On a deserted island.
Rimuru looked at the white-haired giant standing across from him and called out, "I'm coming! Better be careful!"
"Bring it on!" Whitebeard shouted, holding Murakumogiri with pride, standing tall and fearless.
With a burst of magic, Rimuru stomped down hard, channeling energy to blast from his back. Using the recoil, he shot toward Whitebeard like a cannonball.
"Good speed!" Whitebeard roared as he swung his naginata fiercely to meet the incoming attack.
Rimuru twisted mid-air, shifting the direction of his magic propulsion at the last second and narrowly evaded the slash. In the same motion, he drew the sword strapped to his back and stabbed at Whitebeard with lightning speed.
"What reflexes!" Whitebeard's eyes widened. His Observation Haki had locked tightly onto Rimuru's movements. "Armament!"
Just before Rimuru's blade could make contact, Whitebeard's body was instantly coated in a deep black layer of Armament Haki.
The stab failed to land. Rimuru immediately released a burst of magic to retreat, but Whitebeard wasn't going to let him off so easily. Before he could fully pull back, Murakumogiri came swinging again.
With a heavy thud, Rimuru's left arm was chopped off!
But strangely, Rimuru didn't react at all. As if it hadn't even happened, he simply widened the distance between them.
"Rimuru, are you okay?!" Whitebeard's voice was filled with guilt. He had assumed Rimuru would be able to defend against the strike. "Damn it, this is my fault... Wait, that's not right..."
Whitebeard's eyes fixed on Rimuru's severed arm—only to see the fallen limb turn into a mass of blue, jelly-like fluid. It flowed back toward Rimuru, fusing seamlessly with his body. In moments, the arm was fully restored. Even his clothes remained untouched, as if the slash had never happened.
The pirates watching from afar were frozen in shock.
"Is that Logia Devil Fruit elementization?" one of them asked.
"No way!" Marco's eyes were dead serious as he stared at the battlefield. "Old Man used Haki just now. Elementization wouldn't work."
"Then what kind of ability is this?" Whitebeard asked with a frown. "It's not Logia, yet it can ignore Haki?"
"I'm a slime!" Rimuru waved his freshly regenerated arm cheerfully. "Physical attacks don't work on me, you know!"
"Immune to physical attacks?" Lightning crackled around Whitebeard's body as he got serious. "There's no such thing as an attack you're truly immune to. If there is, it just means the attack wasn't strong enough!"
"Seaquake Slash!"
With a thunderous roar, Whitebeard unleashed a massive slash, a torrent of quake-infused blade energy tearing through the air straight at Rimuru.
But Rimuru simply raised his left hand and faced it head-on.
"Devour."
The moment the slash made contact, it was sucked into Rimuru's palm like flowing water—completely absorbed.
"Thanks for the meal!" Rimuru smiled playfully at Whitebeard.
"You cheeky brat…" Whitebeard growled. "Fine then. Don't start crying when this gets serious!"
He tossed aside Murakumogiri and charged straight at Rimuru. From his previous attacks, it was obvious—ranged slashes were useless, even quake-infused ones couldn't hurt him. If that's the case, then fists would have to teach this slime a lesson!
Seeing Whitebeard charge, Rimuru grinned. "You think I don't have strength, huh? Don't underestimate me, you old fossil!"
He sheathed his sword and charged in as well.
A massive fist and a much smaller one collided midair with the force of a meteor strike. The entire island trembled, the ground cracked apart, and colossal waves surged in the sea surrounding them.
"What monstrous strength…" Marco's scalp tingled. "What are kids eating these days?!"
He snapped back into command mode. "All units, fall back! Unless you want to get flattened, get out of here—now!"
But what Marco didn't know was—Whitebeard was even more shaken than he was.
Because... he was being pushed back.
In terms of raw power, he was losing to Rimuru!
Rimuru himself was equally stunned. Ever since acquiring the Spatial Body, this was the first time someone had managed to match him in a head-on clash. Sure, he hadn't fully activated the Spatial Body's power yet... but still, this was terrifying!
Neither of them backed down. The air between them exploded with punch after punch, each blow more brutal than the last.
Whitebeard's entire body was wrapped in a thick layer of Armament Haki, his fists pulsing with earthquake-inducing power. Rimuru's body was cloaked in glowing, dense magic—forming a powerful magical armor. Fueled by vast reserves of mana, each punch Rimuru threw hit like a siege weapon.
From the sidelines, Marco and the other commanders couldn't even see the fighters anymore. Only through Observation Haki could they faintly sense the battle.
"Captain, what's going on in there? Can you describe it for us?" some pirates asked their squad leaders, lacking the ability to use Observation Haki themselves.
"…Not looking good for Pops," Vista muttered, his expression grim.
"Rimuru's covered in some invisible layer… it's completely blocking Pops' quake punches. The shockwaves aren't getting through at all," Marco explained. His Observation Haki was the strongest among them—he could "see" the most.
"What!?" the commanders were stunned. "Even Whitebeard's shockwaves are being blocked? That's impossible!"
Whitebeard's Quake-Quake Fruit was infamous for one thing—nothing could block its power. Not even the strongest Haki could stop it. Not even elementals could escape it. Yet here it was… being stopped?
"That's Magical Armor," came a voice from the side.
Everyone turned toward the speaker.
"…You can talk?!" Marco stared in disbelief. The speaker was none other than Ranga, who had been silent all this time.
"Why wouldn't I be able to talk?" Ranga scoffed. "I'm Ranga, chief of the Tempest Starwolf clan. I'm no ordinary beast. Even lower-tier monsters can speak—you humans just don't know anything."
"…Uh… right," Marco scratched his head awkwardly. "So anyway, what's this 'Magical Armor' thing?"
Just a talking wolf, no big deal. He'd seen weirder.
"Magical Armor is a high-level mana technique invented by my Lord Rimuru," Ranga explained. "By channeling magic energy to cancel out incoming damage, he can render attacks ineffective. As long as his mana holds out, nothing can hurt Lord Rimuru."
"Mana?" Marco's face went blank. He looked like someone who'd wandered into the wrong universe. "Mana? Are you sure you're in the right show? This isn't Sword & Sorcery Land, this is One Piece!"
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed across the island.