One Piece: Yujiro Hanma

Tiberion, towering like a mountain, began to walk, dominating the place with his mere presence.

His figure, bathed in a distorting aura, no longer seemed to fit into the space around him; every muscle of his body radiated such a concentration of power that the very space around him subtly warped.

With his back straight and his arms relaxed, he advanced slowly, closing the distance.

When he finally stopped a few meters from Rayleigh, his colossal size became even more apparent: he was nearly two heads taller, and his shadow loomed over the old man.

In a tone overflowing with disdain, he provoked him without restraint:

"How does an old relic in his final days dare to interfere in my affairs?"

"...Do you not want to keep living?"

"..."

Faced with these questions, which clearly aimed to provoke him, Rayleigh remained silent for a moment and then smiled coldly.

"Hmph... the young are always so arrogant and free," he commented, "Although..." he added, sizing him up with his eyes, "Your body does seem more resilient. I suppose you won't break easily, right?"

The comment, far from calming things down, only ignited Tiberion even more.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed, eyes wide open. "In the end, old man, what you want is a fight!"

In an instant, he propelled his body forward and threw a punch directly at Rayleigh's face — a simple attack, but executed in such a way that the space in front of his fist distorted.

A normal punch that unleashed an explosive force of over 15,000 tons.

And Rayleigh, without losing his composure, reacted by sliding his body swiftly to the side, dodging the blow.

However, although the punch missed its target, the shockwave it released caused devastation.

A deafening sound rang out as the space trembled and twisted as if struck by a whip.

With this display, Rayleigh quickly formed an assessment.

'The strength of his fists... is tremendous,' he thought, without letting his face show it, 'It's comparable to Garp's!'

He was a monster.

A being that, in any era, would be remembered as a living disaster.

And yet, he did not retreat.

He vanished from sight with a jump, reappearing at Tiberion's side.

Without hesitation, he launched a kick coated in Armament Haki, aimed directly at Tiberion's ribs.

The kick, though it seemed simple, carried unquestionable destructive power.

But Tiberion had already foreseen everything.

From Rayleigh's very first move, his Demon Brain had been active.

His mind simulated hundreds of scenarios in infinitesimal fractions of a second; he had already reconstructed each of Rayleigh's possible attacks before he even executed them.

He hadn't only anticipated the kick.

He had anticipated its angle and its speed.

From an outside perspective, it seemed as if they moved in perfect unison, compensating each other's actions with synchronization.

But the truth was not so.

Tiberion was reacting almost 0.00 seconds earlier.

Not out of pure instinct… but because his brain predicted and corrected in real-time.

The instant Rayleigh launched his kick, Tiberion moved his left hand, catching the leg.

The impact of the contact was like a thunderclap, but his arm didn't budge even a millimeter.

His hand instantly increased its grip strength to over 3,000 tons of pressure, dissipating much of the destructive power Rayleigh had injected into his attack.

"..."

Rayleigh, with his sharp intuition, immediately sensed that something was wrong.

'Did he read my move…?' he thought, frowning, 'Is his Kenbunshoku Haki superior to mine?'

And he wasn't entirely wrong.

Tiberion wasn't using Observation Haki.

Or rather, he didn't need it.

His Demon Brain was so absurd that it far surpassed anything Observation Haki could achieve.

If he wanted, he could activate his own Kenbunshoku instantly and would be able to master it above any known standard, because at that moment, his physical and spiritual talent had already surpassed 500 points.

But he didn't need it.

?

Rayleigh couldn't help but feel astonished.

In his life, he had faced beings of inconceivable strength, had witnessed the feats of men capable of shaking the seas with a single strike; and yet, the sense of physical oppression emanating from Tiberion had no immediate comparison.

'How is it possible for his strength to be this brutal?' he wondered as he furrowed his brow.

But he didn't have time to seek answers.

Before his body could even begin a counterattack…

The muscles of Tiberion's left arm, still holding Rayleigh's leg, compressed.

His skin tightened, and his veins bulged visibly as they released torrents of thermal energy that turned the surrounding vapor into boiling mist.

Without losing a single instant, he twisted his torso, shifted his weight, and unleashed all his compressed strength in a single movement.

Slash

Rayleigh was hurled straight into the air like a comet.

One thousand meters… two thousand… three thousand…

His silver figure crossed the Grove like a meteor, destroying everything in his path until he ended up at the very edge.

The roar of his passage rumbled so fiercely that it astonished the elite Marines who had just arrived at the scene.

Even Admiral Kizaru, who was watching hidden, couldn't help but frown slightly.

From his position, his eyes caught sight of what he initially thought was an object being hurled through the sky.

But upon focusing his gaze, he understood the magnitude of the event.

It wasn't an object. It was an old man—and not just anyone.

It was Silvers Rayleigh himself, being thrown like a rag doll...

For a fleeting moment, an absurd thought crossed his mind:

'Could it be… that today luck is really on my side?'

But that illusion vanished instantly.

Because he perceived that Rayleigh hadn't suffered injuries.

Despite having been launched with a force that would pulverize anything, the old man remained whole.

And as expected, Rayleigh rose from among the rubble.

His figure, now covered by an intense layer of Armament Haki, slowly emerged.

His gaze had now turned lethal.

The determination of someone who understood that he was now fighting against a beast, not a mere human.

He now understood better than anyone that against an animal like this, he could not afford to hold back.

Moreover, he couldn't afford to waste time.

The Marines were already here.

He had to finish quickly or he would find himself in an even more dangerous scenario.

He slowly rotated his shoulders and, with a single tug, ripped off the tattered clothes still hanging on his body.

The shirt shredded into rags, exposing his true physique.

A hardened, dense, and defined body, where every muscle still retained its vital strength.

Except for the scars—one on his right pectoral, another crossing his left arm—the rest of his physique was incredible.

Despite being over seventy years old, he still displayed a body at the pinnacle of human condition.

While sending the old man flying through the air, Tiberion made a quick decision, stopping the Demon Brain simulation to give way to a new type of perception.

He closed his eyes briefly.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent that permeated the air, and then, focusing on the flow of life around him, attempted to directly sense Rayleigh's aura.

"..."

One... two... three seconds passed.

And in less than five seconds, with incredible ease, he mastered Kenbunshoku Haki, perfecting it as if he had been born for it.

"HAHAHA! The old man sure can take a hit!"

The pressure emanating from his body, already monstrous, abruptly rose again, like a volcanic eruption that had been held back.

His muscles, already unnaturally hypertrophied, swelled even further, causing his shirt to tear apart, exposing a monstrous musculature.

The muscles compressed even more, hardening to a density that surpassed even tempered steel thousands of times over.

He then activated the release of thermal energy.

In response, his entire body began to emit scorching steam, once again surrounding him in a cloud.

This form could be maintained for over ten minutes or so… more than enough time to annihilate anything that crossed his path.

And like a sadistic being, he smiled from ear to ear, revealing perfect teeth, and, vibrating with excitement, launched himself like a missile towards Rayleigh, leaving behind a sonic boom.

Each contact of his feet with the ground opened deep craters, as if a meteorite had struck, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

In front of that monstrosity approaching, Rayleigh did not show intimidation.

With sharp eyes, he wrapped his entire body in Conqueror's Haki, releasing a current of electric pulses from his body that, with a single beat of his will, instantly expanded for several kilometers around, illuminating the area with flashes of electricity that even made the giant trees tremble.

Then he also charged towards Tiberion, his figure distorting from the speed at which he moved, leaving behind trails of light.

From his hiding spot, Kizaru whistled slowly, observing the unfolding events through his sunglasses.

"How scary… as expected of the right hand of the Pirate King," he murmured with his arms crossed.

The numerous Marines who had just arrived, upon sensing the magnitude of the forces at play, hurriedly retreated, understanding that a battle of this level could not only cause massive destruction within seconds, but could also end their lives before they could even blink.

And then, the clash of forces occurred.

A roar like that of two worlds colliding rose up when Tiberion and Rayleigh clashed.

Punch after kick, kick after elbow, blow after impact.

Each of their exchanges was like an explosion.

Everything nearby was knocked down one after another, unable to withstand even the shockwaves.

Rayleigh, with his mastery of the three types of Haki, managed to match Tiberion, and on several occasions, thanks to his high mastery of Conqueror's Haki, he was able to force Tiberion's body to retreat, causing Tiberion's feet to tear through the ground.

However, despite everything, he didn't dare in the slightest to directly take Tiberion's punches.

Especially not in vital areas like the heart, the head, or the neck.

He knew for certain that not even fully covering himself with Armament Haki would allow him to risk blocking those blows head-on.

Every time he dodged, he witnessed with his own eyes the result of those monstrous fists.

Each time a punch from Tiberion missed its target and struck the ground or a treetop, everything within several meters was pulverized into dust.

And it was no exaggeration.

In his mind, he made rough calculations.

The explosive force of those punches must undoubtedly exceed 20,000 tons, and the most terrifying part was not even that already inconceivable number.

What was truly monstrous was that Tiberion didn't seem to be using any Haki to reinforce his body.

It wasn't his spiritual energy that was withstanding the impacts, but his flesh itself, and Rayleigh immediately grasped the gravity of this.

To truly damage that body, an ordinary weapon wouldn't suffice, not even a blade coated in Haki.

It would require a sword of superior quality, forged and hardened to the extreme.

A Black Blade.

The "Black Blade" was the result of completely coating a blade with the most powerful and refined Armament Haki in existence, a process that transformed the sword itself into a weapon capable of cutting through anything in the world.

And he understood that if he couldn't even reach a third of that level, he could forget about ever cutting through Tiberion's body.

He was, in essence, a living monster, a calamity impossible to stop by ordinary means.

"OLD MAN!" Tiberion suddenly roared. "I'm just warming up and you're already faltering!"

Although he felt he was winning, deep within his body he knew that, even with the release of thermal energy, even relying solely on the pure strength of his muscles, he had noticed that he couldn't really damage Rayleigh as he desired.

On the contrary, each of his attacks was countered with such refined skill and such robust Haki that his own arms began to numb after each clash.

If he hadn't had the Defensive Xiaol, automatically dissipating and redirecting the severest blows, he would already be covered in wounds.

Rayleigh was not a mere legend of the past.

Meanwhile, Rayleigh maintained his serene expression, though his body was beginning to show signs of fatigue.

"Je... What did you expect?" he said with a sidelong smile, squinting his eyes, "At seventy years old, my stamina isn't the same anymore... I can't keep up like I used to."

!

But without meaning to, his words struck Tiberion deeper than any attack so far.

His frown, already deep, contorted even further, deforming his face into an expression of fury, as if something dormant in the depths of his blood had been awakened.

Deep within his being, his Hanma blood burned like magma.

What he felt wasn't just anger.

It was a rage that came from generations of pride.

What kind of look was that...? What did "not the same anymore" mean?

Did the old man have the audacity to proclaim himself weak before him?

Did he dare look at him as if it were a favor to continue fighting him?

Wasn't this the very same old man who had once swum across the Calm Belt infested with Sea Kings and arrived at Amazon Lily without so much as blinking?

And now he came speaking to him of fatigue and old age?

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"

________

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