Because Jerry was completely focused on his battle with Akainu and delaying Aokiji's movements, he hadn't noticed what was happening to Kotatsu behind him.
As a result, Kotatsu was attacked and injured by an unknown assailant, Jerry paid dearly for his momentary distraction.
The instant he was knocked away by tremendous force and crashed heavily to the ground, he endured the searing pain, twisted his waist, and suddenly rolled to the side—barely avoiding Akainu's pursuing punch.
Looking at Akainu, who had missed his follow-up attack but continued pressing forward relentlessly, a sharp glint flashed in Jerry's eyes.
He gritted his teeth and swung his fishing rod with every ounce of strength he possessed.
"Water Blade: Dragon's Tail!"
The fishing rod left a series of breathtaking afterimages in the air, surrounded by crackling Haki that seemed ready to destroy everything in its path.
Akainu's expression grew serious as the magma around his right hand continued surging while his own Haki output increased dramatically.
This clash was like the violent collision of two meteors, erupting with astonishing energy fluctuations.
A deafening explosion rang out as both combatants were involuntarily launched backward.
Without waiting for his momentum to slow, Jerry executed a backflip in mid-air, planted both feet on the ground to absorb the impact, and after sliding a short distance, was the first to regain stable footing.
Only then did Jerry have time to examine the bloody wound across his chest.
"Heh! Lucky I had my fishing rod and Armament Haki for defense, or I'd have been turned into grilled fish," Jerry thought with grim relief.
He raised his left hand and placed it gently over his chest.
The next moment, a faint blue glow emanated from his palm, as if life force itself was flowing.
The injuries that covered nearly his entire torso began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This was precisely the hidden application Jerry had discovered through in-depth research of his Healing Spring ability.
The active component of the healing spring could be used not only on others but also on himself.
However, such usage came with significant energy costs.
Fortunately, the enhanced recovery effect was a continuous passive state.
This meant that as long as he wasn't wasteful and didn't squander too much strength, with the passive blessing of his healing abilities and occasional active use, Jerry could maintain excellent combat performance—essentially functioning as a human perpetual motion machine.
He seized the opportunity and recovered within two seconds. Even though the wound wasn't completely healed, he figured the rest could be handled by passive regeneration.
"Come on, you hypocritical dog!"
After that declaration, Jerry launched a fierce offensive.
His left arm and fishing rod were charged with violent Haki as he stomped the ground and closed the distance with Akainu in a flash.
His left fist struck first with lightning speed.
Seeing Akainu throw a punch to block, Jerry immediately twisted his body left and delivered a sideways strike.
The moment both fighters' fists collided, he used the recoil force to spin his body again, and taking advantage of the positional shift, he whirled around and delivered a devastating fishing rod strike before Akainu's astonished eyes.
"Sky Thrust!"
This blow struck Akainu's ribs with tremendous force, sending his body flying toward the broken execution platform like a kite with its strings cut.
There was a thunderous crash as Akainu landed heavily, with smoke and dust billowing skyward.
However, Jerry didn't stop there. His figure followed like a phantom, accurately tracking Akainu's position through the vision-obscuring debris.
Jerry's eyes were cold as winter itself as his extremely violent Conqueror's Haki swept toward Akainu, powerfully suppressing and disrupting his opponent's movements and Devil Fruit abilities.
Then Jerry charged his fishing rod with endless crackling Haki, exerted all his strength, and thrust toward Akainu with thunderous force.
Faced with this breathtaking, devastatingly powerful strike, Akainu—who was attempting to stand—showed a vicious expression.
He suddenly raised his Armament Haki-coated right arm, instantly transforming it into a giant lava hound that he swung forward in desperate counterattack.
"Dark Hound-Blaze!"
Simultaneously, Akainu held his pitch-black left arm tightly against his chest as a defensive barrier, attempting to minimize the damage from Jerry's assault.
Seeing this, Jerry's mind raced. He didn't alter his fishing rod attack but suddenly opened his left hand, facing the massive dog head without fear.
"Water Release: Twin Shields!"
As his commanding voice rang out, two spinning water barriers suddenly materialized on Jerry's left side.
Obviously, Jerry wasn't fighting alone. His water clone—who had been desperately dealing with Aokiji—turned decisively at this crucial moment to protect the original's safety.
In a split second, the fishing rod's tip cut through the void and connected with Akainu's left arm. Similar to previous exchanges but completely different in result, Akainu's left arm was pressed straight against his chest before his entire body was launched backward at incredible speed.
Under Akainu's shocked and frustrated gaze, although the giant lava hound forcibly broke through the endlessly rotating twin water barriers, its power had been significantly weakened.
In this earth-shaking confrontation, neither side held back anything, and their attacks struck each other with unstoppable force.
However, unlike Akainu's assault—which reached Jerry after passing through multiple obstacles—Jerry's attack was more direct and devastating.
His full-strength thrust displayed unparalleled offensive power and penetration.
The fierce winds and shockwaves not only completely destroyed the execution platform's supporting structure but also obliterated all town buildings within a corridor tens of meters wide.
Even the towering Marine Headquarters building had a circular hole blasted clean through it, with spider-web cracks spreading around the entrance edges, leaving the entire structure on the verge of collapse.
Watching Jerry's figure descend from the destroyed execution platform back to the plaza, Hawkeye leaped out of Flower Sword Vista's attack range and commented calmly:
"Leviathan... it's a shame you don't use a sword."
Beyond him, Jerry and Akainu's earth-shaking battle had captured the attention of the entire battlefield.
"Gurararara! Well done, Jerry!" Whitebeard's booming laughter acted like a fuse, completely igniting the shock in everyone's hearts.
Aokiji stared solemnly at the water clone before him, which had been completely shattered into ice crystals due to its distraction while deploying defenses.
Dragon and Kizaru also tacitly ceased their pursuit and turned to observe.
Glancing at the still-undissipated smoke below while ignoring the expressionless Dragon, Kizaru pursed his lips: "Oh my... that's truly terrifying. Even Sakazuki can be overwhelmed like that. He really is a monster."
At this moment, not only they, but also Cavendish—who had returned to the rear for medical treatment—and Luffy's group fighting in the general melee couldn't help but pause their battles briefly.
Their faces filled with horror as they stared at the straight, massive corridor Jerry had carved through the landscape, unable to calm their racing hearts.
Near the plaza's center, Jerry slowly stood up, his eyes falling on the burn wound extending from his left shoulder to his chest—deep enough to expose bone—and exhaled deeply.
Then he extended his right hand as azure light reappeared, rapidly repairing his damaged body.
Amid the dull sounds of their colliding techniques, the subtle crackling from within Akainu's body, as well as faint noises from affected buildings in the distance, didn't escape Jerry's keen perception.
In the previous intense two-front battle, he'd been fully engaged with no time for other considerations, nor could he afford to expand his sensory range.
Only now could Jerry use his Observation Haki combined with his water elemental ultra-wide perception abilities to monitor the situation across the entire island.
It was in this moment—like a radar sweep—that he locked onto the culprit who had previously injured Kotatsu.
"Teach! So it was you bastards!"
Jerry's gaze seemed to penetrate countless obstacles and ruins, fixing firmly on a location ahead of him.