"Excellent!" Akainu's teeth gnashed in fury. He remembered all too well that these were the same brats who had ambushed him earlier.
"Then die!"
"Great Eruption!"
"Suppress!" Drake raised his hand again.
Akainu felt a crushing weight descend upon his back once more. But who was he? A Marine Admiral—he didn't reach this position by being a pushover.
"Hrragh...!" Akainu struggled with all his might, straining against the invisible force until he finally held his ground.
With a loud THUD, Akainu's legs sank deep into the ice. Despite his immense strength, his face twisted into a mask of pure agony. The pressure was clearly far beyond what any ordinary human could endure.
CRACK!
The sound of something shattering echoed again. Akainu felt the weight vanish. He immediately launched a gargantuan magma fist at Drake.
"Solidify!"
Drake's lips curled into a smirk as he raised a hand.
"Again!?" Akainu felt his arm being encased in an invisible prison, forcing it to plummet uncontrollably.
BOOM!
The punch missed Drake, slamming into the ice before him instead. Drake leaped back, putting distance between them. The once-solid ice was now a gaping hole, the frost utterly vaporized by the magma's heat. Akainu leaped back up onto the remaining ledge.
He was a Marine Admiral; anyone else would have been submerged in the sea by now.
BOOM!
Having broken free of the restraint, Akainu didn't dare act recklessly. They were above the ocean; if he fell into the water, even he was finished. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, and he flashed a mocking grin at Drake.
"None of you are getting back alive." With that, he turned and ran.
Drake: "???"
Luffy and the others were equally baffled. He had just finished making a grand, threatening speech—why was he running away?
They soon watched in horror as Akainu's hands began to erupt with magma. He started a frantic, systematic assault on the ice within the bay. The massive sheets of frost began to melt at a visible rate, accompanied by a chorus of screams from the pirates.
He launched one massive magma fist after another. Because of the earlier retreat, the Whitebeard Pirates and their allied crews were now concentrated near the mouth of the bay. Akainu's goal was clear: mass slaughter.
Furthermore, because the battlefield was made of ice, Fruit users could fight at full capacity. Akainu was clearing the field of Devil Fruit users by taking away their footing!
His earlier exchange with Drake had left him frustrated; the boy's strange ability was too slippery to pin down. But this...
"Great Eruption!"
Though it would catch some Marines in the crossfire, Akainu didn't care. As long as the pirates were eliminated, any sacrifice was worth it. He unleashed a massive strike directly at Drake.
The ice within the bay was now largely destroyed. While some Marines were caught in the chaos, the brunt of the attack fell on the pirates. Akainu was ruthless, but he wasn't stupid.
The ice around Drake was almost entirely gone, yet he remained as steady as a mountain.
"First Son of the Sea, Jinbe!" Drake called out, his back still turned to his brothers. "I'm entrusting Luffy to you for a moment."
With Jinbe there, Drake knew that even in the open sea, Luffy would be safe. Before his voice even faded, Drake lunged forward to meet the attack.
"Descent of the Immortal Bloom!"
Countless flower petals soared into the wind, meeting Akainu's ultimate move head-on. Magma sparks and crimson petals collided, creating a beautiful yet deadly masterpiece in the sky.
Petal fragments drifted down, igniting into tiny, inextinguishable flames as they touched the water. Akainu's offensive was brutal; the moment a petal touched the magma, it was shredded. But more petals surged from Drake's blade in a seemingly endless stream. Old petals fell, and new ones were born.
"He... he's actually blocking an Admiral's attack head-on!" Every Marine watching was shaken to the core. This wasn't some trick or evasion; this was a clash of raw power!
Akainu's face was ashen. He glared at Drake, and his power surged again! Soon, the rate of the petals' birth could no longer keep up with their destruction. The stalemate broke, and the magma began to push toward Drake.
"Drake!" Luffy screamed in panic.
Drake remained unmoved. He said only one thing: "Take Luffy and get out of here."
In the next instant, Drake vanished.
He reappeared at Akainu's left flank. Rainbow's Remnant had already closed in on Akainu's neck. The blade radiated an intense heat, coated in a massive layer of Armament Haki.
Drake was holding nothing back!
After eating the Devil Fruit, his abilities had undergone a qualitative metamorphosis. It wasn't just about cultivation or raw strength; it was about his "Combat Prowess."
His first ability had awakened: Space.
Why did he think of it as the "first"? Because Drake could feel that his power was far more than just this. Currently, he could use two techniques. The first was Spatial Shackling. He could manipulate "invisible walls," essentially compressing space. This was how he had stalled Akainu earlier. Anyone caught off guard by the weight of hardened space would find their movements restricted. Even an Admiral was no exception.
To Drake, this felt like a more versatile version of Admiral Fujitora's gravity—gravity is invisible, and so is space. He just couldn't call down meteors... yet.
The second ability was the true "cheat code" of spatial power: Teleportation.
This skill was tied directly to his cultivation—as were all his abilities. From the fruit's information, Drake learned that the strength of the ability was dictated by his own power level. For now, he could move instantaneously and without obstruction within a ten-meter radius.
In a duel, this was a lethal advantage. A sharp blade combined with the speed of teleportation made him a phantom of death.
Drake's strike arrived in an instant. Rainbow's Remnant was searingly hot, yet its edge gleamed with a cold, sharp light.
"Eight Desolations Sweep!"
There was no warning. There was no mercy.
Through the precise calculation of his Detector, Drake could see the power of his strike: [Attack Power: 7,200]
This was the strongest value Drake had seen outside of the Admirals, Emperors, and the legendary veterans like Garp and Sengoku. Even Marco, the First Division Commander, sat at around 6,600 in a standard state. This proved beyond a doubt that Drake had reached the level of a top-tier Emperor's Commander.
Drake's movement was a blur—fast to the point of being a mirage. By the time the crowd realized he was gone, he was already behind Akainu.
Akainu's body, from his neck down to his left chest, split open, and a massive spray of magma erupted!
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