duang~~~

"Mmm~~~!!"

Boom—the sudden explosion in midair sent a scorching blast of hot wind spraying across Eschbach's dragon face. While Zoan users were notoriously thick-skinned and tough, for most animals, the face remained a vulnerable spot.

Eschbach grunted partly from the pain of the explosive heat wave's impact, and partly from surprise at this baffling explosion.

"A bomb? But there's no smell of gunpowder smoke... or is it a Devil Fruit user?"

The explosion came so abruptly, without any warning, from empty air—a blast of terrifying power, enough to harm Eschbach. Even though he hadn't defended with Armament Haki, the sudden attack's potency couldn't be denied.

"Did you cause this?"

His massive eyeballs swiveled, locking onto the figure in midair that was far too small compared to himself.

It was someone wearing a baseball cap... a bald head?

If you're going to hide a bald head with a hat, at least keep it hidden! Why take the hat off and wave it in greeting? Eschbach felt a strange, indescribable emotion. In all his years following His Highness Aleus, he'd secretly taken down many strong opponents to hone himself, meeting all sorts of people—his experience could be called vast.

But, this... this kind of enemy, he was truly encountering for the first time.

"Yo, big guy!"

Marcus, falling downward, waved his baseball cap and greeted Eschbach.

"I'm Marcus. Pleased to fight you."

He shouted like that.

"...Eschbach!"

After a second of silence, Eschbach gave his own name.

Then, he simply watched as Marcus, having put his cap back on, continued falling toward the ground. With his back to the earth below, facing Eschbach who stood as towering as a mountain, a cheerful grin spread across his face—the kind that gave one a headache.

This is... an enemy, right?

Eschbach was a bit dazed.

"duang~~~"

A very springy sound effect echoed through the air.

"Ah!?"

Eschbach blinked, his massive eyes watching as Marcus hit the ground, bounced high into the air like a rocket shooting skyward, and let out an instinctive, incredulous cry. He twisted his neck, shifting from a downward gaze to an upward one.

In the sky, the glaring sun made Marcus's figure hard to see, leaving only a blurry black silhouette against the bright backdrop.

"Catch this, Eschbach!"

Marcus shouted from the sky.

But the content of his shout was a bit confusing... "Whoosh—" The sound of air tearing at extreme speed caught up with the tail end of his words. Eschbach saw a small object detach from the dark humanoid shadow—a stone about the size of a wine jar—flying toward his head at astonishing speed.

In an instant, the threat of death erupted from his very bones.

Armament Haki burst forth, covering the top of his head like a suit of armor. The stone fell too fast; he couldn't move his overly massive body to dodge this attack that brought him such intense danger.

Whether Marcus had shouted or not, all he could do was one thing.

That was, rely on his hard head to tough it out.

His pitch-black head swung up like a meteor hammer, smashing head-on into the falling stone.

A deafening "Boom—!!!" rang out.

Eschbach's head sank rapidly, his long neck shifting from an upward arc to a downward tilt, and he slammed directly into the ground, delivering another earth-shaking impact to the poor land and carving out a massive crater.

"That hurts!!"

Eschbach's pained cry came from the crater.

He shook his head, slowly lifting his neck, struggling to clear the dizziness from his mind, and opened his eyes wide again, staring at Marcus who was once more falling toward the ground below with a look of surprise and confusion.

His mind was full of question marks.

That stone-throwing attack just now was so strong it made him doubt his life. If his Armament Haki weren't tough enough, if his Devil Fruit development weren't high enough, if his Zoan-type vitality weren't tenacious enough... that single stone had enough weight to sink a large warship.

"Shrrr!!!"

The sound of air being torn apart rang out. His tail, over thirty meters long, was Eschbach's strongest weapon. Its swing carried destructive power that made the very atmosphere tremble. He whipped his tail with all his might, viciously striking at Marcus who hadn't yet landed.

He wouldn't give him another chance to use those bizarre abilities.

Whether it was using the ground as a trampoline, the mysterious explosions, or that impossibly heavy stone... it was all just strange—so strange he couldn't figure out what ability it was. So, Eschbach decided to crush Marcus with absolute violence, not giving him the opportunity to keep causing trouble.

His tail struck Marcus while he was still falling.

But, "So hard!!"

The sensation transmitted through his tail made Eschbach's eyes go wide. The pain-inducing hardness caught him off guard—it surpassed steel, and this wasn't the defensive power of Armament Haki, but rather the genuine feeling of being clad in several layers of fine iron armor.

Most importantly, Marcus hadn't been sent flying.

Staring at the tiny figure clinging stubbornly to his tail, Eschbach deeply realized he had encountered a true expert this time. Regardless of this expert's personality issues, just this bizarre and unpredictable set of abilities alone made him dare not divert his attention elsewhere.

He violently thrashed his tail again, trying to fling off the enemy holding onto it.

Just as the tail slammed into the ground, Marcus suddenly dropped sharply, landing on the earth before the tail could crash down, then bounced up swiftly as if leaping off a trampoline, springing to the side to evade the descending tail. Hopping and jumping like a rabbit, yet leaping higher and farther than any ordinary rabbit.

"What kind of... ability is this?"

The ground that Marcus had been using as a trampoline reverted to its solid, heavy rock layer before Eschbach's tail. Hopping and circling around Eschbach, Marcus employed all sorts of strange abilities, forcing Eschbach into a rather frustrating predicament.

Completely unable to grasp the nature of Marcus's abilities meant there was no way to counter his bizarre methods, leaving Eschbach temporarily unable to defeat Marcus and claim victory. Fortunately, relying on the Zoan user's tenacious vitality and regenerative powers, he had no fear of a war of attrition.

Thus, the battle entered a delicate state of equilibrium.