Electric energy erupted, and streaks of lightning surged through the darkness. In the end, Yamato once again dispersed Redfield's dark domain with an all-encompassing blast of thunderbolt.
Redfield's figure reappeared before everyone. His elegant red formal wear was now greatly scorched. The umbrella in his hand continued to spin, and residual electricity could still be seen flickering around its edges.
Just now, he had used Haki to coat the umbrella, turning it into a shield. He had used the metallic tip as a lightning rod and spun it to mitigate the effects of the lightning.
Even before the lightning had fully dispersed, Yamato appeared before Redfield. On the lightning wings behind her, two turbine engine-like objects were spinning at high speed.
Having regained his ambition and recovered his youth through his Devil Fruit powers, Redfield was undoubtedly stronger now than the Golden Lion had been back then.
With both feet severed and a ship's helm embedded in his head, the already weakened Golden Lion, who had begun seeking external power, was far from his peak. Even when he desperately pulled out the helm from his head at the final moment, it was merely a last, futile struggle.
But now, the intensity of the battle between Yamato and Redfield wasn't even as fierce as that one had been.
Redfield hadn't used Pokémon for any experiments. Even though their fight was on the scale of a natural disaster, it remained a contest rather than a life-or-death battle.
As Takeru came crashing down, Redfield, having already exchanged several probing attacks with Yamato, didn't confront the attack head-on, opting instead to dodge. He was never a strength-type fighter to begin with, and the earlier exchanges had made it clear that Yamato vastly outclassed him in raw strength.
A blood-red afterimage darted around the arena, with Yamato closely tailing Redfield's every move, her kanabo swinging faster and faster.
"Stimulating your body with lightning? Youngsters these days really are something else."
Yamato, who already surpassed him in strength, was now matching him in speed too. Although the Bat-Bat Fruit granted formidable power, it still fell short when compared to Yamato.
Redfield wore a metal chain as an ornament around his lips. Through the numbing feedback from this accessory, he could sense the difference in Yamato's lightning.
Aside from the strange ice lightning, Yamato could also release normal lightning purely by drawing on Zekrom's power. Though they looked the same, the nature of the two types of lightning was entirely different. Ice lightning leaned more toward the ice element, just like Buggy, who had now turned into an ice sculpture.
Yamato could swear she hadn't intentionally struck Buggy with lightning. That was a total accident. With Buggy's limited abilities, if he had taken a direct hit from her Freeze Shock, he'd have lost half his life even if he didn't die outright.
He had only been caught in the aftermath of the Freeze Shock after it was deflected by Red Count. Even so, it froze him to the bone and shattered him into pieces upon hitting the ground.
If he weren't the user of Chop-Chop Fruit, his shattered body might not have been able to pull itself back together.
With neither his Devil Fruit nor physique giving him an advantage, and his Haki being on par, the only edge Redfield seemed to have was his age.
"Looks like this new journey won't be lonely. Even with Newgate and Roger gone, the sea is still full of fascinating opponents."
"What? Old man, are you aiming to become Pirate King too?"
"I wasn't before. But now... I find myself interested in that title."
"Well, that won't do. Pirate King is reserved for that b*stard father of mine. Once he becomes Pirate King, I'll beat him to a pulp."
"What incredible logic. Without a doubt, the winner of this tournament will be either you or me. But I don't feel like dragging this fight out for several more days. Let's settle this with the next move. If I still can't defeat you, I'll admit defeat in this match."
Though Redfield looked like a fragile assassin, he actually possessed extraordinary endurance, especially after gaining the Bat-Bat Fruit, which greatly enhanced this trait.
Even though he had only recently consumed the fruit, his own capabilities had already pushed its application to a high level. Some CP9 agents could awaken a fruit's power in just two years.
As the esteemed Red Count, merely becoming proficient in his fruit's power was just the baseline.
"No... wait. Actually, that's about right. Then let's settle this in one move."
Kaido and Arceus weren't watching her fight anyway. As long as the result was real, skipping a few steps didn't seem like a big deal. Instead of wasting a few days fighting, she'd rather find an island and go on a little vacation. With that thought, Yamato straightforwardly agreed to Red Count's proposal.
"I really am falling behind the times. I'm understanding less and less of what you young people say."
Yamato's response made Redfield hesitate for a moment, but he still assumed a battle stance. The open umbrella folded back up, and Haki began to concentrate into a single point at the tip.
With a flap of his bat wings and a few quick steps, Redfield instantly appeared directly above Yamato. Gripping the umbrella handle with both hands, he thrust it downward with all his might.
Yamato, too, had adjusted her stance.
Electricity from the dragon wings on her back began to course through the armor-like channels on her body. After being compressed and restructured at the tail, a strange blue light began to shimmer across her body.
The color of the electric currents gradually shifted to bluish-white, and the electric motors behind her entered a high-speed rotation.
Overdrive mode was activated once again. Takeru was swung upward to meet the tip of Redfield's umbrella.
The umbrella and the kanabo collided midair, but they did not remain deadlocked for long. Instead, as if slipping past each other, they missed entirely.
The lightning instantly showed large, and Yamato's attack transformed into a blurry shadow that shot up into the sky.
"What a coincidence. Does this count as a draw?"
"A draw? No, it's not over yet, this strike has a follow-up."
The sky split open once again. The clouds were no longer white, but had turned into an oppressive mass of black clouds.
The pitch-black clouds were pierced by the immense shockwaves generated by Yamato, with lightning running rampant inside, emitting deafening thunderclaps.
But it wasn't just the sky. The arena beneath their feet seemed to have reached its limit as well, with Redfield's attack beginning to take effect.
The arena began to tremble violently, and the rock foundation could no longer withstand the tremendous force.
In an instant, bricks and stones collapsed, and the buildings on the periphery of the Corrida Colosseum also began to fall. The people still inside began to flee in all directions in a panic.
Fortunately, as a symbolic building of Dressrosa, the Corrida Colosseum had decent earthquake resistance. Though several huge cracks appeared on its walls, it did not collapse in the end.
But high above, in the split sky, a vortex of lightning had begun to form. It slowly spun, the dazzling lightning seemed to be devouring all surrounding illumination. A chilling aura emanated from the vortex, instilling fear and despair.
At the center of the vortex, a mass of ice-blue energy continued to swell. It was as if an unstoppable power was rising, and finally, it condensed into a dragon-shaped phantom, which came crashing down together with Yamato's swing of Takeru.
"Ice Dragon Bagua: Duet!"
"Yamato! You b*stard! Are you trying to kill us too?!"
Seeing the attack engulf the entire arena, even Ulti, stubborn-headed as she was, felt fear.
She and Page One could still disregard the frozen aftermath and environment, but if this attack, which looked on par with Freeze Shock, were to hit them, she and Page One really wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Pay-tan! Let's escape! She has totally lost it!"
After skillfully cancelling her transformation, Ulti flipped herself onto Page One's neck, patting his head to signal him to take off quickly.
Seeing that terrifying attack, Page One didn't say a word. He simply grabbed Mizerka and Speed and flew toward the edge.
"Hold on tight!"
Marco also had three people hanging from his feet as he flew away from the arena. Chinjao and Rebecca jumped off to safety on their own; this much, at least, they could do.
Even though leaving the arena meant disqualification, none of them could afford to care about that now. Staying where they were was no different from suicide.
As everyone scrambled to evade, the destruction on the ground intensified, with massive cracks spreading beneath the arena.
The seawater that had previously been frozen began to melt under the influence of the overcharged lightning and gradually seeped into the cracks created by Redfield.
But, everyone had dodged in time and reached safe ground; only Buggy's fragments, which hadn't yet recovered, fell down into the cracks.
Afterward, a massive pit formed around the arena due to the loss of seawater, leaving the fighting fish stranded at the bottom of the drained pond.
As Yamato's attack finally landed, the Corrida Colosseum, which had endured multiple battles among powerful fighters, reached its limit. The arena completely collapsed, and even the section of the platform beneath Yamato's feet was no exception.
Then the ground trembled violently, as if struck by an earthquake. With the collapse of the ground, a massive sinkhole appeared where the Corrida Colosseum once stood.
No one had realized that the ground beneath them had been hollow all along.
"The Corrida Colosseum... it's gone! The Colosseum that has stood for who knows how many years has met its destruction! What a terrifying attack, could anyone possibly survive such an attack?!"
"This was an attack far beyond what the Corrida Colosseum could withstand. To witness a match of this level is truly one of life's greatest fortunes!"
Thanks to Yamato's precise control, only the arena itself was destroyed. The surrounding spectator stands were merely left unstable due to Redfield's earlier attack.
While everyone fled in a panic, even Buggy's underlings didn't dare linger, only Gatz remained at his post, fulfilling his duty with unwavering dedication.
However, the match wasn't officially over. The outcome between Redfield and Yamato could only be decided by the two of them. But the Quake-Quake Fruit had also fallen into the abyss below, prompting everyone with the ability to fly to immediately accelerate and chase after it.
Meanwhile, watching the battle through the live broadcast from afar, Doflamingo's brows were completely furrowed. This was truly a huge trouble.
TN: Hey guys, I've picked up a new One Piece novel. You can search it: One Piece: The Undying King.
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