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Facing the encroaching searing flas, Gion instantly drew her fad sword, Konpira, from its sheath.
Dense Armant Haki imdiately coated the blade—Gion intended to show this arrogant young man the true vastness of the sea with her superior Haki!
But the next mont—the flas reaching Gion suddenly exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Fire—regarded by humans since ti immorial as a natural disaster.
And within a true fire catastrophe, the most terrifying aspect wasn't the heat itself, but the resulting explosion—The force generated by the explosion far surpassed the burning potential of the flas alone!
And now—the flas detonated from within, from the very core of each flicker! The terrifying energy within the flas, amplified by the Bomb-Bomb Fruit's power, erupted instantly at a single point!
The exploding flas ford a massive, cracking fireball, with Gion caught directly at its center.
The sheer force blasted the desert sands beneath her feet, the intense heat near the core actually lting the sand into slag!
"Wh-What is that?!" Ace stared, utterly dumbfounded.
The flas had exploded!
His own Flare-Flare abilities could cause explosions, certainly, but only by igniting combustible materials.
Rowen's flas, however, had detonated themselves.
It was as if soone had planted high explosives deep within every strand of fire and then detonated them simultaneously. The resulting destructive power left even Ace, the Flare-Flare Fruit user, completely speechless.
"VICE ADMIRAL GION!" Hina and Tashigi cried out in alarm, seeing the terrifying spectacle unleashed by Rowen's seemingly casual attack.
CLANG!
Gion, however, was an Admiral Candidate.
Her Armant Haki mastery and swordsmanship ranked among the best on the seas—Her Konpira lashed out, sending several flying slashes tearing through the exploding fireball, creating temporary gaps.
"Damn it!" Though she weathered the attack, Gion wasn't unscathed.
She had expected her superior Armant Haki to easily slice through re Flare-Flare flas. She hadn't anticipated the flas detonating instantly upon contact.
The explosion was terrifyingly powerful, especially at point-blank range.
Even though her Observation Haki had warned her of the danger fractions of a second beforehand, allowing her to quickly coat her body in defensive Armant Haki—so parts of her skin were still burned.
The explosion's speed was too instantaneous; even her predictive Haki only gave her a mont's warning, not enough ti for her Armant Haki coverage to react faster than the internal detonation.
Feeling the stinging heat on her skin, Gion's expression turned incredibly grim.
The minor injuries weren't the issue; they wouldn't significantly impact her combat ability.
The real problem was—
"Your Flare-Flare Fruit ability contains... another power?!" Gion demanded, her face dark. Her Observation Haki had detected it the instant the flas exploded. There was more than just the Flare-Flare Fruit's power contained within!
"The power of explosion... Could it be the Paracia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit?" Gion had studied the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
Combining that knowledge with Rowen's earlier taunt—'Are you sure it's only two Devil Fruit abilities?'—the answer beca terrifyingly clear!
Looking at Rowen, sheer horror began to dawn in Gion's eyes.
This man possessed more than just two Devil Fruit abilities...
"Impressive perception, for an Admiral Candidate," Rowen acknowledged with an appreciative nod.
Hearing the confirmation brought Gion no comfort whatsoever. Instead, shock and fury warred within her.
It was common knowledge across the seas—a person could only eat one Devil Fruit!
Devil Fruits were incredibly powerful; Gion knew firsthand just how potent a top-tier fruit could be. Why were the current three Marine Admirals—Akainu, Aokiji, Kizaru—considered the strongest trio in history?
Because they wielded three incredibly powerful Logia Devil Fruits!
These fruits allowed them, even without Conqueror's Haki, to fight head-on against Emperors possessing Infused Conqueror's!
But now—soone existed who could wield multiple Devil Fruit abilities!
At that mont, one part of her mission objective clicked into place—understanding why a man of Rowen's caliber would bother with the weak Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
The answer was horrifyingly simple: Because he could possess multiple Devil Fruits!
And looking at him now—how many could he possess?? It was completely unknown!
What if... he could possess an infinite number?! The thought was too horrifying!
Gion felt her insides tremble.
Devil Fruits were powerful, yes, but no ability was perfect; each had strengths and weaknesses.
Zoans granted incredible physique and stamina but excelled primarily in close combat and carried the risk of losing control upon Awakening.
Paracias offered bizarre and tricky abilities but generally lacked the raw physical power of Zoans or the destructive force of Logias (with rare exceptions like the Tremor-Tremor Fruit).
Logias granted control over natural elents, like forces of nature, but were vulnerable to specific elental counters and notoriously difficult to Awaken (fully aligning one's will with a natural elent was difficult for humans).
Furthermore, Logias, being the most 'unnatural' existence, incurred the deepest curse from the sea, making Haki developnt more difficult for their users due to the inherent reliance/desire conflict.
(This might also explain why even Vegapunk could artificially replicate Zoans and Paracia abilities but struggled with Logias).
Pros and cons—that was the nature of Devil Fruits.
But what if—different types of Devil Fruits were combined within one person?
Possessing the terrifying physique and stamina of a Zoan, the catastrophic elental attacks of various Logias, and the bizarre, unpredictable powers of Paracias...
Furthermore, combining different fruits could potentially mitigate weaknesses and amplify strengths!
The power boost from such synergy—Gion had just experienced it firsthand!
Her own powerful Haki had struggled to withstand that combined attack!
Looking at the man before her, even Gion, with her resolute will, felt utterly horrified.
Then—Gion grit her teeth. 'Must capture him imdiately!'
This man posed an imnse future threat to the Marines' justice!
"Stay right there—Sky Sovereign Rowen!" Gion roared, abandoning ranged attacks and charging forward. She wouldn't waste ti probing; she had to engage in close-quarters combat imdiately! Konpira, coated in thick Armant Haki, slashed directly towards Rowen.
"Fla Haze——!" Rowen countered, swinging both arms. Searing flas mixed with dense smoke erupted, instantly enveloping Gion.
"Kilo-Kilo——! Fla Haze Jet——!" Seeing Gion trying to close the distance, Rowen smiled.
FWOOSH!
Rowen's weight instantly dropped to one kilogram.
Propelled by the combined force of fire and smoke eruption, he shot upwards at incredible speed!
His own Haki wasn't as strong as Gion's, and Gion was a Great Swordsman.
Powerful swordsn were deadly in close combat, especially combined with strong Haki. But Rowen was a Devil Fruit user—why would he engage her in close quarters?
Gion just needed to stay down there and take the hits!
The Fla Haze spread rapidly towards Gion.
"Moonwalk——!" Seeing Rowen fly upwards, Gion didn't panic—She imdiately used the Six Powers technique, Moonwalk, kicking off the air itself to pursue Rowen skyward.
But very quickly, Gion's expression changed again.
Rowen's flight speed—was too fast!
This wasn't the speed a normal Logia user should possess!
Logia fruits like Flare-Flare, Smoke-Smoke, or Glint-Glint allowed temporary levitation or gliding through elental propulsion.
But they didn't grant true flight capability. Maintaining altitude required significant stamina, and the flight speed wasn't typically very high.
Yet Rowen's current speed far exceeded her expectations—Her Moonwalk couldn't catch him! She was forced into a purely defensive position, unable to retaliate against his Devil Fruit attacks!
Worse still, the flas he used now contained the suffocating properties of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit! She had to maintain constant Haki coverage over her entire body to prevent the smoke from seeping in and choking her.
This constant defensive Haki usage was incredibly draining.
Dealing with one Devil Fruit ability was tricky enough; multiple synergistic abilities were a nightmare!
"Fla Burst——!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The flas surrounding Gion exploded again, making her Haki defenses tremble violently.
The Fla Haze imdiately surged towards the weakened points, trying to breach her defenses and suffocate her.
"BASTARD!" Gion cursed furiously. Looking up at Rowen, completely unreachable far above, she swung Konpira violently.
WHOOSH!
A powerful flying slash shot upwards.
But the next mont—Rowen simply elentized into smoke, letting the slash pass harmlessly through him.
Gion's eye twitched in frustration.
This was exactly why she wanted close combat—Against Logia users, unless their Observation Haki was poor, flying slashes were easily dodged by elentizing just before impact.
Plus, such large-scale ranged attacks consud more stamina, and infusing Haki across their wide area was even more draining—a one-ti expenditure.
Once the Haki-infused slash left the blade, the Haki was spent.
anwhile, she had to constantly maintain her defensive Haki—the stamina drain was imnse!
"Your body... feels strange, Similar to Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit... No... not as strong... You can only control yourself—Is that the Paracia Kilo-Kilo Fruit?!" Gion deduced grimly, her face pale.
"Applause is warranted," Rowen chuckled from above.
"BASTARD! That makes four Devil Fruit abilities!" Gion felt utterly grim. Completely forced onto the defensive, unable to retaliate—it was infuriatingly humiliating!
Rowen, while continuously attacking Gion, was also gauging his own stamina consumption.
Stamina was the foundation for all power—Devil Fruits and Haki alike.
Wielding multiple Devil Fruits simultaneously was incredibly powerful, forcing even an Admiral Candidate like Gion onto the defensive.
But likewise, using multiple fruits ant bearing the stamina cost of each.
Gion's defensive Haki was draining her rapidly, but Rowen, using four fruits at once, was also consuming stamina at an alarming rate.
The battle had devolved into a war of attrition.
Although Gion looked much worse off, and Rowen held the absolute initiative, Gion's base physique energy (stamina) likely surpassed Rowen's current level.
Dragging this out was pointless—unless Rowen used his ultimate technique to force a decisive, potentially fatal, conclusion. But for Rowen, still in his rapid growth phase, such a gamble wasn't worth it.
"Alright, let's end this," Rowen stated calmly, reforming into a column of fla and descending beside Ace and Luffy.
His objective was achieved; further entanglent with Gion served no purpose.
"Trying to leave?!" Gion roared, eyes blazing with fury.
Being forced onto the defensive like this, her Haki defenses nearly breached multiple tis... Gion hadn't experienced such humiliation in years!
Even clay figures have tempers, let alone an Admiral Candidate like her!
"Want to fight to the death? With my Logia abilities... how many of your subordinates do you think would survive?" Rowen countered coldly.
His current priority was Crocodile's 'Fortune'.
But if soone insisted on provoking him, Rowen wouldn't back down. With his strongest techniques, even if Gion survived, the rest of her Marines would be annihilated!
"You! Despicable!" Gion spat furiously.
"I am a pirate," Rowen laughed. "Marines—leave this place quickly. Don't bother here. You can't stop anyway, can you?" Rowen's smile faded, his voice turning cold.
Why did Rowen dare expose so much of his power now? Because he knew the internal structure of the Marines well.
The only individuals Rowen currently couldn't defeat were Garp, Sengoku, and the three Admirals. But figures of their stature wouldn't easily mobilize just for him.
Garp and Sengoku were obvious—one a Marine Hero (and Luffy's grandfather), the other the Fleet Admiral anchored at HQ.
Of the three Admirals, one had to guard Mariejois, one had to remain at HQ.
The Navy constantly faced threats from the Four Emperors in the New World; their top assets couldn't be deployed carelessly.
The remaining Admiral served as a mobile force—currently Aokiji.
But Aokiji practiced 'Lazy Justice'; in the original story, he only confronted the Straw Hats after learning about Robin's whereabouts. Plus, he was Garp's forr student and ultimately let Luffy's crew go.
Rowen didn't need to worry about an Admiral-level threat anyti soon.
Marine HQ—Rowen knew their full intelligence capabilities.
But their intel assessnt on him—was completely wrong—They had no idea he was still in a phase of rapid, explosive growth!
After dealing with Crocodile, next was Skypiea—acquire the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!
By then, even an Admiral wouldn't be able to easily capture him!
That's why Rowen deliberately showcased his multiple Devil Fruit abilities now—to further inflate his bounty and reputation!
"So—stop monitoring . Otherwise... I'll show you the true power of these Devil Fruits—when truly fused together," Rowen finished calmly.
All his current actions were aid at securing Crocodile's 'fortune'.
Gion's continued interference would disrupt his plans.
This was Rowen's warning to her.
anwhile, Nami and the others had finished gathering the necessary supplies.
Rowen rejoined Luffy and the crew.
Leaving only Gion standing alone in the desert, her face incredibly grim. She truly had no way to stop Rowen now, especially with Fire Fist Ace nearby.
"Buru-buru-buru..." Gion stood in silence for a long ti, then slowly took out her Transponder Snail.
Click!
The call connected.
"Fleet Admiral... I have failed," Gion reported, her voice filled with bitterness.
What she said next—sent shockwaves of fury and disbelief through Marine Headquarters.
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