Chapter 26: Changing Destiny
*Cut*
*Cut*
Elric launched dozens of slashes at Zephyr, who covered them all with his arm, closed the distance with Soru, and struck Elric from the side, making him scream in pain. He grabbed Elric's arm, pulled him in, and delivered a powerful headbutt.
Elric was left dazed, but he instinctively turned into ice and fell into the sea, firing ice arrows at the Marine.
Once again, these attacks only caused minor wounds to the Admiral. Laffitte merged with the Marine ship, taking on a gigantic form, and delivered a powerful punch that covered a large area of the sea. Zephyr covered his entire body in Armament Haki and took the blow head-on.
*Rumbling*
The ice beneath him cracked, and the fist continued to descend, leaving him submerged under the sea.
Elric: "Uff, Ufff... Laffitte, we need to get out of here quickly, we can't defeat him!" Upon hearing this, the giant was about to move when he realized that his foot wouldn't budge.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh," with a loud cry, Zephyr shattered the ice and firmly grasped the giant's foot.
"Annoying!" It seemed almost surreal, a small figure lifting a 100-meter giant and slamming him against the ice.
*Rumbling*
The impact generated an incredible tidal wave and destroyed all the ice around.
*Heavy Breathing*
Zephyr: "Now it's your turn, kid..."
"Hehe..., I won't die here anyway." Elric covered his body with an ice armor and added a layer of Armament Haki with all the strength he had left, then quickly launched his final attack against the Admiral.
Meanwhile, Zephyr didn't lag behind and used Ryou to finally obliterate this swordsman.
Both ran towards their opponent, and their attacks collided.
*Boom*
A shockwave overwhelmed everything around, sending the remnants of the shipwreck flying and creating an unfathomable abyss beneath them. Elric's strike split the sea in two, leaving an unreachable void.
Zephyr's blow was even more devastating, slicing through the sea, leaving a nearly one-kilometer-long trench on the surface.
*Cut*
Elric passed and continued his momentum towards Laffitte and the iron giant, but his right arm was missing... bleeding, he ran towards the moving giant.
Zephyr tried to move but realized that his right arm had also been severed, unlike Elric, who lost his entirely as it was disintegrated; Zephyr's arm had been cut off.
When he reached the giant, he noticed that a submarine was disappearing at the bottom of the sea. Although he could swim, he couldn't match its speed.
Zephyr: "Damn..., what a pesky and troublesome Devil Fruit... Where has my pride gone?..."
He sat on a floating iceberg and called the nearest warship to search for it.
"Dragon must have had better luck than me, for sure."
-Island A1
After the hurricane had devastated the island, it was left completely deserted, with buildings and factories in ruins.
*Cracks*
*Cracks*
Rose emerged from under the rubble after shielding herself with shadows. However, she was still hit by the strong winds and even pierced by several tree branches.
Rose: "This damn Marine... I don't understand what they're doing... but I don't care anymore; he's already destroyed the factory."
A massive rock was falling towards her, but it was destroyed by a blow from Bullet. Dragon reappeared in front of her and struck her with a gust that sent her flying.
As he approached, Rose attacked with a bat-winged spear, but it was ineffective, as Dragon easily dodged all the strikes. She covered her face with her forearm and a shield of shadows but was thrown against a rock by Dragon's shockwave, leaving her arms destroyed.
*Drip*
*Drip*
Blood flowed from her arms; she had used up all her ammunition.
Dragon quickly waved his hand to create an air blade, but it was once again intercepted by Bullet, who caught his arm.
Bullet swung his fist at Dragon, who easily dodged it, crouched, and slashed at the shadow's leg. Bullet jumped and kicked downward, missing Dragon and creating a hole in the ground.
"Get out of the way, scum!" A whirlwind began to spin on Dragon's fist, and he swung it at Bullet, who covered himself with his arms and took the full force of the attack. The blow buried him several meters into the ground.
Unable to use her arms, Rose tried to escape, creating two shadow clones of Bullet and swapping places with her own shadow.
Dragon approached, dodged both attacks, and cut through the figures with his arm wrapped in cutting wind. He crouched to evade a kick to his back, fired an expansive wind wave that destroyed the clones. Using Geppo and his Devil Fruit ability, he soared into the sky to locate Rose.
Dragon: "There you are... it's your end!"
Usually, Dragon prefers to act sensibly, but when his friend Kuzan died, he urgently wanted to join the hunt for the culprit. It was his last mission as a Marine before founding the Revolutionary Army.
A powerful whirlwind generated in both of his arms, and he launched it towards Rose.
As he approached, Rose could envision death in her mind.
However, the attack was deflected and redirected toward the sea.
"What was that? Did I fail?" This left Dragon surprised; he had been fully committed!
"No, it was me. Hehe." His back froze when he heard a voice behind him. How had he gotten so close without detection?
He tried to turn into the wind and escape but lost all his strength, surrounded by a sea serpent made of water!
Johan: "Well, it would be a waste if someone died right after eating a Devil Fruit, don't you think, Dragon?"
Dragon: "You... you... killed Kuz-." Before he could finish his words, he was completely enveloped in a water bubble.
Johan: "Yeah, yeah, just shut up. Thanks for saving me the trouble of finding you."
Johan was actually quite injured after Ohara; if he hadn't eaten that Senzu seed he bought, he would have died.
The reason Johan wasn't affected by the water he created was simply because it was pure, whereas the seawater was altered, with different chemical components. Currently, he used a bit of seawater to trap Dragon, as if he used his own water, it would have no effect.
When he obtained the fruit, he verified this with a few crew members on his ship. When on land, he carried a vial of seawater with him.
When he threw the normal Devil Fruits into the water bubble, he waited a few minutes. Dragon stopped moving.
The future commander of the Revolutionary Army was dead.
One of the fruits, shaped like an orange, began to glow and had white spirals all over it.
Johan: "Excellent... Hehehehaha."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone