The air was torn apart, the sea surface dented by the pressure of a fist.
Barladi suddenly appeared before Griffin, his massive fist casting a shadow that nearly enveloped him.
"Watch out!!"
Kuma was about to slap Griffin away when his intuition made him pause.
Boom!!!
The fist struck Griffin's body, exploding into a sky full of... ice shards!
...
"What... is this?"
Barladi was no small fry. Proficient in Two-Colored Haki, his Observation Haki confirmed that the Griffin he struck was the real one, not an afterimage or ice sculpture.
Griffin couldn't possibly move faster than his eyes could track, so...
Behind him!!
His Observation Haki foresaw the danger. Barladi turned and swung his fist.
The punch missed, but the sense of crisis remained.
He tried to escape, only to find the previously shattered ice crystals sticking to his body, causing a momentary sluggishness in his movements.
What exactly is happening?
Suddenly, a low rumble came from the sea below as a red light rapidly approached from the depths.
Boom!!!
Flames and spray erupted skyward together. A massive fireball, like an underwater volcanic eruption, engulfed Barladi.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
The enormous fireball exploded violently, steam and flames intertwining into a destructive domain!
...
Boom—
Barladi burst out of the explosion. Despite enduring such a blast, he only had more tattered clothes and some singed hair, with no further injuries.
But when he saw what lay before him, his expression showed greater shock than when he'd taken a direct hit from Kuma.
"How... how is this possible..."
Not just him—even Kuma's eyes widened as if he'd seen a ghost.
Griffin slowly rose from the seawater, water sliding off his body, and then...
He stood firmly on the sea's surface!!!
...
...
Devil Fruit Users are cursed by the sea, becoming powerless upon contact with seawater.
Even the most aquatic fish-man tribe, once they eat a Devil Fruit, lose their ability to swim freely in the ocean.
This is the rule!
"Tch, the sneak attack didn't work..."
"Truly worthy of being from that so-called Bucaneer Tribe. Such a sturdy body."
...
"Mr. Griffin, it's Buccaneer Tribe..."
Kuma swallowed hard, unable to resist asking: "You... aren't you a Devil Fruit User?"
"I am."
Glancing at his feet, Griffin smiled faintly: "Just simple ability application. You can fly in the sky too, can't you?"
This...
This isn't quite the same, is it?
Kuma carefully observed, noticing Griffin's peculiarity.
On Griffin's body surface, there seemed to be an indistinct, very thin energy field isolating him from the seawater.
Like a coating.
...
It was Chakra.
As a Devil Fruit User, Griffin certainly couldn't touch seawater. Even bathing in fresh water would leave him weakened.
This was merely the Chakra water-walking technique—maintaining balance between Chakra counteracting water flow and his own weight to achieve the effect of standing on water.
Compared to Aokiji riding his bicycle directly on the sea surface, Doflamingo using strings to hang from clouds and fly was like a small fish next to a big one.
...
Barladi also understood what was happening, but as one question was answered, an even bigger one emerged.
"That icy crystalline body earlier, and... I'm certain that explosive fireball wasn't any kind of weapon, but an ability..."
"How could a Zoan-type have so many strange abilities! It's not even a Mythical Zoan!"
"Who are you really! What's your purpose in infiltrating the Navy!!"
...
Really...
Even at death's door, he still acted like an interrogator.
Swish—
Griffin drew his twin swords from his waist, smiling faintly as he said, "Sorry, I don't have the bad habit of revealing my own information."
The next second.
"Fire Release: Twin Dragons Destruction!!"
With an explosion of Chakra at his feet, Griffin shot forward at high speed, his entire body spinning rapidly like a top.
The twin swords traced chaotic arcs through the air as he spun, with tongues of flame emerging from nowhere to join the motion, gradually converging into two burning fire dragons.
The two fire dragons intertwined under the spinning momentum to form a massive vortex of flames, sweeping across the sea surface like a storm!
—
—
The Fire Release Ninjutsu Collection.
This was one of the rewards Griffin had obtained.
The Fire Release Ninjutsu was important, but even more crucial were the twelve basic hand seals included in the collection!
The Ice Release Ninjutsu he had used previously was, to put it nicely, like the Ōtsutsuki clan's techniques - advanced stuff that could be used without hand seals.
To put it bluntly...
To use an analogy, if Griffin's Chakra was compared to a basin of water, his usage of it was merely adjusting the force of splashing water according to different situations.
His ability to use Ice Release relied entirely on bloodline instinct and his Devil Fruit ability.
If ninjas from the shinobi world saw this, they would laugh at his crude methods.
...
The origin of Ninjutsu traces back to Uchiha's ancestor Indra.
It was he who discovered that different hand seals, combined with specific Chakra flows, would produce marvelous changes.
Based on this, he created the earliest basic Ninjutsu including Earth Release, Wind Release, Water Release, Fire Release, and Lightning Release.
This efficient method of using Chakra became what the world calls 'Ninjutsu.'
It freed Chakra from being limited to simple physical enhancement, granting it countless variations for attack and defense.
...
The Fire Release Ninjutsu Collection contained too many techniques for Griffin to learn in just half a day.
The first one he learned was naturally the Uchiha tradition - the Great Fireball Technique.
Then...
He found the Fire Release: Shadow Clone Technique.
This technique's formal name should be 'Clone Great Explosion,' using a physical Shadow Clone as bait that triggers an explosion when the enemy attacks it.
It combined tactical deception with offensive power, belonging to the same category of special clone techniques as Kakashi Hatake's Lightning Release Shadow Clone.
The drawback of this technique was its enormous Chakra consumption. After brief consideration, Griffin decided to only learn half of it.
The Shadow Clone Technique.
This physical clone technique created by the Second Hokage left a significant mark in shinobi world history.
It also played a huge role in the final battle that decided the fate of the shinobi world.
The Shadow Clone Technique wasn't difficult - no offense to Naruto - if even he could learn it after just a few glances, how hard could it be?
...
After learning the Shadow Clone Technique, Griffin combined it with his previous experience and quickly developed his own special clone technique.
Ice Release: Shadow Clone.
By utilizing the Devil Fruit ability, it conserved more Chakra than a normal Shadow Clone and added the effect of briefly controlling the enemy when shattered, maximizing its cost-effectiveness.
The third one…
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique.
Unlike ordinary Uchiha clansmen, Griffin, enhanced by his Zoan-type Devil Fruit, possessed physical strength capable of rivaling even the Senju.
This allowed him to employ his techniques more broadly, turning his imaginative ideas into reality.
First, he used his body and dual blades to spin rapidly, creating a whirlwind. Then, he unleashed the Great Dragon Fire Technique, spewing flames from his mouth.
The fire, fueled by the wind, completed this highly personalized combination Ninjutsu.
Fire Release – Twin Dragon Breach!!
——
——
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!!!!
The twin flaming dragons and spinning blade shadows were unavoidable, crashing into Barladi and instantly erupting into a destructive storm.
Between the sea and sky, a blazing trail was left behind.