However, their fantasies were destined to be unrealized. Now, only the tall man knew that his punch had not shaken his opponent in the slightest. At this moment, cold sweat had appeared on his face, and his fist was trembling slightly. It was from the pain. Vic had no defense, but it was he, the attacker, who was in pain.
"One move"
A calm voice came from the smoke and dust, which was then carried away by a sudden gust of sea wind, revealing Vic unharmed inside.
The henchmen behind him were stunned when they heard the sound and saw the figure. They had witnessed the power of their boss's fists before, which could easily shatter stones, but now it couldn't even harm flesh and blood.
"How is that possible? The boss must be holding back, preparing to finish him off with a third move!"
"Yes, yes, yes! That must be it. Just like the Nezumi in the play, let him die in alternation between hope and despair."
"Speaking of which, Boss's control over his power has improved a lot lately. The force of his punches stirred up so much dust, yet he managed to retract all the power from his fist and land it firmly in front of that Xiaobai's chest. That level of control is incredible!"
"But what about that loud noise?"
"It must have been the boss transferring his final strength to his feet as he pulled back; that was the sound of his last foot stomping on the deck."
"That makes sense! Your explanation makes it clear to me now. You really are a knowledgeable person, brother!"
The tall captain swallowed hard at his underlings' reasonable explanation. He glanced cautiously at Vic's face and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it hadn't turned black.
He vowed that if he survived this time, he would replace all his underlings. They were so blind; blind worship was no good, it would only increase his mortality rate!
The tall guy really wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy, but seeing Vic's mocking look, he knew it was useless to beg for mercy. He could only grit his teeth and continue according to the script. The tall guy jumped back a long distance, and his body began to change. He swelled up and grew black hair, and soon he became a black Masira more than four meters tall. This was the full beast form of the Zoan.
"Roar!" The Masira roared loudly, its two pairs of sharp teeth gleaming with a cold, white light like blades. It pounded its chest with its fists, making a dull thud.
"Even if you beat yourself until you vomit blood, it won't help. Self-harm is pointless. I'm in a hurry, so hurry up."
Vic's words, though humorous, were like a final judgment to the tall man!
"The boss is furious. That kid's dead meat this time. The boss was just throwing the bait, and he didn't even realize it, yet he dared to make such boastful remarks!"
"Yeah, the boss's fist didn't even leave a mark on his bare chest. Anyone with a brain can figure out why, yet he's still bragging like that. What an idiot!"
"Who says otherwise? The boss is even using his Devil Fruit powers now. He probably won't be putting on an act this time. Get ready to clean up the pieces on the deck!"
The underlings' inexplicable self-confidence almost left Vic speechless. Usually, only high-ranking pirate crews with bounties of hundreds of millions have such clever and quick-witted underlings. They're probably used to being arrogant all over the Four Blues and have no idea how terrifying the Grand Line is, both in terms of people and environment.
"This is outrageous!" The Masira leaped rapidly on all fours, its deep voice carrying a beastly roar as it approached Vic. Vic remained unmoved; he had already experienced the power of that punch, and even if the opponent had transformed, its strength would not exceed his tolerance.
A deafening roar, even louder than before, reverberated across the deck. A massive, black-furred beast's fist filled Vic's entire chest. This time, there was no dust to be kicked up; the entire scene was clearly visible to every one of his underlings.
This time, the underlings were completely petrified. Their boss's angry attack had no effect whatsoever. They couldn't think of any reason to comfort themselves. Apart from swallowing hard and collapsing to the ground, they had no other reaction.
"Hit harder! You don't even have the strength to hit someone and you call yourself a pirate? Did you skip lunch?"
Vic's voice was calm, but to the Masira's ears it was endless mockery, extremely grating. Enraged, he no longer bothered to create distance and gather his strength, but instead swung his other fist in place, aiming for Vic's head, determined to shatter Vic's skull.
This time, Vic didn't let him off the hook. He reached out and grabbed the wrist of the Masira's fist, which was the one that had thrown the punch. The Masira's fist was held firmly in Vic's grasp, unable to move an inch. The small palm held immense power, making the Masira doubt itself. Who was the real beast that had eaten the Devil Fruit?
"My turn!"
As Vic spoke, he shook off the hairy arm and flashed to the Masira's chest. His fist, covered in black and red bubbles, punched the Masira in the chest. The punch didn't have any visible effect on the chest, but the Masira was bleeding from all seven orifices. Vic then flipped his hand and put the Masira into his Alternate Dimensional Space.
"I just wanted to see your Devil Fruit ability; otherwise, you wouldn't have survived this long. Ordinary Zoan are nothing special."
After leaving a message, Vic ignored the cries, fear, stunned silence, and attempts to jump into the sea of his underlings. Vic used Geppo to return to the small boat, then kicked out, sending a huge wind blade hurtling towards the pirate ship. The pirate ship was instantly cleaved in two and slowly sank.
Vic glanced back; the dolphin-like sea creature had disappeared beneath the surface. Vic stopped paying attention, fastened the rope around his waist, glanced at the Eternal Pose, and continued swimming towards Drum Island.
Before we had swum very far, we saw a huge white dorsal fin appear next to the small boat; the fin was as big as the boat itself.
Vic knew it was the sea monster he had just rescued; a dark harpoon was still stuck in its dorsal fin. Vic ignored it and continued forward. If it hadn't looked like a baiji dolphin, Vic probably would have stewed it for soup, almost capsizing the small boat.
But as Vic continued swimming, the sea monster continued to follow, staying right next to the small boat. It was unclear whether it felt safer by Vic's side or wanted Vic to help it remove the harpoon from its body.
The dolphins would occasionally leap out of the water to frolic, but this would create huge waves that greatly affected the small boat's navigation. If Vic hadn't been fast enough to pull the boat away from the sea monster's landing point, the boat might have capsized and sunk.
"Don't go too far! Do you really think I won't kill you?"
Vic was also a little annoyed. He returned to the small boat and looked at the huge dolphin swimming beside it. The dolphin seemed to realize that it had made a mistake. It poked its head out of the sea and bowed to Vic little by little, as if it was apologizing. Its eyes were also very human and apologetic.