"Hawkeye isn't here to save you this time, pirate. Nobody will stop me from finishing you off." Akainu rumbled, literally turning red from heat and rage.
"He didn't save me from you; he saved you from me, bitch." Cherry shot back.
Akainu reached up then brought both fists down onto the ground with a quaking thud. The ground melted and rose into a wave of lava surging forth from him towards Cherry.
The wave was cleaved in twain, Cherry slipping through the separated halves and piercing forward with a spiraling spear thrust.
Akainu lobbed a large ball of lava at her as he moved to her right side which held the sword. Cherry fired dozens of arcs of electricity from Sakura Tengoku, but he plowed through them and swung a wide left hook at her head.
Cherry ducked at an awkward angle and sweeped around with the haft of her spear, whacking his legs but failing to knock him off his feet.
Akainu reached down to grab her with the hand he failed to connect a punch with. Cherry slipped around it like a leaf on the wind and swung her sword in an attempt to slice off his fingers.
The sword cleaved through the offending hand, but Akainu had already disconnected it from his body, making it nothing more than inanimate lava.
Akainu tried to stompy down onto the spear in hopes of either breaking it or at least disarming Cherry of it. Instead the spear thrust itself out of her hand, but also out of his foot's reach.
More lightning bombarded Akainu, but he simply grit his teeth and took it seemingly unfazed.
'Lightning is no good huh? I suppose he isn't made of lava for nothing…' Cherry pondered, electing to use the sword as a sword alone for now.
A pulse came from Akainu's body as he and everything including the ground for a few dozen meters transformed into roiling rock.
"Let's see you avoid getting burned now." Akainu sneered.
A pulse came from Cherry this time. The liquid stone on her side of the small lake of lava became very still and started to make cracking sounds as it solidified and spewed hot gas.
"Would you look at that?" Cherry mocked with an infuriating smile. Inwardly she was very glad that that worked, as she hadn't known for sure if she could unfuse heat from matter. Whilst she didn't fear the lava harming her body so much, she didn't want to end up fighting naked if her clothes burned away.
Akainu snarled, but took note of this development. An awakened devil fruit raised his threat assessment of Cherry up a notch, but he wasn't any less confident.
Akainu's side of the lake rose into a big wave of lava that crashed down onto both of them. Akainu himself launched forward at her with the intent to grapple her.
*BZZZT*
The spear, briefly forgotten, dug through the wave and nearly ripped through Akainu's back as well had he not rolled out of the way at the last second.
Cherry caught the spear with ease and, contrary to his expectations, rushed at him instead of trying to escape the crashing wave of lava. Her brandished sword came down upon him as he recovered from his roll.
Akainu slapped the side of the sword away, pushing its trajectory away from him as he punched with the other hand.
Cherry released her weapons and grabbed the extended arm, planted her foot firmly against his face, and pulled with all her might.
*POP POP POP*
Akainu's wrist, elbow, and shoulder all popped loose from their joints from the immense force applied to the arm. Akainu roared in pain just as the wave of lava slammed down atop both of them.
For a single second the spectating Neo Marines a short distance away wondered if it was over with their admiral's victory. That hope disappeared as a spot on the now hill of lava erupted outward and Cherry pranced forth from the hole with only a few small burns on her clothing.
A few seconds after that, the entire hill of lava exploded outwards, raining blobs of lava onto the nearby surroundings and forcing the Neo Marines further back.
"You wretched…!" Akainu had to forcibly tamp down his temper. Not only would it be detrimental in a fight against an opponent of this level, but it would also run counter to what he was trying to accomplish here if he went all out and destroyed Dressrosa in the process.
The fact that Cherry had deliberately targeted the same arm that she had broken at Marineford was a kind of subtle mockery that really grated on his last nerve.
Nearby, Fujitora observed the battle with interest. No matter the outcome, he could get a better idea of Cherry's abilities which would be very valuable information for the Marines. He didn't think she was going to die even if she lost, though.
*thump thump*
Fujitora immediately abandoned the idea of gathering information and ran as far away as he could as fast as he could. He ordered his marines to do so as well.
Akainu overheard Fujitora shouting at his subordinates and wondered why he was doing that now. It wasn't a good idea for anyone to be too close to Akainu himself when they fought him, so what about the thumping sound emanating from Cherry had him acting so cautious now?
*Thump Thump*
It was getting louder and faster whatever it was, so Akainu wasted no time attacking Cherry once more. Regardless of the source, it was best to put her down before she could do whatever it was she was doing.
As he did so, he melted the ground again with his awakening, forcing Cherry to use her own to counter it. Annoyingly, despite the temperature of the air on their battleground being well into the hundreds of degrees by now, Cherry wasn't showing any signs of discomfort. This environment by itself would render most unable to fight.
After doing this several times whilst they clashed together, it was clear that the acceleration in the increase of volume and speed of the drum-like beat wasn't as fast. Still, it was progressing steadily until the beat was as fast as a gatling gun and as loud as a cannon.
Fujitora, who was already very far away, decided to get even farther away. The beating sound hadn't been nearly that loud or fast when he heard her do it the first time.
"Time's up, bud. It was a nice fight, but you shouldn't have been so conservative if you wanted to win." Cherry spoke ominously with a twisted smile.
Akainu's observation haki screeched in his mind as Cherry dropped her sword and reared back a fist in a fashion he was familiar with.
'King punch?!' Akainu's eyes widened in realization as he threw up every defensive method in his possession. His molten rock body was already quite difficult to harm, but the full potential of his armament haki combined with Tekkai brought him to a similar level of defense to Kaidou.
"DIVINE RIGHT!!!!!" Cherry shouted, then her arm vanished in a blur of movement.
…
Dressrosa sat on the horizon as two fleets prepared for battle. One flew Whitebeard's flag and the other flew the Neo Marines' flag.
Normally, the Neo Marines wouldn't dare to fight in the situation since Whitebeard's flagship, the Moby Dick, was within their number. However, Zed wasn't about to miss the chance to annihilate them while he possessed a dyna stone.
It would be worth it even if he died in the act, since Akainu could lead the remaining Neo Marines in his stead. The Neo Marines he brought with him were loyal and felt the same way as he did, though he would spare them of that fate if he could.
A flash of light from the direction of Dressrosa drew the attention of both fleets. A massive column of hyper compressed air shot like a beam into the air vaguely in the Neo Marine fleet's direction.
Carried along this almost solid shockwave was a lone figure who, when the shockwave finally dissipated, fell into the ocean no more than a hundred meters ahead of them. They identified this figure by the stream of lava he poured into the ocean before he hit the surface as Akainu.
"Man overboard! Fish him out of the sea before he drowns!" Zed called out hastily. If Akainu died then he couldn't risk his own life against Whitebeard lest their noble cause lack the teeth it needed to contend with the Four Emperors.
Whitebeard's fleet also seemed to realize who it was, so they did their best to gain a lead on the Neo Marines while they could.