Trejer felt an irresistible shock wave pierce through the chains, churning wildly through his internal organs.
His entire body flew sideways like a baseball hit for a home run, whistling shrilly through the air before slamming into a massive reef a hundred meters away.
Boom!
The reef shattered, sending rubble flying.
But Lin Xuan did not stop.
The long-missed pleasure of power surging through his body made it impossible for him to stop.
His figure flashed, and he appeared above where Trejer had landed once again.
Trejer had only just tried to get up when a blow from the club smashed him into the rubble.
"That one's for my clothes!"
Before he could recover, Lin Xuan's next blow arrived.
"That gold outfit of yours is hideous!"
Lin Xuan seemed addicted to the beating, swinging his club again and again.
"And this one is just because I damn well feel like it!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The relentless impacts rang out like a torrential downpour.
The once-impregnable chain fortress was now like a tin can being hammered crazily by a mischievous child, each impact accompanied by Trejer's pained grunts and the groaning of deforming steel.
What Chain Chain Fruit? What hardness of steel?
Before overwhelming strength and spiritual pressure, so-called technique was a joke!
"Damn it... damn it! Naolai! Are you just watching?!"
At last, in a gap between the storm of blows, Trejer screamed.
Bloody froth covered the corners of his mouth. Though the defense he took such pride in had not completely shattered, the jolting sensation, as though his brains were being shaken into mush, nearly drove him mad.
Whoosh-!
A shrill whistle through the air answered him.
It was the sound of an arrow tearing through the air.
Off to the rear flank of the battlefield, in the shadows of the ruins, a woman in a revealing leather outfit held her bow drawn.
She was Naolai, the sniper who had remained hidden, seeking an opportunity to land a fatal blow.
The arrow came from a cunning angle, aimed straight at the blind spot beneath Lin Xuan's arm as he swung his club.
Got him! Naolai was using a specially made armor-piercing arrow, one that could easily penetrate even rock.
Yet Lin Xuan did not even turn his head.
He merely clicked his tongue impatiently.
"What a buzzkill."
In that instant, the golden spiritual pressure covering his body withdrew, replaced by an inky black hue that gave off a cold, metallic sheen.
Armament Haki Hardening!
And it was... full-body coverage!
The instant the arrow capable of piercing rock touched the skin beneath Lin Xuan's arm, it rang out with a crisp metallic clang. Then, as though it had struck an impenetrable wall, it snapped cleanly in two and fell limply to the ground.
It did not leave so much as a pale mark.
Dead silence fell once again.
Trejer stared wide-eyed at the pitch-black young man, who resembled a demon god descended upon the world, meaningless croaking sounds coming from his throat.
Naolai was so terrified that her bow fell from her hands, her face looking as though she had seen a ghost.
Blocking an arrow... with his body?
"Hey."
Lin Xuan slowly turned around. The black Haki receded from his body like the tide, revealing a face plainly marked with displeasure.
He looked at the broken arrow on the ground, then at the dumbstruck female archer in the distance, before finally returning his gaze to Trejer, who lay like a dead dog beneath his feet.
"I don't mind two against one."
Lin Xuan tossed aside the rotten piece of wood in his hand, which had been thoroughly reduced to splinters, and dusted off his hands. His voice was as cold as shards of ice in the depths of winter. "But getting interrupted when I'm enjoying myself... that feels really lousy."
He raised his foot and planted it on Trejer's deformed chain breastplate, leaning forward slightly. The fervor in his eyes that belonged to Kenpachi Zaraki gradually cooled, turning into contempt for the weak.
"This is the standard for someone from the New World? If this is all you've got..."
Lin Xuan shook his head, his gaze like someone looking at a pile of unrecyclable garbage. "Then crawl back into your mommy's arms and suckle. Playing pirate isn't for you."
Those words hurt more than fists. They were naked humiliation.
Lying amid the rubble, Trejer heard those words, and his body, which had been trembling with fear, suddenly stiffened.
As a pirate who had ventured through the Grand Line, as a treasure hunter with some reputation upon these seas, he could accept defeat, and even death.
But he could not accept being looked down upon like garbage by some country bumpkin from the East Blue.
Humiliation rushed straight to his head, burning away every last scrap of reason.
The trembling brought on by that humiliation traveled clearly through Trejer's breastplate, caved in beneath Lin Xuan's foot, to the sole of his foot.
It was not a shiver of fear, but a tremor like a red-hot boiler on the verge of exploding.
"Suckle...?"
Trejer's voice squeezed out through the gaps in the rubble, as hoarse as two rusted sheets of iron scraping against each other.
He jerked his head up. His face, which had still retained a measure of a hunter's poise, had now flushed purplish red with blood. The veins at his temples throbbed like earthworms about to burst.
"When I was fighting for my life in that Devil Sea, you were still crying in your mother's arms!!"
The clatter of chains, which had already faded, erupted once more.
Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly.
He could feel a fuel called "pride" burning wildly within the body beneath his foot, forcibly driving stamina that was already near its limit.
This was good.
Killing a dog that could only wag its tail and beg for mercy would merely dirty his hands.
Since he still wanted to bite, he qualified as a toy.
"That's more like it."
Rather than pressing down, Lin Xuan withdrew his foot of his own accord, even taking half a step back to give his opponent room to stand.
Chapter 28: Kneel? You're Not Qualified to Demand That!
He slipped both hands into his trouser pockets, that savage smile appearing at the corners of his mouth again. It was the condescending arrogance of someone encouraging his prey to struggle.
"Stop lying there playing dead. Show me some real skill. Since you've been to the Grand Line, you must have some trump card tucked away, right?"
Clatter-
Trejer staggered to his feet.
Many of the chains covering him had broken under the earlier blows, and now hung from his body like mutilated venomous snakes.
But rather than rushing to attack, he lowered his head and let out a spine-chilling chuckle.
"Heh heh... heh heh heh..."
He raised a hand to wipe the bloody froth from his mouth, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lin Xuan. The terror in them had vanished completely, replaced by an all-or-nothing madness and a certain utterly chilling calculation.
Lin Xuan narrowed his eyes.
Something's wrong.
He had seen that look before.
It was the look in the eyes of stray dogs at the bottom of Rukongai when facing a ferocious beast. They sought neither victory nor escape, only to tear a piece of flesh from their opponent at the cost of their lives.
It instinctively displeased him a little.
The atmosphere of a fight consisting purely of direct clashes seemed to have been contaminated by something sticky and disgusting.
"You're really strong, you little monster. Whether it's that damned strength of yours or that black skin that can stop armor-piercing arrows..."
Trejer panted heavily, slowly spreading his hands. His fingertips seemed to manipulate invisible threads, and the chains scattered around him began slithering across the ground like living creatures, making a dense succession of faint noises.
"In a head-on fight, even ten lives wouldn't be enough to survive that wooden club of yours. I know that very well."
"So?" Lin Xuan tilted his head, the interest in his eyes rapidly fading. "Ready to kneel and beg for mercy?"
"So... I'm going to show you that in the world of pirates, there are more interesting ways to play than just using your fists."
Trejer abruptly raised his head. Those venomous eyes did not focus on Lin Xuan, but instead cast a furtive glance toward his rear flank.
The look vanished in an instant. Had Lin Xuan not been watching his every subtle expression, he would almost have missed it.
That direction was...
Lin Xuan's heart gave a slight jolt. Some instinct pricked his nerves like a needle.
But before he could turn his head, he saw an utterly twisted smile bloom across Trejer's face.
"You'll regret this, brat."
Trejer slammed his palms together, the voice forced from his throat resembling the roar of a cornered beast:
"You'll regret giving me a chance to catch my breath, regret not crushing my throat outright!"
"Humm-!"
Without warning, the ground began to tremble.
Before anyone could react, dozens of Steel Chains as thick as a child's arm burst out of the ground amid piercing scraping noises.
But the target of these chains was Carina, at the edge of the battlefield.
"Ah-!"
A short cry was cut off.
Carina, slumped on the ground, had no time to react before the chains erupting from the earth bound her tightly.
Cold steel wound around her neck and limbs. One twitch of Trejer's fingers would kill the orange-haired girl.
"Despicable!"
Zoro, who was closest, tensed his gaze and instinctively drew his sword.
Wado Ichimonji slashed toward the chains around Carina's neck, carrying his sword intent.
Clang-!
Sparks flew.
Zoro felt his blade strike hard metal.
A sharp pain shot through the web of his hand, and the tremendous recoil sent Wado Ichimonji bouncing high.
The chains had not broken.
There was not even a pale mark on them.
"It's useless! This is a high-density alloy I've compressed to the limit! With that feeble swordsmanship of yours, you won't cut through it in a lifetime!"
Trejer's laughter echoed over the docks.
Though he looked bedraggled, cunning light flickered in his bloodshot eyes.
He knew he could not beat Lin Xuan. The pirate's law of survival was to use every bargaining chip available to drag the strong into the mire.
"Hey! You monster called Lin Xuan!"
Trejer abruptly tightened his fingers. In the distance, Carina threw back her head in pain, her face turning blue-purple as her feet left the ground and kicked wildly.
"I know you're a Marine! You can't just watch an innocent civilian die in front of you, can you? Huh?! Now get on your knees! Bind your hands and feet! Or I'll snap this little wildcat's neck!"
Before you continue