Top-Tier Hunt

This question was delivered without much inflection, yet it struck the chests of every poacher like a heavy hammer. Truv's small eyes, squeezed into slits by rolls of fat, narrowed slightly; his Observation Haki had sensed the dangerous aura radiating from this black-haired man the moment Ace appeared.

"I wondered who it was. So, it's that rookie from the newspapers who broke the East Blue bounty record a few days ago."

Truv spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and sneered, "'Eclipse' Ace, with a bounty of 50 million Beli. Are you tired of enjoying your fame in the East Blue, coming all the way to the Grand Line to throw your life away?"

Hearing "50 million East Blue rookie," the hundreds of heavily armed poachers surrounding them felt the greed and cruelty of outlaws resurface on their faces. In their eyes, bounties from the East Blue were heavily inflated; 50 million was nothing more than a slightly sturdier fat sheep, especially with Baron here.

"Baron, the officers have gone to the perimeter, leave this to us!"

Several poacher squad leaders raised their muskets and grenade launchers loaded with poison gas shells. With undisguised killing intent, they roared, "Brothers, turn this arrogant brat and those savages into a beehive! Fire!"

Following the roar, hundreds of dark gun barrels and cannons aimed simultaneously at Ace, as well as Leona and the natives behind him.

"Get back! That's high-concentration poison gas!"

Leona, lying beneath the feet of the Ancient Kong, shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes splitting with terror.

However, Ace stood his ground, not moving a single step.

He merely raised his eyes to look at the poachers raising their weapons.

The next instant.

An invisible pressure radiated from Ace.

That pressure bypassed Leona, the natives, and the Ancient Kong behind him, crushing only the poachers in front.

"What is this feeling..."

"Help... help me..."

The savage grins on the faces of the poachers who were about to pull their triggers froze instantly. Their minds went blank, and they felt as if their hearts were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

Without even a single complete scream, hundreds of poachers wielding heavy firepower rolled their eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed to the ground one after another.

The grenade launchers that had already been primed hung limply as their masters lost consciousness, the poison gas shells stuck in the chambers, failing to fire.

A mere two seconds.

Except for Truv, the once-noisy poaching unit had been completely wiped out.

The natives, who had been filled with despair, stared blankly at this scene, forgetting even to breathe.

Leona also forgot the searing pain in her body. She looked at the back of the man who had downed hundreds with a single glance, her vertical pupils constricting slightly as a shiver born of instinct crawled up her spine.

"Conqueror's Haki?!"

The sneer on Truv's face vanished completely.

As a veteran pirate, he naturally knew what this one-in-a-million talent signified. The young man before him was no rookie from the East Blue here to die, but a monster with the true potential to conquer the New World.

"The annoying flies have been cleared away."

Ace stepped over the unconscious poachers and fixed his gaze on Truv.

"Now, it's your turn."

"Don't get cocky, brat!"

Truv knew there was no avoiding a fight today. He roared, violently tearing off his luxurious noble attire.

His rolls of fat expanded and hardened in an instant, transforming into coarse, tough, dark-brown bristles.

Ancient Zoan: Entelodont Fruit, Entelodont Form.

Truv's physique instantly ballooned to over ten meters, resembling a heavy war chariot draped in bristles. His eyes were bloodshot, and formidable Armament Haki coated his massive tusks and arms.

"So what if you have Conqueror's Haki? On this route, I am the overlord worth 85 million!"

"Go to hell!"

"Savage Charge!"

Truv shattered the earth, his massive body carrying heavy kinetic energy like a moving mountain of flesh as he charged fiercely at Ace.

Facing this ancient boar, which was wrapped in Armament Haki and capable of smashing through city walls, Ace did not dodge.

He sank his legs slightly, the rock beneath his feet instantly crumbling.

Both palms were dyed pitch-black with Armament Haki. Facing Truv's massive tusks, Ace did not retreat but advanced, thrusting his hands out defiantly.

"BOOM!!!"

Two bodies of completely disproportionate sizes collided violently in the center of the basin.

A white shockwave rippled outward, blowing away all the dust and broken leaves within dozens of meters, and several giant trees that were already teetering from the explosions crashed down.

"Get back!" Truv's eyes bulged as he tried to use the physical prowess of his Ancient Zoan, which he took such pride in, to crush the human before him.

But the next moment, his expression changed. No matter how much strength he exerted, those two black palms gripping his tusks were like welded iron clamps, not moving a single inch.

"Impossible! I'm an Ancient Zoan! How could you have this kind of power?!" A stormy sea surged in Truv's heart.

"Is this the extent of an Ancient Zoan's power?"

Ace looked up at him, his tone even carrying a hint of disappointment.

"How disappointing. This flabby flesh of yours is nowhere near as strong as the fists of old man Garp."

The moment the words fell, the muscles in Ace's arms bulged violently.

"Snap!"

A bone-chilling sound of snapping echoed through the air. Truv's pride and joy—a massive tusk coated in Armament Haki—was actually snapped clean off by Ace, who relied solely on his monstrous physical strength and Haki.

"Aaaaaah!"

Truv let out a shrill, miserable scream, his massive body losing its balance from the excruciating pain.

Ace did not give him a single chance to catch his breath.

He released the broken tusk and clenched his right hand into a fist. The crimson-gold Vermilion Bird Divine Fire ignited, intertwining with the pitch-black Armament Haki, causing the surrounding air to warp and distort.

"Watch closely, Leona."

Ace turned his head slightly to speak to Leona, who lay behind him, "This is what a true top-tier hunt looks like."

The next second, Ace drove force from his waist and delivered an unadorned uppercut, slamming it solidly into Truv's massive chin.

"Divine Fire: Collapse Fist!"

A pillar of crimson-gold flame erupted into the sky, accompanying the strike.

Truv's massive body, over ten meters tall and weighing dozens of tons, had its feet lifted off the ground by the force of the punch. Like a ignited cannonball, he was blasted straight into the air.

The scorching Divine Fire spread along his chin, burning through his vaunted Ancient Zoan defenses and instantly setting his thick mane ablaze.

"Boom!"

Truv crashed heavily into the forest a hundred meters away, carving out a massive crater. His entire body was charred black, his Armament Haki completely shattered. He reverted to his bloated human form, twitching twice at the bottom of the pit before losing consciousness entirely.

A veteran powerhouse with a bounty of 85 million Beli had failed to last even two rounds against the captain of the Eclipse Pirates.

The battlefield fell into a deathly silence.

Leona leaned against the foot of the Ancient Kong, her wild, slit-pupiled eyes staring in shock at Ace, who stood where he was without even a change in his breathing.

She swallowed a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

Taking down hundreds of men in a single encounter.

Snapping the tusk of an Ancient Zoan with pure physical strength.

Reducing a monster of that caliber to a wreck with a single punch.

She finally understood that when that man said he would deliver the monsters of the New World to her cutting board, he wasn't just humoring her.

He could actually do it.