Akainu Sakazuki's arms turned into colossal fists of magma, hurling themselves at Souta Kiryuu and King, the Calamity of Flames. Two blazing hounds of molten rock lunged forward, carrying the destructive might of an erupting volcano, intent on annihilating everything in their path.
BOOM!!
Even Souta Kiryuu, who wielded the power of the Ancient Giants combined with his Mythical Zoan transformation, was blasted backward by the magma hound's overwhelming force.
The Lunarian's flames were famed for their adaptability, able to withstand searing heat that could melt through anything—but even those hellfire wings could not completely cancel out the sheer might of Akainu's monstrous strength and the explosive force of the Magma-Magma Fruit.
"Damn it! Is this red mutt really human?!"
As he skidded backward, Souta's heels gouged a trench nearly a hundred meters long, the displaced earth piling into a small hill behind him. He had underestimated the sheer brutality of Akainu's direct power.
Anyone else—if not incinerated by the magma's heat—would have been crushed outright by its raw force.
Such terrifying might… no wonder Akainu had once clashed with Whitebeard during the Paramount War, holding his ground against the Supreme Blade of the strongest man in the world. Whitebeard's monstrous strength was legendary across the seas, yet Akainu had met him head-on. That alone proved the Marine's monstrous power.
"Experiment brat! Power born from a lab will never truly belong to you!"
Having knocked both opponents back, Akainu ignored King entirely. His eyes locked onto his primary target—Souta Kiryuu, the fugitive he had sworn to capture.
Barely a year had passed since Souta had escaped from the laboratory. Despite his monstrous physique and hybrid abilities, he had not yet reached full maturity. How could he possibly be a match for Akainu, a veteran who had fought at the pinnacle of the seas for decades?
Even before eating the Magma-Magma Fruit, Akainu had been a formidable Marine, skilled in both swordsmanship and martial combat. The Devil Fruit had raised him to his peak, but it was his own unyielding will and brutal strength that had given the fruit its fearsome reputation, striking terror into pirates across the Grand Line.
"Uraha ha ha! Red Dog, I'll admit—you're powerful. But don't think you can catch me!"
Grinning wildly, Souta's right eye erupted with a blinding laser, firing directly at Akainu as his body twisted into the form of a crimson dragon. With a mighty flap of wings, he soared into the sky.
If he couldn't overpower Akainu head-on, then he would unleash the full range of his abilities.
"Toxic Purple Cloud!"
From above, Souta exhaled a surging tide of venomous mist, blanketing the battlefield in a deadly shroud.
Let's see how long Akainu could endure if forced to fight within poison for ten days and nights.
Yet as the cloud neared, it sizzled against Akainu's oppressive heat, evaporating before it could even touch his skin. Souta had never expected poison alone to kill a top-tier monster like him—this was only to hinder his movements.
Meanwhile, King's jet-black wings burned fiercely. His Lunarian body adapted rapidly to the venom, unfazed by the toxins. After all, he had once clashed with his old rival, Queen the Plague, whose arsenal of poisons and viral weapons had been designed to kill anything that breathed. None of it had ever truly broken through King's defenses. That was why, no matter what, Queen could never wrest away his title as the "Strongest Calamity."
"Akainu! Come up here if you dare!"
Souta stood arrogantly upon a cloud of violet flame, laughing as he mocked the Marine. Without flight, the battlefield in the skies belonged to him and King. If Akainu dared to leap skyward with Moonwalk, they would remind him that the heavens were not his domain.
"Great Eruption!!"
Akainu's expression hardened. With a cold snarl, his arms morphed into volcanic craters glowing with molten light.
In an instant, countless magma fists burst forth like a meteor storm, screaming into the sky toward the scarlet dragon and the obsidian wyvern.
"Hah! More, give me more!!"
Souta laughed maniacally as he dodged, shifting positions so that many of the magma blasts crashed instead onto the nearby frozen sea.
The stray blows became flaming meteors, smashing into Marines, pirates, bounty hunters, and treasure seekers alike. Explosions and screams filled the air, forcing Akainu to halt his barrage. Such wasteful firepower drained stamina, and reckless use would only weaken him in the battles yet to come.
"Oathguard · Flame Dragon Emperor!"
King unleashed his full might, his body blazing as a massive dragon-shaped sword aura roared downward toward Akainu. Even the admiral had to throw himself into a desperate roll, flipping multiple times to avoid the devastating strike.
BOOOOM!!
The ground split wide, a gash over a hundred meters long and bottomless in depth. Flames seared the scarred earth, turning soil into blackened glass that glimmered with molten light.
"Uraha ha!! My turn!"
"Thunderfire Dragon's Breath!!"
Following up, Souta exhaled a torrent of fire laced with crackling lightning, while his laser eye fired another blazing cannon, sealing off Akainu's escape route.
KABOOM!
The blasts tore through, yet Akainu's expression never wavered. His body glowed red, shifting into molten magma, his form dispersing so the flames and thunder passed harmlessly through.
"Che—elementalization again!" Souta snarled, annoyed that both his attacks had failed to land. Without pause, he spewed more poison into the air and cloaked himself in invisibility, vanishing into the violet haze as he ascended higher into the skies.
Seeing Souta disappear, Akainu immediately expanded his Observation Haki to its fullest. King, meanwhile, assumed Souta was preparing some devastating technique or a sneak attack, and without hesitation, hurled himself at Akainu to buy time.
Within the toxic mist, Akainu's brow furrowed. Unable to sense Souta's movements, he erupted with even more magma, shielding his body while his eyes flashed with killing intent toward King.
Kaido and his Calamity—always meddling in wars that weren't theirs. If they insisted on interfering, Akainu would crush this "strongest Calamity" once and for all.
"Hellhound!!"
His right fist condensed into a crimson hound of solidified magma, glowing like freshly forged steel, the air warping with its heat. It lunged forward with explosive force, colliding against King's massive flame-wreathed blade.
CLANG!!
The clash thundered like metal on metal. Sparks and embers scattered as the two forces ground against each other.
Zzzzt—
King's eyes widened in shock. Even with Armament Haki and his Lunarian flames reinforcing his great blade, the weapon began to melt under Akainu's monstrous strike. Horrified, he flapped his wings, retreating in haste to avoid being consumed.