Boom!
Boom, boom!
From the moment Esdeath's first icy punch landed, Marco had been on high alert, treating her as the toughest opponent he'd ever faced. But even with his full focus, he couldn't dodge a single one of her follow-up strikes. Time and again, she sent him crashing from the sky, only for him to barely claw his way back up each time.
Unlike Jack, who had Fish-Man blood, Marco wasn't built for the sea. If he fell in and got soaked, he'd lose his fighting ability in no time—maybe even his life.
So, the shock in Marco's heart grew heavier with every hit.
"Who are these people?" he thought. "That sword-wielding girl earlier was already crazy strong, but this blue-haired woman… When did the New World get a crew this powerful?!"
If a crew like this popped up in the Four Seas, it might make sense. But on the Grand Line? It was like they were stomping all over the intelligence networks of every Emperor crew.
Meanwhile, Esdeath remained calm, almost bored, fending off Marco's full-on assault with just one hand. She even had the leisure to toss out some pointers mid-fight. "Your attacks have decent force, but they're way too slow. With those sluggish, half-hearted punches and kicks, you think you're hitting anyone?"
"And your use of your ability? Pretty basic. Reminds me of that masked guy."
"…Masked guy?" Marco was clueless that she meant Jinbe.
In truth, Marco and Jinbe were cut from the same cloth: both right-hand men to an Emperor, fiercely loyal, with flight and fire-based abilities. Even their bounties were neck-and-neck—1.39 billion for Marco, 1.37 billion for Jinbe. They were practically brothers from another mother.
Jinbe had been crushed by Esdeath in seconds. Marco, theoretically a tad weaker, wasn't faring much better.
To Bulma and the others, who hadn't seen the Ghost Island battle and didn't know the full extent of the power gap, this fight was still a spectacle. Bulma even whipped out her camera, filming away.
"Do we really need to record this little sparring match?" Hikari Uchiha glanced at her.
"Absolutely!" Bulma said, dead serious. "This is our 'Dimension Pirates' going head-to-head with the Whitebeard Pirates—a historic moment! We'll make a copy for Morgans to publish. No way we're letting them make up stories without seeing this for themselves. Hey, Hikari, wanna jump in and steal the spotlight?"
"Nah, I'm good," Hikari said, shaking her head.
She wasn't big on fame. Using Snapshot King to piggyback on Aokiji's hype before was just a strategic move. With Esdeath handling things up front, Hikari, as "vice-captain," saw no need to get involved.
Unless…
"Whitebeard's on that ship right now, isn't he? Guy's got some serious patience," Hikari mused.
Just then, Esdeath seemed to have sized Marco up and lost interest in toying with him. She landed a particularly heavy, deliberate punch, knocking him out of the sky again. As he plummeted toward the sea, she snapped her fingers.
Whoosh! A biting gust roared.
In that instant, everyone felt the light above warp slightly. Looking up, they saw a massive ice meteor forming in the sky directly above Esdeath. In a blink, it ballooned from a few meters to nearly a hundred meters wide!
"That's enough," Esdeath said coolly, eyeing Marco below. "You're nowhere near Hikari's level, but your strength's decent enough to earn a nod from me. As a reward, I'll show you a taste of my real power—let's see the gap between us."
She took a deep breath and declared, "This move is called… Ice Meteor!"
With that, she sliced her hand downward like a blade.
The colossal ice meteor hurtled toward the sea. Even before it hit, the surrounding air was blasted aside, whipping up a ferocious gale. A ring of milky-white shockwaves rippled outward in all directions!
Marco, who'd just clawed his way out of the water, had used his Devil Fruit to create a shockwave beneath him at the last second, pushing the sea apart to form a shallow crater—seven or eight meters below sea level—keeping him dry.
But before he could catch his breath, the ice meteor was already formed and hurtling down, thrown by Esdeath's command!
Above, a city-crushing meteor loomed. Below, the deep sea waited. All around, walls of water from the parted sea were collapsing back into the crater.
Marco had no time to dodge. In a desperate move, he spread his wings, wrapping them around himself to shield against the blow. If he could survive this hit, his crew would surely pull him out.
But at that critical moment, an overwhelming aura erupted from the deck of the Moby Dick—a tidal wave of power that swept across the battlefield!
Even Hikari felt her shoulders sink under its weight. Weaker fighters like Bulma, Tanjiro, Naruto, and Yuji Itadori were floored, collapsing onto the Blue Planet's deck. A trembling, instinctive awe surged in their hearts.
Then, a massive naginata slashed through the air.
The blade tore the atmosphere apart, sending terrifying cracks spiderwebbing through the sky, aimed straight at the descending ice meteor!
"…The main event's finally here, huh?" Hikari exhaled softly. As she spoke, her eyes blazed scarlet, her Mangekyō Sharingan activated to its fullest.
She was ready to see just how this "World's Strongest Man" stacked up against Kaido's Conqueror's Haki.
read lots story at pa***on belamy20
always update , only for 5$