"Hahaha, let's see what you can do now, you little brat!" Diamante laughed as he watched Arthur, who had to stay constantly focused just to keep from falling.
Then,
Diamante showed no mercy.
He swung his longsword fiercely.
A powerful wave of sword energy surged forth!
Half Moon Funeral!!!
Rumble!
The powerful sword energy made the air reverberate.
As it hurtled toward Arthur, its power sliced through the ground like tofu.
Seeing this, Arthur did not dare take it lightly.
He immediately entered his hybrid form.
And covered both arms with Armament Haki-coated scales.
He blocked the slash of sword energy head-on.
Boom!
The powerful impact pushed Arthur backward.
But beyond that, it had no effect on him whatsoever.
Arthur realized this.
And even he felt a flicker of pleasant surprise.
Even a slash of this level could not damage his double-layered scale defense in the slightest. It could not even leave a mark!
"What!?"
Diamante's expression changed in shock.
He had seen it clearly.
The brat across from him had blocked his slash outright.
And had suffered no damage at all.
What kind of Zoan Devil Fruit did that brat eat... Diamante could not help wondering. That level of defense and vitality.
Perhaps it was no ordinary Zoan Devil Fruit.
Because a slash at his level, that of a Shichibukai officer,
Was not something even an ordinary Zoan Devil Fruit user could block easily.
Much less,
When his slash could not even leave a single wound...
Just then.
Arthur looked at the shocked Diamante across from him.
A smile finally appeared on his face.
Because, over that brief stretch of time, he had gradually learned to adapt to the undulating ground beneath his feet, at least enough to run on it.
"Now, it's my turn to attack."
Arthur spoke calmly as he looked at Diamante.
Immediately afterward,
He pressed his clawed hands together. The fins on his back suddenly flickered with a deep blue glow, beginning to charge little by little. Even his eyes,
Shone with a terrifying, eerie light!
Seeing this, Diamante instinctively sensed that something was wrong.
But,
Arthur gave him no chance to react.
Then an Atomic Light Sword materialized out of thin air in his hands.
Arthur seized the slender Atomic Light Sword.
Only this time, he did not intend to use the Atomic Light Sword as a sword, but as a spear!
The next instant!
Arthur locked onto Diamante's position.
With one fierce motion, he hurled the Atomic Light Sword!
Whoosh!
The dazzling Atomic Light Sword tore through the air.
Leaving a long trail of light.
Its sheer speed shocked Diamante!
Of course, most importantly, Diamante instinctively sensed a terrifying aura from this attack, one powerful enough to threaten his life.
Not good!!!
Diamante was horrified.
He could no longer maintain the fluttering ground beneath his feet.
He unleashed his full speed,
Trying to escape the light sword's range as far as possible.
Then,
The Atomic Light Sword streaked through the air and, in the blink of an eye, landed where Diamante had stood a second earlier. A terrifying explosion erupted!
Boom!!!
The Atomic Light Sword seemed to contain boundless power,
And the explosion it produced,
Expanded to a radius of fifty meters in an instant.
A terrifying fireball rose with billowing thick smoke.
Forming a mushroom-shaped cloud in the sky.
At that moment, everything within the blast radius was reduced to ashes. Even the ground had been gouged into a terrifying crater seven or eight meters deep!
No matter where on the island they were,
Everyone could see the enormous explosion near the island's castle!
Diamante's men were terrified.
Alfred, who was fighting them, knew.
This explosion was an attack unleashed by Prince Arthur.
He was not worried in the slightest.
And just then.
A figure suddenly shot out of the billowing black smoke.
On closer inspection,
That figure was none other than Diamante!
Only now, Diamante had lost all his former splendor. He was covered in dirt and ash, with a trace of bright red blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Damn it..."
That was close. I was so close to dying...
Diamante was filled with lingering fear.
If he had not reacted in time before the Atomic Light Sword arrived,
He would have died in that explosion.
Fortunately, at the last moment, he had escaped to the very edge of the blast radius and used Armament Haki over his entire body as a defense.
That damned brat...
Diamante could not help cursing inwardly.
He had never imagined,
That a brat from the North Blue could make him suffer such a loss.
He had nearly been brought down by an easy opponent...
That was what Diamante was thinking.
However, he had never imagined that, at that very moment.
In the direction where Arthur had been standing.
Arthur spotted Diamante's figure immediately.
Then the corners of his mouth curved up slightly.
Another slender Atomic Light Sword appeared between his hands.
That was right!
For Diamante,
This terrifying move could easily wipe out his life, but it was not some finishing move into which Arthur poured all his strength. It was merely something he created casually.
After all, compared with true Atomic Breath.
An Atomic Light Sword only the size of a blade.
However many Arthur wanted to create,
He could create that many.
At that moment!
When the aura of the Atomic Light Sword appeared again.
Diamante naturally sensed this deadly threat at once!
He abruptly looked toward Arthur.
And saw another Atomic Light Sword taking shape in Arthur's hands!
Immediately!
Diamante's pupils trembled violently!
"How is that possible!?"
"He can actually use a move like that a second time?"
Diamante was utterly shocked.
The thought of avoiding a direct confrontation suddenly arose in his mind.
However,
Arthur gave him no time for further thought.
Immediately afterward, Arthur hurled the Atomic Light Sword once more. The slender, sharp Atomic Light Sword tore through the air with a high-speed whistle.
Whoosh!
Once again, it landed precisely where Diamante had stood a moment earlier!
Then,
Another astonishing explosion erupted.
Fortunately, Diamante had already witnessed it once.
This time, he reacted faster than before and just managed to retreat beyond the blast radius, rather than remaining at its edge as he had the first time.
However!
When Arthur saw that he had not finished Diamante off.
He formed a third Atomic Light Sword.
This time, Diamante truly paled in horror!
"You damned brat!"
"You bastard!"
"So you can just throw out moves like this whenever you want!?"
He could not help swearing.
He was already thinking of fleeing.
If this brat could keep unleashing moves like that, how the hell was he supposed to fight? He would be lucky just to keep running for his life without dying.
Before you continue