To the Marines, Alexander's speed appeared like an instant teleportation, as he appeared before Kizaru, slashing with a five-meter-long lightning bolt.
But Kizaru, who always proclaimed being able to move at light speed, was prepared. He remembered the last time when he almost lost his ear.
Seemingly moving against time, he put his hands together and then quickly spread them apart. In his right hand, a long light sword with a round handle appeared.
"Ama no Murakumo." He clashed against Alexander's lightning bolt.
BOOM!
Lightning and light particles clashed as waves of shockwaves spread from the epicentre of their clash.
"Heh!" Kizaru heard a snicker followed by the lightning bolt's instant disappearance.
His eyes changed as he was barely able to stop the momentum of his sword when a hand broke through his guard, clutching his suit lapel, pulling him toward a grinning face that accelerated and bashed him in the nose.
Pain shot through Kizaru's nerves as he clutched his bleeding nose, and then he slashed again with his sword toward the incoming spear strike.
CLANK! Sparks flew when their weapons clashed. Kizaru didn't stop as he moved his sword faster, deflecting the enormous force behind the attacks.
The series of attacks made his arms ache, but he gained the upper hand regarding technique as Alexander's direct strikes were either blocked or deflected.
"I haven't yet mastered this weapon," he heard the young man speak, once he regained his footing after being pushed, sliding back.
"Oh, you can't use that terrible weapon well?" Borsalino raised an eyebrow.
"Who told you that?" Alexander's eyes flashed golden as he launched himself forward. While running, he jumped up. The air whistled as he descended, spear in hand, with an overhead strike.
Kizaru didn't dare to underestimate Alexander as he raised his sword toward his head level, holding it with both hands.
Alexander swept down, and Kizaru tightened his hold on his sword; however, that strike didn't come, for when just a few centimeters from their clash, Alexander spun in the air.
"Oh my." Kizaru knew he had been outplayed as a sidekick landed on his face.
BOOM!
The air screamed as he was launched up high. He sighed, touching his right cheek.
"Yata no Kagami," he said, forming a seal with his hands. This soon made his body glow yellow, and globules of light escaped, about to reform down on the ground.
Yet, Alexander wasn't finished. Carrying on the momentum of his strike, he launched himself up, his hands like claws grabbing onto Borsalino's hand.
"Ahh, get down!" He roared and threw the Admiral like a volleyball to the ground.
BOOM!
Kizaru smashed a big hole into the ground. He groaned in pain and looked up at Alexander, who was descending fast toward him with a knee strike.
"You underestimate me too much." He lifted his hands and made a strange seal with his fingers.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Then, all of a sudden, beams of light launched from his hands at Alexander, who had no way to dodge due to the speed of the attack.
The sky lit with explosions as Kizaru stood up, his attack not stopping for a second, locked at one point in space.
Inside the fiery smoke, Alexander protected his face by crossing his arms. The attack looked strong, but when it landed on him, it did no great damage except tearing holes through his shirt.
"This isn't even compared to the Malformed Star…"
Alexander endured the attacks and loaded his fist with armament Haki. Then his eyes shone gold as he struck space.
BOOM!
The shockwave seemed to tear the air as it traveled quickly to the wide-eyed Kizaru, who turned into light and dodged the aftermath.
SWISH! Kizaru appeared up in the air, then looked down at the ground that rose and crumbled like a piece of paper.
"What a terrible power," he murmured, watching Alexander land lightly without a single wound on his body.
They looked at each other, then to the left where Vice Admiral Gion ran like the wind toward Alexander, her hands resting on her white-handled Meito katana.
"I'm here too, PIRATE!" she shouted, looking at Alexander, who regarded her with a look for a second, then turned around to Kizaru.
"Don't give me your back!" Gion gritted her teeth. She was within twenty meters of Alexander. Hesitation clouded her judgment for a second, for she was a swordsman and wouldn't stab someone from the back.
And yet, her duty as a marine compelled her to go for it.
CLANK! The sound of her katana exiting its sheath sounded as she lowered her posture.
The sword tore through the wind, edging closer to Alexander's back, when all of a sudden, a woman's angry voice entered her ear.
"SLAVE ARROW!!"
A giant pink arrow flew like lightning and struck the side of her katana.
Gion's balance shifted to the left as the arrow struck her katana with a loud metallic sound.
And before she could even regain her balance, from the edge of her vision, she saw Hancock speeding toward her with rage written on her face.
"Unforgivable!" She shouted, then jumped high with a flying kick that Gion was barely able to block with her katana.
"Agh," Gion groaned as she skidded tens of meters backwards under the force of the kick before she came to a stop.
"How dare you interrupt my husband's battle?" Hancock was fuming.
"Your husband? Aren't you too old for him..." Gion taunted but felt the situation get even more complicated. She knew that she was sailing with Alexander but she didn't know she was his wife.
"You said what?" Hancock's face darkened. She didn't care about how people perceived her marriage with Alexander, but to let it go just like that was another thing.
She lifted her leg, which soon was coated black. A burst of Haoshoku tore the ground as she launched forward like a bullet.
Gion ran forward and slashed with her katana. In an instant, they collided; red lightning clashed as their attack stopped within a few centimeters of each other under their advanced armament haki clash.
"Agh," Gion groaned, which made Hancock smirk. If it were months ago, perhaps she'd have been at a stalemate with this woman, but Alexander had taught her how to properly use Haoshoku Haki.
Her leg turned golden as she pushed the katana upward.
Gion's eyes constricted as she lost control of her sword that went upward. Then, under her astonished eyes, Hancock jumped and struck with her other leg.
BOOM!
Gion went flying under a heavy impact that caught the attention of everyone on the battlefield.
Hancock didn't give her time to rest as she sprinted to deliver her a heavy beatdown.
"At least I'm married, you wench!" one could even hear her cursing under her breath.
Far to the back, Doberman and Momonga had been left behind since the battle began. They couldn't interfere with Kizaru's battle, but that didn't mean they couldn't take down Hancock.
"Let's go!" Momonga said. Then, as they were about to join the battle, from the corner of their eyes, they saw a green fire drill into the ground.
"Don't go just yet, Marine soldier." An eerie, hoarse voice entered their ears as they turned around.
"What's this?" Momonga flinched at the sight of the green-haired man who didn't have a third of the flesh on his face. Instead, they could see a part of the skull and an empty eye socket burning with green flames.
The ground trembled with great intensity as if a creature was drilling deep within the ground.
Then they heard the man speak.
"Rise!"
A giant claw burst out of the ground. Momonga's senses warned him as he jumped high, evading the strike that was about to land on his hand.
However, he couldn't relax as the hair on his body stood on end. He looked behind to the sight of another large claw seeping toward him.
'Damn it,' he cursed before being slapped like a fly, where he flew and went tumbling.
Alarin jumped high, then fell atop the head of a giant lizard skeleton twenty meters long that burst out of the ground.
Standing atop the lizard that swept its tail back and forth, Alarin looked at Doberman and then spoke.
"I'll leave him to you!"
The giant skeleton jumped to where Momonga fell.
Doberman had been shaken as one thing happened after the other without him being able to react properly.
"Oh, look what we have here," he heard a male voice. He looked around and saw the trio he had fought before.
"It's payback time!" Andretta flashed a menacing grin as she took a hybrid form.
"I'm sorry, but we're going to gang up on you!" Sabine flashed a harmless smile while twirling her baton.
"You can call it bullying if you want!" Axe roared and brought his heavy axe down, launching a flying attack.
Doberman unsheathed his katana and grimaced as different forms of attacks stormed his way.
"Let's see if you're still weaklings."
The second the attacks landed on him, he changed his mind. They weren't weaklings; they were starved beasts who had been bullied to the inch of their death by Alexander and Alarin.
Back to Alexander.
Kizaru blocked the fist coming his way. He grimaced as pain flared on his forearm.
He blocked another strike, as he and Alexander took the battle to the ground, exchanging rapid hand-to-hand strikes.
'He doesn't look like he's exerting himself,' Kizaru grimaced while taking a fleeting look at Alexander's face.
Kizaru disappeared into light particles, dodging the shockwave sent his way.
A few tens of meters to the back, he reformed once again. However, soon enough, his eyes widened as Alexander appeared before him, fist swinging.
Kizaru took a step back and used his mirror ability once again, but before he could teleport, the chain that was coiled around Alexander's waist quickly slithered up his arm and launched itself using the force behind the fist.
The chain quickly went past his guard and coiled around his waist, then shone for a moment with a golden colour.
Kizaru grimaced as his ability failed, and he was yanked hard toward a grinning Alexander and a fist that quickly enlarged his vision until it struck his face.
BOOM!
The air and the few dust particles behind his head exploded, and Kizaru felt his inhuman endurance failing him against these fist strikes.
He was launched backwards to the sky. Then, while midair, the chain around him tightened once more as Alexander, with both hands, pulled the chain down hard.
"Get down here!!" He roared, with veins bulging out of his body.
His loud voice caught the attention of the few Marine soldiers who joined Doberman and everyone else on the battlefield.
Their eyes widened as the body of their admiral fell like a meteor, breaking the sound barrier several times until he struck the ground hard with an explosion that sent tremors to the far reaches of the battlefield.
The ground shook, then a large dust cloud rose, masking whatever happened to the admiral.
A few seconds passed in silence, then Alexander pulled back Rakyl and clapped hard, sending a quick wind that cleared the dust.
"That… was quite something…" Kizaru said while sitting on the ground like nothing happened to him. However, the blood dripping from his forehead told another story.
He stood up calmly, then looked at Alexander. His eyes lost their usual lazy look.
Without saying anything, fine beams of light exploded from him at the center. However, they didn't deal any damage as they refracted from the smallest rock to the biggest boulder, and even the small leaves of the vegetation refracted the light beams.
Quickly, a net of crisscrossed beams trapped Alexander, who looked in bewilderment at what was happening, then at Kizaru, who turned into light particles and disappeared inside the light beams.
An instant later, a premonition flashed through Alexander's mind. He hurtled a fist to the left, where he knew Borsalino would appear.
This proved to be right, as Borsalino materialized and clashed his fist against Alexander, then disappeared inside the light beams in the next second.
Without pause, he appeared from another direction, only to be blocked once again.
Their rapid exchange rang through the air with increasing intensity, as Kizaru managed to slip past Alexander's guard, this time with a kick shining with light.
BOOM!
"Agh," Alexander groaned when Kizaru's kick landed on his stomach, sending him flying backwards.
SWISH! The sound of Kizaru's fast movement sounded as he appeared behind Alexander and sent him flying with another kick, after which he disappeared.
He materialized in another direction behind Alexander, then struck once again. The look on his face was of anger as he retaliated.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A few strikes followed as Alexander endured the earth-shattering explosions. He closed his eyes and took the moment to focus on his future sight as he pushed his haki to look further than he ever managed to do.
And then he saw it, the light vibrating before the admiral materialized. Without opening his eyes, he sent his arm casually, then clenched around a hard, muscular leg.
"Got you," Alexander murmured as he flipped himself up using the leg as leverage and struck hard while upside down with his legs at Kizaru's face.
BOOM! He flew backwards and entered another light beam.
SWISH.
He appeared behind Alexander, but this time a fist came hurtling, as he had already seen more than he was able to in the future.
BOOM! Kizaru was smashed back into his light. He tried the same method for another shot, but this time his eyes constricted as Alexander struck for the first time with a fist coated with Haoshoku Haki.
BOOM!
A kick and a fist collided, sending invisible golden lightning striking the ground for hundreds of meters.
Kizaru gritted his teeth and resisted. They hadn't even made contact, but the haki bursts traveled far and wide.
"I think I might break a bone or two," Kizaru said as he started losing the battle against the strength and the haki behind the fist.
"Agh," he shouted as his leg was pushed back, and the punch continued with even stronger momentum toward his stomach.
BOOM!
Kizaru spat blood and shot back like a rocket, breaking the sound barrier several times, then fell with a huge explosion in the area between Hancock and Alarin's battle.
__________________
Thanks for reading everyone!
I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!