'Haah… haah…'

  'Crack… crack…'

  Time passed.

  The sea ed, waves crashing violently as powerful gusts of wind tore across the battlefield.

  'G!'

  The fierce csh of Frank's bde against El's massive spear sent shockwaves rippling outward.

  The overwhelming force left the Gale Swordsman with a numbing pain throughout his entire arm. Without hesitation, he leapt back to create distanbsp;

  "Cutting Force Bde: Raging Dragon!"

  With murderous i bzing in his eyes, Frank eled his strength into his bde.

  With a ferocious swing, he unleashed a dragon-shaped energy wave that roared as it tore through the air, charging at El with terrifying speed.

  The dragon's maed wide, exuding raw, savage power.

  "Moonlight!"

  Unfazed, El tered with his own strike.

  His halberd, gleaming with cold light, sshed through the air, geing a windstorm in its wake.

  'Swoosh—'

  A massive crest-shaped ssh, glowing with a greenish hue, shot forward at lightning speed.

  'BOOM! BOOM!'

  The two attacks collided with earth-shaking forbsp;

  Without pause, both batants charged forward once more, their movements blurring as they closed the gap between them.

  'g! g!'

  'Boom! Boom!'

  The intetle raged on.

  With every strike, their energy overflowed, sending stray sshes tearing across the terrain.

  Massive trees in the surrounding forest were sliced through, toppling over with resounding crashes as the ndscape was battered by their relentless onsught.

  'CRACK! CRACK!'

  The ground was left riddled with deep fissures and craters, the once-pristine isnd now a battered wastend.

  Dust and debris filled the air, painting a se of utter devastation.

  'G! G!'

  Steel met steel in an unending symphony of sparks aru.

  The two figures—a t, imposing El and a smaller, agile Frank—tiheir ferocious duel.

  But the tide was turning.

  With every csh, Frank began to falter. His movements slowed, his strikes lost their sharpness, and his breathing grew bored.

  Blood seeped from numerous gashes on his body, his disheveled appeararaying his exhaustion.

  Soured down his face as he gasped for air.

  In stark trast, El remained unscathed. His breaths were steady, his expression calm, and his t figure exuded an aura of unyielding dominanbsp;

  The differen their strength was now undeniable.

  'G!'

  With a thunderous csh, their o again.

  This time, El's overwhelming force sent Frank hurtling backward, crashing through the air like a onball.

  "Cutting Force Bde: Dominating Sea!"

  Bloodied and battered, Fra out a defiant roar.

  Gathering the st vestiges of his strength, his bde surged with immense power as he swung it downward.

  "ROAR!"

  The resulting shockwave, a monstrous tidal wave of sshing force, surged forward. It raged with the fury of a storm, unstoppable in its path as it barreled toward El.

  "Is that the limit of your skill?"

  El’s expression remained cold and unfeeling.

  Throughout the battle, he had refrained from using his Devil Fruit powers, relying solely on his natural abilities. He hadn’t even transformed beyond his stro humanoid attack state, inguished the fmes behind his head.

  Although Frank’s strength rivaled that of Admiral Iron Cw, his speed was nowhere near as swift, making it unnecessary for El to employ Life Return teiques or sacrifice strength fility.

  "Elbaf Spear…"

  Veins bulged across El’s right arm as he prepared to unleash an attack of inprehensible power.

  The monstrous Lunarian raised his halberd and struck downward with overwhelming forbsp;

  "Hakoku Snty!"

  'WHOOSH—'

  The air itself seemed to colpse uhe pressure as an enormous wave of sword energy surged forth, unstoppable aating.

  'BOOM! BOOM!'

  The ensuing collision was deafening, the isnd tremblih the impabsp;

  Frank’s devastating *Cutting Force Bde* cshed head-on with El’s mighty *Hakoku*, but the former stood no bsp;

  The gale-like sshing force was utterly crushed, obliterated by El’s ferocious attabsp;

  The shockwave didn’t dissipate. It pressed forward with relentless fury, rushing toward the now-terrified Frank.

  "Cutting Force Shield!"

  Frank’s pupils dited in horror. With a swift movement, he summoned a protective blue energy shield around him.

  The barrier barely mao deflect the oning onsught, but the residual force sent him hurtling backward, smming into the earth.

  'SWOOSH!'

  El, a blur of motion, chased after him with lightning speed, wielding his halberd with lethal precision.

  "Your Devil Fruit is impressive," El taunted as he closed the distance. "But your swordsmanship… it’s g. This ends now."

  'CRACKLE… WHOOSH…'

  Electricity sparked around the bde as El’s t figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

  "Divieique—"

  El’s presence was anding, his stance exuding unshakable dominanbsp;

  The enormous halberd glimmered ominously, bd red energy iwining along its surface, radiating a terrifying aura of death.

  "Diviempest!"

  Frank wasn’t oo back down.

  "Cutting Force Bde: Gale Ssh!" he roared, eling his strength into his bde for a final terattabsp;

  'G!'

  For a moment, the two o in a brilliant csh of power.

  However, even with his Repel-Repel Fruit, Frank couldn’t hold his ground.

  'BANG!'

  With a resounding impact, Frank was sent flying once again. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the force of El’s attack left his chest visibly caved in.

  "How is this… possible?"

  Barely holding onto his bde, Frank’s face twisted in agony, his eyes wide with disbelief.

  His prized *Gale Bde* nearly slipped from his trembling hand as pain radiated through his torn muscles and fractured bones.

  "Lunarian bastard!"

  He gred at El with a mix of fury and desperation as his body was hurled across the battlefield like a broken arrow.

  "’t uand it?"

  El’s voice was calm, almost pitying.

  Striding forward with his halberd in hand, El locked eyes with his fallen oppo.

  "That difference you feel… that’s the gap between us."

  For years, El had relentlessly honed his swordsmanship. While brute force often sufficed for his destructive *Elbaf Spear*, he had meticulously refined his teiques, especially after mastering queror’s Haki infusion.

  The once-vague ideas for teiques in his mind had now bee reality.

  'SWOOSH… CRACK!'

  Frank’s battered form finally came to a halt, smming into a dense mountain, breaking through a massive tree along the way.

  Bloodied and embedded in the rocky surface, the Gale Swordsman y defeated.

  The duel betweewo swordmasters had reached its clusion.

  'HUMMMMM…'

  El’s eyes narrowed.

  A formless yet oppressive aura began to spread across the battlefield.

  'RUSTLE… RUSTLE…'

  From the forest floor, vines rapidly grew, writhing and coiling with unnatural speed.

  They engulfed Frank’s broken form, binding him tightly.

  'ARRRGHHHH!'

  Frank’s anguished screams echoed through the ravaged isnd.

  Bleam