Hachinosu Island's central plaza had now been reduced to a cracked, scorched earth.
"That's truly a terrifying Devil Fruit!" Gern's black blade eight desolations pointed diagonally at the ground.
The blade was wrapped in high-frequency vibrating pale particles, and even a slight tremor made the surrounding air hum with the unbearable strain.
His military boots stepped on the cracked ground; with each step, the shattered stones would strangely float for a moment before falling.
"Others worked hard for half their lives or their entire lives, and you just say 'Momo'!"
"Marine." Wald twisted his neck, making cracking sounds, as the Momo Fruit's energy formed a faint halo around his fists.
"How about a hundred times the power for you? If you're barely parrying, how many punches can you take from me?"
"Then let's try it." Gern spun his blade and suddenly lowered his stance.
"Bang!!!" The ground where both of them had been standing simultaneously exploded with spiderweb-like cracks.
In the instant the Marine soldiers watching from a distance blinked, two figures had already collided with a crash in the center of the island!
"Momo - Hundredfold Giant Fist!" Wald's Armament Haki on his right arm instantly expanded under the Devil Fruit's ability, his fist transforming into a terrifying giant object like a small mountain, striking down with the might to crush mountains.
The force of the punch compressed the air, forming a visible conical shockwave, which had already pressed out a twenty-meter diameter crater before even touching the ground.
Gern's pupils constricted, and with a "Clang," the black blade eight desolations, covered in Armament Haki, swept up from below.
"Heaven Quake - Tremor Fang!" The moment the blade and the giant fist met, time seemed to stand still.
"Buzz!" First, there was an eerie silence, then "Rumble rumble rumble!!!"
Centered on the point of impact, the ground within a hundred meters rolled and surged like ocean waves!
The energy storm generated by the clash between the pale tremor wave and the hundredfold amplified impact instantly vaporized the remaining architectural debris around them.
Even though the Marine soldiers watching were hiding a hundred meters away, they were still blown away by the shockwave.
"Ugh!" Wald suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, looking incredulously at his fist, which had returned to its original state.
A sword wound clearly appeared on it, with strange pale particles still flickering at the edge of the wound.
"Did the vibration and Haki... penetrate directly?" For the first time, a serious expression appeared on his ferocious face, and he suddenly looked up.
"You're the Marine's 'Heaven Quake'?"
"Only recognizing me now? It seems my reputation hasn't been as prominent as before during this administrative leave!"
Gern flicked the blood beads from his blade: "However, your ability is indeed very troublesome, but mine isn't bad either!"
"Don't get cocky! Do you think you're Whitebeard?! Bastard." Wald suddenly slammed his fists together.
"Momo - Two Hundredfold Acceleration!"
"Boom!" As he finished speaking, Wald's figure instantly disappeared from its original spot, his speed maximized under the Devil Fruit's ability.
It had almost reached a point where the human retina simply couldn't capture such movement.
Only occasionally could a series of afterimages be seen flashing around Gern, each flash accompanied by an exploding sonic boom cloud.
"Two hundredfold, huh?" Gern suddenly turned sideways, his Black Blade precisely parrying a fist that came hurtling from thin air.
"But, for my Observation Haki, it's still too slow!
After all, the full burst speeds of Rayleigh, Gringo Saint, or even Vice Admiral Garp are much faster than yours."
Gern retreated half a step without raising his head, and the ground where he had just been standing was blasted into a ten-meter deep pit by a kick from above.
"Behind you." He swung his blade backward, the blade clashing with a knee covered in Armament Haki, producing blinding sparks.
The more Wald fought, the more alarmed he became; his speed had already increased to two hundredfold, theoretically making it difficult for anyone to fully capture him.
Yet, this young Marine Rear Admiral seemed to predict the future, precisely intercepting every time.
"Observation Haki? No..." He suddenly noticed the shattered stones under Gern's feet, vibrating at a specific frequency, and suddenly realized.
"Is it vibration sensing? No matter how fast I move, I will produce physical vibrations, and this guy is a Nature Type Heaven Quake Man!"
"Only just realizing it now?" Gern suddenly grinned, stomping his right foot forcefully, "Heaven Tremor - Earth Rumble!"
"Boom!" The entire plaza's ground instantly shattered!
Countless shattered stones floated up under the effect of the vibration wave, forming an absolute domain with a hundred-meter diameter.
Wald's ultra-high-speed movement was immediately hindered; every step he took would trigger a chain reaction of vibration feedback, allowing Gern to precisely predict his trajectory.
"Got you." A cold voice sounded in his ear.
Wald turned around hastily, seeing Gern's fist almost directly in front of him.
"Black Tremor..." Spiral-shaped pale tremor waves coiled around the fist, which was pulled back to his waist to gather power; as the straight punch was thrown, its trajectory caused the surrounding space to vibrate and collapse.
"Piercing Star!!!"
"Bang!!!" The fist landed squarely on Wald's abdomen.
There was no spectacular explosion; at the point of impact, there was only a visible ripple of tremor.
It passed through his back, causing a thousand-meter cylindrical tremor explosion that directly leveled a small hill in the distance.
"Wah!" Wald's eyes bulged, and blood mixed with fragments of internal organs spewed from his mouth.
Immediately after, his body flew backward like a broken sack, continuously crashing through countless buildings, flying out of the town area before stopping.
"Wald!!!" Binjack, who had been put down to watch from a distance, screamed in terror.
In the smoke and dust, Wald shakily stood up, a bowl-sized concave hole clearly visible in his abdomen.
Seeing this, he directly placed his hand on his chest, "Momo - Multiplied Recovery."
"Hahaha..." Having done so, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his smile ferocious.
"My recovery power can also be hundredfold enhanced!"
Gern frowned slightly.
The Momo Fruit could even amplify cell regeneration speed, no wonder the World Government was so wary of this ability.
They even listed it in the same dangerous category as Roger, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and others.
If this fell into the hands of someone who knew how to use it, tsk tsk tsk! Unbelievable.
The sea breeze carried gunpowder smoke across the battlefield, and a scorching scent permeated the air.
Wald's blood-stained lips curled into a grin, a distorted sneer on his face.
His rough fingers grabbed his already tattered Captain's shirt and tore it fiercely.
"Rip!" The sound of tearing fabric pierced the silence, revealing his body covered in grotesque scars.
Each scar was like a battle mark carved into steel, and his muscles rippled and swelled with each breath.
"Are you scared?" Wald's low laughter rumbled like distant thunder, "Haha... Too late!"
"Because..." His fists slammed together, and hundredfold amplified energy ripples exploded in a wave of air.
"The warm-up starts now... It's time to end this!!!"
"Good momentum! Fits your worth." Gern's footsteps ground out fine cracks on the scorched earth.
The black blade eight desolations spun lightly in his palm, its blade tracing a cold arc.
He raised his left hand, his slender fingers unbuttoning the top button of his Marine coat.
"Click." A soft sound, yet it seemed like a declaration of some kind.
The Marine coat came off and billowed dramatically into the air!
Dark purple Conqueror's Haki surged skyward like a volcanic eruption, tearing open vortex-like cracks in the clouds above.
The shattered stones beneath his feet floated with the tremors, and the air hummed with unbearable strain from the extreme pressure.
"Too bad, what a coincidence." Gern looked up, the vibrating particles condensed in his left palm trembling wildly.
"I was thinking the same thing."