North Sea, Harual Kingdom.
Located in a remote corner of the North Sea, this mid-sized kingdom was never a member state of the World Government due to its poor economic conditions and lack of access to major trade routes. As a result, it had long been a paradise for Pirates and outlaws.
Robbery, assault, and theft were commonplace here, and all manner of illegal dealings thrived.
At least, that was how it should have been, based on the information Caesar had gathered.
Staring at the empty streets before them, Yamato looked utterly bewildered.
"This is so weird. There were people on the streets when we first came ashore. Why is there no one around now? Not even a ghost in sight?"
Robin glanced at Caesar with a knowing smile. "Perhaps they encountered something terrifying?"
A bounty of 2.8 billion berries—in the Four Seas, that was enough to make even children stop crying in fear. He was a super-criminal of the highest order!
According to Morgans' news reports, Caesar's bounty stemmed from harboring her, the "Devil Child," with the intent to undermine the World Government's rule, as well as directly repelling the pursuit of Kuzan and Garp.
"Rising Business Star Descends into Depravity, Sheltering Criminals and Allying with Pirates"
That was the headline splashed across the front page of the World Economic News, primarily detailing how Caesar had colluded with Robin, the last survivor of Ohara, and formed a pirate alliance with Kaidou. The article was rife with slander.
The draft was likely penned by the World Government. Morgans was usually fair and objective, but if someone paid him, he wouldn't mind making some extra cash.
Aside from Caesar and Yamato, Robin's own bounty had also been updated—jumping from the original 79 million to a staggering 230 million.
Then there was Kuma. Previously, due to fear of Caesar's strength, Kuma had never been given a bounty. But now that Caesar himself had been marked, his follower naturally couldn't escape the same fate.
However, since Kuma had never truly acted before, his bounty was set much lower.
Bartholomew Kuma the Tyrant—Bounty: 350 million berries!
The others hadn't been given bounties yet, but considering Caesar's ambitions, it was only a matter of time.
With such a dangerous group suddenly appearing in a backwater like the Harual Kingdom of the North Sea, anyone with half a brain would flee at the first sign of trouble.
"Tch, boring..."
Ace looked around, finding nothing of interest, before turning to Caesar. "So where's the guy we're looking for? Is he strong?"
"Very strong. Far beyond what you can handle right now."
Caesar swept his Observation Haki across the entire island and was about to speak when, in the distance, a luxurious building suddenly collapsed as if crushed under immense pressure.
"Well, he's right there."
Caesar pointed, and a blind swordsman in a purple kimono slowly made his way toward them.
Caesar studied the man before him—roughly fifty years old, with a stern face, thick black hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and tightly shut eyes. A prominent X-shaped scar marked his forehead.
"Whoa—that's amazing! Is this some kind of ability?"
Ace stared curiously at the ruins. "Hey, mister, why'd you wreck that place?"
"Because they tried to capture me and sell me into slavery."
The blind swordsman chuckled lightly. "I merely won a few gambling rounds, yet they accused me of cheating and tried to capture me as a slave. Such unjust individuals truly incite anger, so I had to teach them a lesson."
"I see..."
Ace nodded, then turned to Caesar beside him. "Is this the guy we're looking for?"
"Indeed..."
Caesar nodded. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Issho."
Issho raised his head, looking puzzled. "And you are...?"
"My name is Jin Caesar," Caesar introduced himself.
"Are you a pirate?"
"No, an explorer."
In response to Issho's question, Caesar shook his head. "However, my ultimate goal is to unify these seas and overthrow the tyranny of the Celestial Dragons, which naturally earned me a bounty from the Navy."
"Is that so..."
Issho nodded. "So the ones who've been tailing me recently were your informants?"
"Since you were far in the East Blue, we couldn't locate you directly and had to rely on underground contacts to find you. My apologies for the intrusion."
Caesar inclined his head slightly. "I've long admired your chivalrous reputation, Mr. Issho, and have yearned to meet you. This time, I came to invite you to join us."
"Join you... to oppose the World Government?"
Issho sighed faintly. "That would cause great upheaval."
"Isn't that better than letting corruption fester endlessly?"
Caesar spoke calmly. "Have you ever been to Mariejois, Mr. Issho?"
"Once."
Issho nodded slightly. "The ugliness hidden beneath its opulence shamed me, but regrettably, I lack the power to change it."
Caesar bowed slightly, placing his right hand elegantly over his chest. "I do."
"Then... allow me to witness it," Issho said quietly.
"Here?"
Caesar glanced at the surrounding buildings, where pairs of eyes peeked cautiously from behind doors and windows.
"Follow me."
With a thunderous boom, the ground cracked beneath them as Issho lifted an entire section of earth, carrying the group toward a remote part of the island.
"Whoa! We're flying!" Yamato exclaimed.
"Ooooh! I can't take it—bleh!"
Barto clutched his mouth, kneeling on the ground as he trembled and grabbed onto Deuce's pant leg.
Deuce sighed in exasperation. "How embarrassing... You're afraid of heights? And didn't you also get seasick? Are you really okay?"
"I was a land-based gangster, after all!"
Barto covered his mouth. "And I've gotten much better with seasickness—just need more time to adjust!"
"Haha, what a loser!"
"Shut up!"
Issho listened silently to their banter, his expression softening slightly.
They're all just young people...
Soon, they descended by the coast.
Caesar and Issho stood facing each other from a distance.
Without a word, both drew their swords and charged.
Clang—!
Blades clashed, sending sparks flying.
Caesar smirked, twisting his waist to unleash a sudden burst of force that pushed Issho back.
"First time seeing a reverse-grip swordsman."
"And it's my first time meeting a young man with such strength at your age."
Issho slowly sheathed his sword. With a deafening crash, an invisible force of gravity slammed down, instantly carving a massive crater beneath Caesar's feet.
To his surprise, Caesar, standing right in the center of the massive crater, remained completely unaffected, standing there perfectly composed. The ground within a meter around his feet was utterly unharmed!
"Press-Press Fruit, huh? Quite an impressive ability."
Caesar tilted his blade slightly toward the ground. "But unfortunately, it's useless against me."
From the perspective of classical mechanics, gravity is essentially the force of universal gravitation.
From the standpoint of general relativity, gravity is the geometric effect of mass warping spacetime.
But no matter how you look at it, gravity is inseparable from the factors of attraction and mass.
And as luck would have it, Caesar, with his Dark-Dark Fruit ability, inherently represents the most powerful attraction and mass in this world!
At the very least, Issho's gravity couldn't affect him in the slightest. Of course, this could also be attributed to the natural counter of Devil Fruit abilities—just as magma extinguishes flames or rubber counters thunder.
"Oh?"
Sensing Caesar's condition, Issho was taken aback. "How unexpected. Is this a Devil Fruit ability?"
"Care to experience it for yourself?"
Darkness surged around Caesar, an endless tide of blackness rushing forth, instantly engulfing the earth for dozens of meters in every direction.
Feeling the immense gravitational pull beneath his feet, Issho frowned slightly and leaped back, retreating beyond the range of the darkness to put distance between himself and Caesar.
"My ability isn't working... No, the force is being neutralized. Is that gravitational attraction?"
"I don't have the habit of explaining things to my opponents."
With a flap of his black wings, Caesar dashed across the darkness toward Issho, his blade infused with Conqueror's Haki, slashing mercilessly at the blind swordsman.
BOOM—
Conqueror's Haki erupted as their blades clashed mid-air. Issho's expression shifted slightly as the overwhelming force sent him skidding backward, his feet carving deep trenches into the ground.
Suddenly, the pressure on his blade lightened.
Caesar's figure soared into the air, flipping twice before landing gracefully on the ground.
"I'm done."
"Hmm?"
Issho was puzzled. "Why stop now?"
"This is too unfair."
Caesar shook his head. "You're already blind, your ability is countered by mine, and on top of that, I have techniques that neutralize Observation Haki. Even someone as shameless as me can't bring myself to continue a fight like this."
"Meaningless pity."
Issho's expression darkened. "So an old, blind man isn't worthy of being your opponent? That's quite the insult."
Caesar replied calmly, "No, it's precisely because I respect your strength that I can't accept a battle like this."
"In that case..."
Issho gently pushed his sword's hilt with his thumb, and an invisible force of gravity shot skyward.
WHOOSH—
High above, the clouds exploded apart, and a fiery glow appeared.
A massive meteor pierced through the atmosphere, its friction igniting a dazzling blaze!
The spectators in the distance widened their eyes in shock, staring in horror at the falling meteor in the sky.
"What the hell is that?!!"
Barto, Nami, and Deuce screamed, their eyes bulging.
Baby5 clutched her cheeks in shock, her face a picture of astonishment.
Yamato, Robin, and Ace, however, remained composed. Yamato was confident she could shatter the meteor, Robin trusted in Caesar's strength, and Ace, as a Logia Type user, had nothing to fear—even a hundred meteors couldn't kill him.
Kuma's ability could indeed deflect the meteor, but unfortunately, he hadn't come along this time, staying behind on the ship with Bonney to watch over it.
"Now I finally understand why Caesar traveled all the way to the North Sea to recruit this old gentleman."
Robin watched the terrifying meteor falling from the sky, a hint of awe flashing in her eyes: "This is nothing short of a natural disaster!"
"Haha, what a spectacular sight!"
Yamato wore a carefree grin but still tightened her grip on the Spiked Club, ready to protect everyone if needed.
"One-Sword Style..."
Caesar stared at the descending meteor, his long blade held horizontally before him.
Conqueror's Haki surged endlessly into the blade, clashing with the flowing Armament Haki. With a sudden swing, he unleashed a pitch-black slash.
"Reverse the Heavens!"
A slash hundreds of meters long tore through the sky, slicing through the meteor as effortlessly as cutting tofu.
In the next instant, as if cleaved by countless slashes, the meteor shattered into tiny fragments, burning away in the intense heat of friction!
"Wahaha! Mr. Caesar!!"
Barto, witnessing this breathtaking spectacle, burst into tears of excitement.
Ace looked utterly stunned: "Isn't this a bit too much?"
"Gravity, attraction... interesting."
Caesar chuckled softly, then suddenly raised his fist. An endless darkness erupted from his body.
Then, with a swift motion, he opened his palm toward the sky.
"Let's see how you handle this—Heavenly Obstruction Quake Star!"
Whoosh—
Another colossal meteor, blotting out the sky, came crashing down. Issho lifted his head in astonishment.
Though his eyes couldn't see, his Observation Haki clearly detected the apocalyptic object descending from above.
In both size and speed, it was no less terrifying than the one he had just summoned!
"Waaah!! Mr. Caesar!!!"
Barto and Deuce clung to each other, tears streaming as they screamed in shock.
Nami stood frozen in place, completely dumbfounded!
She had witnessed such a world-ending catastrophe twice now—and the second time, it was their own reckless captain who had pulled it down!
"This move won't work on me either."
Issho smiled faintly, raising his long blade. An invisible force of gravity surged toward the meteor.
The meteor's descent slowed, then halted mid-air.
With another swift slash, the meteor shot back upward, returning the way it had come!
"This is like a battle between gods... these two and their abilities are just absurd."
Ace gaped in disbelief at the scene.
Just days ago in the East Blue, the fight between Caesar and Garp had already seemed outrageous to him.
But now, he realized there was something even more insane!
Those disaster-level meteors were like mere toys in their hands, posing no threat whatsoever.
Can I really defeat someone like this?
Staring at Caesar's back, Ace found himself questioning his own strength.
"Let's try this next!"
Suddenly, Caesar clasped his hands together, forming a black sphere.
As he pulled them apart, a terrifying gravitational force erupted from the orb.
With a casual flick, he hurled it toward Issho.
Boom—
In an instant, the ground split apart, and seawater gushed forth!
Trees were uprooted from the jungle—grass, seawater, even the rocky earth itself.
Everything tangible in the surroundings was caught in the vortex of gravity, twisting, spinning, and being drawn into the terrifying black hole!
Noticing the terrifying gravitational force pulling at him, Issho's expression turned grave.
He realized that under this fearsome gravitational effect, the counter-gravity he had exerted was being neutralized. Moreover, as surrounding objects began collapsing, the pulling force grew increasingly intense!
Meanwhile, Caesar shouted from the distance: "Planetary Devastation! Ha!"
"Planetary Devastation?"
Issho's face hardened as he channeled massive amounts of Haki into his blade.
"If counter-gravity is ineffective, then let's try this!"
"Gravity Blade · Fierce Tiger!"
Hummm—
A hundred-meter-long slash imbued with terrifying gravity crashed heavily into the black hole!
Then came an ear-splitting sonic boom as a dazzling light suddenly erupted...