"Tch… tch…"
Realization dawned on him, and Loggert's assault suddenly slowed. A mocking glint surfaced in his eye.
"You, brat…" His lips curled. "Don't tell me you don't actually know swordsmanship at all?"
"Heh."
Gern didn't answer. He simply took a shallow breath.
Loggert wasn't wrong.
Ever since obtaining the Heavenquake Fruit, Gern had never undergone any proper, systematic training.
Before gaining the fruit, he'd been nothing more than a logistics soldier with slightly above-average strength.
Afterward, the past year had been spent forcefully raising his combat power through Devil Fruit development alone.
Against opponents who lacked real experience, that was more than enough.
But in front of someone who had truly survived battles on the Grand Line, the cracks were impossible to hide.
That was why Gern always studied his opponents' intelligence in advance.
With no system, no cheat, no second life—
He only had one chance to stay alive.
"Ha! Just as I thought!" Loggert laughed loudly.
"A good blade wasted in the hands of a butcher who only knows how to hack!"
He flicked his spear, knocking Eight Desolations aside, then thrust straight for Gern's throat.
"Blood Beak · Throat Piercer!"
Gern twisted sideways at the last moment.
The spearhead skimmed his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.
Using the opening, he retreated, widening the distance. His gaze was heavy, expressionless.
A lack of combat experience was indeed his weakness.
But now… he had also seen through Loggert.
No hidden trump cards.
Armament Haki barely at the basic level.
A pirate like this… is still easy to deal with.
"What? Running already?"
Seeing Gern pause, Loggert shook the blood from his spear and sneered.
"A guy who relies on Devil Fruits and famous blades—once his tricks are exposed…"
"Only despair awaits!"
After a brief silence, the corner of Gern's mouth slowly lifted into a dangerous curve.
"You're right…"
He reversed his grip on Black Blade · Eight Desolations.
The dark-red fissures along the blade erupted with blinding crimson light under the sun.
"I really am not a swordsman."
The blade began to hum.
Not metal vibrating—
but space itself, wailing.
"But…"
Gern's left hand slid along the spine of the blade.
In that instant, billions of vibration particles compressed, collapsed, and compressed again along the sword's surface.
The air around the edge twisted into spiraling vacuum bands.
"Your Haki…"
Gern lifted his head abruptly.
"…isn't all that impressive either."
The blade fell.
The world went silent.
Centered on Eight Desolations, the entire port floor flipped upward like a carpet being torn free.
Hundreds of tons of stone shattered into dust the moment they rose.
Seawater was ripped apart into cubic crystalline masses.
Air fractured like glass, splintering into shards.
"Whitebeard—!"
Loggert's face changed instantly, pupils shrinking violently.
This apocalyptic scene tore open sealed memories.
He finally remembered who this power resembled.
"Damn it—what kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?!"
Armament Haki flooded over his arms at once—his absolute limit.
"I don't know," Gern replied calmly.
"But I do know this—my Devil Fruit's destructive power…"
He bent his knees slightly. The vibration particles on the blade compressed to their absolute extreme, space itself warping and distorting.
"…is strong enough…"
A狂 wild grin spread across his face.
"…to temporarily ignore—"
The ground beneath him collapsed.
"…and even crush—"
"So-called gaps in strength!"
His figure blurred inside the twisted space.
Only the black blade, devouring waves of destruction, remained sharply visible.
"Heavenquake · Void Rend!"
The instant the blade swung, space shattered like a mirror.
A vibration slash that cleaved heaven and earth tore through the sky.
Where it passed, all matter broke down into its most fundamental particles.
Half the port's sky—and the coastline itself—was split open by a hundred-meter-long rift, as if a god had torn a fingernail across the canvas of the world.
Loggert's vision warped. He raised his arms instinctively—
And in the next instant, felt an impact beyond comprehension.
His Armament Haki shattered on contact, fragile as ice.
Crack—BOOM!!
In a heartbeat, Loggert's body was blasted away by invisible force.
Air detonated. The ground collapsed wherever he flew.
...
As the dust slowly settled, the shattered port lay in ruins.
Gern sheathed his blade.
The crimson fissures on Eight Desolations dimmed, though space around him still trembled faintly, as if aftershocks lingered.
The ground had completely caved in, seawater pouring into the massive chasm.
"Ugh… kh…"
Loggert's mouth opened, but only broken sounds escaped.
His organs had already been pulverized by the vibrations.
Both arms—along with the Armament Haki he took pride in—had been severed by a single strike.
Blood poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, pooling into a dark red mire on the scorched ground.
"Your Haki…"
Gern looked down at the dying pirate.
"…is about as thin as paper."
He bent down, picked up the blood-soaked Blood Beak spear, and spoke softly.
"'Blood Spear' Loggert… bounty sixty-nine million."
With a casual backhanded throw, the spear pierced the air and cleanly impaled Loggert's skull, pinning his corpse beneath his own pirate flag.
The sea wind wailed across the ruins, carrying away the last traces of blood.
"Ha… ha…"
Only after confirming Loggert was truly dead did Gern finally collapse, his body slamming heavily onto the ground.
His chest heaved violently. Sweat and blood soaked into his torn uniform.
That final strike—
his ultimate trump card—was the fusion of Eight Desolations and the Heavenquake Fruit.
Extreme vibration compression wrapped around one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades.
What he cut wasn't just flesh—
But space itself.
The power was terrifying.
The cost, equally so.
At this moment, even lifting a finger felt impossible.
Every muscle screamed as if pierced by countless steel needles. Even breathing burned.
"A sixty-nine-million opponent…"
"…and it pushed me this far…"
Sunlight stabbed into his eyes. Gern squinted, touching the thin cut on his neck where blood still seeped.
"…I'm still too weak."
...
Much later, after recovering slightly, Gern sat atop broken stone, slowly rewrapping Black Blade · Eight Desolations with white bandages.
In the distance, a Marine warship approached.
Soldiers stood on the deck, staring in awe at the lone figure amid the ruins.
"Lieutenant Gern won!"
Cheers echoed across the sea.
But there was no joy on Gern's face.
He looked up at the sky, murmuring softly, the words Loggert had spoken replaying in his mind—
Haki… is the proof of the strong.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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