Let's rewind three minutes.
On Warship Island, Yemu drew his twin blades, battle intent blazing.
Captain John, on the other hand, looked perfectly calm.
"I see. So you took me for a Philosopher's Stone. To keep me here, you were even willing to expose the secret of your dual fruits. What a remarkable young man."
As he spoke, Captain John drew the pair of swords at his waist as well.
"But I have to admit, you succeeded. The secret of the dual fruits is tempting enough. In that case, I'll indulge you."
At that moment, the island fell completely silent as the two men faced each other.
Yet their expressions were entirely different.
Yemu was brimming with fighting spirit, while Captain John, after his initial excitement, had instead calmed down.
As though stirred by the pressure of the two of them, the clouds above Warship Island, which had been covered in thick black fog, parted for once. Cold, ghostly moonlight spilled down, illuminating the space between them.
And in that same instant, both moved.
"Boom..."
Like phantoms, their figures tore through the darkness and appeared beneath the moonlight.
Both raised their arms at the same time, their twin blades slashing at each other.
"Clang..."
The blades, coated in Armament Haki, crashed together and scattered brilliant sparks. At the same time, the slashes pouring from both of them burst outward from the point of impact, forming crescent-shaped arcs of light as sword energy surged in every direction.
Their figures flashed again and again, appearing across heaven and earth as though they were ripping through space itself.
For a battle between monsters of this level, something that should have been earth-shattering, their clash looked almost restrained.
Even so, the power and speed behind their slashes were steadily rising.
For Yemu, this fight was unlike any he had experienced before.
Up until now, he had never fought a truly powerful swordsman. The three strongest opponents he had faced, Bullet, Anne, and Barobar, were all pure close-combat and Devil Fruit powerhouses.
Because of that, in his previous battles, Yemu had rarely needed to think much about defense. He would coat himself in Armament Haki, charge in, and fight head-on.
But this time was different.
If it were only slashes at the level of a swordmaster, Yemu could still defend against them with Armament Haki. But against a Grand Master's slash, he would never be stupid enough to use his flesh to contend with steel.
That meant that, for the first time in battle, Yemu had to devote far more attention to agility and finesse.
And the Captain John in front of him was very clearly a Grand Master.
From beginning to end, Captain John had taken every all-out slash Yemu threw at him with effortless ease. He even had time to keep talking.
"Not bad. Pure physical strength, and you can still swing a slash at the level of a swordmaster."
"But it seems you're not a true swordsman."
"What a pity. Two fine blades, and you use them like firewood cutters."
"This is nothing but brute chopping. There's no technique in it at all."
Yemu wasn't affected by the trash talk in the slightest. If anything, his eyes only grew brighter.
"Is that so? Then let me see this so-called strike of a true swordsman."
Seeing the light in Yemu's eyes, Captain John looked slightly surprised. Then he nodded, growing a bit more serious.
"As you wish."
In an instant, under Yemu's gaze, Captain John's twin blades began to tremble up and down like ripples. One became three, and then they slashed toward Yemu at the same time.
"Triple Mirage!"
Under the crossing blows of the twin blades, six dazzling slashes came at Yemu from all directions.
The move instantly reminded Yemu of the ultimate technique from Erik's Shinto Sword Style, Five-Colored Peacock.
That move also used layered slashes to seal off an enemy's escape routes.
But although Erik's Five-Colored Peacock produced five slashes, the paths of those slashes were traceable and easy to intercept.
Captain John's Triple Mirage, however, was different. The slashes it unleashed kept shifting their trajectories up and down in midair, and they were coming from six separate directions.
"Vibration?"
Yemu instantly caught the trick behind it. By making the blade vibrate at the moment of the slash, the sword energy released could change its trajectory in the air.
"What exquisite swordsmanship."
Against a move like this, trying to block it head-on was obviously the stupidest option.
Yemu's response was simple.
"If I can't block them, then I'll just blow every one of them away with a single slash."
With that thought, Yemu tightened his grip on his twin blades. Watching the incoming attacks, he crossed the two swords in an X before his chest, then swung with all his strength.
In that instant, the sheer force of his slash shook the surrounding air, whipping up violent gusts that formed a barrier in front of the incoming attacks.
Seeing that, the corners of Captain John's mouth lifted slightly.
"Good reaction. But this is only the beginning. Now then, how are you going to stop this next strike?"
The moment the words fell, Captain John leaped high into the air. Looking down at Yemu below, he crossed his twin blades before himself in an X. His entire aura exploded outward, wrapping around him completely, and he came crashing down like a brilliant meteor trailing a long flaming tail.
"Meteor Slash!"
"Boom..."
In an instant, it was as if a meteor had slammed into the earth. A thunderous roar swept across the entire island.
Deep within the island, the Power Rocks that had been placed there had their outer glass casings shattered by the violent tremor.
The moment the Power Rocks came into contact with oxygen, flames erupted into the sky. Amid the immense impact and deafening roar, a mushroom cloud mixed with fire and dust rose a full thousand meters high, swallowing all of Warship Island.
It was as though heaven and earth had been joined together by that mushroom cloud.
Out on the distant sea, everyone who witnessed the apocalyptic scene felt their hearts tighten in fear.
It was a good thing they had escaped early.
But the benefactor who had saved them...
...
The towering mushroom cloud didn't stop expanding until five or six minutes later.
Where Warship Island had once stood, the island itself was gone. In its place was a gigantic crater like a black hole, with seawater from all around pouring madly into it.
And a thousand meters above that massive explosion, clumps of cloud drifted out of the black smoke, gathered together, and took on a human shape. Captain John appeared once more.
He looked a little disheveled now, his elegant captain's coat covered in dust, but he was still excitedly feeling the changes in his body.
"Incredible. The power of a Logia. To come out of an explosion like that completely unscathed. You must be regretting making me eat this Devil Fruit now, kid."
As he spoke, Captain John lifted his gaze slightly and looked toward a mass of flame gathering in the sky.
Yemu's figure appeared as well.
Compared to Captain John, though, Yemu looked far better.
After all, Yemu was much more skilled than John at using a Logia's elemental transformation.
He looked at Captain John, his eyes shining with even greater excitement, then shook his head.
"No. Looks like your intelligence network isn't very good. Haven't you heard? I have the ability to extract Devil Fruits from Devil Fruit users."