Two and a Half Years Later

Two and a half years later.

Sea Circle Calendar, July 1506.

Rusukaina Island.

In the heart of the forest, a battle far beyond ordinary imagination was unfolding.

Thunderous booms rang without end, as if enormous hammers were relentlessly pounding the earth. Two figures moved, collided, and separated at speeds too fast for the naked eye to follow. Every clash erupted with terrifying force.

One of them was a young man with long silver hair. The sharply defined muscles across his body bulged with explosive power, and every punch and kick made the air crack under unbearable strain.

Fighting him was a black-haired girl with a graceful figure and peerless beauty. Two and a half years had been enough for the once-immature girl to begin displaying the bearing of the future Empress. Frost covered her lovely face as she pushed the power she had mastered to its limit.

Boom!

A fist covered in transparent fluid collided violently once more with a kick likewise wrapped in fluid. At the point of impact, the air twisted almost tangibly as web-like black-red lightning burst forth with a tearing hiss.

The solid ground beneath their feet could no longer bear the strain, constantly cracking and collapsing into a massive crater.

The enormous trees around them, thick enough to require several people to encircle, were easily torn apart and snapped by the terrifying wind pressure spilling outward, as though an invisible giant had brutally swept a hand across them. The area was a complete mess.

"Hah!"

Hancock let out a sharp cry, her high heel wrapped in web-like black-red arcs of lightning tearing through the air again as it kicked straight at Adams's chest.

Adams neither dodged nor retreated. His right fist, covered in equally dense Haki, met it precisely.

Boom—!

Another solid collision sent an