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

There were even faint cracking sounds of bones being broken in between!

Shanks and Dragon felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, as excruciating pain and dizziness overwhelmed their consciousness like a tsunami, causing their Haki and Devil Fruit abilities to dissipate for a moment!

Gern is ruthless when he gains power!

He first intensified the dizziness, and with his injuries still not fully healed, he swung the rag doll like a broken sack and hurled it toward the distant ice!

Immediately afterwards, in the afterglow of almost the same movement, Shanks was also thrown out in the same direction at an even faster speed!

Let the latter chase after the Dragon ahead like a cannonball!

At the same time, a loud buzzing sound emanated from Gern's body!

Eight fist-sized, vibrating particle spheres, with pale particles surging wildly inside, instantly coalesced and took shape beside him!

The sphere trembled slightly, locking onto the two figures that had been thrown into the air.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!"

The eight balls were not fired simultaneously, but rather at different tricky angles and speeds.

Transforming into a barrage of homing projectiles, it shot out, blocking all possible evasion paths for Shanks and Dragon!

Shanks is, after all, one of the Four Emperors, and his resilience and fighting instincts are beyond imagination.

In addition, his injuries were not as severe as Dorrag's, so he endured the excruciating pain in his head and dizziness while in mid-air.

"Get out of my way!!" he roared, twisting his waist forcefully as he flew backward, his Griffin drawing a perfect, blood-red arc.

The crimson circular slash spread out, precisely striking all eight vibrating particle spheres that were attacking from different directions!

A series of explosions rang out in the air, and pale shockwaves and crimson fragments of power scattered everywhere.

Using the recoil from the slash, Shanks was the first to adjust his posture and step onto the ice below!

But just as his feet were about to touch the ice...

“It’s ready.” Gern’s cold voice seemed to ring in his ears.

Gern stood still, his right leg kicking out like a whip, but not at a person, but at the end of the hilt of the Black Blade Eight Desolations stuck in the ice!

"Om!!"

The Eight Desolations emitted a sharp whistle, and the pitch-black blade was enveloped in violent, pale shockwaves.

It transformed into a streak of dark light that tore through space, shooting straight at Shanks' heart at a terrifying speed far exceeding the speed of sound!

That sudden change of tactics was too quick and too ruthless!

Shanks had barely exhausted his strength and his feet were not yet firmly planted when Gern's attack was already upon him!

All he could do was roar and shield Griffin with his chest!

"clang!!!!!!"

A louder and heavier impact than any previous collision erupted!

The tip of the Eight Desolations Blade pressed hard against the center of Griffin's blade!

Shanks felt an overwhelming force surge from the blade, mixed with destructive power from high-frequency vibrations.

His arms trembled violently and went numb, causing his tiger's mouth to split and bleed!

The force of the impact propelled him backward, his feet carving two deep furrows into the ice, sending up a torrent of broken ice!

Chapter 609 One-on-One, the Emperor Cannot Defeat the King

Meanwhile, Dragon managed to regain his balance while being thrown through the air.

Although blood was seeping from all seven orifices from the impact, making him look miserable, his eyes remained fierce.

He pressed down with both hands, ignoring the stinging pain from his arm bones, and unleashed his full power!

"Wind Domain - Void Imprisonment!"

The bluish-gray wind was no longer an attack, but transformed into countless strong, invisible chains.

They coiled around the space where Gern was located from all directions, attempting to restrict his movement and buy Shanks and themselves time to adjust.

But Gern didn't even glance at the wind chains that were wrapping around him.

After kicking out the Eight Desolations, he suddenly clasped his hands together in front of his chest!

Between the palms, highly concentrated, almost liquefied pale vibrational energy frantically converged and compressed, emitting a high-frequency shriek that sent chills down one's spine!

Immediately afterwards, he pulled his palms outwards!

A giant lightsaber, about three meters long with constantly twisting edges, made entirely of extremely solidified pale vibrating energy, suddenly appeared in his hand!

"Heavenly Tremor - Aurora Sword!"

With his lightsaber in hand, Gern's feet shattered on the ice beneath him, and his body transformed into a straight, pale streak of light, shooting into the sky.

In an instant, it broke through the wind chains and appeared in front of Dragon, who had just unleashed his power!

"cut!"

He uttered the words coldly, and then slashed down with his lightsaber!

Wherever the sword passed, the air was neatly sliced ​​apart, leaving pale cracks that lingered for a long time!

Dragon's pupils contracted. With no way to dodge, he could only concentrate all his Armament Haki into his arms and cross them to block!

boom!!!

The lightsaber struck the defense formed by wind and domineering aura, unleashing a dazzling pale light!

Dorag groaned as his sleeves were completely torn apart, and deep, bone-revealing wounds appeared on his arms. He was then violently chopped down and slammed onto the ice again!

After cleaving Dorrag away with a single sword strike, Gern did not pause for a moment.

The energy-vibrating lightsaber in his hand suddenly changed shape!

The lightsaber melted, extended, and reformed from its hilt, transforming in the blink of an eye into an exaggeratedly shaped, pale, energy longbow with shockwaves swirling around its two ends!

"Heavenly Tremor - Dome Bow!"

Gern held the bow in his left hand and tapped the string in the air with his right, making a gesture of drawing the bow like a full moon!

As he drew the bowstring, the violent vibrational energy between the bowstring and the bow arm automatically compressed and shaped itself.

It coalesced into a pale arrow as thick as a child's arm, with spiral patterns all over its body, its arrowhead spinning violently, emitting destructive energy fluctuations!

At the tip of the arrow, even space itself was slightly collapsing!

Gern's cold gaze locked onto Dorrag, who had just crashed onto the ice and was struggling to get up.

"Star collapse."

He released his right hand from the string.

"Boom!!! Whoosh!!!"

The bowstring snapped, but it was actually a terrifying roar as energy was released!

The spiraling arrow shot out of the bowstring at a speed that was beyond the reach of sight, leaving only a straight, pale trail in the air!

Furthermore, less than ten meters after the arrow flew, its internal structure suddenly became unstable, and then...

Divide! Proliferate!

A single arrow instantly exploded into hundreds, even thousands, of tiny yet equally deadly pale energy arrows!

These arrows did not fly in a straight line; they came from all directions—up, down, left, right, front, and back.

From every possible angle, a devastating net of arrows rained down upon Dorrag below, leaving no blind spots!

Each tiny arrow carries the penetrating power and explosive force of high-frequency vibrations!

Dragon, suspended in mid-air, looked up at the pale, deathly rain that swept in, engulfing his entire field of vision...

For the first time, he showed an expression of near despair.

.......

On the other side, Shanks had just stopped sliding backward, his feet barely touching the edge of the furrows he had plowed in the ice.

The tingling sensation in my arm hadn't subsided yet, and I didn't even have time to catch my breath before trying to see what was happening in Dorrag in the distance...

What followed was a deafening explosion, accompanied by an extremely blinding pale flash.

It suddenly exploded on the ice field hundreds of meters away!

Immediately following was a shockwave mixed with ice crystals and snow mist shattered into dust, crashing towards us like an out-of-control tsunami!

Shanks reflexively turned his head to the side and raised his remaining arm to block in front of him.

The icy wind pressure stung his cheeks, and his tattered black cloak fluttered wildly, almost blowing him away again.

My vision was blurred, and all I could hear was the shrill sound of the wind and ice shards rubbing against each other.

It took quite a while for the aftershocks to subside.

Shanks, also panting, slowly lowered his arm, his squinting eyes searching through the swirling, still-sinking, icy mist and dust.

At the same time, my heart sank!

Because he didn't hear any of Dragon's voice, nor did he feel that familiar domineering aura resurface after the explosion.

"Please don't..."

Just as Shanks was consoling himself...

"Om..."

A low, sharp sound came from not far to his side.

Shanks suddenly turned his head.

The black sword, Bahuang, which he had previously knocked away, was now embedded diagonally in the ice in the distance.

It was trembling slightly at this moment, and the pale shockwaves remaining on the blade flowed like living things.

Immediately afterwards, it pulled itself out of the ice, transforming into a streak of black light with a "whoosh".

It shot towards the billowing, cold mist at the center of the explosion, disappearing into it.

Seeing the unusual movement of Gern's sword, Shanks's heart sank to the bottom.

He forced himself to stand up, bracing himself against the Griffin planted beside him, his gaze fixed on the slowly rippling pale mist.

A cold wind swept by, carrying a biting chill and the smell of gunpowder.

The fog began to disperse to both sides...

The first thing that appears is a circular crater, a scene of utter devastation.

The ice in the pit began to melt, and seawater slowly seeped out.

Then, the silhouette of a tall and imposing figure faintly emerged in the center of the gradually thinning mist.

Shanks involuntarily held his breath.

As the fog dissipated further, the details of the figure became clearer and clearer.

Shanks' expression grew increasingly grim...

Because the person standing silently in the center of the scorched crater was...Gern!

His upper body revealed a strong and muscular physique. Although the wound on his waist and abdomen, inflicted by the divine slash, was no longer bleeding profusely, the marks left by the strike were still gruesome.

His bangs were disheveled, his face was expressionless, and his right hand was gripping Dorag.

His left hand casually held the black sword, Bahuang, which had just flown back on its own, with the tip pointing diagonally at the ground.

At this moment, Dorag, who was being carried, had his eyes closed, his face covered in blood, and his arms hanging limply.

It had clearly lost consciousness completely under the saturation attack of the previous "Star Collapse" and the subsequent pursuit.

He stood in the center of the pit, holding the unconscious Dorag in one hand and a knife in the other, and slowly, with an almost cruel composure, raised his eyes.

His gaze pierced through the lingering cold mist and ice dust, landing precisely on the red-haired man with a stiff face and contracted pupils on the distant ice field.

Shanks' Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He looked at the unconscious dragon in Gern's hand, and at Gern's terrifyingly calm demeanor, and a chill instantly swept over his entire body.