"Protector! Is there any way to get us up there?" Drake's eyes were bloodshot. He had made up his mind: he was going to take a crack at Akainu!
"Drake, what are you doing? That's a Marine Admiral—don't be reckless!" Sabo quickly moved to block him. As the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army, he knew exactly how terrifying the Admiral's "Absolute Justice" truly was. Now was not the time for a head-on collision.
[Ding! The Protector is equipped with small tactical flight units for away-missions. They feature Sea, Land, and Air modes.]
"Heh." Drake's lips curled upward. Another top-tier toy discovered.
"Sabo, Kenshin, let's move!" Once they donned the compact flight units and grasped the basic mechanics, the three of them were buzzing with adrenaline. This was world-class tech.
"Drake, this ship of yours..." Sabo looked around, unable to contain his curiosity. The performance of the Protector had completely shattered his understanding of engineering.
"Hahaha, don't sweat the small stuff." Drake waved him off. At a time like this, silence was golden.
"Hmph." Sabo smirked. Right, "small stuff."
"Kenshin, Sabo, let's go!"
Schwing! Drake drew Rainbow's Remnant. The moment they exited the submarine's airlock, he unleashed a massive vertical slash. The ocean surface was torn asunder, creating a path for the flight units to rocket upward. Simultaneously, Drake recalled the Protector into his system storage.
"Red Dog! Give me your life!"
Drake erupted from the sea, channeling a massive amount of Haki into his blade. He unleashed a full-power Ryuo strike.
"Red Dog??" Not only did Akainu freeze for a split second, but even Sabo and Kenshin behind Drake were momentarily stunned by the nickname. They took a good look at the Admiral's stern, canine-like features and the "Red Dog" alias. Yeah, it fits.
"Hmph..." Akainu's hands instantly transformed into bubbling, viscous magma. He countered Drake's Ryuo slash with a heavy lava-fist.
"Great Eruption!" He followed up immediately, punching a massive molten fist toward the three of them.
"Scatter!" The thrusters on their flight suits roared. In a flash of speed, Drake repositioned himself directly above Akainu. He poured every drop of Haki in his body into his sword, preparing a finishing move. Suddenly, a prompt echoed in his mind.
**[Ding! Host has triggered a Skill Modification. Please choose a specialization:
Speed Type
Power Type
Sharpness Type]**
"Crap!" Drake cursed out loud. You're making me do multiple choice now? In the middle of a fight?! Without time to deliberate, he shouted the first thing that came to mind.
"Sharpness!"
[Ding! Selection successful. Skill generating... Complete. Skill triggered: 'Eight Desolations Sweep'!]
He swung. A visible ripple distorted the air as a horizontal arc of energy tore toward Akainu's waist.
Splatter—Sizzle! The strike sheared through a massive chunk of magma. Akainu skidded several meters across the deck before coming to a halt.
"You brat..." A thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of Akainu's mouth. He looked up, the magma on his body boiling more violently than before. His weathered, ruthless face twisted into a mask of pure malice.
BOOM! A canopy of dark clouds formed instantly as lightning began to rain down upon the "Useless Red Dog."
"Hmm?" Akainu looked up grimly, but before he could react, a sea of white-blue electricity swallowed him whole.
Rumble...
Seeing the hit connect, Drake breathed a small sigh of relief. But remembering Akainu's monstrous resilience, he immediately tightened his resolve. He looked toward Sabo and shouted, "Sabo!"
"Understood!" Sabo knew exactly what Drake wanted. Flames erupted from his body as he punched forward.
"Fire Fist!"
The colossal fist of flame roared toward Akainu, the sheer scale of it threatening to incinerate the entire warship. Drake's heart hammered; he didn't for a second think this would be enough to finish the man.
Akainu was a power-scaling ceiling in this world. Only Emperors or fellow Admirals could truly stand against him. Most could only hope for a stalemate.
Then there was the most mysterious man in the world—Monkey D. Dragon. Since he hadn't shown his hand in over twenty years of the story, Drake couldn't be sure of his exact level, but he bet on Dragon being at the Emperor tier.
ROAR! A surge of overwhelming pressure pushed back. Deep crimson magma tore through the flames, erupting in every direction.
"Eight Desolations Sweep!" Having watched the anime for years, Drake knew the Red Dog wasn't even winded yet. He didn't waste a second, charging another high-speed slash.
Zip! The golden sword-aura cut through the sky, but it wasn't aimed at Akainu—it was aimed at the warship beneath his feet.
I'm no idiot, Drake thought. Why should a rookie from the 'Starter Village' trade blows with a world-class tank? You attack the weakness. The greatest weakness of any Fruit user is the sea. If the Red Dog lost his ship...
Drake's smile turned slightly predatory. If they could take Akainu out of the equation right here, the Paramount War would be a guaranteed win. Of the three Admirals, Akainu was the only one who truly put his life on the line for the Marine's cause.
The others... well, everyone knew the deal. Aokiji followed "Lazy Justice"—he had a heart and was prone to showing mercy, especially toward Garp's grandson. And Kizaru? The man was the king of "Clocking Out." He treated being an Admiral like a 9-to-5 job he was bored with. He'd kick Luffy away, shoot a key, trade one or two blows, and call it a day. People even joked Kizaru was Luffy's long-lost uncle.
Drake didn't buy the uncle theory, but he wasn't worried about the man who lived to slack off. Akainu, however, was a different beast.
"Hound Blaze!" Akainu's hand shaped into a snarling wolf's head made of magma, leaping out to intercept Drake's sword-aura.
KABOOM!
"Holy—! That's cold!" Drake blurted out. He had expected his full-power strike to do more, but the "Hound Blaze" tore right through his attack and lunged straight for his throat.
Only now did Drake realize how skewed his perspective was. Whitebeard had swatted these attacks away like flies, but to Drake, they felt like an unstoppable force of nature.
"Drake!" Sabo yelled, throwing another Fire Fist to intercept the magma wolf.
Drake slammed the thrusters on his flight unit to the max, narrowly spiraling out of the way.
"Support the Admiral!" The Marines on the warship scrambled into action.
"Fire the cannons!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Dammit!" Drake's pupils shrank. These Marines really didn't believe in a fair fight.