Sakazuki hauled himself up from the floor, his face a mask of utter fury. Magma dripped steadily from his form, pat, pat, pat, and the temperature around him climbed higher and higher, as if he were a walking volcano.
"Infernal Eruption!"
Sakazuki was an incredibly proud man, possessor of the top-tier Mag-Mag Fruit, and undefeated among his generation of Marines. He was confident he could even best Kizaru and Aokiji, the other two designated "Monsters." But today, to be bested by someone even younger than himself ignited an unbearable indignation within Sakazuki. All restraint vanished from his attacks; he was now hell-bent on killing Bege.
With furious speed, Sakazuki hammered his fists forward, launching volley after volley of magma fists, each several meters wide, hurtling towards Bege.
"Open up!" Bege roared, taking a single step forward. A massive wave of flaming sword energy erupted from his blade, slicing cleanly through the incoming magma fists, sending molten rock flying in all directions.
Glaring daggers at Sakazuki, Bege shot forward using Soru.
Borsalino instantly intervened, unleashing streams of laser beams. Bege weaved through the deadly light show, dodging frantically as he closed the distance to Sakazuki.
He slashed downwards. Sakazuki, refusing to retreat, met the Fire Cloud Sword head-on with his magma-transformed right arm.
A huge arc of sword energy exploded outwards from the point of impact. Sakazuki's body burst apart once more, scattering magma everywhere. Bege, caught in the blast, was sprayed with molten rock but managed to protect himself with a timely application of Armament Haki.
The scattered magma quickly re-formed into Sakazuki's figure. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his right arm was now covered in sword marks.
"Damn you!" Bege snarled, stomping hard enough to shatter the ground. In an instant, he appeared behind Sakazuki via Soru, his right leg swinging like a guillotine blade straight towards Sakazuki's head.
Sakazuki threw his arm up protectively. Magma erupted violently, and his body dispersed yet again.
"I'll make it so you can't reform this time!" Bege growled, flames flaring intensely along the Fire Cloud Sword. But just as he prepared to strike the dissipating magma, a golden flash streaked through the air. Utilizing reflections off numerous 'light mirrors' he created, Borsalino traversed the distance at unbelievable speed.
A point of golden light materialized directly in front of Bege, solidifying into Borsalino, who now wielded a longsword seemingly crafted from pure light – the Ama no Murakumo. He slashed towards Bege without hesitation.
Bege barely managed to raise his own sword to block, but the force behind Kizaru's light-construct blade sent him hurtling backward.
Reforming once again, Sakazuki's face was thunderous, his eyes burning with vicious intent. Magma flowed copiously from his body. He would make this pirate pay.
Sakazuki opened his mouth and roared, vast quantities of magma spewing forth from his body.
Seeing this, Kizaru's normally lax expression changed instantly. "This guy's going all out."
The three Vice Admirals also reacted with alarm. They recognized this technique – a wide-area attack capable of causing catastrophic destruction. The entire base would likely collapse. But it was already too late to stop him.
"Magma... METEOR!" Sakazuki bellowed, his fists becoming blurs as he punched hundreds of times in a split second. Each punch launched a colossal magma fist, five to six meters wide, like fiery houses raining from the sky.
The dense storm of magma fists instantly engulfed Bege's last known position, smashing through the laboratory walls, annihilating room after room in a relentless path of destruction that extended for dozens of chambers. Searing hot magma flowed across the shattered floors.
RUMBLE!
The massive experimental base began to shake violently, its structural integrity fatally compromised by Sakazuki's onslaught. The entire complex started to tilt, on the verge of total collapse.
"Akainu, you went too far!" Kizaru stated seriously, his usual nonchalance gone.
"All that matters is killing the Demon Dragon," Sakazuki retorted, his face an emotionless mask.
Amidst the fiery ruin carved out by the magma fists, a figure leaped rapidly through the debris – Bege.
He looked battered. Several fresh magma burns marred his body, and his Castle Skin defense was partially melted in places. He had survived the onslaught primarily by dodging into adjacent rooms as the magma fists obliterated structures, managing to avoid taking the full brunt of the direct impacts.
Surveying the incredible destruction Sakazuki had wrought, Bege didn't attempt to re-engage. Instead, he let out a loud laugh. "Thanks for clearing a path for me! We'll meet again!"
He sprinted through the wreckage, heading for the exit as the base crumbled around him.
"Damn it! Don't think you can escape!" Sakazuki roared, giving chase. Kizaru, moving even faster, was right behind him. The Vice Admirals also rushed out in pursuit.
"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Caesar yelled frantically, transforming into gas and fleeing in a panic.
CRASH! The experimental base collapsed inwards with a deafening roar. From the outside, nearly half the structure had caved in.
A massive arc of sword energy sliced through the collapsing debris, carving an opening. Bege burst out, leaping nimbly across the wreckage, making a break for the port.
Kizaru emerged first from the ruins behind him. High above, numerous 'light mirrors' materialized in the night sky, shining like small suns. Kizaru transformed into a beam of pure light, refracting impossibly fast between the mirrors.
He materialized directly above Bege, clasping his hands together. An immense amount of light bloomed between his palms, so blindingly bright it illuminated nearly half the island.
"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"
The next moment, countless bullets of light rained down from his hands – hundreds, perhaps thousands, erupting every second, blanketing the area around Bege in a lethal shower traveling at the speed of light.
The forest in the target zone was instantly pulverized, utterly flattened by the sheer destructive power.
After five or six seconds of the relentless barrage, a powerful slash of fiery sword energy briefly erupted from within the storm of light before being overwhelmed. A figure shot out from the epicenter of the explosion.
"Ow, ow! That damn hurts! Kizaru, just you wait!" Bege grimaced, clutching at several bleeding holes pierced clean through his body by the light projectiles.
Kizaru pursued relentlessly from behind, firing continuous streams of light bullets that chased Bege, obliterating the forest in his wake.
Kizaru paused his assault for a fraction of a second. Bege instantly reversed direction, spinning and unleashing a vicious counter-slash directly at Kizaru.
An extreme wave of flaming sword energy traversed the distance in the blink of an eye. Kizaru hastily dissolved into light particles, barely evading the attack.
"Damn it, slippery old rat," Bege cursed inwardly, resuming his escape.
Suddenly, his expression changed drastically – pure alarm flashed across his face. He instinctively threw his arm up to block. A gigantic footprint slammed out from the dense forest nearby, impacting his forearm directly.
His Armament Haki shattered instantly under the sheer force. Like a cannonball, Bege was blasted backward, smashing through tree after tree for over a hundred meters before finally crashing violently into a small, protruding hill, causing it to explode on impact.
Bege coughed up a mouthful of blood, his entire arm completely numb.
"An Admiral?!" he thought grimly, the impact far exceeding anything he'd faced so far. Only someone of Admiral level should possess the power to overwhelm him so effortlessly.
He quickly forced himself up and darted into the forest again, desperate to escape.
"Capone Bege, you cannot escape," a cold, emotionless voice echoed through the trees. A figure moved through the forest with astonishing speed, instantly appearing to block Bege's path.
The figure was incredibly tall, easily six meters in height, with a slender build, clad in the striking white suit and cloak that Bege now recognized with dread.
Another similarly dressed, towering figure quickly appeared behind Bege, cutting off his retreat.
"CP0?!" Bege's face darkened further, the situation growing increasingly dire.
"You even know of CP0?" the figure before him. "It seems you know quite a lot indeed."