Showdown

The impact reeled Blaize back, while his legs slid along the floor struggling to stop the momentum. As for Ridge, he stood like a mountain, unaffected.

Steadying himself, Blaize looked at his now bruised hand which is trembling in pain, he mentally commented: 'Formidable!'

At the same time, he ascertained something. Ridge's physical strength is impressive but it's not strong enough to fend off his attack and push him back.

What Blaize found is, he wasn't overwhelmed by physical might but by a strange energy. A thought crossed his mind while he muttered aloud, "Haki!"

As soon as he uttered this word, Ridge's face showed a tinge of surprise. He then spoke with a smirk, "You even know about Haki, you are knowledgeable for a brat! But it's too late to chicken out."

"Chicken out?! Come on, you haven't even grasped the basic concept of Haki. With your skill level, you can scare off a kid, not me.

You had your turn, now it's mine!" Saying this, Blaize went all out.

Extreme heat flared from his body and spread in all directions even affecting the surrounding temperature.

His fist turned bright red, emitting blistering heat and white fumes. Blaize's ability to manipulate heat reached another level after his attributes exceeded 20.

'Devil Fruit user?!' Ridge's countenance turned solemn while his previous arrogance faded.

Adjusting his body posture into a perfect stance to counter any attack, he studied Blaize's every single movement.

In the meantime, Blaize put his strength in his right foot and leaped high in the air towards Ridge. He let his strength flow to his right arm. Pulling his fist back, he punched at Ridge while muttering, 'Heat Smash!'

A tremendous force exploded out from his knuckles in the form of a Fist, while his devil fruit ability turned the blast of air into extreme heat shock.

'Boom!'

With a thunderous noise, the fist slammed toward Ridge forcing the latter to imbue his arms with Busoshoku Haki and take an X-shaped defensive stance.

At the last moment, Ridge grimaced as he fails to coat his arms with Haki. "Fuck!" Cursing, he put his entire strength in his left leg and flashed to his left successfully dodging Blaize's Heat Smash.

Before he could rejoice, another punch banged his face hurling him back with rampageous force. Ridge's body shattered two broken houses and finally bumped into the bubble created by the bubbly coral.

The bubble stretched to its utmost limit, but surprisingly, instead of bursting open and expelling him into the sea, the thin layer bounced him back. Lucky for him!

The DemonBear pirates couldn't believe their eyes, 'Their all-powerful captain lost in a frontal confrontation which never happened before.'

Meanwhile, the residents of Fishman District whether its Fish-men or Merfolks watched the battle with their eyes wide open and mouths ajar.

It's really an eye-opener for them. And at the same time, they couldn't fathom why the two humans are so powerful!

"Ohhh! A perfect hit!" Blaize cried in joy like a child while grinning from ear to ear. His victory cry brought back everyone from their stupor.

Ridge quickly sprang to his feet and looked back with lingering fear. His heart pounded. If the strike had a little bit of extra power, he would have been thrown into the sea and lost his combat ability.

The disgraceful way to lose a fight.

The attack dealt him little to no damage but the scalding heat charred his skin to some degree. It should be blamed on him, he took his opponent too lightly because of the latter's age.

A dangerous, chilling gleam flashed across his eyes as he gazed at Blaize. He wants to finish off his opponent as soon as possible.

If he stays in the Fishman district any longer, he may bump into more trouble. But first, he needs to take care of the brat before him.

He underestimated him before but no more. He plans to take out his opponent in one blow with crushing strength.

Shattering the ground beneath him, Ridge dashed forward and appeared before Blaize. He brandished his right arm which took shape of a claw at Blaize's face.

'Swoosh!'

His claw-shaped arms tore the air, striving to rip some flesh out of his face. Blaize parried the blow with his left arm while his right threw a punch.

It was easily caught by Ridge. Both of them looked at each other in the eyes while sparks flared between them.

If truth to be told, Ridge was slightly shocked by Blaize's strength as he didn't expect the latter to have such physical strength at a young age.

'Who is he?' Countless thoughts crossed his mind and he finally concluded.

"Are you a Marine or World Government agent? Why did they send you after me?" Ridge asked as they grappled.

Regarding his question, Blaize smirked. "I am just a marine in training! Come on, don't waste my time, show me your devil fruit ability.

Otherwise, I am going to end you soon."

"You are too weak to utter such words." Ridge distanced himself and once again pounced forward.

This time he tries to imbue his arms with haki and succeeds. Next, a barrage of punches launched at Blaize with much ferocity and power.

Blaize instantly utilized his devil fruit ability and created a shield made of extreme heat. But it couldn't stop Ridge's Haki-coated blows.

Soon, cracks emerged in the transparent orange shield but Blaize promptly mended the cracks by infusing more heat.

'He's worthy of a 150 million bounty. His strength has reached the level of Headquarters Rear-Admirals, with Haki and devil fruit ability, it won't be a problem for him to fight and win some weak Vice-Admirals.

I can only defeat him by playing tricks.'

Smiling a little, Blaize's arm surged with sudden strength and pushed the shield forward disrupting Ridge's fighting momentum. Meanwhile, his left arm shot a high heat beam.

Before Ridge could throw his next wave of punches, an orange-red glow blasted towards him. He didn't expect to be attacked from a blind shot.

'Thump!'

With a change in expression, Ridge hurriedly blocked the beam with his bare hand and sprang left to avoid the full brunt of it.

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