Time rewound to a few months ago, precisely when Gern landed in Mokomo Dukedom.
News reports circulated about the 'Curse Doctor' and 'San Juan Wolf' being imprisoned in Impel Down...
Meanwhile, in the New World, on the Moby Dick.
The salty sea breeze swept across the deck, and the newspaper rustled in Marco's hand.
He stared at the headline: 【Marine 'Heaven Tremor Gurn' Strikes Again, Single-Handedly Suppressing 'San Juan Wolf' and 'Curse Doctor'!】 The young Marine officer's black hair billowed in the photo.
"Whoa, whoa, this guy's growth is too exaggerated, isn't it?" Marco pinched the newspaper, his eyebrows furrowed.
"It's only been a few years since he became famous for cutting down Golden Lion. Now he's even taken down 'San Juan Wolf' and 'Curse Doctor' Samuel?
Those two aren't just some petty pirates!"
Listening to Marco's lament, Whitebeard sat on his exclusive giant chair, holding a sake bowl.
He lowered his gaze slightly upon hearing the words, but a meaningful smile played on his lips: "Gurararara! That's why you idiots need to work even harder!
Especially you, Marco..." Whitebeard deliberately drew out his words, a playful glint in his eyes.
"You know, when Gern attacked me back then, he was even younger than you!"
"Pops!!" Marco instantly bristled. "Why are you comparing me to other people's kids again?!
Besides..." He suddenly pointed at the newspaper, retorting indignantly,
"Didn't you want to adopt him as your son back then?!"
"Gurararara! If that kid had been willing to join the crew..." Whitebeard guffawed, taking a swig of sake, which dripped down his mustache.
"Now, he might have already replaced you as the First Division Commander!"
Marco: "Got it! Pops is getting old, and he's starting to prefer kids with good grades! Heh, no more fatherly love."
Just as the two were chatting about Gern, a thunderous roar suddenly came from the direction of the ship's cabin, followed by the rapid clatter of wooden clogs.
Kozuki Oden rushed over like a whirlwind, the hem of his orange kimono fluttering, and Enma and ame no habakiri swayed at his waist.
He snatched the newspaper from Marco's hand, his eyes wide as he stared at Gern's photo, his voice rising with excitement: "Marco! Who did you just say attacked Bai Ji?!"
"Oden, you guy..."
"Tell me!"
"It's this Marine, Gern." Marco sighed, rubbing his forehead: "Back then, he actually cut Pops head-on."
"Cut Bai Ji?!" Oden's pupils suddenly constricted, his breathing quickening.
You know, when Whitebeard was in Wano Country, he just got a little serious and punched him into the sky!
Thinking of this, Oden suddenly looked up, his eyes burning with fervent battle intent, "Then he... won?!"
"Haha! How is that possible! He was only fourteen or fifteen at the time, if he had won, what would have happened?" Marco shrugged and smiled, then explained,
"But his ability is very special, Nature Type, it should be a superior version of Pops' Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Don't even mention it, Pops really admired him back then."
"A superior... of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit?!" Oden's voice suddenly rose, his fingers unconsciously tracing the hilt of Enma.
He was selectively listening to Marco's words.
Oden stared intently at Gern's photo in the newspaper, a wild grin spreading across his face: "Hey, Marco! Where is this guy now?!"
Marco knew it was trouble as soon as he saw his expression: "Wait, Oden, you're not thinking of..."
After all, Oden's three most enthusiastic activities after joining the crew were: drinking, fighting, and listening to legends of the strong.
However, now he had an extra activity: falling in love, thanks to saving a girl named Ann.
"That goes without saying, of course I'm going to meet him!" Oden had already stepped onto the ship's railing.
"A tremor ability user stronger than Bai Ji? Cut down Golden Lion?
Especially since he's a Marine powerhouse I haven't fought yet, how can I miss such an opponent!"
(Kozuki Oden has never directly fought a Marine powerhouse.)
Whitebeard watched Oden's eager back, a hint of amusement in his eyes: "Gurararara! Go on, Oden!
But..." He swirled his sake bowl, his smile deep, "Don't get taught too harsh a lesson by the youngster!"
Oden looked back, his smile as wild as the blazing sun: "Don't worry, Bai Ji!"
Before his words faded, he leaped, Moonwalk bursting air currents in the sky, his figure shooting like an arrow towards another pirate ship flying Whitebeard's flag.
"What a scatterbrain." Marco gazed at the rapidly disappearing figure, letting out a long sigh.
"Pops, do you think Oden will overwhelm Gern? After all, you said his strength and body are monstrous."
"Don't forget, Gern's strength back then was no less than mine, your Pops!" Whitebeard laughed heartily, the sake in his bowl rippling with his laughter.
"Gurararara! The waves of the new era are finally going to crash!"
..........
Time returned to the present.
The sea wind howled on the ocean, and the sea between the two ships seemed to be cleaved by an invisible force, the air thick with suffocating stillness.
Kozuki Oden stood at the bow, the hem of his kimono dancing wildly in the wind.
He grinned, a nearly fanatical smile on his face, his gaze like a torch fixed on Gern: "Hey, Marine! I heard you cut Bai Ji once?"
"Hurry up, let me see..." Kozuki Oden's eyes burned with undisguised battle intent, like a beast eyeing its prey.
"A beast-like aura." Gern frowned slightly; he could clearly feel the oppressive aura emanating from Oden.
It wasn't just Haki, but a nearly primal, wild aggression.
"Hey! Marine!" Oden's voice boomed like thunder again, "I'm talking to you!"
Gern didn't respond, merely raised his hand coldly, the tip of his blade pointing towards the Deserted Island.
"If you want to fight, go there."
"No problem. However, even though I'm the challenger..." Before his words finished, Kozuki Oden's right hand was already on the hilt of Enma.
"Swish!" A crimson slash suddenly tore through the sea surface, carrying a violent momentum directly towards Gern's face!
Where the slash passed, the seawater churned to both sides, forming a trench dozens of meters deep.
"But I don't feel the aura of a strong person from you!!"
Facing Kozuki Oden's slash, Gern's pupils constricted slightly, black blade eight desolations instantly raised, its blade wrapped in pale white tremor particles, blocking the incoming slash.
"Clang—!!" A colossal metallic clang erupted. The moment the slash met the blade, Gern's tiger's mouth trembled slightly.
But the next second, the tremor particles wriggled like living things, completely absorbing the impact of the slash.
"Giving it back to you." Gern growled coldly, his arm muscles tensing, and the blade suddenly slashed back!
A pale white crescent-shaped shockwave erupted from the blade tip, its volume more than three times larger than Oden's slash.
Where the shockwave passed, the air twisted and shattered, the sea surface was ploughed into a vacuum channel, and even sunlight was refracted into a bizarre rainbow color by the high-frequency vibrating particles.
"That's it, that's it!" A hint of excitement flashed in Oden's eyes: "This is what makes it interesting!"
He crossed his two swords, Enma and ame no habakiri simultaneously wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki, and fiercely brought them down against the shockwave!
"Boom!!!" The moment the two forces collided, the clouds above the Deserted Island were torn to shreds by the shockwave, and the sea surface caved into a giant pit a hundred meters in diameter.
The bow of the ship beneath Oden's feet cracked with a "crunch," but he himself remained motionless, only his wooden clogs sinking deep into the deck.
"Hahahaha! That's powerful!" Oden laughed heartily, shaking his numb wrists, his battle intent growing even stronger in his eyes.
"My name is Kozuki Oden! Marine, state your name!"
"Gern Reginald Sigma."
The moment the name fell, Kozuki Oden's laughter had not yet fully faded.
"Crack!" The deck beneath Gern's feet suddenly collapsed, spiderweb-like cracks exploding from his center.
The air seemed to be squeezed by an invisible hand, and the next second,
"Boom!!!" Quake Flash erupted!
Gern's figure transformed into a pale white afterimage, space twisting and collapsing along his path of advance.
High-frequency vibrating particles tore the air along the way into fragments, and the sea surface was ploughed into an abyss-like trench by the aftermath.
Oden's pupils, whose Observation Haki had only just reacted, suddenly constricted.
"So fast!" He hadn't even clearly seen Gern's movements, his vision already filled with a blinding pale white and a pair of glowing red eyes.
Gern's fist was wrapped in dark purple Haoshoku lightning, and flowing Armament Haki coiled around it like liquid, the internally compressed "High-Frequency Quake Core" emitting a destructive hum.
"Black Quake: Instant Prison."
The moment the fist struck Oden's abdomen!
"Thump—!!!" A circular shockwave exploded from the point of contact, the pirate ship and the surrounding seawater were vibrated into mist, and the clouds in the sky shattered like glass.
Oden's body bent into an arch in a thousandth of a second, and a hole "popped" open in the back of his kimono.
The unabsorbed impact force transformed into a torrent of red and black energy, blasting him whole!
"Rumble—whoosh!!" Oden's body shot through the air like a meteor, smashing into the side of a mountain on the nearby Deserted Island, creating a giant crater a hundred meters in diameter.
Rock layers collapsed one after another, smoke and debris soared into the sky, the entire island trembled violently in the aftershocks, and the sea surface churned up tsunamis tens of meters high.
Gern slowly retracted his fist, the deck beneath his feet already reduced to dust.
Using Moonwalk, he stood in the void, the Haoshoku red glow in his pupils not yet dissipated, and the surrounding space still showing fragmented rainbow cracks due to high-frequency vibrations.
"I told you to go to the island." Gern looked coldly at the smoke-shrouded Deserted Island, his left hand's Armament Haki dissipated, his voice cold.
"Since you won't go, I'll personally beat you onto it."
"Just as I wished!!" The smoke from the Deserted Island was suddenly dispersed by a violent Haki, and shattered rocks and dirt sprayed like a downpour.
Kozuki Oden slowly stood up from the deep pit, his chest heaving violently, but a nearly manic grin spread across his face.
His kimono was already tattered, revealing muscles as tough as steel, and fine cracks appeared on his skin.
Those were the marks of being impacted by the "High-Frequency Quake Core," but they disappeared visibly in an instant.
After all, he was the man who would be able to take Roger's God Avoidance without protection in the future, so Gern didn't expect to achieve much with one punch.
"Hahaha!" Oden's laughter boomed like thunder, his eyes burning with intense battle intent.
"Bai Ji said you left a deep impression on him..." He raised a hand to wipe away the blood from the corner of his mouth, his two swords, "Enma" and "ame no habakiri," twirling in his palms.
Flowing Armament Haki coiled around them like a living thing, and the blades hummed.
"I also came a long way..." Before his words finished, the ground beneath Oden's feet collapsed with a roar!
"So..." Oden's figure instantly vanished, reappearing like a demon, leaping into the air above Gern's head, his two swords crossed and slashing down!
"I must gain something worth remembering!!"
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Ten-Fist Slash!!" The slash roared like an enraged dragon, where the blade passed, the coastline of the Deserted Island was forcibly split open by this strike, and seawater poured in!
"Heh, you guy..." Gern raised his eyes coldly, the approaching storm of slashes reflected in his pupils.
Then, he gripped his sword with one hand, and pale white high-frequency vibrating particles once again condensed on the black blade eight desolations, with dark red Armament Haki lightning wildly leaping!
"No matter how much you underestimate justice... there's a limit to it!!!"
Blade met blade, and the world, for a moment, fell silent.
"Boom!!"
The sky, split in two.