'King of Lizards' Hanafuda!

"Ow, that hurts!"

"Hey, hey, you've got to be kidding me! What happened to the Spade Pirates?"

"That Marine... who is he?"

The Spade Pirates' ship was in complete chaos.

The wounded aboard had almost all been slammed heavily onto the deck just now. Fortunately, that had saved them from being killed outright by the attack.

At the same time, however, quite a few of their wounds had split open.

The few who could still move were all staring in horror at the figure on the distant warship, who was slowly retracting his fist.

That figure looked like a towering mountain to them.

After all, they had encountered the Marines countless times on their journey to the Grand Line, including some who could be called "strong."

But splitting the sea with one punch, smashing through Captain Ace's wall of fire, and then completely wiping out everything on the Spade Pirates' deck?

They had never even imagined such a thing.

"Speaking of which, where's Captain Ace?"

A crewman's words immediately jolted everyone back to their senses.

"Yeah, Captain Ace... could he have been hit by that attack?"

"How could that be? That was Captain Ace!"

They realized in a panic that their captain, Ace, had vanished in that attack.

But right afterward—

"Crack!" "Crack!"

The sound of breaking planks rang out.

Then—

"Whoosh!"

As flames blazed, they saw Ace's figure rise from the ruins of the rear cabin.

"Captain Ace!"

"I knew Captain Ace would be fine!"

The crowd grew excited again. To them, who had followed Ace all this way, Ace was practically the embodiment of "invincibility."

As long as their captain was still standing, they didn't believe they could lose.

But only a moment later, they realized something was wrong.

Ace was clearly injured.

Purple bruises had appeared across his abdomen and both arms. Blood was beginning to seep from his forehead, and even the orange cowboy hat on his head had fallen off.

The sight left every member of the Spade Pirates horrified.

Their captain had been injured this badly by a single blow?

Even when they had previously faced the Shichibukai's pursuit head-on, their captain had never suffered injuries of this severity.

"Ace!?"

Deuce hurried to Ace's side and looked at him worriedly. "I'll treat your wounds."

"Thanks, Deuce."

As Ace thanked him, his eyes remained fixed on the distant warship. "Sorry. I couldn't stop that guy's attack. He was practically a monster. Luckily, everyone's all right."

There was even a trace of lingering fear in Ace's voice.

During that attack, he had given up the chance to evade through Elementalization and chosen to block it with his ability.

Clearly, however, he had overestimated himself and underestimated Luo Yi.

Even after putting forth all his strength, his flames had been completely unable to stop the other man, and he had ended up injured instead.

"That Marine... Luo Yi Amos. I've never heard that name before."

Ace stared into the distance at the name written on the warship's sail, almost beginning to doubt himself.

A punch with that kind of power would have been understandable if its user were a Marine Admiral or some famous Vice Admiral.

But the fact was that he had never heard of this man.

"How could someone like that be unknown on this sea?"

He didn't understand.

But clearly, that no longer mattered.

"It doesn't matter who my opponent is."

With that thought, Ace stood up after receiving some preliminary treatment. "I'll win."

That was the only way he could surpass that man—the father connected to him by blood.

However, just as Ace was about to continue fighting—

"Ace!"

Deuce interrupted him.

"Captain!"

The first member of the Spade Pirates also looked at his captain.

"We can't keep fighting."

He said gravely, "Hanafuda is still chasing us... We have to run!"

Run?

Ace froze at those words.

As one of the Supernova of the current age, and as someone who aimed to become the Pirate King, he wasn't afraid to face any strong opponent. He was confident that he could defeat anyone.

He freely chose whatever he wanted to do, without fear.

But now...

"..."

Looking at his companions on the deck, many of them wrapped in bandages while blood still seeped from some of their wounds, Ace was stunned for a moment before slowly exhaling.

"...Fine."

He nodded lightly.

He understood what Deuce meant.

If they continued fighting that terrifyingly powerful Marine here, it would inevitably take a considerable amount of time.

And they couldn't forget that a Shichibukai was still hot on their heels.

Once a real battle broke out, regardless of who won, many of them would certainly die.

And clearly...

Ace couldn't accept that outcome.

He wanted to surpass his father. He wanted to prove that his existence had value.

But if it meant exchanging the lives of his precious companions—

"We're running!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stood up.

Normally speaking, it should have been impossible for a ship with all three masts broken to escape.

But the Spade Pirates' ship was clearly different.

Ace went to a spot on the deck and stomped down hard with both feet.

The next moment, two openings appeared beneath the deck, seemingly connected to pipes below.

"Clank!" "Clank!"

Amid the sounds of gears turning and machinery transforming, two enormous exhaust ports suddenly extended from beneath the Spade Pirates' ship.

Then—

"Whoosh!"

Flames erupted beneath Ace's feet.

The flames spread through the pipes before suddenly blasting out of the exhaust ports.

The next instant, the entire Spade Pirates' ship shot away into the distance like a rocket!

"A ship driven by a Devil Fruit Ability?"

At the same time, Luo Yi watched the Spade Pirates' ship speed away.

He wasn't particularly surprised by the sight. After Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates in the future, he would have a small one-man boat powered by his ability, called the Striker.

Now, it seemed that boat's origin might well be this Spade Pirates' ship.

Clearly, however, he didn't particularly care.

"..."

At that moment, Luo Yi merely clenched his fist, unmistakable excitement in his eyes.

He was very satisfied with that punch.

The Great Buddha Fruit truly lived up to its reputation as the Mythical Zoan eaten by the Fleet Admiral. Once it reached LV3, the power of its shock waves was practically terrifying.

And that still wasn't its full power. If he didn't need to worry about exposing his identity, Luo Yi could transform into the true "Great Buddha." At that point, the power this Fruit could unleash would be even greater!

But that wasn't what excited Luo Yi most.

"Even after using an attack like that, the drain on my stamina is still very small. No... the drain actually isn't small. I've simply become much stronger."

That was what excited him most.

It was proof of all the hard training he had undergone during this period.

Zephyr's Black Body Flow was extremely important to him.

The reason was that although Luo Yi's physique itself had been gained by equipping a Fruit, the training he underwent was genuine.

The muscle and stamina improvements he gained through training wouldn't disappear even after he changed Fruit Effects. Instead, they would be retained to a certain extent.

To put it in game terms, Luo Yi had used a Fruit Ability to increase his physique by 100 points, allowing him to undertake the incredibly difficult training challenge of "withstanding ocean currents five thousand meters below sea level." Each training session could increase his physique by five points.

Even after Luo Yi changed Fruits and his physique returned to its original level, those five points of improvement would still remain.

For Luo Yi, whose original strength had not been particularly outstanding, this improvement was already enormous!

As a result, in merely one month, his physique and strength had grown considerably, and he had become increasingly adept at using his abilities.

This was how one's foundation improved one's Devil Fruit Ability.

"...In that case, I can try those two techniques."

Muttering under his breath, Luo Yi turned around. "Hans, Fal, get ready to pursue—"

Before he could finish, his voice caught in his throat.

When he turned around, he saw a group of blank faces.

Yes, the Marines of the Detention Unit were still dazed. They had yet to recover from that punch.

"..."

Seeing this, Luo Yi sighed.

Forget it. He couldn't count on these people.

So he stood on the side of the ship once more.

"Hum!"

Powerful vibrations gathered in his hand again.

But at that very moment—

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

He heard a series of thunderous blasts from behind.

The roar of cannon fire.

The next moment, Luo Yi clearly saw cannonballs flying one after another and landing in the sea around the distant Spade Pirates' ship as it sped away, sending enormous columns of water into the air.

Before Luo Yi could even react—

"Boom!"

The entire warship suddenly shuddered as a massive burst of fire erupted from its stern.

Only then did Luo Yi see the fleet that had appeared across the sea behind them.

The fleet wasn't particularly large, consisting of only seven enormous ships.

Marine warships were already relatively large vessels, but before those seven ships, they were still less than one-third the size of their hulls.

All seven ships had the same design: dinosaur-like hulls and sails resembling pterosaur wings.

The same pirate flag flew from every mast.

The skull flag, with its protruding jaw like that of a Tyrannosaurus rex, along with the figure standing aboard the foremost pirate ship, revealed the fleet's affiliation.

Luo Yi could see that the man wore a black hooded coat, its hood shaped like a dinosaur's head.

He held a weapon in his hand. Its front end was a scythe, while a flail hung from the rear.

It was none other than one of the Shichibukai—

"'King of Lizards' Hanafuda!"