Chapter 247: Getting Serious

At this moment, Akainu's expression finally changed.

This aura, this sense of oppression, it was as if he were facing opponents like Kaido or Bai Huzi. Is this how a Navy member with Conqueror's Haki fights?

"Let me see your strength! Karl!!!"

*Boom~* Akainu's other arm instantly turned into lava, transforming into a dog head. Two dogs went out to sea, turning the world upside down, and the surrounding air became increasingly scorching, as if it wanted to burn the heavens and earth to ashes!

Karl: There's an enhanced version of Xiao Yan on the unnamed island, not kidding!

"Then let's try it, Admiral Akainu!"

*Swish! *

It was a brilliant golden blade light, with dense black-red lightning wrapped around its edges. No matter what was waiting for it ahead, the outcome was only one: broken! Sliced through without mercy!

The two lava fierce dogs were split in two the moment they touched the Holy Light Judgment, revealing magma that looked like soft candy, followed by Akainu's arm...

Realizing something was wrong, Akainu quickly blocked his vital parts, gritted his teeth, and took Karl's attack. His entire body was forcibly pressed from mid-air to the ground by the blade light, and it kept sinking until he was embedded in a gully.

There was no movement for a long time, and Karl frowned slightly.

Although he had unleashed his ultimate move directly, Akainu's strength was so high that it was impossible for him to be killed by a single slash; at most...

*Gurgle, gurgle~*

Magma spread out from the cracks in the gully. After a brief brewing, countless meteors sprayed out and fell rapidly toward the ground. Karl looked up at the sky and adjusted his position continuously to avoid being hit by the magma.

*Bang, bang, bang~*

The surroundings were in chaos, filled with smoke and the stench of burning. Akainu emerged from a pile of magma, turned back into a solid, his face dark.

"Is this the power of Conqueror's Haki? Truly terrifying!"

That's right, that's what Akainu said, only the tone was flatter, without the ups and downs of Kizaru.

In the past, he hadn't felt much when facing players like Bai Huzi who possessed Conqueror's Haki, but Karl, a Navy member, using the power of Conqueror's Haki to knock him down made him feel somewhat difficult to accept, and his mood was very complex.

Akainu looked at Karl and inexplicably felt that he had already aged. A 28-year-old young man had actually made him think he was invincible.

"Admiral Akainu, do you still want to fight?"

Akainu took a deep breath, his expression returned to calm, and he said coldly: "Of course."

As soon as the words fell, Akainu rushed toward Karl. It seemed that the previous attack hadn't caused him too much trouble. There was no other way; Karl had to engage.

Sengoku, who was watching the battle, put down his binoculars and sighed: "Akainu seems to be serious."

Staff Officer Tsuru said lightly: "With his personality, it's normal. After all, who could have expected Karl's progress to be so fast? If I remember correctly, back then Akainu even wanted Karl to be his adjutant, right?"

"As a result, now..."

Staff Officer Tsuru didn't finish the sentence, but everyone present understood what she wanted to say.

Karl's strength was indeed somewhat unexpected. Fortunately, he was in the Navy; otherwise, he would be another Shanks.

Kuzan observed the battle between Sakazuki and Karl silently, thinking, if it were him, would he be the same as Akainu?

After thinking for a while, Kuzan reached a definite answer: in terms of lethality, his ice was far inferior to Akainu's magma; in terms of physique, Akainu was also stronger than him.

However, this guy Karl was too perverted. Four years ago, he was trading blows with Smoker, and now he could wrestle with Akainu—is this reasonable?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk~ How scary! Sakazuki might actually lose to Karl!"

Kuzan turned to look at Kizaru: "How do you know?"

Kizaru had an "it goes without saying" look: "Of course I know. Don't forget that Karl is a Holy Light Fruit user. His sustained combat ability doesn't lose even to Kaido."

"Unless Sakazuki can make Karl unable to heal in time, he will definitely be worn down by Karl."

Kuzan nodded, then revealed an "honest" smile: "Borsalino, Karl used to be your adjutant. Can you beat him now?"

"Why would I fight him? Isn't he in the Navy?"

Kuzan smiled awkwardly and didn't speak again.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next morning, but the battle between the two still hadn't ended.

But from the perspective of the onlookers, the battle was already over.

After a day and a night of fighting, Akainu had many more sword wounds on his body, and he was covered in dust and dirt.

Conversely, Karl, aside from his clothes being tattered, was unscathed, and his aura was very stable, indicating that his stamina was still very abundant.

On one hand, Karl could use Holy Light to restore his own wounds at any time, keeping his body in a peak state at all times. On the other hand, Karl became very persistent under the blessing of various skills; even if he was hit by Akainu many times, as long as it wasn't fatal, he could recover quickly.

Akainu was different; an injury was an injury, and he couldn't recover at all, at most adding injury to injury. Of course, he had a strong constitution, so even after being slashed a dozen times by Karl, it didn't affect his movements.

"Admiral Akainu, if we keep fighting, this unnamed island probably won't hold up. How about we stop here?"

Akainu's face darkened. Just as he was about to speak, the ground not far away collapsed, seawater instantly backflowed, stirring up high waves, but this was just the beginning.

Soon, like dominoes, the unnamed island collapsed piece by piece. If this continued, there wouldn't be any place left to stand.

"*Huff~*"

Akainu let out a long sigh. There was no other way; this battle had to end early. He just couldn't understand why Karl could be so strong.

Ability? Yes, that's right, it was his ability.

Being able to strengthen his physique and heal wounds—just these two points made him feel at a loss.

In the past, he used magma to deal with pirates, and it was almost always effective; a touch meant a serious injury. But it didn't work well on Karl. Even when he finally broke through his Armament Haki and burned him, Karl could heal it back with one Holy Light—how do you fight that?

After fighting for so long, wasting so much stamina, and spending so much mental energy, he hadn't even hurt a single hair—how could one not feel frustrated?

Although Kaido was more or less the same, he wasn't as flexible as Karl and had a kind of "honeyed" confidence that allowed him to quickly consume Kaido's stamina.

But this kid Karl was slippery; if he could land one hit out of ten attacks, that was considered accurate.

The only drawback of the Holy Light Fruit was probably that it couldn't unleash large-scale attacks. Overall, it was still a Devil Fruit that leaned toward support.

But Karl used Haki and swordsmanship to make up for this very well. Not enough attack range? Flying slashes to make up for it. Not enough attack power? Conqueror's Haki to make up for it! ===== CHAPTER 249 =====