Facing Issho's evasive step and the gravity wave that followed, Don raised his blade and blocked it head-on.
The backward pull of the gravity tugged at his body.
But such pressure barely affected him.
"Enough probing. Shall we get serious now?"
Don's voice was calm as flames bloomed from his hand, winding around his blade like fiery serpents.
Their earlier exchange had merely been a test of each other's strength.
Don knew it. Issho knew it as well.
Issho lifted his sword to his chest, bowing his head slightly. The ruined eyes, nothing but white, faced him.
"Hell Voyage!"
Boom!
A sudden surge of gravity pressed down upon Don.
The sand beneath his feet caved under the immense pressure.
When Issho brought his blade together, gravity erupted in a crushing blast. Don's body burst apart—into a storm of flames.
The fire whirled beside Issho, coalescing into a slash wreathed in Armament Haki that came sweeping toward him.
Clang!
Steel clashed against steel.
Issho had drawn his blade in time to block, yet the force still sent his tall frame flying backward.
As Issho tumbled through the air, Don's body, only just reformed from flame, blurred again.
"What incredible strength!"
Issho twisted midair, regaining balance as sand rose up to form a solid sphere beneath his feet.
Perched atop it, he steadied himself—then shot skyward.
Slash!
A blazing orange-red arc tore from Don's blade, splitting the sand sphere apart.
Dodging the strike, Issho sheathed his sword midair.
Boom, boom, boom!
Gravity hammered the ground around Don, cratering the desert floor. Even as he dodged, the crushing weight locked onto him again—stronger than before.
His body flickered as he evaded, yet the gravity dogged him relentlessly.
The desert quaked under Issho's ability, vast pits opening and filling with tumbling sand.
Pillars of yellow dust rose and collapsed under the shifting force.
"Got you!"
Issho's voice rang out from above as his blade snapped back into its sheath.
Boom!
A hundred meters of desert floor sank in an instant.
Don, caught within that range, looked up at the man floating in the sky.
This ability… it resembled the Float-Float Fruit.
To Don, the pressure wasn't unbearable. His physique let him endure the pull, though his movements were somewhat hindered.
It even gave him time to contemplate Issho's power.
Gravity burst forth.
The sand collapsed violently under the weight.
Don, dragged into the pit, vanished in the swirl of yellow dust.
Yet Issho's face remained stern, his Observation Haki fixed tightly on him.
Aside from some scorched clothing, Don's body hadn't suffered a scratch.
Such resilience was monstrous.
Issho had heard tales of terrifying physiques at sea, but never had he faced one himself—until now.
So this was what those monsters were like.
And this last strike? He hadn't held back at all.
Yet Don emerged nearly unscathed.
"To drift off mid-battle… against me?"
Don's voice rose from the pit as flames surged skyward, soaring hundreds of meters.
The blaze spread in all directions.
Issho stiffened—his Observation locked onto Don, only for him to vanish.
Or rather, to dissolve into the endless fire.
"Flame Sever!"
Don's voice whispered beside him.
Issho spun, coating blade and arm in jet-black Haki.
The slash came down, sharp enough to cleave space itself.
Boom!
Issho's towering body was knocked from the sky, crashing into the desert floor.
Don, wreathed in fire, hovered above, watching as sand exploded around Issho's landing point.
A storm of yellow grains filled the air.
Then, chaotic gravitational fields surged upward, enclosing Don within them.
He tilted his head—just as a gravity wave brushed past his ear.
He dodged, but its range was wider than he sensed.
Half his head vanished under the crushing force, flames burning where matter had been destroyed.
More waves followed, locking his body in.
Each missing piece of him burned anew, flickering back into existence.
The sand, drawn upward, fused into countless pillars that floated in midair.
"Such attacks are useless against a Logia!"
Don's expression remained composed as he looked down.
Amid the suspended sand, Issho knelt on one knee, blade unsheathing once more.
A formless surge of gravity speared skyward.
Another wave wrapped around Don, sealing him in.
The inferno that filled the sky shuddered under the pull, crashing earthward, compressed into blazing torrents.
Issho's blank eyes turned toward him.
"You've been underestimating me."
"I haven't."
"Then you're still not serious."
Issho's voice was heavy, his form unwavering.
From their clash so far, he knew the truth: Don had only relied on his physique and elemental body.
But a man like him surely had far more.
Dragged down once more by gravity, Don didn't answer. He lifted his gaze skyward instead.
A meteor ripped through the clouds, plummeting toward him.
Under the weight of Issho's power, Don raised his blade.
"World to Ash!"
A searing slash shot upward, splitting the falling meteor in two.
Boom!
The strike cleaved sky and cloud alike.
The meteor fragments continued downward—but even before they struck earth, they disintegrated into ash.
"One-Sword Style: Cremation!"
As the fragments turned to dust, Don's voice echoed.
Issho lurched back in alarm, but Don was already before him.
"Gravity Blade—Fierce Tiger!"
Steel sang. A massive gravity wave tore out in a sweeping arc, blasting toward Don.
In that same instant, a pillar of fire—hundreds of meters thick—erupted, engulfing both of them.
For Yamamoto Genryūsai, unleashing this move meant sacrificing all else for pure destructive force.
But Don, a Logia, bore no such drawback.
Issho was hurled back, battered and singed, his pale-purple-and-white kimono scorched black.
Skidding across the sand, blade braced before him, his expression hardened.
Just now—he had felt death's shadow.
Logia were truly formidable.
No.
It was the man who was formidable.
This young man's strength… was terrifying.
END OF CHAPTER
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