"I didn't expect… he'd develop his Devil Fruit to this extent."
Dragon's gaze swept across the frozen expanse beneath his feet, stretching all the way to the horizon. His voice was low, almost a murmur.
"Surprised?" Gern Reginald Sigmar's voice came from ahead.
His body sank slightly. Beneath his feet, the ice cracked with a sharp crack, fractures spiderwebbing outward as pale vibration particles and faint arcs of Haki flickered around him.
"You should be. Because the real surprise… is still coming."
Before the words had even fully settled—
"Bzzzt!"
Vibration Flash—activated!
Gern's figure blurred instantly.
Not the natural dispersal of elemental transformation—but a violent disintegration, his body breaking apart into countless pale particles vibrating at molecular frequency!
He vanished without a sound—
—and shot straight toward the space between Shanks and Dragon!
In that instant, Gern's presence disappeared completely from both of their Observation Haki.
Seeing that familiar scene, Shanks's pupils shrank sharply, Gryphon tilting instinctively.
That ghostlike charge—
It had torn straight through his defenses back then!
He knew this move far too well.
"Watch out—!"
He barked the warning—
But it was half a beat too late.
No—
Not late.
Gern's Vibration Flash this time was entirely different from what Shanks remembered.
More deceptive.
More… impossible to predict.
Just as that stream of pale particles was about to collide with the Haki perception net the two had woven together—
It bent.
At a perfect right angle.
Not dodging—
—but deflecting sharply, cutting toward Dragon's rear flank!
Hearing Shanks's warning, Dragon reacted instinctively. Air currents surged around his body, forming a dense, gray-green wind barrier.
But just before the particle stream touched the barrier—
It bent again.
This time—
—it shot straight for Shanks's front!
Shanks pushed his "Observation Killing" to its limit, trying to sever Gern's predictive advantage—
But Gern wasn't predicting the future at all.
He was operating on something purer—
something beyond reaction speed—
The present.
Shanks's head instinctively jerked backward—
And in that instant of confusion—
The particle stream condensed right before his eyes!
The first thing to emerge—
Was a hand.
A massive hand, clad in jet-black Armament Haki, fingers spread wide—
Already gripping Shanks's face!
Too fast!
From activation to manifestation, the entire sequence took less than a tenth of a second!
Gern's grip clamped down on Shanks's mouth and jaw.
Fingers sank deep into flesh.
The crushing force threatened to shatter bone.
Shanks's handsome face twisted instantly—pain and suffocation flooding his senses, his vision blurring for a split second.
"Hmph."
Gern's figure solidified from the still-dispersing particle stream, his gaze colder than ancient ice.
He gave Shanks no chance to struggle.
Core muscles tightened—twisted—
His right arm exploded with force like a collapsing mountain torrent—
"Get out of my way!!"
"WHOOSH—BOOM!!!"
Shanks lost all control of his body in an instant—
—transformed into a human cannonball, hurled violently toward Dragon, who had just turned midair to assist!
Dragon's eyes sharpened.
He didn't try to catch him head-on.
Instead, both palms pressed forward. The air around him thickened, becoming layered, elastic currents—forming invisible cushions.
"Wind Bind: Soft Mooring."
The moment Shanks slammed into the wind layers, the violent impact was absorbed, redirected, and dissipated.
His tumbling body stabilized.
Dragon seized the moment—grabbing Shanks's shoulder and pulling him back as they retreated dozens of meters, landing steadily on the ice.
Shanks staggered a step before regaining his footing. He wiped the corner of his mouth—five clear finger marks already swelling along his jaw.
He inhaled sharply, cold air biting into his lungs.
"…Thanks."
"Don't thank him yet."
Gern's voice sounded right behind Dragon's neck.
Cold.
Close.
"Worry about yourself instead."
"Because he—can't even save himself."
Before the words faded—
Vibration Flash—again!
Dragon's pupils shrank violently. Every hair on his back stood on end.
He had never faced this technique before.
He couldn't tell when Gern vanished—
—or where he would reappear.
And the momentary shift in his breathing and center of gravity—caused by catching Shanks—
was seized with terrifying precision.
"…Damn—!"
He didn't even have time to reinforce his defensive wind.
All he could do was tense his core instinctively, bracing to absorb the impact.
Too late.
"Black Quake…"
Gern's figure materialized behind him—
—but not before a downward axe kick split the space between the two, separating them.
Then—
His legs blurred.
Not one strike—
—but a rapid succession within a fraction of a second.
"Thousand Peaks Collapse!!!"
Each kick carried the phantom weight of collapsing mountains—
stacking, layering—
slamming into Dragon's lower back!
"BANG—BOOM!!!"
Not a single impact—
—but a chain of tightly packed detonations, overlapping into one continuous explosion!
Dragon's coat shredded instantly under the shockwaves.
A surge of blood rushed uncontrollably up his throat.
"Ugh—!"
His body was kicked forward violently, his feet carving deep trenches across the ice as shattered fragments exploded outward!
But Gern didn't stop.
His kicking leg hadn't even fully retracted before his body twisted unnaturally—
—and vanished again!
In the next instant—
before Dragon could recover from the shock—
Gern reappeared directly in front of him!
"Rising Thunder!"
Gern's waist twisted.
His left leg snapped upward—
connecting cleanly with Dragon's jaw!
CRACK!
Dragon's head snapped back violently, his neck letting out a dangerous creak—
His entire body was launched skyward by the vertical force, blood and shattered teeth spraying into the air!!
And still—
Gern did not stop.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
His kicking leg pressed downward—
his body pivoting midair at a sharp, impossible right angle—
A ring of compressed shockwaves exploded beneath his feet as he stepped directly above Dragon!
Both hands clasped together—
fingers interlocked—
raising a massive double-fisted hammer overhead!
Muscles bulged like forged steel.
Black Armament Haki and pale vibration energy intertwined, compressing into a visible sphere—
collapsing inward continuously.
"Black Quake: Landbreaker!!"
"Down you go!"
Gern's eyes flashed coldly as both fists came crashing down—
carrying the force to shatter continents and split rivers—
smashing toward Dragon's completely exposed chest and abdomen!
Before the blow even landed—
the sheer pressure had already evacuated and frozen the air around Dragon, making it nearly impossible for him to manipulate wind to evade!
Below them—
The ice surface caved inward violently, forming a massive crater under the crushing force!
At the last possible moment—
"DRAGON!!!"
From below—
Shanks moved.
Gryphon, wrapped in crackling crimson Conqueror's lightning, became a streak of red light—
—not aimed at Gern.
There wasn't time.
Instead—
he struck the space between Gern and Dragon!
The red slash cut through—
—and that "frozen" space seemed to split open, creating a narrow gap.
The suffocating pressure around Dragon loosened instantly!
At the same time—
Dragon, his head still ringing from the relentless combo—
forced every ounce of remaining wind into his arms, compressing it desperately as he crossed them in front of his chest!
The next instant—
Black Quake: Landbreaker—descended.
"BOOOOOOM!!!!"
Moments later—
A black silhouette shot out from the center of the explosion—
crashing violently into the distant ice, carving a trench over a hundred meters long.
It was Dragon.
Both sleeves of his arms were gone.
His limbs twisted unnaturally, drenched in blood.
His chest had caved inward in a horrifying purple-black depression.
Blood poured from his mouth uncontrollably.
He was… heavily injured.
Shanks immediately prepared to leap after him—
—but Gern casually slammed his hand downward.
The space around Shanks fractured violently, vibrating and collapsing—
forcing him to block with Gryphon, unable to advance!
"You saved him once…"
Gern hovered in the air, pale vibration particles swirling around him once more. Eight Desolations hummed softly in his grip.
His gaze was cold.
"Think you can save him a second time?"