Sengoku felt genuine surprise as his palm connected with Shiki.
He'd witnessed Finn's precise gravity manipulation before and had been impressed. But he'd assumed that charging into the gravitational field would mean subjecting himself to the same crushing pressure affecting Shiki.
Instead, he felt nothing. The intense gravity that trapped the Golden Lion seemed to flow around Sengoku like water around stone, leaving him completely unaffected.
That boy's mastery is progressing incredibly fast, Sengoku thought with satisfaction.
In terms of pure growth rate, he was beginning to think Finn might be improving even faster than Kuzan, Sakazuki, or Borsalino. The precision control required to selectively apply gravitational force to one target while excluding another was extraordinary for someone who'd possessed the fruit for only a few years.
But mental observations didn't slow his physical assault. Sengoku's massive golden palm crashed into Shiki with devastating force, accompanied by a shockwave that rippled through the air.
Shiki couldn't dodge. At the last possible instant, he wrapped himself in Armament Haki, creating what defense he could.
It wasn't enough.
The impact drove blood from Shiki's mouth as the shockwave sent him hurtling downward like a meteor. He punched through Finn's gravitational field through sheer momentum, his body cratering into Marineford's plaza with earth-shaking force.
BOOM.
The solid stone flooring cracked like an eggshell, spiderweb fractures spreading from the impact site. The shockwave's aftermath propagated along the ground, sending tremors through the entire fortress.
"Gravity Domain: Stone Burial!"
Finn's eyes gleamed as he spoke quietly, almost conversationally.
He didn't give Shiki a moment's respite. The instant the pirate struck ground, Finn's ability activated. The cracking earth was suddenly enveloped by an intense gravitational field and collapsed inward. In seconds, all the fractures disappeared, compressed into a surface smoother than polished marble. The ground became denser than steel.
Shiki, still dazed from Sengoku's palm strike, couldn't react fast enough to escape. He was pressed beneath tons of compressed earth and stone before he could activate his Float-Float Fruit.
The impact site transformed into a deep crater, as if a tunnel had opened to the underworld itself.
Sengoku landed at the pit's edge, his Observation Haki immediately extending downward. His Armament Haki flowed across his hands like living water, ready to explode into action at any moment.
Finn could sense Shiki beneath the surface, struggling violently. The Float-Float Fruit's power pushed outward against the gravitational compression, trying to control the earth pressing down on him and force an escape route.
"He's still alive and fighting hard," Finn called out to the Admiral. "I don't think he's lost his ability to resist. His injuries probably aren't as severe as we'd hoped."
"Tenacious bastard," Sengoku muttered, though his eyes held satisfaction.
Truthfully, he was extremely pleased with how the battle had progressed. Finn's abilities complemented his own perfectly, significantly weakening Shiki's greatest advantage: his mobility. The Golden Lion was operating at perhaps seventy percent effectiveness, maybe less.
Even at that reduced capacity, Shiki remained formidable. But the fight was considerably easier than their previous encounters. Look at the results: Shiki was injured and buried, while Sengoku remained completely unscathed.
Could we have achieved this so cleanly in the past? Never.
Something else nagged at Sengoku's awareness. Shiki's Haki seemed slightly weaker than expected, as if the pirate's power had diminished somehow. Was it the rudder embedded in his skull? Or simply an illusion?
Knowing Shiki still resisted, Sengoku refused to relax his guard. He clasped his hands before his chest, golden light intensifying around his massive form until he truly resembled a Buddha preparing to chant sutras.
"Buddha's Golden Body!"
Normally, Sengoku's Daibutsu form stood at standard Admiral height, already impressive. His Devil Fruit transformation increased his stature to something even taller than Bartholomew Kuma's imposing figure.
But that wasn't his limit.
With a deep, resonating roar, the seven or eight meter tall golden Buddha suddenly expanded several times over, growing to genuinely titanic proportions. Standing at the crater's edge, he radiated divine majesty, a colossus of judgment.
Finn wasn't about to be outdone.
His Observation Haki, which he'd enhanced with force field perception, spread along the lines visible only to his eyes. The detection range that normally covered all of Marineford gradually contracted, shrinking to a sphere barely three to five meters around his body.
All that conserved power condensed into a single thread of awareness that shot upward, climbing toward the infinite sky above.
This was the first time Finn had used his Observation Haki this way. The burden was immense. His body began trembling involuntarily, eyes gradually rolling back to show white as he pushed his senses beyond their normal limits.
From his position near the crater, Sengoku noticed Finn's condition with surprise and concern. What is that boy doing?
Gion appeared at Finn's side instantly, her hand resting on Konpira's hilt, body positioned protectively. She didn't know what Finn was attempting, but her instincts screamed that he shouldn't be disturbed.
"STARFALL IMPACT!" Finn's shout was almost desperate.
It felt as though every ounce of strength drained from his body in one explosive moment. The gravitational pressure maintaining Shiki's prison suddenly faltered.
Shiki seized the opportunity immediately.
CRACK.
The compressed rock and earth shattered. The Golden Lion clawed his way up from the crater's depths, his eyes wild with furious madness. His entire appearance was disheveled: blood staining his mouth and nose, clothing torn, golden hair matted with dirt.
"SENGOKU!" Shiki's roar echoed with raw hatred.
He shot upward, attempting to escape the pit through sheer force of will and Devil Fruit power.
But Sengoku had been waiting for exactly this moment. The instant Shiki began rising, the Admiral's massive palm descended. A brutal shockwave filled the entire crater, leaving no gap for escape.
Shiki, who'd barely gotten airborne, was forcibly slammed back down by Sengoku's overwhelming power.
Nearby, Gion stared at Finn with mounting concern. His condition had deteriorated rapidly. "What's wrong? You look terrible. Are you okay?"
Finn didn't answer. Instead, he raised one trembling hand and pointed skyward.
Gion followed his gesture, looking up. The thick storm clouds still covered Marineford, rain falling in its steady rhythm. Nothing seemed different from moments before.
She was about to ask again when she noticed something odd. One section of clouds appeared darker than the rest, as if concentrated somehow.
The next instant, those clouds began dissipating at impossible speed, evaporating as if scorched by incredible heat.
Then the sky ignited.
A massive sphere of flame burst through the cloud cover, trailing fire and smoke. The meteorite, burning with temperatures hot enough to vaporize water vapor instantly, cleared away every cloud in its path. The scorching heat turned rain into steam before the droplets could fall.
It was descending directly toward Marineford.
A meteorite? An actual meteorite from space?
"This... is..." Gion nearly dropped Konpira in shock.
She'd never witnessed a natural disaster of this magnitude before. This wasn't a battle technique. This was apocalyptic destruction made manifest.
Every Marine in Marineford froze, staring upward in stunned disbelief.
What just happened? Vice Admiral Finn shouted "Starfall Impact" and pulled a meteorite from the sky? Is his power truly this devastating? Does he intend to destroy the entire Marineford?
Even Sengoku stood paralyzed for a crucial second, staring at the meteorite that appeared roughly two to three hundred meters in diameter. That insane bastard actually pulled a meteorite from orbit?
The destructive potential was catastrophic. Thank heaven the rock was only two or three hundred meters across. If Finn had pulled down something larger, it might have obliterated Marineford entirely, along with everyone inside.
Even at this size, the devastation would be immense. One miscalculation and Marine casualties would be staggering.
That reckless idiot! Sengoku cursed internally as he leaped away from the crater. The meteorite was clearly targeting that exact location. Standing at ground zero would be suicidal, even for him.
Down in the pit, Shiki's limited view made him resemble a frog at the bottom of a well. He could only see the small circle of sky directly above. He hadn't noticed the meteorite at all.
Confusion flickered across his face. Why did Sengoku attack and then immediately run away?
Before he could analyze further, the crater suddenly blazed with light. He looked up reflexively.
What the... a burning meteorite?
The shock paralyzed him for one crucial heartbeat. That single moment of hesitation cost him his last chance to escape.
But Shiki was fundamentally a survivor, a man who'd carved his legend through countless life-or-death battles. He wouldn't surrender to fate without fighting. His feet stomped the crater floor with explosive force, and the earth itself responded. The Float-Float Fruit's power activated at maximum output.
From Finn's perspective, it looked as though massive hands erupted from the ground, forming pillars that rose to meet the descending meteorite, attempting to arrest its fall.
It was futile.
The meteorite's kinetic energy, accumulated through thousands of meters of atmospheric descent, shattered those pillars on contact. Stone exploded into fragments that offered no meaningful resistance.
The burning sphere struck the crater with apocalyptic force and kept descending, sinking into the earth itself.
Finn extended one hand, wrapping the impact zone in gravitational control to contain the devastation to the smallest possible radius.
Approximately one kilometer.
Everything within that radius was simply erased. Fortifications, stone, metal, all of it pulverized or vaporized by the combination of kinetic impact and thermal energy.
Smoke and dust obscured all vision. When it finally began clearing, a massive impact crater dominated Marineford's plaza, easily a hundred meters deep at its center.
Every person present stood speechless, their minds struggling to process what they'd witnessed.
"That should have finished him, right?" Finn murmured quietly, more hope than certainty in his voice.
Normally this technique couldn't hit someone like Shiki. It was only because Sengoku trapped him in that pit, removing his mobility, that the surprise attack succeeded. But if you take a direct hit from a meteorite...
A razor-sharp slash suddenly erupted from the crater's depths, cutting through smoke and dust to split the sky above.
Then Shiki's battered form emerged, floating upward on his Devil Fruit's power.
His legendary golden hair was singed and burnt in multiple places, completely lacking the arrogant magnificence he'd displayed upon arriving at Marineford. His clothing was scorched, blackened patches covering his body where the intense heat had burned through his Haki protection.
He looked, frankly, pathetic.
Finn stared at the disheveled Golden Lion and sighed with mild disappointment.
As expected. This technique looks incredibly shocking, but against truly top-tier opponents, it's really just a flashy greeting. Show over substance.
This was his first time using the ability, so he'd hoped the element of surprise might catch Shiki completely off-guard and inflict serious damage.
But apparently not.
Come to think of it, in the original story, Fujitora dropped meteorites on Dressrosa. Even Trafalgar Law and Doflamingo dealt with them easily enough. If those two could handle it, how could someone like Shiki be killed by a single meteorite? I'm lucky it burned him a little.
"Unless..." Finn's eyes gleamed with dark amusement. "...I use a meteor shower instead."
But techniques on that scale were beyond his current ability. Even if he could manage it someday, he certainly couldn't use such devastating power at Marine Headquarters. Even if it killed Shiki, Sengoku would probably strangle him afterward for destroying the fortress.
Still, the demonstration had been worthwhile. He'd learned the technique's limitations, confirmed his force field perception worked as intended, and thoroughly terrorized everyone watching.
Not a bad day's work.
Now he just needed to finish this fight properly.
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