Whoa, whoa, whoa—are you serious right now?
Seeing the colossal green hurricane in Dragon's hand continuing to swell and churn, Darren's eye twitched, and he couldn't help but curse under his breath.
The towering wind column had reached its limit, and Dragon, roaring with laughter, took a single step forward, hurling the monstrous green tempest straight at Darren!
The massive storm surged forth, no longer contained in Dragon's palm. It erupted with shocking speed, the spinning vortex of wind howling and accelerating.
Buildings lining the street—three or four stories tall—were devoured in an instant, ground to dust in the maelstrom's teeth.
The howling wind tore everything in its path to shreds, the earth itself heaving like ocean waves as signposts, streetlights, and bricks were sucked up and hurled skyward in a violent rain of debris.
A storm like a natural disaster itself—rushing forward to consume all!
Crack, crack, crack...
Even though the hurricane was still dozens of meters away, Darren felt an overwhelming pressure. He could barely keep his feet, as if at any moment he'd be swept away.
The ground beneath his boots cracked open, spiderweb fissures splitting across the stones.
Seeing this insane display of destruction, Darren couldn't help but laugh—a fierce, wild grin flickering on his lips.
But his eyes burned with the heat of battle, a flame that rose ever higher.
A smirk curved his mouth with defiant pride.
How strong was Dragon, really?
An Admiral-level monster?
But he was sure of one thing—if Dragon hadn't already reached that level, then he was the man closest to it in all these seas.
Trained by two Marine legends, Zephyr and Garp. A genius whose Dragon Claw Fist was already terrifying. And now... the wielder of a top-tier Logia Devil Fruit.
From everything Darren had seen—having once fought side by side with Dragon and Sakazuki—he knew Dragon's strength was at least a match for Sakazuki's... maybe even stronger.
And as for his own strength?
Darren didn't know that either.
As he looked up at the hurricane hurtling toward him, his grin only grew wider, the rain-lashed black hair whipping across eyes that gleamed with unwavering resolve.
"Now's the time to find out."
Suddenly, he lifted his arm.
A cold, black light howled out of nowhere, coming to a halt in front of him.
A dark hilt. A blade etched with ghostly, flickering patterns—Enma.
The instant Enma appeared, the air around them seemed to freeze, gripped by a bone-deep chill that stilled even the howling rain.
"Alright then... I'm counting on you."
A glint of red madness flickered in Darren's eyes as he gripped Enma's hilt.
The rain fell in torrents.
The storm loomed, so vast it seemed to swallow the sky.
Visible to the naked eye—
Strands of violet-black light began to flow silently from the heart of the maelstrom, like ghostly fireflies, drawn from deep within Darren himself.
They swirled and twisted, weaving into one another—a gathering tide of Armament Haki that wrapped around Enma's blade in a deadly dance.
A low, animalistic growl rumbled from Darren's throat. Veins bulged along his muscular arms, twisted like writhing centipedes.
In that instant, gripping Enma in one hand, he stood like a warrior defying the storm itself.
Enma, like a ravenous beast, devoured his Haki, exhaling an eerie, visible mist that churned around the blade like a living thing.
Not even the hurricane could breach that aura.
Like a ghostly, raging inferno.
Far off, Dragon's eyes widened.
"Darren—what the hell are you doing!? You don't even know how to use a sword!!"
His voice cracked with disbelief.
The sheer volume of Haki that blade was swallowing—even he felt a chill crawl up his spine.
But what left him truly speechless... was that Darren had never trained with a sword. And here he was, drawing a cursed blade and pouring everything into it. What was he thinking!?
Was he just planning to swing it like a club!?
"Who says you need to know swordsmanship to wield a sword?"
Darren's head was lowered, as if he were fighting to endure some excruciating pain.
Then he lifted it, wild red eyes blazing like a predator's.
He let go of Enma's hilt.
Straightened, head held high, his justice coat billowing behind him.
As he spoke, Dragon's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
The swirling magnetic field around Darren's body exploded outward, propelling the black demon blade forward like a bullet.
The impact sent an orange-red electromagnetic shockwave surging outward, Enma's speed instantly reaching its peak.
In Dragon's stunned eyes,
Enma roared through the air, wreathed in those violet-black streams of energy, burying itself in the heart of the hurricane.
The clash only lasted an instant. The massive hurricane shattered, the air erupting in a tidal wave of force that reduced every building within a kilometer to rubble.
The eye of the storm—
Enma's strike had driven straight into the storm's weakest, most vital point, carving it apart like a surgeon's blade and snuffing it out in a single instant.
Enma became a streak of razor-edged black light, vanishing across a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Dragon's eyelids twitched, his Observation Haki flaring to its limit. He thrust out his clawed hand.
The impact rang out like a meteor strike, a wave of power smashing outward in every direction.
Enma's blade was caught in Dragon's three-fingered claw, sparks cascading like a shower of stars.
A single drop of sweat slid down Dragon's forehead.
Then his pupils shrank, seeing something impossible.
Emerging from nowhere, tracing out from where Darren stood to a dozen buildings ahead.
If anyone had been watching from above, they would have seen something chilling.
From where Darren had swung, a fan-shaped swath of the island—
Everything within it, over a kilometer wide—
Split cleanly down the middle.
As if sliced by invisible wires, each building cut in two.