Chapter 86: A Battle Between Disciples
"Fairy Tail… Ren."
Ren's voice, now a deep, booming baritone that echoed with a god-like authority, hung in the ruined, trembling cavern.
Lyon Vastia, his face hidden behind his helmet, stared up at the 6-meter-tall giant. This man, this monster, had just... with a single, casual punch at the air, created an earthquake. And then... with a single swing of his weapon...
"Ren, do you also want to hinder me?" Lyon's voice was strained, tight. He was trying to maintain his arrogant, composed "Reitei" persona, but his mind was reeling.
"Hinder?" Ren, in his Whitebeard form, let out a deep, rolling laugh that sounded like a volcano erupting. "Gurararara! If we're talking about hindering, you're the one hindering me. Targeting my client, the villagers, means you're an enemy of Fairy Tail."
"Hmph! In that case, disappear!"
Lyon, lashing out in a mix of rage and perhaps a little fear, raised his hand. He was still the master of this situation. He was the prodigy. He was the one who had surpassed Ur.
"Ice-Make: Eagle!"
He thrust his hand forward, and a massive, intricately detailed ice eagle shot towards Ren's towering form.
But before the eagle could even cross half the distance...
"Ice-Make: Ice Shield!"
Gray Fullbuster appeared in front of Ren, his hands slammed together in a two-handed casting stance. A large, thick, flower-shaped ice shield erupted from the ground, intercepting the attack.
Boom—!
The ice eagle and the ice shield shattered simultaneously, exploding into a cloud of glittering, magical frost.
Gray, his chest heaving, didn't look back at Ren. He stared at Lyon, his eyes burning with a cold, ten-year-old fury.
"Lyon... your opponent is me!"
"Gray?" Lyon scoffed, his composure returning as he looked at his old rival. "If that's what you want... if you want to die defending her mistake... then I'll deal with you first!"
"It's three against one here too," Sherry Blendy said, stepping forward. Yuka Suzuki and Toby Horhorta also assumed fighting stances, flanking her.
The strength the giant opponent, Ren, had just displayed was already terrifying. It was beyond their comprehension. But this Gray... he was just another ice-user, and he looked weak. If they all went against Lyon, Lyon might not be able to win against both ice-mages. But if they took out the small fry first...
As for the villagers, they could be dealt with at any time.
"It's not three against one, it's three against two!"
Lucy, her fear of Ren now slightly overshadowed by her loyalty to her new friends, stood beside Gray, pulling out one of her Celestial Spirit keys.
Happy also raised his tiny fist, not to be outdone, and said, "And me! It's three against three!"
Even though he didn't have much combat power, he couldn't lose in terms of morale.
"Me! And me! It's four against three!"
Natsu, still dragging his ice-bound body, stumbled over, having finally been knocked loose by Ren's earthquake. The ice around his torso was still there, but his arms and legs were free.
Ren, who had been watching this all from his towering height, let out another booming laugh.
"Gurararara!! You brats... you should just protect yourselves," he said, planting the butt of his massive Murakumogiri on the stone floor. The impact shook the cavern again. "We don't need this many people to deal with those three."
He looked down, his gaze, like that of a father, landing on Gray. "This is your fight, isn't it, boy? Go settle your past."
"Roger!" Lucy and Happy immediately understood. They grabbed the still-protesting Natsu and pulled him back to a safe distance.
"Hey! Don't pull me! Let go of me! I want to fight them!"
Natsu struggled on the ground, but at this moment, with the ice still encasing his torso, he was like a turtle on its back, his feet unable to get any purchase.
"You're in that state! What fighting are you going to do?" Lucy scolded. "It's already good if you don't drag us down!"
"Aye!"
Yuka Suzuki's expression became slightly grim as he said, "Are you looking down on us? We used to be Mages of a famous guild, you know. You should know the Lamia Scale Mage Guild."
Toby, the dog-eared man, said somewhat smugly, "Yes, we have the one known as 'Iron Rock' Jura… Hey!... Are you even listening to what I'm saying?!"
Ren was currently stretching his massive neck and shoulders. This sudden surge of god-like power in his body... he was still getting used to it. But this powerful, healthy feeling was truly wonderful. This was the power Whitebeard should have had at Marineford.
"Doll Attack: Rock Doll!!"
Sherry, seeing Ren distracted, had already begun to act. As she cast her magic, the rocks and fallen debris on the surrounding ground began to move, quickly converging. In a blink of an eye, they formed a giant stone man over ten meters tall.
"You're hindering the love between me and Lord Reitei! You can just die!"
Sherry controlled the giant stone man, and it swung its massive, rocky fist at Ren's head.
"Ren, look out!"
Lucy immediately warned him when she saw the attack, but Ren seemed to be suffering from senile dementia. He didn't even react.
Boom—!!
The stone man's giant fist slammed directly into Ren's face with a sound like a mountain collapsing.
"What?!"
Originally, they thought Ren would be knocked down, or at least sent flying, by this blow.
But Ren stood still. He hadn't moved an inch. The rock fist began to crack against his cheek. He slowly turned his head, his eyes showing a hint of disdain, and blew the dust from his face.
He had, without thinking, coated his skin in Busoshoku Haki.
[Akarin's Note: Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) is a power from the One Piece world. It allows the user to create an invisible (or, when hardened, black) armor around themselves, granting incredible defensive and offensive capabilities. It can also be used to touch the "true body" of magic-users who can turn their bodies intangible.]
"Not enough power," Ren's voice boomed, his words vibrating in Sherry's very bones.
This look stimulated Sherry, who immediately increased her magical output. "Rock Doll, show my crazy love!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The stone man continuously, frantically, attacked Ren, pummeling his head and chest. After a few seconds of this furious assault, Sherry stopped, panting. Such attacks consumed a considerable amount of her magic power.
"How unlucky! To provoke Sherry, this crazy woman," Yuka said calmly, crossing his arms. "After being attacked so many times, the opponent might have already been beaten into a pulp."
"Arf! Arf!" Toby also agreed.
Soon, the smoke dissipated, and Ren's figure was still standing in place. He was even... stretching.
"Comfortable~~!"
Ren glanced at Sherry and said, "Can you put a little more force into it? If you don't even have the strength for a massage, what kind of Mage are you?"
"What?!"
Sherry and the other two were all dumbfounded when they saw this scene. Was this guy a monster? She had just controlled the rock doll to attack with all its might, but the opponent looked completely unharmed, even asking her to use more force.
"Sherry, get out of the way!"
When Yuka Suzuki saw Ren was unharmed, he knew they had encountered a monster on a level they couldn't comprehend.
"Wave!"
[Akarin's Note: Yuka Suzuki's magic is Wave, which allows him to generate pulses of magic-canceling energy.]
Yuka raised his hand and unleashed a wave of pure, anti-magic energy.
Boom—!
Yuka's wave slammed into Ren, erupting in a violent, explosive impact designed to neutralize any magical defense.
"Hmph! The wave I create can neutralize all magic. In other words, it's magic that can nullify other magic. No matter how strong your defensive magic is, against my wave…"
"Hmm… Even more comfortable…" Ren's voice came from within the smoke.
"What?! How is this possible?!"
The explosive smoke cleared, and Ren still stood in place, completely unharmed. His "defense" wasn't magic. It was Haki.
Sherry and the other two were stunned. It was one thing for Sherry's rock doll to fail to break through the opponent's defense, but even Yuka's anti-magic wave was ineffective against him.
"You've all made your moves," Ren's voice boomed, his patience now gone. "Now... it's my turn."
Ren gripped his Murakumogiri with both hands. His muscles tensed, and the veins on his arms bulged. The air around the blade began to crack as he infused it with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
"Haaah—!"
With a loud shout, Ren raised the Murakumogiri, carrying the momentum of cleaving the heavens and the earth, and slashed forward with irresistible, world-ending force.
Swish—!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!
A massive, invisible slash, a shockwave of pure destructive power, swept past them. It directly cut the giant stone man in half. It continued, carving a huge, gaping trench into the ground of the ruins. The slash exited the temple and struck a distant mountain, which was also, in an instant, directly split in half.
The slash continued, unimpeded, towards the sea, splitting the sea surface in two as a massive canyon of water opened up... before it finally disappeared into the horizon.
Gasp—!!!
Everyone who witnessed this scene—Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Lyon, Zalty, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby—felt as if their throats were being choked. They couldn't breathe. Their hearts felt like they were being squeezed by a large, cold hand.
"Monster—!!!"
The mountain was cut open. The sea was split in half. With one swing. What else could this be but a monster?
"Exhilarating!! Truly exhilarating!!" Ren roared, laughing his signature laugh. "Gurarararara!!!"
Ren laughed heartily at this moment, both from the joy of possessing this immense, god-like power, and from finally, finally, venting the pent-up frustration from the Summit War that he had inherited from Ace's memories.
After inheriting Whitebeard, Ren realized how poor, how sick, Whitebeard's condition was during that war. Even if he hadn't participated, that body wouldn't have lasted much longer.
His physical problems had prevented Whitebeard from freely using his three types of Haki, and even the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit couldn't be used at will. Coupled with that treacherous pre-battle blow from Squard... all of it had led to his strength being less than one-tenth of its peak when he entered the battle, making the fight an agonizing, frustrating tragedy.
Ultimately, he could only end it in that manner, dying on his feet.
But now, it was different. Ren had inherited Whitebeard's power. And his own body, his own magic, was young and vital. As long as he had enough magic power, he could fully display Whitebeard's peak combat strength.
He would make Whitebeard's title as the 'Strongest Man in the World' resound throughout the entire world of Fairy Tail.
[Akarin Note:
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