What was it like to be one of the most personally powerful people in the world? As a younger man there had been numerous places he couldn't go, numerous boundaries he couldn't cross, but now, Admiral Aokiji lived life knowing that there was very little in the world that could stop him.
The novelty had worn off years ago. Once upon a time he had felt a thrill when he stepped into the hallowed halls of Mariejois, or perhaps even some personal pride at having come so far with his life. Even a sense of danger. One mistake on his part could be enough to earn the ire of the Nobility, and then it would be his death sentence.
You'd think that would have made him feel wary, but all he felt now was exhaustion.
The man known as Kuzan in a past life sat in a windowed alcove in a sitting room of the World Government Headquarters- his long limbs making him look like an adult sitting at a children's table. He looked out the window over the miles of empty air that separated them from the ocean below, here at the peak of the world.
He'd never been more restless.
It wasn't like he'd die if the government tried to kill him anyway. What could they do to him? At any moment he could just jump off a cliff and leave. He could go anywhere in the world, and there were very few people in it that could fight him and expect to live.
There were even fewer who could stop him from running.
Yeah… leaving this gig was always an option if things went bad. He'd known that from the beginning, but somehow there had always been something more important riding on his shoulders.
The creak of an opening door signified that the previous meeting was over, and Kuzan stood, stretching his limbs and favoring his still-healing wounded side. Old men poured from the regally-appointed conference room, leaving only the Fleet Admiral inside.
Well, one thing would always stay the same no matter how powerful he became. Meetings.
Aokiji walked into the room, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku rose to meet him.
"Oh, good," said Sengoku, "You're on time. I didn't expect that!"
"It was this or paperwork. Still a tough choice."
Sengoku nodded, as if this were an undeniable fact.
"How's the wound?" he asked.
Aokiji shrugged. "They say I'm already good to go, but they recommend giving it another week so it doesn't reopen. Frankly, I think a little time off is just what I needed."
Sengoku gave him a chilling glare. "Not to sound insensitive, but it would be best if your next time off was on the schedule. Not due to injuries or general laziness."
"Hey, it is what it is."
"True enough… That reminds me, though, we wanted to get your opinion on a couple things we've heard on Water-7 recently. I know you've heard the report on Teach, but-"
He was interrupted by a loud and raucous ringing that froze him mid-sentence. By this time in his career he had grown quite good at speaking over incoming calls, but this was different. This came from the emergency line, a bright red snail mounted near a display in the corner of the room. They both looked up in surprise, and a moment later his secretary dashed up to the door, clearly having run all the way from the office.
Sengoku stood up, rushing over to the phone with a horrible mix of displeasure and reluctant determination, muttering a mantra under his breath.
"Don't be Garp- Don't be Garp- Don't be Garp…"
The display identified the caller immediately. Saint Charloss, one of the World's Nobility. With pained resignation he picked up the snail, and a voice began screaming at him mid-sentence.
"-completely overrun! Useless guards! I'll sell every last one of them in the auction!"
"Your Holiness, this is Fleet Admiral Sengoku. What's the situation?"
"We're under attack, you useless worm! Aren't the Marines supposed to be stopping this kind of thing?! Useless, useless, useless!"
He beckoned his secretary over to work the display, and she hurried to pull up information being sent across the secure link. Soon, they'd have the location his Snail ID was broadcasting from.
"Your Holiness, we will be sending assistance immediately. Who is attacking you?"
"Are you blind?!" shouted the nobleman. "There are zombies swarming over the bulwark! Pay attention for once in your damned life! Before that, come save me!"
Sengoku paused for a moment to glance over at the screen. The nobleman's ship had gone off its planned route and had ventured closer to the Florian Triangle than was good for him. As Sengoku processed this, the nobleman continued.
"Wait… WAIT! They're clawing at the doors! Oh! Oh no! They're getting inside! They're getting their rotten flesh on my carpets! No! NOOOO! I DON'T DESERVE THIS! AAAAHHH! AHHH! AAAAIIIEEEEEAAARRRRGGGHHH- *CLICK*"
Sengoku stared down uselessly at the receiver, a deep feeling of dread filling him. Not out of concern for the victim- no, certainly not that- but out of concern for his free time.
This was, quite possibly, one of the absolute worst things that could have happened. The nobility would be out for blood, and the Shichibukai would be the target of their wrath.
As he stood frozen, his assistant recorded all the necessary information. Moments passed, and then Aokiji stepped up behind him.
"Moria? Attacking a Celestial Dragon? Why would he do this? That's not his style, not by a long shot."
"No," grunted Sengoku. "But it doesn't matter to us right now. We have to respond either way. A second member of the Shichibukai betraying the World Government in less than two months? And killing a nobleman, no less…"
Aokiji shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what will come of this, but I guess that means you'll have to send me out there."
"No," interrupted a rumbling voice from the room's entrance. "You'll send me instead."
They looked up and saw Admiral Akainu standing in the doorway. He had a determined flame in his eyes.
"What?" asked Aokiji. "You hate getting involved with the Celestial Dragons. You've never made that a secret."
"No secret needed. You're wounded. It should be me that goes."
Aokiji patted his side. "What, this? I appreciate the offer to take the lead here but something like this is hardly going to stop me from taking down Moria. Unless… you think this is fishy too?"
"I do," grumbled Akainu. "You know that Akatsuki was seen leaving Water-7 for the Florian Triangle just days ago."
Sengoku peered suspiciously at his subordinate. "Akatsuki? What would they have to do with a zombie attack? Sakazuki, I thought you didn't think they were anything special?"
"That was before I smelled blood in the water," said Akainu. "Now I do. Call it a hunch. If it is them then they'll be ready for Kuzan. They won't be ready for me."
Sengoku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Need I remind the two of you that this transmission had a valid ID signal from Saint Charloss' chip? Dr. Vegapunk has assured us that faking it is absolutely impossible. That means someone did attack him with zombies."
"Like I said. A hunch."
Sengoku continued thinking. A moment passed, and then-
"Alright, maybe it is best to keep Kuzan out of this if he's wounded. Get out there as soon as possible, and get your ships to follow you. But remember, the Nobility received that transmission as well, and Saint Roswald is going to be believing his son shouting about zombies before he listens to any 'hunch'. If it wasn't Moria after all, then find proof, or else."
He paused.
"And please, even if it looks like it was him, please try to find proof that it wasn't."
Then Sengoku turned to his secretary. "I didn't say that."
"Of course not, sir," agreed the woman.
Akainu turned on his heels and walked away, saying only, "Don't tell me how to do my job."
-Two Days Later-
They'd been chasing the Nobleman's nimble ship for two days, and it had barely kept ahead of them the entire way into the Florian Triangle. There it had disappeared, a feat that only lent further credence to the idea that Moria was behind this.
If this was Moria's plan, that is. It was highly unlikely Moria would have attacked the Celestial Dragon's ship by mistake, but if he had then he certainly knew by now the gravity of what he had done.
It didn't matter. There would be no chance of leniency.
"Admiral Sakazuki! We're approaching Thriller Bark's last known location!"
"Understood," said the Admiral, leaving the task of finding the damn place to his captains.
The difficult part of searching for something inside the Florian Triangle was the weather. If it weren't for the fact that Moria was a notorious figure residing on a ship the size of an island, finding Thriller Bark would be next to impossible.
There was no point to keeping an eye out himself, so he didn't. He stayed indoors, letting his Marines do their jobs. They knew how to do this, and they didn't need him taking that experience away from them. By Naval tradition, even his flagship had its own Captain, a necessity given the need for the Admiralty to engage opponents personally. This meant that Sakazuki's only responsibilities were to give orders to the fleet as a whole and fight as the living weapon that he was. And so he waited, looking distinctly bored as he did so.
Sometimes he had to feign boredom to keep Marines from panicking in difficult situations, but he didn't have to feign anything here. This place was dreary.
Hours passed in the search before the communication snails reported Captain Threeweather had sighted land. That's when his officers looked to him.
"We're ready right now. All ships proceed as planned. Be ready to fire on the island, but hold your fire until I give the word."
They advanced.
"Sir, I don't like this," growled his flagship Captain. "There's been no sign of Perona's ghosts so far. Normally we would have seen them by now."
"That's alright. That's not a surprise to me," responded the Admiral.
"Sir?"
"Don't worry. Just thinking to myself."
It was just minutes before the mile-high mast of Thriller Bark came into sight through the fog, followed shortly thereafter by the island's massive exterior walls. This island-ship was a monstrosity, but it gave Moria certain advantages.
"Sir! Incoming fire from the island!"
The sight of incoming cannonfire was soon followed by the noise of the tremendous artillery pieces mounted on the outer wall firing from extreme long-range. Unfortunately, no matter how large of a fleet he had brought with him, Thriller Bark was miles wide, and it could afford to mount much longer-ranged cannons than his ships could.
"I'll be out on deck," ordered the Admiral, standing from his seat. "Keep us together."
Stepping out onto the deck, he passed ratings and officers dashing here and there. At this range, almost every shot was missing, but as a cannonball struck a nearby battleship several greenhorns covered their heads in surprise. They changed their behavior as the towering figure of Sakazuki walked past, finding new reserves of courage.
Good. He wouldn't have any weakness among his men and women.
It'd be another few minutes of suffering the bombardment before their fleet came in range of their own guns, but he could fix that. He walked to the prow of his flagship and took a deep breath, stretching his red suit wide. Then he jumped into the air.
[RYUSEI KAZAN]
[METEOR VOLCANO]
A storm of punches lashed out, each strike transforming into a burning lump of magma that soared ahead of the ships. Hundreds of them appeared, covering the entire frontal arc of the fleet for a mile ahead. Where the fists landed the ocean exploded in great gouts of steam, instantly transforming the skyline into an impenetrable fog.
He landed lightly back on deck, a few brave ratings using the plentiful firefighting tools to douse the droplets of magma that had returned with their Admiral.
Immediately, Thriller Bark's guns lost their accuracy, and the fleet proceeded onwards into the mist.
Well, at least whoever was on that island knew the seriousness of the situation. Would Akatsuki have been able to man those guns alone? Perhaps, but perhaps not.
In moments his flagship captain was at his shoulder, waiting for the orders he knew would be coming. Sakazuki turned to face him.
"All ships will advance at maximum speed," he said. "Take out those guns and make landfall as soon as practical. Make a beachhead, but beyond that don't push in further until I contact you. I'll be moving in beforehand."
His captain saluted, and then Admiral Sakazuki stepped overboard.
Sakazuki emerged from the cloud of steam absolutely unscathed. From his feet poured an endless stream of magma floating upon a thin cloud of energetic steam. He folded air inside himself to reduce his density, and the trail of pumice and black smoke grew with each step he took toward the island. The cannonfire turned his way, and he let it strike him, each hit splattering more and more of the burning material around him until the sea itself seemed to turn black.
Thriller Bark's intense artillery might have never been intended to turn itself on one person, but the Admiral wasn't even bothering to dodge. He continued to walk until he wad being hit almost once a second, his form becoming more and more distorted until 'walking' was no longer even appropriate to describe his movement. A malevolent monster made of crawling magma advanced on the island-ship surrounded by a cloud of steam, smoke, and chipped obsidian.
He had no doubt that this wasn't all his opponents had to offer, but the fact that they had even bothered to attempt such an attack was insulting.
The bombardment slackened as he approached the outer walls of the island-ship itself, the massive wooden gates disintegrating to ash as he walked through without effort. Once inside the inner walls, he continued towards the island, the cannonfire resuming as the inward-mounted weaponry began firing. Sakazuki paid it no heed, continuing to move and flow across the calm inner-sea until he passed out of range of the weaponry.
Finally, he stepped onto land, the withered grass burning from his arrival. Bare trees and crumbling gravestones extended in every direction. Everything was quiet.
Thriller Bark was a place that had been thoroughly corrupted by Moria's influence, being gloomy by nature and guarded by his legions of shadow-zombies. For each zombie, however, there was a corresponding living person that lacked a shadow, and Sakazuki knew that most of them lived on this island. There wasn't a hint of either group's presence.
It was looking more and more like his hunch might be right.
Sakazuki moved onward across the island, past crumbling walls, mouldering crypts, and decrepit cemeteries until he entered the mansion built into the ship's enormous mast. He passed through gothic architecture and stone halls lit with torches. Throughout all of it he hadn't seen or sensed a single figure, living or dead. Observation Haki wasn't his strongest skill, but his range was still more than a hundred feet in most directions.
Wait. He had a signal at the end of a long hallway. He turned his head, and the signal vanished, flitting out of range.
Sakazuki closed his eyes, instantly regretting his mistake. An amateur might not have even thought twice about it, but he had just made an error. Someone had attempted to discern the range of his Haki, and he'd given them just what they wanted. This wasn't Moria's style. It was definitely Akatsuki.
Well, that was fine. Compared to when Admiral Aokiji had fought them, he was both stronger and he had an abundance of intelligence as to their powers. There was no point to this lurking about any further.
"Come on out," he said, his voice projecting through the gloomy corridors, "I'm not interested in playing games here."
There was a pause, and then a rumbling noise.
A torrential flood of high-pressure water poured forth from three different hallways as if the entire area had been connected directly to the ocean depths. Akainu watched the oncoming flood in annoyance. Flesh bubbling, he sprayed magma in each direction, forming three burning walls of stone that completely blocked the water from floor to ceiling.
The torrent struck the walls with a sizzling crash. Then each wall shook again and again from some unknown impact. Sparing a glance to the cracking walls, Sakazuki exploded upwards like a rocket, disintegrating the ceiling with his incandescent passage just before the three magma walls below him shattered, filling the area with water.
Akainu erupted into the Main Ballroom, a large open hall that probably covered the entire width of the massive mast. He'd also arrived directly in the middle of a tremendous cubic force field that was just now flickering into place around him.
He grinned. Playing right into their hand so far, huh?
He sealed the hole he had come through and decided to test the field's strength. A blast of magma that should have torn a hole through a battleship instead rebounded with a crackling crash.
In a single instant, the floor was pierced in several places by high pressure water jets, and water resumed rushing in through the newly-formed gaps. Getting above the rising waters, Akainu resumed his earlier ascent, pouring magma downward to shoot into the air on a pillar of burning rock that unfolded into a stone flower.
He raised his hands to the sky, his body transforming completely as he gathered his power.
[BAKURETSU: HANABIRA JIGOKU]
[EXPLOSION: HELL OF FLOWER PETALS]
Magma popped and hissed from his raised hands, scattering in great clouds all throughout the inside of the shield like stone petals. In seconds there wasn't an inch of space that hadn't seen waves of burning petals pass through it. The petals sizzled as they struck the water and exploded in tremendous gouts of steam. Soon, the noise was as deafening as being in the center of a roomful of bursting grenades.
His burning rain outpaced the rising waters, converting everything inside to a hell of steam that raised the heat and air pressure to unsurvivable levels. That was just the start, and he continued pouring his assault into the air.
Five seconds after beginning the attack the floor began to cave in and the shield began to develop cracks.
Five seconds after that, the shield exploded from the devastating air pressure. The noise was less of a sound and more of a murderous wave that ripped through the ballroom. Fragments of cooling volcanic rock blasted like shrapnel from a bomb, and the entire ballroom area disintegrated, parts of the thick stone walls ripped apart like confetti and tossed far away across the island.
Slowly losing its support, the grand central mast, more than a mile tall, cracked and listed slightly to its side. There it stopped.
It was several minutes before the aftermath settled down enough for the Admiral to evaluate the situation. He was still alone amidst the wreckage, and no one from Akatsuki had followed up the attack.
He smirked. It was truly the mark of an inexperienced newcomer to the world stage that they would try water on him. He'd grown a hundred times as powerful since he'd first obtained his fruit, and water only grew easier to deal with. The weakness only kicked in when submerged in unbroken water, and at this point he could step into a pool and turn it to steam before even a single drop touched his skin.
This had been an impressive showing, but if this was an assassination attempt then it had failed. If it had instead been meant to test his power, then it had been moderately effective, but he had a great deal more in reserve. It hadn't even made him sweat.
Still, this evasive treatment was growing irksome. He didn't sense any of the members of Akatsuki, either. Time to report this.
Sighing, he reached into his jacket and pulled out his portable Den-Den Mushi. He lifted the receiver, and then the tiny creature imploded, smashed into pulp from a force that shoved his hand away.
His head shot up, but no one was around.
Damn, these bastards were sneaky. Tobi had gotten a bead on him, and he still wasn't even sure where the man had been watching from.
Alright then. Though they were out of his normal Haki range, they were definitely nearby. Perhaps he could do something about that. Taking a breath, he focused, extending his awareness of the world to its limit. Like this, he could get another ten or twenty percent out of his Haki.
He felt a bright silhouette duck just out of range at the mid-point of a series of what felt like deep tunnels. This time, Sakazuki gave no notice that he had discovered them, opening his eyes and walking off in that general direction.
Eventually stopping over the location of the hidden tunnels, he dissolved into magma, melting into the floor and hitting the lower level in a pile of burning slag.
There. He had surprised one of them, and they were still rushing out of his range. The Admiral pursued his target like the hound he was named for, running down the halls and advancing towards whatever unknown destination his target was retreating to. They descended further and further, and as he advanced the temperature dropped, ice crystals forming along the walls.
Finally, the hall ended in an ajar door from which glacial air poured in a wicked, biting wind. He paused, and his target disappeared into the distance.
He smiled. Oh, so predictable. First water, and now ice.
He stepped inside, and suddenly he knew that he had found the true largest room in the island.
He'd also found one of the largest creatures he had ever seen.
The room was a cavernous freezer, with multiple levels of thick iron catwalks that surrounded a ridiculously huge red-skinned giant covered in stitches. It was frozen down to the bone from its long stay in this cold-room, but Sakazuki could still sense the faintest signature of power from inside it, as if some tiny fragment of its indomitable life force was even now still preserved.
Wait. He recognized this creature. One of Whitebeard's subordinates, Oars Jr., was an odd giant variety very much like this. Then again, if he was the Junior, then this creature might very well be the daddy. Oars itself was at least two hundred and fifty feet tall.
Just what in the world had Moria been working on in here? Clearly, Moria was not in control of this ambush, or Sakazuki would never have been led this way.
He laughed. Still, a freezer? Really. This was Akatsuki's plan?
"I'm disappointed," said Akainu, projecting his gruff voice to be heard throughout the immense freezer, "Is this your strategy? Fight fire with ice? I'm not a slab of meat- I'm a volcano. I don't even feel the cold. Why don't you just come out already."
No response. His voice echoed throughout the room.
Once again, he extended his senses. Slowly, he made out another figure on a floor far above him, glowing brightly in his sight. The figure's aura brought its hands together.
[SUITON: DAI BAKUSUI SHOUHA]
[WATER RELEASE: GREAT EXPLODING WATER COLLIDING WAVE]
Once again, a stupendous amount of water appeared as if from nowhere, spilling out from above as intensely as some of the great waterfalls he'd seen in his life.
What, were they planning to fill up the freezer and drown him?
Scoffing, the Admiral exploded into motion, leaping off of his platform and passing through the curtain of falling water to the frozen figure of Oars, then rebounding off of the giant's frozen flesh straight for the man who was summoning the water. It was a Fish-Man wearing Akatsuki robes, and the water was being created directly in front of his body as if by magic.
Ah, the same technique as before, only larger.
Flying towards Kisame, Akainu speared straight into the jet of water, heat on full-blast as a river's worth of it flashed to steam. Still keeping most of his momentum, he punched out with a lance of hardening volcanic rock that pierced through the torrent of liquid, completely destroying Kisame's chest in a single strike.
Kisame wavered for a moment, then collapsed into a puddle of water.
Hmm… That would be one of their clone techniques, then. It seemed to be a more widespread ability than was originally hoped. Surely they couldn't all do that? Either way, if these water techniques were ever to fall into the hands of the Fish-Men, they could pose a serious danger for land-dwellers everywhere. Yet another reason to thoroughly rein in the Elemental Kingdoms before they caused more trouble.
The room was now thick with steam. Still, one thing hadn't changed: no one was showing themselves.
"You think this is clever?" he asked of the warming air, "You must think you've got quite the effective weapon against Fruit-Users, being able to summon water out of thin air, but you've got nothing. Any high-level Fruit-User worth a damn has a dozen countermeasures for dealing with water."
Still nothing. No sound at all except for spilling water and the frantic whirring of overworked refrigeration machinery.
"Is this how we're going to spend today?!" he called out. "I have business to attend to besides your little group, and I'm not above moving to immediately sink this island!"
Still nothing. This was getting irritating.
Suddenly, a polite cough from directly behind him made him whirl in place. The man in the driftwood mask, Tobi, was just sixty feet away. He had appeared so suddenly that Akainu hadn't even noticed him with his Haki.
"Hello! I'm Tobi! It's nice to finally meet-"
[DAIFUNKA]
[GREAT ERUPTION]
Not waiting for Tobi to finish, he pivoted and threw a fist of magma that burned the air like a sulfurous meteor. It should have blown a hole in the entire tower, but as soon as his magma reached Tobi it disappeared into the strange field that surrounded the man.
Of course, the field had absorbed ice just fine, but he'd wondered if it would have more trouble with something with a bit of mass to it, like molten rock. Didn't look that way.
"Err, like I was saying, it's nice to finally-"
[RYUSEI KAZAN]
[METEOR VOLCANO]
Akainu leapt into the air, and if his earlier attack had been a meteor then this was a meteor storm. Everything around Tobi was targeted by a crashing flurry of lava fists. The ones that came close to him disappeared just as completely as the other one had, but the rest dug deep molten pits into the thickly insulated wall.
It looked like Tobi's absorption range was about six feet or so. Pretend it's twelve just to be safe. If he allowed Tobi to get inside that range there would be only his hand-to-hand skills to stop the man from doing the same thing to him that the rumors had said he'd done to Teach. A single touch on the head had been all it had taken to put Teach down for good, and there was no assurance it could only be done on the head.
"Ummm… listen," started Tobi, walking forward to close the range, "If you could just stop shooting super-moves at me for a second-"
[YATSUKA NO TSURUGI]
[EIGHT-HAND SWORD]
Sakazuki sliced out with his arm, a blade of white-hot lava shearing through the catwalk Tobi was standing on and sending spattered streams of melted iron his way. Leaping backwards, Tobi dodged the burning spray by jumping all the way back to the wall.
"Well, geez!" exclaimed Tobi. "No wonder no one wanted to come out and talk to you! You're a big meanie!"
Tobi stretched out his hand and wrenched the Admiral off his feet. Abruptly, he was flying towards Tobi as if gravity had been turned sideways.
Before he could get in range of the Akatsuki leader's absorption technique, Sakazuki threw another magma fist then exploded, sending a thousand pieces of himself in numerous directions. Tobi dodged the fist, paused to absorb the spray, and then readjusted his pull, but he managed to catch only a few blobs here and there.
"Hey! No fair!" shouted Tobi petulantly, looking back and forth in confusion.
There was a pause in the battle as the Admiral watched his target from a number of vantage points. For the next few seconds he was a part of every blob of that magma and he would have some leeway when it came to which one would reform his body.
Kuzan's instincts had been right. Tobi couldn't or wouldn't use two of his techniques at the same time. Whenever he tried to push or pull, he also tried to dodge attacks rather than absorb them. Testing that further might be dangerous, but the risk might be worth it.
Tobi had also jumped back from the spray of molten iron even though he hadn't been using any other techniques at the time, which was even more interesting. There was apparently a difference between his magma and normal material that he had heated. Normal materials couldn't be absorbed.
Ah. Yes, then there was a way around this, wasn't there?
Sakazuki emerged from the underside of the catwalk above Tobi, spinning to wrap himself in an armor of molten iron. As it coated his skin, he sprayed a layer of viscous magma on the ceiling and fell next to Tobi with a tremendous thump. Though Akainu's head was completely covered in iron, his Haki was able to show him his opponent's bright aura.
He stood up, clad from head to toe in red-hot armor, and he advanced like a burning paladin.
Looking concerned at the crusader's advance, Tobi pushed out with his power. Akainu halted in place, and then the first rivulets of magma fell from the ceiling. Shouting in pained surprise, Tobi switched to absorption and the Admiral entered melee range.
His ironclad fists struck out with the skill of a world-class prize-fighter. Tobi was almost four feet shorter than him, and the difference in their reach was insurmountable.
The first right hook took Tobi by surprise, his blocking arm fracturing from the impact. Wincing in pain, Tobi danced backwards through the streams of lava, frantically deflecting blows, but Sakazuki's limbs were living rock coated in pig-iron and each attack was delivered with the force of a sledgehammer.
Tobi's absorption seemed to be able to ignore the heat from his blows, but it couldn't stop the bone-breaking force of his hits, and every strike was on-target. Every one of Tobi's movements sung out to him in the fever of his Haki, letting him predict every step the man would take and every hand he would raise. Every time the Akatsuki leader tried to leave the dripping shower of magma, Akainu was ready with a grab or kick, herding him back into place to continue the assault.
Abruptly, something changed. Tobi moved in a way he hadn't expected. He dodged two hits in a row, approaching the edge of the lava field and freedom. Focusing hard, Akainu regained control, stepping in and continuing the assault successfully.
The iron covering his mouth evaporated in an instant , allowing him to speak.
"What are you doing, Tobi?" he growled as he continued to press the attack.
Tobi stumbled sideways at just the right time to avoid a hit.
"I'm… OW! I'm trying to fight you," said Tobi, "-but Danzou keeps throwing knives at me!"
The iron over Sakazuki's eyes disappeared next, and he saw a throwing knife fly over his shoulder, forcing Tobi to dodge in just the right way. Apparently, the knives were what was making his Haki give him bad data.
Akainu backed off, casting a glare backward off into the distance.
Deadeye Danzou was watching them intently from a higher level on the opposite side of the freezer, red eye uncovered to show a pupil shaped like a three-pronged pinwheel.
Was this the technique that Admiral Kuzan had said was used to disable his Haki? No, that had supposedly been painful. Since Danzou was outside the range of his Haki, he was using throwing knives to direct the battle as an influence immune to future sight.
He'd never seen anything quite like it, and he was a veteran of these kinds of fights.
But, how was Danzou predicting their movements so perfectly? Did he have Haki as well?
"Ugh," interrupted Tobi, cradling his wounded limbs as he backed out of the dripping lava. "Okay, hang on a moment... I've just got to fix this..."
Danzou was throwing a knife right now, actually. The distance between them meant that it took a second to arrive. What was that knife meant to interrupt?
Oh, of course. He would have attacked Tobi if he hadn't seen the knife. But any future sight was limited by the time difference between committing the action and its execution. That meant Sakazuki had a full second to change his mind after seeing the incoming projectile.
And there was always one cardinal rule among users of Observation Haki: it didn't matter if you could see ten seconds into the future if you were too slow to stop what you saw coming.
Danzou saw the path of the future change immediately.
"TOBI!" shouted Danzou, but it was too late.
[SORU]
The Admiral moved faster than a bullet, arriving at the very moment Tobi was distracted by the incoming knife. He grabbed the man by the throat with one molten hand, lifting Tobi into the air. Tobi choked, absorbing magma as fast as it was produced, but unable to do anything about the hand that held him there.
This was the true test. Could Tobi perform his kill technique while also absorbing the fatal magma? Sakazuki stood a razor's edge from death, and it was so rare these days that anyone could give him that thrill of uncertainty.
Three choking and gasping seconds passed as Tobi kicked and clawed at his throat with broken arms, and Sakazuki smiled.
"You're losing, Tobi… Drop that field for even an instant and your head will be a charred stump. I don't think your healing will let you recover from that... Why not try it anyway? Be a Good-Boy, and die for me."
The drain from Tobi's field was noticeable, but not enough to inconvenience him in what little time this would take. This would be over so disappointingly quick… Unless…
A crashing torrent of water signalled the arrival of reinforcements as Kisame erupted from the frozen mouth of the giant, Oars.
[SUITON: BAKUSUI SHOUHA]
[WATER RELEASE: GREAT EXPLODING WATER COLLIDING WAVE]
The tidal wave poured forth until it stopped in mid-air, supporting Kisame as it formed a floating ball fifty feet wide. Then the Fish-Man roared, pushing both hands in front of him.
[SUITON: DAI BAKUFU NO JUTSU]
[WATER RELEASE: GREAT WATERFALL TECHNIQUE]
The ball of water exploded like a cannon, becoming a crushing wall that shot straight for Tobi and the Admiral, and the Fish-man rode the aerial wave as if it were his mount.
Clicking his tongue, Akainu gathered his power as the water approached, transforming his unoccupied fist into fire.
[DAIFUNKA]
[GREAT ERUPTION]
Shouting his attack, he punched, hurling a super-dense fist of flame that speared out at the incoming waterfall, punching a hole straight into the center and detonating the entire pillar. The wave exploded with an apocalyptic blast of steam, blunting the force of the attack.
As Kisame leapt away from the disintegrating pillar, the Undying Hidan jumped out from inside one of the larger blobs of remaining water, kicking off of the underside of a catwalk and lunging into battle. His skin was red and boiled, but his wicked scythe was raised for the attack as he descended with vengeful rage.
Hiding inside your comrade's attack, huh? Cute.
Hidan arrived, and Sakazuki whipped his arm about to cut into him with a blade of magma. The other man made little effort to dodge, ignoring defense to focus on the attack. Akainu widened his eyes in shock as the regenerator's left arm disintegrated, and Hidan struck, cleaving through the Admiral's molten arm and separating him from Tobi.
With another lightning-fast swipe, Hidan sliced through Sakazuki's torso, the mystically-forged blade sizzling as it parted his super-hot core. As it passed, Akainu noted the presence of several particularly vile poisons coating the blade, which disintegrated harmlessly from the intense heat of his body.
Reforming his other arm, the Admiral grabbed the regenerator and burned.
"AHHHHH! SHIT!" screamed Hidan, his remaining arm and a large portion of his torso melting from the absurd temperatures. His scythe clattered to the floor.
Sakazuki smiled as the screaming continued. That was the thing about people who could heal themselves. It always felt like they were asking for a double helping of pain.
A whirring blade announced Danzou's arrival at the very same instant his Haki shut down, completely overwhelmed. As Sakazuki winced from the pain, Danzou cleaved through his head and arm. The old ninja kicked out with one leg to send Hidan's wounded form flying into the corner, then backed off.
Regaining his senses as he regrew his head, Sakazuki turned to regard Danzou, taking care to avoid the man's eyes.
An old man, almost elderly, but still with dark gray hair. Danzou swung his katana to shake off the dripping magma, and then returned to combat readiness. Funny. Most swords melted when used against him. That blade must be a serious piece of…
Wait.
The blade itself was black steel with a red hamon that cut across its length like a saw. He knew this sword. Anyone who spent significant amounts of time in the New World had heard of it.
"That blade," he said, "That's Shusui. The missing treasure of Wano Country. How'd you come across that out here?"
"I claimed it from a dead man," said Danzou, not moving an inch from his position.
To the side, a demonic head emerged from the ground, tongue licking out to grab at Tobi's coughing body.
Sakazuki smirked. "Sorry. Love to talk about it, but I need to interrupt that."
"Of course," said Danzou, and then he attacked.
[HIEN]
[FLYING SWALLOW]
Danzou's blade began to glow, and the Admiral dodged away, not sure what this attack would do. It didn't matter. Though he dodged out of range, the glowing aura around the blade cut him anyway, removing one of his legs and causing him to slump to the side.
The leg reformed nigh instantaneously, but it didn't matter. His stride was interrupted.
Sakazuki turned to face Danzou, and the fists began flying. At ten feet tall, his reach was nearly as great as Danzou's, even with the sword, but the old ninja fought at the very edge of his range. Danzou dodged and ducked every burning slash, repositioned around every kick, and struck out with the blade every time the Admiral was about to break away.
"So what is this?" asked Sakazuki. "Future sight? Mind-reading? Impressive stuff, even if you are only buying time for your boss to recover."
Danzou said nothing, deflecting a punch that should have melted a foot of solid steel. Shusui took the hit without complaint, not even visibly heating.
Alright then. The very instant before Sakazuki thought about exploding in a wave of magma, Danzou jumped far backwards. The burst of magma exploded outward, but Danzou was ready with a blast of wind that shielded him long enough to escape. Sakazuki's Haki returned a moment later.
Just in time, too. A second later, Tobi rolled out of the demon's open mouth, hitting the metal walkway with a *clong*. He stood up, wiping himself off with a cheerful expression that matched his perfect health.
The rest of Akatsuki backed off, having done their duty.
The Admiral watched all this with a skeptical scowl.
They were right back to where they had started, except Akatsuki was in worse shape. Hidan was down. Kisame had been unable to truly affect him. He had found a way around Tobi's defenses. Kakuzu wasn't even here, but he used wind and fire which was worse than worthless. He couldn't even imagine how Orochimaru's snakes were supposed to hurt him. Danzou had been impressive, but the man was unable to either deal serous damage or stay in the fight. Akatsuki had to realize by now that they couldn't win, which meant the flow of this battle was about to change.
"So…" Sakazuki ground out, staring through the thick mist at the spit-sodden figure of the man in the driftwood mask, "Is this the part where you run away? You've chosen a bad place for it if so. There's only one door, and you'll have to get by me first."
Tobi looked startled for a moment, then whipped his head back and forth around the thickly-sealed room.
"Err… what?" asked Tobi. "Oh, right! Thanks so much for reminding me!"
Tobi flicked out a finger and the reinforced freezer door slammed shut, the noise ringing in the sealed chamber like a funeral bell. He'd shut them all in. Then he giggled.
"Sorry, I'd hate to have forgotten that part. And no, why would we run away? Everything's pretty much gone according to plan so far."
"F… Fuck you…" gurgled Hidan from his lump in the corner.
The Admiral stared him down, then spat a blob of magma that ate a hole in the floor. "According to plan? They said you were delusional, but there are limits to the patience I'll show a madman."
Next, he raised his voice. "I'm going to make this easy for all of you to understand! In one minute I'm going to destroy everything inside this freezer! If you want a chance at victory, now's the one and only moment you'll have to fight. Try to run and you'll lose even that chance!"
Tobi coughed to grab attention.
"EXCUSE me! Don't just talk to them like I'm not even here! I'm the leader and they're my fr… my beloved subordinates! Even Hidan! Besides, you're the one who should be thinking about running away!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah! I mean, we did everything on the list!" exclaimed Tobi, counting things off on his fingers. "We got you out here alone, we made you think we were weak and stupid, we got you to come into this room, and then we got you to fill it up with hot steam! Oh, and then we closed the door!"
Frowning, Sakazuki looked around him. He'd barely noticed what with his Haki helping him see, but after detonating several massive water techniques the inside of the freezer was now more like a steamy sauna.
Tobi looked like he was worried he was forgetting something, wiggling his fingers back and forth, but then he shook his head.
"Oh, hey, Kisame, could you do that thing we talked about?"
Though the Fish-Man wasn't visible, his voice rang out through the room.
[SUITON: KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU]
[WATER RELEASE: HIDDEN MIST TECHNIQUE]
In moments the air changed. The floating steam clouds were instantaneously replaced by a thick veil of impenetrable mist. The temperature cooled slightly and with all ventilation sealed the pressure began to drop as well. He could feel it happening. He scratched at his arm. This mist was tingling against his skin.
Moments after that, his Haki shut down. Unlike before when Danzou had overwhelmed it, now it was as if he was getting a reading from every inch of the room around him, completely hiding his targets.
He attacked, leaping forward with wings of fire to where Tobi had just been standing, but his opponent was already gone.
"You know," spoke Tobi's sourceless voice from the mist, "It's a funny story how we came up with the plan for if you showed up. See, we shinobi study elemental chakra because it's really important to us. Fire beats Wind, beats Lightning, beats Earth, beats Water, beats Fire. We have some people where we come from who can use magma too, and it's really just Fire and Earth chakra mixed together! Really interesting, huh?"
"I don't have time to keep track of every superstition and magical story from every backwater island, Tobi!" yelled the Admiral, straining his senses to find his opponents. "What's your point?"
"I'm getting to that! See, Magma is, like, super-effective against Ice, which is just Wind and Water chakra. I bet you'd give that other Admiral a pretty hard time if you were to fight each other, huh?"
In the impenetrable fog, Kisame spoke again, his voice completely untraceable.
[SUITON: YOKOBURI NO JUTSU]
[WATER RELEASE: DRIVING RAIN]
The air pressure dropped like a stone as the mist reformed into a supernatural downpour. The chilly rainstorm dropped the pressure even further, making the inside of the sealed chamber a deadly low-pressure typhoon that made him raise his arms to shield his face.
Something odd was going on with his skin… The rain was doing... something to him. The flames of his magma weren't exactly dimming, but it still felt cold. He could still summon all of his power, but he flexed a finger, and felt it move just a fraction too slow.
Clearly, this was as different from normal rain as Aokiji's ice was to normal ice.
Tobi's voice echoed through the downpour again, almost inaudible over the roar of water.
"Orochimaru went on and on about the effects of air pressure and humidity on lightning, but we don't need to go over that. The big question that I'm sure you're asking right now is this: 'What's the chakra weakness of Magma?' Well, I'll tell you! Water and Lightning!"
Before Tobi had even finished speaking, a crackling beast appeared in the rainstorm directly behind the Admiral, immediately followed by a blast of thunderous sound that crashed through the sealed room. He whirled in place.
A majestic phoenix, each feather a bolt of light, its beak and talons shuddering with power. On its back was mounted a golden halo that cut through the rain as if it weren't even there, nearly blinding him with its glittering brilliance until the lightning phoenix was the only thing visible at all. Just once it flapped its wings- and then it moved.
[GORO-GORO NO MI: SHICHI RAIJIN]
[RUMBLE-RUMBLE FRUIT: SEVEN LIGHTNING GODS]
The creature exploded, a fan of lightning arcing wildly through the rain as the bird transformed into a being of pure electrified plasma. Throughout the room, lightning jumped to the metal catwalks, sublimating spots of iron directly into vapor. One bolt arced to the metal reinforcements installed in the body of Oars, causing a titanic limb to twitch from a galvanic reaction.
The lightning phoenix jolted forward faster than the eye could follow, but Akainu was already transforming into magma.
It hit him like a spiked hammer, striking him in the chest and passing through him in the same heartbeat. Muscles convulsing in helpless agony, he was kicked out of his transformation against his will, but forced himself back a moment later, resetting his nervous system in an instant. Behind him, the bird swung about for another pass, screaming with a noise that raked across his ears like musical electricity.
This time, Sakazuki returned to humanoid form, leaping back to an area of the freezer shielded from the rain by the walls and catwalks. He set his eyes on the incoming bird and gathered his Haki around him.
[BUSOUSHOKU]
[ARMAMENT]
The phoenix struck again, but he met it head on, his fist striking through its lightning defenses and slamming it away with a titanic hammer blow that cratered it onto the opposite wall. Lightning arced and danced across the wall of the freezer, but the bird-form had stopped moving, slowly reverting to something that looked like a mass of black strings and a yellow-marked mask.
Looks like these greenhorns didn't even know about Armament Haki.
Admiral Sakazuki whirled in place, spitting out blood onto the ground as he sought to regain control of the situation. The red blood hissed and bubbled as it pooled on the catwalk below him, but it was what Akatsuki had earned for their efforts and he begrudged them none of it. A deep pain suffused his chest, and he could no longer afford to hold anything back.
Already, the rain was slacking.
Straining his Haki sense to the limit, he knew what to look for this time. During that lightning storm only Tobi would have stayed nearby, and he would have to be using his absorption. Sure enough, there was a void in the field of energy moving high above. Sakazuki jumped to the top of Oars' head and then he exploded, a wave of heat overpowering the slackening rain.
Tobi was on the ceiling, looking surprised to see him all of a sudden.
"Alright, scum!" shouted Admiral Akainu, "I am officially through with playing around here! You wanted this?! Congratulations! You've got my full attention!"
Taking a deep breath, he punched straight down into the skull of the giant. Like a volcanic eruption in reverse, magma bored a hole directly through the beast, continuing on through the freezer's base and then into the earth of the floating island below. In seconds, the room's temperature spiked and the giant zombie body exploded into a hailstorm of burning blood. The few Akatsuki members that hadn't already shielded themselves defended themselves as best as they could, then ran, disappearing to a lower level.
It didn't matter. Nothing would save them now. But Tobi… Tobi would burn more personally. The Admiral jumped off the expanding magma fountain straight up into the air, aiming directly for the Akatsuki leader.
As he jumped, he winced. His skin and insides burned, like droplets of fire racing inside of him. It seemed the lightning had been more harmful than he had thought.
Tobi flickered from his position, running like a coward, and Akainu followed him. Time was now on his side, and he'd enjoy the final game of tag as the island itself sank.
Suddenly a stabbing pain shot down his side. He looked down. He was bleeding, and a new wound had opened in his flesh. That hadn't been lightning. Someone had attacked him, and his magma form hadn't prevented the damage.
Where had the attack come from?
Hidan was laughing at the top of his lungs, still back amidst the catwalks. Sakazuki couldn't quite see him through the rain from this position, but his voice sounded maddened with pain and anger, fragments of delirious ravings vaguely audible amidst the shouting.
They had one more trick up their sleeve, huh? A ranged attack that could go through his Logia defenses was a nasty trump card, but they should have opened with it as part of their general offensive rather than saving it until everyone else had run off.
Fighting through the pain, Sakazuki leapt off of the ceiling, ignoring Tobi to aim straight for the hidden figure of Hidan.
"No!" shouted Tobi. "Wait!"
But who in the world would listen to something like that?
Akainu leapt to the side, circling around his target. He flew through the mist on a curtain of hellfire. Volcanic fist raised, he approached from above and behind the man.
Hidan came into sight. What skin was visible through the laughing man's horribly burned-off flesh was black-and-white, as if ritualistically tattooed.
Admiral Akainu smiled. The man never saw it coming.
The burning fist of magma exploded directly through Hidan's back, blasting a hole through his chest that immolated his heart and everything in his torso.
Funny. He'd never before known what it was like to truly burn.
Akainu hit the ground in a heap as his body disintegrated from the inside out.
It was the end of the line. Realization of what had happened came to him in a frenzied moment of pain.
He had failed, and now he was dying. The Marines wouldn't know any of what had happened here. Nothing of what he'd learned. Nothing of their capabilities. The next man or woman to fight them would have to rediscover every weakness he'd worked so hard to uncover.
They wouldn't even know it had been Akatsuki who defeated him at all. Officially, it would be presumed that Perona had gotten in a series of lucky ghost hits until he had committed suicide. Of course it would. No one else on the island was capable of hurting him.
What a terrible end to his legacy.
Above him, a robed figure swept in and grabbed Hidan's charred form, disappearing just as quickly as he had arrived. Sakazuki was left behind.
Then he was alone.
Slowly, he transformed his body to magma. It wasn't enough. He was dying, and all this would do was delay things.
Was there anything he could do to send a message?
The mansion was falling apart around him. The ground supporting it was bubbling and warping. Everything would sink and burn as the island itself collapsed in the next few minutes.
Maybe… maybe there was something.
With the very last of his fading power, he formed sphere after sphere of volcanic rock, each one housing a beautiful hollowed out geode. He knew instinctively that what he had created would float. They contained no message, for no message could possibly survive inside, but maybe their existence itself could be his dying message.
It wouldn't be enough. Not enough... as proof… of anything…
As his life force drained away, his conscious thoughts disappeared along with it, until all that was left was geode after geode after geode after geode after geode...
Then he died.
The Marines evacuated the island amidst the smoke and burning sea, returning to their ships and waiting for the return of their hero.
Thriller Bark sank, taking almost all of its complement of zombies and many of the remaining shadowless people with it. Many of the shadowless had been recovered by the Marines, the pirates among them slapped in chains and stuffed into a gloomy brig, but when each zombie submerged beneath the burning waves, the sea water purified it, returning its shadow to its rightful owner.
They waited for an hour, any minute expecting the Admiral to come walking out of the disaster area.
He never returned.