As the crew made a run for the Edge of the Island, the words of their captain fresh in their ears, it was as if Karma were watching and immediately came to pay its dues. The Breath in the Crews throats hitched as the Harbinger that Leroy had previously smashed into the ground suddenly blitzed full tilt in front of them! Arms wide as if to tackle them!
"Take Them Down DX-12!" Kinjiro roared! The Harbingers arms swiped in front of itself to try and crash into the Crew! Before it could however, many of the fighters amongst them moved their crewmates out of the way and spread across the battlefield!
"Run!" Leroy Screamed! "You all know where to go!" Kirk was next to Leroy. The Two ran in tandem as the crew began to be split apart. The Harbinger tried to focus on one at a time but it did not have orders on who to focus on!
"Kirk! Create Some Mist will you!" Leroy requested, the Fishman nodding "Meteo! Precip-Morph!" He spun his staff in his hands. The Rain around them that was slamming into the ground began to shift and condense into a wall of mist all around them!
Kinjiro Ordered with a wave of his hand! "Safelock: Lambda 33 Rook, Aucuit! DX-12! Destroy Them all!" The Machine's eyes shifted from the Pale Yellow it had been to a bright Starry Orange Yellow! It's body began to shift! Panels across its body Opening as if to give it less drag in motion. It looked as if it were transforming into something much more…Machine Like!
Its biceps gained gaps, forearms permanently open. All weapons systems online. Chest opened. Rockets exposed. Its thrusters on its back open! Its feet and calves as well!
"Everyone! As Fast as you can! Get out of Here!" Leroy Shouted at the Top of his lungs! The Body of the Harbinger Beginning to steam from the rain impacting its skin. Its body was being overclocked to its max!
Leroy swooped Kirk into his arms, and Leapt as hard as he could through the air to attempt to Shoot to another Stand! As did Noir, Kale and the others! Each with a Crewmate in hand who wouldn't be able to keep up! A Half Dozen craters formed across the ground as they all launched into the air!
It didn't take another order for the Harbinger to launch its assault! It leapt forward! Devastating the ground! It appeared in front of Eddie first! Smacking into the Musician with its Lightning Rail! Then a burst of electricity Encompassed the Crew! Causing them all to fall out of the Sky with smoke trailing from their bodies!
"Damnit!" Leroy Screamed! Kicking off the air in front of him to land back on the ground! He erupted into Gear Second! Scowl Etched into his brow "Hyper Shot! Mortar! Javelin! Lapua! Sling! Arbalist!"
He went through the flurry of attacks! Each giving his crew enough time to get back to their feet as to distract the thing! But its body was so sturdy! This was due to it using a good percentage of its power core to reinforce its dermal plating electrically!
"And! Gum Gum! Guillotine!" He leapt up! Grabbed its shoulders and reeled back down! Causing its body to dent as he launched backwards and skid to a stop! It however didn't even falter! Launching forward! It engaged Leroy with many punches and swipes of its exposed weapons! Each smack didn't do much to him, virtue of his Devil Fruit. The Lightning did nothing! It was not Hot Enough!
He could tell that it was given as much Power as needed to face him. The opposite of how he was putting as much force into each block, into each counter. He was quickly deducing the things fighting style! It wasn't random. But it was much like a Brawlers! Wide Hooks and Haymakers!
He didn't have to beat it. But he just had to give enough of a battle to distract it! He could see from behind it that the Crew were quickly recovering and in blows with Kinjiro! They were all attempting to hold the Masked man back. Raven using her Choke, Kale using slices of Fiery Flying Slashes, Kirk creating a thick amount of Ice around him to stop him from moving!
But still, each one was a small roadblock that he broke from! Worry crossed Leroys face, and Gave the Harbinger an Opening to smack him away! He skipped across the ground before halting himself! Forcing his leg to grow and split out of his shoe, he slammed the enlarged attack into the Harbinger!
"Hulk Sling!" He spun on his hand and swung the elastic limb into the Machine! Knocking it a distance away! Giving him now a clear view of not only the Crew but now Murausagi and Zeke!
"Haff…Haff…" Zeke breathed Heavily as his face beaded with sweat. The two combatants clashed in a blade lock. Pushing against one another "Seems like your old age is still getting to you!" Argento Taunted
"I'm still keeping you here though…aren't I!" He said as he dashed backwards! Flicking his sword to the side and unleashing a roar! "Grahh! And I'll make sure it stays that way!"
His thin Saber Began to Glow a Fierce Fiery black and orange! It was like a blaze! It had a distinct shape, an upside down and sharpened 'T' like a cross.
Zeke began to speak. The words recited a thousand times before.
"My Body…Is a weapon!"
"My fists hardened by strife, unyielding in their purpose."
"The Very soul within me given form! Shapened! Molded and unleashed upon this world!"
"My blade is a tool of destruction! I call upon it now! And with it!"
"The Flower Battle!"
The Blade exploded in the aura and energy from before! Crackling and flickering! The blade itself was now nearly 7 feet long and over a foot wide!
Zeke Dashed forward! His body glowing as he swung his blade! And Clashed with Murausagi! "Hahaha! Now this is what I like to see! You really are the Hand of the King!"
Argento screamed! Clashing again and again with Ezekiel!
Ezekiel's sword clashed with the construct of light the Admiral held! Each clash was like a gunshot being heard for the first time! Each collision was like an Explosion! The wind from each clash that was being thrown for meters around felt as if the Spectators were in a tornados torrent!
The ground quaked and the very earth beneath them began to tremble and crack! Each strike from the display of power was putting the very island they were on at risk! Each strike was expertly placed! The ground did not break as one would imagine purely by virtue of how each of the Combatants were defending! It left the ground beneath them undamaged, but the ground in the immediate vicinity was another picture entirely!
They were putting the very Island they stood on at risk of total annihilation!
This was no hard task for either of them to accomplish. It was something so casual that they weren't even focusing on it.
In the minds of each. They were only focused on their objectives! Not something as trivial as the destruction of an entire land mass!
And The sheer speed of which they presented was awe inspiring!
Leroy watched on. His eyes were trying to keep up with the fight that was currently happening! They were wide in astonishment as he couldn't even catch a glimpse of their movements! Only the aftershocks that immediately followed!
The past year and a half, nearly two years on the sea since he had left the East Blue had taught him many things. Indeed it had honed his body. Strengthened it! His perception had become astonishing in its own right like that of a hawk compared to a normal person!
They were Able to catch glimpses of almost anything that he went up against, and yet at the same time. This single day, the past six hours on the island, had taught him one thing.
Something that he had thought he had properly nailed into himself. And yet, time and time again, it was being shattered without recourse-
The expectation of just how high the ceiling of power would go in this world…
From Leary. to Barbary. all the way back to Hornigold and Barnum, Throughout all of these, there were those that he was able to handle well
And then there are those that presented a challenge so devastating that he seemed to have been evolving in the moment, his very strength breaking through its upper limits in the very heat of battle!
But all of this paled in the comparison to what he was currently looking at.
He could imagine all of them combining together Into one monstrous beast, and even then he Suspected that it would not come close to what he was witnessing right now
And yet despite all of that. All of the power that he was witnessing, all of the speed, all of the strength, the precision, the technique, the ferociousness of which both of them were displaying. before him, One thing was blatantly clear-
One of them was holding back