Bullet spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, a ferocious grin spreading across his lips, "Now that's more like it..."
Before he finished speaking, his right fist slammed into the ground!
"Combined Boxing!"
The entire island trembled violently, countless rocks, warship wreckage, and even metal fragments in the seawater converged towards him like living things.
In an instant, a giant steel fist rose from the ground, and Bullet swung it violently.
"Boom!" As the fist smashed down, the compressed air formed visible vacuum ripples.
Seeing this, Gern's figure instantly vanished, and a giant crater with a diameter of a hundred meters was left where he stood. The shockwave lifted the surrounding ground several meters high, creating a wave of earth.
"Heaven Quake: Sky Step!" In the next instant, Gern's feet were already planted on the node of Bullet's giant fist.
His figure warped into the sky like lightning, his right hand spread, and the black blade eight desolations, enveloped in a pale tremor, returned to his palm, then he chopped down from above.
"Sky Tremor · Shattered Realm!!!"
"Clang!" The sound of metal clashing echoed through the sky.
Bullet had actually condensed a giant shield from combined metal at the last moment. The shield surface and the blade tip collided, erupting in dazzling sparks.
"Has he awakened it?" Gern's pupils constricted as he looked at the flowing Armament Haki covering the shield's surface, constantly adjusting its strength distribution like a living entity.
"Was I discovered?" Bullet's voice came from within the metal giant, "My combined Armament Haki can automatically adapt to attacks!"
As he spoke, the metal suddenly disintegrated, turning into countless sharp fragments that shot towards Gern from all directions.
At the same time, Bullet's main body charged through the rain of fragments, his right fist wrapped in black and red Haoshoku lightning, heading straight for Gern's face.
"Heaven Quake: Folding Mirror!" Gern's hands formed claws, gripping the empty space in front of him, then he twisted his hands.
"Crack!" The resulting vibration shattered the spatial area in front of him, causing it to no longer appear in a straight line.
For a moment, the incoming rain of fragments instantly split apart, actively parting around Gern and flying to both sides!
But, Bullet's fist now pierced through the smoke and dust.
"Bang!" Gern was sent flying by this punch, crashing through three rock peaks consecutively before he managed to steady himself.
"Ever since that one punch, I've simulated your moves and combat countless times in my mind!"
Bullet laughed maniacally as he pursued, his fists alternating blows, each strike causing a sonic boom, and the space slightly twisting where his fist wind passed.
"Is that so?" Gern suddenly closed his eyes, sheathed his blade, and settled into a bow stance with a lowered waist.
The moment he sensed Bullet entering a three-meter range...
"Heaven Quake..." The Black Blade emitted a high-frequency hum, and cobweb-like cracks appeared in the surrounding air.
"Instant Prison!"
The white blade light, drawn from the sheath, was like lightning tearing through the heavens and earth. The armor on Bullet's crossed arms, used to block, instantly vaporized.
The blade light, with its momentum undiminished, even split the sea behind him in two, revealing a vacuum trench a hundred meters deep!
"Cough!" Bullet spat out a mouthful of blood, but he used the impact to rapidly retreat, then launched himself forward again!
...
For a moment, amidst deafening explosions, Bullet's iron fist and the black blade eight desolations collided fiercely.
The shockwave spread in a ring, the ground shattered like fragile glass, and shattered rocks were pulverized into dust and scattered.
Bullet's pupils constricted.
He clearly felt that with each collision, a strange vibration traveled through the weapon to his arm, tearing muscle fibers at a microscopic level.
"Heaven Quake: Shattering Slash!" Gern suddenly changed his move, rotating the blade from a chop to an upward slash.
Bullet hastily leaned back, the blade tip grazing his chin, drawing a string of blood beads.
But Gern's attack didn't stop. His left fist, wrapped in purplish-black Haki, went straight for Bullet's chest.
"Black Tremor: Star Piercer!"
In the nick of time, Bullet crossed his arms to block.
"Boom!" The force of the punch penetrated his defense, sending Bullet reeling back dozens of meters, his feet plowing two deep furrows in the ground.
He looked down and saw that the Armament Haki on his forearm had been cracked in a cobweb pattern.
"Interesting!" Bullet, instead of being angry, laughed. His Conqueror's Haki erupted, and dark red lightning crackled around him.
"Now this is more like it!" He stomped hard on the ground, which instantly collapsed.
Using the recoil, Bullet shot towards Gern like a cannonball, his right fist pulled back to its limit, Armament Haki condensed into a paint black luster.
Gern's eyes narrowed, and he held the black blade eight desolations horizontally in front of him.
"Clang!" The sound of metal clashing echoed through the sky, the blade vibrated violently, and Gern was forced to slide back by the impact of the punch.
But in the instant he retreated, he formed his left hand into a claw, fiercely gripping the empty space and pulling it towards him.
"Heaven Quake: Sky Shackle!"
"Crack!" Pale white cracks suddenly appeared in the space around Bullet, and an invisible tremor shackle bound him.
Bullet roared, his muscles bulging, and both his Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki erupted simultaneously, forcibly shattering the restraint.
But compared to Roger, it took him much longer to break free!
By this time, it was enough for Gern to regain his composure.
"Heaven Quake: Eight Desolations Split!" The moment the black blade eight desolations was unleashed, the space around the blade twisted and collapsed, forming a vacuum slash.
Bullet's pupils constricted sharply, his Observation Haki wildly warning him.
He forcibly twisted his body to the side, and the slash grazed his shoulder, leaving a thousand-meter-long vacuum trail on the sea surface behind him, the seawater unable to close for a long time.
"It's not over yet!" Gern's figure appeared beside Bullet like a ghost, the blade slashing diagonally upwards from below.
Bullet hastily blocked, his Armament Haki-covered arms colliding with the blade, sending out dazzling sparks.
But the high-frequency vibrations penetrated his defense, and he clearly heard faint "crackling" sounds from his arm bones.
"Bastard!" Bullet roared in rage, his right leg sweeping horizontally like a battle-axe.
Gern leaped back to dodge, and where he had stood, a giant crater ten meters in diameter, imbued with Haki's black lightning, was kicked out.
In the dust, Bullet gasped for breath, sweat dripping down the grooves of his muscles.
He stared intently at Gern, noticing that the other's breathing had also become rapid, and the pale cracks on the black blade eight desolations flickered erratically.
"Your tremor... it takes a toll on you too, doesn't it?" Bullet grinned, revealing his blood-stained teeth.
"Huh?" Gern frowned, lightly flexing his numb wrist, "Do you think I'm Whitebeard?"
"You..." Bullet roared, his fists clashing, Haoshoku lightning crackling at their peaks.
"Armament!" His muscles swelled again, veins bulging like coiling dragons.
His Armament Haki began to liquefy and flow, forming an armor-like black luster on his body.
Gern's expression became solemn, "Is this what it means to temper Armament Haki to its extreme...?"
Bullet moved.
This time, his speed surged, and he appeared in front of Gern almost instantly.
Before his fist even arrived, the force of its wind was already pressing painfully against Gern's face.
"Bang!"
Gern barely managed to block with his blade, but he was sent flying by the punch, crashing through several rock peaks consecutively before finally stopping.
"How about it?" Bullet sneered, closing in step by step, each stride causing the ground to tremble, and rocks to crumble from the surrounding peaks.
"This is... my current strength!"
Gern knelt on one knee, the black blade eight desolations deeply embedded in the ground.
He coughed violently, a trail of fresh blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, looking utterly disheveled.
"Damn it..." Gern lowered his head, his voice so weak it was almost inaudible, "I didn't expect you to become this strong now?"
"Heh heh..." Hearing this, Bullet grinned triumphantly, about to mock him.
But then he saw Gern suddenly raise his head.
There was no trace of fear on his face.
Only a chilling hint of mockery.
"You wouldn't think I'd say that, would you?"
Before he finished speaking, Gern's figure had already vanished.
"You..." Bullet's pupils constricted, and he instinctively took half a step back, but he was still a beat too late.
The moment the Black Blade was drawn, time seemed to stand still.
The trajectory of the blade solidified into pale white cracks in the air, proof that even space had been severed.
For a moment, Bullet froze in place, then a pain shot through his chest.
He looked down at his chest, revealing a solemn expression for the first time.
As expected, in the next instant, "Pfft!" There was no deafening explosion, only a hideous wound erupting with splashing blood.
Gern, behind him, flicked the blood beads from his blade, and tilted his head, revealing an innocent smile.
"Sorry, this is what 'truly strong' looks like."