The Golden Armor Shattered, and Don Krieg Questioned His Life

"Three seconds. Time's up."

Lei En's icy voice, like a death sentence being pronounced, seemed to make the temperature in the restaurant drop several degrees.

"Buzz—!"

As Lei En coated it with Armament Haki, the withered branch that had looked so fragile it could snap at the slightest bend underwent an earth-shattering transformation!

An inky black color, as if alive, rapidly spread over the entire branch.

It was no longer an ordinary dead branch, but an unparalleled weapon that gave off a chilling gleam, as though it could cut through anything!

The laughter in the restaurant came to an abrupt halt.

Every member of the Krieg Pirates looked like ducks with their throats squeezed shut. Their mouths hung open, and their expressions shifted from arrogant mockery to utter horror, as if they had seen a ghost!

"Ar... Armament Haki?!"

One pirate with a bit more knowledge cried out, his voice trembling.

"What kind of joke is this?! How could a monster who has mastered Armament Haki exist in a place like the East Blue?!"

"Admiral! Watch out!"

The smile on Don Krieg's face froze instantly. For the first time, emotions called shock and solemnity appeared in his tiny eyes.

As a pirate who had once traveled to the Grand Line, he might not have known Haki himself, but he had witnessed the terror of that power firsthand!

It was an unbeatable force capable of completely nullifying a Devil Fruit user's advantage!

"Damn it! Just who the hell is this brat?!"

Warning bells blared wildly in Don Krieg's mind, and he no longer dared underestimate Lei En in the slightest.

Facing this monster who looked barely more than a teenager yet wielded Armament Haki with such mastery, the pride he held as the so-called "East Blue Overlord" was instantly shattered.

"Stop playing tricks! I don't believe in this crap!"

Don Krieg forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart and roared with false bravado.

He slammed a hand against the armor on his chest, and countless pitch-black launch ports instantly popped open!

"I don't care what kind of monster you are! You'll still die before my technological weapons!"

"Die! MH5 Poison Gas Bomb!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Dozens of miniature shells trailing purple flames shot out from Don Krieg's armor like a swarm of bees, instantly blanketing every inch of space around Lei En!

The shells exploded in midair, releasing vast clouds of purple poisonous gas that reeked with a pungent, nauseating stench!

At the same time, the launchers on Don Krieg's shoulders did not stay idle. Hundreds of poisoned darts poured down like a torrential rain, sealing off every possible route of escape!

"Wahahaha! Did you see that?!"

Seeing Lei En completely swallowed by poison gas and hidden weapons, Don Krieg once again burst into wild laughter.

"This is the strength of the East Blue Overlord! No matter how strong your Haki is, you can't withstand my saturation attack!"

"Run! It's poison gas!"

The restaurant's customers panicked, covering their mouths and noses as they fled toward the kitchen.

Sanji and Zeff's expressions changed as well, and they prepared themselves to fight.

Yet Lei En, standing at the heart of the poisonous storm, remained where he was without moving an inch.

There was not even the faintest trace of tension on his handsome face.

"That little trick of yours deserves to be called a saturation attack?"

Lei En curled his lip in disdain as he looked at the flashy hidden weapons around him and the slowly drifting poison gas.

"Too slow, too weak. It's practically child's play."

He slowly raised his right hand, which held the "blackened" branch, and gave his wrist a casual flick.

"Swish—!"

There was no earth-shaking display, nor were there any dazzling effects.

A pure, highly condensed, inky-black crescent-shaped sword aura burst forth from that slender branch!

The sword aura did not look large, measuring only a little over a meter long.

Yet wherever it passed, space itself seemed to be torn apart!

The poisoned darts filling the sky were like fragile hailstones meeting a red-hot branding iron the instant they touched the black sword aura. They were sliced in half and melted into molten iron!

The purple poison gas, enough to kill an elephant, was forcibly cleaved apart by the domineering force contained within the sword aura and rolled back to either side!

The black sword aura swept forward with unstoppable force, crushing everything in its path!

It instantly tore through all the poison gas and hidden weapons, then accurately struck the Golden Armor Don Krieg had been so proud of, reflected in his pupils as they suddenly contracted in extreme terror!

"Clang—!"

There was no deafening explosion.

Only an exceptionally crisp metallic impact, as clear as shattering glass.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The maniacal grin on Don Krieg's face completely froze.

He slowly lowered his head.

On the special-alloy Golden Armor that he claimed was indestructible, capable of withstanding even cannon fire, there was somehow an extremely fine yet bottomless black crack.

"Crack... crack..."

Then, as though setting off a chain reaction.

Countless cracks spread wildly from that black fissure like a spiderweb, instantly covering the entire suit of armor!

"Bang! Clatter—!"

The next second!

The invincible Golden Armor that Don Krieg was so proud of, which he regarded as his greatest trump card, shattered into pieces as if it had been made of paper!

Countless golden fragments of armor burst outward like scattering flowers, clanging as they fell all over the floor!

Only Don Krieg remained, dressed in ragged tights and standing there stupidly with a blank expression.

"This... this is impossible..."

Don Krieg stared in a daze at his empty chest, then at the pile of armor fragments on the ground that had become nothing but scrap metal, muttering under his breath.

At that moment, Lei En's utterly unreasonable strike completely destroyed his spirit.

Everything he had taken pride in—strength, wealth, status... all of it had been crushed to pieces before that utterly ordinary branch.

"Thud."

Don Krieg's legs gave out. Unable to support his massive body any longer, he collapsed to the ground with vacant eyes, completely questioning his life.

The entire Baratie once again sank into deathly silence.

Sanji did not even notice that the cigarette in his mouth had burned down to the filter.

Zeff's newly regrown right leg twitched instinctively.

They looked at the calm young man holding a branch, feeling their understanding of the world being overturned once again.

Was this guy even human?!

Lei En glanced at the pile of scrap metal on the ground and casually tossed the branch, which had completed its task, into a nearby trash bin.

He clapped his hands, as if he had merely done something trivial.

Then he turned around and looked at Kuro, who stood behind him in a butler's uniform, completely dumbfounded.

Lei En pointed at Don Krieg, sprawled on the ground like a puddle of mud, and at his equally terrified subordinates.

"Pack them up."

Lei En's voice was not loud, but his tone allowed no refusal.

"Send them to mine coal with Buggy."

"Let him learn what real 'overlord'-class treatment looks like."