This is Iceberg's Mansion in Water 7, the most prosperous area of Water 7.
But after tonight, Iceberg's Mansion will become a ruin, and the prosperity here will vanish.
The battle between Pain and Fujitora was the main culprit for the greatest destruction in this prosperous area.
Pain controlled the Preta Path to pursue Fujitora, the Human Path entered a light gate, the Naraka Path, covered in lightning, directly charged forward for close-quarters combat with Fujitora, while the Asura Path released various long-range attacks to disrupt Fujitora's predictions.
Pain, with his right hand pointed at Fujitora, sought a suitable opportunity to release "Almighty Pull."
Fujitora faced these incoming attacks calmly; although he was blind, these attacks were clearly predicted by his top-tier Observation Haki.
Observation Haki is also divided into Elementary, Intermediate, and King tiers.
Elementary Observation Haki is in an Awakened state, not yet fully controllable, only occasionally able to predict enemy attacks; in this state, one cannot fully control their Observation Haki.
Intermediate Observation Haki can be skillfully mastered by an Awakened user, allowing them to predict enemy attacks at will, thereby gaining the ability to know the trajectory of attacks in advance.
King-tier Observation Haki is the top-tier Observation Haki that an Awakened user achieves as their own abilities grow.
This type of Observation Haki already possesses the ability to briefly foresee the future, predicting the enemy's next move and possible events within a certain period.
And Fujitora, possessing King-tier Observation Haki, gained the ability to foresee the enemy's future actions.
Fujitora was fully aware of Pain's series of attacks, and he did only one thing in response to these dense attacks: he gently drew his cane-sword.
Before the cane-sword was fully drawn, a gravitational force had already acted upon the Preta Path, Naraka Path, and Asura Path. It slowed down the Naraka Path, which was originally extremely fast, making its movements sluggish, like a tai chi practitioner, as it swung its staff at Fujitora.
The Preta Path and Asura Path were directly pinned to the ground, unable to move. Under Pain's control, the Preta Path tried to turn into sand to evade the gravity, but the result was the same; its sand body was also pressed down and unable to move.
Pain hastily had the Preta Path activate Sealing Technique Absorption Seal to stand normally in place, while the Asura Path remained pressed down beside Pain.
Seeing this, Pain intended to control the Naraka Path to retreat into the Preta Path's Sealing Technique Absorption Seal, to avoid being suppressed by gravity.
But the Naraka Path, whose movements were already slowed by gravity, found it no longer easy to retreat; Fujitora's purplish-black right fist accurately struck the Naraka Path's abdomen, sending it flying.
Seeing this, Pain quickly rushed towards the Preta Path, contemplating a counter-strategy within the Preta Path's Sealing Technique Absorption Seal.
Fujitora's gravity was actually also applied to Pain, but it had no effect.
Pain's Heavenly Dao has a special Physique endowed by the Rinnegan, granting him attraction and repulsion, which are similar to Fujitora's control over gravity.
Fujitora can make any substance or person heavier or lighter, but he cannot affect Pain's special Physique of attraction and repulsion, which is endowed by the Rinnegan.
Similarly, Pain's usually infallible Almighty Pull and Chibaku Tensei proved useless against Fujitora this time.
Fujitora was puzzled as to why gravity had no effect on Pain, and Pain was now equally puzzled as to why Almighty Pull had no effect on Fujitora.
Just now, Pain saw that in a single exchange, the Preta Path, Asura Path, and Naraka Path were suppressed by Fujitora's gravity, so Pain also released Almighty Pull on Fujitora with his right hand.
But the result was that Fujitora remained unmoved, because Fujitora had already anticipated Pain's move and had increased his own weight to an extremely heavy degree, making Pain's gravitational pull unable to move him at all.
The spot where Fujitora stood also cracked the ground directly due to his extreme weight, creating a large deep pit.
Fujitora calmly dealt with Pain's attacks, while Pain, having entered the Sealing Technique Absorption Seal, was contemplating counter-strategies with a solemn expression.
Fujitora's ability made Pain realize that his powerful trump cards against enemies had lost their effect, and even Chibaku Tensei might be ineffective against Fujitora.
Pain's Heavenly Dao ability and Fujitora's gravity control are both similar and different.
Pain's Heavenly Dao attraction and repulsion are both expressions of force; Almighty Pull acts on the enemy through the law of universal gravitation.
Shinra Tensei, on the other hand, is the manifestation of universal repulsion acting on all things.
Chibaku Tensei, furthermore, uses extreme suction to pull all surrounding people and objects into the sky to coalesce, all of which is based on the premise that all things being pulled by the suction are of normal volume and weight.
Once Pain uses Chibaku Tensei, Fujitora can completely nullify Pain's Chibaku Tensei by deepening the surrounding gravity, making it unable to attract anything.
The fundamental difference between Pain's techniques and Fujitora's techniques lies in the different manifestations of force; therefore, in this situation, Fujitora's gravity would be directly repelled by Pain's Heavenly Dao repulsion Physique and unable to affect Pain's body.
Pain's attraction would also become useless due to Fujitora's increased gravity exceeding the weight that attraction can pull, rendering Pain's Chibaku Tensei and Almighty Pull ineffective.
While Pain was contemplating a counter-strategy, Fujitora, sensing that the enemy was no longer attacking, took the initiative to attack.
Fujitora lightly uttered "Gravity Light," and then, bending his body, he used his ability to release a purple gravitational wave that shot straight into the sky and disappeared.
Within a few seconds, a massive meteor with a fiery tail streaked rapidly towards Pain's location.
The various parties engaged in distant combat were all affected by this meteor, looking up at the sky and entering a temporary ceasefire.
Pain, seeing the giant meteor falling from the sky, hastily had the Preta Path remove the Sealing Technique Absorption Seal, while Pain himself shouted loudly.
"Super Shinra Tensei!"
With Pain's loud shout, a massive repulsion circle appeared around him, centered on Pain, and rushed towards the falling meteor.
Everything in the path of the repulsion circle was destroyed, and anything movable was flung into the air.
The repulsion circle quickly made contact with the meteor. After a brief struggle in the air, the meteor and the repulsion circle, under the action of dual forces, shattered into countless fragments that rained down on the earth.
These scattered rocks flew everywhere, and under Fujitora's control of objects to attack people, they once again assaulted Pain's side.
Pain directly controlled the Naraka Path to unleash a thunder explosion, pulverizing all the scattered rocks into dust that fell to the ground.
Fujitora had abandoned the gravitational suppression of the Naraka Path and Asura Path to use other abilities, and Pain took this opportunity to recall the Naraka Path and Asura Path.
Fujitora and Pain, for a rare moment, entered a temporary pause, gazing at each other from a distance.
Fujitora opened his milky-white eyes and looked at Pain; although he could not see Pain, he could accurately pinpoint Pain's location.
"Your Excellency, with such strength, why do you not do things beneficial to the common people?"
"What meaning can it have for Your Excellency to commit evil deeds relying on your strength?"
Fujitora was unaware of all the recent events between the World Government and the Akatsuki Organization; he had only learned from Akainu and Sengoku that the Akatsuki Organization was an extremely evil organization, whose existence threatened the prestige and status of the World Government and had to be eradicated immediately.
Coupled with the Akatsuki Organization's assassination of Kizaru, Fujitora was predisposed to believe that the Akatsuki Organization was indeed committing evil deeds.
"Admiral Fujitora..."
"I learned from Kizaru's memories that you are a truly righteous person."
"The struggle between me and the World Government no longer has a right or wrong, only a winner or loser. I believe you, Fujitora, understand in your heart the actions of the World Government."
"As for whether our organization commits evil, you will see in the future."
Pain, having learned about Fujitora's character from Kizaru's memories, also held him in high regard. If possible, Pain did not wish for a life-or-death battle with Fujitora, but now their positions were different, and the outcome was unknown.
Fujitora and Pain entered a standoff, both currently exercising restraint. If they were to fight without holding back, whether Water 7 could still exist would be another matter entirely.
The other battlefields were also engaged in fierce combat, locked in an intractable struggle... To be continued...
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