If Blake and Shelby's previous battle had been a dazzling clash of techniques, then what was unfolding now on the other side of the island was a battle that truly belonged to the level of natural disasters.
The earth was no longer earth.
It had transformed into a wildly writhing green ocean.
The sky was no longer sky.
It had become a shattered canvas torn apart by distorted gravitational ripples.
"Lahahaha! blind man! Your blade may be fast, but can you cut down a forest that regenerates endlessly?!"
Aramaki stood atop the shoulder of a colossal forest giant hundreds of meters tall, formed from countless massive trees twisted together.
Although Rehn had previously disciplined him, when facing Fujitora Issho, the arrogance and savagery belonging to a top-tier Logia powerhouse exploded out from him once more.
He violently plunged both hands into the giant's neck as green life energy poured into it frantically.
"Ironwood God Fist!!"
RUMBLE!
The forest giant emitted a teeth-grinding creaking sound as a gigantic wooden fist large enough to cover half a town descended from the sky!
Wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki, it smashed downward toward the tiny purple figure below like a falling meteor!
The air compressed to its limit, producing a sharp sonic boom.
Before the punch even landed, the terrifying wind pressure had already crushed the rocks on the ground into powder.
At the center of the storm, Issho's purple robe fluttered violently.
He slightly raised his head.
Though his eyes remained shut, it felt as though he had already seen through the weakness of the gigantic monster before him.
His expression remained calm and unshaken.
"Endless growth… is indeed a power worthy of reverence."
Issho slowly unsheathed his cane sword.
Purple gravitational light flowed across the blade like a heavy galaxy.
"But when growth becomes too unrestrained, it turns into disaster."
"This old man is untalented, but I am willing to prune the branches… for the sake of this land."
"Gravity Blade: Fierce Tiger!!"
ROOOAAARRR!!
Accompanied by a tiger's roar seemingly originating from the depths of hell, Issho's cane sword did not slash upward.
Instead, he swung it horizontally!
BUZZ!
Space itself seemed to distort.
A visible purple gravity wave erupted outward in a fan-shaped spread, instantly colliding with the descending wooden fist!
It did not cut through it.
Instead, repulsion!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!!
The enormous wooden fist coated in Armament Haki struck the gravity wave as though it had slammed into an insurmountable wall of despair.
Then, terrifying lateral gravity acted directly upon the internal fiber structure of the wood itself,
Flattening it. Twisting it. Shattering it apart!
Wood splinters rained through the sky like a storm.
"What?!"
Aramaki's pupils contracted slightly, but his reaction was extremely fast.
Several vines behind him instantly stabbed into the ground.
"This isn't over yet! Firebreak Forest: Root Strangulation!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The earth beneath Issho instantly split apart as dozens of black tree roots as sharp as spears burst from underground, attacking Issho's blind spots from every direction!
"Hell Journey."
Issho did not panic.
He didn't even move his feet.
He simply slid the cane sword one inch back into its sheath before forcefully pressing downward.
THUD!
With Issho as the center, gravity within a hundred-meter radius instantly changed!
The roots that had been erupting upward suddenly seemed burdened with mountains weighing tens of thousands of tons.
The moment they emerged, the terrifying vertical gravity forcibly slammed them back underground!
Even the surrounding earth sank several meters downward in perfect symmetry, forming a flawless circular crater!
"Damn gravity… what an annoying power!"
Seeing his attacks once again rendered useless, irritation flashed through Aramaki's eyes.
He knew ordinary attacks were meaningless against this blind man.
"If the ground won't work…"
"Then I'll attack from the sky!!"
Aramaki suddenly spread both arms wide.
The forest behind him began growing frantically as countless spores and pollen filled the heavens.
"I refuse to believe you can suppress the air itself! Die! Forest Dominion: Death Blossom Poison Garden!!"
...
"Too powerful… Is this really an admiral-level battle?"
In the livestream plaza, the spectators had long forgotten cheering.
Each person simply stood frozen, mouths hanging open while staring at the catastrophic images on the screen.
On one side, a Logia monster capable of creating forests and reshaping terrain at will.
On the other, a gravity-manipulating swordsman with absolute defense and flawless battlefield control.
There were few flashy movements in their battle.
Every collision was the purest form of power against power.
Life versus gravity.
Growth versus suppression.
A battle at this level had already surpassed the understanding of ordinary people.
"Chief Rehn…"
One Rear Admiral swallowed hard and looked toward the commentary platform.
"H-how long is this supposed to go on? It feels like neither of them can do anything to the other…"
Rehn had already lowered his microphone, his brows tightly furrowed.
Indeed.
Aramaki possessed nearly limitless regeneration and stamina.
Issho possessed absolute defense and supreme control over the battlefield.
Unless one of them used a trump card powerful enough to sink the entire island,
These two could probably fight for ten days and nights without a victor.
"This is getting troublesome…"
Rehn checked the time.
"In another half hour it'll be Lord Renzo's dinner time… If this still isn't over…"
.....
High atop the viewing platform, Renzo had already finished his juice, the empty cup making a slurp slurp sound.
Removing his sunglasses, his gray eyes reflected the battlefield in the distance, where destruction and rebirth endlessly repeated.
"So slow."
Renzo sighed, his face showing unmistakable impatience.
"Sure, the fight's impressive. The special effects are great."
"But…"
He glanced at the priceless watch on his wrist.
"My patience has limits too."
"If they keep fighting like this, the entire island's going to get demolished. How am I supposed to develop it afterward?"
"And besides…"
Renzo rubbed his temples and yawned.
"Watching them fight is making me sleepy."
Beside him, Kizaru immediately understood and quietly shuffled farther away while muttering:
"My, my… looks like the tournament's ending early~."
Renzo slowly stood up from his lounge chair.
He did not erupt with overwhelming aura.
Nor did he shout loudly.
He simply walked to the edge of the platform and looked down upon the ruined island,
And upon Aramaki and Issho, who continued endlessly exchanging devastating attacks amidst the wreckage.
"Since you can't decide a winner…"
Renzo slowly raised his right hand, palm facing downward, and made a gentle pressing motion.
"Then all of you…"
"Go to sleep."
"Domain Release."
Renzo's voice was soft, yet in that instant, it seemed to replace every other sound in heaven and earth.
"[Slothful Heaven: Forced Hibernation]."
BUZZZZZZZZZZ!
The gray barrier that had previously only surrounded the island's perimeter as the shrinking "poison zone" suddenly underwent a transformation!
No longer did it slowly contract.
Instead, like a collapsing dam.
Like a waterfall descending from the heavens, it crashed down across the island in an instant!
Infinite gray mist carrying that overwhelming sense of laziness capable of making one sleepy at a mere glance spread across the entire Final Island at a speed beyond the laws of physics!
No blind spots and no room to evade.
At that moment, it felt as though someone had pressed pause on the island itself.
…
At the center of the battlefield, Aramaki, who had just been preparing his next ultimate attack, suddenly stiffened.
But this wasn't the stiffness caused by gravity.
It was…
An irresistible exhaustion rising from the depths of his soul.
"Yaaawn…"
Aramaki's savage expression suddenly loosened.
The furious roar he had been charging transformed into an enormous yawn instead.
"What… is…"
His eyelids suddenly felt as though two mountains were hanging from them.
Even his Logia elementalization began automatically deactivating!
The wildly growing trees around him stopped moving entirely.
Even their leaves drooped downward, as though the plants themselves had fallen asleep.
"So sleepy… why… am I so sleepy…"
Aramaki swayed weakly before collapsing to his knees.
"No… I am… Verdant Dominion…"
Opposite him, Fujitora Issho was faring no better.
"This aura…"
CLANG.
Issho's cane sword slipped from his hand and hit the ground.
His perfectly upright posture finally bent.
Gravity?
No.
This force was even more tyrannical than gravity.
It was a rule directly imposed upon the spirit itself, [I Don't Want to Move.]
"Lord Renzo… this is a little too unfair…"
Issho smiled bitterly.
His body wavered slightly before he finally failed to resist the tidal wave of drowsiness.
Slowly, he sat cross-legged upon the ground, his head nodding forward repeatedly.
"Still… since it is that man's will…"
"Then… let us sleep…"
And it wasn't just those two.
At the edge of the battlefield, Blake, who had just finished bandaging his wounds while preparing to profit from the chaos, suddenly felt the black blade in his hands become impossibly heavy.
"No… can't sleep…"
Blake bit through his own tongue and even stabbed his thigh with the tip of his sword, trying to remain conscious through pain.
"This is… the final test…"
"As long as I… stay standing…"
But the gray mist seeped into everything.
It entered every pore.
It soothed every tense nerve.
"Sleep… sleep… what's the point of trying so hard? Isn't lying down more comfortable…"
A voice seemed to whisper endlessly inside his head.
Not far away, beside the magma pool, Shelby had already collapsed shamelessly atop a warm rock, drool flowing from the corner of his mouth.
The flames around his body had long since extinguished, leaving only wisps of smoke.
"Snore… I'm… the Flame Emperor… snore…"
…
At the G-5 central live plaza.
Every spectator held their breath.
On the screens, the apocalyptic battlefield had transformed into something bizarre.
It looked as though someone had cast mass hypnosis upon the entire world.
Those overbearing monsters.
Those arrogant top-tier powerhouses.
Now each of them lay sprawled across the ground, some already snoring thunderously.
"S-so this is Lord Renzo's power?"
"Too terrifying… even admiral-level fighters can't withstand it?!"
"So this is Forced Hibernation?!"
Chief Rehn stared at the screen, swallowed hard, then picked up the microphone.
Lowering his voice instinctively, as though afraid of waking someone, he said:
"Everyone… the decisive moment has arrived…"
"Lord Renzo's domain now covers the entire island."
"Whoever can resist this divine drowsiness for even one second longer…"
"…will become the final champion!"
The camera switched repeatedly between the contestants.
Aramaki had completely collapsed, even turning into a pile of grass.
Issho sat cross-legged, breathing evenly, clearly already asleep.
Shelby… was completely unconscious.
And in the corner of the screen, one figure still trembled.
Blake.
He knelt on one knee, both hands gripping the black sword Black Fang stabbed into the ground.
His eyes were already closed.
His body shook violently as though he could collapse at any moment.
Yet he still had not fallen!
His teeth clenched so tightly they crackled, blood flowing from the corners of his mouth.
"I… still need… to become… stronger…"
"I can't… fall here…"
That obsession born from crawling upward from the bottom,
That desperate desire to change his fate,
At that moment, it miraculously began resisting Renzo's law of sloth itself!
"Even if… you're a god…"
"…you still can't… make me… sleep!!!!"
Blake roared silently within his heart.
He suddenly opened bloodshot eyes and used the very last bit of his strength to forcibly straighten his spine!
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
In the deathly silence of the arena, he stood there like a lone mountain peak,
Shaking violently, yet refusing to collapse.
Until, BEEP!!!
A crisp electronic tone shattered the silence.
The match-ending bell.
As the bell rang out, the gray barrier in the sky slowly dissipated.
Thud.
The instant the barrier vanished, Blake finally lost consciousness and collapsed backward stiffly.
But even as he fell, a victor's smile remained upon his face.
....
"He won!!"
"That rookie won!!"
"BLAKE!!!"
The livestream plaza exploded instantly!
Rehn leapt into the air excitedly.
"A miracle!! This is the miracle of willpower!!!"
"Surrounded by two monstrous Logia users and countless top-tier powerhouses!"
"Suppressed by Lord Renzo's divine domain itself!"
"And yet the one who endured until the very end…"
"…was Ghost Sword Blake!!!"
"Let us congratulate him!!"
"The champion of this tournament!!"
"And the new owner of the priceless Dark-Dark Fruit!!!"
High atop the platform, Renzo looked at the figure who had remained standing until the very end.
The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
"Not bad willpower."
Renzo stood up and stretched lazily.
"Still lacking a bit in raw strength…"
"But that ruthless determination…"
"…is worthy of that fruit."