Saint Saturn's and Saint Nasujuro's completely unexpected attempt to "mediate" nearly made both Gern and Sengoku—who were in the middle of their "fierce" clash—break character. Their expressions stiffened for a split second.
"What the hell is wrong with these two old geezers?"A flicker of confusion crossed Gern's mind.
"They're actually afraid he might defect?"Sengoku's thoughts raced just as quickly. "Looks like the Five Elders aren't idiots after all…"
But the show had to go on.
Sengoku immediately crushed those stray thoughts. The massive golden Buddha erupted with even more dazzling light, as if his "rage" had pushed his power to its absolute limit.
With a thunderous leap, he soared into the air like a falling golden meteor. The enormous Buddha palm once again gathered an overwhelming shockwave, crashing down toward Gern with earth-shaking force!
"Stubborn fool! Today, I'll teach you what military discipline really is!"
Gern's eyes flashed with apparent ferocity, as though he intended to meet the attack head-on—but at the very instant the shockwave reached him, he "perfectly timed" the collapse of most of his defenses, as if his strength had suddenly failed him.
"BOOM!!!"
The golden shockwave slammed into him squarely. Gern let out a muffled grunt, his body flung away like a kite with its string cut!
The trajectory, however, was subtly angled—sending him flying deeper into the Land of the Gods.
"Bastard! Don't think you can escape!" Sengoku "roared" furiously, striding forward at once to give chase.
And so the two of them began a dramatic game of "you chase, I run," their battle blazing hot. Shockwaves and vibrating aftershocks tore through the area, plowing through the ruins once again.
Their combat zone, seemingly drifting at random, was in fact steadily and relentlessly pushing closer to the very core of the Land of the Gods!
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before these two monsters dragged the battlefield straight into the Celestial Dragons' luxury mansion gardens!
That was when Saint Saturn and Saint Nasujuro finally couldn't sit still anymore.
"Damn it—we can't let them fight their way any further in!"The same thought rose simultaneously in both Five Elders' minds.
The Land of the Gods had already been ravaged by Gern and Tiger from front and back. If these two continued pushing inward—especially with Sengoku's shockwaves and Gern's vibrations, where a single stray hit could reduce entire blocks to dust—there was no telling how much more destruction and loss of life would follow!
Just as Gern and Sengoku were about to collide once more, and another, even greater energy clash seemed on the verge of erupting—
"That's enough!""Stop!"
Two low, furious shouts rang out at the same time!
In the next instant, vast clouds of pitch-black smoke and eerie, awakened blue flames erupted skyward once again!
...
At the same time, on the battlefield, Gern's eyes suddenly flared with an even more savage resolve. It was as if he had completely lost all reason, ready to pour out every ounce of his fury.
"SENGOKU!!!"
Gern let out a thunderous roar as his right hand clenched the hilt of the black blade, Eight Desolations.
"I call you Fleet Admiral because I'm being polite!If I don't give you that face, you're nothing—nothing at all!!"
"WOOOOOM—!"
The dormant, purple-black Conqueror's Haki surged like a boiling abyss, instantly coiling around the jet-black blade once more. Its deep, ominous glow crushed all surrounding light beneath it!
The space around the sword twisted violently, collapsing inward with a shrill, tortured wail, as if reality itself could no longer bear the strain.
The ground beneath Gern's feet cracked and sank inch by inch, unable to withstand the sheer pressure of his power.
No flourish. No excess.
Gern's muscles bulged as he poured every ounce of strength and will into the blade—
—and unleashed a full-powered slash toward the distant golden Buddha, one that seemed capable of severing causality itself and cleaving the Red Line apart!
"Heavenquake—Final End!!"
A purple-black torrent of annihilation—fusing ultimate vibration with top-tier Conqueror's coating—ripped through the air with a scream of extinction, charging straight at Sengoku!
Where it passed, all things became void.
Faced with this merciless, death-determining strike, Sengoku's pupils shrank sharply even in his Great Buddha form.
"Damn it… whether it's words or attacks, you bastard are definitely sneaking in personal grudges!!"
But even as the thought crossed his mind, it was immediately drowned out by overwhelming "rage." He could not back down now!
"Buddha's Light—Illuminates All!!!"
The colossal golden Buddha erupted with unprecedented brilliance. Endless shock force converged into his twin palms, as if he were cradling a blazing golden sun!
With a furious roar, Sengoku thrust that "sun"—laden with both destruction and life—straight into the oncoming purple-black torrent!
Two ultimate forces, each capable of effortlessly reshaping the land, were about to collide head-on with no tricks or evasions!
The consequences would be enough to wipe half the Land of the Gods off the map.
At that critical instant—
"Impudent!"
A cold, bone-chilling shout rang out, as if it had risen from the depths of the underworld itself!
"SHING—!"
A streak of dark blade-light—faster than Gern's purple-black slash, more condensed, as though it embodied every sharp edge in existence—split the darkness like lightning, striking first despite coming later!
The skeletal horse form of Izanbaron V. Nasujuro Saint charged in at blinding speed, transforming mid-motion into his hybrid form. In a flash that surpassed visual perception, he appeared directly between the two devastating attacks!
The First Generation Kitetsu was fully drawn in his hands. The cursed blade crackled with ominous black-red lightning, and without the slightest hesitation, he slashed upward—precisely and decisively—against Gern's destructive "Heavenquake—Final End"!
"CLANG—!!!!!!!!!!"
A piercing shriek erupted—not an explosion, but the tearing clash of absolute sharpness against absolute power!
The edge of the First Generation Kitetsu split straight into the very core of the purple-black torrent. Dark blade-light flared wildly as Nasujuro forcibly twisted its trajectory!
The cleaved slash swept past his body, carving two unfathomably deep chasms into the distant earth!
Almost at the same moment—
"ROAR!!!"
Another inhuman bellow shook the battlefield!
The immense Ushioni form of Jaygarcia Saturn Saint surged forward like a moving black mountain, exuding suffocating pressure—
—and slammed itself squarely between the golden Buddha Sengoku and Gern (along with Nasujuro)!
Its massive, shell-armored forelimbs crossed in front of its body like two colossal shields. Its swollen abdomen pulsed—
—and thick black smoke mixed with awakened, ghostly blue flames spewed forth, forming an impregnable barrier that forcibly blocked Sengoku's full-powered, sun-like shockwave!
"RUMBLE—!!!"
The golden shockwave crashed violently into the Ushioni's defense, detonating with deafening force!
Black fog and golden light tore into each other, annihilating one another as the resulting shock blast hurled everything around them away!
...
The battlefield fell into stillness.
Nasujuro Saint's body was split open, yet he remained locked in a defensive stance, blade raised. The cursed sword screamed as the skeletal horse beneath him stood unmoving.
Saturn Saint had taken the shockwave head-on. Black smoke churned violently, the Ushioni's massive body battered and torn.
At the most perilous moment, the two Five Elders had intervened with absolute force, forcibly severing what had become a genuine death duel between the Marines' highest combat powers!
The scene froze completely.
Gern stood with blade in hand, purple-black Haki still coiling around him, his icy gaze fixed on the blocking Nasujuro.
Sengoku maintained his pushing stance, golden Buddha light blazing as he glared furiously at Saturn standing before him.
And the two Five Elders—like two immovable guardian deities… or perhaps obstacles—were firmly planted at the center of the battlefield.
The chaotic energy currents and killing intent saturating the air were so dense they nearly solidified.
In Nasujuro's skeletal centaur form, his eyes were glacially cold. Veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping the First Generation Kitetsu.
"Damn it…"Both Five Elders cursed inwardly almost in unison.
"These two bastards… they calculated this perfectly. They knew we'd step in to stop it."
"That 'Final End' slash from Gern had zero restraint—he was fully aiming to kill Sengoku!If I hadn't moved fast enough, with the right angle, even splitting it wouldn't have been enough. The residual force alone could've crippled an ordinary admiral!"
"And Sengoku was the same! That attack was all-in—no sign of pulling back at all!If Saturn's defense hadn't been this tough, any other shield would've been blown apart along with everything behind it!"
The two exchanged a glance.
"Damn it!! They knew we would never sit back and watch them fight to the death in the core of the Land of the Gods!"
"So… those two assholes didn't hold back at all!They were genuinely trying to land a brutal hit on each other—and even use us as shields to weaken one another!"
The realization left Saturn and Nasujuro with a suffocating pressure in their chests—air that couldn't be exhaled or swallowed, utterly miserable.
Yes, they possessed immortality. Their wounds would recover quickly.
But pain was real. Being struck still hurt. And the stamina and energy consumed by those monstrous attacks were very real as well.
More importantly—
They were the Five Elders.The supreme rulers of the world.
And yet they had just been treated as tools—and meat shields—by two subordinates who were, at least on the surface, merely the Marines' highest combat forces.