“Hoo…hoo…hahaha…” Gringo Saint’s tattered body slowly rose from the smoke of the ruins.
The Marines observing the battle all widened their eyes, watching the scene in disbelief.
“This guy, how is this possible! His body is already like this!”
“He’s not human, is he? He definitely wasn’t born from Mama; he’s not dead yet?!” a Marine soldier exclaimed, his voice filled with undisguised shock.
“Is this guy…a monster?!” Another person swallowed, his hands trembling slightly.
At the same time, Tesoro also watched the scene in shock, “Is this the God’s Knights?!
Such recovery ability shouldn’t be a Devil Fruit ability, right!”
Meanwhile, in the smoke, Gringo Saint’s face, which had once again recovered, curved into a slight smile.
“What an annoying feeling. This Quake reminds me of an annoying guy. It was also a guy who stopped me like this back in God Valley!!!”
The next moment, Conqueror’s Haki erupted like a storm, instantly dispersing all the surrounding smoke.
Figaland Garland’s body recovered at a visible speed.
Even his golden long hair returned to its original flowing state, as if he had never been injured.
“Tsk tsk tsk.” Gern snorted, slowly walking to black blade eight desolations.
He then raised his hand to pull it from the ground, the blade glinting with a cold light under the sun. “Looks like someone’s getting impatient.”
Gringo Saint’s gaze was fixed on Gern, and with a “clang” from his rapier,
it gradually became covered in a layer of pitch-black Armament Haki, the blade trembling slightly, emitting a low hum.
“Are you perhaps…?” A red light flickered in Gringo Saint’s eyes, and his figure suddenly vanished.
“Whoosh!” A gust of wind swept by, and Gringo Saint had appeared in front of Gern, his body half-bent in a drawing-sword stance, followed by a horizontal slash!
The sword light was like lightning, tearing through the air, emitting a sharp, explosive sound.
“You underestimate…a Knight unique to…God!!!”
Gern’s eyes narrowed, reacting extremely quickly, directly re-inserting Eight Desolations heavily into the ground, the blade vertical, firmly blocking in front of him.
“Clang!!!”
The two weapons collided fiercely, sparks flying, and a powerful shockwave spread out from the two, instantly cracking the ground, sending gravel flying.
Gringo Saint remained in his bent, horizontal slashing posture, while Gern stood firm, unmoving.
Their Haki clashed intensely at this moment, with purplish-black lightning and dark-red energy intertwining.
The space seemed to be distorted, and the surrounding Marine soldiers even felt their breathing catch.
“Is this…the power of a God’s Knight?” Gern curled his lips into a cold smile, battle intent burning in his eyes, “Just so-so!”
“Heaven Tremor - Earth Rumble!!” Before his words fell, Gern exerted force, Eight Desolations’ blade trembled.
Using himself as the origin point, he transmitted the Quake particles to the ground, and the ground beneath both of them instantly shattered in a spiderweb pattern!
Upon seeing this, Gringo Saint’s pupils constricted the moment he felt the shockwave, and he quickly retreated.
And in mid-air, using the gravel as a stepping point, he slightly bent his knees and charged at Gern once again!
“Feel the majesty of God properly!” His voice became hoarse and low, and the sword, carrying dark-black Haki, flashed with a lightning-fast slash.
“God Strike!!”
Gern instinctively blocked horizontally with his blade, followed by a loud clang of metal.
He was sent flying backward, crashing through three walls before stopping.
...
Dust filled the air, and gravel flew.
Gern slowly rose from the ruins, black blade eight desolations trembling slightly in his hand, the patterns on the blade shimmering with a dark purple light.
He raised a hand to wipe away the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes burning with even greater battle intent.
“I knew it! How could an Emperor-level only take a beating.” Gern grinned.
Gringo Saint stood in mid-air, his golden, sky-high hairstyle still erect, his rapier pointed diagonally at the ground, the tip of the blade entangled with dark-red Haki, like flowing blood.
At the same time, his eyes were cold and arrogant, a look of condescension unique to Celestial Dragons when looking down on commoners.
“Heh, commoners are just commoners.” Gringo Saint’s voice was low and majestic, every word carrying an undeniable disdain.
“Next, I will show you true swordsmanship.” Before his words fell, his figure suddenly vanished!
“Godspeed · Instant Slash!” Gern’s pupils constricted, his Observation Haki warning him, but his body couldn’t react in time.
A cold light flashed, and a deep, bone-visible wound instantly appeared on his chest, blood gushing out.
“First slash.” Gringo Saint’s voice sounded behind Gern, cold and indifferent.
“A speed even faster than Rayleigh…?” Gern spun around fiercely, sweeping his Black Blade, but only cut through an afterimage.
“Looks like you can’t adapt either.” Gringo Saint’s voice came from the left.
Immediately after, another sword light flashed, adding another wound to Gern’s left arm.
“Second slash.”
Gern gritted his teeth, Quake particles condensing frantically, and he slammed a fist into the ground.
“Air Quake!!” The ground shattered with a roar, countless gravel flew, forming an indiscriminate attack net.
However, Gringo Saint’s figure moved through it like a ghost, his sword light like lightning, each flash leaving a scar on Gern’s body.
“Third slash.”
“Fourth slash.”
“Fifth slash.”
Gringo Saint’s voice was like the whisper of death, each time it sounded, it was accompanied by a new slash.
As a result, Gern could only rely on his full-body Armament Haki defense for temporary protection!
“What’s wrong? Is the Marine’s ‘Heaven Quake’ only capable of this?”
Gringo Saint stopped his assault, standing on a piece of gravel.
He looked down at Gern from above, a mocking smile on his lips, “You can’t even touch my clothes.”
“I won’t deny it.” Gern panted, then suddenly smiled: “Your speed is indeed fast…”
He slowly straightened his body, black blade eight desolations held horizontally across his chest, the patterns on the blade beginning to glow with a dark purple light.
“It’s even a bit faster than the guy I dealt with last time (Rayleigh), but…” Gern’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
“This isn’t something I can’t adapt to!!”
“Quake Flash!” In an instant, Gern’s body elementalized and decomposed into molecular-level particles.
“The same move, you can’t use it on me a second time.” Feeling Gern’s aura disappear once more,
Gringo Saint sneered, spinning his rapier in his hand, drawing a perfect arc.
“Round Dance!” In an instant, sword energy formed a barrier, attempting to block Gern’s incoming attack.
“Like this, you won’t be able to…”
“Ah!” However, at this very moment, Gern’s true body suddenly appeared above Gringo Saint’s head, both hands gripping the blade, slashing down with all his might from top to bottom.
black blade eight desolations, carrying terrifying Quake energy, came down directly on his head!
“Didn’t you study physics? Don’t you know molecules are everywhere! Idiot!”
“You…” A hint of surprise flashed in Gringo Saint’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
“Sky Tremor · Shattered Realm!!”
In an instant, a deafening clang of metal resounded throughout Marineford, the shockwave completely overturning the surrounding ground.
The gravel beneath Gringo Saint’s feet instantly turned to dust, and his body was forcibly pressed dozens of meters into the ground.
“Interesting.” A trace of blood spilled from the corner of Gringo Saint’s mouth, but the battle intent in his eyes burned even hotter.
“But it’s far from enough!”
As he spoke, he exerted force, and the dark-red Haoshoku on his blade suddenly erupted, pushing Gern back.
Immediately after, Gringo Saint’s figure vanished again, reappearing behind Gern, the tip of his sword pointing directly at his back.
“Heart Piercer!” At the critical moment, Gern’s body suddenly twisted in a bizarre posture, and black blade eight desolations barely managed to block this fatal blow.
But the attack infused with Haki Infusion, carrying a powerful impact, still sent him flying dozens of meters, crashing heavily into a broken wall.
“Cough cough…” Gern spat out a mouthful of blood, but the light in his eyes grew even hotter.
“Interesting…” He slowly stood up, the patterns on black blade eight desolations now fully lit up, the blade humming and trembling.
Even more terrifyingly, the purplish-black Conqueror’s Haki was frantically being drawn from Gern’s body, surging into Eight Desolations’ blade like rivers flowing into the sea.
“Buzz—” Gern suddenly tightened his grip on the hilt, and with a piercing clang of the blade, Eight Desolations suddenly erupted with a black vortex that seemed to devour the heavens and earth.
Wherever the blade pointed, light was completely annihilated, and even space itself was distorted.
The ground beneath Gern’s feet cracked inch by inch, and gravel turned to dust under the crushing force of the Haki.
“This is…?” Gringo Saint’s pupils constricted, and he retreated hundreds of meters, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he cautiously stared at Gern in the distance.
Just now, in that very instant, he briefly saw the future!
It was a future where he was cut in half at the waist!!!
“Hey, why are you running now…?”
Gern slowly raised his gaze, the purplish-black electric light on Eight Desolations’ blade suddenly surged, the ground collapsed and cracked, and countless wild, dancing lightning snakes appeared around him.
“Clearly, that last slash…
But, you were the first to use Haki Infusion!!!”