“What?
A gigantic iron-sand giant nearly a hundred meters tall?
I understand.”
At Marine Headquarters, Admiral Sengoku put down the Transponder Snail, his expression turning grave.
“Using magnetism to control iron sand isn’t difficult.
But gathering enough iron sand to form a hundred-meter-tall giant and then controlling it in battle isn’t something an ordinary person could accomplish,” Tsuru said solemnly.
Iron sand was made up of countless tiny particles.
Controlling a small amount was easy enough, but the quantity required to construct a giant nearly a hundred meters tall was astronomical.
Even if the magnetic Devil Fruit could control metal, manipulating such an enormous quantity of iron sand was absolutely no simple task.
“We underestimated Gadile Yuri’s strength.
Even though we already tried to estimate him as highly as possible, we still never expected his strength to have reached the level of the top pirates in the New World.
If we’d known in advance, we should’ve been much more cautious when dealing with him.” Sengoku painfully held his head.
“This isn’t the time for regret.
If Gadile Yuri really is that strong, Sakazuki alone may not be enough to take him down.
Sakazuki himself could even be in danger.”
“Send Borsalino.
Have Borsalino go there immediately.
If he can capture Gadile Yuri, all the better.
If not, then at the very least, he must ensure Sakazuki and the Marines under him get out safely.”
…
Boom!
A gigantic orange-red beam flashed and instantly arrived in front of Akainu before exploding with tremendous force.
The entire Barro Island shook continuously.
As the explosion slowly faded, Akainu’s shattered body appeared.
Magma churned across his form.
In an instant, Akainu’s body restored itself completely, appearing unharmed once more before Yuri.
“Huh?
I could’ve sworn I coated that attack in Armament Haki,” Yuri said in confusion.
“With that half-baked Armament Haki of yours, you won’t be able to hit me,” Akainu said coldly.
Armament Haki could indeed strike Logia Devil Fruit users.
However, Armament Haki merely allowed someone to touch the true body of a Logia user.
It didn’t inherently suppress or counter a Logia ability.
And against a true Haki powerhouse, being able to touch them didn’t necessarily mean being able to injure them.
You could use Armament Haki to attack them, but they could naturally use Armament Haki to defend themselves.
The two sides were equal in that regard.
The Iron Sand Giant’s Railgun had indeed struck Akainu just now.
But at the instant of impact, Akainu had used his own powerful Armament Haki to grind away the Haki coating Yuri’s Railgun.
Once the Railgun left Yuri’s body, the Armament Haki coating it became like a stream cut off from its source.
Against Akainu’s powerful Armament Haki, it didn’t take long for that coating to be worn away.
Once the Railgun lost its Armament Haki, it could no longer harm Akainu at all.
“Big words.
If you’ve got the ability, then try taking another one.” Yuri smiled coldly.
As he spoke, the Iron Sand Giant once again assumed the firing posture for the Railgun.
Large amounts of electricity crackled across its arm.
The iron sand throughout the giant’s body constantly vibrated and rubbed against itself, accumulating an enormous amount of electrical energy.
That stored electricity now became the energy source for the next Railgun.
It was obvious that this shot would be even more powerful than the previous ones.
Akainu frowned when he saw it, his expression turning extraordinarily serious.
He knew the Railgun was simply too fast, almost like a flash of light or electricity.
Perhaps only Borsalino’s Glint-Glint Fruit could rival an attack of this speed.
Dodging it would be extremely difficult for him.
His only option was to block it head-on and wear away the Armament Haki coating the projectile.
At that moment, orange-red light flashed.
The Railgun crossed the distance between them in an instant and appeared directly in front of Akainu.
“Ha!”
Akainu roared.
Invisible Armament Haki surged outward once again, colliding with the Railgun and attempting to grind away the Haki coating it.
So strong.
This Railgun was far more powerful than he had expected.
This time, Akainu didn’t try to clash with it head-on.
His body was continuously pushed backward by the Railgun, and as he slid back, he repeatedly dispersed and redirected its force.
Finally, the Armament Haki coating the Railgun was completely exhausted by the collision.
The iron sand serving as the projectile was immediately burned away.
The overwhelmingly powerful Railgun vanished along with it.
“Huff…
huff…”
Even though he had only defended against it, blocking a Railgun fired by the Electromagnetic Iron Sand Giant was anything but easy.
Akainu had also consumed a considerable amount of strength.
“Sure enough, my Armament Haki is still missing something,” Yuri said with a smile.
The Railgun’s greatest weakness was still its projectile.
The Railgun granted its ammunition unparalleled speed and power.
But that same unmatched speed and friction also caused the projectile to burn violently until it was completely consumed.
Once the projectile disappeared, the Railgun naturally disappeared with it.
Originally, Armament Haki had already solved this problem quite well.
But a Railgun was ultimately still a projectile attack.
Once it was fired, the Armament Haki coating it became disconnected from Yuri.
Combined with Akainu constantly grinding it down using his own Armament Haki, the coating was exhausted even faster.
Because of that, the Railgun couldn’t display its full destructive power.
“If quality can’t win, then I’ll just crush you with quantity.
Let’s see how long you can keep this up,” Yuri said with a grin.
As he spoke, the Iron Sand Giant fired another Railgun.
One orange-red beam after another shot from the Iron Sand Giant’s hand and struck Akainu.
No matter how Akainu changed direction, tried to escape Yuri’s line of sight, or even launched attacks of his own, Yuri still struck him again and again.
When it came to Observation Haki, Yuri was inferior to no one.
Akainu was repeatedly blasted backward, leaving him increasingly frustrated.
But against the Railgun’s incredible speed, he couldn’t find a solution for the moment.
If this continued, his Armament Haki would soon be exhausted.
And once that happened, things would become truly troublesome…
“Oh my, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?”
At that moment, a sleazy voice suddenly sounded beside Yuri.
Yuri’s expression changed drastically.