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Golden Lion's eye twitched violently, fury erupting in his heart. Immediately after, his legs kicked out exquisite trajectories, and in a blink, air-slicing slashes flew out.
Merlin, holding his blade, kicked the atmosphere with both feet, his figure closing in on him. At the same time, he swung several slashes in the blink of an eye to shatter the incoming attacks.
Arriving in front of him in a blink, Merlin swung his blade to cut. Golden Lion kicked out abruptly. Clang! Blade and sword collided, then separated.
At this time, the four people below arrived on top of the giant rock lion, watching the two people currently engaged in aerial combat with burning eyes.
In the next moment, the corner of Mihawk's mouth lifted. Gripping the great sword Yoru, he swung a terrifying slash at the Golden Lion flying backward.
In a breath, a hundred-meter green slash flew towards him. Golden Lion's eyes widened in anger as he kicked out, sending a slash not inferior to Mihawk's flying out.
Boom! The two slashes shattered in the air.
After swinging one slash, light bloomed in Mihawk's eyes, but he made no further moves. For him, it was enough to test this legend at this moment.
At this time, Merlin quickly closed in on him. In a blink, he exchanged several moves with Golden Lion. As Golden Lion exerted force violently, Merlin was knocked flying. At this time, an angry roar suddenly erupted from Golden Lion's mouth: "Lion's Might: Imperial Palace Empty捲 (Gosho Kuhimaki? Likely referring to Gosho Chimaki/Earth Roll but aerial)."
In this moment, amidst the whistling atmosphere around him, a hundred-meter air lion manifested abruptly, baring fangs and claws, roaring with earth-shattering force as it galloped towards Merlin.
In this moment.
Merlin took a deep breath, his body size increasing dramatically. In a blink, a hundred meters tall, holding a fifty-meter Zanye, he swung a slash instantly.
Amidst the violent airflow whistling, a huge atmospheric shear field appeared. Swish! In an instant, the air lion was beheaded and exploded.
The gigantic Merlin stood in the air flapping bat wings with a hundred-meter wingspan. Golden Lion stared at Merlin with bulging eyes, shocked.
Aokiji and the others below were equally shocked in their hearts.
Merlin felt the power in his body increasing synchronously with his size like a volcanic eruption, thanks to the "Ancient Giant" specialty.
At this moment, Merlin felt his power could cut even the sky.
Feeling the drastic consumption of stamina in his body, Merlin looked coldly at Golden Lion, a deep voice emerging: "Trash, come again?"
Saying this, Boom! he stomped the atmosphere under his feet, appearing a hundred meters in front of Golden Lion in a blink. Slashing instantly, a terrifying hurricane swept out in a blink. Golden Lion's pupils contracted suddenly. His heart twitched at this moment, disbelieving this monstrous strength. This power was simply more violent than the King of Giants.
Golden Lion was like a small sampan in a storm, blasted away by the gale slash.
Flying out a thousand meters in a blink.
In this moment, Merlin's body size shrank rapidly back to its original size. He panted violently. Immediately after, a gleam flashed in his eyes. His Observation Haki sensed dense biological auras appearing five thousand meters above his head.
In the next moment, his shadow wings flapped.
Shooting straight into the sky.
Immediately after, Merlin's figure turned transparent and vanished. The transparency boosted by the "Awakening" specialty allowed Merlin to hide his scent, movement, and aura.
Before long, Merlin saw several incredibly beautiful and magnificent floating islands in the sky.
On those floating islands, various beasts with powerful auras were everywhere.
This was Golden Lion's lair.
Not long after, Merlin arrived on one of the floating islands. In the very center of the ground here, a palace-style building stood tall.
Merlin quickly entered, walking inside the quiet building with few people.
Before long, a squelch squelch sound like stepping on feces appeared. A man with blue hair tied in twin-tail afro style, wearing clown makeup, appeared in the corridor.
"Shiki that idiot, don't know where he ran off to again."
Dissatisfaction flashed in this person's eyes as he walked through the corridor inside this building.
At this time, Merlin split off a portion of his shadow, infiltrating the shadow on the ground behind the man without him noticing.
Shadow Infiltration.
This guy was Dr. Indigo, the chief scientific expert under Golden Lion.
Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly. A thought moved in his heart. There should be some good stuff in Golden Lion's lair, right?
Thinking of this, his figure flashed and disappeared from this corridor.
Meanwhile, Golden Lion in mid-air below looked around vigilantly but never found Merlin's trace. Even his Observation Haki found nothing.
He flew around constantly searching in the air but still found nothing. Finally, he landed on the ice below, looking down at Kuzan and the others.
"Where is that bastard?"
Kuzan and the others looked blank. At this time, Gion's gaze moved, looking at Kuzan. "Say, do you think that guy took the opportunity to run?"
Kuzan froze, then nodded. "He fought with me for so long; he should be very tired. Maybe he really took the opportunity to run!"
Saying this, his face turned dark, looking at Golden Lion unkindly. "Come down if you want to fight, otherwise get lost."
Cold light burst in Golden Lion's eyes, but he suppressed it. In his perception, this ice-playing brat was not weaker than him.
Plus the three not-weak masters below. He wasn't confident. He snorted coldly and flew into the sky without looking back.
Seeing Golden Lion leave, helplessness appeared in Kuzan's eyes. "It seems we can't catch that guy this time."
Crocodile snorted coldly. "In that case, I'm leaving."
Kuzan couldn't be bothered with him. Keeping this guy was useless. If he wandered around the North Blue alone and got caught by Merlin, the Shichibukai might lose another member.
However, at this time, his eyes moved. Looking at Crocodile, he said, "No rush to leave. Since you're here, let's solve the pirates still in this sea area together!"
Crocodile frowned but didn't refuse. For now, it was safer to stick with these people.
Moreover, the pirates he caught himself could be exchanged for bounties.
And he had to admit, Merlin's posture just now put quite a bit of psychological pressure on him.
Before long, everyone arrived at the periphery of the ice layer and boarded the warship. Tsuru greeted them immediately. At the same time, Teresa followed behind her. Seeing Merlin wasn't present, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Couldn't catch him?"
Tsuru sighed. Then she added, "Just now, did Golden Lion appear again?"
Kuzan nodded and recounted the whole story. After listening, helplessness flashed in Tsuru's eyes. She thought for a moment. "What do you think about that kid becoming a Shichibukai?"
Gion's face turned dark, but she didn't speak.
A subtle look flashed in Kuzan's eyes. "Since that kid debuted, apart from punishing those nobles, he hasn't done evil. I have no objection if he becomes a Shichibukai."
But at this time, Crocodile snorted. Tsuru raised an eyebrow and looked at him!
"Do you have an objection?"
Crocodile scoffed lightly. "Dare not!"
Teresa's temper flared up. "If you dare not, then shut up. None of your business here."
Crocodile looked at her with cold light in his eyes. Tsuru chuckled lightly. "The famous Sand Crocodile wouldn't want to hold a grudge against a young person, right?"
"Then make her apologize. Otherwise, with this disposition, sooner or later she won't know where she died."
"Teresa!"
"Oh. Uh, sorry Sand Crocodile, I didn't mean it."
"So it was intentional?"
Crocodile's face was dark.
"Mmh, so I apologized."
Teresa smiled squinty-eyed.
A hint of an amused smile flashed in Mihawk's eyes at this time. "This way, finding him should be easier too."
While Mihawk mentioned a certain someone, that someone had finally found Golden Lion's treasury at this moment.
Swapping positions with his shadow, Merlin entered a treasure room. At this moment, looking at the resplendent, luxurious gold, jewelry, and precious artifacts everywhere, surprise flashed in Merlin's eyes. "Is this guy this rich?"
Merlin looked around at the treasure here, but his gaze didn't linger too long. Soon, Merlin arrived in front of a shelf in the corner of the secret room, looking at two small, exquisite treasure chests on the third level.
At this time, Merlin looked aside at an exquisite picture album. Picking it up, he saw it was a Devil Fruit Illustrated Handbook. The corner of his mouth hooked up, amusement in his eyes. "Just right to enrich my collection."
Then Merlin opened the two treasure chests. What entered his eyes were two fruits with very tempting appearances.
Covered in spiral arabesque patterns.
Merlin compared them in his mind and soon found the names of these two fruits.
Paramecia - Muscle-Muscle Fruit (Riki Riki no Mi).
Logia - Mercury Fruit (Suigin Suigin no Mi). (Note: Mercury/Quicksilver is liquid metal, typically associated with Logia in fanon/some media, though canon status varies. Here treated as Logia).
Merlin looked at these two Devil Fruits with some surprise in his eyes.
In the next moment, Merlin grabbed the Muscle-Muscle Fruit and put it into the equipment slot, looking at the Nine-Tailed Fox Fruit origin in the second slot.
[Compatibility: 100%]
Immediately after, with a thought from Merlin, they began to synthesize. A moment later, a Nine-Tailed Fox Fruit identical to the one in the Devil Fruit Handbook appeared in the slot.
Merlin panted, quite tired. His already low stamina was consumed significantly.
In the next moment, the Mercury Fruit was equipped together.
At this time, with a thought, Merlin's body turned into a pool of incredibly pure silver-white liquid. Then, compressed, the liquid turned into a solid thin sheet, and then into colorless, transparent mercury vapor.
Soon, Merlin's body gathered from the vapor. A strange luster flashed in his eyes. "Free transformation of mercury's three states?"
This ability was interesting. And in the vapor state, it was highly toxic.
A moment later, Merlin arrived on another floating island outside. Amidst rising flames, a ten-meter-long beast yak was processed and roasting on the fire.
Merlin sat cross-legged by the fire, flipping through the handbook, reviewing the old to learn the new.
Moreover, Merlin discovered that this handbook seemed very old. There were more than a dozen fruits recorded that were not in Doflamingo's handbook.
After a while, finishing the roast meat.
He turned into mercury vapor and flew away from here.
Time passed.
By evening, Merlin arrived in a sea area with shadow bat wings spread. There were two large ships on the sea surface below.
Soon, Merlin descended from the sky back to his ship. As soon as he landed, he was spotted by Monet on the deck. Monet came up to greet him, looking at Merlin carefully.
"Why look at me like that?"
Merlin smiled and patted her shoulder. Hearing Merlin's voice full of energy, Monet couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. "Nothing. By the way, you must be hungry? We've prepared delicious food for you."
"Good."
Although he had eaten quite a bit before, Merlin could still eat more now.
At this time, Perona and Baby 5 also came over.
Both looked at Merlin seriously. Seeing this, Merlin smiled and ruffled their hair one by one.
Perona rolled her eyes, watching helplessly as her hair was messed up.
Baby 5 looked happy.
Merlin went back to his room to wash up first, then came to the dining room. Under the meticulous service of the three, Merlin comfortably enjoyed another meal.
In the living room, Merlin sat on the sofa drinking black tea made by Baby 5. The Devil Fruit Handbook was placed on the table.
Monet was flipping through it curiously. Suddenly, she said to Merlin, "By the way, Doflamingo had Gladius send a Devil Fruit earlier.
"I checked, it's the Ancient Zoan Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Baryonyx."
Hearing this, Merlin raised an eyebrow lightly. This way, both fruits obtained from the transaction with the Marines last time were in his hands.
"By the way, they also said if you're not satisfied, you can tell them. Later, if they have stock, they can exchange it for you."
Merlin smiled, shaking his head. "Forget it, Baryonyx is not bad. At least it's a precious Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit."
While speaking, Perona had already fetched the fruit, sitting obediently on the sofa next to Merlin, grinning. "This fruit is quite interesting, take a look."
Merlin was helpless; she spoke as if he hadn't seen it. But seeing the expectant look in her eyes, Merlin smiled. "Okay, okay, I'll look!"
Taking it, the fruit was brownish-yellow with two white protrusions like biceps, looking very interesting.
After playing with it for a while, Merlin placed it on Perona's lap, smiling. "Put it back in the treasury. By the way, bring me a Seastone bullet."
Perona made a bitter face, nodding helplessly to do it. Merlin watched her leave with a smile, drinking black tea. Before long, Perona walked back, supporting herself on the wall, panting every three steps.
Arriving beside Merlin, she handed over her small hand. Merlin opened his palm to receive her hand. As her palm opened, a bullet head the size of an index finger tip appeared.
Merlin held it in his hand, playing with it slowly.
Feeling the sensation of weakness from his body that was bearable, Merlin leaned lazily against the sofa back.
At this time, Perona took off her shoes, sat on the sofa, and leaned against Merlin.
She said with a somewhat helpless tone, "Seastone is too hard to adapt to."
Merlin smiled. "This is also a training task arranged for you. Later, after long-term contact and adaptation, if you can maintain basic combat power while touching Seastone, that counts as success."
"Is it really possible?"
Perona didn't quite believe it.
Baby 5 looked at her enviously, then said angrily, "Big Brother Merlin wouldn't lie to you about training!
"Besides, Big Brother Merlin has adapted during this time and can already carry out daily training."
Perona rolled her eyes, glaring at her grumpily. "I'm not blind; of course I can see that. But do you think everyone can be as freakish as him?"
Merlin rolled his eyes. Holding the Seastone bullet in his left hand, he turned sideways and pressed the bullet against her cheek. Instantly, she, who was still lively, withered in a flash.
Sliding down directly, she lay with her head on Merlin's lap. Merlin looked at her speechlessly. "Little idiot! Seems I need to increase the intensity for you in the future!"
Perona sighed, complaining listlessly, "Whatever you say!
"Anyway, this lady can't move a finger."
Watching her give up, Merlin withdrew his hand speechlessly. But when Perona recovered a few seconds later, she still lay on Merlin's lap with a lazy look.
Merlin rolled his eyes.
Reaching out to pinch her cheek, puckering her mouth, Perona rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "Ni kuai fang kuai ou! Ao zong tong. (Let go of me quickly! Ow, it hurts.)"
Merlin smiled and let go. Perona sat up with a whoosh, rubbing her tender cheeks with both hands, then bumped Merlin's arm with her head sideways.
"Baddie, only know how to bully me."
Listening to her whispered complaint.
Merlin chuckled lightly. At this time, his gaze moved, looking towards the cabin door. Then a tall figure walked in.
Merlin smiled and pointed to the sofa opposite. "Sit."
Doflamingo grinned, sitting over naturally. "Seeing you back safe, I'm relieved. By the way, I saw an island fall from the sky later. What was that?"
Merlin chuckled lightly. "It was Golden Lion!"
Doflamingo's eyes contracted suddenly. That name was thunderous!
"Then he?"
"Outnumbered, left! I also took the opportunity to leave after he suddenly appeared."
"So that's it."
Saying this, Doflamingo said somewhat awkwardly, "Since you're back, can you help me treat them?
"Machvise's arm was broken, but we found the broken arm and thawed it. Can you take a look?"
Actually, he discovered Merlin as soon as he returned. The reason he didn't come over on the spot was also considering Merlin needed rest.
And now. Rest should be about enough.
"Sure!"
Merlin smiled.