Metamorphosis

Hades now came off worse whenever he clashed head-on with the giant ape.

His Haki was no stronger than the ape's.

Battle could strengthen Armament Haki, but there was a limit. It could not grow forever.

Ultimately, it still depended on the strength of his body.

And the giant ape had an enormous frame, a powerful physique, and formidable vitality.

Even with Internal Destruction and Inch Power, Hades could inflict only limited damage on it.

He could not spend the entire fight dodging. To defeat the giant ape, he had to meet force with force.

What Hades relied on was his ability to redirect force.

With every clash, he weakened the ape's attack as much as possible, keeping it from using its full strength while dispersing the force he took.

The giant ape always felt as though it had nowhere to put its strength. It had long since noticed something strange, but had no way to counter it. Hades was infuriating to fight.

Hades was not redirecting force through bodily technique alone. That would be little different from taking the ape's punch head-on, and nearly impossible to pull off.

How could such a minor trick affect a giant ape clad in "armor"?

The power Hades actually used was Armament Haki. Flowing Haki was a force of its own.

Under his control, its yielding quality reached its limit. It weakened the ape's attacks while keeping him from harm.

And the moment Hades seized an opening, he could wound it. In his hands, defense could turn to offense at any instant.

The two combat styles had fused completely into Hades's way of fighting.

This was the path of balance he had come to understand.

He pursued perfection. His father, Jaeger, had been powerful enough, yet he had still died.

If I faced the same situation, what would I do?

"Bajiquan: Dragon Fang!"

Hades slipped past the ape's punch. Before it could react, five bloody streaks flashed through the air as his claws tore across its powerful back.

Since learning to hear the breath of all things, Hades could, in a sense, be called a Swordsman.

He had studied swordsmanship before. Sword Flash incorporated its techniques, and now he had worked them into his claw strikes as well.

"Roar!"

The giant ape felt the pain and twisted around, sweeping its right arm at Hades like a steel pillar.

Hades stepped lightly through the air and touched one finger to the arm as it swept past, evading the blow.

He spun in midair. "Burst Step!"

Hades appeared before the giant ape again, terrifying power already gathered in his right leg.

"Bajiquan: Razor!"

A silver crescent cut through the air, leaving a vicious gash across the ape's face.

Whenever Hades met an attack head-on, he used his force-redirection technique to weaken it.

Otherwise, he dodged and looked for a chance to strike back.

That was the key to his victory. Little by little, the battle fell into his rhythm.

The giant ape could not bring its strength to bear. It was as though Hades were toying with it.

"Wandering Dragon!"

"Eight Extremes: Falcon Hunt!"

"Wandering Dragon!"

"Eight Extremes: Hurricane!"

"Burst Step!"

"Bajiquan: Whale Strike!"

Over the past two years, Hades had built a powerful system of Body Techniques on Bajiquan, centered mainly on claws, fists, and kicks. It also included elbow and shoulder strikes, though he rarely used them.

The damage from Inch Power and Internal Destruction kept mounting.

Boom!

With Hades's final punch, the enormous body of Rusukaina Island's Beast King finally fell.

Blood soaked its entire body, especially the scabs formed as its powerful vitality healed its wounds.

Hades caught his breath. His expression barely changed.

It was nothing to boast about. He had first achieved this two months ago.

At fourteen, Hades was already a monster beyond dispute.

But against this Beast King of Rusukaina Island, his Fierce God Physique could not yet give him an advantage. His age meant his body's potential had not fully awakened.

The giant ape was a monster in its own right, with advantages Hades did not yet possess.

If Hades was a dragon, the gulf between them was that of a young dragon and a full-grown giant.

However great his potential, he had not reached his peak.

Potential was potential. Strength was strength. The two could not be confused.

This was the only way he could defeat the giant ape.

He had worn it down with wound after wound. That was far from the absolute power he sought.

Yet it was how many of the sea's strongest fighters fought.

For now, though, he had no other choice. The difference in the quality of their Haki made the giant ape stronger than Hades in both attack and defense.

As an ape, it possessed remarkable intelligence and an aptitude for learning.

Throughout their fights, it had grown familiar with Hades's rhythm. Its Observation Haki had improved considerably, and even its skill with Armament Haki had advanced somewhat.

An opponent like that kept Hades under constant pressure and drove him to grow stronger.

In Hades's judgment, the giant ape's combat strength had reached the level of an Admiral Candidate. Its vitality and physique, at least, were fully at Admiral level.

But against him, it could not bring all that strength to bear.

As Hades worked force redirection into his fighting, both his defense and his ability to evade improved dramatically.

He sensed the flow of air and used the same technique to negate the friction it created. This approach took his development of Observation Haki's perception even further.

With the fight over, Hades sat on a boulder, a faint smile on his face. He turned his head slightly toward another battlefield.

Several thousand meters away, Titan was fighting a giant lion.