At that moment, seemingly endless thermal radiation erupted where fist met palm, as though it would burn everything to ash.
But Devil Fruits really were game-breaking things. Even a Golden Hellfire strike this powerful had actually been reflected!
The golden giant's entire right arm had vanished, along with most of the right half of his body. The edges of the gap still glowed red, occasionally dripping molten gold.
Tesoro himself was faintly visible inside. At the last moment, he had protected himself with gold coated in Armament Haki, sparing himself injury from the reflected explosion.
But although the attack had been successfully reflected, Snake Mask was hardly in good shape.
Clearly, as unreasonable as Devil Fruits were, they still had limits. Or perhaps Snake Mask was simply too weak to fully develop this fruit's power.
Snake Mask was in an utterly miserable state. Both his hands were gone, yet there was no blood at his wrists, only charred blackness. Clearly, his hands had been burned clean off.
His shirt had also turned to ash, and there were extensive burns across his exposed skin. Who knew whether some mysterious power protected his mask? It remained intact on his face, merely somewhat blackened.
He still held both hands-no, both arms-thrust forward, his entire body frozen stiff.
But judging by the faint rise and fall of his chest, the guy was still alive. What tenacious vitality.
To think that Snake Mask, who had been sent specifically to counter Whitebeard, had been all but crippled before he even truly faced him...
The remaining Masked Men had hidden behind Snake Mask and suffered no real injuries. They had merely felt a little hot, and the violent wind had messed up their hair.
Now, without caring what condition their teammate was in, they charged straight at