Chapter 253: The Tacit Rule
The familiar sounds of intense combat echoed through the air.
Axel looked up again, and his expression turned solemn.
Before him was another scene.
Or rather, a scene that was very unfriendly to him.
At some point, Doflamingo and Marco had noticed the changes below and deliberately lowered their battlefield.
Their intention was obvious.
They were blocking Axel's escape route.
In the struggle over Sugar, Marco, who could move more freely in the air, clearly held the upper hand.
After capturing Sugar, while still being restrained by Doflamingo, he also set his sights on Axel.
As for Doflamingo, he naturally had no intention of letting Axel go so easily.
This brat had caused him massive losses and killed his executives.
How could he possibly let him leave?
Thus, the two of them reached a tacit agreement without a word.
While fighting each other, they shifted the battlefield downward and deliberately blocked Axel's route of escape.
Axel glanced at Jozu and reacted at his fastest speed, retreating toward the rear.
Since Jozu was blocking the front, while Marco and Doflamingo were above, retreating from behind should be fine, right?
With a light step, Axel kicked up scattered gravel.
These were not ordinary stones kicked by a child.
Under Axel's control, the stones turned into sharp weapons, hurtling toward Jozu at supersonic speed.
The impact of each one was comparable to a small car moving at high speed.
Although the attack was powerful, Axel did not think it would be effective.
After seeing Jozu block the plasma earlier without taking any real damage, these stones were even less likely to hurt him.
But Axel was not relying on the stones to injure him.
He only needed them to buy time.
A normal person's reaction to a sudden attack would be to defend or dodge.
"Jozu, stop him!" Marco shouted from above.
Even without Marco's command, Jozu had already reacted the moment Axel moved.
Unlike most people, he did not choose to dodge.
It was not because he failed to notice the unusual power behind those stones.
It was because he had immense confidence in his own defense.
Even so, Jozu did not dare underestimate Axel.
The previous attack had already proven that this child was anything but ordinary.
He might even be capable of breaking through Jozu's defense.
If this were said to any member of the Whitebeard Pirates, they would surely laugh.
Only a handful of people in the entire Whitebeard Pirates could break through Jozu's defense.
Telling them that a child might be able to do it would sound like a joke.
Jozu once again revealed the diamond treasure that fascinated the world.
His entire body transformed into brilliant diamond as he charged forward like a rhinoceros.
Unlike Axel, who moved nimbly through the ruins while retreating, Jozu simply destroyed everything in his path.
Because of that, his speed was actually several notches faster than Axel's.
It was hard to imagine why such a massive body possessed such strange agility.
Almost in the next instant, Jozu crashed into Axel's side.
Axel did not continue fleeing.
Instead, he turned defense into offense and reached out toward Jozu first.
Even if Jozu had turned into diamond, he was still human.
Just like Luffy after eating the Gum-Gum Fruit.
Although his body became rubber, he still retained human traits.
Blood still flowed in his veins. He would die without food. He needed water and oxygen.
Even Logia Devil Fruit users could not avoid these basic requirements.
The difference was that Logia bodies could transform into elements, while other types of Devil Fruits could not.
As long as blood still existed in the enemy's body, Vector Manipulation could affect it.
That was why Axel abandoned defense for offense.
Rather than passively defend and allow Jozu to build up more force, it was better to attack first and apply Vector Manipulation to his weak points.
Jozu did not dodge this time either.
Dodging was simply not his fighting style.
And he would not change that style just because he was wary.
The best answer to the unknown, and to caution, was to strike back with an even stronger punch.
With the world's largest raw diamond attached to him, Jozu swung his fist at Axel.
The two collided.
Axel did not reduce the force of Jozu's punch.
He knew his ability alone could not block all that power.
Instead, he increased Jozu's strength.
But at the moment he increased it, he also adjusted the angle, shifting the force in a more deflected direction.
This clever method caused Jozu's diamond body to be unable to withstand the massive inertia created by his own strength.
It was like a spear and shield clashing against each other.
Immense power and formidable defense worked together, making Jozu spin like a ballet dancer as his body whirled forward.
Axel, who had collided with him, seemed to ignore that inertia completely.
He stomped hard on the ground, leaving a sideways footprint, and used the reactive force to reach out and touch Jozu.
At that moment, Axel's Observation Haki warned him.
He abruptly stopped his movement and dodged the threads falling from the sky.
But he could not avoid Marco's kick from behind.
Bang!
Under that immense force, Axel's body was instantly kicked toward Jozu.
By then, Jozu had already steadied himself.
Seeing Axel being kicked toward him by Marco, he caught him with a punch and slammed it hard into his abdomen.
Axel was sent flying back like a ball once more.
Jozu's immense strength instantly shattered the defensive layers around him.
Reflection worked desperately to reduce the damage, while his Calculation Power automatically operated within his mind, slowly bleeding off the force in midair.
That massive force should have sent Axel flying hundreds of meters away.
But under the effect of both abilities, he only flew a few dozen meters before slowly descending.
"Don't act on your own, you bastard!" Marco shouted.
"You're the one who snatched my prey," Doflamingo countered, refusing to back down.
The two continued their entanglement and began the next round of battle.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Axel coughed violently and spat out blood from his internal injuries.
He had not quite reacted in time to their sudden joint attack.
After all, in terms of pure strength, both of them were above him.
However, that sneak attack also told him one thing.
Although those two seemed locked in a fierce struggle, they were actually keeping part of their attention on him the entire time.
If he showed even the slightest chance of escaping, they would stop fighting and join forces in a very short time.
It was like a tacit rule firmly established between them.
Axel slowly propped himself up.
But even that simple movement made his entire body protest with incessant pain.
It was a deep-seated pain originating from the brain.
The body's own protection mechanism was warning him that he had reached a dangerous state.