Perona maintained her 'Dead Can Dance' flying form, laboriously pulling Mai Hime through the sky.
"Pepe, can't you fly faster? This concubine is very worried about Victor." Mai Hime, held by Perona's hands and dangling in the air, was not in a very elegant posture.
Perona was flying east to find Mai Hime when she discovered that the female swordsman was struggling to walk on the shaking, uneven ground. Out of kindness, Perona decided to lend a hand, and they flew together in the relatively safe sky.
But Perona had completely underestimated how much adding one more person would slow down her flying speed! Even walking on foot, they should have arrived by now!
"Mai-chan... tell me the truth, how much do you weigh?" Perona felt her slender arms were about to break. This dramatic woman from Wano Country was simply too heavy!
Mai Hime pouted unhappily: "Pepe, how rude! And, you really should strengthen your training... Ah, I can see them now, it's Victor and that big guy!"
Mai Hime didn't need to remind her. Perona, with the help of her ghost lookout, had already seen the situation on the central battlefield.
Devastating.
Only that word could describe the horrific state of the central church square in Clock Tower Village at this moment. The ground was almost entirely shattered. Victor's already not-so-tall figure appeared even more slender and small in comparison to Gecko Moria, who stood 20 meters tall in his 'Shadows Asgard' form.
But this did not mean he was powerless against the 'Warlord of the Sea' Gecko Moria!
Large amounts of metal zippers, under his control, condensed into Giggantic, Ferocious Chains knight spears or large, serrated shields, used to counter Gecko Moria's seemingly endless sea of shadow beasts and fierce, destructive punches.
The pool of shadows at Gecko Moria's feet condensed into a large number of shadow beasts, rushing towards Victor one after another, trying to tear him to shreds. Every one of Gecko Moria's destructive, huge heavy punches could accurately predict Victor's dodging direction.
Such a powerful offensive should have been unstoppable. However, every wave of Gecko Moria's attacks was strenuously blocked by Victor.
He was like a small boat tossing and turning in raging waves, seemingly on the verge of capsizing at any moment in each tumultuous surge, but ultimately, he always managed to bravely endure.
As the battle progressed, Victor accumulated more and more injuries. But Gecko Moria also gradually sustained more injuries from Victor's occasional counterattacks.
This was a contest between men.
Whoever's will broke first would be utterly finished!
After Perona and Mai Hime landed in a relatively safe spot in the distance, Perona initially intended to send her ghost swarm to help Victor, but Mai Hime stopped her.
"Pepe, don't interfere. Their battle is too intense; your rash intervention might actually hinder him. And..." Mai Hime's deep purple eyes gazed at the golden-haired man on the battlefield, murmuring: "Victor is using this battle to push himself! He's truly a cool and powerful man... Oh dear! What am I saying?! A samurai's disgrace! A samurai's disgrace!"
Ignoring Mai Hime, who was twisting with self-conscious shyness, Perona stared blankly at Victor, who was desperately fighting 'King of the Zombies' in the distance, her eyes unconsciously filling with tears.
The pink-haired girl clasped her hands to her chest, closing her eyes and silently praying.
Onii-chan, you must win!
On the battlefield, Victor was once again fiercely sent flying by Gecko Moria's heavy punch, imbued with Armament Haki! The evasive move 'Metal Zipper: Spotted Pouch' was completely ineffective against such a huge punch, covered in Armament Haki and larger than Victor's height.
Victor could only raise his arms to protect his head, surging his entire body with Armament Haki to resist such a heavy blow.
Even if he was a rare training genius, how could his Armament Haki, trained for only a month, compare to Gecko Moria's Armament Haki, which had been refined through countless battles over more than ten years of practice!
Ribs, internal organs, leg bones, sinews! Victor's injuries piled up, becoming more and more severe. Even if he maximized his use of resin zippers to continuously patch and bind his wounds and broken bones internally, the recovery speed was far from keeping up with the rate of injury. And Victor's own Observation Haki was weakened when using unrefined Armament Haki, while Gecko Moria's Observation Haki continuously interfered with his own.
The situation was growing increasingly dangerous.
Although his injuries continued to worsen, Victor could clearly feel his Armament Haki becoming more refined. This was probably the only good news.
The power Gecko Moria displayed far exceeded Victor's deductions based on the manga's description of his abilities. If Gecko Moria in the Thriller Bark arc had this level of power, Luffy would have been flattened into a pancake, wouldn't he?
Victor had considered retreating. It's not shameful to temporarily avoid a fight you can't win. But his Observation Haki had already sensed Perona and Mai Hime not far away, and he believed Gecko Moria had sensed them too. If he turned to flee, Victor had no doubt Gecko Moria would
immediately target Perona and Mai Hime!
For his comrades, for his dream, he could not retreat! And he absolutely could not lose!
Another fierce punch, creating a violent air pressure, came crashing down. Victor, whose vision was already blurred, let out a roar, gathering every last ounce of strength from his body to swing his right fist directly at Gecko Moria's giant fist!
Boom——————!!!
A violent shockwave rapidly spread out! Victor felt his right arm bones and right finger bones shatter once again, but this was the first time! Their Armament Haki were evenly matched for the first time!
Gecko Moria let out a terrifying roar of pain, his eyes bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the tiny figure, his heart filled with astonishment. Even if his Armament Haki was depleted, and because he had lost his Conqueror's Haki, his Armament Haki was deteriorating uncontrollably fast. But how old was this kid? This terrifying potential... He must also have the potential to become a 'Conqueror'!
"This world doesn't need so many overlords..." Gecko Moria let out a brutal roar. At this moment, he felt incredibly lucky to have discovered this 'Conqueror's egg' in West Blue before it fully matured. He would completely crush this great threat at its starting line!
A large number of shadow beasts were reabsorbed and melted by the shadow pool at his feet. The shadows surged, and something terrifying was incubating and squirming within the shadow pool.
"You can't escape, Victor! Not just you, I won't let those two girls go either! Be annihilated along with this island!"
Gecko Moria's shadow completely merged with the shadow pool beneath him. Under the moonlight, his shadow gradually wriggled and deformed. His hands became sharply pointed and monstrous, the horns on his head curved and extended into demonic goat horns, and huge bat wings spread from his back...
"Shadow Revolution: Limb Horn King!"
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