The atmosphere was heavy with the scent of ozone and determination. "Boom!" A fist, coated in the crushing pressure of Conqueror's Haki, collided fiercely with the legendary Black Blade Yoru. There was no flashy energy explosion or wasted movement. Instead, the air pulsed with the purest, most extreme clash of power ever seen in the New World.+2
Black and red lightning erupted wildly from the point of contact. These sparks of raw will tore into the earth and shattered ancient rocks into dust. The sheer force even made Doflamingo's Birdcage—a technique many thought unbreakable—tremble precariously as if it might snap at any moment.
Mihawk's arm muscles bulged under his coat, his veins throbbing with the effort of the struggle. He exerted every ounce of his world-class strength, trying to push the tip of his blade forward just one more inch. Despite his status as the world's greatest swordsman, Kyle's fist remained as immovable as an insurmountable mountain.
"You have good strength, Mihawk," Kyle's voice rang out clearly, perfectly audible even amidst the deafening roar of their clashing spirits. "But strength alone won't be enough to reach the top!".
As soon as the words left his lips, a terrifying power erupted from Kyle's fist, surging forward like a tidal wave.
"Crack!"
Mihawk's Black Blade Yoru let out a mournful cry, the legendary metal screaming under the impossible strain. The swordsman was struck as if by a physical hammer of god-like proportions. He flew backward through the air, spitting a stream of blood before crashing heavily into a distant mountain, leaving a crater in his wake.
One punch.
With just a single, focused strike, Kyle had shattered the carefully planned combined attack of five world-class fighters.
"How could this be..." Tesoro whispered, staring blankly at the destruction. The golden path he had paved for Mihawk with his Gild-Gild Fruit powers now seemed like a ridiculous toy in the face of such overwhelming force.
"He's a monster... This guy is simply a monster!" Moriah's teeth chattered in fear, his usual confidence nowhere to be found.
"Fuffuffuffu... Is this... is this Lord Kyle's true strength?" Doflamingo's signature laughter was filled with a strange mix of bitter defeat and twisted excitement.
Beside them, Crocodile stared intently at Kyle. His fighting spirit did not dim; instead, it burned brighter. He noticed something the others had missed in their shock.
"Don't give up! Look at him! He's not unharmed!"
The group immediately shifted their gaze toward Kyle. They saw several drops of crimson blood dripping slowly from his knuckles. Although the injury was minor—barely more than a scratch—it proved that their combined efforts could actually draw blood from a Tier 5 combatant.
"Oh? You actually managed to break the skin. Commendable," Kyle said, glancing down at his hand before casually shaking the blood away. He looked at the five men who had risen from the rubble. They were disheveled, covered in dust, and bleeding, yet their eyes still held the fire of battle. Kyle's smile grew wider and more predatory.
"The warm-up is over," Kyle declared, his tone shifting. "Next, I'm getting serious."
A chill ran down the spines of the five warriors. In the next heartbeat, Kyle's figure vanished from sight. This time, his speed was several times faster than anything they had witnessed during their previous encounters.
"Above us!" Crocodile's Observation Haki caught a flickering trace of movement, and he roared a warning to his allies.
Everyone looked up. Kyle had already appeared a thousand meters in the sky, silhouetted against the sun. His hands were raised high, and a black energy sphere was forming between his palms. It was a dense ball of high-density sound and shock waves, radiating an aura of pure destruction.
"Shockwave: Black Cavity!"
The sight of that black sphere gave everyone a shiver that reached the depths of their souls. They had no doubt that if that attack landed, the entire island would be wiped off the map, leaving nothing but a hole in the ocean.+1
"Quickly! Move!" Tesoro's eyes were bloodshot as he mobilized every bit of his awakened power. "Golden City: Divine Protection!"
Countless tons of gold erupted from the ground, swirling upward to form an enormous, shimmering dome that firmly protected the five men within.
"It's useless! It won't hold!" Doflamingo yelled, his face pale. Having fought alongside Kyle, he knew the terror of the man's signature moves better than anyone else.
"Shadow Warrior!" Moriah desperately injected his shadows into the golden dome, attempting to reinforce the structure and increase its resilience against the coming impact.
Up in the heavens, Kyle threw the "Black Cavity" downward. There was no earth-shattering roar or whistle of wind; the black sphere fell silently, looking almost weightless as it descended. However, wherever the sphere passed, the very space around it showed a strange, flickering distortion.
The moment the black sphere touched the golden dome, time seemed to stand still for a single second. Then, silent destruction descended upon them.
"Buzz—!"
The golden dome did not even last a second. Like a drawing erased by a rubber, the gold silently annihilated, disappearing instantly at the point of contact. Tesoro spat out a mouthful of blood as he felt his psychic connection to the gold completely erased by an incomprehensible force.
The black destructive light continued its downward path, ready to engulf the five individuals. At the critical moment, an emerald-green slash of energy shot up from the ground, precisely striking the center of the black sphere. It was Mihawk! He had recovered and struck again at the most crucial moment.
The slash collided with the sphere, erupting in a dazzling light that briefly illuminated the entire sky, but it only managed to slightly slow the sphere's descent.
"It's useless! Disperse quickly!" Crocodile roared, realizing the futility of their defense.
But it was already too late to run. Just as the five were about to be swallowed by the destructive light, Kyle's figure suddenly appeared directly in front of them on the ground. He extended one hand and lightly pressed his palm against the "Black Cavity" that was capable of destroying heaven and earth.
"Scatter."
With that one word, the terrifying black sphere dissipated into thin air. It turned into countless fragmented energy light points that drifted harmlessly in the air like glowing snow. The five warriors stared blankly, their minds unable to process what they had just seen. He had created a move of such power, only to personally dispel it with a single word.
"Was he... toying with us?" Moriah wondered aloud.
"Too slow, too slow!" Kyle said, shaking his head with a look of genuine disappointment. "Your reactions are too slow, your coordination is too stiff, and your power is still too weak. At this rate, we won't be able to play until dark."
His words felt like a resounding slap across their faces.
"Bastard... Don't underestimate us!" Moriah was the first to lose his temper. He roared and merged his entire being into the earth itself. "Shadow Assembly Ground: Demon Descent!"
The shadows of the entire island responded to his call, converging on him in a frantic wave of darkness. A colossal demon god, over a hundred meters tall and made of pure shadow, slowly rose from the ruins of the battlefield. This was Moriah's ultimate trump card, achieved by absorbing a vast number of shadows.
"Gihahahahaha! Die, Kyle!" The shadow demon swung a giant fist toward Kyle with enough force to punch a hole in the sky.
"Now that is a bit more interesting," Kyle said. He didn't retreat. Instead, he advanced, meeting the mountain-sized fist with a small punch of his own.
"Boom—!"
The two disproportionate fists collided. The result was shocking: the giant shadow fist shattered inch by inch. Kyle swept through the shadow energy like a hot knife through butter, rushing directly into the center of the demon's body.
"Lightwave: Supernova!"
In the next second, an extremely dazzling white light burst forth from within the shadow demon.
"Ah ah ah ah—!" Moriah let out a desperate scream as the shadow demon, like black paper set ablaze, instantly turned to ashes.
From that moment on, the battle entered a white-hot phase. Or rather, it became a one-sided crushing of the five's spirits. Kyle acted like a cruel teacher, using the most brutal methods to point out their shortcomings.
Doflamingo's strings were snapped by vibrations. Crocodile's sand was turned into glass by high heat. Tesoro's gold was manipulated by sound waves. Moriah's shadows were suppressed by light. Even Mihawk's legendary slashes were deflected by spatial distortions.+1
They were knocked down again and again, but they got up every time. Under this hellish pressure, their coordination improved at an incredible speed. They no longer needed Crocodile's verbal commands; a glance was enough to understand each other's intentions.
Doflamingo's threads became "nerves" for the team, transmitting information instantly. Crocodile's sand became a versatile tool for defense and clones. Tesoro replicated weapons with gold, and Moriah fused shadows to create servants with multiple abilities. Mihawk became the team's sharpest blade, his strikes perfectly timed to appear in Kyle's blind spots.
The battle lasted for ten days and nights. The island was transformed into a wasteland. Mountains were leveled, and the ground was covered in giant craters. On the tenth day, as the sun rose, only a giant pit remained in the center of the island. Six figures lay at the bottom, battered and bruised, without the strength to move a finger.
Kyle lay in the middle, his own wounds rapidly healing. He looked at the sky and began to laugh—a hearty, unbridled laughter. Soon, the others joined in. Five distinct laughs blended together in the pit. They had lost utterly, but they had gained something far more valuable: a growth in power and an unspoken trust that only men who share life and death can understand.
Just then, a ship arrived at the shore. Karon, looking down at the island that looked like it had been hit by a meteorite, stood dumbfounded. He stared at the six blood-covered figures in the pit.
Was this what Lord Kyle called a "relaxed and pleasant" team-building activity?
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