Whitebeard gave Jozu no time to prepare.
Without any warning, the Yonko suddenly roared, his right arm swinging out like lightning as he threw a punch at his "son."
The strike appeared casual, yet its immense power tore through space, distorting the surrounding air and sending visible ripples radiating outward.
Seeing this, Jozu showed no weakness. Bellowing a war cry, he tensed his muscles and threw a counter-punch with equal speed.
In an instant, his right hand was coated in pitch-black Armament Haki, emanating a suffocating aura.
BOOM!!!
Their fists never actually collided. Instead, they met an invisible, immense resistance while still inches apart, halting their advance.
Simultaneously, their overwhelming Haki surged outward like raging tides crashing against one another.
At the point of impact, a visible shockwave spread rapidly in a ring.
Wherever the shockwave passed, everything was devastated.
The originally sturdy fence at the edge of the training ground instantly turned to dust under the powerful impact, scattering in all directions.
Several nearby workers performing miscellaneous tasks had no time to react before being swept away by the air pressure.
Their bodies flew through the air like kites with severed strings, tracing arcs before crashing heavily onto the distant ground.
The two combatants' fists remained locked in mid-air, as if time itself had frozen at that moment.
"Again!" Whitebeard's eyes blazed with intense light, burning like fierce flames.
With a loud roar, his other fist, wrapped in suffocating dominance, shot toward Jozu once more.
This punch was even faster and more powerful, as if it intended to shatter the very space around them.
"Right away, Father!" Jozu showed no fear, meeting the attack head-on.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The collisions of pure Armament Haki echoed like muffled thunder across the training ground.
Each impact released tremendous energy, making the surrounding air tremble violently.
Both men had completely abandoned their Devil Fruit abilities.
No quakes, no diamond—they engaged in this intense confrontation using only the most primitive, raw Haki.
Every clash of fists and feet left spiderweb-like cracks on the hard ground.
Ace watched with boiling excitement, unconsciously clenching his own fists.
This is what a true battle between the strong looks like!
No flashy techniques, no ornate but impractical moves—only the purest, most direct, and most awe-inspiring collision of power. It was a fighting style that pushed one's physical strength to the limit, using the simplest methods to crush an opponent.
After thirty exchanges, their fists whistled through the air, each strike carrying enough force to tear through the atmosphere.
After fifty exchanges, the ground began to tremble continuously, emitting low rumbling sounds as the island's foundation groaned under the stress.
After one hundred exchanges...
Time seemed to freeze.
The two threw one final, full-power punch.
CRACK-BOOM!
They abruptly separated.
The entire training ground looked as if it had endured a cataclysmic earthquake.
The once flat and solid ground had transformed into a massive crater over a hundred meters in diameter, with jagged edges and scattered soil and debris.
Whitebeard's breathing was slightly labored.
Fine cracks had appeared on Jozu's Diamond body, yet the fire in his eyes burned just as fiercely.
"Gurararara! Good lad!" Whitebeard laughed heartily, giving Jozu's shoulder a heavy pat.
The pat nearly sent the exhausted Jozu tumbling to the ground.
His legs buckled slightly, and he leaned forward, but gritting his teeth, he managed to steady himself through sheer willpower.
Though every muscle in his body screamed in pain, the excitement in his eyes remained undiminished.
"Thank you for your guidance, Pops!"
The onlookers finally snapped out of their shock.
After a moment of stunned silence, they erupted into thunderous cheers.
In a corner of the training ground, the fearsome Douglas Bullet crouched in the dirt, drawing circles with a twig while muttering under his breath.
"Every single one of them is a monster..."
As everyone watched Whitebeard and Jozu in the arena, a chill ran down their spines.
The Whitebeard Pirates had essentially gained another Whitebeard!
What did this mean? It meant the strength of this pirate crew had become exponentially more terrifying.
Crocodile's pupils violently contracted.
The cigar clamped between his fingers had fallen to the ground unnoticed, slowly rolling in the sand, sparks dying out—much like his crumbling mental defenses.
His throat felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand. A chill shot straight up his spine.
The scene before him was a nightmare for anyone opposing this crew: The Whitebeard Pirates actually possessed two "Yonko-level" combatants in such a short time!
This completely exceeded his imagination, shattering his understanding of the balance of power in the New World.
Those two powerful existences stood before him like insurmountable mountains, making him feel incredibly small.
His gaze involuntarily shifted toward Ron on the high platform.
Ron remained composed as he watched everything unfold. His calm demeanor made it seem as though this earth-shattering duel—one that could alter the entire pirate world's landscape—was nothing more than an insignificant sideshow.
Crocodile's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty as a terrifying thought exploded like a bomb in his chaotic mind.
"If... if there were enough funds... could these Devil Fruits be produced without limit?!"
Once this idea emerged, it grew wildly in his heart like weeds.
This thought made him tremble all over.
What would it mean to be able to produce Devil Fruits infinitely?
It meant that powerful combatants could be mass-produced like assembly-line commodities!
What Pirate King?
In the face of such absolute power, even the lofty World Government, which controlled the entire world's order, would tremble in fear!
The rules and order they had established would crumble like fragile paper fortresses under the impact of such an army.
The world hegemony that Rocks D. Xebec had once dreamed of... was now within this young man's grasp.
Crocodile suddenly realized that he might have inadvertently boarded a massive ship heading straight for the throne of the world.
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