Stalemate

The stench of blood mingled with gunpowder smoke, making people want to vomit.

The surviving World Pirates grunts were terrified out of their wits. They did not even dare glance back at their comrades' mangled corpses, only letting out incoherent screams of terror as they scrambled toward the ships docked by the shore.

That was their only hope of survival.

Boom! A pile of ruined buildings suddenly exploded apart, and a hulking figure pushed aside the heavy stones and rose to his feet.

World's hair and beard stood on end, his body covered in dust and blood. The instant he broke free, his anxious gaze swept toward the small figure lying on the ground nearby.

"Ariki!"

World growled and was about to step forward.

Suddenly, an eerie crimson gleam surged violently in his savage eyes. Observation Haki, along with the instincts honed through countless life-or-death battles, gave him an unprecedentedly sharp warning. An overwhelming sense of danger pierced his spine like icy needles.

Without the slightest hesitation—

"[More-More Hundredfold Speed]!"

World vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only a ring of spreading dust.

The instant after he disappeared, a figure appeared out of thin air where he had been standing like a ghost. The newcomer's right fist was covered in a layer of deep, fluid-like substance.

Boom—!!!

The fist struck no solid target and merely slammed into empty air. Yet the terrifying power within it burst through and crashed fiercely into the ground.

With a muffled boom, the ground caved in as though it had suddenly been pressed downward, forming a massive crater several meters wide. Spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly around its edges, declaring the terror of that blow.

Whoosh!

World reappeared directly above Adams. His right heel was covered in thick Armament Haki, and with the terrifying momentum