Bang!
Bang bang bang!
Under the sea.
Charlotte Linlin no longer spoke, only exchanging blows with Sage. Her massive, formidable fists, capable of splitting mountains, landed on the sandy ground, causing it to crack and shift, while the water wall she maintained leaked continuously, instantly submerging her feet.
Yet such powerful attacks, which ordinary people might not withstand even once, were completely suppressed at the moment.
Because Sage was more ferocious!
Every punch he threw, whether in terms of Haki intensity or strength and skill, Charlotte Linlin in her current state was entirely outmatched!
No matter how much she used Soul Activation to heal her injuries, the damage that should have occurred still did.
Even if she tried her best to avoid direct confrontation with Sage and instead sidestepped after each punch to prevent him from gaining a leverage, it was all futile.
Injuries didn't matter, bleeding didn't matter...
What mattered was that her Haki couldn't keep up!
As her Haki weakened, she couldn't block the brat's penetrating Haki. When he attacked, despite her defenses, some damage would always get through.
The brat's Haki was too powerful. If it invaded her even a little, not even the 'Steel Balloon' could withstand it; on the contrary, it would cause damage to her body.
But...
Retreat?
Flee?
That option was no longer available!
In the past, retreat was due to the opponent's overwhelming strength, and it was best not to make enemies, avoiding undue losses.
It didn't affect her resolve.
But now, they had come to her door, taking away the Homiez. If she retreated now...
"Don't underestimate me!"
Boom!!
Charlotte Linlin's fist clashed with Sage's, and as the explosion of Haki sent shockwaves, she suddenly closed the distance, landing an elbow strike on Sage's face as he was about to attack again, sending him flying.
Yet before his body had fully soared, Sage quickly extended his hands, striking his not-yet-retracted elbow to stop his backward momentum and instead thrust forward, delivering a powerful kick to Charlotte Linlin's chin, causing her head to instinctively tilt upward.
Bam!
In that instant, Charlotte Linlin gritted her teeth, clenched her fist anew, and with a fierce punch, slammed Sage into the sand below.
"Tch!"
She turned her head, spat out blood, and before she could see the new crater below, she raised her hand again, spotting the figure wreathed in black and red thunderbolt surging up from below, feet over head, landing another kick on her chin.
Boom!!
This time, it sent her colossal, nearly Giant-sized body flying.
Sage quickly reoriented his body, and after kicking Charlotte Linlin away, launched another punch that collided with her fist as she quickly repositioned herself.
With another enormous impact, as they were propelled apart, Sage pushed off with a smoke ring, attacking once more, while Charlotte Linlin stabilized herself, grinning viciously as she launched another punch.
"Oh hahahaha!"
"Mamahahahaha!"
One, labeled an 'Evil God' by the Giant Race from childhood, became renowned for her power since her debut as a Great Pirate dominating the seas for decades, an old pirate among old pirates.
The other, a newcomer proclaimed a 'Calamity' by nobility, known for his strength since debut, ruthlessly seizing and expanding a nation.
Population, race, intelligence, territory, economy...
No matter which aspects, their development models were somewhat similar!
Thus, they fought!
The impacts continued to quake, causing even more water to gush down from the sea wall divided earlier by Sage, suggesting their time was running out.
Before the water submerged Charlotte Linlin's waist, they had to determine a victor in their battle!
Bam!
Sage delivered another punch to Charlotte Linlin's face, his fist embedding into her nasal bridge, the force carving hollows in their surroundings, but soon he was flung back by her hefty punch, his waist and ribs crushed.
In midair, black clouds appeared, snaking at his feet, halting his trajectory.
Crunch!
The bent spine was forcibly realigned, Sage wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, allowing white steam to billow from his back, healing the spinal injury.
The Four Emperors were indeed formidable; their attacks remained mighty.
However, Sage never expected he could take down Charlotte Linlin unscathed, even at forty times his strength.
"Enough..."
He glanced at the seawater gathered at her abdominal area, then at the sides of the rapidly collapsing sea walls, and said deeply:
"Old woman, if you can't hold on, then don't. You should know, for someone like me who possesses infinite Haki, your weakness is my strength!"
To surpass is to crush.
Previously, the Four Emperors' Haki surpassed his, but today it no longer does. The Four Emperors' Haki has a limit, but his does not. In every strike being all-out, the weary and weakened Charlotte Linlin, even if she could still pose a threat to him, would be nothing more than a spent arrow.
Although he disliked this kind of enemy weakness, preferring self-strengthening, he had no patience for such timing now.
Capture Charlotte Linlin and then find an island to fight?
There's no need.
Before the seawater reached her waist...
Sage bent low, his fists gathering Haki, "I will kill you!"
"Mamanmamanma, if you think you can do it!"
Charlotte Linlin didn't even glance at the water reaching her abdomen, similarly gathering her fists, her eye's white flame nearly engulfing her body, at that moment forcibly pushing her body into peak condition, the purple thunderbolt mixed with Armament, all converged onto her fists.
No blade, it doesn't matter...
This moment, speeches are made with fists!
Sage narrowed his eyes, a grin surfaced at his lips, "Looks like you're ready to die."
"Kid, maybe I'll take you down with me!" Charlotte Linlin snarled.
The two gazed at each other, time briefly halting in this instant.
Boom!
Sage suddenly thrust against the air, while Charlotte Linlin clenched her fist tighter, unleashing a powerful impact that repelled the sea layer reaching her belly, exposing a vacuum, and hurled a ferocious punch towards Sage.
"Kid! This old lady... isn't that easy to deal with!!!"
Decades on the ocean, even that fool Roger, before he became Pirate King, wanted the Poneglyphs stolen from her, not defeating him head-on.
A Sea Emperor is the ceiling of the ocean; regardless of the gap, it's merely within the ceiling's matters.
Sage robbed her of Homiez; she wouldn't magnanimously and gracefully go to ruin.
Even if she must die here...
She'll show Sage!
Just with this punch!!
Crash!!!
The sky suddenly exploded with thunder, Charlotte Linlin's fist collided with the incoming Sage's fist in a instant, creating irregular compressed black spots in the vacant space between their fists.
The sky nearly overturned, swaths of seawater were thrust back.
Upon contact, Sage's half-body and punching arm distorted destructively, while Charlotte Linlin's sturdy arm ripped open, instantly overturned the Steel Balloon's defense.
Simultaneously, a massive shockwave pounded the seabed, breaking the sea walls on both sides, torrents of seawater charging into this suddenly cleaved space.
"Mamanmamanma, Sage, stay here with me!"
Charlotte Linlin laughed heartily: "You can't defeat me in an instant, you don't have the strength, since you can't do that, then stay here with me, both ability users, once swallowed by the sea, there's nothing anyone can do!"
Sage grinned, "That's not a sure thing, if my men or yours win, they can still rescue me. Mere seawater won't finish me off, but if you want me to make contact with seawater, you'll bear the consequences."
Is Charlotte Linlin afraid of seawater?
If truly plunged in, chances of incident are low.
Similarly, even if he was swept into this water, mere seawater wouldn't kill him, he'd either sink, supporting himself for a lengthy period, or be washed away by the waves.
However, the ocean won't give him that chance.
Once submerged halfway, that's when the Sea Kings arrive.
"And also..."
Bam!!
Suddenly, Charlotte Linlin's swinging arm exploded completely, as if abruptly imploding from within, losing its momentum.
Meanwhile, Sage's figure rapidly appeared before her, then vanished oddly, like a gust, like countless figures attacking collectively upon her body.
As if time stood still.
Charlotte Linlin remained in the punching posture, motionless, allowing seawater to flood in.
From up high, Sage emerged, black clouds surging beneath his feet ascending rapidly, his half-body winding in white air, healing fiercely.
"I win!"
Sage turned his head, deeply gazed at the frozen Charlotte Linlin, and shouted: "Old woman, you lost!"