Akainu stood caked in dust and blood, his body battered and broken.
And yet, even in this wretched state, he was still an admiral one of the Navy's three greatest powers.
Wounded, cornered, his breath ragged, but his aura still radiated dominance. The oppressive force of his will swept across the battlefield like a tide.
He straightened his ruined cap and adjusted his stance. No fear. No despair. His posture was tall, unyielding. And in his eyes burned an unsettling confidence.
"Admiral Akainu!"
"Don't come closer!"
Some Marines tried to rush to his aid, but his command froze them in their tracks.
The men before him Marco, First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, a post only achievable by those monstrously strong, and the stranger who had forced him into crisis time and time again, a man whose power rivaled even Whitebeard's captains.
If the Marines interfered, they would only add to the death toll.
"Marines, clear the area!" Akainu roared.
His body ignited, magma bursting across his frame. This was his last card. His final chance. He had to kill both of them in one strike. Otherwise… he would be the one to die.
Vincent narrowed his eyes, standing only a few paces away. He could sense it a catastrophic attack building inside the admiral's body. If he met it head-on, it would mean mutual destruction.
He clenched his jaw. He was not truly a pirate. This was supposed to be a trial. Dying here would be meaningless.
"Marco. Be careful. This one is going to be terrifying."
Marco nodded tightly, flames of azure bursting to life across his body as he transformed into the full form of the immortal phoenix.
Akainu's frame swelled, magma surging violently within him. His fists ballooned grotesquely, pulsing with lethal power.
"Ryusei Kazan!" Meteor Volcano!
His bellow split the air as his titanic fists hurled skyward, spewing a storm of molten meteors into the heavens.
Each strike shrank his fists further until they bled raw, until finally he collapsed backward, spent and broken.
"Move!"
Vincent shouted, his body flashing aside as his danger sense flared like fire. He tumbled, rolled, darting desperately to avoid the apocalyptic rain of molten rock.
He couldn't take this head-on. Even Whitebeard himself might have faltered against such madness.
Marco soared high, circling at breakneck speed, skimming the edges of the inferno. He lacked Vincent's uncanny foresight, but with his regeneration and haki, he survived without suffering fatal wounds.
Still, the sky blazed with falling fire.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Vincent's fists blurred, shattering meteors into gravel mid-air, his body framed in fire and smoke. The battlefield below became a lake of magma, Marineford collapsing further into ruin.
Gasps broke from the watching soldiers.
"My God… he's punching meteors apart."
"What kind of monster is that?"
"If only he were on our side…"
The bombardment lasted a full minute before the sky cleared. Where once fire reigned, only smoke and ruin remained.
Vincent stepped forward, gaze icy, toward the collapsed admiral.
"You really are a monster," Akainu rasped weakly.
His eyes wandered to his fists, trembling. His justice… where was it now? He had sworn evil would be destroyed before justice. But now, standing before this demon of a man, his creed felt hollow.
Perhaps it wasn't justice that was wrong… perhaps it was his justice.
Vincent's fist clenched again. He would not let the admiral rise.
But then it came the most violent warning his instincts had ever screamed. His skin prickled, scalp went numb, hands trembled.
"Run!"
He launched himself back in an instant.
Marco, swooping low to finish Akainu, froze as Vincent waved him off furiously. "Get away!"
The admiral's body flared scarlet, magma burning hotter than ever. His cap ignited, his uniform dissolved into ash.
"He's going to self-destruct!"
Vincent's eyes widened. Akainu's frame swelled grotesquely like an overfilled balloon.
Then he detonated.
BOOOOM!
The world turned into fire. Magma exploded outward in a cataclysmic wave, vaporizing Marines and pirates alike. Flesh turned to cinders, bones to nothing. The earth liquefied, gouging a massive crater through Marineford itself.
Vincent sprinted with every ounce of strength, pushing beyond his limits until he burst free of the blast zone. Heat licked his back, but he lived.
Panting, he turned back. The battlefield was unrecognizable, scarred into molten ruin.
Marco staggered nearby, chest heaving, his human form restored. His face was pale with terror.
Had he hesitated even for a second, he would have been annihilated.
"That… was death."
Marco's voice shook.
"Yeah." Vincent's eyes were cold. "He was ready to burn his life away just to drag us down with him."
Marco wiped the sweat from his brow and clapped Vincent's shoulder with a shaky laugh. "Thanks. When we make it back to the ship, drinks are on me… if we even make it back alive."
Vincent slapped his shoulder hard, eyes burning with seriousness.
"If you don't know if you'll make it back, then kill as many Marines as you can while you're still breathing. If we live, you're buying that drink."
Marco managed a weak laugh. "Fine, hah…"
But before he could finish, he felt his body yank backward.
Vincent's hand had hooked his shoulder, dragging him fast.
"Both of you brats… DIE!!!"
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The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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