Amid the rising smoke, Lynn wore a grim expression and said nothing.
Mr. Vergo had just been about to speak when he suddenly noticed a thin layer of frost spreading beneath his feet.
Then Lynn clenched his fist and charged straight at him.
Mr. Vergo smiled faintly and held the Bamboo Staff horizontally before him, intending to block Lynn's punch.
But to his surprise, the instant Lynn reached him, he suddenly slammed his fist into the ground. Using it as a pivot and the momentum of his charge, he spun his entire body around and unleashed a sweeping kick!
Hero Skill: Dragon's Rage!
Bang!
Empowered by Icebound Domain, the kick carried terrifying force as it struck Mr. Vergo's Bamboo Staff head-on.
The Bamboo Staff, coated in Armament Haki and as hard as steel reinforcement bars, instantly cracked and snapped in two!
With a sharp crack, Lynn's foot shattered the Bamboo Staff and struck Mr. Vergo squarely in the chest.
Although he had hardened his entire body with Armament Haki, Mr. Vergo was still shocked by the terrifying force the instant the kick landed.
"Ugh!"
Mr. Vergo let out a muffled groan and crouched halfway down, trying to steady himself, but he still could not stop himself from staggering backward.
Suddenly, Lynn smashed another fist into the ground, using the force to adjust his body. Without touching down, he kicked Mr. Vergo in the chest again!
Bang!
Hero Skill: Dragon's Rage was Lynn's most powerful single-target attack so far. Even Garp would be driven back several steps if caught off guard by it.
Mr. Vergo was strong, but he was still young. Compared to Garp, he was far less seasoned.
Lynn had unleashed two consecutive Dragon's Rage kicks in a posture no ordinary person could manage. The first had been greatly weakened by the Bamboo Staff coated in Armament Haki, but the second landed solidly on Mr. Vergo's chest!
"Ugh... Aah!"
Mr. Vergo erupted in an enraged roar, veins bulging across his forehead. He tried to endure the blow with Tekkai, but his body ultimately could not withstand the terrifying power contained in that kick.
With a muffled boom like rolling thunder, Mr. Vergo was sent flying and slammed viciously into the wall behind him!
"Pant... pant!"
Lynn rose from the ground, gasping heavily as the frost spreading around him rapidly withdrew.
Energy Value: 1400/1800!
Mr. Vergo truly lived up to his status as the Donquixote Family's highest-ranking officer. His strength far exceeded Lynn's expectations, so Lynn had to conserve his Energy Value.
The brawl at Number Five Backstreet had been spectacular, but it had not actually consumed much Energy Value. Even using Icebound Domain now and then had only been momentary.
The only enemy who had truly begun to drain Lynn's Energy Value in large amounts was the formidable opponent before him—Mr. Vergo!
It was no exaggeration to say that Mr. Vergo was the most troublesome enemy Lynn had encountered in all his years of fighting.
Compared with the opponents at the arena, Mr. Vergo was far stronger, with top-tier Armament Haki and martial arts.
Compared with Fisher Tiger, Zephyr, and Garp, Mr. Vergo also harbored genuine killing intent toward Lynn!
Faced with such a powerful enemy, Lynn had no choice but to deliberately expose an opening, leaping into the air himself to lure Mr. Vergo into underestimating him and attacking.
Sure enough, after Mr. Vergo struck him with the Bamboo Staff, he did not continue his pursuit, and that gave Lynn the chance to counterattack!
Thus, Dragon's Rage—the strongest offensive move under Icebound Domain—struck Mr. Vergo in the chest!
Twice!
Mr. Vergo was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the wall with half his body embedded in it.
Lynn looked at the fallen Mr. Vergo, gritting his teeth as he clutched his swollen arm and remarked again:
"Armament Haki really is tough!"
Even so, Lynn still had confidence in his Devil Fruit ability.
After taking two Dragon's Rage kicks head-on, even a body completely coated in Armament Haki could not possibly have escaped unscathed!
Sure enough, Mr. Vergo, who had remained down, suddenly began coughing. His lungs had clearly suffered some degree of internal injury.
Yet after coughing for a while, Mr. Vergo suddenly burst into laughter.
"Coming to Loguetown was absolutely the right choice!"
"Hahahaha, Lynn Barek, is there anyone in this world more tragic than you?"
"Four years. You fought in Sabaody Arena for a full four years, and your strength kept increasing in a distorted way!"
"You were clearly a genius at fighting. With your Devil Fruit ability alone, you could make me cough up blood. But because the Celestial Dragons turned you into a slave for four years, you lost the best opportunity to comprehend Haki."
"If I'm not mistaken, you're now doing everything you can to develop your Devil Fruit ability to make up for your inability to comprehend Haki, aren't you?"
Mr. Vergo laughed as he rose from the pile of rubble, spat out the blood in his mouth, and wiped the corner of his lips.
He continued speaking to Lynn.
"If someone has sufficient talent, they will display a certain potential for Haki at the very beginning of their training. You should have possessed that potential too, but the environment of Sabaody Arena made it impossible for you to train Haki at all, wasting that potential completely."
"The cultivation of Haki should have progressed alongside the growth of your own strength. Yet you raised your strength to a terrifying level first, while in terms of Haki, you remain a complete beginner."
"One leg is long, and the other is short. That is why you cannot move forward at all on the path to awakening Haki!"
"How many years would it take for you to truly learn Haki? Twenty years? Fifty years? Hahahahaha!"
Mr. Vergo had not laughed this hard in a long time, because he found what had happened to the man before him so deeply ironic.
"Lynn Barek, you are a man destroyed by the Celestial Dragons!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Mr. Vergo's laughter reached Lynn's ears.
Lynn merely kept a grim expression and remained silent.
Only after Mr. Vergo's laughter gradually faded did Lynn raise an eyebrow and ask, "Vergo, are you done?"
"You should call me Mr. Vergo." Mr. Vergo's body was once again coated in black Armament Haki.
"What, do you think I have no weapon just because you broke my Bamboo Staff?"
"That was merely ordinary bamboo."
Mr. Vergo clenched both fists, explosive power surging through every muscle in his body.
"My true weapon is myself!"
Bang!
Mr. Vergo stomped his foot into the ground and charged fiercely at Lynn.
Empowered by Armament Haki, Mr. Vergo's body had become far harder than an ordinary iron cannonball.
In other words, Mr. Vergo was now like a siege cannon weighing hundreds of kilograms, fired straight at Lynn!
He clenched his fist, his gaze beneath his sunglasses locked onto Lynn's movements. Whether Lynn dodged upward, backward, or to either side, Mr. Vergo had a response prepared.
He would use this strike to completely finish off the tragic man before him!
Yet to Mr. Vergo's surprise, Lynn not only had no intention of dodging, but instead took up a stance, drawing back his clenched right fist to prepare a charged blow.
Mr. Vergo growled:
"If you want to take it head-on, then prepare to have your bones shattered!"
Whoosh!
Lynn and Mr. Vergo threw their right fists at the same time!
Hero Skill: Wicked Blow.
Bang!
When their fists collided, a visible shockwave even rippled through the air!
When they withdrew their fists, one of them suddenly could not remain clenched, its five fingers trembling uncontrollably.
And the owner of that fist—Mr. Vergo—finally showed a change in expression.
He stared at Lynn's tightly clenched right fist, inwardly shocked beyond measure.
That was... Armament Haki?
Lynn blew the white smoke from his fist.
"Huh? What did you say? You talked too much, so I didn't hear you clearly."
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