The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

At this point, it was enough for Gern to regroup.

"Heavenly Tremor - Eight Desolations Rift!" The moment the Black Blade Eight Desolations was unleashed, the space around the blade twisted and collapsed, forming a vacuum slash.

Barrett's pupils contracted sharply, his Observation Haki flashing a frantic warning.

He suddenly and forcefully turned to the side, the slash grazing his shoulder, leaving a vacuum trail a kilometer long on the sea behind him, which the seawater could not close for a long time.

"It's not over yet!" Gern's figure appeared beside Barrett like a ghost, his blade slashing diagonally upwards.

Barrett hastily parried, his arms, covered in Armament Haki, colliding with the blade, sending sparks flying.

But the high-frequency vibrations penetrated his defenses, and he could clearly hear a faint "crackling" sound coming from his arm bones.

"Damn it!" Barrett roared, sweeping his right leg like a battle axe.

Gern jumped back to dodge, and the ground where he had been standing was kicked into a huge crater ten meters in diameter, flashing with a domineering black light.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Barrett panted heavily, sweat trickling down his cleavage.

He stared intently at Gern, noticing that the other's breathing had also become rapid, and the pale cracks on the Black Blade Eight Desolations flickered erratically.

"Your vibrations... must be a burden on you too, right?" Barrett grinned, revealing his bloodstained teeth.

"Huh?" Gern frowned, gently flexing his numb wrist. "You think I'm Whitebeard?"

“You…” Barrett roared, his fists clashing together, Conqueror's Haki flashing across his knuckles.

"Arm up!" His muscles bulged again, veins throbbing like coiled dragons.

Armament Haki began to liquefy and flow, forming a black, armor-like sheen on his body.

Gern's eyes turned serious. "Is this what it means to hone Armament Haki to its ultimate level...?"

Barrett moved.

This time, his speed increased dramatically, and he appeared in front of Gern almost instantly.

Before the fist even landed, the force of the blow already made Gern's face sting with pain.

"boom!"

Gern managed to parry with his sword, but was sent flying backward by the punch, crashing through several rocky peaks before finally coming to a stop.

"How about it?" Barrett grinned maliciously as he approached step by step, each step causing the ground to tremble and rocks to fall from the surrounding peaks.

"This is... my current strength!"

Gern knelt on one knee, his black blade, Eight Desolations, deeply embedded in the ground.

He was coughing violently, with blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, looking utterly disheveled.

"Damn it..." Gern lowered his head, his voice so weak it was almost inaudible, "I never imagined you'd become so strong."

"Heh..." Upon hearing this, Barrett grinned smugly, about to launch into a sarcastic remark.

But then Gern suddenly raised his head.

There wasn't a trace of fear on his face.

There was only a chilling hint of mockery.

You didn't expect me to say that, did you?

Before he could finish speaking, Gern had already disappeared.

“You…” Barrett’s pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively took a half step back, but he was still a beat too slow.

The moment the black blade struck, time seemed to stand still.

The trajectory of the blade solidified into pale cracks in the air, proof that even space itself had been cleaved open.

For a moment, Barrett froze on the spot, then a sharp pain shot through his chest.

So he looked down at his chest, and for the first time, a serious expression appeared on his face.

Sure enough, the next moment, "Pfft!" There was no deafening explosion, only a hideous wound gushing blood everywhere.

Gern flicked the blood off his knife behind him, tilted his head, and gave a naive smile.

"Sorry, this is what you call 'being competitive'."

Chapter 210 The Demon Within My 'Natural Calamity'

"Drip!" Barrett looked down at the gruesome knife wound on his chest, blood trickling down the grooves of his muscles and dripping onto the scorched earth.

Especially at this moment, with Gern's mocking face, it was even more...

"Are you toying with me?" Barrett's words made him grit his teeth, his pupils contracting slightly, but then he grinned, revealing a sinister smile.

"Since that's the case..." He slowly raised his hand, wiping his wound, his fingertips stained with blood.

He then clenched his fist tightly, blood spurting between his fingers.

Conqueror's Haki erupted with a roar, dark red lightning coiled around his body like mad snakes, the ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, and rubble floated up.

Gern flicked away the blood droplets from his blade, and pale cracks appeared on the edge of the Black Blade Eight Desolations, distorting the surrounding air due to high-frequency vibrations.

"What?" He tilted his head, a dangerous smile playing on his lips. "Finally getting serious?"

"Don't get too cocky, you bastard! I'm not the same person I used to be!!!" Barrett roared, slamming his right fist into the ground.

"COmbined ArmOr (Combined Arms)!!"

"Boom!"

The entire island trembled violently, and countless rocks, warship wreckage, and even metal fragments in the seawater seemed to be drawn by an invisible hand, frantically converging towards Barrett.

His body was instantly enveloped in thick metal, layer upon layer, until it transformed into a steel giant hundreds of meters tall!

A jet-black Armament Haki covered his entire body like liquid, with dark red Conqueror's Haki lightning flowing across his metallic surface.

Each piece of armor seemed to writhe like a living thing, adjusting itself to the optimal defensive posture.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Gern narrowed his eyes slightly, and the blade of the Black Blade Eight Desolations trembled slightly, emitting a low hum.

"The awakened Fusion Fruit..." he murmured softly.

"You still chose your weakest fighting style! Just like back then!"

"Now, let's see if your tremors can still shake me!"

Barrett, who had not heard Gern's words, roared angrily from inside the Iron Giant, like a muffled thunderclap.

The next second, the giant's right arm suddenly rose, the metal reformed, transforming into a giant warhammer, wrapped in black and red domineering aura, and slammed down fiercely!

Even before the warhammer arrived, the terrifying pressure caused the ground beneath Gern's feet to collapse.

"Heavenly Tremor - Boundary Severing!!" The Black Blade Eight Desolations instantly slashed horizontally.

The moment the blade clashed with the warhammer, space shattered like a mirror, and a pale shockwave exploded outwards in a ring.

The shockwave instantly cleared the uneven ground within a radius of 100 meters into a smooth arena.

Gern's feet were sank deep into the ground, and he was holding a knife in his hands to resist, but the smile on his lips grew more and more unrestrained.

"Not bad..." He suddenly spun around, the blade sliding up the side of the warhammer, the high-frequency vibration of the blade tearing the metal armor inch by inch!

"But that's not enough!!"

Barrett's pupils contracted, and his left fist suddenly slammed out, the massive metal arm hurtling straight at Gern's face like a cannonball.

Without dodging or evading, Gern formed his left hand into a claw and slammed it down into the void.

"Heavenly Tremor - Void Shackles!!"

"Crack!" Barrett's fist abruptly stopped above Gern's head, as if it had struck an invisible wall.

Spiderweb-like pale cracks appeared in the space, forcefully locking his attack in place!

"Oh no, the larger size is actually..." Barrett exclaimed in surprise, realizing that there was something wrong with his fighting style.

But Gern had already dragged the Eight Desolations from his arm, sparks flying and lightning streaking all the way, charging straight towards him!

"It's too bulky, Barrett."

As soon as he finished speaking, the blade of the Black Blade Eight Desolations burst forth with a blinding white light, and wherever the blade passed...

Space was neatly sliced ​​open like a sheet of paper, and the metal armor was shattered at the molecular level, turning into dust and scattering away!

"Boom!!" Barrett's steel giant chest was cleaved open by this blade, revealing his true form the instant...

A black knife pierced straight through; Barrett barely dodged it, but Gern's figure moved like a flying thunder god.

He had already rushed in front of him, grabbed the hilt of the Eight Desolations Blade, and wrapped it with purplish-black domineering energy. At the same time, the vibrating particles transformed into light blades that extended to fifty meters.

"Heavenly Tremor - Fifty-meter-long Greatsword... Slash!!"

"Bang!!" Barrett's main body was struck hard in the waist and abdomen by this slash, his Armament Haki armor shattered, and he flew backward like a cannonball, staggering backward.

Using the recoil, Gern was thrown into the air and flipped backwards to land, slowly closing his eyes.

The blade of the Black Blade Eight Desolations drooped slightly, with a crack at the hilt, as rough and wild as intertwined tree roots, extending outwards in a pale, broken manner.

In an instant, it was like a giant ice flower, freezing in mid-air.

“Skyquake…” Gern’s voice was very soft, but it was like dropping a bomb on the entire battlefield.

The next second, the figure vanished.

Barrett's pupils contracted sharply as he tried to defend himself, but—it was too late!

A pale white blade of light pierced through the heavens and earth like divine punishment!

Where the blade passed, space shattered silently, and time seemed to stand still for a moment.

Before Barrett's steel giant could even react, Gern was already a hundred meters behind him, slowly opening his eyes.

"Divine Sense Slash." As the words fell, a straight white arc appeared on the giant's chest, followed by a tear in space revealing a pitch-black void.

“Kacha—kacha—”

The metal armor crumbled inch by inch, the power of the Fusion Fruit was shattered at the molecular level, and the entire steel giant collapsed like a sand tower!

"Pfft!!" Barrett's main body fell out of the broken metal, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Cough...cough cough..." He gasped for breath, his eyes filled with disbelief. "How could this be? Just now, I clearly..."

At this moment, Gern's figure slowly walked over, his black sword, Eight Desolations, pointing diagonally at the ground, and with a slight flick of his wrist...

As if summoned, the scattered bandage fragments gathered and wrapped around the blade of the Black Blade Eight Desolations.

The gray strips of cloth fluttered slightly in the wind, as if they had never been torn.

As the man walked toward him, Barrett stared intently at Gern, the blood at the corner of his mouth still wet, but suddenly he grinned.

"Ha...hahaha!!" His laughter was hoarse and manic. "That was...so exhilarating!!"

"Stop pretending! You wear your heart on your sleeve." After saying that, Gern slowly raised his knife, the tip pointing at Barrett's forehead.

"You lost again, Barrett."

Barrett sneered, staring fearlessly into Gern's eyes. Blood kept gushing from his wounds, but it couldn't hide his madness.

"Heh... Hahaha!" He grinned, revealing his bloodstained teeth. "So? You want to kill me?"

Or are you planning to parade me around in seastone handcuffs like Roger, to celebrate your achievements?

Gern did not answer immediately, but simply looked at him quietly.

The next second, "clang!" The black sword, Eight Desolations, returned to its sheath at the waist.

Barrett frowned, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Gern slowly spoke, "Didn't you choose to go berserk because you felt life was meaningless after losing your goals?"

“.....!” Barrett’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his breath hitched slightly.

"you......"

“In that case…” Gern interrupted him, “then let me become your target.”

His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable sense of pressure.

"You lost to me twice."

"Roger was also arrested by me."