The battlefield raged like a storm-tossed sea. Explosions rippled through the air, shaking the island to its core.
Among the chaos, Big Pan faced off against Kizaru the Light Admiral himself. The two had already fought once before, each now understanding the measure of the other's strength.
Though their battle appeared fierce to any onlooker flashes of golden light and the blur of a colossal staff clashing again and again both men knew this was not a straightforward brawl. Kizaru was not fighting to overwhelm Big Pan. He was testing, dodging, using the shimmering power of his Glint-Glint Fruit to toy with his opponent, all while maintaining an almost playful air.
For Big Pan, however, it was torture.
"Old man!" he shouted, panting as sweat rolled down his broad face. "Can't you fight me head-on for once instead of zipping around like a mosquito?"
Kizaru's lazy drawl drifted through the air, his tone as infuriating as ever. "Ooh, scary. But you see, old age catches up to everyone. I can't exactly trade blows with such… youthful vigor."
Big Pan's cheeks puffed up with frustration. "Stop running, coward!"
Yet his eyes suddenly gleamed with mischief. His hands tightened around his Coiling Dragon Staff, and a sly grin spread across his round face.
"Hey, old man my flying staff's coming for you!"
The staff suddenly elongated, lashing out like a spear of steel straight toward Kizaru's midsection with frightening speed.
Kizaru's face twitched. Again?
The same move had nearly embarrassed him once before. Without hesitation, his body blurred into pure light, vanishing just before the staff struck.
Big Pan's attack hit nothing but air yet instead of cursing, he laughed.
The moment Kizaru's boots touched the ground, a massive yin-yang symbol unfurled beneath him, glowing with pulsating light.
Eight Desolate Staff Art Secret Technique: Twin Forces!
This was no ordinary skill. The Twin Forces technique created a magnetic domain a field woven from invisible energy threads that Big Pan could manipulate like a living extension of his will. Earlier, when his staff had passed by Kizaru, it had subtly planted a magnetic seal. Now that Kizaru had landed, the field burst open, pulling at his body like an invisible gravity well.
Kizaru's eyes widened. "A magnetic domain?"
He tried to turn back into light, but the gravitational pull distorted his movement, slowing him drastically.
"Seems like I underestimated you, old man," Kizaru muttered, his lazy smirk fading for the first time.
Big Pan grinned, his teeth flashing. "Heh. Let's see how you dodge this!"
He charged, swinging the Coiling Dragon Staff with earth-shattering force. The air screamed as the weapon came crashing down toward Kizaru.
The admiral, though slowed, wasn't helpless. His Haki flared, coating his body in obsidian. He raised a radiant blade the Sword of Ama-no-Murakumo, forged of pure light and met the blow head-on.
Clang! Sparks and photons exploded around them.
The two clashed again and again, the domain ringing with the sound of thunder and light colliding. Big Pan's strikes were relentless, each one heavier than the last, shaking the ground and warping the air. Kizaru, though still composed, began to feel the mounting pressure.
Finally, with a burst of light, he launched himself upward, breaking away into the air. His hands crossed before his chest, gathering golden orbs of energy.
"Eight-Foot Qionggyu Orb!" he called out.
A barrage of glowing light bullets rained down like a meteor shower.
Big Pan didn't flinch. His staff spun rapidly before him, forming a rotating barrier of shadows and light Eight Desolate Staff Art: Spinning Wheel Shield!
The incoming photons struck the barrier with deafening blasts, each explosion shaking the air and kicking up waves of dust and fire.
When the light cleared, Big Pan still stood tall, his round face smeared with soot but his eyes alight with determination.
Kizaru frowned slightly. He raised his mirror, the Yata Mirror, summoning a beam of light that bent through the air. Normally, the mirror's refractive properties allowed him to teleport by bouncing his light between reflective surfaces but here, with no surfaces available, he could only project a straight beam. Still, that was enough.
In a flash, Kizaru vanished from view and reappeared right behind Big Pan. His leg glowed golden as he lashed out, aiming directly at the man's kidney.
Big Pan's eyes went wide. "Huh?! Behind me already?!"
He spun his staff just in time, blocking the glowing kick but the impact sent him flying backward.
He crashed down, sliding across the cracked earth before jamming his staff into the ground to steady himself. His cheeks puffed, and he glared. "You dirty old geezer!"
Planting his feet, Big Pan inhaled deeply. The air around him grew dense, the ground trembling as his aura erupted. His Haki flared outward, warping the air like heat rising from magma.
With a roar, he hefted his colossal staff and swung it downward, not with finesse but with pure, overwhelming might.
The ground split. The air screamed. Even Kizaru felt the tremor in his bones.
He could've dodged. Easily. But a flicker of instinct told him something was wrong. A trap? A trick?
Before he could react, Big Pan's image shimmered and vanished.
Kizaru blinked. His Observation Haki surged, searching only to sense movement above.
Out of nowhere, Big Pan's shadow solidified at the tip of his own staff.
Eight Desolate Staff Art Shadow Staff!
A phantom weapon that struck from illusion, its wielder hidden within its form.
"Eight Desolate Staff Art: Martial Break!" Big Pan roared, swinging down with annihilating power.
The staff collided with Kizaru's condensed energy orb.
The resulting explosion shattered the sky.
For a moment, the world was nothing but sound and light. When the shockwave faded, both men stood barely upright Big Pan with blood at his lip, Kizaru with his uniform torn and smoldering.
They were evenly matched but then, something changed.
Kizaru's expression hardened as he glanced toward the distance, his Observation Haki detecting a massive surge of energy.
His eyes widened. He saw it Eli Winters cutting Akainu clean in half.
A rare flicker of fear crossed the admiral's face. Akainu… lost?
For the first time, Kizaru's composure faltered. His light dimmed. The Navy had suffered a devastating blow, and even he no longer had the will to continue.
Meanwhile, on another front, Fiona faced off against Vice Admiral Onigumo, one of the five commanders leading the Buster Call.
She had originally been fighting Vice Admiral Gion, but the moment she saw Onigumo's eight blade-wielding spider limbs emerge from his back, her fighting spirit ignited. Abandoning Gion, she darted straight toward the spider-armed veteran.
Six of Fiona's slender blades danced through the air, controlled by invisible strings of energy. Onigumo met them with his eight swords, his movements sharp, methodical, deadly. Metal clashed in a storm of sparks as the two warriors exchanged blows.
Fiona moved like a butterfly swift, elegant, untouchable her silver hair flashing in the sun as she weaved between strikes. Onigumo's many arms, though chaotic in appearance, flowed in perfect coordination, hemming her in from every direction.
Then Fiona narrowed her eyes. Her blades doubled six became twelve.
Shadow Blades: Phantom Knight.
The air filled with a dazzling storm of steel. For the first time, Onigumo's defense faltered. His eight blades whirled desperately, sparks flying as Fiona's shadow-forged swords overwhelmed him.
Still, he was a seasoned veteran, battle-hardened and unflinching. His twin Haki defenses Armament and Observation flared to life. He deflected string after string, blade after blade, cutting through the silken threads that connected Fiona's weapons.
He smirked slightly. "Not bad, girl. But you're still relying on tricks."
Fiona said nothing. Her lips curved into the faintest smile.
He hadn't noticed the battlefield had changed.
Unseen, the threads she'd woven multiplied, stretching around him in every direction, forming an intricate web.
By the time Onigumo struck down her last flying sword, the trap had already been sprung.
The threads snapped tight, glowing with eerie light.
Miniature Birdcage.
The air tightened, and the web closed in like the claws of a beast.
Onigumo's eyes widened as he realized too late. He swung his swords wildly, trying to cut free, but no matter how hard he slashed the threads refused to break. They weren't simple strings. They were reinforced by Haki and condensed energy, each strand stronger than tempered steel.
The cage shrank inch by inch, slicing through the ground and air alike.
Onigumo's breathing grew ragged. "Damn it… so this is your trap."
Fiona stood calmly outside the shrinking cage, her gaze unflinching. The threads shone with deadly beauty as they constricted, until Onigumo was trapped in a space barely large enough to move.
He looked up, seeing her six original blades all floating once more, gleaming like stars.
He exhaled in resignation. "So this is it, then…"
Fiona lowered her hand slightly. The threads tightened then stopped, sparing his life.
Instead of killing him, she used her threads to bind his limbs and drop him unconscious to the ground.
She turned her gaze toward the rest of the battlefield, her eyes calm but burning with determination.
The tides of war were shifting and the world would never be the same again.
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