"Ugh~~~!!"
A sudden explosion erupted in midair, sending a blast of scorching air straight into Eschbach's dragon face. Zoan users were famous for their thick hides, but for most animals, the face was still a vulnerable spot.
Eschbach grunted partly from the pain of the explosion's hot shockwave, and partly from surprise at the baffling blast.
"Was that a bomb? But there's no smell of gunpowder. Or is it... a Devil Fruit user?"
The explosion had come so suddenly, without any warning. A powerful blast had gone off in empty air, strong enough to hurt Eschbach. Even if he hadn't used Armament Haki to defend himself, there was no denying how formidable the surprise attack had been.
"Did you do this?"
His enormous eyeballs shifted, catching sight of a figure in midair, far too small compared to him.
A guy wearing a baseball cap... who was bald?
If you're going to cover up your bald head with a hat, then keep it hidden! Why take the hat off and wave it around to say hello? Eschbach was instantly at a loss to describe the strange feeling that came over him. Over the years serving His Highness Aleus, he'd secretly taken down plenty of powerful opponents to hone his skills. He'd seen all sorts of people, and his experience was broad enough to be called extensive.
But...
An enemy like this... this was a first.
"Hey, big guy!"
Marcus, who was falling toward the ground, waved his baseball cap at Eschbach and greeted him.
"I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you in a fight."
That was what he shouted.
"...Eschbach!"
After a moment's silence, Eschbach gave his name in turn.
Then,
He simply watched as Marcus put his cap back on and continued falling. With his back to the earth below and his face turned toward Eschbach, who towered like a mountain, Marcus wore a cheerful grin that was almost too much to handle.
This guy was... an enemy, right?
Eschbach was a little dazed.
"Duang~~~"
A springy sound effect echoed through the air.
"Huh?!"
Eschbach blinked. His huge eyes watched Marcus hit the ground, then bounce high into the air like a rocket. In disbelief, he turned his neck, shifting from looking down to looking up.
Up in the sky,
The glaring sun made Marcus hard to see. All Eschbach could make out was a blurry, dark silhouette against the sun.
"Catch this, Eschbach!"
Marcus shouted from the sky.
But what he said was a little hard to understand... "Whoosh—" A gale-force rush of air caught up with the end of his shout. Eschbach saw a small rock, about the size of a wine jar, break away from the human-shaped shadow and hurtle toward his head at an astonishing speed.
In an instant,
A threat of death burst from deep within him.
He released his Armament Haki, covering the top of his head as tightly as armor. The rock was falling far too fast; he had no time to move his enormous body out of the way of the attack that threatened him so intensely.
Whether or not Marcus had shouted a warning, there was only one thing he could do.
That was,
Tough it out with his hard head.
His dark head swung upward like a spiked ball, and he rammed into the falling rock.
A deafening "BOOM!!!" rang out.
Eschbach's head plunged downward. His long neck shifted from an upward angle to a downward one, and he slammed headfirst into the earth, delivering another devastating impact to the poor land and gouging out a huge crater.
"Ow!!"
Eschbach's cry of pain came from inside the crater.
He shook his head and slowly raised his neck, trying to dispel the dizziness in his mind. Then he opened his eyes wide again and stared in surprise and confusion at Marcus, who was once more falling toward the ground.
His head was now full of questions.
That rock attack had been so powerful it made him question his sanity. If his Armament Haki hadn't been strong enough, if he hadn't developed his Devil Fruit powers so far, if Zoan users didn't have such tenacious vitality... that rock had been heavy enough to sink a large battleship.
"Craaaack!!!"
The sound of air tearing apart rang out. Eschbach's tail, more than thirty meters long, was his most powerful weapon. Its swing had enough destructive force to make the very atmosphere tremble. He whipped it with all his strength, lashing it at Marcus before he could land.
He wouldn't give him another chance to use those bizarre abilities.
Whether it was using the earth as a trampoline, that explosion whose source he couldn't figure out, or the ridiculously heavy rock... all he could say was that they were bizarre. Their strange nature made it impossible to tell what kind of ability they were. So Eschbach decided to overwhelm Marcus with sheer force and give him no further chance to cause trouble.
The tail struck Marcus as he was still falling.
But,
"So hard!!"
The sensation from his tail made Eschbach's eyes widen. The painful hardness startled him; it surpassed steel, and it wasn't the defensive power of Armament Haki. It really felt as though Marcus were clad in several layers of fine iron armor.
Most importantly,
Marcus hadn't been flung away.
Looking at the tiny figure clinging tightly to his tail, Eschbach realized that he'd run into a formidable opponent. Never mind the man's personality; those bizarre and unpredictable abilities alone were enough to keep Eschbach from letting his guard down.
He whipped his tail violently again, trying to fling the enemy clinging to it away.
Just as his tail struck the ground,
Marcus suddenly dropped sharply. He landed just before the tail came down, then once again bounced off the ground as if it were a trampoline. He sprang swiftly to the side, dodging the tail as it crashed down. He hopped around like a rabbit, though he bounced higher and farther than any ordinary rabbit.
"What kind of ability is this...?"
The earth Marcus had been using as a trampoline turned back into solid, heavy bedrock beneath Eschbach's tail. Hopping all around Eschbach, Marcus used all sorts of strange abilities, leaving him in an extremely frustrating predicament.
Since Eschbach had no idea what Marcus's abilities were, he had no way to counter his bizarre tricks. That left him unable to defeat Marcus and claim victory for the time being. Fortunately, thanks to the tenacious vitality and regenerative powers of Zoan users, he wasn't afraid of a battle of attrition.
The fight thus settled into a delicate stalemate.