CHAPTER 100: THE ALL-STAR'S REALIZATION
The sound of the impact was a deep, wet thud. Ember's fist, wrapped in thick Armament Haki, had finally connected with Satoru's knuckles. The force of the collision sent a shockwave through the air, kicking up a spray of seawater from the damaged ships below.
Satoru's left hand released Ember's right wrist, and he slid backward across the deck, his shoes leaving thin trails on the wood. He shook out his hand, a faint tingling sensation lingering in his fingers.
Annoying, Satoru thought, not truly worried, but a little exasperated. His twelve-year-old body, for all its trained strength and speed, simply couldn't match the raw physical power of a veteran New World monster like Ember. He'd need a few more years of growth for that. For now, his techniques would have to bridge the gap.
Ember also retreated, putting distance between them. He took a deep, steadying breath. The series of Haki-infused punches Satoru had landed earlier were making themselves known; a dull, deep ache throbbed in his gut. Internal injuries, definitely. His Ancient Zoan regeneration was already working, trying to knit the damage, but it would take time and focus.
The scattered pirate crews watching from their remaining ships were stunned into silence. Ember, "The Wildfire," one of Kaido's top three commanders, was being pushed back by the Navy's child Admiral? They had expected a brutal, one-sided fight, but this… this was a real battle.
"Hey… is that guy really an Admiral?" one pirate whispered, voicing the thought on everyone's mind. A Vice Admiral wouldn't last this long against an All-Star.
On the battlements of G-8, the Marines watched with bated breath. Cullom stood with her sword drawn, eyes sharp. Claire stood beside her, fists clenched.
Ember didn't attack. He stood his ground, muscles coiled, waiting. He had learned the lesson: as long as Satoru didn't move to strike him, any attack he launched would be swallowed by that impossible "Infinity." He needed the boy to come to him.
Satoru tilted his head, a faint smile on his lips behind his blindfold. "Oh? Waiting for me to make the first move?"
"That's the idea," Ember grunted, his voice a low rumble.
"If you insist," Satoru said, his tone light.
Then, he vanished.
Ember's eyes widened. He poured every ounce of his Observation Haki into the space around him, his senses screaming. There!
He spun on his heel, his sword—now retrieved from a subordinate—flashing out in a wide, horizontal arc. "Flame Cut!" A crescent of fire erupted from the blade, roaring through the space where Satoru had just reappeared.
BOOM!
The fiery slash detonated against the deck, sending splinters and smoke flying. But Ember's expression didn't soften. He knew better.
"Whew, that was close! You're pretty fast for a dinosaur," Satoru's voice came, cheerful and unhurried, from within the dissipating smoke and flame. He stood perfectly clean, untouched, not a single thread of his white uniform singed.
"Just as I thought," Ember growled. He shifted his stance, sinking lower. "I have to counter when you attack. Fine. Maybe you don't know this, brat, but my swordsmanship isn't my only skill. My mastery of my Devil Fruit and my body… that's my true strength."
Satoru just waved a hand. "Talk is cheap, big guy."
"Then let's change the approach," Ember said. He wouldn't just wait. He'd force an opening. He kicked off the deck, closing the distance in a burst of speed, his fist pulled back for a massive blow aimed not at Satoru, but at the deck under Satoru's feet, planning to destroy his footing.
But Satoru didn't move. He simply raised a finger.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
A point of intense gravity manifested between them. Ember's charge suddenly faltered, his body lurching forward as if yanked by a giant, invisible hand. His planned punch went wide.
And in that moment of imbalance, Satoru spoke again, his voice calm and clear.
"Cursed Technique: Curse Manipulation – Twist."
A sickening, wrenching sensation seized Ember's sword arm. CRACK. The bones and muscles twisted against their natural alignment with a nauseating sound.
"Gah! What?!" Ember bellowed, more in shock than pain. He immediately flooded the affected limb with Armament Haki, the black coating spreading like ink, trying to resist and stabilize the unnatural distortion.
"I never said I could only twist one thing at a time," Satoru said, his tone almost conversational.
A dreadful cold shot down Ember's spine. He roared, forcing Haki to erupt over his entire body in a full-body coating, the air around him shimmering with heat and dark energy.
It was just in time. He felt the terrible twisting pressure apply to his other arm, his legs, even his neck. The sword fell from his spasming, twisted fingers, clattering to the deck. He stood, a powerful All-Star, contorted into a painful, unnatural posture, held together only by the sheer force of his will and his hardened Haki.
"Bastard!" Ember snarled through gritted teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. "What kind of ability is this?!" Even with his Zoan vitality, if his neck snapped fully, it was over.
"Ember-sama!" cried the pirates from the nearby ships, seeing their champion locked in a seemingly helpless, strained position.
Satoru's head turned, his blindfolded gaze sweeping across the gathered pirate fleet. "Oh, right. I almost forgot about you all. You're just clutter. Let's clean this up."
The pirates froze, their blood running cold. They had seen enough. This wasn't a fight they could win, or even survive. This was a force of nature.
"Run! Get out of here!" a captain screamed, his voice cracking with panic.
Satoru raised both hands. The air around him began to warp and hum with immense, chaotic energy.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
The opposing forces of repulsion and attraction condensed, swirling together between his palms.
"Hollow Purple."
A sphere of volatile, purplish-black energy, crackling with arcs of destructive lightning, formed before him. It was smaller than the one he'd used against White Fox, but no less terrifying. The sheer power radiating from it made the air itself feel heavy and thin.
The Marines at G-8 watched, mouths agape. This was the power of their Admiral.
"Now then," Satoru said, his voice carrying easily over the suddenly silent sea. "A little pest control."
He flicked his wrists forward.
The Hollow Purple shot forth, not with blinding speed, but with an inevitability that was worse. A pirate captain fired a cannon at it in desperation. The cannonball vanished upon contact, disintegrated into nothingness.
"It's not working! We're dead! We're really going to die!" The pirates scrambled, but their ships seemed stuck, caught in an invisible pull toward the approaching sphere.
The Hollow Purple passed through the heart of the pirate flotilla.
There was no sound. For a split second, there was only a blinding, all-consuming white light.
Then, a deep, thunderous BOOM echoed across the water.
When the light faded and the roar subsided, the sea where a dozen pirate ships had been was empty. Completely, utterly empty. No wood, no sails, no screaming men. Just a vast, bowl-shaped depression in the ocean, as if a giant had taken a scoop out of the sea. The surrounding water rushed in with a roar, colliding in the center and creating a swirling, temporary maelstrom.
On the G-8 battlements, there was only the sound of the wind and the crashing waves. Every Marine, from the newest recruit to Commander Claire, was frozen in awe and terror.
Claire finally found her voice, it was barely a whisper. "That power… even the other Admirals… I've never seen anything like it."
Cullom slowly sheathed her sword, her knuckles white. She had fought Ember. She knew his strength. And Satoru had just… handled him, while simultaneously erasing an entire pirate fleet from existence.
On the deck, the swirling vortex of water began to settle. Ember, still straining against the twisting force, had witnessed the annihilation. His eyes, wide with a new kind of understanding, locked onto the small, white-haired figure standing calmly amid the devastation.
This was no packaged propaganda hero. This was Admiral "White Dragon." And Ember was now alone, on a sinking ship, realizing he had challenged a calamity.
(End of Chapter)
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