Overwhelming Force

Sal said slowly.

"Boa Hancock, you truly are a woman with a foul personality."

Such a blunt remark made Hancock's face darken, though she quickly adjusted her expression. Her gaze was alluring and seductive, radiating a regal air. She lifted her head and puffed out her chest, her striking curves captured by Sal's eyes.

"No matter what wrong I commit, the world will forgive me, because I am simply too beautiful. Don't you think so, man?"

"Ah... Snake Princess."

"..."

Hancock's charm once again completely captivated the crowd of Kuja. Sal was left speechless by it all; setting aside the stunning impression upon first meeting, this woman's personality was truly the type he loathed.

"I don't think so. Right now, I really want to beat you up. You're so punchable."

Her charm being ignored once again, Hancock dropped the pretense, angrily grinding her teeth as she gnawed on her long fingernails and waved a hand to dispatch her right and left hands.

"Attack, Sandersonia, Marigold. Take that man's head."

Sandersonia, the second of the three Boa sisters, and Marigold, the third, jumped into the dueling ring at the same time. In front of Sal, they transformed into two thirty-meter-long giant snake-humans, both of them serpent-fruit zoan subspecies.

With ferocious snake heads and bared, fanged mouths, they replied.

"As you command, Sister. X2"

Without a moment's hesitation, the two immediately launched their attack, their long snake tails sweeping toward the enemy in unison. The immense force caused the arena to shake several times.

As the dust cleared, Sal stood quite casually atop the two tails. Under the observation of his Observation Haki, their speed was simply too slow.

"You two are too slow."

The two women gave no reply, merely gritting their teeth to press the attack.

As Sal continuously dodged the attacks of their halberds, the venom spat by Marigold proved entirely futile. For a time, the two giant serpents could only race back and forth around the arena, without a shred of possibility of landing a blow.

While dodging, Sal reminisced about what he knew of them. The Boa sisters' Devil Fruits seemed to have been forced upon them by the Celestial Dragons back when they became their slaves, purely out of curiosity, to have slaves of bizarre and varied forms.

True Celestial Dragon scum, Devil Fruits worth over a hundred million berries actually wasted in such a manner.

Moreover, while the two had awakened Armament Haki and Observation Haki, each had her own strengths. Sandersonia, with her long green hair, had reached intermediate Observation Haki and beginner Armament Haki.

Marigold, with her long orange hair, possessed intermediate Armament Haki and beginner Observation Haki. With dual-color Haki awakened, the two of them likely still possessed strength around that of a one-hundred-million-berry Supernova. At the end of the day, their foundational strength was simply too poor, otherwise their power wouldn't be so low after awakening Haki.

Seeing their attacks easily evaded, the two sisters turned very solemn. Their elder sister upon the throne was growing increasingly impatient. Having fought to this point, they also understood the disparity in speed, and immediately abandoning any restraint, they resorted to their strongest trump card.

"Snake Hair Possession, Eight-Headed Serpent."

"Flame Snake God"

Sandersonia's long green hair coiled into eight green hair-snakes. Marigold's entire body burned with intense flames. Both ultimate moves swirled toward Sal at the same time.

The visually stunning techniques elicited quite a few gasps from the spectator stands. Seeing that everyone's emotions had been fully stirred, Sal had no intention of dragging things out.

"Armament Haki Infusion"

Both of his arms turned pitch-black, and a pair of fists shattered the incoming onslaught, sending flames and hair fluttering across the sky. In an instant, he leaped above Marigold, swinging his punch once more to strike down the caught-off-guard giant snake.

The formidable power plunged the massive serpent into the floor, unconscious.

Seeing her younger sister struck down by the opponent, Sandersonia rushed forward regardless, roaring.

"You bastard..."

A giant serpent body rushed at him. This time, Sal did not dodge, simply adopting a punching posture. Under the rapid compression of Armament Haki, black lightning flickered across his fist—this was the application of top-tier Armament Haki.

"Serious Punch"

"Boom..."

The snake hair was shattered once more, and even Sandersonia, who raised her arms to block, was sent flying by the menacing punch. Her clothes shattered, and her giant snake body reverted to human form mid-air, clearly unconscious as she hurtled toward the spikes along the outer perimeter of the arena.

Hancock, normally poised, jumped out immediately upon seeing her younger sister in danger. But Sal was already a step ahead of her, catching Sandersonia and carrying her back to the dueling ring.

Seeing that her clothes were already in tatters, exposing the Celestial Dragon Hoof Mark on her back, Sal frowned slightly, directly removing his own coat to drape over her and prevent others from seeing it.

Whether it was Roger's memories or those of a Blue Star citizen, to Sal, this Celestial Dragon mark remained an absolute eyesore.

Amidst the silence of the entire audience, Hancock had already arrived at Sal's side. The alluring beauty stood there without attacking, merely gazing at him with complex emotions before handing Sandersonia over to the now-conscious Marigold.

Having lived through this ordeal, Hancock no longer possessed her initial killing intent; after all, the opponent had saved her younger sister.

"Leave. Depart from Amazon Lily, and I shall pretend you were never here."

At this moment, Sal was hardly listening to what she said, joyfully paying attention to the system prompts in his mind.

[Class B character generated ordinary emotions, moderate surprise for host, gained 30X49 EXP]

[Class C character generated ordinary emotions, moderate surprise for host, gained 8X4693 EXP]

[Level Up: Level 53 (31691/46000)]

Nearly all the Kuja female warriors gathered here had generated experience.

Finishing the system prompts, Sal turned a burning gaze toward Hancock. If her right and left hands alone could yield forty thousand experience, one could only imagine what degree of effect the most important woman on Amazon Lily would produce.

"What did you just say?"

Seeing that the man dared not listen to her words, Hancock, who had always been treated like the stars surrounding the moon, found it unacceptable. Her just-pacified expression turned black once more; truly, the man before her was hateful indeed.

"I command you to get out of Amazon Lily immediately, or I will take action myself, you leave—"

Hancock was interrupted by the man's even more scorching gaze, her brows narrowing slightly as she sized him up, wondering why his reaction was so strange.

Sal did not care what she thought; if they had reconciled, he would have had to find an excuse to provoke her into striking in full view of everyone, and now she had conveniently provided one. It was truly as if someone handed you a pillow just when you wanted to sleep.

Sal said earnestly.

"One of the Shichibukai, Pirate Empress Hancock, if you want me to leave, then make your move."

"You want to fight me?"

"That's right, I want to witness your level, or even just exchanging a single blow will do."

Here Sal played a small trick; under the current conditions, without resorting to his trump cards, he could not guarantee he could defeat Hancock.

Hancock could not understand the man's thoughts; Sal's previous display of strength was indeed formidable, but in her view he was still no match for her. Yet, thinking of teaching the man before her a lesson, she still agreed.

"Since you beg this fiercely, I shall grant you a single exchange of blows. Do not blame me if you die."

A gust of wind blew past, lifting Hancock's skirt and exposing a pair of perfect, long legs to view. A surge of Conqueror's Haki rose from her body; she intended to crush this arrogant man with her utmost strength.

Sal's gaze flickered. Knowing Conqueror's Haki inside and out, he was well aware that the intensity of her Conqueror's Haki was around the advanced level, still a long way off from mastering Conqueror's Coating.

[Level: 53 + 7]

While using the Magic Enhancement Necklace, he also erupted with top-tier Conqueror's Haki, his Conqueror's Haki domain obeying his control as it pushed directly toward her.