Bang!!!
A pillar of magma soared into the sky and exploded in midair.
Whitebeard's figure appeared suspended in the air.
He tossed his naginata upward, both hands forming claw shapes.
Power surged to his fingertips as he grabbed downward with force.
Ten curved gashes appeared in the sky.
The surging magma suddenly halted.
Then the pillar twisted irregularly, extending all the way to the ground.
The half-submerged island, scorched by magma, shook violently, as if the land itself was overturning.
The terrain buckled and heaved toward the erupting magma column from both sides.
Rumble!!!
An endless shockwave burst into the earth, disrupting the magma's explosive force.
The overturned land collapsed over the eruption point, temporarily sealing the raging magma.
...
In the distance, Sengoku had transformed into a golden Buddha several dozen meters tall, unleashing endless shockwaves from beneath his feet, suspended midair.
In his left palm he held Kvel, while his right hand raised a palm to generate a shockwave.
He continually blasted the center of the recent magma eruption.
Whitebeard landed on the ground, glanced at the incoming shockwaves from Sengoku, clenched his left fist, and swung forward.
Crack!
The sound of the atmosphere shattering rang out as the cracks before him expanded and burst.
A boundless wave of tremors clashed with the shockwave and exploded.
Boom!
Scorching air currents burst outward in waves like a tsunami, blowing away the surrounding ash and dust.
Then, as the ground began shaking wildly, both Sengoku and Whitebeard felt a sudden alarm in their hearts.
Sengoku flashed away midair, carrying Kvel far from the island.
Whitebeard stomped down, shooting hundreds of meters into the sky and looking toward the ground.
...
Boom!!!
A deafening roar resounded as the entire island trembled violently.
Then, half the island began collapsing at an alarming rate.
Countless chunks of earth crumbled, as though a bottomless abyss had opened beneath the island.
In an instant, that half of the island was about to be swallowed by seawater, vanishing into the ocean.
Suddenly, a red glow flared up deep underground, rapidly expanding.
It filled the collapsing void.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed sharply midair.
Endless magma erupted forth.
In stark contrast to the other half of the island submerged in seawater.
Atop a magma spire the size of half an island, magma surged skyward.
From it, massive magma dragons, each hundreds of meters thick and endlessly stretching, roared forth.
Sakazuki stood atop the head of one magma dragon, blades in hand thrown behind him, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.
Several magma dragons followed behind Sakazuki.
They arced perfectly in the sky and dived downward.
Standing atop the dragon's head, Sakazuki twisted his hands.
He raised his longsword, now cloaked in Conqueror's Haki, and slashed at Whitebeard in midair.
Whitebeard's naginata was also wreathed in Conqueror's Haki. He shifted both hands to the end of the weapon and raised it high, slashing forward.
Clang!
The moment their weapons clashed, black and red lightning sparked from the Conqueror's clash.
In the blink of an eye, with no footing to stabilize himself, Whitebeard was forced downward by Sakazuki and his magma dragons.
Toward the other half of the island, the part still untouched by collapse and covered in seawater.
Boom!
Both men slammed into the ground as countless magma dragons surged toward them.
Billowing black smoke poured from the magma, rapidly expanding and surging outward.
In an instant, it swallowed the remaining seawater on the island. The last half of the island was now completely buried under magma.
Bang!
A massive shockwave burst from the center of the island.
Magma within a kilometer radius was blown into the air in all directions — the epicenter, where the two clashed.
The two combatants either unleashed Devil Fruit power to suppress the other, or relied on bulging veins and brute strength, their arms like pythons fighting back with force.
Red and white shockwaves divided the battlefield evenly, neither gaining the upper hand.
Black and red lightning from Conqueror's Haki struck the ground around them, triggering explosions hundreds of meters high.
As they both increased their output, the pressure seemed to hit a critical point.
The opposing forces collided and exploded into a massive tornado-like shockwave.
The spiraling blast tore apart and scattered, dissolving into streaks of red and white mist.
Separated by the eruption, the two blade-wielders readjusted their stances and charged once more.
Sakazuki gripped his sword in his left hand and channeled his Devil Fruit with the right, slashing at Whitebeard.
Whitebeard held his weapon in his right hand while his left fist formed a semi-transparent shockwave ring, slashing downward.
Clang!
Their single-handed weapons clashed and locked. Sakazuki punched toward Whitebeard's abdomen.
Whitebeard swung his left fist toward Sakazuki's head.
Boom!
Sakazuki's punch slammed into Whitebeard's stomach. The magma's immense force sent Whitebeard slightly airborne and sliding back.
The magma fist shattered the surface of his abdomen and pressed inward.
Yet Whitebeard's expression didn't change. His left fist didn't stop and crashed into Sakazuki's head.
A force that could not be resisted surged forth.
Sakazuki felt his entire upper body twisting and compressing.
It wasn't an illusion — Whitebeard's Devil Fruit power was pressing down hard on Sakazuki.
Sakazuki's upper body was visibly contorting under the crushing weight.
A growing sense of danger surged in Sakazuki's heart. His eyes flashed with resolve.
His right arm surged with even more Devil Fruit power.
At the same time, the shockwave ring distorting Sakazuki's upper body reached its limit.
Crack!
Whitebeard's power exploded, shattering both the atmosphere and Sakazuki's upper torso.
Sakazuki felt as though his body was being torn apart, agony pulling him in all directions.
Enduring the excruciating pain, he detonated the magma in his abdomen.
Before his body and the surrounding air could fully rupture, a crimson glow burst from his entire body.
Boom!!!
Sakazuki's body exploded outright, colliding head-on with the erupting shockwaves.
Endless magma erupted from the explosion, engulfing Whitebeard's figure and sweeping across the island.
...
In the distance, Sakazuki's figure reformed.
He looked battered — chest slightly caved in, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and head.
Expressionless, he stared at the magma's center.
Bang!
A massive explosion of magma created a vacuum zone hundreds of meters wide, centered on Whitebeard.
Whitebeard clutched the large, bleeding wound on his abdomen with his left hand.
A thin line of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Narrowing his eyes at Sakazuki, he said:
"Gurararara... Magma brat, take this one!"
He planted his naginata into the ground, clenched both fists and pulled them to his abdomen.
Then he thrust outward forcefully — the air around him exploded.
The sea surrounding the island churned violently.
A jagged wall of water rose endlessly, climbing nearly a thousand meters above the island — and exploded.
A tidal wave a thousand meters high closed in around the entire island.
Whitebeard activated his ability beneath him and soared to the sky above the wave.
He then gripped his naginata with both hands, wrapped it in Conqueror's Haki, and slashed downward with the crashing wave.
Sakazuki looked up from the ground, watching Whitebeard descend with his weapon, and snorted coldly.
He clapped both hands together.
The remaining island ground warped and turned red. The tip of a sword half the island's width surged upward.
It shot skyward at incredible speed.
Sakazuki vanished from the ground.
The colossal magma sword pierced the sky, rising endlessly.
In the blink of an eye, it surpassed the height of the tidal wave.
Its tip aimed straight at Whitebeard.
Whitebeard slashed downward.
The Sword, the size of half an island, split down the middle.
Yet the ever-erupting magma kept raising it higher and higher.
Though Whitebeard's strike kept splitting it downward, his body was forced upward with the rising sword.
As the surrounding wave crashed onto the sword, the magma rapidly cooled and solidified.
The island below disappeared, replaced by a giant black obsidian sword half an island wide and over two thousand meters tall standing upright above the sea.
At the peak of the sword, the blade split in two where Whitebeard had struck.
Sakazuki and Whitebeard each stood on one side.
Their eyes locked, full of killing intent.
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