"Come on! Fight me!" Sephiroth's voice cut through the air like a blade. "If you want to leave this place alive, you'll have to go through me first."
His gaze burned past the Gorosei barring his path, locking onto the masked figure in black robes whose crimson eyes glowed like embers. "Imu! Still hiding behind your puppets?"
The moment the words left his lips, Imu's body convulsed violently. Black scales erupted across his flesh as enormous bat-like wings shredded through his robes.
A spiked tail lashed through the air while clawed feet gouged deep furrows in the marble floor. His neck elongated grotesquely, the transformation completing as a draconic maw split open to unleash an ear-splitting roar.
"Arrogant worm! You'll burn for this insult!" Flames licked between his fangs as the words thundered forth.
Sephiroth's eyebrows lifted. "A Dragon-Dragon Fruit user? Now I understand why those parasites call themselves Celestial Dragons..."
Imu's chest expanded like a bellows. Firelight pulsed in his gullet, heat waves distorting the air around his jaws. With another deafening roar, a torrent of white-hot flames erupted toward Sephiroth in a concentrated jet.
The silver-haired warrior spun his blade. Nether Flame carved a fiery arc through the air, intercepting the dragon's breath mid-flight.
The Gorosei scattered like startled birds, desperate to avoid the collision of these two infernos.
The flaming ring sliced clean through Imu's firestream, its momentum unchecked as it raced toward the dragon's gaping maw.
Then—
BOOM!
An explosion lit the sky. Imu's massive head snapped backward, blood spraying from his jaws as his titanic form staggered. The shockwave sent debris flying in all directions.
......
Across the battlefield, Kuma's mechanical eyes locked onto Satan Saint's isolated position. The cyborg's processors calculated the opening in milliseconds.
His hydraulic legs compressed—then released with enough force to crater the ground as he launched forward at hypersonic speeds.
Satan Saint barely had time to widen his eyes before Kuma materialized before him. The revolutionary's Haki-clad fist connected with a sickening crunch, sending the Celestial Dragon sprawling across the pavement.
Before the body could settle, Kuma's left palm unleashed a shockwave that blasted Satan Saint through a dozen city blocks.
The distant impact shook the battlefield as a residential tower collapsed into dust.
"KUUUMAAA!"
The rubble exploded outward as Satan Saint emerged, his body undergoing a grotesque metamorphosis. Black smoke coiled around his shoulders while curved horns sprouted from his forehead.
His torso elongated, eight chitinous spider legs bursting from his waist to anchor him in the debris.
"You dare strike a god?! This transgression will—"
"Satan Saint." Kuma's voice cut through the settling dust like a guillotine. The revolutionary stood amidst the wreckage, his normally placid features twisted with cold fury.
"You don't get to speak of forgiveness. Not after what you've done." His fists clenched hard enough to make his mechanical joints whine. "Today, you die."
......
Sephiroth watched molten stone drip from his blade as he addressed the reeling dragon.
"Imu." His lips curled into something too sharp to be called a smile. "Who taught you it was wise to play with fire... when standing before its master?"
"Satan Saint, that phrase 'unforgivable' should be directed at you by me!"
Sephiroth's lips curled in disdain as he surveyed the battered form of the distant dragon. "Don't get ahead of yourself."
The insult ignited Imu's fury. The dragon threw back its head and unleashed a deafening roar. Its massive form began shifting—scales rippling as its body compressed, limbs reshaping into humanoid arms and legs tipped with razor-sharp claws.
The black membranous wings remained, now attached to a towering draconic humanoid. With a thunderous stomp that shattered the ground, Imu launched forward like a loosed arrow.
Dark red lightning crackled around his claws as they blurred through the air, targeting every vital point on Sephiroth's body. The assault came in a relentless barrage—
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Yet Sephiroth parried each strike with effortless grace, twin swords weaving an impenetrable defense.
"Such sloppy technique," he taunted, smirking. "When was the last time you faced a real opponent?"
Imu responded not with words but with renewed ferocity, his attacks intensifying by a third as he sought to overwhelm his foe.
"You're pathetic." Sephiroth's voice dropped to a lethal whisper.
He exploited the split-second opening when Imu committed to a punch—his cleaver flashed upward in a brutal arc, slamming into the dragon-man's chest with enough force to send him crashing through spectator stands a hundred meters away.
Dust plumed from the impact.
"Tch. Another damage sponge..." Sephiroth scowled, noting how his blade had failed to pierce those draconic scales.
Just like Kaido, Imu had invested everything into absurd defensive prowess. These types of enemies grated on him the most—their sheer durability negated his speed advantage, forcing drawn-out battles instead of swift domination.
A flicker of movement snapped him from his thoughts.
Something fast. Too fast.
His Observation Haki screamed a warning an instant before crimson light streaked into his periphery. Battle instincts took over—he twisted sideways, gaze snapping toward the threat behind him.
Recognition hit like a gut punch. His pupils constricted.
Divine Departure—
Red-Haired Shanks materialized in a corona of Conqueror's Haki, Griffin already mid-swing. The legendary blade carved through the air in a diagonal slash that struck true.
BOOM!!!
The condensed shockwave of Haki hammered into Sephiroth's back. Blood sprayed from his lips as the impact launched him skyward, his body a broken comet trailing crimson.