Six Powers Ultimate Technique: Tiger Radiance Fist

His special physique was Dawn's greatest reliance, his true trump card.

After Kureha's diagnosis years ago, along with his own countless tests on the brink of life and death—or rather, countless acts of reckless self-destruction—he had learned that when his body endured immense pressure, it truly unleashed astonishing potential. The efficiency of his physical strengthening was directly proportional to the pressure he bore.

And there was no pressure more immediate or greater than being severely wounded and on the verge of death. Those seemingly suicidal charges before had been meant to deliberately create such extreme pressure and forcibly elevate his physical abilities!

Now, in this heavily injured state, the rate at which his physique was strengthening had reached an astounding level. But the price was equally enormous—the energy he had stored in advance through Life Return was draining away like a burst dam.

He was gambling that before his stored energy ran dry, his physical stats would strengthen enough to surpass his opponent's!

Now, it seemed he had won the gamble! The cost had been terrible, but the results were obvious.

"Although I still don't understand exactly why your physical abilities suddenly became so much stronger."

Joseph's voice became incomparably grave, his killing intent locking onto Dawn as if it had taken physical form.

"But I know that, to the World Government, your existence is far too dangerous! For justice, I must erase you completely here, whatever the cost!"

He judged that the potential and strangeness of this surviving member of the David Family had raised his threat level to the highest possible rank.

No matter what had caused this physical mutation, it had to be crushed in the cradle!

He suddenly reached up and removed the cracked mask from his face, revealing the utterly ordinary face of a young man who would vanish into any crowd.

Then, from the inner pocket of his ruined suit, he carefully took out an ancient-looking porcelain bottle. Inside was Hero Water from Alabasta, a forbidden drug that could greatly stimulate a person's potential in a short time, at the cost of burning away all their life force. Anyone who drank it was certain to die.

Without the slightest hesitation, Joseph pulled the stopper and tipped back the entire bottle of Hero Water!

Years of brainwashing and education had long made him place the World Government's interests above his own life. For justice, sacrificing his life was simply the natural end.

"Gulp..."

As the Hero Water went down, Joseph's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. The muscles all over his body swelled wildly like inflated balloons, bursting apart the remnants of his suit jacket!

Armament Haki instantly covered his entire body, completing full-body hardening!

An aura far more violent than before swept outward from him like a storm, rolling even the broken stones across the ground!

Bang!

The ground beneath his feet shattered completely as though a bomb had detonated. At a speed unprecedented even for him, nearly beyond the limit of visual tracking, Joseph crossed the distance between them as if teleporting and appeared before Dawn.

His arm, with its two elbow joints, twisted and drew back at a bizarre angle that utterly defied human anatomy. Then, like a cannonball leaving its barrel, he threw a straight punch containing all his strength, the power of Hero Water, and his will to kill.

The air along the path of his fist compressed to an extreme, producing a deafening roar.

There was no avoiding it. The speed and power of this punch had completely exceeded the limit his strengthened body could withstand.

Dawn made his judgment in an instant, and a trace of resolve flashed through his eyes.

"Since I can't dodge it... then let's see whose life is tougher!"

He drew in a sharp breath and used the force-generating technique of Tekkai from the Six Powers. The muscles throughout his body instantly swelled and tightened like solid rock, making him seem a size larger.

He took a small step back, steadied his stance, and mobilized the strength of his core and every inch of muscle in his body, gathering it all into his right fist. Facing that deathly straight punch, he launched a fierce strike containing all his spirit, will, and blazing desire for revenge.

This punch tore through the air on either side of its fist, blasting out rings of white shockwaves and unleashing a terrifying roar like a tiger's howl.

"[Six Powers Ultimate Technique: Tiger Radiance Fist]!"

The Longarm Tribe's advantage in arm length allowed Joseph's fist to strike Dawn's chest first.

"Crack!" The crisp sound of breaking bones rang out.

"Puh—!" Dawn violently spat out a mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned the color of waxed paper, and his chest visibly caved in. His body swayed violently, as though he would collapse completely in the next moment.

Yet before Joseph could savor the thrill of the kill, he felt an overwhelmingly terrifying, penetrating shockwave strike his heart.

The shockwave forcibly pierced through his hardened Armament Haki defense and acted directly upon his internal organs.

"Puh!" Joseph also spat out a mouthful of blood, mixed with fragments of his internal organs. The bloodshot veins in his eyes rapidly faded, replaced by disbelief and extreme unwillingness.

At that moment, Hero Water's side effects erupted violently. The rapid loss of life force left him unable to support his body any longer.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, he was carried backward by the remaining force, crashing into the ruins once more and kicking up a cloud of dust.

He wanted to struggle. He wanted to get back up and fulfill his mission. But his body no longer obeyed him, and his life force was ebbing away like the tide. He could only stare wide-eyed at the starry sky shrouded in darkness and use his last bit of strength to rasp out a curse:

"Justice... will prevail... You... sooner or later..."

Before he could finish, his head tilted to the side, and he sank into eternal darkness.

Dawn remained in his punching stance as wisps of white smoke slowly dispersed from his fist. He coughed up several more mouthfuls of clotted blood, his feet rooted firmly into the ground, barely managing to keep himself from falling.

He carefully sensed the pressure within him, completely boiling and surging from extreme emotion, unwavering conviction, and the life-and-death battle, as though it might burst from his body at any moment. At last, a heartfelt smile stained with blood appeared on his pale face.

He had done it! He had crossed the threshold for releasing Conqueror's Haki outward!

The entire battlefield fell into dead silence. Only the mournful whistling of the night wind through the ruins remained, along with the unconscious groans of some trainees who had been knocked out in the distance.

The few still awake looked at the ruins that had buried CP0, then at the figure still standing like a demon god despite being gravely wounded and near death. They all sucked in cold breaths, their bodies turning icy. One of the Celestial Dragons' strongest shields had died just like that...?

In midair, a massive three-masted sailing ship hovered silently like a ghost, wrapped in profound dark energy.

Inside the cabin, Lucci, Kalifa, and Kaku watched the entire battle below through specially made observation windows. Heavy iron chains and shackles still bound them.

The three of them had fallen into prolonged silence, their emotions like a lake struck by a boulder, its waves impossible to calm.

Lucci in particular had seen it most clearly. Dawn's final, desperate punch had clearly unleashed a highly condensed shockwave through his fist.

Its principle and conception were extremely similar to the Six Powers ultimate technique, Rokuogan, which he had recently been trying to perfect.

He had never imagined that the man who had forcibly abducted them had already surpassed him by so much in his mastery of the Six Powers.

This realization struck him far harder than witnessing CP0's death.

"He... he won't last much longer! Kill him now! Avenge Lord CP0!"

Someone in the crowd, driven by extreme fear and a trace of desperate hope, suddenly shouted hoarsely.

That cry was like a spark thrown into boiling oil, instantly igniting the survivors' last scraps of courage. Some instructors and trainees who could still move flashed vicious looks, picked up their weapons, and slowly closed in on Dawn, who seemed to have run out of strength.

TO BE CONTINUED