A presence as tangible as a physical force instantly engulfed the entire arena, dispersing the thick white mist in a single breath.
The gust of wind whipped up by Conqueror's Haki ruffled Barrett's hair as he looked solemnly at the white-haired youth across from him, who burst into laughter.
The demon saw a reflection of his former captain in the boy, though the difference in their current strength was astronomical.
"Vangeance?"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Barrett's face twitched. If his captain possessed such overwhelming strength, he wouldn't have needed to die from illness.
Come on, come on, I'll give you the seat of Overlord of the Seven Seas.
He took a deep breath and waved his hand, signaling his men to fire. After a few seconds, there was no response.
With a touch of anger, the demon turned around and saw fear etched on the faces of his subordinates.
Barrett had witnessed this kind of fear in his subordinates many times before, only now, they were facing him with that same terror.
There was no doubt that the boy across from him, like himself, was a king possessing the power to dominate others through sheer will alone.
And most likely, they were from the same caliber.
Then, what follows will be simple. King versus King.
Barrett breathed a sigh of relief at this thought.
But the next moment, his eyes widened in shock.
Whoosh!
Before he could react, Luffy had arrived directly in front of the demon, accompanied by a shrill gust of wind. His right arm, strangely elongated and coated with an unknown black substance, slammed fiercely into the demon's face.
Crimson lightning flashed, and upon contact, Barrett was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing into the distant sea.
"Hahaha!"
Luffy let out a hearty laugh, devoid of any malice, and then stretched out his arms to grasp the masts of the two giant ships beside him.
"Ahhhh!"
The pirates on the ships screamed in terror, not because Luffy had attacked them, but because both vessels had been transformed into rubber by the Nika Fruit's awakened power.
The limp ships became impassable, and the pirates on the decks tumbled into the sea like dumplings dropped into boiling water.
But Luffy had no time to bother with them.
The young man swung his massive rubber ships fiercely in the direction of Barrett's fall.
BOOM!
Water splashed everywhere, and the remaining pirates stared at the scene in stunned silence.
Honestly, they desperately wanted to help their leader, but a subconscious voice told them not to interfere in the battle between kings.
Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from the seabed.
Barrett fumbled, wiping the water from his hair. With a grimace, he said, "Boy, I underestimated you."
With those words, the demon vanished instantly, reappearing before Luffy.
"This is my return!"
With a roar, a massive hammer formed in Barrett's hand, striking Luffy's chest, which bore a cross-shaped scar.
The young man's eyes bulged out from under the terrifying blow, literally.
If Barrett, like Azrael, had been exposed to the anime world, he would have noticed that Luffy's combat style had shifted entirely to that of a cartoon character.
And in anime, there's an unspoken rule: don't compete with cartoon-style fighters in combat.
But the demon was clearly unaware of this principle.
He paused in his movements as he watched the bizarre scene unfold before him.
"What's going on?"
Barrett had never witnessed such a strange battle in his long career as a pirate.
No, the boy before him seemed more like he was... playing rather than fighting.
Realizing this, Barrett's face flushed crimson, and he roared in rage, "Are you kidding me?! Get serious, kid!"
As the words fell, the demon's giant storm hammer dissipated, and invisible winds gathered from all directions, continuously compressing in his hands until they reached their maximum density.
The wind beams roared like a caged monster, tearing a long scar through the already turbulent sea in an instant.
BOOM!
Barrett's furious strike hit its target as intended, sending the young man careening uncontrollably toward Velkairos.
Just as Luffy was being sent flying, Alice spotted a figure hurtling toward the city at high speed.
The old woman was on high alert, for she had the support of millions of Velkairos residents behind her.
A terrifying sonic boom gradually grew louder, causing everyone to look upward.
However, before they could see the figure clearly, two incredibly long arms pierced through the clouds and reached the ground.
Just as Alice was about to summon her own card, she stumbled and lost her balance.
Even a Diamond-level Lore Cardian suffered this, let alone ordinary citizens. Countless men, women, and children fell to the ground.
Surprisingly, the ground had softened beneath them.
Therefore, no one was injured.
"Hehehe!"
Just then, the owner of the arms appeared.
The white-haired boy with a straw hat hanging on his back fell to the ground like a meteor, causing ripples across the rubberized surface.
"Cards?"
Sensing the presence of the newcomer, Alice still summoned her own cards, but did not take the initiative to attack.
"Old Dareth's... or Azrael's?"
The old woman thought silently.
However, Luffy did not explain his identity aloud. Instead, he stretched out his arms and grabbed the tall buildings on both sides of the street.
Then, in front of everyone's bewildered eyes, the two skyscrapers, seemingly not made of steel, bent backward in an arc that was impossible under normal circumstances.
"???"
"No, how could this be justified?"
"Lord Newton's coffin lid is about to give out!"
At this moment, a pair of arms and two tall buildings formed an absurd slingshot, launching Luffy back into the battlefield with tremendous force.
Seeing this, Alice leaned over and touched the ground, which had become solid again since the boy's departure. Then, standing up, she glanced at the two tall buildings, which were still swaying slightly, and a hint of curiosity rose in her heart.
"What a strange ability!"
The old woman could vaguely discern that the boy's surroundings had been assimilated to produce that scene, but in her long career as a Lore Cardian, she had never seen such a thorough and complete environmental transformation.
Elsewhere, Dareth, after witnessing the entire battle from the shore, couldn't help but frown slightly.
He had already seen that the card the young man had created was of excellent quality. With sufficient special bonds activated, it could be as powerful as the blonde-haired boy's card.
But the unfortunate thing was that this particular card was just a single, isolated summon.
What Dareth didn't know was that Luffy also had a bond with the Straw Hat Pirates, but the triggering effect was a deathrattle mechanic.
"Azrael, leave the rest of the battle to me. Just focus."
He hadn't finished his words when he glanced behind him in surprise.
Luffy, at that moment, soared past the heads of the Association's Lore Cardians at breakneck speed, once again swooping down on the Diamond-ranked demon on the sea.
"Gum-Gum Headbutt!"
As Dareth watched, the white-haired head slammed directly into Barrett's stomach.
Caught off guard, the demon's face twisted in agony. "Ahem. Gah!"
He felt like he almost vomited his breakfast from this morning.
"You, you brat!"
Barrett roared, and a terrifying storm gathered around him in the blink of an eye.
A tornado connecting heaven and earth whipped up massive waves across the sea, and the pirates, already down to barely one in ten alive, cried out to their boss for mercy.
But the demon didn't care; he only wanted to kill the white-haired boy across from him.
Luffy, instead of being surprised, was delighted by the scene before him.
Under Barrett's stunned gaze, the boy took the initiative and plunged directly into the storm.
"What's going on?" he muttered, somewhat bewildered. "Suicide?"
But soon, Luffy revealed the reason to Barrett.
The once massive tornado was instantly kneaded by the young man like playdough, though his reddened palms betrayed the difficulty of achieving this feat.
Faced with this, the demon opened his mouth blankly, unsure of what to say.
"Hehehe, give it back to you, uncle!"
Luffy tossed the compressed windball to Barrett as if it were a hot potato.
Swish!
The raging hurricane ripped apart everything around it, and in a single breath, a massive hole formed in the ocean surface.
On the shore, Dareth, observing Luffy's incredible power, suddenly began to question his own life.
"This..."
He glanced at the young man beside him, finding his expression remarkably calm, as if he had anticipated what was unfolding.
Right? This white-haired boy was originally Azrael's card. It's normal for him to know.
What the hell!
Dareth consoled himself with this thought, but he knew that crafting a Diamond-level card capable of battling on the sea was fraught with difficulty.
At least, the middle-aged man felt he couldn't do it, even with the World Consciousness's support.
"Could it be that Azrael is truly the World Consciousness's illegitimate child?"
Dareth couldn't help but wonder.
Lucian, meanwhile, was also distracted by the situation.
If anyone was under the most pressure, it was undoubtedly him.
The elder's main force of Master-level cards was facing the Flesh King, while the Diamond-level cards, along with the Shinigami-type cards led by Kurosaki Ichigo, were working to contain the Nation-Destroying Demon Fox.
"Thank goodness Azrael is here," Lucian said, glancing at his young apprentice, a sigh of relief rising in his chest.
If Azrael hadn't been there, he would have struggled alone against two Master-level demons.
As for Luffy, he'd seen this card before; it had already appeared during the Greenridge Province Unified Examination, though it was only a Bronze-level card back then.
Compared to Dareth, who was only at Diamond level, Lucian, a Msster-level Lore Cardian, undoubtedly knew more.
The old man had long known that his young apprentice held a secret, a significant one.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to escape the control of that old dog Jin and create so many outrageous cards.
This couldn't simply be explained by the World Consciousness's favoritism.
After all, as far as Lucian knew, Lord Lioren wasn't as accomplished as Azrael at Diamond level.
Thinking of this, the old man muttered thoughtfully, "World Consciousness..."
The scene returned to the center of the battlefield.
Barrett, despite being riddled with wounds after taking his own attack, wasn't at the end of his rope.
But the demon had lost all desire to fight.
Perhaps he had previously thought he could match Luffy in combat, but now, Barrett simply wanted to retreat to the secret realm. After all, the monster wouldn't be able to pursue him there.
But it was clear that Luffy wouldn't let him go so easily.
"Hey! Uncle, don't run! Keep playing!"
With an exaggerated smile on his face, the young man caught up with the demon and placed his hand on Barrett's shoulder, as if they were old friends.
Barrett shuddered, as if he had encountered a ghost, and hurried his movements toward escape.
Luffy couldn't help but show a hint of disappointment at this rejection.
But since the other party had rejected his invitation, it was time to end the battle. After all, his friends were still waiting for reinforcements.
Thinking this, the young man glanced at the cards battling the giant demon fox in the distance.
"Uncle, you asked for this."
Hearing this, Barrett was startled and immediately raised his guard to the extreme.
But despite this, he did not stop his retreat.
"Gum-Gum..."
"White Guns!"
As Luffy shouted, a barrage of black-and-white fists attacked Barrett from behind like a torrential downpour.
Feeling the painful blows, the demon turned away, and howling wind gathered around him, forming a protective shield.
Perhaps Barrett thought the gusts of wind would block Luffy's attack, but the boy had long since mastered the technique of inflicting damage without direct contact.
It was Ryuo and Conqueror's Haki entanglement.
With its piercing properties and true damage, even a formidable Kaido had been defeated by Luffy's attacks in Gear Fifth.
Black-and-red lightning instantly ripped through the demon's defenses, and then the Gear Fifth Gum-Gum Gatling struck him hard.
Barrett clearly hadn't anticipated the boy's hidden potential.
He had initially assumed this terrifying pressure was merely a force of intimidating aura, never expecting it could be infused directly into physical attacks.
Caught off guard, he was like a tattered sack, flapping in the wind beneath Luffy's relentless fists.
Boom boom boom, !
A continuous bombardment echoed across the sea, blood splattering through the air, until the straw hat boy delivered a powerful final blow, and the demon finally lost consciousness and fell to the surface.
"Woah, uncle, you can't leave!" Luffy was startled, and quickly reached out to grab Barrett's body. "Azrael still has use for you."
From a distance, Azrael watched Luffy's battle with a sudden sense of relief.
He had never expected Barrett, known as the Demon Heir, to be so cowardly, defeated without even offering decent resistance.
The young man believed that if the Diamond-level demon had been truly determined to fight Luffy to the death, the battle would undoubtedly not have ended so quickly.
However, this was undoubtedly a good thing for Azrael, as Luffy had basically not lost much of his strength.
Thinking of this, he cast his gaze toward the nine tails that stretched far in the distance.
"Now this is all that's left."