Lunging back towards Akainu with even more vigor than before, I didn't hold anything back and freely flowed all of my seventy-two Bian through my attacks, enhancing my strength to an ever higher degree; not only that, but I was using all of my haki, well except for Conqueror's haki, and to top it all off, I had Sebas, Mael and Freyja aiding me in battle. We were giving it everything we had, using every ounce of strength we've accumulated throughout our lifetimes, yet, even so, it amounted to nothing.
Akainu… He was too powerful. He was stronger and faster, had far superior haki, and even how he used his devil fruit was monstrous. It felt like we were fighting some sort of raid boss, or at least, this is how I imagined it would feel. To make matters even worse, his attacks, every single one of them, was brutal; we'd only been fighting for a few minutes, yet Freyja, Mael, and Sebas were barely holding on, and as for me… I'm probably even worse off.
He's been focusing on me this entire time and was only attacking the other three whenever they attacked back; I was burned in so many different spots it hurt to move, and the air all around us was scalding, courtesy of Mael, making it a pain to simply breathe. However, despite all the injuries, I wasn't even close to exhausted, and given my large smile, it was easy to tell I was enjoying every second of this.
Fighting against someone like this, who could completely overpower me with such ease, filled me with such ecstasy it felt like a constant climax; after this was all over, I was worried I might have a permanent smile.
"HAHAHAHA! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Yelled Diddy with a maniacal smile as he kicked the air harder and faster than he'd ever done, moving swiftly past Mael and Freyja like a bolt of lightning through the air.
Dashing past those two slow pokes, I wildly swung a Nimbus-infused Naga-sa at Akainu, who punched me with an enlarged lava fist, knocking my bo-staff away and hitting my body; however, I used one of my seventy-two Bian to redirect as much of the force as possible into Naga-sa, attacking him with far greater strength than before.
Yet, he simply expanded a part of his body to block my attack, which caused the entire ship to nearly tip forward into the water; laughing in joy, I slammed my open palm against his molten fist, causing an explosion of lightning as I used geppo to fling myself back, only to reorient myself in the air before kicking my legs against the air and lunging back towards Akainu, who had just counterattacked Mael and Sebas, flinging them far away.
Flying through the air, I shrunk Naga-sa to be the size of my arm as I began rapidly spinning in the air, only to rapidly expand it, gaining even more momentum as I struck down towards Akainu, producing one of my strongest attacks to date, and yet, almost as if he was reading my mind, he raised his hands and caught my bo-staff, causing the entire ship to sink into the ocean, though it floated back up as Akainu ripped the weapon out of my hands before hitting me with my own bo-staff.
'Hehe, another thing to improve upon.' Mused Diddy with a large grin as he wiped the blood off his scared, injured, burnt, and naked appearance before kicking the air and charging back toward Akainu.
Outstretching my hand, I summoned Naga-sa from Akainu's hands, causing it to fly through the air before resting in my hands while returning to normal size. Covering it in arcs of lightning, giving it a pulsating blue aura, I once again enlarged Naga-sa and began to ascend into the sky, passing the clouds in a few seconds before turning around and looking down below, eying the battleship that seemed so tiny compared Pandemonium.
Continuing to enlarge Naga-sa, I kicked the air above me and shot toward the battleship while my bo-staff finally reached its maximum size, which was even tall enough to reach Skypiea and as thick as Mony's body, capable of covering nearly the entire battleship.
"Beastly Extinction!" Yelled Diddy as he slammed Naga-sa into the battleship, which looked as if the heavens themselves were falling out of the sky to the marines on deck, yet just before it collided, a massive magma fist like no other punched it.
Watching as Akainu punched the base of Naga-sa with a massive magma fist, I felt a tremendous amount of force travel through my bo-staff and then my body as I was pushed back into the sky; though, I didn't give up and quickly shrunk Naga-sa to the size of my arm before throwing it towards Akainu while I sensed Sebas strengthen my attack by moving all the air out of the way and pushing against Naga-sa, increasing its speed even further.
However, that wasn't all, as I lunged directly after my bo-staff, following its exact path, allowing me to avoid the resistance of the air, while Akainu punched Naga-sa out of the way when it got close, followed by backhanding Mael and Freyja with an elongated magma arm. Summoning Naga-sa back to me, I caught it with my hand and neared Akainu, who attacked me with a massive magma arm, which then transformed into several much smaller ones, leaving me with no openings to get close.
'Hehe, not unless I forcefully make one.' Thought Diddy with a ferocious grin as he used his other hand to create a small yet dense ball of lightning, only for him to toss it forward, causing it to rapidly expand before exploding in a bright light that illuminated everything and blinding nearly everyone who looked at it, including Diddy and Akainu.
With our vision now impaired, it was merely us using our observation haki, and although he was stronger and had a larger range, it still did the exact same as mine, which meant we were somewhat on an even playing field. While nearing Akainu, I used my haki to try and evade the incoming punches; well, I at least tried to, but every single time I simply twitched my muscles in preparation to move, the smaller magma fists moved in sync, and if I were to continue with my action, I would get pummeled by several fists.
'Hehehe, it's like… He can see the future.' Thought Diddy with a wild grin as he stared at the rapidly incoming fists.
With that new revelation, I decided it was the perfect time to test out the new theory I had come up with while fighting him; focusing intently, I condensed the lightning around my nape, right where all of my nervous system connected to my brain, and swiftly enveloped them before spreading it around my entire nervous system.
It was a wild idea that I didn't even think would work given how delicate and fragile the nervous system was, but if my theory worked, I'd be in for a sweet surprise, and when I opened my eyes, I may still have been blind, but I could tell through my haki, everything around me was much slower, yet I was still just as fast.
Although I would've liked to relish this feeling of such incredible speed, I was focused on Akainu in front of me, and using my massively enhanced speed, I dodged the numerous punches, moving fast enough to the point where even though he may have been able to see into the future, he was too slow to react. However, while I say that, I was still barely able to evade his punches; even with my enhanced speed, I struggled to dodge everything, and a few even touched me.
However, once I finally got through the onslaught of magma fists, I landed on the ground right in front of him, and just when I was about to attack, I felt a stinging sensation in my neck as I suddenly went limp, allowing Akainu to violently kick me in the face, flinging my far into the distance.
As I flung through the air with a broken jaw, I had no sensation in my body besides my head, and as I slammed into the ocean, I began to helplessly sink; I wasn't even able to stop myself from inhaling the water into my lungs as I had no control over anything below my neck.
'HAHAHA, I've tried everything, even a double-edged technique, yet I couldn't even fully bridge the gap between our speeds. I'm finally forced to let loose!' Thought Diddy with a feral grin as lightning shone through his eyes, which began to turn red while his furless body began to rapidly sprout lustrous silver fur along with his body growing in size.
Feeling a massive surge of strength and wildness flowing through my body as I transformed into my Sulong for the first time in quite a while, I tightly grabbed Naga-sa before releasing a mighty roar that caused the water around me to electrify. Leaping out of the water, I stood in the air while lightning sparked from my body all on its own as I eyed Akainu, who was currently holding Freyja by her neck.
"You weren't needed alive." Said Akainu coldly as he began to burn Freyja's neck, yet before he could kill her, a silverish hand suddenly grabbed him by the neck only to get bombarded with massive amounts of lightning, causing him to drop Freyja, who was then caught by a bushy silver tail.
"HAHAHA! Freyja, if you don't wish to die, leave." Declared Diddy as he glanced at Freyja, who was barely able to breathe before tossing her into the distance, only for Sebas to catch her.
"F-Freyja, d-do we leave?" Asked Sebas with a haggard expression and bloodshot eyes as blood leaked from his orifices while he looked at Diddy bombarding Akainu with lightning bolts as thick as Grand.
"Y-Yes. W-We're of no help, n-not to mention M-Mael is unconscious. D-Diddy won't die, t-they want him alive; b-but not us." Replied Freyja while gasping for breath as she used the minuscule amount of vitality she had in her system to slightly heal her burnt neck.
"Alrighty t-then." Muttered Sebas as he turned around and headed towards Pandemonium, who was being assaulted by the rest of the marines, though Grand, Scar, and Trenza were managing to hold them off.
___
___
Watching Mony coil around Pandy's shell before they submerged themselves underwater, I released my hold and Akainu, only to get punched in the face, filing my backward though I quickly caught myself as I floated in the air.
"HAHAHA!! C'MON, LET'S FIGHT!!" Yelled Diddy in pure, unadulterated delight as he eyed Akainu while in his Sulong before lunging at him with Naga-sa in hand, causing an eruption of lightning and magma from their clash.