Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 276 Today's battle will determine not only who is superior, but also who lives and dies!

"See? It's all your fault. Why did you have to say hello? People don't like it." Bane licked his lips and complained to Sakazuki beside him as he looked at the terrifying shockwave that broke through the sea and seemed to spread infinitely, engulfing the entire ocean.

Sakazuki said with a grim expression, "Stop talking nonsense, get going!"

"Ah, me?" Bane raised his finger and pointed to his nose with a surprised look.

"I am a marshal, do you expect me to go first?" Sakazuki glared at Bane and said.

Sengoku, who was sitting under the mast without any sense of tension, laughed uncontrollably as he listened to the conversation, almost to the point of tears.

"Hahahaha, Ain, didn't you notice?" Sengoku asked, clutching his chest and laughing uncontrollably.

Ain asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did you find?"

"Ever since that guy Bane came to our Navy, everyone who's spent a lot of time with him seems to have changed...he's not the same as before, hahahaha." Sengoku said, still laughing.

Seeing that Yixiao didn't seem inclined to help, Bane scoffed and said, "I'll do it then."

As he said this, he stepped directly in front of Sakazuki. As he took a step, the Justice Cloak draped over Sakazuki and Issho's shoulders suddenly rose into the air, and the biting sea breeze seemed to become even more rampant at that moment.

But from Sakazuki's slightly narrowed eyes, one could tell that this was not the sea breeze, but the powerful aura emanating from Bane!

At this moment, the Overlord of the Sea truly lived up to the name of the move, dominating the entire ocean. As far as the eye could see, Butter Island was completely out of sight. Not to mention Butter Island, almost everything in the sea in front of it was encompassed.

"No wonder everyone says this attack is impossible to dodge," Bane muttered to himself, clenching his fist.

The surging power covers a range that cannot be described by the number of kilometers.

Within this range, aside from Devil Fruit users like Borsalino and Zoro who are incredibly fast, no one else can completely dodge. No matter how you run, you're still within the attack range, so what's the point of running?

As this thought crossed his mind, Bane clenched his fist tightly, and then Conqueror's Haki surged into the sky, only to disappear just as quickly.

Only Sakazuki and Ichisho, who were standing behind Bane, could clearly feel that the incomparably powerful Conqueror's Haki within Bane had now all gathered in his ordinary fist!

Then, Sakazuki's gaze instinctively fell on Bane's heel, where a powerful dragon seemed to materialize, rushing up Bane's leg bone to his waist. Then, as his cloak billowed, Sakazuki vaguely saw Bane's fitted suit slightly bulging at the waist. Finally, it seemed as if all the power in his body was spreading along his spine to his arm, stopping at his fist.

At the very moment that power and energy converged in his fist, black smoke billowed out from the gaps in Bane's fist bones—the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit!

In the blink of an eye, Bane had only clenched his fist in preparation when the roaring Tyrant Sea had already reached within a hundred meters of the naval fleet.

"These local pirates are so rude!!!" Bane laughed loudly as he threw a punch!

In fact, even though both sides had shown their skills on the battlefield during the Marineford War, this was indeed the first time Sakazuki had seriously observed Ben's battle.

Therefore, he observed with exceptional care. The moment Bane threw his punch, his gaze locked onto Bane's fist. Immediately, he saw that wherever the fist's force passed, dense ripples were drawn in the air. The instant those ripples broke apart, it was as if space itself was faintly cracking.

Even without experiencing it, Sakazuki had already reached a conclusion in his mind immediately!

He might not be able to take that punch head-on!

"His reputation for unparalleled strength in the world is truly well-deserved," Sakazuki thought with a start.

This one punch is enough to prove how terrifying Bane's strength is. Back in Marineford, when he teamed up with Kuzan to fight Charlotte Linlin, he also experienced Charlotte Linlin's monstrous strength, which was praised by the sea. But at this moment, Charlotte Linlin and Bane have not even really fought each other.

But Sakazuki had already mentally judged Charlotte Linlin to be the loser.

Compared to the sheer size of the Sea of ​​Tyranny, Bane's punch seemed incredibly small.

But this is only relative. In reality, the punch, thrown into the air, combined with the surging energy and Bane's ferocious strength, created an invisible but visible huge fist imprint in the air!

Almost at the same moment that Bane threw that punch, Ba Hai collided with the force of the punch!

There was no resistance whatsoever, perhaps because the power of the sea was too dispersed. Even when Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, two of the world's top fighters, launched a combined attack, the power could not be concentrated at a single point due to the vast coverage area, making it appear loose.

This kind of "relaxation" is not a weakness when facing ordinary strong opponents, since the principle of this attack is already there.

It doesn't matter if you see it; the main point is to endure what you can, and die if you can't.

But for a top-tier powerhouse like Bane, this flaw is big enough. But on second thought, it's normal. It's just these pirates 'greeting' each other. Charlotte Linlin and Kaido probably don't have the mentality of ending the battle with one blow.

In short, faced with Bane's concentrated heavy punch, the roaring sea of ​​power instantly exploded, like a raging torrent sweeping down from the mountain, before crashing headlong into the unmoving reef.

The aftershocks of Ba Hai seemed to have been parted in the middle by Bane, unable to break through the force of the punch, and naturally slid to the left and right, continuing to rush past.

At that moment, Bane's ability to control the battlefield as a top expert was immediately apparent. The aftershocks of Naba Hai's fist wind swept past the outermost warships on the left and right sides by more than ten meters, without causing any damage to the fleet.

And it seemed that only at this moment did the force of the collision between the two sides finally become apparent.

The clouds in the sky suddenly dissipated, as if they had been struck by an invisible force. Then, the sea surface where the energy burst forth suddenly sank, as if an abyss had been pressed into the sea by an overwhelming and irresistible force.

The surrounding seawater rushed into the large pit, and the turbulent currents surged up, converging with the surrounding waves to form a towering wave, which turned into a tsunami and followed the aftershocks of the tyrant.

That wasn't the end of it. After Bane's fist shattered the sea directly in front of him, it didn't stop. Instead, it carved a trench at least a hundred meters deep into the sea and rushed toward the two figures on the island at an extremely fast speed, as if it wanted to shatter them with a single punch.

"He's even stronger!" Kaido exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "He's stronger than he was in Dressrosa! I never imagined that his power, having reached that level, could still increase!"

Charlotte Linlin's expression was also somewhat surprised. She had heard Kaido mention more than once that Bane's strength was even more ferocious than her, a veteran known for her monstrous strength.

But Charlotte Linlin hardly ever took this to heart, after all, she also possessed the pride of a top-tier powerhouse.

Having traversed the oceans for decades, there are indeed those stronger than her, such as Roger at his peak, Whitebeard, and Shiki, all of whom were far more terrifying than her.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

But if you ask who has been stronger than her over the past few decades, she has never met anyone in all her years of life!

Because she has absolute confidence in her own strength, Charlotte Linlin will not easily believe Kaido's description. After all, Kaido has not truly fought her for decades, so how could he dare to claim that he really knows how strong she is now?

How can you make comparisons if you don't even understand them? How can I readily believe your comparisons?

But at this moment, Charlotte Linlin believed it. This wasn't a matter of not understanding; it was a very obvious difference!

Take this punch for example. Charlotte Linlin herself admitted that she couldn't throw it under normal circumstances, so it's no wonder that Kaido was so certain about it back then.

Faced with the fierce punch, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin seemed to have already figured out the trick, so neither of them made any unnecessary movements.

Kaido's eyes gleamed with excitement, as if he was looking forward to the top-tier battle he was about to experience.

A rare look of seriousness appeared in Charlotte Linlin's eyes. Compared to Kaido's pure focus on battle, her thoughts were clearly more complex.

No sooner said than done, in the blink of an eye, the surging and powerful fist force reached the edge of the Butter Island's coastline. But just as it was about to touch the island's beach, this seemingly invincible fist force suddenly dissolved, like a gentle breeze, sweeping across the beach, lightly ruffling Kaido's beard and Charlotte Linlin's hair, leaving no trace.

As she felt the gentle breeze brushing past her ears, Charlotte Linlin's eyes showed even greater apprehension.

For powerful individuals at their level, splitting mountains with a single punch and cleaving seas with a single slash is nothing new; it's standard practice.

But it's truly rare to see someone like Bane, who can handle heavy tasks with such ease and has achieved such a refined level of control over his own strength!

When it comes to this, neither Charlotte Linlin nor Kaido admits they can do it.

Not only could they not do it, but Sakazuki was also deeply shocked at this moment. He couldn't control the force with which the punch reached Kaido and the other two and then vanished into thin air!

This is not the mainstream ideology on this sea, but martial arts!

As a master of martial arts, Bane had already reached this level. If Bang were to look at it from Sakazuki's perspective, he would think it was a perfectly normal phenomenon. Anyone who has entered the realm of martial arts must know some of these skills.

Just then, Bane, with his fists clenched on either side of his waist and abdomen, laughed heartily, "Hahahaha, long time no see, Kaido! Have you gotten stronger lately? If not, you're definitely going to lose this time!!!"

Kaido showed no disgust at Bane's arrogant attitude, and similarly hoisted the Eight Guards onto his shoulder, laughing loudly, "You brat, if you want to know if I've gotten stronger, use your own fists to measure it, don't just squawk here!"

Even though the two sides were still separated by half a sea, their cheerful and bold voices could always be clearly heard by the other.

Hearing this, Bane grinned, revealing an excited and expectant smile, and said, "Then I won't hold back! Today, we'll not only determine who's better, but also fight to the death!!!"

"I couldn't be happier!!!" Kaido suddenly raised his arm, accepting the challenge.

Amidst the bursting clouds, the World News newspaper's hot air balloon narrowly stabilized. Morgans stood excitedly by the railing, snapping photos and exclaiming, "This trip was worthwhile! Worthwhile indeed! Even if I had actually fallen off this sky today, it would have been worth it!!!"

It's clear this guy has encountered something big, and he's become quite obsessed.

(End of this chapter)