Thud!
Sheepshead was struck by Konohamaru's punch while he was still dazed. His eyes instantly rolled back, and he collapsed to his knees.
Another Future Gifters, Ginrummy, seeing her colleague defeated, moved to help but heard their captain's voice from the ship's side.
"Such trash! A whole group can't even handle one kid."
The voice came from above, getting closer and closer, until the last word was practically right beside them.
Konohamaru looked towards the sound. Jack's massive eight-meter frame leaped towards him with immense pressure.
Mid-air, Jack had already drawn his weapons from the tusks he carried: two gleaming sickle-shaped scimitars.
"Blame your bad timing for showing up, kid!"
The two four-to-five-meter-long blades, crossing, came slashing towards Konohamaru with a terrifying wind sound.
'He looks so strong!'
Konohamaru watched Jack getting closer but showed no intention of dodging.
Boom!
The Konohamaru sliced by the two large swords turned into a puff of smoke, while the real one appeared above Jack, already holding a pale blue Rasengan in his hand.
"Taste this! Rasengan!"
The Rasengan practically exploded directly on Jack's forehead. The surrounding lackeys watched in shock as Jack's head was enveloped in the blast.
'Is Jack-sama defeated just like that?'
"That hurt a bit, kid."
Jack's voice slowly came from behind Konohamaru only after he had landed from releasing the Rasengan.
Konohamaru looked over and saw Jack's iron mask had been shattered by the Rasengan, revealing sharp teeth.
Jack scratched the spot on his face hit by the Rasengan, his smile growing more ferocious.
"Interesting, kid. State your name."
"I am a Ninja from Konoha, Sarutobi Konohamaru!"
Although he hadn't graduated from the Ninja Academy to receive a forehead protector, Konohamaru still identified as a Ninja.
"Ninja? Aren't they just a bunch of guys relying on Devil Fruit powers to play tricks?"
Clearly, Jack, like Naruto initially, confused the Ninjas from Wano Country with those from the Ninja World.
"But whatever. Ninja kid, interested in joining the Beast Pirates?"
Jack scratched his chin with his blade, then actually extended an invitation to Konohamaru.
"Sorry, I have no intention of becoming a pirate!"
"Is that so? Then die!"
Jack's facial expression didn't change at all. The two scimitars swung again.
But this time was different from before. Two crossing giant slashes detached from the blades, swiftly flying towards Konohamaru.
This level of slash wasn't something Konohamaru's half-baked Haki could block now.
Moreover, the slashes were much faster than Jack's own movement. Konohamaru wanted to dodge, but the slash range was too large. If he forced a dodge, he might expose his back to the enemy.
After all, he was still surrounded by enemies.
'Was I forced to block it?'
Boom!
At that moment, Karin and Sasuke, who had been watching from the sidelines, acted.
Karin transformed into her human-beast hybrid form, and with a flap of her wings, sent the Beast Pirates' small fry flying.
Sasuke was even more direct.
His physical stats had greatly improved after eating the Devil Fruit. Combined with the boost from Lightning Chakra Mode, he didn't even need to enter his hybrid form to easily shatter Jack's attack.
"Oh?"
Jack's gaze first lingered on Sasuke in front of him for a moment, then immediately focused on Karin beside him.
"Zoan-type Devil Fruit Users?"
His gaze towards Karin held some greed, though not the kind directed at the opposite sex.
"Decided. You must join the Beasts Pirates! Kaido-sama will be very pleased."
As he spoke, Jack completely abandoned Sasuke before him and charged directly towards Karin.
This made the corner of Sasuke's eye twitch slightly.
'That feeling of being ignored was a first.'
Jack's large sword swept towards Karin with a wind-breaking sound.
But this strike didn't even touch a single feather of Karin's.
'Up there? So fast.'
As one of the three All-Stars, Jack naturally had Observation Haki too.
-Though he wasn't that proficient.
He looked up and swung his hand, sending another slash towards Karin, who had somehow flown into the air.
"Stop spouting nonsense on your own!"
Karin let out an angry shout, her whole body instantly turning into a golden flash, directly shattering the slash and continuing unimpeded to hit Jack.
The power of this strike was incomparable to Konohamaru's Rasengan.
Jack's small-giant-like figure was sent flying dozens of meters, only stopping after crashing into the island's rocky cliff.
"Serves you right..."
Whether it was schadenfreude or not, Sasuke actually had the mind to quip.
'Serves you right for ignoring me earlier.'
'From what the other party said, he seemed very interested in Zoan users like them.'
'So, just because I didn't reveal my Huodou true form, that's your reason to ignore me?'
"What are you looking at!"
As everyone knew, Karin never had a good temper with Sasuke either. Even though they were comrades who had been through life and death, they still often bickered.
Hearing Karin's words, Sasuke uncharacteristically didn't retort but pointed towards where Jack had been sent flying.
"That guy isn't down yet."
The meaning was self-evident.
'Are you up to the task or not?'
"Huh?"
Karin also sensed Jack's aura now, and it hadn't fluctuated much.
Meaning, that last hit hadn't truly injured him much.
"Roar!!"
A roar scattered the dust, followed by a shaggy mammoth, much larger than Jack's original form, charging headlong towards them.
"He turned into an elephant!"
Konohamaru had now joined the two, speaking with surprise.
In fact, not just him, even Sasuke and Karin were seeing another Zoan-type Devil Fruit user for the first time, besides each other.
"Perfect!"
Seeing the charging mammoth, Karin didn't plan to dodge either. She directly transformed into her giant bird form.
The non-awakened Garuda now had a wingspan of about twenty meters, comparable in size to Jack's fully transformed state.
Seeing the golden, shining giant bird, Jack's anger-filled brain paused slightly.
"A golden bird? Is it... a Mythical Zoan?"
But Karin didn't give him more time to think.
Vajra: Sky Crusher!
Jack only had time to hear a bird cry before feeling an intense impact pierce through his entire body.
In the next moment, the massive creature weighing dozens of tons was sent flying by a terrifying shockwave.
The wounds on his body, which had mostly healed, were instantly sliced open again by countless fine wind blades.
The golden light faded, and Karin transformed back into her human form.
Jack on the other side, however, was in a sorry state.
New injuries added to old ones directly sent the guy into unconsciousness.
Jack the Drought, rises no more!
…
When Naruto surfaced from the depths on his newly captured mount, what he saw was the completely wiped-out Jack's fleet.
"Huh? This is..."
Naruto wasn't familiar with Jack.
After all, when he caused havoc in Wano, Jack was less than ten years old and hadn't even joined the Beasts yet.
But he could recognize the Beast Pirates' flag.
Similarly, he had learned about Kaido's current notable subordinates, including Jack, through newspapers and other information.
Looking at the completely unconscious Jack, then at the ships he brought, Naruto spoke to the sea beast with a sheep-like head beneath him.
"You're lucky. Go on."
After saying that, he jumped ashore.
Since they had ships to ride, there was no need to use the open-air sea beast.
The sea beast seemed to understand Naruto's meaning and hurriedly submerged back into the water.
'So scary.'
'The creatures on the sea surface are too scary.'
Just one encounter, and it was knocked out by the other party. That aura, even more terrifying than deep-sea predators, made the sea beast tremble.