The reef Rocks had mentioned was not far from Hachinosu, and it was easy enough to locate.
Following the direction Rocks pointed out, Nereus quickly spotted the exposed reef caused by the low tide and arrived there first in midair.
There is a clear difference between short-term air stepping and true flight.
Rocks could remain airborne, but he was not truly capable of flight, and his speed could not match Nereus.
On all of Hachinosu, only Shiki—through the Float-Float Fruit—could barely keep up with Nereus in aerial combat.
“I won’t hold back, Nereus!”
Rocks arrived immediately after, already drawing the long blade at his waist.
His overwhelming Conqueror’s Haki coiled around the edge of the sword like a tangible force.
Though framed as a “spar,” to any outsider it looked like an attempt to kill each other.
A massive slash of pure force—laden with dense Haki—ripped toward Nereus.
As it flew forward, the air itself seemed torn apart.
Even the calm sea below was split open, revealing a chasm-like wound.
Yet Nereus did not dodge.
He allowed the slash to pass through his body, tearing him apart and blasting the sea behind him into chaos.
The gaping wound nearly cut him in half—but Rocks showed no regret.
Instead, it was as if he had expected it.
In the next instant, the horrifying injury regenerated at an inhuman speed, vanishing as if it had never existed.
“Wororororo!
Still that absurd regeneration.
Your ‘immortal’ reputation isn’t just for show.”
“I checked Devil Fruit records.
From ancient times to now, no one has ever developed that fruit to this extent except you.”
Nereus’s ability was the Mythical Zoan: Bat Fruit, Vampire Form.
A fruit located in Sakeguchi Town in the original timeline—later associated with the “Red Count” Patrick Redfield.
As a Mythical Zoan, it enhanced physical abilities, allowed life-force absorption, and even youth restoration—but that was only part of its power.
Its terrifying regenerative ability was another component entirely.
Unlike Logia elementalization, which avoids damage by turning the body into an element, Zoan damage still exists—but Nereus’s form could fully recover from even Haki-inflicted wounds, much like Marco’s Phoenix fruit.
“Xebec, if this is what you call ‘seeing me at full power,’ then it’s rather disappointing.”
Nereus gave no response to Rocks’ praise.
Under the fruit’s transformation, his arms elongated, nails sharpening into blades.
His wings expanded further behind him, and his muscles became denser and more defined.
Unlike the wing membrane structure displayed by Redfield after eating the fruit, Nereus’s wings were fully independent—an expression of his own mastery over the fruit’s evolutionary variation.
He did not use weapons.
His body was his weapon.
He brought his fingers together like a spear.
A level of Conqueror’s Haki no weaker than Rocks’—even more condensed and focused—coiled around his fingertips.
“Hell Pierce.”
In an instant, his body became a living lance, shooting forward at a speed nearly impossible to track.
CLANG!
Rocks reacted instantly, raising his blade to block.
His sword, reinforced with Armament Haki and coated in Conqueror’s Haki, firmly stopped the thrust.
“Don’t aim for the face, damn it!
I don’t have your regeneration—what if I get scarred?”
Blocking with his weapon showed how seriously Rocks was taking this.
For most users of Conqueror’s Haki, the ability was limited to intimidation or clearing weaker opponents.
But for true top-tier fighters like them, who had mastered advanced coating, it became both spear and shield.
If an opponent’s Haki was not strong enough, they could not even breach that invisible defensive layer.
Even standing still, Rocks was effectively untouchable to most of the world.
Only a handful of beings in the sea could do this—and Nereus and Harald were among them.
“You blocked it just fine,” Nereus replied.
“That’s true enough.
Then—this is the real fight!
Abyss Curse!”
Rocks twisted his wrist, deflecting the thrust and following with a heavy downward slash.
Nereus’s body dissolved into a blood-red mist and reformed at a distance.
Without a weapon, he swung his arm like a blade.
“Crescent!”
BOOM!
Rocks changed his downward strike into a horizontal cut mid-motion.
The blade and the “hand-sword” never actually touched.
Instead, the overflowing Conqueror’s Haki from both sides clashed across the empty space between them.
The sky’s thick clouds were violently torn apart.
The sea beneath them was forced outward, forming a massive depression.
Fish and seabirds within range instantly lost consciousness under the pressure of their Conqueror’s Haki collision, then were blown away by the shockwave.
The reef beneath their feet cracked and shattered.
Even on Hachinosu itself, the island could feel the terrifying aura.
At Nereus’s camp, his subordinates watched the sea without worry—only admiration.
“The boss… he’s getting stronger again, isn’t he?”
“Of course he is.
That’s exactly why he’s our leader!”
Meanwhile, at the tavern from earlier, the young man who wanted to witness true strength finally reached the shoreline.
The torn sky above him seemed to answer his question.
This was what true power looked like.