“Good! Bring it on!!”

  Amid the boundless sea of fme,

  Sif—transformed into a massive phoenix—fixed her keen gaze ahead.

  “Super Rumble Ball!”

  Somehow, a blue pill had appeared in her beak. Retive to her fully-transformed size, it seemed just right, but in fact, the “pill” was enormous—bigger than a typical cannonball.

  “Strength boost! Speed boost!”

  Without hesitation, she swallowed the enhanced Super Rumble Ball developed by the science division. Rather than waiting for her opponent’s next move, she bathed herself in bzing fmes, beating her wings at a startling velocity—hurtling skyward as a streak of blue light. Her fme-shrouded body was also cd in powerful Armament Haki.

  “Phoenix Rebirth—!”

  Facing the towering, dark-red fire dragons that seemed to come straight from the depths of hell—closing in from three directions at unimaginable temperatures—Sif plowed headlong into them.

  Boom! Boom!!!

  Crack… rumble…

  Thunderous explosions rocked the entire isnd.

  High in the sky, blue fmes and dark-red fmes cshed in a seething, mutual onsught. Visually, it far surpassed the previous battle between Thor and Thunder Camity Oka, exceeding everyone’s expectations. No one had imagined that Sif, the normally low-key eldest daughter of the Kukulkan family, could wield such frightening power.

  “Whooo—” “Shhh…”

  Masses of va boiled over. Waves of hot air gushed yer by yer, spilling everywhere. Bathed in a deep-red glow and scorched by intense heat, the churning sea practically came to a boil, thick steam rising in all directions. Great swells crashed in one tidal wave after another, stirring awe in every onlooker.

  “BOOM—!”

  Just then, one of the massive, ferocious fire dragons was forcibly torn apart.

  “Wooo—” The phoenix, wreathed in blue fme, folded its wings and swooped downward.

  Before their eyes, she reverted to a roughly humanoid form at high speed. Locking on to Fire Camity Afar with her Observation Haki, she dove, right leg turning into razor-sharp talons, cloaked in roaring fmes and infused with liquid Haki. With enough force to warp the air, Sif shot down like a missile.

  “Phoenix Stamp!!”

  “Fme Emperor!!!”

  Afar’s gaze sharpened. His right fist, wreathed in Haki, bzed intensely, colliding head-on with Sif’s powerful kick. Both were den with explosive force.

  Boom!!!

  Like a comet striking a pnet, fmes fanned outward, va spttering in all directions. They struggled in a deadlock, neither willing to retreat. But in the end, confronted with Sif’s absurdly monstrous strength, Afar was overpowered. Moments ter, he was sent flying backward in a somewhat bedraggled state.

  “Whew…”

  Fanning his bck wings, Afar barely managed to steady himself in midair, avoiding a plunge into the bubbling va below. Gncing at Sif, who exuded confidence and a fearsome aura, he couldn’t help but sigh in resignation, letting out a small ugh.

  “No need to continue… Sif-sama, I concede!”

  Even in his most advantageous domain, he couldn’t nd a decisive blow. There was no point dragging it out. The eldest daughter of the Kukulkan family simply outmatched him. Or rather, given her giant-like stature, combined with the Mythical Zoan Phoenix powers—and her naturally near-invincible body endowed with colossal strength—she was more than capable of standing toe-to-toe with the strongest combatants. Though her Armament and Observation Haki weren’t absolutely top-tier, they were still honed to a formidable level.

  Unless she let her guard down, even a Marine Admiral might find it impossible to truly harm her. That was why she’d been able to go head-to-head with her big brother Thor—who had the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—and brawl over every little disagreement growing up, without ever falling behind.

  To Thor, her Phoenix form’s ability to ignore damage and perpetually regenerate was excessive “cheating.” To Sif, Thor’s lightning-speed and elemental intangibility from his Rumble-Rumble Fruit was equally broken. Neither would accept losing to the other.

  “Then I’ll gdly accept your concession, Uncle Afar!”

  Sif grinned, reverting from her hybrid form back to her human appearance. She gave a pyful blink. Thanks to extensive research by Dr. Vegapunk’s team (building on Dr. Kureha’s earlier findings), the reinforced Super Rumble Ball still had a noticeable effect, even on someone with her level of strength. Over time, her mastery allowed her multiple transformation forms as a Mythical Zoan user, and the special Rumble Ball granted her a significant short-term boost in power. It even let her suppress a notorious camity like Afar.

  “Alright, you. Using Vegapunk’s enhanced Rumble Ball gave you a slight upper hand…”

  Suddenly, El swooped down, giving his eldest daughter a bemused look. He rapped her smooth forehead in mild annoyance. “Do you really think you can just cim victory outright?”

  “Dad, don’t knock my head—I’ll get dumber…”

  Sif wriggled in protest, pouting. “The Rumble Ball is mine, isn’t it? Who says it’s not part of my own strength?”

  “She’s got a point,” Afar interjected with a carefree grin. “For Zoan users, using a specialized Rumble Ball to draw out tent power is absolutely a legitimate part of one’s abilities… El, don’t worry about sparing my pride—I can handle a loss. Actually, I’m happy to see the Lunarian race produce such strong fighters!”

  If their Kukulkan ancestors—or indeed, the Lunarians of yore—could see their now-flourishing race revived, imagine how proud they would be.

  “Alright, enough excuses!”

  El shook his head. “I can tell you were holding back a bit.”

  While it was true Sif could push her Rumble Ball transformations even further, it was equally obvious that Afar hadn’t fought at his utmost. If they had really given it 100% and battled to the bitter end, the fight might well have been a draw, with no clear outcome even after three or five days.

  “Huff—”

  At that moment, a tall figure swooped in. It was the impatient third son, Dal, who nded with a big grin. “Hey, is it my turn next?”

  Then his eyes flicked to the bzing pools of magma around him, rolling with superheated bubbles. He couldn’t help twitching at the corners of his mouth. “But geez, Sis Sif, Uncle Afar—did you guys have to wreck the battlefield this much?”

  Of course, Dal—like Shimotsuki Ushimaru—was somewhat special. One had Lunarian blood; the other was a Mythical Zoan Pegasus user; both could fly. They weren’t overly impacted by the ck of stable ground.

  “Hey, don’t bme me!” Sif said defensively. She had to admit that the Fme-Fme Fruit did surpass the Phoenix in raw control over fire. The devastation around them was mostly Afar’s doing.

  “Oops, maybe I went a bit overboard,” Afar said with an easy ugh.

  “Heh, want to cool down that va? Nothing simpler,” a voice called from afar—Gerd, smiling. “Atntis, we’ll need you now!”

  The massive isnd cloud—Atntis—could do more than just serve as a floating fortress. With that volume of water, summoning a downpour was child’s py.

  “Wuhuhuh~! Leave it to me, Gerd-sama!”

  Bleam