[please send power stones]
At the same time—
Hundreds of meters away, the half-crouched wooden giant let out a furious roar.
It slammed its left fist into the seabed—
BOOM!
—and surged back to its feet.
On its forehead, the bead-like "essence" flared, pouring out dense life energy.
The missing right arm regenerated instantly.
Emerald flames ignited across the giant's body, raging like a living inferno.
It planted its feet and began to swing its mountain-sized fists at insane speed—so violently that space itself seemed to warp.
In the sky, Zephyr's violet-black air bullets rained down like fireworks.
The wooden giant's emerald-flame fists smashed through the black haze—
—but the violet-black shells still punched through, meteor-like, slamming into its torso.
Wherever they struck, the wood exploded into brown dust and was blown away by the shockwaves.
When the bombardment ended—
the wooden giant's body was riddled with holes like coral.
It wobbled.
Took one heavy step—
and collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Far above, Zephyr remained suspended, voice cold as steel.
"You really are a monster."
"Among your generation…"
"you're practically unbeatable."
"If we let you grow for a few more years, this sea would have no one left who could stop you."
His black Haki "flames" rolled off him in oppressive waves.
"But…"
"Show me whatever else you've got."
"Because if you don't…"
"…you won't get another chance."
On the cruise ship, the Marines—who'd been too horrified to watch—snapped back to life.
They gripped the wooden bars, shaking the cages like mad, screaming themselves hoarse.
"ADMIRAL ZEPHYR IS UNDEFEATED!!"
"JUSTICE WILL WIN!!"
"MARINES! MARINES!"
Their despair evaporated. Survival hope reignited—
Then the seabed trembled.
They stumbled and fell in unison.
And in their horrified stares—
the collapsed wooden giant began to rise again.
The "honeycomb" holes healed rapidly, the body knitting back together before their eyes.
At the same time, Romu swept both hands forward.
A tree—knee-high at first—erupted from the seabed in front of the giant—
then exploded upward into a towering trunk in an instant.
"ROAR!"
The giant grabbed it.
And the moment it touched—
the "tree" liquefied into motion, transforming into a hundred-meter dragon that coiled around the giant's right arm.
Wood Dragon Technique.
Romu's eyes narrowed.
He raised his forearm sideways—
and the wooden giant mirrored him, right arm leveled at Zephyr with the dragon wrapped around it.
A violent energy surge gathered.
At the giant's palm—
and at the dragon's mouth—
two millstone-sized orange orbs brightened at the same time.
Then the wooden giant roared—
and the orange orb fired, becoming a blinding pillar of energy.
…Impossible!!
Zephyr's heart jolted—not because the giant healed.
But because of Romu's stamina.
Summons restoring themselves wasn't strange.
What was strange was the cost.
Restoring a construct this powerful should drain an ability-user dry.
If it were Kuzan, he'd be emptied just by maintaining it.
But Romu had summoned, repaired, and layered other constructs—
and still looked ready to keep going.
"Monster…!"
Zephyr steadied his mind, then moved—no hesitation.
He kicked off into even higher altitude.
His heart hammered like a war drum.
The black aura around him expanded outward by a full meter.
He formed his hands as if gripping the air.
Space twisted.
"Six Powers Secret Art — Maximum Wheel Six King Gun!!"
Violet-black air bullets erupted in a spiral—compressing, fusing—
forming a massive cylindrical shockwave.
Two pillars met head-on:
black vs. orange.
BOOOOM!!
Zephyr bellowed, voice tearing through the storm.
"Don't underestimate justice!"
His muscles surged, swelling by nearly ten centimeters. Purple hair stood on end like needles.
He pulled his arms in—
then snapped them out.
The violet-black pillar thickened.
Its radius widened by several centimeters.
Lightning-like distortion danced along its surface.
The orange beam was forced back—ten meters, then more—steadily losing ground.
Romu felt it through the link.
The recoil hammered his arm; his body jerked backward.
Teeth clenched, eyes hard as iron—
he refused to yield.
"Then let's see whose stamina lasts longer!"
Emerald light surged upward.
The wooden giant stepped forward—
and the seabed cracked beneath its foot.
The wood dragon hissed, then dissolved into a streak of orange light and plunged into the beam.
"Dragon Fist!!"
BOOM!!
The orange pillar thickened—taking on the outline of a dragon.
It smashed into the black pillar again—
and at the collision point, space collapsed into a terrifying black void.
Zephyr and Romu's eyes both tightened.
The balance is breaking—!
They both reacted instantly.
They cut power and shot upward.
A heartbeat later—
the void swallowed both beams—
then detonated.
A world-shaking explosion ripped the sea apart.
The shockwave hurled the ocean skyward.
For a few seconds—
the heavens became a black sea.
Then gravity reclaimed it.
A deluge like divine wrath crashed down, as if a furious god was washing the world clean.
On the cruise ship, the Marines screamed, eyes bulging.
"The sky—! The sea—! It flipped!"
"Romu—HOW IS HE THIS STRONG?!"
"IS THIS EVEN HUMAN?!"
"We're done—THE WATER'S COMING DOWN!!"
They shook the cages like animals.
It didn't matter.
WHOOSH!
The falling ocean hit like a continent.
The wooden cages were torn away and swallowed whole.
The sea rushed back into the gap—
and the divided ocean rejoined.
"NO!!"
Zephyr roared, kicking down to the surface—
But the pressure was monstrous.
Under nearly a thousand tons of crushing force and impact—
hundreds of Marines—including officers—
were smashed apart.
Total annihilation.
Zephyr's eyes went bloodshot.
He turned, slowly—
and locked onto Romu with hatred sharp enough to cut steel.
Jaw trembling.
Teeth grinding.
"Romu…!!"