"He wants to jump over here?! From over a hundred meters away! Is he insane?!"
Aboard the Bloody Mary, a pirate stared at the distant figure poised in a starting stance and screamed as though he had seen a ghost.
The sea was the bane of every Devil Fruit User. Once they fell into the water, they became helpless landlubbers at anyone's mercy. No matter how strong this monster was, he could never cross such a distance!
Captain Gore also stared fixedly at Yas, the unease in his heart reaching its peak.
No!
This monster definitely isn't an ordinary Devil Fruit User! That bizarre ability of his isn't afraid of Seastone at all!
"Quick! Fire! Stop him! Whatever he's trying to do, stop him, damn it!" Gore roared hysterically.
But it was already too late.
Just as the pirates scrambled to reload the cannons, Yas moved.
No running start. No jump.
His figure abruptly... vanished from the spot!
Boom-!
A deafening thunderclap exploded at the bow of the Vanguard!
A streak of vivid blue lightning, visible to the naked eye, tore across a hundred meters of sea at a speed beyond the limits of human vision, like a spear of divine punishment ripping through the heavens!
Wherever that lightning passed, the seawater instantly evaporated and parted, leaving a fleeting "trench" of vacuum across the surface!
Fast!
Too fast!
Fast beyond measure!
Neither the recruits aboard the Vanguard nor the pirates aboard the Bloody Mary could track Yas's movements with their eyes!
All that remained on their retinas was a brilliant blue afterimage stretching across the sea!
Not even a thousandth of a blink had passed!
Boom!
A tremendous crash!
A hole more than three meters across suddenly burst open in the Bloody Mary's sturdy foredeck! Countless splinters sprayed wildly in every direction amid the shock wave!
At the center of the flying splinters, a figure wreathed in blue lightning slowly straightened up from the deep crater.
It was Yas!
He... he had actually "flown" straight over from another ship a hundred meters away!
"Aaah-!"
The sudden shock wave hurled the nearest pirates away. They spat blood and slammed heavily into the mast, losing consciousness on the spot.
"The... the monster's boarded us!"
"He's here! He's here!"
The pirates on deck completely broke down! Staring at that figure who resembled a demon god descended upon the world, they scrambled backward in terror, their weapons clattering all over the deck.
What they faced was not human at all! It was a demon wearing human skin, wreathed in lightning!
"Stand your fucking ground!" Captain Gore roared, his eyes bloodshot, his manner crazed. "There's only one of him! There are over a hundred of us! Cut him down! Whoever takes his head gets a million Beli from me! And his pick of the women aboard!"
A generous reward always brought out brave men.
Their survival instincts and greed for money and beautiful women finally overcame their fear.
"Kill him!"
"For the Beli!"
"Let's take him down!"
Dozens of cornered pirates charged fearlessly at Yas from every direction, their eyes red as they howled like beasts and brandished swords and axes!
Facing the enemies surging toward him like a tide, Yas's mask showed not the slightest expression.
He did not even raise his eyelids.
"Done with the bullshit?"
He delivered the words coldly.
The next second, his figure vanished again.
Crackle!
A streak of blue electricity flashed past.
Yas appeared like a phantom before a vicious-looking pirate holding a large saber high overhead.
The excitement before striking was still frozen on the pirate's face, but his pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.
He saw nothing. He only felt a cool sensation on his forehead, as though a mosquito had bitten him.
Yas extended a finger, a faint arc of electricity coiling around its tip, and lightly tapped the pirate's forehead.
"Take my One-Finger Nukite."
Thud.
The pirate, nearly two meters tall, did not even have time to scream before his body went limp and toppled straight backward. His eyes rolled back, and the lightning energy invading his brain instantly extinguished every trace of life.
Only a tiny, inconspicuous scorch mark remained on his forehead.
This was only the beginning.
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
Blue flashes of electricity began flickering and leaping wildly along an irregular path across the chaotic deck!
Every flash marked the end of a life!
In the eyes of these ordinary pirates, Yas seemed capable of teleporting!
One second, he was at the bow. The next, he was at the stern, driving a simple knife-hand strike straight through the heart of a fleeing pirate from behind.
One second, he was to port. The next, he was to starboard. A lightning-covered roundhouse kick swept into three pirates charging in formation. As though struck by a speeding truck, all three had their bones shattered and flew backward in grotesque postures, smashing a huge hole through the ship's railing!
It was a slaughter!
An utterly one-sided slaughter with no doubt about the outcome!
Yas used no complicated moves at all. He simply pushed the extreme speed and strength granted by Lightning Release Chakra Mode to their fullest!
He was like a ghost, a grim reaper leaping through lightning, leaving only scorched or twisted corpses in his wake.
"A devil! He's a devil!"
"Run! Stop fighting!"
In less than a minute, the pirates' line collapsed completely. They threw away their weapons and scattered, crying and screaming. Some even jumped straight into the sea, preferring to drown rather than face that blue monster again.
Yas did not pursue those who jumped overboard.
From beginning to end, his gaze remained fixed on one person.
That was Gore of the Butcher, standing at the captain's cabin door, utterly dumbstruck.
Soon, the noisy deck fell silent.
Apart from the howling sea wind and the cries of astonishment from the distant Vanguard, only two people remained standing aboard the entire Bloody Mary.
Yas and Gore.
Yas walked toward Gore, one step at a time.
Not a speck of blood stained him. His white "Justice" coat remained spotless.
Looking at his dead and wounded subordinates strewn across the deck, then at the demon strolling toward him as though taking a leisurely walk, Gore finally felt his heart, numbed by alcohol and slaughter, fill with boundless terror.
"You... stay away!" Gore's voice trembled. He backed away step by step until his back pressed against the cold door of the captain's cabin, leaving him nowhere to retreat.
"What... what the hell are you?!"
Yas did not answer.
Looking at the terrified "brute" before him, the disappointment in Yas's eyes deepened.
Trash like this could not put him under the slightest pressure, let alone increase his fusion rate.
Just as Yas was about to end this boring fight with a single finger.
Cornered, Gore's eyes suddenly blazed with the ferocity of a trapped beast!
"Aaaaaah! I'll take you down with me!"
Gore roared like a beast, pouring every ounce of his strength into his arms! His massive muscles bulged, veins writhing beneath his skin like earthworms!
He abruptly raised the enormous horse-slaying saber that had accompanied him for half his life and taken countless heads, then brought it down at Yas's head with all his strength!
Whoosh-!
The enormous blade tore through the air with a piercing whistle!
This strike was Gore's dying struggle, with everything he had riding on it! He believed that even a steel plate would be cleaved in two by this blow!
Yet Yas did not even dodge the mighty strike, powerful enough to split stone monuments.
He could not even be bothered to strengthen the Raijin Armor around his body.
Under Gore's bloodshot, incredulous gaze, Yas merely raised his right hand slowly.
Not a fist, nor a palm strike.
Instead, he spread all five fingers, as though he meant to... catch that sharp blade!
"Too weak."
Watching the blade grow larger in his pupils, Yas uttered the words in utter boredom.
"You don't even qualify for my Three-Finger Nukite."
The next instant, his five fingers were about to collide head-on with the coldly gleaming edge of the horse-slaying saber!
Before you continue