"Not a Logia… that's a bit disappointing."
He had already more or less figured out what Zoan and Paramecia types could do. He had never faced a Logia user before—he'd originally thought this time he might get the chance.
Soru! Long-distance burst.
Whoosh!
Vane's figure flickered repeatedly as he rapidly arrived at the top of the royal palace.
He saw the new king of the Six-Gold Kingdom—a man in his thirties, around two meters tall. That was roughly the same height as Vane now.
After this period of growth, he had gone from a scrawny kid barely over 1.6 meters to a fine young man approaching two meters.
In a pirate world filled with three- and four-meter-tall monsters, that wasn't anything special—but it was at least average.
Red-Hair was about this tall too. Reaching this height already left Vane fairly satisfied.
"A man from the World Government?"
The new king had seen the Navy's Rokushiki before. Vane wasn't wearing a white Marine uniform, so he naturally assumed Vane belonged to the World Government's side.
"I'm here to restore the old king to the throne. Hand over the crown obediently… though if you won't, that works too."
The new king's face darkened.
"As expected. I knew that old bastard wasn't so simple. He left a backdoor in the World Government."
Huh? Did the new king misunderstand something?
Did he think Vane was a trump card the old king had planted within the World Government?
A misunderstanding was fine. No matter what identity Vane had, he was indeed here to overthrow him and support the old king.
"What's the point of serving that rotten old relic? I'm the one who can lead the Six-Gold Kingdom forward. Work for me. Whatever that old bastard can give you, I can give you too."
Vane: "That's something you really can't."
No matter what, this fight was unavoidable. And the new king didn't look like the type to accept getting beaten as a condition—nor were there many people in the world who would.
"Then there's nothing to talk about."
The new king wasn't angered. Steam began pouring from his body. His skin—especially around his abdomen—turned a blazing orange-red, visibly radiating intense heat. Faint traces of liquid seemed to flow beneath it.
Instead of attacking Vane directly, he slammed his scorching fist into the stone floor beneath him.
Boom!
The stone flooring shattered under a single punch. His strength clearly wasn't lacking.
With the floor broken, the new king dropped straight into the castle below. Vane activated his Observation Haki and realized the man had prepared for this.
Inside the castle were large quantities of ore. The moment he fell into the pile, the new king began stuffing the ore into his mouth nonstop.
"Furnace Refinement!"
The Furnace Man melted all the ore into molten metal. The liquid metal could be flung out to wrap around enemies—or forged directly into weapons.
"High-Temperature Blades."
The new king thrust both hands into his abdomen—actually plunging them inside. When he pulled them back out, two freshly forged swords were in his grip.
The tips of the blades glowed red, as if caught in a half-melted state.
"Molten Gold Slash!"
He crossed his twin blades and slashed. The half-molten metal at the tips shot outward like a flying slash—though it was only a pseudo flying slash. He was no true swordsman.
"Boring."
Watching the splattering molten metal flying toward him, Vane felt nothing but disinterest.
With a casual swing of his Cursed Sword, a surge of frigid wind burst forth. The molten metal hissed violently upon contact.
The once menacing stream of molten metal rapidly cooled into solid chunks, losing all threat.
"The Ice-Ice Fruit?"
Seeing Vane release cold energy to counter his molten metal, the new king instinctively assumed he was a Ice-Ice Fruit user.
"Mere cold air—how could it compare to the high temperatures that melt metal!"
The new king stomped hard against the ground and leapt seven or eight meters into the air, charging toward Vane.
Having survived on the Grand Line, he didn't rely solely on his Devil Fruit. His physical combat skills were also well-trained.
"Furnace Molten Metal!"
As he closed in, the temperature around his waist and abdomen surged, releasing a large quantity of molten metal.
The metal cooled extremely fast. Its main purpose wasn't to burn people—but to quickly solidify and encase them in hardened metal, rendering them immobile.
"Circular Wave!"
Vane's Cursed Sword traced a circle in the air. A burst of air pressure blasted outward, scattering the liquid metal.
"Frost Breathing—White Frostfall!"
The mist that had been coiling around the Cursed Sword condensed into a layer of white frost clinging to the blade.
Sshh!
A frost-white flying slash shot forth, accompanied by drifting frost petals.
The new king raised his twin molten swords defensively in front of him. When the flying slash landed, the two swords snapped without surprise.
Fortunately, his internal temperature spiked sharply at that moment. The freezing effect of White Frostfall had limited impact on him. His abdomen, due to the special nature of the Smelt-Smelt Fruit, functioned as a space—any slash that entered it would be burned away by the furnace's properties.
However, the slash was wide. His shoulders and upper thighs, outside the abdomen's space, still inevitably suffered cuts.
"So… you're a swordsman."
The Six-Gold Sword Schmitt was a swordsman, so the new king knew very well how powerful one could be.
He had thought Vane was merely a World Government agent who knew Rokushiki. Instead, he was a swordsman capable of flying slashes.
Enduring the pain, the new king used the impact of the slash to drop back into the ore pile inside the castle.
He began devouring ore frantically with both his mouth and abdomen. For the Smelt-Smelt Fruit, ore was energy. The more he consumed, the stronger his internal power became.
His normal-sized body began swelling as he devoured more and more ore.
A straight flying thrust shot down from above, targeting the new king's back.
Vane had no intention of letting him reach peak strength by consuming ore. He struck first, aiming directly at his spine.
Puchi!
The thrust pierced his flesh—but did not reach his organs.
His enlarged back made him an easy target. Yet devouring so much ore had also greatly increased his defense. His body was no weaker than steel—and radiated extreme heat.
The surrounding ore had already begun showing signs of melting from the intense temperature.
In this state, he looked like he could swim in magma without issue.
"Smelt-Smelt Fruit… Furnace Demon!"
The new king's body had grown to five meters tall. But only his body had expanded—his head remained the same size.
The result was a bizarre proportion: a body like a balloon, with a head no larger than a peanut.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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