"Crack, boom!!!!"

The moment the blades met, the world became eerily silent for one ten-thousandth of a second... followed by the complete collapse of space!

Two forces of vibration, originating from the same source but diametrically opposed, wildly clashed, devoured, and annihilated each other between the blades!

Gern's vibrating particles, with their high-frequency cutting and collapsing annihilation properties, attempted to penetrate and decompose Whitebeard's vast, boundless, and all-shattering shockwaves.

Meanwhile, Whitebeard's vibration was like an endless tsunami, crushing everything with absolute power, aiming to utterly pulverize Gern's highly condensed "point"!

The atmosphere was compressed to its limit, forming an instantaneous, light-distorting absolute vacuum sphere around the two of them!

Gern and Whitebeard spoke in unison, their voices seemingly erupting from the depths of their souls: "You... shatter!"

A dazzling light, not white, but a chaotic color leaking from space itself unable to bear the strain, erupted.

The destructive shockwave expanded outwards silently in a perfect sphere!

"Boom, buzz!!!" The sound arrived belatedly, the moment the shockwave swept past!

The entire sea fell into absolute silence, followed by a terrifying, perception-defying spectacle.

The sea surface was literally "erased," creating an absolutely smooth abyss thousands of meters in diameter and unfathomably deep!

The seawater, as if lifted by an invisible giant hand, formed a towering, cloud-reaching circular waterfall that surged back towards the sky!

This single strike shook the entire ocean!

.......

"Damn it..." Gern's arm muscles bulged, black blade eight desolations vibrated violently, and the vibrating particles on the blade flickered wildly, trying to suppress the power of Murakumogiri.

However, Whitebeard's Murakumogiri was as steady as a rock, its vibrating white light becoming increasingly dazzling!

For a moment, two distinct vibrational forces clashed wildly between the blades, compressing the atmosphere to its limit.

What was astonishing was that as Gern exerted himself recklessly, his highly condensed and collapsed vibrating particles...

Actually began to erode and decompose Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit power in reverse, like a drill!

At the point of contact on the Murakumogiri blade, tiny, cobweb-like cracks, as if struck by billions of high-frequency impacts, appeared in the white crystallization!

Noticing this, Whitebeard's perpetually bold smile froze on his face for the first time, a flicker of genuine astonishment passing through the depths of his pupils!

"Is this Navy brat's ability a Nature Type? A vibration ability becoming a Nature Type?"

Before he finished speaking, the keel of Marco's ship, pushed several nautical miles away, groaned ominously, on the verge of breaking under the strain!

Seeing this, Whitebeard's eyes sharpened: "Navy brat... your ability is far more terrifying than mine!

Besides, if I don't have a ship... I'll be very annoyed."

"So, sorry!" As he spoke, a crimson light, as if substantial, burst forth from the depths of Whitebeard's pupils!

It was no longer an invisible pressure, but transformed into a viscous, tangible torrent of destruction, wrapped in dark red lightning, that roared and coiled around the blade of Murakumogiri!

Haoshoku Infusion!

The original white vibration halo was instantly stained black and red!

"Bang, crack!" Just at the moment of contact!

"Bang!" In an instant, Gern felt an unprecedented power pressing down on him like a mountain.

black blade eight desolations let out a piercing wail, its vibrating particles forcibly scattered by the Haoshoku!

There was no chance to resist! His body flew backward like a broken kite, carving a thousand-meter-long trench in the sea.

He finally managed to barely slam back onto the Marine warship's deck like a cannonball, thanks to his elementalization and Whitebeard not aiming to kill him.

He plowed two charred trenches deep enough to reveal the ship's keel, barely stabilizing his crumbling form.

......

On the warship, Gern knelt deeply on one knee in the shattered deck, his feet sinking in, his entire right arm's combat uniform long since turned to dust.

Beneath, his muscle fibers were torn, bones riddled with cracks, and he was bleeding profusely like a tattered cloth bag, a truly miserable sight.

black blade eight desolations was deeply embedded in the molten steel deck, its blade dull and lifeless.

"Cough!" Gern suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments, his body shaking violently, blood constantly overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

He struggled to lift his head, his vision blurry, only barely able to see the figure standing like a mountain in the distance.

On the distant sea, Whitebeard stood proudly at the bow of his ship, Murakumogiri still wrapped in black and red arcs that hadn't fully dissipated, heavily striking the deck with a dull roar.

The residual power of Haoshoku still crackled in the air, like countless tiny dark red lightning snakes slithering about.

"Gurara-ra-ra! To make me serious, and even use Haoshoku Infusion..."

Whitebeard's bell-like laughter came, his eyes flashing with undisguised admiration.

"You brat... are too interesting!"

"My full-power strike... is merely 'interesting'?"

In the dizziness from excessive blood loss and the lingering pressure of Haoshoku, Whitebeard's figure in front of Gern gradually faded from his sight.

.......

At the same time, indeed, after Whitebeard left, there was a deathly silence on the Marine warship.

All the Marine soldiers stood frozen in place, their eyes fixed on the figure kneeling on one knee on the deck.

Gern Reginald Sigma!

Just moments ago, they had witnessed this young Gern Warrant Officer...

Clash head-on with that legendary monster, "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate, who was on par with Roger and Golden Lion in this era!

He even... forced Whitebeard to use Haoshoku!

"Is, is that really... Gern Warrant Officer? And not Vice Admiral Gern?" A Marine soldier's voice trembled, his gun almost slipping from his grasp.

In his impression, only the top-tier forces among the Marineford Vice Admirals like Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr could contend with such monsters.

"It's true! He actually... fought Whitebeard head-on..." Another person murmured, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"No, it's not just a head-on fight..." A Marine Vice Admiral took a deep breath, his voice low and filled with shock.

"Didn't you just hear what Whitebeard said? He admitted that Gern Warrant Officer made him serious."

In an instant, all the Marines' gazes towards Gern completely changed.

From the initial disdain and skepticism when picking him up at the West Blue Branch and boarding the ship, to now... awe!

And even, within that, a hint of indescribable fanaticism!

However, Gern seemed oblivious to the surrounding gazes, slowly raising his right hand, blood dripping from his fingertips, his entire arm still trembling uncontrollably.

"The gap... is still too big, isn't it?" He muttered in a low, hoarse voice, yet it carried an unprecedented clarity.

But surprisingly, his eyes were brighter than ever!

That wasn't defeat, but... excitement!

"I saw it... I saw it..."

"That which I anticipated..." Before he finished speaking, his body finally gave out, and he collapsed heavily forward!

"Gern Warrant Officer!"

Seeing Gern collapse, the Marines on the warship instantly panicked, and several medics rushed forward frantically.