Lucci's Stubbornness

Adams did not move an inch. Just as Chopper was about to touch him, dense rings like tree rings suddenly appeared around his right shoulder blade.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound was like crushing a hard nut.

The Rankyaku blade, powerful enough to cut through rock, was forcibly clenched in his palm. The violent slashing energy struggled futilely between his fingers, burst apart, and finally scattered into a few chaotic currents of air before vanishing without a trace.

Adams slowly opened his hand. His palm was as smooth as before, without even the faintest white mark.

The cold smile on Lucci's face, a mixture of brutality and confidence, froze completely.

His pupils involuntarily shrank to pinpoints, fixed upon Adams's utterly unharmed palm.

Shock wrapped around his heart like an icy venomous snake, squeezing so hard that he could barely breathe.

This... how was that possible?!

At the fatal instant when Lucci's mind was reeling and his defenses lay wide open, the ground beneath his feet abruptly became like a scalding, viscous swamp, winding around his ankles, calves, and torso in a flash, enveloping and molding him.

In an instant, his entire body was restrained, leaving only his head exposed to the cold air.

Lucci's lips moved, as though he wanted to roar.

Adams's gaze remained indifferent as his thoughts stirred. The rock around Lucci's head immediately crept upward, sealing his mouth shut without a gap, leaving only those eyes, burning with humiliation and disbelief, glaring at the silver-haired youth before him as though he were a god or demon.

Adams said nothing more and turned around. The heavy rock sculpture imprisoning Lucci floated up as lightly as if it had lost all weight, following behind him.

He stepped out through the window, and his massive body merged once more into the boundless night sky.

"Coo! Coo-coo!" Hattori let out a mournful cry, flapping his wings as he charged out the window without hesitation. His white figure looked so small and helpless as he desperately chased after his captured master.

Ten thousand meters in the air, inside the floating structure, Adams descended silently with his spoils.

Lucci's gaze swept across the room at once. When he saw Kaku and Kalifa, bound in the same manner, a terrifyingly vicious light erupted in his eyes. He glared fiercely at Adams, a low, murderous growl rumbling in his throat.

Adams looked down at him. There was not a ripple in his eyes, only the inherent superiority born of pure strength.

"What? Not convinced?"

The rock sealing Lucci's mouth softened at Adams's command and peeled away.

Fresh air rushed into his lungs. Lucci took a sharp breath, but what erupted from him was not a roar. It was a blood-tinged hiss forced through clenched teeth, every word trembling with utter humiliation:

"If... if I were a Devil Fruit user too... I definitely wouldn't have lost!"

His genius pride had been crushed. What showed now was a young man's most primal resentment and stubbornness.

The corner of Adams's mouth lifted, but the curve was cold and hard.

"Oh? Then let's do it again. This time, I won't use my ability."

The moment the words fell, the rings around his shoulder faded away like receding tides, leaving beneath his smooth skin only the contours of pure muscle.

At the same time, all the rock restraints around Lucci fell away like loose sand, clattering back onto the floor.

The newly freed Lucci did not hesitate in the slightest. Driven by instincts forged through countless trials, his body was instantly pushed to its limit.

[Shigan: Ouren]

Countless afterimages erupted before him. His fingers became deadly spearpoints, tearing through the air with force capable of piercing rock as they rained down like a violent storm upon Adams's broad chest.

A dense barrage of impacts, like rain beating against banana leaves, exploded through the empty stone chamber.

Adams stood like a mountain, utterly unmoving. The Shigan strikes landed on his bare chest, leaving only a few marks so faint they were almost imperceptible, before disappearing completely with the next breath.

He even gave a slight nod, his tone calm.

"Not bad power."

With that level of power, it was at least more penetrating than ordinary blades. Ordinary swords could no longer leave marks on him, after all.

Yet to Lucci, that calm acknowledgment was ten thousand times more vicious than the cruelest mockery.

"Damn it! Don't look--down--on--me--!!!"

Lucci's reason was completely ignited by humiliation, turning into fury that threatened to burn everything away. His eyes reddened, and a beastlike roar tore from his throat.

Using the recoil from his final Shigan strike, his body bent backward to an unbelievable degree of flexibility. His right leg tore through the air like a battle axe, carrying all his strength and speed as it shot upward toward Adams's jaw from nearly point-blank range—

[Rankyaku: Hyoubi]

The pale-blue slash, compressed to the absolute limit, was no longer a crescent blade. It condensed into a vicious air bird spreading its wings for flight, crashing fiercely into Adams's jaw with a piercing shriek.

"Screech!"

This time, it was no longer futile.

A shallow line of blood blossomed across the skin of Adams's jaw. Several ruby-like droplets were swept away by the violent airflow, spraying out and drawing fleeting red streaks through the cold air.

Adams raised a hand and casually wiped his jaw with his fingertip. He looked at the glaring crimson on his finger, then raised his eyes toward Lucci, whose eyes burned with madness after unleashing his full strength.

His lips split into a grin, revealing teeth as white as bone, like a predator's fangs in the dim light.

"I told you. Even without my ability, you're still no match for me."

Before his words had even faded, the ground beneath Lucci's feet churned again.

Like a waking rock python, it surged upward with irresistible force and coiled tightly around him.

Lucci did not even have time to assume a posture of resistance before his body was restrained once again, leaving only his head exposed. The cold rock pressed tightly against his skin, conveying an unyielding hardness that carried despair.

Adams looked down at the pair of eyes still burning with unyielding defiance from within the stone sculpture and gave the order indifferently:

"Behave yourself. I'll take you away tomorrow."

Lucci clenched his teeth and glared fixedly at Adams, his chest heaving violently. At last, he forced out a cold snort from deep in his throat, filled with all his fury and resentment, then sharply turned his head away, refusing to look at that nightmare-like figure any longer.

TO BE CONTINUED