The terrifying Qi Wave

Randall threw a punch and blasted open a stretch of clear sky.

Everyone felt the world suddenly open up around them.

They had been standing in a plaza surrounded by buildings, with houses on every side.

Now, an entire passage had been cleared through one side.

Anyone with good eyesight could have seen the sea from there.

That single punch left the onlookers stunned.

Texas's underlings stood rigid, forgetting they could even move.

The Pirates standing beside the unlucky souls caught in the blast fared even worse.

Yellow puddles had already formed at their feet.

Even Texas was somewhat startled by the power of that punch.

Even he would have suffered if it had hit him.

He smiled and said:

"I didn't expect you to have a move like that.

Is it your ultimate attack?

Must take a lot out of you, right?

Can you use it again?"

The string of questions seemed intended to break Randall's mental defenses.

But little did he know that Randall was completely unfazed and even felt like laughing.

With Qi as his foundation and Life Return supporting him...

He could keep this up all day!

Randall completely ignored Texas's verbal assault.

He had utterly lost patience with this lunatic and just wanted to punch his shameless face.

Armament: Iron Fist: Impact Steel!

Another column of air blasted toward Texas.

Texas was about to dodge when he saw Randall throw another punch in a different direction.

Then came a third.

Those three punches cut off all his escape routes.

Texas instantly realized that no matter which way he dodged, he would have to take a punch.

His expression darkened, and he simply stayed where he was.

The next moment, his arms transformed into enormous chainsaws.

Their chains spun wildly, churning the air.

Even the air itself seemed to turn into sharp chainsaws.

"Subspace rending saw!"

Boom—

Iron Fist: Impact Steel had arrived, slamming hard into Texas's defenses.

A tremendous boom rang out like thunder rolling across the horizon, startling everyone.

The air in front of Texas looked like boiling liquid.

Texas's figure behind it became blurred.

Texas's face was grim as he pushed his Devil Fruit power to its limit.

Every fingernail-sized pocket of air before him seemed to become a tiny chainsaw, frantically wearing down the force of Impact Steel.

Ultimately, he had only barely reached the threshold of Devil Fruit Awakening, without truly entering that new realm.

Texas's power was all chainsaws, sharp edges, and cutting.

Randall's Impact Steel, by contrast, was a massive iron hammer.

Texas's defenses were like a drum.

And Impact Steel kept pounding its surface, determined to break through.

This was brute force, raw strength, destruction!

Wave after wave of power surged toward Texas like the tide.

His feet began sliding backward, but he did not panic.

Powerful as that force was, it had yet to breach his defenses.

As long as it did not strike his body directly, all it cost him was a little energy.

Texas slid back a good dozen meters or more before finally coming to a stop.

The Town's residents stared in disbelief.

Was this guy really that strong?

He could actually overwhelm that demon?!

The underlings Texas had brought were dumbfounded too.

Was their boss about to go down?!

They exchanged looks, then unanimously decided to make a run for it.

By now, Impact Steel's power had begun to weaken.

Texas's eyes flashed, and he increased his output.

The next moment, the air before him churned even more violently.

Like an enormous deep-sea whirlpool, it spun, tore, and sliced wildly.

Impact Steel, already running out of momentum, was instantly shredded.

From Texas's perspective, it was as though the sky had suddenly cleared.

But his expression did not improve. Instead, it grew even worse.

Randall was now directly across from him, less than five meters away.

He held both hands at his waist, the heels of his palms pressed together and his hands spread open like a flower.

Between his hands, a small white sun slowly rose.

The air trembling wildly around it, the heat he could feel even five meters away, and that blinding light...

All of it spoke to the terrifying power of that energy sphere.

At that moment, Randall flashed a vicious smile.

His stark white teeth gleamed with an icy sheen.

Texas's hair instantly stood on end, and alarm bells rang in his mind.

But he could not move. He could feel that he had already been locked onto.

No matter where he ran, he would be hit in the end.

The next second, Randall thrust his hands forward.

The motion looked slow to Texas.

But that was merely an illusion caused by the immense energy.

"Qi Wave!"

A brilliant white beam instantly poured toward Texas.

For that white beam, a distance of five meters was no different from point-blank range.

In the blink of an eye, it engulfed Texas like a river of stars cascading from the heavens.

White light blazed instantly.

Everyone saw a flash, and then the entire world was shrouded in light. They could see nothing.

It truly seemed as though a sun had fallen upon this place.

Several seconds passed before the white light gradually faded.

Then the onlookers froze.

Where Texas had stood, there was now a huge crater with a radius of over ten meters and a depth of nearly five.

Texas stood at its center.

He looked utterly wretched, his once-long hair now scorched into uneven patches.

His shirt had been reduced to tattered scraps that would fall off with a single shake.

His trousers, however, remained perfectly intact under the protection of some mysterious force.

Most importantly, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He was injured!

The Town's residents were stunned.

Had that demon already been defeated?

Along with their astonishment came a surge of lingering fear.

They looked at Randall standing before them with terror in their eyes.

If Randall had not shielded the Town's residents when the power erupted, they would now have been keeping Texas company in that crater.

Only the terrifying strength Randall had displayed kept them from cursing him out already.

They would not have cared whether Randall had been protecting them.

All they knew was that they had nearly died because of Randall.

At that moment, Texas stirred in the crater.

He looked up at Randall, who had now reached the rim, coughed, and spat out a plume of black smoke.

Then he said:

"Not bad. You're quite capable!

As a reward for injuring me, I'll make a few extra works of art out of you."

Randall gave him a thumbs-up, then slowly turned his hand until his thumb pointed down.

"The only one dying here is you!"

But Texas smiled faintly and said:

"Is that so?"