Then,
Arthur stopped and stood where he was.
Looking at Drake, who had likewise stopped opposite him, he said calmly,
"Bring out all your strength, or this fight is over."
As he spoke,
Godzilla's black scales had already appeared over Arthur's hands, and his pupils underwent a tremendous change, radiating a terrifying ancient aura!
The instant Drake saw those eyes,
his soul seemed to travel ten thousand years into the past.
There were no Marines, nor were there pirates,
much less a World Government in that primeval world!
Across that barren, reddish-brown wilderness, there were only ancient overlords whose bodies rivaled Giant Sea Kings, wielding supreme power and dominating that world.
And Godzilla, the ancient overlord with the same eyes as Arthur,
reigned over all the other ancient overlords.
It was the king of all monsters!
An instant later,
Drake came to his senses.
He saw that Arthur had entered a partial hybrid form.
However,
the primeval world he had just seen with his own eyes
felt utterly real to Drake's mind, as though he had truly traveled into the past a second ago and experienced it himself!
Fortunately, Drake immediately calmed down.
He returned his attention to the battle before him.
Watching the changes in Arthur's body,
he was rather surprised as well. He had not expected Arthur to be a Zoan Devil Fruit user like himself, though he did not know what animal...
Then Drake also assumed his hybrid form.
And because it had been quite a long time since he had eaten his Ancient Zoan fruit,
his mastery of its abilities
naturally far exceeded Arthur's, who had eaten the Godzilla Fruit less than two weeks ago.
Thus,
after Drake entered his hybrid form,
his entire body gradually swelled, his frame growing tall and imposing. His head took on the appearance of an ancient dinosaur, and his eyes radiated a terrifying aura!
At that moment,
Drake's physical abilities had improved in every respect.
And this was no simple doubling or tripling.
It was a terrifying increase of dozens of times, even more than a hundredfold!
After all, what he had eaten was no ordinary Zoan Devil Fruit.
It was a rare variety among Zoan Devil Fruits-the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Allosaurus Form!
"Your Highness Arthur!"
At that moment,
Alfred, who was fighting as well, could not help turning his attention toward Arthur. When he saw that their opponent this time was actually a Devil Fruit User,
Alfred could not help worrying about His Highness Arthur.
By contrast,
Drake's men began cheering!
This was the true power their boss Drake possessed!
"Go get him, Boss Drake!!!"
"Finish that brat in an instant!!!"
"Boss Drake is badass!!!"
The pirates began shouting and yelling.
It was as though they could already see their victory.
Yet,
Arthur felt no pressure at all.
Instead, he beckoned to Drake.
He signaled for him to attack.
Seeing this, Drake could not help snorting coldly.
Whatever else might be said, he had a temper and pride of his own!
How could he swallow being treated with such contempt by a brat?
The very next instant,
Drake drew the two rapiers at his waist.
This was his true way of fighting!
Not with his fists.
Whoosh!
With every aspect of his abilities enhanced,
Drake's figure blurred, and he charged straight up to Arthur.
Holding a rapier in each hand,
he slashed straight down at Arthur.
Swung with his powerful arms, those two slashes undoubtedly had enough force to cleave apart the large ship beneath their feet!
But!
Arthur certainly did not want his ship destroyed.
So he caught the bare blades directly with his scale-covered hands!
Boom!
The tremendous impact instantly bore down on Arthur.
Yet the two blades he had caught with his bare hands could not descend another inch.
"What?!"
Drake was instantly shocked!
He had thought Arthur might dodge,
but he had never expected Arthur to block his slashes in such a crude, simple manner.
This was an attack unleashed with all his strength in hybrid form.
Yet the brat before him
had actually blocked it barehanded, and judging by the expression on his face, which had not changed at all, even this was not much to him...
Drake was stunned.
His underlings were just as stunned.
At the sight, Alfred laid his worries to rest.
Sure enough, His Highness Arthur's strength had already surpassed his imagination.
Immediately afterward,
Arthur gave Drake no chance to react.
He squeezed both hands,
crushing Drake's two rapiers outright.
Startled, Drake hastily stumbled backward.
But Arthur immediately pressed forward, sticking close to Drake and giving him no opportunity whatsoever to regroup.
At the same time,
Arthur also condensed an Atomic Light Sword between his hands.
In an instant,
an Atomic Light Sword abruptly appeared, accompanied by a sound like a roaring volcano!
The deep blue light upon it, brilliant to the extreme and dazzling beyond imagination,
inspired fear in anyone who saw it!
For the Atomic Light Sword's very existence needed no explanation!
The instant Drake saw it,
his brain immediately told him that this radiant sword of light contained a seemingly endless, terrifying power. He must never touch it!
Soon,
Drake had nowhere left to retreat.
His towering body backed straight into the mast.
With a thud, the entire ship rocked!
And Arthur pressed his advantage without mercy.
With a casual swing,
he brought the Atomic Light Sword against Drake's neck.
At that very moment, Drake could clearly feel through the skin of his neck the scorching power that constantly radiated from the Atomic Light Sword!
It was already burning his skin.
Drake had no doubt!
If the Atomic Light Sword actually touched his body,
the powerful Ancient Zoan physique he had always taken pride in and relied upon would offer no protection at all.
Before such a terrifying sword of light,
any defense was as good as nonexistent!
"Now, I've won."
Arthur looked into Drake's eyes and spoke calmly.
He felt not the slightest surprise or delight at winning this battle.
Because,
this was the outcome he had anticipated all along.
"Gulp..."
Just then, amid the silence that blanketed the scene, someone's throat moved. The sound, which would never have been audible at any other time,
rang out with extraordinary clarity.
Drake looked at Arthur, who stood mere inches away.
For the first time, he felt the threat of death.
"You win."
Drake forced himself to sound composed.
No one could truly remain calm in the face of death.
However, for Drake,
today counted as a lucky day.
After all, Arthur had never intended to kill him from the start.
It was not only because Drake was an Ancient Zoan user, but also because he was one of the good Marines. Most importantly,
Drake was also someone Arthur valued as a future subordinate.
For his great plan to restore his kingdom,
Arthur naturally had to find talented people who could help the country ahead of time.
And Drake might be one of them.
"Yes, I've won," Arthur said. Then he dispersed the Atomic Light Sword in his hands and withdrew from his partial hybrid form.
Drake was deeply puzzled by this.
Why didn't he choose to kill me outright?
Just as that question surfaced in his mind,
Arthur looked at Drake without offering much explanation.
"We'll meet again."
"I hope that when we next meet, you'll choose to join me as my subordinate. And I'll also let you walk fully in the sunlight."
Arthur spoke.
Then he stopped looking at Drake.
With a glance, he signaled for Alfred, who was aboard Drake's ship, to return.
"What?!"
At that moment, Drake could not help feeling a tremendous shock!
Judging by what Arthur had said,
this person seemed to know the true identity he had concealed?!
Drake's pupils widened in shock!
He looked toward Arthur, trying to find an answer from him.
But Arthur said nothing more.
He had Drake leave his ship,
then waved goodbye.
Arthur's ship gradually disappeared from Drake's sight.
Standing on the deck.
Gazing at the horizon, Drake of course wanted to know the answer.
His heart,
had been thrown into complete turmoil by a single remark from Arthur. He feared that whenever he faced anything involving Arthur in the future, he would never again be able to maintain his usual composure...
But at the same time, he could not do it.
Because whenever he thought of the tremendous power Arthur had just displayed.
Drake felt a sense of helplessness.
It was just like facing a monster on the level of a Marine Admiral!
His strength was simply not worth mentioning.
Before you continue