Gawain twisted his neck, making a crackling sound, but his figure disappeared in the next moment.
Gawain twisted his neck, producing a cracking sound, but in the next instant, his figure vanished.
Only when he reappeared in front of Zephyr did the ground he had just stood on explode with a thunderous explosion, sending a cloud of dust nearly a hundred meters high into the air.
So fast!
Zephyr's pupils shrank sharply. His Observation Haki, tempered through countless battles and ingrained into his instincts, screamed warnings at him.
Retreat!
An overwhelming sense of danger surged through him, making even his skin tingle in pain.
But Zephyr ignored it, with a smile on his lips, and his tone was as firm as a stone: "Is it a fatal crisis?!"
"But if justice bows to violence, how can it ever reach everyone?!"
"Black Arm Style, Full Armament!"
With a thunderous roar on Zephyr's arms, thick layers of Armament Haki surged like black smoke, intertwining and wrapping around his hands entirely.
It even spread all the way to his torso. In an instant, Zephyr's entire body seemed to be dyed black, and the visible Armament Haki aura continued to flow.
The sheer presence of his Haki, visible to the naked eye, sent shivers through the souls of everyone present.
Then, with a sweeping punch, Zephyr clashed head-on with Gawain's incoming strike.
Boom!
The most powerful collision of the night erupted at this moment.
A shockwave, visible to the naked eye, expanded outward from the two warriors at the center.
The entire desert roared like an ocean in a storm, kicking up towering waves of sand!
The ground beneath everyone's feet began to undulate, stretching to the horizon as if the entire desert had suddenly come alive.
"This is… Armament Transformation?!"
"Has the old man gone mad?!"
"He's actually using a technique that burns his own life?!"
Sweat dripped from Kizaru's forehead, and his body instinctively moved beside Aokiji, both of them reinforcing their defenses with Armament Haki to withstand the incoming shockwaves.
Yet, they couldn't stop the increasingly violent sand waves beneath their feet or the raging winds sweeping across the battlefield.
The weaker marines could barely remain standing; some were already half-buried in the swirling sand. Their coats, emblazoned with the word "Justice," flapped wildly in the storm.
Aokiji's gaze, however, was fixed on the two figures within the dust cloud, engaging in a brief but fierce exchange. His eyes revealed undisguised astonishment.
Speaking of Armament Haki alone, Zephyr is the number one in the Marines.
No!
Not only in the Marines but even in the whole world, there is only Zephyr, who has entered the ranks of the strongest by relying solely on physical skills and the Armament Haki that has been tempered thousands of times.
How could such a person not have a little arrogance in his heart?!
Or if he had not been absolutely confident in himself, Zephyr would not have been able to stand on par with Garp and Sengoku in that era and become a legendary figure within the Marines.
But that was over twenty years ago, and yet, here and now, before Aokiji's very eyes, it was happening all over again!
"The old man has actually recovered to this extent?!"
Aokiji couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief.
He had always known Zephyr's strength, but he had never imagined that Zephyr was now so close to his former peak.
"Recover?"
Kizaru murmured, his pupils shrinking: "In terms of sheer willpower mastery over Armament Haki, he has already surpassed his strength from twenty years ago."
"His body is no longer what it once was, and he can't fully unleash the power of his Haki, but if he can still reach this level..."
"This battle is no longer suspenseful!"
Kizaru knew Gawain's combat power, and he knew Gawain's beast-like, no, monster-like resilience and willpower.
But facing Zephyr, who was almost at his peak, there was no point.
This battle… Gawain would lose!
At this moment, Kizaru, Aokiji, and hundreds of marines around the battlefield all made the same judgment.
A crimson figure with wings on his back shot out from the dust cloud like a cannonball, crashing through several sand dunes before finally coming to a stop.
"Cough!" "Cough!" "Cough!"
Gawain slowly stood up, his face turning red as he spat out blood mixed with bits of flesh. At this moment, his expression turns grim.
"His Armament Haki infiltrates the body and destroys from within?"
"This old man sure is tough!"
Gawain took a deep breath and then looked up at Zephyr, who was once again charging toward him.
The latter was covered in blood, yet his fighting spirit only grew stronger with every passing second.
Zephyr's once-invincible belief was reawakening, and with it, his Haki became even more formidable.
His Observation Haki, honed to the level of instinct, was the natural enemy of those who could foresee the future.
Foreseeing required thought and decision-making, both of which took time.
But an instinctual Observation Haki didn't.
That tiny difference in reaction time was deadly in a battle between powerful fighters.
If Zephyr's Observation Haki was troublesome, his Armament Haki was downright terrifying.
By using his instinctual Observation Haki, Zephyr could perfectly intercept Gawain's attacks, reducing their force significantly. Any remaining strikes were blocked by Zephyr's jet-black Armament Haki.
If the frontal attack could not break through the defense of the Battle Armor, then use the Internal Destruction to directly hit Gawain's internal organs.
Had he not encountered Zephyr today, Gawain never would have believed that Armament Haki alone could be pushed to such heights.
But…
But, just as Zephyr was growing more and more excited, so was Gawain.
With the blessing of the three features of Equilibrium, Harmony, and Celestial Being, even though the desert battlefield restricted his devil fruit abilities, Gawain's endurance remained monstrous.
The injury caused by Zephyr just now was almost healed in just a few seconds and even made Gawain's fighting spirit more and more intense!
Crimson lightning flickered through the air.
His Conqueror's Haki, which should have burst outward like a shockwave, instead condensed, converging onto Zephyr as if obeying Gawain's command.
Boom!
A shockwave erupted, stirring up dust, but it didn't halt Zephyr's advance for even an instant.
"You're already able to somewhat control your Conqueror's Haki?"
"A truly enviable power."
"But ascending to the top has never required Conqueror's Haki alone. One can reach that pinnacle through the ultimate mastery of swordsmanship, the absolute peak of Armament Haki, or even by pushing their Devil Fruit ability to an entirely new level."
"Well..."
"I have never believed that I must rely on Conqueror's Haki to compete with those monsters!"
"I will carve my own path!"
"Come!"
With a thunderous roar, Zephyr suddenly accelerated, his figure turning into a dark blur as he rushed Gawain.
And at that moment, Gawain finally saw what was strange about the old man's appearance.
The Armament Haki all over his body is no longer just attached to the surface of his body, but is like a layer of light flame, constantly burning…
"This is..."
Just as confusion flashed in Gawain's eyes, a name echoed in his ears.
"Black Arm Style, Storm Barrage!"
Countless jet-black fists filled Gawain's vision; the overwhelming pressure made him feel as though mountains were crashing down on him!
So this was… the power worthy of challenging legends?!
Interesting!
Gawain's eyes turned red, and his feet stepped back heavily, directly crushing the dune beneath him.
He used the force to swing the sword in his hand and, in the blink of an eye, unleashed a storm of sword slashes that directly collided with Zephyr's incoming fist.
They did not retreat a single step because both Gawain and Zephyr knew a single step back meant defeat, and it would leave an unhealable wound in the depths of their spirits, just like what had happened to Crocodile.
Gawain didn't want to be that kind of person.
The next moment…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The dense sonic boom sounded again, raising a wave of sand in the desert and rushing around.