Chapter 317: Clash of Legends: Tempest on the Deck

Just how far does this ability reach, and how much can it really affect?

“Enough talk. Let’s settle this with our fists. Come on!”

Perospero struck a tai chi pose, standing firm and ready for battle.

Tai chi is all about redirecting force with minimal effort. No telling if Marco can actually break through.

Clang!

A thunderous crash erupted on the other side. Katakuri’s trident had collided with Jozu.

Fragments of diamond rained down to the ground.

“Brawlers like us have a pretty straightforward way of communicating.”

Katakuri kicked the end of his trident, sending it crashing down hard from above.

Three impossibly deep gashes ripped across Jozu’s chest.

Jozu, empowered by his Paramecia Devil Fruit, could clearly feel the wound cutting past his skin and sinking deep inside.

Instead of backing off, the pain only made him more excited.

“That’s it! This is what a real fight feels like!”

As a Paramecia Sparkling Fruit user, Jozu’s body was reinforced with extraordinary diamond toughness.

But the truth is, no defense is completely unbreakable.

On this ship, the only one strong enough to shatter his diamond is probably Whitebeard Newgate himself.

And as their captain, Newgate never takes things too far with his own crew. Thanks to that, Jozu never had a reason to push his defenses even higher.

Trading heavy blows, the whole battlefield started to burn with raw intensity.

“Cracker, you can quit hiding now—I see you.”

Vista flipped his swords with a flourish.

These two sides have battled countless times. By now, both know almost everything about what the other can do.

There’s a saying: No one knows you better than your rival.

He’ll break down every move, every trait you have, just so one day he can find a way to beat you at your best.

“Dual Blade Style—Rose Frenzy!”

Blades of sword aura rained down, smashing through the biscuit soldiers in front of him. Cracker was right in the middle.

Cracker had been circling in close for a sneak attack, but once he was exposed he stopped bothering to hide.

He gripped the Magic Blade Thousand Edge, wielding its power with his aura. The giant blade, over a hundred meters long, came crashing straight down.

Clang!

“Your strength still hasn’t changed much.”

“Don’t tell me your legs are shaking now?”

Vista blocked the shattered fragments of Thousand Edge with his crossed swords, tossing out his own taunt as he fought.

The two of them had been clashing for quite a while already.

They both knew each other’s limits—sometimes you only really know someone through battle.

“If you’re really curious whether I’ve improved, come find out for yourself.”

“I’ll show you if my legs are shaking or not!”

Cracker gathered every last shard of his blade with aura, then charged with Magic Blade Thousand Edge in hand.

With the major fighters stepping in, the war reached its peak—and above them, the sky erupted with even fiercer combat.

But when it comes to deciding who wins or loses today, it’s all on Charlotte Linlin and Whitebeard Newgate’s showdown.

In this world of pirates, only absolute strength can command true respect.

If you can’t make your voice heard, maybe you just aren’t strong enough yet.

“Mamamama!”

“Whitebeard, I doubt you came up with a plan like this yourself.”

“And even if you did, acting on it isn’t your style, is it?”

“So tell me—what changed your mind?”

They’d been allies for years, so Charlotte Linlin understood Newgate’s personality and the way he did things.

Someone who orchestrates a ploy like this—it’s just not like Whitebeard. Underhanded tricks aren’t in his nature.

Something must’ve happened to make him change his mind so drastically.

Her thinking was simple: if Whitebeard Newgate hadn’t fallen under the World Government’s sway, maybe things could still be worked out.

“Gurararara!”

Neither of them let up for even a second as the fight raged on.

“Who knows?”

“You think you, of all people, can make me talk?”

“Quake!”

Whitebeard Newgate slammed his right fist into the air itself, sending a powerful shock straight at Charlotte Linlin.

His force didn’t stop there. It blasted upward through the sky, leaving a white, gaping channel that was visible to everyone.

That blow didn’t really injure Charlotte Linlin, just shook her up and churned her energy a bit.

She already went by ‘Iron Balloon,’ and ever since fusing the Titan Gene, her body had reached new heights.

Only blows wrapped in Conqueror’s Haki—or powers that rewrite reality itself—could actually hurt her now.

“Mamamama!”

“You will tell me eventually.”

With that, she swung the Emperor’s Blade straight for Whitebeard Newgate’s head.

Newgate didn’t flinch, even after seeing his last attack fail. He stepped through the air, swinging Cloud Cutter without hesitation.

Clang!

The two locked up again, neither giving an inch.

“Charlotte Linlin, I don’t know how you got this strong, but you’re still too early for me.”

Veins bulged across Whitebeard Newgate’s forehead as his right arm suddenly swelled to double its size.

“Aaaah!”

“Down you go!”

With a mighty swing, Cloud Cutter hammered Linlin downward, smashing her onto the ship below.

The force from that slash split the whole ship clean in two.

Even the candy-built platform trembled, forcing Perospero to reinforce it right away.

Of course, Whitebeard Newgate never expected one hit to knock Linlin out.

He dropped from the sky, raising Cloud Cutter for another strike aimed right at Linlin.

But Charlotte Linlin, a veteran of a thousand battles, slipped free from the crater in a blink, dodging his blow.

“Heaven’s Fire!”

Linlin reacted fast, tossing Prometheus into the pit. Blazing flames roared up, searing off half of Whitebeard’s iconic mustache.

He scrambled out of the fiery hole with Moonwalk, barely escaping the blaze.

But the fire didn’t die down. The whole platform started to melt from the heat, forcing the pirates to retreat to their ships.

Back on the deck of her own ship, Charlotte Linlin glared across at Whitebeard Newgate.

“You’d better hope Karl never hears about what went down today.”

“If he does, who knows how many of your sons and daughters will even survive?”

Her glare swept over Marco and the others, full of malice.

If the Whitebeard Pirates and Karl’s crew ever fought for real, Karl wouldn’t bother recruiting any of them. He’d wipe them out.

Why was the Golden Lion stuck in the first half of the New World?

Because in the latter half, he’d stand no chance against Karl’s crew.

On the far horizon, Golden Lion watched the two fleets below through his telescope.

“What an incredible opportunity this is.”

“Go on—fight! The messier, the better.”

“That way, I can swoop in and reap the rewards.”

What puzzled him, though, was that after the earlier clash, the two ships now just floated in place—no sign of fighting at all.

Indigo shuffled over, his steps making cartoonish sputtering noises.

And so his pointless mime routine began once again.