Natsu gave no external sign before acting.
Inside, however, something clicked.
The world slowed down absurdly as his [Thought Acceleration] kicked in. The sky, the wind, the droplets of water in the air, even the pirates' roars seemed to drag like ink dripping very slowly.
"…Let's get this over with."
His scarf swayed in an arc too slow for any normal human to follow.
Then—
He instantly activated his [Flying Thunder God Technique], and a golden flash exploded around the merchant ship.
The entire ship vanished.
Not even in the blink of an eye—in less than a thousandth of a second—the vessel reappeared docked at the port of Rosenfeld, exactly at the spot marked by his [Flying Thunder God Seal] that he had left before departure.
Between the disappearance and the first atom of panic rising in the Black Tide pirates, he was already in the air.
His foot sank into the void with a light tap, activating [Koku Shundō].
His body was propelled like a white-pink lightning bolt, shattering the distance between the ships in an absurd way. An arc of displacement distorted the air, leaving a trail of rippling pressure behind him.
Ragnar only had time to widen his eyes.
Natsu's right arm darkened like hot iron suddenly quenched.
[Busoshoku no Haki]
The black coating reinforced bones, muscles, and skin, turning his fist into something beyond physical.
Natsu appeared in front of Ragnar the next instant, so close that the pirate only saw two dark points staring down at him.
The impact came at the same moment as the sound returned.
BOOOOOOM
There was no wind.
There was no visible explosion.
It was a dry sound, followed by an invisible wave of compression that bent the black ship's deck beneath Ragnar's feet.
Natsu's fist sank directly into his abdomen.
In the same fraction of a second—
[Internal Destruction] was activated!
The "Haki" vibrated inward, like tiny blades of pressure slicing through flesh, breaking ribs, tearing muscles, shredding everything it found. The pirate's organs exploded from the inside out with no chance to react.
Ragnar spat blood before his brain even registered that he had been hit.
His torso sank grotesquely inward, as if a hole had been dug into his belly.
Life faded from his eyes.
And then—
The body flew.
The impact launched Ragnar like a projectile, tearing through the air at high speed, disappearing into the gray sea with a distant splash that no one had time to process.
All of this happened in a single second.
The pirates were still gasping after the explosion of screams when they realized Ragnar was no longer there.
Natsu landed on the prow of the Black Tide ship.
A soft, almost delicate landing.
The wind swayed the dark sails.
Kael was still standing with his mouth open, frozen in the smile he hadn't finished.
The pirates only managed to react much later.
"…h–hn?"
"W–what…?"
"R–Ragnar…?"
"Where… where is he—"
Natsu raised his fist, still coated in Haki, his arm relaxed at his side.
"One's gone."
His voice came out calm, almost casual.
"You're next."
The entire deck trembled.
Kael finally moved his head, slowly, incredulously, as if his mind were trying to refuse reality.
"R–Ragnar…? M–my first mate…?" He looked around, his smile faltering for the first time. "What did you do…?"
Natsu took a step forward.
The impact of the step made the entire ship groan.
And then he smiled—not his usual playful smile.
A calm smile.
"I killed him before he even had a chance to use any magic. Don't you know the basics of combat? Not giving the enemy the opportunity to resort to his tricks is the most basic of the basics…"
The pirates exchanged frightened glances, unable to process the sentence that had come out of Natsu's mouth with such simplicity.
"He… he killed Ragnar… before Ragnar could use any magic at all…"
"That's impossible…"
"Ragnar had Take Over magic, he could transform into all kinds of sea creatures and had an enormous perception inside the ocean, no one can catch him by surprise—"
"Shut up…!" another growled, but his voice trembled.
Kael, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes. The obscene smile disappeared for a moment, replaced by genuine irritation… he still wasn't afraid.
"Don't just stand there!" he roared, turning to his men. "Kill him! Now!"
The order exploded across the deck.
One of the pirates—a young man with sharp features, narrow eyes, and leather gloves—stepped forward.
"I'll finish this idiot, boss!"
An impressive amount of magical power gathered in his hand as he activated his [Guns Magic
Reequip: The Gunner], and a long, metallic, ornate shotgun materialized in his hands with a bluish glow.
The pirate spun the weapon, rested it on his shoulder, and fired without wasting time.
The magical bullet sliced through the air with a sharp whiizz, fast enough to cause a sonic boom, but Natsu merely tilted his head a few centimeters to the left casually, as if he had predicted the attack long before the weapon was drawn.
The bullet passed straight by, without touching even the scarf.
The pirate's eyes widened.
"What—?!"
Natsu raised his right hand.
His index finger glowed with compressed fire, dense and hot enough to distort the air.
"Higan."
The flame shot out like an incandescent point, so fast the pirate didn't even see it.
The impact struck directly in the forehead.
The body froze for an instant.
And then fell.
Bones, skin, flesh—everything turned to fine ashes the moment it touched the ground, raising a small black pile that the sea wind carried away immediately.
The deck fell into absolute silence.
"He… he evaporated…"
"With a single attack…"
"That's not normal fire magic…"
Kael, however, didn't seem shaken.
In fact, his lips curved into a thin smile. His eyes gleamed with interest, growing even more confident that he would have no trouble against the pink-haired boy since his magic was water! His smile widened. His stance firmed, his aura intensifying.
"Now, my men—"
Natsu didn't even blink.
The pressure dropped like an invisible storm as he released his [Haoshoku no Haki]!
A brutal, invisible, crushing wave swept across the entire ship.
BAM
The pirates collapsed like puppets with their strings cut, one after another.
Bodies falling, weapons dropping, eyes rolling back, screams never finished…
In less than two seconds, the entire crew was unconscious, sprawled across the deck like leaves felled by a gale.
Except one—Kael managed to resist while gritting his teeth.
Natsu observed him for a long second.
"…Impressive." He tilted his head slightly, evaluating. "You really didn't pass out. Your willpower is extraordinary for a despicable pirate…"
Kael gasped, but laughed. A hoarse, arrogant laugh loaded with a confidence bordering on fanaticism. He raised his face, displaying a toothy grin: "If you think that mental trick is going to take me down… you'll have to do a lot more."
"And you should have done your homework, fire mage…" He spread his arms to the sides, as if embracing the sea. "Because here…"
The sea vibrated.
"…I am invincible."
Magical power erupted from his body like a submarine eruption—huge, dense, oppressive, as heavy as the open ocean.
Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so? Then… show me."
Kael flashed a predatory smile.
"The pleasure will be mine."
The sea behind him rose in violent spirals.
Then—
GROAAAAAR!!
Water molded into seven colossal forms, each one a head of an aquatic dragon, with serrated jaws, empty eyes, and bodies serpentine like living currents.
The seven heads advanced at once, like intelligent predators, attacking from different angles with speed that tore the air into icy cuts.
Natsu sank his foot into the void.
The air compressed beneath his sole as he used [Koku Shundō].
He moved like a flash of light, bending space around himself. The water heads crashed into each other, crushing wood, metal, and everything they touched.
The black ship—the pride of the Black Tide—was obliterated.
Boooooom!
Kael didn't look away or even bother leaving the ship; he leaped delicately out as the vessel sank and landed calmly on the sea surface, as if walking on solid ground. His magic enveloped his feet, shaping the water to support him like a perfect platform.
Natsu reappeared in the air and then fell gently, landing on the water a few meters ahead of him. Using his [Magical Power Manipulation] to turn his magical power into something solid beneath the soles of his feet, allowing him to "walk on water."
The sea vibrated even harder.
Kael raised his right arm, the dark-blue aura swirling in liquid spirals around his shoulder until it concentrated in his open palm. The water obeyed like a fierce pet: it spun, compressed, twisted.
The sound was something between a whirlpool and bones being ground.
"Ōka Suiryū no Yari (Cherry Blossom Water Dragon Spear)…" Kael murmured calmly.
The water finally took shape.
A colossal spear, larger than a ship's mast, spinning in absurd rotation—so fast that the air around it exploded in rings of pressure. The tip was thin enough to pierce steel, and the mass behind it was too dense to be considered mere water.
Kael pointed at Natsu.
"DIE!"
The spear was hurled, tearing through the air and leaving a trail of white vapor with violent turbulence as it advanced.
Natsu didn't move.
His right fist ignited.
Flames compressed around his arm like a concentrated whirlwind, dense, pure—a column of heat that distorted the surrounding sea just by existing.
He clenched his fist, drew his arm back slightly—
And thrust forward.
"Hiken (Fire Fist)!"
The strike wasn't a normal punch; it was the firing of a fist transformed into pure flame, converted into a concentrated wave of fire. A brutal column, as wide as a ship's hull, surged straight ahead.
The two attacks collided in the middle of the sea.
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The explosion shook the entire surrounding ocean.
The water spear evaporated instantly, with no chance of resistance; the column of flames burned for a few more moments before disappearing completely as well.
Kael's eyes widened for a second.
That was enough for Natsu to disappear using [Shundō], a white-pink flash so fast the sea reacted afterward as he moved toward the perverted pirate.
Natsu's fist was already beside the pirate's face—coated once again in [Busoshoku no Haki] as dense as absolute metal.
The impact happened—
—but it didn't affect Kael.
His body liquefied in the exact instant before being struck.
The punch passed through only water.
SPLASH
Kael emerged behind Natsu.
"Suiryū Ken (Water Flow Sword)!"
His palm, transformed into a liquid blade, descended like a guillotine.
Natsu raised his left arm on pure instinct.
The blow struck the black Haki coating that appeared at the exact moment of contact. The water scattered in liquid shards.
Natsu spun in a smooth, aggressive motion.
His right fist advanced again, precise, lethal.
Kael smiled and dissolved.
Another explosion of water.
He reappeared ten meters to the left, as if teleporting through the ocean.
Natsu turned his head, his gaze sharp. A golden gleam crossed his eyes; his motion reading was at its extreme—that ability was irritating…
Kael raised his hand, fingers curling like claws as his water aura exploded in violent spirals. The sea responded with a deep roar, as if something gigantic were awakening below.
The surface rippled.
Arched.
And then broke.
A colossal bird made of water, with wide wings, an elongated body, and a beak as sharp as a spear, rose from the sea. Each beat of its wings created circular waves and sank the air under liquid pressure. It was enormous, as large as a small vessel.
The beak opened, revealing a spinning vortex inside, ready to devour everything in its path.
Kael pointed with his finger, his sadistic smile widening:
"Swallow him, Suiryū Taka (Sea Dragon Eagle)!"
The bird advanced.
A deafening roar.
Natsu simply inhaled.
Hot air swirled around him, starting at his feet, rising through his legs, waist, chest—an orange whirlwind growing denser and denser, so hot that the sea beneath his feet bubbled. His right arm rose, and a fireball was born in his hand—a massive, dense, incandescent sphere so hot the surrounding air became a rippling curtain.
It was just a casual attack using the fire powers granted by his Mera Mera no Mi.
He threw it.
The fireball crossed the space in a devastating arc.
When it touched the water bird…
FSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
The sound was deafening.
The bird was annihilated instantly—more accurately, vaporized. Turned into nothing but white smoke that rose like a column into the sky, creating a sudden veil of mist.
The fireball continued.
Kael's eyes widened, finally realizing the gravity of the attack.
"W–what…?!"
He tried to liquefy.
But there was no time.
The ball passed through where he stood, just barely, but the absolute heat touched his side.
The explosion that followed evaporated hundreds of meters of sea in an instant, opening a gigantic crater of boiling vapor. A wall of thick white steam rose violently. The surrounding water bubbled with enough force to throw waves in all directions, as if a colossal monster had emerged from the ocean depths.
The white smoke rose and rose, creating a temporary veil on the horizon.
Natsu held his stance firm, fist clenched, scarf swaying in the returning wind.
He took a deep breath, expression calm, assessing.
"Your trick…" He spoke clearly, even as the air still trembled from residual heat. "Turning your body into water."
A pause.
The sea began to refill the evaporated hole with the distant sound of a waterfall.
"It's good. Annoying, but good."
Another pause.
His eyes narrowed.
"But transformation isn't acceleration. You still move your body at the same speed. In other words…"
He turned his chin slightly, looking at the sea again.
"…if the attack covers a wide area, you can't avoid it."
The water exploded.
Kael emerged from beneath it like a wounded animal, gasping, hair plastered to his face. His arms were completely burned—dark flesh, blisters, steaming cracks where the heat had surpassed even his liquid form for an instant. Parts of his clothing had vaporized, sticking to his skin.
His expression, once arrogant, was now pure fury.
"Y–you…" He spat water and blood. "You… damn…"
His face twisted, eyes trembling with absolute hatred.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!" Kael roared loudly, tearing his throat as he raised both arms.
The sea responded monstrously.
Water rose like living walls, twisting in violent spirals, compressing with such absurd force that the ocean itself seemed to groan.
His aura exploded in a dark-blue flash.
"Ōka Suiryū: Nanatsu no Kōryū (Cherry Blossom Dragon: The Seven Sea Emperors)!!!"
The water behind him broke like a shattering sea.
And then it appeared—a seven-headed dragon tall enough to shadow the sky. Each head growled with primal fury, serrated teeth, jaws overflowing with compressed water, empty eyes glowing with sinister light. The radiated magical power was so dense the air grew heavy, suffocating, wet like the ocean floor.
The seven mouths opened at once, revealing internal whirlpools that spun and devoured any spark of light.
Kael screamed, spitting blood and hatred:
"DIE!"
The seven heads advanced all at once.
The water cut through the air with violence enough to split a ship in half just from the wind displacement. Cyclopean waves rose behind them, as if the entire ocean were advancing to swallow Natsu alive.
The world seemed to shrink.
The clouds trembled.
The horizon darkened under the weight of that final technique.
Natsu inhaled calmly.
The flames around him grew even more violent! The heat was so extreme that the sea surface beneath his feet formed huge bubbles, like craters of boiling about to explode.
His scarf rippled as if trying to escape the absurd temperature.
Natsu drew his fist back.
"Hiken (Fire Fist)."
His arm thrust forward.
FOOOOOSH
A monstrous pillar of flames erupted from his fist, hurled forward with the violence of a star being spat out, burning at such absurd levels that the air collapsed around it, creating shock rings like torn waves of light.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The attack collided with the seven dragon heads and they didn't resist even for a thousandth of a second.
The seven heads evaporated immediately and simultaneously, like snow touched by a sun inches away.
The flame continued.
It was like watching an atomic bomb made of fire, but not an explosion. It was a continuous jet, an infernal beam, a column of absolute destruction that stretched until it touched the clouds and pierced the sky like a fire hurricane; the lower part of the fire pillar also caused irreversible damage to the land. The water vaporized in a colossal circle, opening an oceanic crater miles wide, exposing parts of the seabed for an instant.
The pressure of the explosion created a wall of wind and vapor that rose like a cyclonic curtain.
Kael's eyes widened in pure terror.
"Impossib—"
The word died in his throat.
The pillar swallowed him whole.
His body, even in liquid form, couldn't resist.
Not even ashes remained.
Just a hole in the ocean, a steaming crater thousands of meters in diameter, with edges still bubbling and the bottom exposed for moments before the water returned in a colossal wave.
The pillar of flames lingered for long seconds, visible even from the distant coast, like an inverted new aurora borealis, before slowly beginning to dissipate.
Natsu lowered his fist.
The fire around him retracted as if drawn back into his body.
He took a deep breath, the air still trembling with heat.
He looked at the emptiness where Kael had been.
"…It's over."
The sea, now far too calm, began to close slowly, filling the hole with a deep, distant waterfall sound.
___________________________
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