Chapter 20: Gura Gura vs. Sky-Tremor
On the sea between the two ships, a shockwave exploded in a ring, instantly carving a layer off the ocean's surface.
The warship tilted violently. The Marines on deck were sent flying like dry leaves. Some slammed into the masts, others tumbled into the cannon emplacements.
As the opposing vibrations canceled each other out, a dead silence fell over the warship, followed by:
"He... he blocked Whitebeard's attack?!"
"Impossible! That's the Gura Gura no Mi, the fruit that can cause tsunamis!"
"This guy from West Blue... what is this monster?!"
The worldview of these HQ Marines was completely shattered.
As HQ personnel, they had, on more than one occasion, witnessed the terrifying power of Whitebeard destroying an entire fleet with a single blow.
But now, a mere Warrant Officer from the "corrupt sea," West Blue, had just tanked that destructive vibration head-on?!
And the power he'd used looked... exactly the same as Whitebeard's?!
"He... blocked it..." The warship's commander, the HQ Ensign, collapsed to the deck, his pupils trembling violently.
His brain refused to process the scene. This promoted Warrant Officer from a branch base had just taken a direct hit from "Whitebeard"?!
He'd heard Garon was a Devil Fruit user, but... the man he was facing was Whitebeard!
In an instant, every eye on the ship was locked onto the figure standing in direct confrontation with the strongest man in the world.
...
The sea wind died. Time itself seemed to freeze.
Soaked to the bone by sea spray, the last trace of hesitation in Garon's eyes vanished, replaced by the grim resolve of one who has burned all their bridges.
"Quake-Step: Air-Tread!"
Without a moment's pause, Garon's foot instantly compressed a high-density vibration particle core.
He stomped hard on the deck.
BOOM-VMM!!!
The hyper-compressed particles at the point of impact detonated. It wasn't a simple explosion, but a visible, white ring of high-frequency vibration that expanded outward.
Garon's body elementalized, becoming a pure stream of high-frequency vibration particles. He rocketed into the sky, tearing the air with a piercing shriek. In the blink of an eye, he was 100 meters high, the warship beneath him reduced to a small dot.
There was no time to think. Garon's breathing grew heavy, but his eyes became sharper.
His right arm, muscles bulging, slowly rose. He stroked the flat of Black Blade: Eight Desolations with his left hand. In that instant, billions of wildly vibrating particles wrapped around the steel, emitting a soul-cutting, nearly-tangible hum.
At the same time, the vibration particles on the blade's surface began to hyper-condense... collapse... and re-compress!
They formed a blindingly white film of light that seemed to be constantly imploding inward on itself.
In that second, the air around Garon cracked like fragile glass, light bending and refracting strangely around him.
VMMMMM!!
The vibrational frequency of Eight Desolations spiked to the absolute limit of Garon's control. The air near the blade's edge was no longer being torn—it was being annihilated, shattering inch by inch like glass struck by an invisible hammer.
Slowly, the vibration particles stopped swirling and collapsed onto the blade's edge, forming a shimmering, unstable light blade that looked as if it could tear dimensions apart.
Against Whitebeard at his absolute peak, I can't hesitate for a second. This is my strongest attack.
Garon took a deep breath. He lifted his right foot and stomped hard on the empty air.
BANG!
With a crisp, explosive crack, the space behind him fractured in a radial pattern.
Using this violent counter-force, Garon—like a comet, dragging a long tail of particles—shot straight for Whitebeard.
On Whitebeard's side, the man had narrowed his eyes, his grip tightening on his Murasakumogiri.
For the first time, he was seriously sizing up this young Marine, a flicker of genuine interest on his rugged face.
"Gurararara..." His deep laugh rolled across the sea, carrying a tangible, vibrational weight. "A power similar to mine... An interesting brat."
Beside him, Marco's playful smile was gone. He straightened up slightly, his pupils reflecting the white streak of light that was rapidly approaching.
"Oyaji, this guy's vibration... it feels... wrong."
"Marco, get behind me!"
In that instant, the smile on Whitebeard's face vanished. His Observation Haki locked onto Garon in the sky, and his pupils contracted as if struck by a blinding light.
An unprecedented, razor-sharp aura of pure destruction was closing in at an impossible speed.
He had, for a split second, seen the future. If he let that attack land, it would be no joke.
Whitebeard's hands gripped the hilt of his Murasakumogiri like iron clamps. The bulging muscles of his back and shoulders strained his white coat, making it ripple like a mountain range.
"Gurarara, I see... quite the future," his low laugh vibrated the deck, making loose pebbles jump like popping corn. "This Marine brat... what an incredible power he's got!"
Marco was still confused, but when he saw the veins on his father's neck bulge like angry dragons, the blue flames of the Phoenix erupted from his body, out of his control. "Oyaji... is serious..."
"Here it comes!" Whitebeard's roar was no longer a sound, but a visible, white sonic boom that blasted the air, wrapped in a violent shockwave.
He took half a step back with his right leg. KRAK! The solid rail of his ship simply disintegrated into dust.
The Murasakumogiri's blade hummed. The familiar white halo was no longer a soft coating, but a violent, churning, condensing power.
In that instant, Whitebeard's entire body shot forward.
"Marine brat, your name!" Whitebeard's voice wasn't loud, but it was like an anchor, instantly suppressing the raging sea that had been stirred up by their combined auras.
Garon grinned, his voice cutting through the vibrational whine.
"Garon Reginald Sigma!"
"Remember it... This name... will echo to the ends of this sea!"
VMM! TSSS!!!
The light blade on Eight Desolations flared.
The next second, that white blade of collapsed vibration particles had ignored all distance, slashing horizontally at Whitebeard's face.
"Sky-Tremor: Void-Crack!" Garon roared, putting every last ounce of his power into the swing.
KRAK, VMMMM!!
A "fissure," not of a sword-slash, but of space itself being forcibly torn open, ripped through the air!
Where the blade passed, the atmosphere didn't just shatter; it was annihilated by the high-frequency particles, leaving a pure, white-hot trail of particle-flux in its wake.
"Gurararara! You arrogant Marine brat!" Whitebeard's eyes lit up, as if he'd just discovered a new continent.
"My Observation Haki tells me... I can't let you unleash that attack!"
The white halo on his Murasakumogiri instantly compressed to its absolute limit, forming a solid, tangible, white crystalline layer that pulsed with the will to shatter all creation.
Time lost all meaning as they both swung.
ZZZHHEEENG!!
The light blade of Eight Desolations and the crystalline edge of the Murasakumogiri slammed into each other.
The point of contact did not ring with the sound of metal on metal. It was a deafening, hybrid sound—a high-pitched shriek and a low-frequency, destructive roar, mixed into one.