West Blue, Ohara.
Along the coastline.
For miles around, the sea had frozen into a glacial wasteland.
Biting winds howled in unison with an overwhelming Haki, forming a temporary force strong enough to suppress even Ozz at least in appearance.
The sheer extremity of the cold could break most men. Yet here was Ozz, holding his own against Kuzan at close quarters within this icy realm a testament to the monstrous resilience of his body.
"Damn, I'm getting goosebumps. Let's wrap this up fast…"
Ozz shook out his arms, his casual, almost lazy eyes finally sharpening with a flash of menace.
"…Not just to give you a decent workout, Kuzan, but to put two years of training to the test."
Crackling lightning of black and red erupted from him pure Conqueror's Haki snapping across the sky and coiling slowly around his fist.
He turned slightly, casting a glance toward someone else.
Nearby, Mihawk was still handling a lopsided fight against a squad of officers with practiced ease.
"Oi, Hawk-Eye," Ozz called out. "You might want to back up for what's coming."
With a final, clean slash that sent a Navy rear admiral flying, Mihawk paused and looked over in surprise. A cold bead of sweat ran down his cheek.
"You're really gonna use that move now? You just set sail already going this far?"
"Yeah, well… it's been a while since I stepped out. Think of it as a little 'welcome gift' from an old hand to this new era."
A smirk crept up on Ozz's lips. The black-red lightning wreathing his arm grew thicker, more intense.
Their brief exchange left everyone else stunned. Kuzan, already forced back once, narrowed his eyes. Even the officers still struggling against Mihawk were confused and hesitant.
But before they could act, the unthinkable happened.
The infamous "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk suddenly disengaged, no longer interested in the fight. With a sweep of brilliant green sword aura, he pushed his opponents back and retreated inland.
And then.
A crushing pressure slammed into every brain like a sledgehammer!
The sensation was primal. Terrifying. It made your scalp crawl.
Death?!
What the hell is happening?!
All eyes turned, almost instinctively, toward the center of the battlefield.
And there stood that terrifying figure once more.
Ozz, already formidable now shrouded in storming black-and-red lightning that no longer resembled bolts…
It looked like a thunderstorm had taken human shape.
This time, it wasn't just Conqueror's Haki it was a full release. No restraint. No filter.
Vice admirals and commodores closer to the epicenter were already half-kneeling, forced to the ground under the suffocating pressure. They used their swords as crutches just to stay upright, their faces contorted in agony.
And if the outer ring of the battlefield was like this, imagine the horror Kuzan now faced in the eye of the storm.
Even through his sunglasses, the astonishment in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"This feeling…"
His voice was almost hoarse.
"Oi, oi, oi you shouldn't know that move! Ozz the Black Gun!!"
Ozz didn't answer. His eyes glowed crimson, his smile now tinged with something darker. Predatory.
"Sorry, Kuzan. But this time, you're not getting away."
The black-red thunderstorm compressing around him began to collapse inward converging into his fist.
At the very peak of compression, a searing red glow ignited around his hand.
No… not a glow. Not merely light.
A sun.
It pulsed like a condensed star just like the lasers of Borsalino, only far, far more devastating.
And even though it was broad daylight, that crimson light lit up the coastline like a second dawn.
Then, in a blink.
He was gone.
The crushing weight vanished. The battlefield officers, still in a daze, staggered to their feet, looking around in confusion.
All but Kuzan. His face was slick with sweat, eyes wide, mouth agape. He stared upward in pure dread.
Noticing his reaction, others followed his gaze and nearly dropped on the spot.
"Wh-what… is that…?"
"...The sun?!"
A glowing red orb hung high above, tens of thousands of meters in the sky.
It wasn't falling.
It was plummeting.
Like the sun itself was about to crash into the world.
BOOOOM!!!
It hit.
No one could outrun it. No one could hide.
Even the future-sight users who could anticipate the blow had nowhere to go.
"I've seen this attack more times than I can count," Ozz's voice echoed in Kuzan's ears.
"From the day Garp started hunting me as a kid, to now I've seen it a thousand times. How could I not learn it?
"Back then, my Conqueror's Haki was too raw. But now? Now I've come into my own, Kuzan!"
Though still technically a "rookie," Ozz's raw power without the aid of a Devil Fruit or enhanced Observation had already breached the threshold of Emperor-level strength.
He had stepped into the realm of the world's true titans.
"What a terrifying man…"
Even Mihawk, now a full kilometer away and watching from the safety of the inland ridge, couldn't help but mutter with admiration. Cold sweat dripped from his jaw.
No matter how many times he saw it it was still insane.
"Fist of the Galaxy Impact!!!"
The crimson cross-shaped flare slammed into the earth, and for a moment.
Silence.
Then.
The shockwave.
An inferno of radiant destruction exploded outward, razing everything in a vast radius.
This wasn't just brute strength.
It was like watching a human warhead detonate.
Though not as catastrophic as Garp's all-out island-destroying punch, the terrain within several kilometers was utterly shredded.
The dust cloud rose to the heavens, and the entire coastline looked like a scene out of the apocalypse.
Civilians in Ohara's interior stared in mute horror.
Even Navy ships and CP agents floating offshore stood frozen, jaws agape, unable to process what they were seeing.
"D-dead… we're all dead…"
Onboard one of the battleships, Spandine normally pompous and smug was now sobbing, nose running, half-kneeling on the deck.
He stared at the site of the detonation in absolute terror.
The orders of the noble Saint Topman Warcury, the Elder of Justice among the Five, rang in his ears. But now, fear overtook everything else…
Suddenly, he scrambled to his feet and shouted at the CP agents beside him:
"Tell the Navy ships move in on Ohara now!
By order of the World Government, we must stop this battle immediately!"
The surrounding agents, still reeling from the clash of titans, paled.
Wait...what?
Stop the battle?
Us?
When no one moved, Spandine nearly lost it. He pulled out his pistol and pointed it at a nearby agent's head, snot and tears still streaking down his face.
"I said MOVE! This is a direct order! Until we get a clear grasp of the situation.
We… we can't afford to start a war with Black Gun Ozz!!!"
----------------------------------------------------
(We hit the goal, thank you all for the amazing support!! ^^)
[ Preview for the next chapter: "The Weight Behind the World's Greatest Sniper"
A crater a kilometer wide. Vice Admirals reduced to ash. And in the center of the devastation Kuzan, broken and bloodied, not by chance… but by choice.
As the smoke clears, Akainu enters the battlefield, a walking volcano of molten fury. But Ozz isn't done yet.
No blades. No fists. Just one sniper.One bullet.One warning.
When the World's Greatest Sniper takes aim, not even magma can save you.
The true terror isn't the punch. It's the shot you never see. ]
(We're a hundred chapters deep on P@treon. Out here, the war's just starting. In there? It's already on fire.)
Impatient? Same. Hit up my P@treon for future chaos!
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