BOOM!
The ground pulverized in an instant.
The entire deserted island disintegrated into splinters. Shattering an entire landmass with a single fist—Drake had accomplished precisely that!
Though he had achieved it by drawing upon the mechanical might of the Demon Warder, the concussive spectacle still sent an icy shiver down the spines of everyone watching.
Prior to this, they had known the current Drake was formidable, given how he had relentlessly suppressed Im throughout the encounter. Yet none of them had known the precise ceiling of his combat parameters.
Pulverizing an island with a single punch laid that terrifying reality bare for all to see.
"Im, don't even dream of escaping!" Drake bellowed as the Demon Warder chained rapid spatial warps in hot pursuit.
A black speck no larger than a fingernail transformed into a streak of laser light, hurtling across the horizon and vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
The colossal chassis of the Demon Warder followed right on its heels. One fleeing, one pursuing, both silhouettes faded into the distance moments later.
Behind them lay the catastrophic ruin wrought by a clash that had broken the very limits of this world—a sight resembling a dark, unnatural wonder.
The barren island was reduced to shattered boulders of varying sizes, plunging into the ocean depths chunk by chunk. From this day forward, a landmass was permanently erased from the world map.
"How are the two of them doing?"
Inside the medical bay of the Demon Warder, Kenshin and the rest of the crew gathered around two examination tables. Admiral Fujitora and Kaya lay there side by side, their eyes shut tight in deep unconsciousness.
Ain was conducting a meticulous diagnostic check on their vital signs.
When Drake had obliterated the deserted island moments ago, he had plucked Fujitora from the ruins along the way.
With Drake locked into the helm, the remaining crew members of the Dragon Flag Pirates waited anxiously for Ain's assessment.
Kaya aside, Fujitora had looked like a man already knocking on the gates of the underworld. Even so, the crew was not excessively frantic.
With the Senzu Beans provided by Drake, so long as both patients had a single breath left in their lungs, a full recovery was practically guaranteed.
Their true concern lay with Kaya.
After weathering such inhuman metaphysical agony, a frail maiden without an ounce of combat strength could easily suffer unprecedented psychological trauma.
It could very well drive her into permanent mental instability!
That psychological toll was what weighed most heavily on their minds.
"There is no need to worry ourselves sick. Those two will pull through," Bell broke the silence, trying to ease the heavy mood. "While we have this window of respite, let's get something to eat. I'll go prepare it."
With Drake taking personal command of the Demon Warder to wage the pursuit, the crew had a rare opportunity to recover.
Though their physical exhaustion and injuries had been mended by the Senzu Beans, the grueling battle had pushed their nerves to the breaking point.
They desperately needed to unwind. Knowing Drake was holding the line, the crew didn't bother with formalities and settled down to rest.
Kenshin didn't even wait for a bed; he retreated into a quiet corner of the chamber and promptly drifted off to sleep.
While the crew took their well-deserved rest inside, out over the open sea, the cataclysmic wake carved by the Demon Warder and the fleeing black speck threw up colossal, sky-splitting tidal waves.
[That black speck is Im's absolute minimum state of compression. She intends to exploit that minute profile to throw you off her trail,] the System explained.
A cold smirk tugged at Drake's lips.
His Observation Haki was already on par with Luffy's; it had long surpassed the primitive stage where the physical dimensions of a target mattered.
No matter how minutely she shrank, hiding from his senses was pure fantasy.
Having been forcibly torn from Kaya's physical vessel, Im was completely stripped of that borrowed immortality. Though her grave injuries could still mend over time, her regeneration operated on a fundamentally different principle now.
To heal this damaged state, she had to burn through her own primordial vitality. Mending catastrophic wounds would rapidly drain her reserves to absolute exhaustion.
Previously, she had been casually incinerating Kaya's lifespan as disposable fuel.
The two states were worlds apart.
"You can't escape!"
Drake bridged the distance in a split second, spawning razor-sharp spatial rifts around the fleeing speck.
SKRRR—!
BOOM!
Tearing spatial energy surged from the fissures in relentless succession.
Whenever Im failed to evade in time and brushed against the spatial distortion, the black speck hitched violently, shuddering to a momentary standstill.
Those micro-fractures were clearly inflicting immense metaphysical damage on her core essence.
[Drake! Unleash everything right now and execute her on the spot!] the System urged sharply.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Drake detected an unmistakable edge of eager excitement in the System's voice.
Drake showed zero hesitation.
Im was far too cunning and treacherous; every second she drew breath invited another catastrophic variable.
"Space Art: Thousandfold Tides—Execution!"
KABOOM!
The Demon Warder drove a mechanical foot into the ocean swells, the concussive force blasting a gargantuan vacuum straight into the churning sea below.
The seawater caved in violently, displaced into towering walls of water that rolled outward.
Drake manipulated the surrounding coordinates at will, violently inverting the atmospheric currents.
"Vacuum Zone!"
The microscopic black speck grinding through the air halted abruptly, her mobility severed by Drake's localized spatial authority.
A gargantuan tempest of interwoven spatial rifts coalesced beneath Im without the slightest warning, erupting from thin air before her senses could even register the threat.
"Damn it—!!" A shrill, panicked screech tore from the dark speck as she thrashed frantically to break free.
Yet the binding authority Drake exerted this time surpassed all prior limits—it was an all-out, ruinous expenditure of paid upgrades. Vast reserves of energy poured from the chassis of the Demon Warder like a broken dam.
Every passing second burned through an astronomical fortune in treasure. Drake's eyes were bloodshot as he glared at the fingernail-sized black dot.
Time was money!
He had to obliterate Im in the shortest possible window to cut this cancer from the world once and for all!
Remembering the staggering mountain of wealth this abomination had cost him filled Drake with the urge to grind her soul into dust.
She was utterly detestable!
"Grind into nothingness!" Drake brought his palms together. Spatial fractures cascaded outward, and the swirling vortex compressed violently.
The microscopic speck was locked dead center within the eye of the storm.
A maelstrom of spatial blades lacerated the target, instantly filling the vortex with plumes of boiling black vapor.
Tendrils of dark mist, sliced to ribbons by the invisible blades, leaked continuously from the spatial rifts.
[This won't do! Drake, this strike alone cannot kill her—it's still not enough! Drag her into another dimension immediately to prevent her from securing a hostage!] the System barked in alarm.
If the fleeing Im managed to hijack another living hostage, Drake would instantly be thrown back onto the defensive, inviting another round of uncontrollable catastrophes.
Given Drake's stubborn moral compass, abandoning an innocent hostage was completely out of the question.
While the System regarded that sentimental restraint as pure, unadulterated foolishness, Drake was the host; it had no choice but to accommodate his temperament.
Otherwise, all their efforts would come to naught.
Internally, the System was overcome with bottomless exasperation—this batch's host was truly a nightmare to shepherd...
Drake's pupils shrank, instantly grasping the System's tactical warning.
They hadn't encountered an inhabited island along this stretch of ocean yet, but if they crossed paths with one up ahead, Im would never pass up the opportunity.
If that happened, everything would be ruined!
"Curse you!" Drake gnashed his teeth in mounting frustration. He understood the tactical reality perfectly, yet ending her life remained agonizingly difficult!
His raw offensive output vastly outstripped hers, but her metaphysical physiology was so grotesque that pure spatial cutting attacks simply couldn't extinguish her core essence!
Six glowing spatial barriers materialized in an instant, forming a seamless cube to seal Im within.
This should hold her—
CRACK!
Im bored straight through the barrier, punching a tiny puncture hole through the dimensional wall.
Drake's eye twitched. Gritting his teeth, he surged forward once more. "Then I have no choice but to take the plunge!"
"Gates of the Intermediate Space—OPEN!"
Since Charlotte Linlin had previously managed to tear her way out of the Primary Space, an ancient horror like Im could breach it with even greater ease.
At this juncture, his only viable countermeasure was to open the Intermediate Space!