The air itself seemed to thicken with tension as Byrnndi World stepped forward. The deck of the Groseade groaned under his weight as he activated his Devil Fruit power, directing it inward upon himself rather than external objects.
"Oh my," he drawled, his voice carrying that distinctive tone of mild interest, "such enthusiasm. But you know..."
His body dissolved into pure light, becoming intangible as the cannonballs passed harmlessly through his luminous form. The projectiles continued their trajectory, splashing into the ocean beyond the Marine vessel with tremendous geysers of displaced water.
Kizaru's Logia intangibility rendered conventional artillery utterly useless against him, a lesson the World Pirates were learning the hard way.
"...light doesn't follow the same rules as flesh and blood."
Reforming on the Groseade's rigging with casual elegance, Kizaru raised both hands toward the pirate vessel. Particles of golden energy began to coalesce around his fingers, each point of light containing devastating potential. The air itself seemed to thicken with barely contained power.
"Yasaka no Magatama!"
The attack erupted in a spectacular display of destruction. Hundreds of light-speed projectiles streamed from Kizaru's hands like a constellation come to life, each beam carrying enough energy to punch through steel plate. The barrage struck the Groseade with systematic precision, shredding the ship's sails into ribbons and leaving smoldering craters across the deck.
Pirates who had been manning the cannons dove for cover as the laser barrage swept across their positions.
Several weren't fast enough, the light beams found their marks with accuracy, leaving perfectly circular wounds that cauterized instantly. The ship's mainmast groaned under the assault, deep gouges carved into its length by the relentless energy bombardment.
From the Marine warship, Lieutenant Commander Hayes coordinated the supporting attack through his communication equipment. "All gun crews, open fire! Pacifistas, initiate suppressing barrage! Target their defensive positions and crew concentrations!"
The warship's cannons roared in unison, their synchronized fire adding conventional artillery to Kizaru's supernatural assault. Explosive shells began detonating across the Groseade's deck, sending wood splinters and metal fragments flying in all directions. The Pacifistas added their own contribution, precise laser volleys that targeted the World Pirates' weaker members with mechanical efficiency.
One of World's subordinates, attempting to reload a swivel gun, found himself in a Pacifista's targeting reticle. The cyborg's mouth opened with precision, revealing the complex energy generation within. The resulting laser beam struck the pirate center mass, and he collapsed without even a scream, smoke rising from the perfectly circular wound in his chest.
Another crew member, trying to extinguish fires caused by the bombardment, stumbled directly into the path of overlapping laser fire from two Pacifistas. The coordinated beams caught him from different angles, and he simply ceased to exist in a brief flash of vaporized matter.
"You Marines think you can stop me?" Byrnndi World's voice boomed across the battlefield, his rage finally reaching its breaking point. "I'll destroy you all!"
The pirate captain stepped forward, his arm tensing with pressure as he activated his Devil Fruit power upon himself. "More More, Enhancement: Fiftyfold!"
World's already imposing frame began to expand at an exponential rate, muscles bulging and stretching as his size multiplied far beyond human proportions. Within seconds, he had transformed into a towering giant nearly fifty feet in height, his body scaling proportionally while maintaining its devastating functionality. The deck of the Groseade groaned and cracked under his immense weight.
His massive fists began to darken with the telltale black sheen of advanced Armament Haki, the armor coating his enhanced limbs like liquid obsidian. The combination of his Devil Fruit amplification and mastered Haki created an aura of menace that made the very air around him shimmer with dangerous energy.
His crew members who remained conscious scrambled to get clear of their captain's transformed presence, knowing well the collateral damage that would follow.
Kizaru, observing this transformation from his perch on the rigging, tilted his head with a casual expression. "Hmm, quite impressive. Though I do hope you don't expect me to be intimidated by party tricks. Though I must admit, the size increase is quite impressive. Very theatrical."
World's massive fist came crashing down with the force of a meteor, the Haki-enhanced strike creating a sonic boom as it displaced the air. The attack carried enough power to crush buildings, guided by decades of combat experience and fueled by years of accumulated hatred.
But Kizaru was no longer there.
The Admiral had dissolved into light seconds before impact, reforming instantly thirty feet away with his hands still casually tucked in his pockets. World's fist punched clean through the deck where Kizaru had been standing, sending a shockwave through the entire ship that knocked several pirates off their feet.
"My, my," Kizaru commented as World's fist extracted itself from the deck with a grinding of wood and metal, "But you do know, size isn't everything in a fight."
World spun with surprising agility for his enhanced bulk, launching a devastating haymaker powered by both his amplified strength and Haki coating. The punch created a visible distortion in the air as it cut through space, fast enough that most opponents would never see it coming.
Kizaru flickered out of existence again, reappearing above World's head with one leg extended. Light coalesced around his foot as he prepared his counterattack, particles of energy dancing like captured stars around his limb.
"Light Speed Kick!"
The Admiral's leg, moving at literally light speed and enhanced by his own mastery of Haki, connected with the side of World's enlarged skull. The impact generated a flash of brilliant radiance and a thunderous crack that echoed across the water. Despite his enhanced size and Haki protection, World staggered from the blow, his massive form swaying as he fought to maintain balance.
"Impressive durability," Kizaru noted as he landed gracefully on the ship's rigging, particles of light still swirling around his form. "But let's see how you handle this. Yasaka no Magatama!"
Dozens of light projectiles streaked toward World in a deadly barrage, each beam moving at incomprehensible speed. The giant pirate crossed his massive arms in front of his chest, Haki flowing across his skin like liquid armor as he weathered the assault. Explosions blossomed across his enhanced form as the light beams found their marks, creating a spectacular light show that illuminated both ships.
**************************************
Meanwhile, chaos erupted across other sections of the Groseade as the battle expanded beyond the confrontation between the two titans.
Vice Admiral Strawberry had launched himself from the Marine vessel using Geppo, his legs pumping with such force that he crossed the gap between ships in seconds.
He landed heavily on the pirate ship's deck, his distinctive facial hair bristling with combat readiness as he immediately identified his target.
Sebastian, World's Wotan crew member, stood near the ship's main mast, a towering hybrid of giant and fish-man genetics that combined the worst aspects of both species into a brutish mountain of muscle and aggression.
"A Marine Vice Admiral," Sebastian grunted, his shark-like teeth gleaming as he cracked his massive knuckles. "It's been too long since I've had a proper fight."
The Wotan's fist, easily the size of a cannonball, rocketed toward Strawberry with devastating force. But the Vice Admiral twisted aside with fluid grace, his years of Rokushiki training evident in every movement. His counter-attack came immediately, a Haki-enhanced sword strike to Sebastian's exposed ribs, slightly cutting in with a sharp impact.
Sebastian barely flinched from the blow, his hybrid physiology providing natural resistance to physical attacks. His response was a backhand swing that caught Strawberry across the shoulder, sending the Vice Admiral skidding across the deck until he crashed into a pile of barrels.
"Tekkai!"
Strawberry's body hardened just as Sebastian's foot came down where his head had been, the Rokushiki technique distributing the impact across his entire frame. He rolled aside and sprang to his feet, blood trickling from a cut on his forehead but his eyes blazing with professional determination.
"Is that all?" Sebastian taunted, advancing with predatory confidence. "Marine training isn't what it used to be."
Strawberry's sword whipped through the air with tremendous speed, generating a blade of compressed air that sliced toward the Wotan. Sebastian crossed his arms to block, but the cutting wave left deep gashes in his thick skin, drawing the first blood of their personal battle.
**************************************
Aboard the Marine warship, Sentomaru's commanding voice coordinated his mechanical forces with military precision. "PX-2 and PX-3, target the cube user! PX-4 and PX-5, engage the martial artist! Execute coordinated firing patterns!"
The Pacifistas moved efficiently, their artificial intelligence processing target priorities in seconds. Gairam, the rotund pirate, found himself facing down two of the cyborgs simultaneously.
"Cube Formation, Scatter Protocol!"
Gairam's body disassembled into dozens of individual cubes that spread across the deck, making him nearly impossible to target effectively. The Pacifistas' laser beams passed through empty space where his vital organs had been moments before, their targeting systems struggling to lock onto his fragmented form.
Nearby, Nightin faced her own mechanical opponents with the fluid grace of a lifetime spent mastering Kanpo Kenpo. The elderly woman moved with deceptive speed, her walking stick serving as both support and weapon as she redirected a Pacifista's laser beam back toward its source with a precise deflection technique.
"Kanpo Kenpo, Pressure Point Disruption!"
Her counterattack consisted of multiple rapid strikes targeting the Pacifista's joint mechanisms and sensor arrays. While her attacks couldn't penetrate the cyborg's armor, they disrupted its balance systems and targeting computers, causing its subsequent laser volleys to fire wide of their intended marks.
**************************************
But it was World himself who represented the greatest threat to the Marine forces. The giant pirate, frustrated by his inability to land a solid blow on the elusive Admiral, turned his attention to a more vulnerable target.
"If I can't catch you," World roared, his amplified voice carrying across both ships, "then I'll sink your precious warship instead!"
The enhanced pirate began grabbing massive chunks of debris from his own damaged vessel, pieces of mast, broken cannons, sections of deck planking, and applying his Devil Fruit power to each projectile. Under his influence, a simple piece of wood became a ballistic missile the size of a building.
"More More, Projectile Enhancement: One Hundredfold!"
World hurled the enhanced debris toward the Marine warship with devastating force. Each projectile screamed through the air with enough kinetic energy to punch through the hull of a battleship, trailing fire and creating sonic booms that shattered windows on both vessels.
But World's destructive tendencies overrode any sense of precision or strategy. Rather than following his brother's careful advice, the giant pirate began hurling projectiles in every direction, caring nothing for accuracy or collateral damage. His rage had consumed any tactical thinking, replacing calculated strikes with mindless destruction.
"All ships, maintain maximum distance!" Kizaru's voice carried across the Marine communication network with crisp authority. "Use our mobility advantage, stay beyond the range of his enhanced projectiles!"
The Admiral teleported back to his own vessel in a flash of golden light, materializing on the bridge beside Lieutenant Commander Hayes. "Have our gunnery crews concentrate fire on the Groseade's waterline. If we can't stop World directly, we'll take away his platform."
But even as he gave these orders, Kizaru's form was already beginning to shimmer with renewed energy. "Though perhaps a more direct approach would be more efficient."
He vanished in another burst of light, reappearing on the World Pirates' ship among a group of lesser crew members who were attempting to coordinate defensive fire. His casual demeanor remained unchanged even as he found himself surrounded by desperate pirates brandishing weapons.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Kizaru said pleasantly, raising one finger toward the nearest pirate. "I hope you don't mind if I reduce your numbers somewhat."
The finger beam that followed was precise and instantaneous, dropping the target before he could even register the threat. Kizaru moved through the group, each finger-pointed gesture resulting in another incapacitated pirate, his attacks precise helped by his observation.
"You know," he called out to World, who was still hurling massive projectiles at the retreating warship, "this would all be much easier if you simply surrendered. Think of it as late retirement."
World's response was another building-sized chunk of debris hurled with enough force to create a small crater in the ocean where it missed its target. The giant pirate's roar of frustration echoed across the battlefield as Kizaru continued his methodical elimination of the crew, each fallen pirate a reminder that for all of World's enhanced power, the Admiral of Light remained untouchable.