What, are you humiliating me?

Wind God Pterosaur.

The largest flying animal in prehistory, the king of the skies.

With a massive body spanning over seventeen meters, it was indeed terrifying enough to be the stuff of legends.

At least for the moment, the Colonel had completely lost his composure. "How is that possible? Aren't pterosaurs supposed to have gone extinct long ago?"

"Idiot."

But Commodore Lan Li had already stepped forward. "Look at its head."

Its head?

The Colonel froze at that, then finally noticed it.

Compared to its enormous body, its head was remarkably small. Yet it clearly wore a strange Rooster Mask—the mask extended along with its beak, making it look rather bizarre.

But there was no doubt that this proved one thing.

"That guy is an Ability User."

Commodore Lan Li quietly reached his conclusion.

"An Ability User? In other words—he's human?"

The Colonel almost cried out immediately. "Could he be the one who attacked Master Port?"

"That, I don't know."

Lan Li chuckled, then slightly raised the Great Katana in his hand. "You leave."

"Leave? What are you talking about?"

The Colonel was stunned again, then tightened his grip on the flintlock. "Now that we've confirmed he's the attacker, of course I'll fight alongside you."

"Idiot! This guy isn't an opponent you can handle."

Lan Li merely glanced at the Colonel and waved his hand. "Leave immediately and check the damage and casualties at the other bases—leave this guy to me."

"But..."

The Colonel was clearly still hesitating.

But Lan Li suddenly let out a furious roar. "No buts—in my homeland, stopping a man from having a one-on-one fight with a strong opponent is punishable by death!"

"..."

So where exactly is your homeland?

The Colonel grumbled inwardly, but he still decisively obeyed the order and turned to flee.

And so, within the forest,

only Commodore Lan Li remained, looking up at the enormous creature in the sky.

"You're not going to stop him from leaving?"

He gripped the Great Katana in his hand and grinned.

"There's no need."

At that moment, the enormous creature in the sky actually smiled as well.

"My mission is to take away the Celestial Gold here, so—I only need to deal with you."

Hearing that, Commodore Lan Li's smile grew even wider. "You've got quite the nerve."

As he spoke, his right hand had already settled on the sword hilt.

"If you want to deal with me, ask 'Nagahikari' first!"

The next moment.

"Clang!"

A clear ringing sound echoed as silver light flashed.

That was the gleam of a blade.

"Volcano Style Sky Slash!"

Accompanied by the sword's shriek as it tore through the air, the tip of the Great Katana 'Nagahikari' in Lan Li's hand suddenly unleashed a gigantic silver-white slash.

The slash burst from the blade's tip and shot straight into the sky!

This alone spoke volumes about Lan Li's strength.

A flying slash, refined to such a degree—across the entire sea, he was unquestionably a top-tier Swordsman!

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, the flying slash struck the Wind God Pterosaur's enormous right wing with pinpoint accuracy.

The corners of Lan Li's mouth curled upward.

"Being too big isn't always a good thing."

He knew very well that this slash of his was powerful enough to cleave through a small ship.

"All I need to do is wait for him to fall from the sky, then I can..."

He had already begun thinking about how to deal with his opponent next.

But in the very next instant, both his thoughts and his smile froze.

Because at that moment—

"Boom!"

As the dust dispersed, Lan Li suddenly saw it.

The enormous pterosaur was still flying high in the sky.

Its massive wing, which had been struck by the slash, bore no wound whatsoever.

Under the sunlight, its smooth wing membrane gleamed with the cold hardness of stone. Only a faint white mark showed that the slash had ever existed.

"It's actually that tough?"

Lan Li's expression grew completely solemn.

With that single slash, he had already realized that this battle would not be easy.

His flying slash could not injure the opponent, while the opponent's ability to fly meant that most of his other sword techniques would have great difficulty hitting him.

Ultimately, that was the greatest advantage of a Flying-type Devil Fruit.

"Hm!?"

But just as Lan Li was thinking of a way to deal with it, he saw the enormous creature in the sky move!

Its massive pterosaur body rapidly shrank and transformed before Lan Li's astonished eyes!

In the blink of an eye, the gigantic shadow that blotted out the sky vanished.

In its place was a figure that came crashing to the ground.

"Thud!"

The heavy landing made the ground tremble slightly and kicked up a ring of airwaves.

Standing before Lan Li was a humanoid monster nearly three meters tall.

He still wore that distinctive Rooster Mask. His body retained the basic outline of a human, but his entire body was covered in blue-gray Dragon Scales as hard as rock.

His arms had transformed into far thicker Dragon Claws, complete with sharp talons and wing membranes, while his legs had become powerful, muscular animal limbs with reversed joints.

A thick dragon tail swayed gently behind him.

This was Luo Yi's Wind God Pterosaur Fruit Human-Beast Form.

"You bastard..."

Seeing this, Lan Li was consumed by fury.

The hand gripping his sword was even bulging with veins from the force.

"Are you humiliating me!?"

Abandoning his aerial advantage of his own accord—this was clearly an act of humiliation!

"Quite the opposite."

Luo Yi spoke softly.

"I just thought you could let me warm up a little."

As he spoke, he twisted his neck, producing crisp cracking sounds—"click," "click."

Then he smiled at Lan Li. "Ready? Then let's begin!"

"You..."

Lan Li still wanted to say something.

But a moment later, he swallowed the words back down.

Because in the next instant, he realized that his opponent had vanished.

"Shave!? So fast!"

Lan Li was astonished, but before he could think any further,

his Observation Haki had already detected the enormous, savage power beside him.

"Volcano Style Defense!"

Without hesitation, Lan Li raised the Great Katana in his hand like a shield and blocked toward his side.

An invisible force covered the blade.

That was one of the strangest powers on this sea—Armament Haki!

In the next moment, the enormous winged claw slammed into the Great Katana.

"Clang!"

An explosive sound like clashing weapons rang out, accompanied by a burst of sparks. Lan Li's body was sent flying instantly, crashing heavily through the trunk of a giant tree.

"A combination of Armament Haki and Iron Body? And you've incorporated it into a sword technique?"

Luo Yi spoke with great interest. "So this is Vice Admiral Huoshan's sword technique, Volcano Style. Impressive!"

And precisely as his words fell,

"You bastard... don't get too cocky!"

Lan Li's figure burst out from within the broken tree trunk once more.

"Since you chose to fight at close range, don't expect me to hold back! Volcano Style Violent Storms!"

His figure vanished from the spot with a sudden whoosh as well—as a Marine commodore, his mastery of Shave was naturally no worse.

The next moment, he appeared beside Luo Yi.

The Armament Haki-wrapped Great Katana in his hand transformed into streaks of silver light, slashing furiously at Luo Yi's vital points with blinding speed and viciously unpredictable angles.

"Not holding back?"

Luo Yi responded with a light laugh. "That suits me perfectly."

And so, the great battle began!