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Reflected in Hanafuda's suddenly contracting vertical pupils was Roy's fist.
In the next instant, the familiar shockwave erupted once more.
However, Roy's punch was not aimed at Hanafuda's ship but at the sea below!
"Buzz!"
A torrent of freezing air burst forth, spreading cold outward.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The endlessly surging sea currents froze in place at that very moment. Fish and shrimp swimming through the water were sealed in ice mid-motion.
The wind seemed to carry ice crystals, and the moisture in the air condensed into frost.
The sea's surface split open as usual, but the waves did not fall back down. Instead, they turned into towering walls of ice.
Yes.
After this single punch, the sea surrounding the giant dinosaur fleet was completely frozen solid!
"Is that Aokiji's ability?" No, it's not the same. What kind of shockwave is that?" Hanafuda naturally thought of Admiral Aokiji when he saw this scene.
But then he shook his head.
He had never heard of Aokiji using anything like the radiance on Roy's fist and the shockwave it carried.
Clearly, Hanafuda had no time to think further.
"Bang!"
Because beneath his feet, the Tyrannosaurus rex had unmistakably come to a complete stop.
Or, to be more precise... It wasn't just that one ship.
At this moment, the entire giant dinosaur fleet had been frozen in place atop the sea by that single punch.
That was exactly where the problem lay.
"This punch has enough power to destroy any ship, so why didn't he do it?" Hanafuda muttered to himself.
If it were any other Marine, he could naturally come up with a reason. Perhaps they didn't want to offend him, a Warlord. Perhaps they feared his forces or the backing of Kaido of the Hundred Beasts.
But now, Hanafuda knew that none of those reasons applied.
He could see it in the Marine's eyes.
'What kind of look was it?'
Cold. Calm. Resolute.
There was not the slightest hint of hesitation or retreat. Those were not the eyes of someone preparing to stop.
And the reality proved exactly that.
In the next instant, Hanafuda saw Roy move again.
He raised his hand once more.
The difference was... This time, it was his right fist!
"Buzz!"
Golden waves surged again, and this time, crimson appeared within the ripples.
The color of extreme heat.
Something red-hot seemed to be flowing within Roy's arm, dyeing it crimson.
"Flame Shockwave Fist: Boiling the Sea!"
"ROAR..."
In that instant, Hanafuda's expression changed violently.
"All hands, abandon ship immediately!" He let out a roar like that of a wild beast.
As a top-tier Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit user, he naturally possessed the sharp instincts of a predator. At that moment, his instincts were screaming at him.
This attack was extremely dangerous!
At the same time, far out on the sea...
"Boom!"
The flames inside the rear jets of the Piece of Spadille gradually died down.
"Hah...hah..." Ace, drenched in sweat, knelt on one knee, panting heavily. "Damn...that injury earlier..."
Just as Hanafuda had said...
Using his ability at such a high intensity to propel the Piece of Spadille forward put an enormous strain on him.
"Ace, take a rest!"
"Captain Ace, are you okay?"
Seeing this, Deuce and the few other crew members who could still move struggled to their feet.
"I'm fine." Ace waved them off, took a bottle of water, and drank deeply. Then he asked, "Hah… They didn't chase us, did they?"
While escaping with his ability, he hadn't had the chance to check.
"No... if anything, the situation over there looks a bit strange." As Deuce said this, his expression turned subtle.
"Strange?" Hearing that, Ace looked back toward the distant sea.
They were already far enough away that they couldn't see clearly what was happening, only the faint outlines of the Hanafuda ships.
"The sea... is frozen?" Ace froze when he looked at the ocean, locked in a surging posture yet completely frozen.
"That's not Hanafuda's ability..."
He had fought Hanafuda before and knew that he didn't possess such power. Which meant there was only one explanation.
"That Marine... Roy?"
Ace murmured the name he had only recently learned.
"That's what we think, too." Deuce nodded beside him. "He should be fighting Hanafuda right now. The frozen sea is probably the result of his ability."
He analyzed the situation seriously, and the other Spade Pirates nodded along. But only moments later, their discussion came to an abrupt halt.
Both Ace and the others saw the scene in the distance.
In the sky...
Something crimson appeared. It was something Ace knew very well: Flames born of extreme heat!
"Is that the captain's 'Fire Fist'?"
Some of the crew subconsciously voiced this thought.
"No." But Ace had already answered in his heart.
He stared at the massive pillar of fire wrapped in violent shockwaves surging toward Hanafuda's fleet. He could clearly see the ash kicked up wherever the flames passed.
Instinctively, he felt that fire seemed stronger than his own.
But Ace had no time to think further.
He saw an enormous torrent of flames sweep straight through, tearing across Hanafuda's fleet.
"Bang!"
Above the frozen ocean, colossal clouds of smoke and terrifying firelight erupted, blotting out the sky. A massive shockwave exploded outward in all directions.
"Hanafuda's fleet is finished!" Even from this distance, Deuce was completely certain.
After this attack, not a single one of Hanafuda's ships would remain intact. But an even bigger question naturally arose immediately afterward.
That was...
"Who fired... this attack?"
A crew member of the Spade Pirates voiced the doubt that everyone shared.
The scene fell silent.
The answer wasn't hard to guess.
They had all seen the distinctive fluctuation contained within the massive fiery shockwave with their own eyes not long ago.
And so, the only sound left on the ship was Ace's murmured whisper.
"Roy Amos…"
...
"Hey, hey! You've got to be kidding! Boss is terrifyingly strong now!"
Clearly...
Those who held a similar view to the Spade Pirates were the members of the Marine Detention Unit themselves.
At that moment, Hans and Fal were waiting on deck. They had followed Roy's instructions of sending people into the hold to search for the two injured men and repair the ship.
However, they hadn't followed the orders completely.
For example, they hadn't gone into hiding as Roy had told them to. Instead, each of them gripped their weapon tightly.
They had already made up their minds; if the boss fell, they would step in. However, the way things unfolded was far beyond anything they had imagined.
Even through the thick smoke, they could clearly see the devastation on the frozen sea not far away. The entire giant dinosaur fleet had indeed been almost completely annihilated.
Six of the escort ships vanished entirely in the explosion; only burning fragments remained to prove their existence.
The only recognizable vessel was the flagship, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but even then, its hull had split down the middle and melted through.
"Just two attacks, and the legendary Warlord was dealt with." The Marines of the Detention Unit felt dizzy at this moment.
"Uh... Do you think that was really the boss himself? Could it have been Admiral Zephyr in disguise?" Hans's line of thinking was, as always, bizarre.
"What are you talking about? That was clearly the boss!" Fal immediately punched him. "But freezing or igniting the sea... did Admiral Zephyr secretly make the boss eat a Devil Fruit?"
"Oh! You're right!" Hans suddenly realized. "Yeah, Admiral Zephyr isn't a Devil Fruit user, so the one pretending to be the boss can't be him."
"Are you even listening to what people are saying!?"
It was at that moment that the two were arguing.
"You've both made two mistakes again."
They saw Roy descend from the sky using Geppo and land back on the battleship. His expression was as calm as ever and carried a strange sense of satisfaction.
"First, everyone knows I'm not a Devil Fruit user. I haven't eaten one either. What you just saw was still 'Shockwave Fist.'"
He looked seriously at the incredulous Hans and Fal.
"Not long ago, Sensei told me that the Fish-Man race's physical technique, Fish-Man Karate, can manipulate moisture in the surrounding air.
"That gave me some inspiration, so I created a new branch of shockwave techniques, a new style of Hasshoken called Ice Shockwave Fist."
As he spoke, blue ripples surfaced around his hand.
"Besides that, Sensei told me that in Wano Country, there's a sword style called Foxfire Style that can release and cut through flames.
"There are also quite a few people who can harness fire through friction. There's even a pirate and his cook who can use similar techniques."
"Building on that, I developed a second shockwave style called Flame Shockwave Fist."
Of course, everything he just said was nonsense.
The so-called shockwave techniques he had just demonstrated were essentially the Human-Human Fruit: Model: Daibutsu, layered with the extreme heat of the Magma Magma Fruit and the extreme cold of the Ice Ice Fruit.
Spreading those effects through shockwaves naturally produced such terrifying attacks.
However, because combining two Logia effects with the Great Buddha Fruit consumed enormous stamina, he had never used this idea in real combat before.
But now, after his recent physical strengthening, he could finally wield it at a basic level.
As for the "new shockwave styles" he mentioned, they had absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever.
But that clearly didn't matter.
Because…
"So that's how it is!"
"So that's the secret!"
"As expected of Admiral Zephyr's disciple!"
"More like… as expected of the boss, right?"
After hearing his explanation, the Marines accepted it almost instantly, without the slightest hesitation.
Roy wasn't surprised in the least.
Exactly.
This was the most crucial point.
If he were still just the ordinary Lieutenant Commander Roy Amos of the Marine Detention Unit, displaying such a sudden and massive leap in strength would inevitably raise suspicion.
But now, things were different.
He was the disciple of a legendary Marine Admiral, the universally acknowledged strongest instructor, 'Black Arm' Zephyr. And almost every Marine had grown up hearing Zephyr's legends!
So… what was so strange about Zephyr's disciple growing strong a bit faster?
"In Zephyr-sensei's eyes, I'm a 'monster-level genius.' In the eyes of other Marines, I'm 'the disciple of a Marine legend.'"
A grin spread across Roy's face.
"So now… I can be a little more unrestrained in showing my power."
After a brief pause, Hans and Fal finally reacted.
"Boss, you said we made two mistakes. What was the other one?" Fal asked curiously.
Hearing this, Roy smiled again.
"The second mistake is saying I took down a Shichibukai in one blow. Even though I've grown much stronger, defeating someone like that in a single strike is still pretty difficult."
As Roy finished speaking…
"Marine!"
Hans and Fal heard a furious roar echo across the sea.
Then…
Thud! Thud! Thud!
On the ice, heavy, thunderous tremors rang out. The footsteps of some massive monster.
And then, everyone saw it.
From the smoke-shrouded front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex…
A colossal, monstrous figure stepped out of the rolling smoke.
(End of Chapter)