he'd come too late to witness that lesson.
This apparent opening was a trap.
Just as Shindokutō was about to pierce Newgate's chest, a subtle vibration manifested in the air before him. Almost invisible. Barely perceptible. Yet that tiny fluctuation of power intercepted Finn's killing blow like an impenetrable wall.
CLANG!
Shindokutō struck the vibration field and stopped dead.
Surprise flashed across Finn's face. Not just because Newgate had blocked the attack, but because Newgate had used his Devil Fruit ability first.
In their previous encounters, there had always been an unspoken agreement. They would test each other with pure skill and Haki before resorting to their powers. A matter of pride between powerful men.
But Newgate had broken that tradition without hesitation.
Which meant the old pirate had abandoned his pride. He was treating Finn as a threat serious enough to warrant using every tool at his disposal from the very beginning.
The realization sent a thrill through Finn's chest. Newgate had made that judgment after just a few exchanges.
Before Finn could adjust, Newgate capitalized on his momentary shock. The old pirate's massive hand lashed out, fingers spread wide, reaching for Finn's head.
If those fingers closed around his skull, Finn would suffer the same fate as Kaido, slammed repeatedly into the ground until the earth itself gave way.
But instead of panic, Finn laughed.
He stamped down hard. His body became weightless. Repulsive force exploded outward from his core, and he slid backward just as Newgate's hand closed on empty air.
The fingers passed within a hair's breadth of Finn's nose.
The instant his grab failed, Newgate adapted. His reaching hand curled into a fist. White light gathered around his knuckles as vibration force condensed to a devastating point.
The punch hammered into Finn's chest.
BOOM!
Vibration met repulsion. For a single moment they contested against each other. But Finn's hastily erected defense couldn't match Newgate's prepared attack. The repulsive barrier shattered with a crystalline sound.
The vibration force slammed into Finn's torso and sent him flying backward.
He traveled maybe fifteen meters before his feet touched ground. Each step carved a deep furrow in the earth as he bled off the momentum. By the time he came to a complete stop, he'd left a trail of destruction behind him.
The damage was minimal. Newgate's true killing move had been the head grab. Missing that had reduced the follow-up punch to little more than a nuisance.
Still, Finn had taken a clean hit. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
He wiped it away with the back of his hand and grinned. "Hahaha! Old man, we've fought before, but this is the first time you've tried to ambush me. What happened? Don't care about being the strongest man in the world anymore?"
Newgate's expression showed a flicker of regret. The punch had barely fazed Finn. A wasted opportunity. If he'd managed to grab the boy's head, he could have dealt serious damage. But that chance was gone now. Finn wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
Rather than taking offense at Finn's mockery, Newgate answered honestly. "Don't need to. Against someone like you, if I don't fight with everything I have and use every method at my disposal, then I'm the one being arrogant."
He paused, his gaze steady and serious. "Even though I knew when we met at Spring Queen Island that you'd one day become an opponent I'd have to face with my full strength, I didn't expect that day to come so soon. Rodriguez Finn."
Finn's grin faded. He raised Shindokutō, holding it steady, and met Newgate's eyes. "The honor is mine."
The pressure between them began to build. Both men's presence expanded, growing denser, more oppressive. Neither was releasing Conqueror's Haki yet, but the sheer force of their intent was enough to distort the air.
Above them, the clouds began to churn and darken. The wind picked up, howling across the ruined battlefield.