One Piece: Investing In Whitebeard At The Start.

"Hey, Vice Admiral Mole, what happened?"

At that moment, Akainu's transponder snail rang. It was Vice Admiral Mole. His voice was weak, and Akainu's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Admiral Akainu, we were attacked by the Fire Sword God. Ghost Spider is unconscious from severe injuries. I'm trying to stop the bleeding now—his stomach was slashed by the enemy's sword technique. The wound is over sixty centimeters long! I can't guarantee he'll survive."

"What?!"

Akainu's face twisted with fury. Rage boiled within him.

"Did he ambush you?"

"More or less. But Admiral Akainu, be careful. This guy's abilities are strange—his sword emits an extremely high temperature. And now, he might be coming for you."

"Coming for me?"

Akainu clenched his fists. "I've been looking for you, and you dare show up before me?"

Mole added, "Yes, based on what he said earlier, he plans to use the Navy to build his reputation!"

"Make a name for himself?"

Molten lava rolled in Akainu's right hand, dripping onto the grass. The fresh greenery sizzled and was instantly reduced to ash.

"Admiral Akainu," Mole continued, "we can't let this pirate leave Sabaody Archipelago. He'll become a threat."

"Don't worry. He's not leaving these islands."

Akainu hung up the transponder snail—because he had already spotted his target.

"Admiral Akainu, pleased to meet you."

There stood Vane, calmly facing him from about twenty meters away.

"How dare you show your face before me, pirate!"

"Why wouldn't I?"

Akainu growled, "Did you kill the Celestial Dragon?"

"That's right," Vane said, completely unfazed. "I cut him in half with a single slash—didn't even blink."

Akainu clenched his right fist and charged forward. "You killed a Celestial Dragon and ignored the authority of the World Government. Time to wake up!"

"Hellhound!"

With a roar, Akainu's right fist transformed—molten lava surged, forming a colossal hound's head. The monstrous lava creature dwarfed Akainu himself, snarling like a demon from hell.

Most men would've been terrified. But not Vane.

"Akainu," Vane said coldly, "are you proud to be their dog? Is that what your magma dog attack and nickname are for? Just to prove your loyalty to the Celestial Dragons?"

Vane laughed, raising a haki-infused fist empowered by the full might of the [Gura Gura no Mi]. His strike collided with the molten hound's head.

The atmosphere cracked. The impact burst open the air itself. In less than ten seconds, thousands of square meters of ground collapsed under the pressure. The hellhound shattered. Cracks split the earth, dropping Akainu into an unstable footing. Lava chunks rained from the sky, crashing down around him.

"Damn it!"

Akainu erupted in fury, his body cloaked in lava. Steam exploded into the air as he emerged, face twisted in rage. Being knocked back into a crater like that—humiliating.

"Angry, Admiral?"

Vane grinned at him. "If I beat you here, on Sabaody Archipelago, then the entire world will know I defeated a Marine Admiral. One of the Navy's strongest. I'll become famous across the seas. I might be the first man to defeat an Admiral!"

His voice was laced with mockery—and Akainu took the bait.

"Great Hound of Hell!"

Akainu attacked again, this time with a fist even larger than before—lava in the shape of a giant hound, more than twice the size of the last. The ground steamed under its sheer heat, turning to ash before it even landed.

"Oh no, Admiral! You look so angry!" Vane laughed, fists gleaming with Haki.

This time, he threw a full-force punch—so strong it could flatten buildings. His fist met the colossal lava hound once more. Despite the size difference, the impact sounded like compressed air exploding.

The magma hound shattered instantly. Akainu's right hand disappeared in the blow. The fist, as big as a truck, was gone—obliterated. Behind Akainu, an enormous magma blast had torn through a massive tree, leaving a six-meter-wide hole in its trunk. The whole tree teetered from the impact.

"Just how strong are these two?!"

From a nearby hilltop, about seventy meters behind Vane, the Dark King Rayleigh observed, adjusting his glasses. He could see everything with perfect clarity.

"That punch… was that really just raw physical power?"

Rayleigh couldn't believe it.

"Today's young men... they're getting more terrifying by the day."

He shook his head in awe.

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