'King of Lizards' Hanafuda!

"Tch, that hurts..."

"Hey hey, the Spadille—you gotta be kidding me?"

"That marine... who the hell is he?"

Aboard the Spadille, chaos reigned.

The injured crew members had nearly all been slammed hard onto the deck a moment ago—lucky for them, it spared them from being killed outright by that attack.

But at the same time, it meant many of them now had their wounds torn open again.

The few who could still move all stared in horror at the distant warship, at the figure slowly withdrawing his fist.

To them, that figure loomed like a mountain.

They'd encountered plenty of marines on their way to the Grand Line, some of whom could be called 'Strong Persons.'

But a single punch that split the sea, shattered Captain Ace's wall of fire, and wiped clean everything on the Spadille's deck?

That was something they'd never even imagined.

"Hey... where's Captain Ace?"

Then one crewman's words jolted everyone awake.

"Yeah, could Captain Ace have been caught in that attack?"

"No way—that's Captain Ace."

They panicked as they realized Ace had vanished in that blow.

But right after—

Crack! Crack!

The sound of splintering wood.

Then—

Whoosh!

Flames roared to life, and they saw Ace rise from the wreckage of the rear cabin.

"Captain Ace!"

"I knew Captain Ace would be fine!"

The crew cheered up again—to them, who had followed Ace all the way here, he was practically the embodiment of 'invincible.'

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

But just moments later, they noticed something wrong.

Ace was clearly injured.

His abdomen and both arms bore bruises of purple and blue, blood was seeping from his forehead, and even his orange cowboy hat had fallen off.

The sight sent a chill through every member of the Spade Pirates.

One blow, and their captain was this badly hurt?

Even when they'd faced a Shichibukai's pursuit before, their captain had never taken damage on this level.

"Ace!?"

Deuce rushed to Ace's side, looking at him with concern: "Let me treat your wounds."

"Thanks, Deuce."

Ace thanked him, but his gaze was fixed on the distant warship: "Sorry, I couldn't stop that guy... that attack just now was like something from a Monster. At least everyone's okay."

As he spoke, there was even a hint of lingering fear in his voice.

In that moment, he'd given up the chance to dodge by Elementalization and chosen to meet the blow head-on with his power.

But clearly, he'd overestimated himself and underestimated Loi.

Even with all his strength, his flames couldn't stop the man at all, and he'd only ended up hurt.

"That marine... Loi Amos. Never heard the name."

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

A punch with that kind of power—if it came from a Marine Admiral or some famous Vice Admiral, that would be one thing.

But the truth was, he'd never heard that name before.

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

He didn't understand.

But clearly, it didn't matter anymore.

"It's fine. No matter who the opponent is."

With that thought, Ace, having patched up his wounds a bit, stood up: "I'll win."

Only this way could he surpass that man—the father he shared blood with.

But just as Ace was about to continue fighting—

"Ace!"

Deuce cut him off.

"Captain!"

This first crewmate of the Spade Pirates now looked at his captain.

"You can't fight anymore."

He said in a low voice: "Hanafuda is still chasing us... we need to escape!"

Escape?

At those words, Ace was naturally stunned for a moment.

As a Supernova on the seas now, as someone who aimed to be the Pirate King—

He wouldn't fear going head-to-head with any Strong Person—he was confident he could beat anyone.

He freely chose what he wanted to do, without any fear.

But now...

"."

Looking at the bandaged crewmates on the deck, and the wounds still seeping blood on many of them—

Ace, after a brief pause, let out a deep breath.

"...Alright."

He nodded lightly.

He understood what Deuce meant.

If they kept fighting that terrifyingly strong Marine here, it would inevitably drag on for quite a while.

And don't forget, behind them was a Shichibukai in hot pursuit.

If a real battle broke out, win or lose aside, they would definitely lose a lot of people.

And clearly...

Ace couldn't accept that outcome.

He wanted to surpass his father, wanted to prove that his existence wasn't worthless.

But if it meant trading the lives of his precious crewmates—

"We're escaping!"

With those words, he immediately stood up.

Admittedly—normally, a ship with all three masts broken would be nearly impossible to flee in.

But for the Spadille, that was clearly not the case.

He came to a spot on the deck and stomped hard with both feet.

The next moment, two hollow openings appeared beneath the deck, seeming to connect to pipes below.

"Click!" "Click!"

With the sound of gears and machinery shifting, two massive jet nozzles suddenly extended from under the Spadille.

And then—

"Whoosh!"

Flames burst forth beneath Ace's feet.

The fire spread through the pipes, then erupted from the jet nozzles.

The next instant, the entire Spadille shot off into the distance like a rocket!

"A ship that can be driven by a Devil Fruit ability?"

Meanwhile, Luo Yi watched the rapidly fleeing Spadille.

He wasn't particularly surprised by the sight—after joining the Whitebeard Pirates in the future, Ace would have a small single-person boat powered by his ability, called the Striker.

It seemed now that the origin of that little boat might be this Spadille.

But clearly, he didn't care much about it either.

"."

At the moment, Luo Yi simply clenched his fist, a clear excitement in his eyes.

He was very satisfied with that punch.

The Great Buddha Fruit was indeed a Mythical Zoan fruit taken by the Fleet Admiral, and its shockwave power at LV3 was almost terrifying.

And this wasn't even its full power—if he didn't have to worry about exposing his identity, Luo Yi could transform into the true 'Great Buddha,' and the strength this fruit could unleash would be even greater!

But for Luo Yi, the most exciting part wasn't this.

"Even a strike like this consumes very little of my stamina. No. The consumption isn't actually small—it's just that I've genuinely grown stronger."

That was what excited him most.

This was the mark of his hard training over this period.

Zephyr's 'Black Body Flow' held great significance for him.

The reason lay in this—although Luo Yi's physique itself was obtained through loading a Fruit, the training he underwent was real and tangible.

The muscle and physical enhancement he gained through training would not disappear even after he swapped Fruit effects; instead, they would be retained to a certain degree.

To put it in gaming terms—if Luo Yi used his Devil Fruit Ability to add 100 points to his physique, thereby unlocking an extremely difficult training stage like 'withstanding ocean currents at five thousand meters depth,' where each session could increase his physique by 5 points.

Then even if Luo Yi swapped Fruits and his physique reverted to its original level, those 5 points of physique he had previously gained would still remain.

And for Luo Yi, whose original strength wasn't particularly outstanding, this improvement... was already enormous!

As a result, in just one month, his physique and power had been enhanced to a considerable degree, and his control over his abilities grew more and more adept.

This was how a solid foundation elevated Fruit Ability.

"...At this rate, I can definitely try those two moves."

Murmuring to himself, Luo Yi turned around: "Hans, Fal, prepare to chase—"

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

Because when he turned, what he saw was a crowd of dazed faces.

Yes, at this moment, the Marine soldiers of the Detention Unit were still in a stupor, not yet recovered from that punch just now.

"..."

Seeing this, Luo Yi let out a sigh.

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

So he once again stood at the ship's railing.

"Hum!"

In his hand, a powerful fluctuation gathered once more.

But it was at that very moment—

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

He heard consecutive thunderous sounds from behind.

The roar of cannon fire.

And the next moment, Luo Yi clearly saw shell after shell flying past, landing on the distant sea surface where the rapidly fleeing Spedile was sailing, kicking up enormous water columns.

Before Luo Yi could even react—

"Boom!"

The entire warship shuddered instantly, a massive burst of fire erupting at its stern.

And only then did Luo Yi see the fleet appearing on the sea behind them.

The fleet wasn't very large—only seven giant ships in total.

Navy warships were already considered relatively large vessels, but in front of those seven ships, they were less than a third of their hull size.

Every one of those seven ships shared the same design—a dinosaur-like hull and sails resembling pterosaur wing membranes.

On their masts flew the same Jolly Roger.

The skull flag with a protruding jaw like a Tyrannosaurus rex, along with the figure standing on the foremost pirate ship, revealed the fleet's allegiance.

Luo Yi could see him wearing a pitch-black hooded coat, the hood shaped like a dinosaur's head.

In his hand, he wielded a weapon—a scythe at the front, with a meteor hammer hanging from the rear.

That was none other than the Shichibukai—

"'King of Lizards' Hanafuda!"