Upper Yard, the desolate ruins of an ancient city.
The howling wind swept up rubble and dust. Urouge, transformed into a hulking mass of muscle, loomed like an oppressive mountain of flesh, blocking out most of the sunlight.
"The deeper the wounds this old monk's body bears, the more power the backlash will have to deliver all beings from suffering."
The grin on Urouge's broad, fleshy face had twisted into something close to madness. His bulging muscles had even burst through his already loose robes, and thick veins wound around his arms like tree roots.
"Namu..."
With a heavy chant of the Buddha's name, Urouge's enormous frame shot forward like a cannonball, smashing the rocks beneath his feet.
He didn't reach for his Hexagonal Iron Staff again. Against a powerhouse like Ace, who could take attacks head-on with his bare hands, he instinctively chose the most primitive form of combat: a clash of bodies. His enormous right fist came crashing down toward Ace's face, accompanied by a violent gust that tore through the air.
"Karma!"
Faced with this terrifying attack, its size and strength wildly out of proportion,
Ace charged forward instead of retreating.
A rumble like a surging river rose from within him. His broad hand clenched into a fist, and black Armament Haki spread across it like ink. He met the enormous fist descending like a meteor head-on.
One fist, huge; the other, small. They collided in midair with a thunderous impact!
A burst of white air swept out like a ring of razor-sharp blades, instantly reducing the remains of the stone pillars within dozens of meters to dust.
The ground beneath Ace's feet sank abruptly. His feet dug deep into the earth as cracks spread across the surface around him like a spiderweb. He felt a surge