Tashigi gripped the sword hilt with both hands and charged forward, while the remaining Navy attacked from three sides.
"Go!"
Luffy shouted loudly, his arm about to extend, but at that moment, a figure suddenly fell rapidly from a nearby building, striking Tashigi's blade with a clang, causing the hilt to fly out of her hand, and a stick with an iron ball was placed on her shoulder.
Boom!!
The ground shattered, creating an impact that blasted the approaching Navy, sending the first few flying away.
It was the same kind of stick, its balloon smashing the ground, forcing the tiles in front to break and fly, carving out a trench.
On the other side, the Navy had just fired bullets, but they were suddenly blocked by an unexpected figure in front.
Clang clang clang!
The bullets rang out against that figure, sparking and bouncing off.
He was a man with an iron shield on both sides of his body, grinning back at everyone, his teeth reflecting a white light in the sunlight.
"How's that, I'm handsome, right? I'm not just the Shield Man, but also the Handsome Man, and now the Iron Block Man. That's me, the invincible Pearl!"
"You are..."
Sanji was taken aback, his eyes slightly widened.
"Everyone!"
Chopper appeared beside, calling out, "Found you all!"
"Chopper!" everyone shouted, then looked at the figure blocking Tashigi.
The man wore a gray-blue striped headscarf and a gray coat, back facing everyone, lifting the stick from the ground and leaning it on his shoulder as his body straightened, slowly turning back.
Sanji's eyes widened gradually as he turned, "You..."
"Sanji, I told you..."
Gin smiled at him, "We would meet in the Grand Line!"
...
A spiraling giant pillar of fire, under the bombardment of thick black light flames comparable to arm thickness, continuously rolled inward. Layers of Haki intertwined with the flames also seemed like burning black fire, resisting the impact of the red flames.
Even during the collision, the fire pillar was pushed upwards, forced by the black light to the center between the two, spewing out blossoms of fire.
Commonly known as, a wave clash.
Sage's Haki strength, if purely for defense, indeed couldn't block this thick fire pillar if hit.
Even if forcibly unleashed to create an impact, it would only defend for an instant.
But his Haki recovery speed is almost infinite!
Combining all instances together, can't they clash?
This technique, Heavenly Charge Fleeting, does not have the high intensity it had when attacking Zephyr, because such ultra-full-force intensity would leave his recovery speed in a short stagnation.
But slightly weakening it, using about eighty percent Haki, paired with powerful recovery speed, can create a continuous Haki shockwave.
No matter how much front Haki is worn down, as long as the follow-up can catch up, it is infinite.
And the coming down fire pillar isn't truly infinite...
That's more like something thrown out, a presence with total quantity, finite versus infinite, even with the same power, it will be worn down completely!
Furthermore, this guy's stamina, after continuous dodging and being punched away a considerable amount of Haki, has already dissipated a lot.
"Therefore, how could you possibly be my opponent! Hohohoho! Get out!!"
Boom!!
Like a balloon being popped by a black needle, the giant fire pillar dissipated explosively at this moment, turning into dispersed fireworks, while at the center, the black flowing fire light was still undiminished, extending upwards, rushing towards Ace maintaining his motion in the air.
Bang!
The black light hit Ace's chest straight, piercing his body into a burst of flame, descending towards the air, quickly reforming into Ace's form.
"Pugh!"
Before hitting the ground, Ace clutched his chest, vomiting out sticky blood like retching, blood oozing from everywhere on his body.
"Oh... pierced the Secret Hole." Sage laughed leisurely.
"You bastard!" he called out through gritted teeth.
Though he tried hard to dodge, the Haki shock hit him anyway, with this blow making his chest feel like it's destroyed, not the kind of internal destruction, but amidst the intense pain, chest pain spread throughout his body, as though the blood vessels were burst open sensations.
Not to mention the bizarre feeling of Haki shock, the amount of Haki is too amazing; after releasing such powerful Haki, Ace still couldn't feel a weakening aura from him.
If not for lacking the 'Haki-Haki Fruit,' I'd really think this man in front of me has eaten the 'Haki-Haki Fruit' becoming a 'Haki Person'!
"Tenha Kassatsu!"
Without waiting for Ace to hit the ground, Sage swung a palm, Haki shot out from the hand, striking Ace's body.
Bang!
But this one didn't hit, Ace exploded into flame under this attack again, scattering into clusters of sparks on the ground, those flames rapidly gathering in front of Sage, manifesting as a fist wrapped in fierce flames.
Ace concentrated before Sage, slammed a powerful punch.
Sage sneered, coiling Haki around the left fist, dodging Ace's punch, counter-attacking Ace's forehead.
"I am the Captain of Whitebeard's Second Division, won't be defeated by you!!"
Ace's pupils contracted, shouting fiercely.
Haki...
Isn't just Armament!
Buzz!
The surrounding flames that were burning, the coiling of dry winds blowing, under Ace's furious glaring, at this moment turned into stillness.