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Boom!
"Captain Zechs... he's back," Katakuri said calmly, as if it were only natural.
"Thank goodness, Zechs-sama..." Pudding sighed in relief. "I was getting worried since you took so long to come back up."
Indeed, the figure was none other than Zechs, who floated in midair, flapping his bat-like wings.
He was completely soaked, his long, wet, white hair plastered against his face. His shirt was gone, having been burned away by the tremendous heat released from the kinetic energy of the bullet that had struck him directly in the chest earlier.
And of course, it was not only his shirt that had suffered.
"I really felt like... I was about to die there..." Zechs muttered between heavy breaths.
World's eye twitched when he heard that. 'No, bro, you were supposed to die there!!! Why are you still alive? Why the hell are you alive even after that?!'
If it had been anyone else, World was certain they would have died instantly. Heck, even an Admiral might not escape unscathed, yet Asmodeus Zechs was somehow still alive and floating.
World could not accept it. It made no sense.
Unaware of what World was thinking, Zechs let out a long breath and looked down at his chest.
The tremendous heat released by that amplified bullet, combined with the impact from being at the centre of the collision between the bullet and the ocean's surface, had been terrifyingly dangerous. The heat had tried to melt him out of existence, while the impact had felt powerful enough to crush his body into paste.
Even his Steel Balloon Physique had nearly failed to withstand it despite his monstrous durability, and he would have died most certainly if not for having used Conqueror's Haki for defense.
'Fortunately... I was also using Conqueror's Haki coating around my body... otherwise...' Zechs shivered slightly at the thought.
All the training he had gone through on that island to master Conqueror's Haki infusion had finally paid off. Without it, he probably would have died. As it was, only part of his chest and abdominal muscles had been burned and melted.
Still, the result was not entirely unexpected.
After all, what had struck him had carried the force of roughly a one-kiloton TNT explosion... perhaps even comparable to being hit by a meteor.
Of course, it would do damage.
The fact that he had survived with nothing worse than burned flesh and melted muscles was already a good enough outcome. And Zechs was not dissatisfied with that at all because the situation was only somewhat serious, but not enough to kill him or stop him.
While Zechs sighed in relief, World felt anything but relieved. "Y-You... how did you get out of the sea?" he stammered. "Aren't you a Devil Fruit user?!"
At those words, Zechs slowly raised his head and looked at him.
That alone made World flinch.
But Zechs did not answer. He had no intention of answering that question.
People had mistaken his wings and tail for the result of a Devil Fruit ability. They all assumed that he possessed some kind of Devil Fruit power.
Well... If they wanted to think that, then let them.
Zechs had no intention of correcting them. In fact, people's misunderstanding of his abilities will only work to his advantage.
Ignoring World's question, Zechs looked down at his hand. The sword he had been using to fight World was gone.
When the giant bullet had blasted him into the sea, the blade had slipped from his grasp and fallen into the sea. By now, who knew where it had ended up.
'Well... it was only an ordinary sword anyway,' he thought.
He did not particularly care that he had lost it.
The real problem was that he no longer had a weapon to use against World.
"One of them should have a sword..." he muttered as he looked down at World's ship.
Sure enough, among the unconscious pirates scattered across the deck, he spotted several blades.
'Good.' A faint smile appeared on his face.
Completely ignoring the fact that World was still staring at him and waiting for an answer, Zechs descended onto the World Pirates' ship.
"What are you trying to do?" World asked, but he did not dare move closer to stop him.
After landing on the half-destroyed deck, Zechs bent down and picked up one of the swords.
The quality was terrible. The blade was dull, nicked, and poorly maintained. Parts of the edge were chipped, and it was obvious the weapon had not been cared for properly in years.
He glanced at the other swords lying nearby, but most of them were either the wrong type for him to use or were just as poor.
"What a pain..." Zechs muttered before looking up at World. "Don't the World Pirates have even a single decent sword?"
World's lips twitched in annoyance.
He was not a swordsman, and he had never cared what kind of weapons his subordinates used. Most of them were useless in real battles anyway and only carried swords for appearances or simple chores aboard the ship. They even had the habit of discarding their swords and getting another one if their swords became useless. Naturally, no one had ever bothered to maintain them properly.
"I guess this will have to do..." Zechs muttered in disappointment as he gave the sword a few practice swings, trying to get used to its weight and balance.
At the same time, another thought crossed his mind. 'I really need to get myself a proper sword. I don't even have one.'
To become a true top-tier fighter, having a first-rate blade was almost essential. Every truly great swordsman possessed one. Whether it was Rocks, Roger, and Nusjuro, or people from the later era like Mihawk, Shanks, Oden, Isshō, and Zoro, all of them wielded exceptional swords.
Yet Zechs had nothing. The problem was that he had no idea where to find a blade that suited him.
'Wano Country? But most of the samurai there use katanas, Odachi, Nodachi, and blades like that... those aren't really my style.'
He preferred sabres.
Even if he travelled to Wano and somehow acquired one of the many famous blades there, Enma, Ame no Habakiri, Nidai Kitetsu, Shusui, and so on, he still would not be able to use them as naturally or effectively as he wanted.
As for where to find a truly good sabre... He had no idea.
'Forget it. I'll think about that later.' Shaking his head, he pushed the matter aside.
Then he looked back at World and raised the poor-quality sword in his hand. "Well then..." Zechs said with a grin. "Let's begin round two."
In his heart, World no longer wanted to continue fighting. Although he refused to admit it, fear had begun to creep into him.
But that was only in his heart. He could never say it aloud.
To say that he did not want to fight anymore or admitting that he is a little afraid would be the same as admitting defeat. It would mean admitting that he had lost. Even if not the real battle… but at least the psychological battle.
And how could he possibly admit that?
Even if he felt fear, he would never confess it. Byrnndi World was not the kind of man who admitted defeat.
He was Byrnndi World… the one who is destined to become the strongest and make everyone tremble in his mere presence.
And right now, he, Byrnndi World, has not lost.
Besides, even if he said he no longer wanted to fight, and proposed Zechs to end the conflict here, he doubted Zechs would agree.
After all, World had been the one to start this conflict. He had attacked first, firing cannonballs at Zechs' ship. Although those cannonballs had failed to do much because Katakuri and Pudding had intercepted them, if they had struck, Zechs' crewmates could have been injured or even killed.
Knowing that, why would Zechs simply let the matter end?
Especially now, when Zechs clearly held the advantage. Even if Zechs alone may not be enough to defeat him, Katakuri is also there.
The man still stood off to the side, merely watching without interfering. If Zechs wanted to, he could call Katakuri over at any moment. If that happened, World was certain he would be completely overwhelmed.
The only reason Katakuri had not joined the battle was probably Zechs' pride as a captain.
'But... if I keep fighting...'
World felt increasingly helpless and regretted more than ever that he had chosen to provoke Asmodeus Zechs Pirates.
While he hesitated and felt a little unsure, Zechs had already moved. Using Shave and Moonwalk together, Zechs appeared directly in front of him and waved his sword that had small streaks of red lightning crackling around it.
'Netori Slash!'
'This feeling... this intense feeling of danger again...!' World thought as his instincts screamed at him again.
Already on guard, he immediately used his hundredfold speed once more to evade.
Zechs clicked his tongue. "Would you stay still already?"
"As if I am stupid enough to do that?!" World shouted back with a furious shark face.
"Not even if I say pretty please?" Zechs asked innocently with sparkling eyes that would have throbbed any woman's heart.
World's face darkened in disgust. "Fuck off!"
Using his Devil Fruit power again, he fired bullets that were amplified a hundred times in terms of speed and size.
'These troublesome bullets again...!' Zechs thought.
He immediately used rapid Shaves to dodge and tried to close the distance between them.
But World would not allow it. Using his hundredfold speed, he kept appearing farther away and kept shooting amplified bullets toward Zechs.
"Tch... how annoying..." Zechs clicked his tongue.
The situation had become almost identical to the first round, and that irritated him greatly.
He even tried to enter that trance-like state again, the same state that had earlier allowed him to catch a glimpse of where World would appear next. If he could enter it once more, then he would be able to predict World's movements.
But it did not work.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not force himself back into that state.
"Are you just going to keep running?" Zechs sneered. "Some Byrnndi World you are. The Byrnndi World I had heard about was a real man among men... not a coward who only knows how to run instead of fighting head-on."
World's lips twitched.
But now that he understood what Zechs was trying to do, he refused to take the bait and ignored him completely.
"By the way, World..." Zechs said casually. "I once heard a rumour that people with abnormally long arms tend to have something else abnormally short. With arms as long as yours... you must have a pretty small dick, right?"
Tick marks bulged on World's forehead, and he almost shouted, 'I do not have a small dick at all!!!'
His was perfectly fine. More than fine, even. And he still had the Moa-Moa no Mi on top of that. Whoever might have a small dick, it definitely was not him.
But despite his fury, he refused to respond to Zechs' pointless taunts.
"What, is it a micro-penis?" Zechs continued shamelessly. "Come on... it's just the two of us. Two men. You can tell me about your insecurities. I promise I won't laugh. Though now that I think about it... is that why you don't have a woman? Is your lack of confidence because of your tiny little dick? That must be it, right?"
'This bastard!!!' World cursed furiously in his heart and glared at Zechs. If looks could kill, Zechs would have died a thousand times over.
Unfortunately, they could not.
And Zechs just kept talking. "Well, I can't really understand your feelings since I don't suffer from the tragic condition of having a micro-dick... ahem... but I'll still do my best to understand your probl—"
'Ignore him... ignore him...'
World practically shut off his ears, pretending he could not hear Zechs' voice at all.
Having shut out Zechs' voice, World forced himself to focus on something else. Something more important.
Why did Zechs' blade give him such a terrible feeling? And why was it still able to hurt him even after he had increased the rigidity of his body?
At first, he had thought there must be something special about Zechs' original sword. But that explanation no longer made sense. Zechs was now using a completely different blade, a chipped, dull sword picked up from the deck of his ship that an ordinary minion of his crew used to use.
Yet even this sword, in Zechs' hand, gave him the exact same sense of danger.
'Isn't it just coated in Armament Haki... so why the hell does it still feel this dangerous?' World frowned, unable to understand it.
And that was not all. He remembered feeling that same sense of danger earlier from Katakuri's mochi fist... and from the mochi bullets that had struck him as well. It was as though the source of that danger was the same in all of them, whether it was the sword in Zechs' hand, Katakuri's mochi fists, or the bullets Katakuri had fired.
'But what is it?' He could not understand at all.
He kept staring at the blade in Zechs' hand, observing it carefully.
Then, suddenly, he noticed something. 'No... wait. That sword is coated in Armament Haki... so why can I sense Asmodeus Zechs' Conqueror's Haki coming from it? What the hell is going on?'
He continued to attack and dodge, keeping his distance, buying time for himself as he tried to understand what he was sensing. Before long, he reached a conclusion that made his eyes widen. 'Is he... Is he infusing Conqueror's Haki in his sword, too? Is something like that...?'
Unable to hold back his doubt, he suddenly shouted, "Your sword... is it infused with Conqueror's Haki?"
The question came out of nowhere.
Even Zechs had not expected World, who wasn't responding to his taunts at all and had become completely quiet, to ask something like that so suddenly. And considering his question, Zechs could not stop himself from freezing for a brief moment. "Huh?"
World stopped as well and stared directly at him. "Can Conqueror's Haki… like Armament Haki be infused into weapons too?"
Although he phrased it as a question, he already sounded almost certain, because it was the only explanation that made sense. Both Zechs and Katakuri possessed Conqueror's Haki, and both of their attacks gave him that same dangerous feeling.
As a Conqueror's Haki user himself, World could tell that the aura surrounding Zechs' sword was not Armament Haki at all, but Zechs' own Conqueror's Haki. Earlier, when their Conqueror's Haki had clashed, he had felt it directly. He had felt it again when Zechs burst out of the ocean.
Having sensed Zechs' Conqueror's Haki multiple times, there was no way he could mistake it now.
It was wrapped around the blade. And that also explained why, every time Zechs' sword cut into his flesh, he felt Zechs' Conqueror's Haki.
Indeed, he had noticed it before. But he had not paid much attention to it, assuming that Zechs was merely trying to intimidate him or show off while attacking him.
Now, however, it all made sense. Zechs had not been trying to intimidate him at all. Whenever the blade struck him, World had been directly feeling the Conqueror's Haki infused into it.
Having figured out the secret, World waited for Zechs' response.
But Zechs remained silent and didn't answer. Honestly, he didn't even know what to say, but he couldn't deny that he felt irritated at the thought of World having made an accurate guess.
"You are silent? I see... so that means yes," World laughed arrogantly, taking Zechs' silence as further confirmation.
The moment he understood it, his eyes lit up. He felt as though he had uncovered some incredible secret to power, something that could increase his strength by leaps and bounds.
In fact, he had been frustrated for quite some time now because his strength seemed to have reached a bottleneck. He believes that he has already achieved a high level of mastery over both Armament Haki and Observation Haki, and even his Devil Fruit has awakened quite a while back. But beyond that, he had not known what else to do to become stronger, and that helplessness had only made his frustration grow.
He could feel that he still had the potential to become much stronger, yet no matter how much he trained or racked his head, the progress he made wasn't satisfactory enough. It always felt that he was missing something, training something wrong, yet he was unable to figure out what he was missing.
But now... he knew. Now he finally had the answer.
'So... It's the infusion of Conqueror's Haki. I see... I should have realised this sooner...' The moment the thought crossed his mind, he immediately tried to infuse his Conqueror's Haki into his fist.
'This guy... he is already trying to infuse it… But will he actually be able to do it?' Zechs wondered, his breath catching slightly as a sense of foreboding came. Even so, he did not rush forward to stop World from attempting to infuse Conqueror's Haki.
He knew it was foolish. Letting an enemy who wanted to kill you grow stronger in the middle of a fight was undeniably stupid. Yet despite knowing that, Zechs still did not interfere.
Why? Because this is the arrogance of a strong individual.
A Conqueror has to possess the arrogance of supremacy in his bones. If, in the middle of battle, you desperately try to stop your opponent from becoming stronger, then somewhere in your heart, you fear them. And if you fear them, then you do not truly believe that you stand above them.
Haki is willpower. It is the will to never yield, the will to stand above others, the will to be supreme. But if someone panics at the mere thought of their enemy growing stronger, then that means they do not truly believe in their own supremacy. It meant they believe they only barely sit upon the throne, and that someone else can take it from them with just a little effort.
How can someone who doubts his own strength be the strongest? To be the strongest, first you have to believe you are the strongest. No matter how strong your enemy may be… You have to believe you are stronger than your enemy… only then would you be strong enough.
It is indeed a foolish way of thinking. And yet, it is also the very mindset that made the truly strong so powerful.
The strongest people believe, without hesitation, that they are supreme. Because they believe that, they do not fear their enemies becoming stronger. Their enemies getting stronger, at most, would make the battle more interesting... but that is all. They never even considered the possibility that they might lose.
Zechs understood that.
That is why, even though he knew giving World the chance to learn this technique to infuse Conqueror's Haki was dangerous, he still did not stop him. Even if World succeeded, Zechs believed the battle would merely become a bit more difficult and more exciting. It would push him further. It would force him to grow stronger while death and danger stood right in front of him.
Right now, the battle only felt difficult because World's speed exceeded his own. Even then, Zechs remained certain he would win in the end. His monstrous strength, stamina, and defense will allow him to fight for days without tiring, and eventually win against World simply because World doesn't have the means to hurt him. Well, except for that hundred-fold amplified bullet that releases intense heat. If it manages to hit him… It can certainly cause problems… but… Zechs doesn't plan to get hit by that bullet again and is still confident of easily winning the fight.
But that is exactly the problem. A battle like this… in which there is no sense of danger, is not enough to push him beyond his limits and make him grow stronger.
When his enemy doesn't even have the means to hurt him… what need is there for Zechs to grow and become strong?
But Zechs wants to become stronger, and to do that, he needs to fight enemies powerful enough to make him feel death breathing down his neck.
He wants that feeling. Because only when he stands on the edge of death would he truly grow stronger.
An example would be the trance state. Zechs is unable to enter it at the moment, but perhaps, if the feeling of death and danger appears, then maybe he will be able to enter that state again out of a need for self-preservation and desire to stay alive.
So he looked at World with a trace of anticipation, somewhat hoping that he would succeed.
As for whether World would succeed, Zechs isn't certain.
Infusing Conqueror's Haki into weapons and attacks is an absurdly difficult ability. Yet, strangely enough, it is also simple and not too complicated if you know how to do it.
The key is to be able to figure out just how exactly to do it.
Some people, like Linlin, could do it almost immediately the moment they learn that Conqueror's Haki can also be infused. Others, like Zechs himself, needed a feeling of desperation amidst a battle followed by a great deal of training, before they could manage it properly. Then there were also people like Katakuri, who possessed Conqueror's Haki but struggled with the technique of infusing it and had only barely managed to grasp it after much effort.
Zechs had no idea which category Byrnndi World would fall into, and he waited with bated breath for the answer.
World noticed that Asmodeus Zechs was simply standing there and waiting, and he almost laughed.
'Hah... Asmodeus Zechs... you fool...'
In his eyes, Zechs was an idiot for allowing him the chance to grow stronger in the middle of a battle. But since he had been given that opportunity, he had no intention of wasting it.
He immediately drew out his Conqueror's Haki, making it explode from his body in violent waves… and he tried to gather it around his fists.
"Come on... if I can learn how to infuse Conqueror's Haki, then this battle... this battle is definitely mine to win!!!"
While World desperately tried to figure out how to infuse Conqueror's Haki into his fists, Zechs did not remain idle either. He racked his brain, searching for some way to deal with World's speed.
'If he actually manages to infuse Conqueror's Haki... then I might really die... and I don't want to die.'
Because of that, he forced himself to think harder than ever before, desperately searching for anything, any method at all, that could allow him to keep up with World's speed that may or may not be Future Sight.
'Even if I can't glimpse the future, there still has to be some way to deal with his speed... right?'
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Turning back the clock to the moment Zechs emerged from the sea—
"Cutie? H-He is... he is still alive?" Nightin stared in disbelief.
Earlier, she had almost believed that Zechs had died, killed by her captain's attack. Part of her had even felt a little regret over it.
After all, it was a real waste for such a handsome man to die before she even had the chance to get a taste of him.
But now... He was alive. And that certainly made her a little happy.
At the same time, she wondered how he had survived. A direct hit from that amplified bullet should have killed anyone.
What kind of monster could survive something like that?
But then another thought crept into her mind, and for the first time, she felt afraid.
'He's alive... and now he's fighting Captain World again... what if... what if Captain World loses? What if he dies?'
When they had first attacked the Asmodeus Zechs Pirates, Nightin had never even considered such a possibility.
Neither had anyone else in the World Pirates.
In their minds, they would arrive, crush everyone, and then force the survivors to join their crew. Nightin herself had even planned to make Asmodeus Zechs into her personal boy toy afterwards.
But the reality before her was completely different from what they had imagined.
Most of their men were either unconscious, too injured to do anything, or simply dead. Gairam and Sebastian, the two other top officers besides her, had already been defeated, knocked out, and captured by Katakuri alone without much effort.
Meanwhile, she herself was still stuck fighting this insolent little girl and had not even managed to beat her.
And then there was Zechs. The 'cutie' she had intended to make into her boy toy was now pushing Captain World into a desperate battle and making even death seem possible.
Although Nightin wanted to believe that World was stronger and would ultimately win, she could not stop herself from feeling afraid.
Because the danger did not come only from Asmodeus Zechs.
It also came from Katakuri, who was still standing there calmly, watching the battle.
After seeing the brief clash between Katakuri and World earlier, Nightin did not need to think twice. Katakuri might be just as strong as Asmodeus Zechs... perhaps even stronger.
And if that was true, then there was no way Katakuri would simply allow Zechs to die.
If the battle started going badly for Zechs, Katakuri would definitely intervene.
Which meant that, in reality, the chances of World losing were far higher than she wanted to admit.
Of course, if World won, then everything would be fine. But what if he lost? Or worse... What if he ran away?
Earlier, Pudding had even claimed that World was thinking about retreating while abandoning them. Nightin did not want to believe it. But if his life was truly in danger... Then what? Whether World lost or fled, what would happen to the rest of them? What would happen to her? To Gairam? To Sebastian? To the rest of the crew?
Asmodeus Zechs had ordered his subordinates to capture her alive, so if she surrendered, she probably would not die.
But if she surrendered like this... wouldn't that be betraying her crew? Yet if she continued fighting...
At that thought, she could not help but secretly glance at Katakuri and swallow nervously.
She was not afraid of this insolent little girl in maid's clothes. The one she truly feared was Katakuri.
If she kept fighting, there was a very real chance that Katakuri would eventually make a move... and if that happened, she might end up dead. And she definitely did not want to die.
She found herself caught in a dilemma. Should she continue fighting as a member of the World Pirates? Or should she surrender and trust that nothing would happen to her because Asmodeus Zechs seemed interested in her?
One choice might get her killed. The other would make her a traitor. She felt trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Unable to make a decision, she felt unsure of what to do. But in the end, Pudding made the decision for her.
Turning her attention back to Nightin, Pudding raised her gun and fired without warning.
Bang!
Startled, Nightin hastily jumped to the side before glaring at her.
"Old hag... most of your crew has already been defeated, and your captain is about to get demolished by my Zechs-sama. So you'd better surrender. If you do, I promise it wouldn't be painful," Pudding warned coldly.
Nightin scowled, "Insolent little girl... you think you can defeat me?"
Her pride would not allow her to be looked down on by this brat. More than that, she hated the way Pudding kept calling her an old hag.
"Defeat you? Let alone defeat you, I can even kill you whenever I want," Pudding replied confidently. "Do you want to test that?"
Nightin pouted, not knowing what to say. Internally, she thought, 'I am the one who might end up killing you…' But at that thought, she instinctively glanced toward Katakuri. Thinking of the consequences.
Bang!
The sudden gunshot forced her to snap her head back toward Pudding.
"Don't look at him," Pudding said. "I'm the one you should actually be worried about. I'm the one who wants to kill you." She tilted her head slightly and continued, "As for him... he's just a big softie who likes to act tough and only knows how to follow orders. At most, he'd just capture you. That's all."
Katakuri's lips twitched at being called a softie, but he said nothing and pretended not to hear her.
"But me..." Pudding continued, her smile turning cold and scary, "I'm the unstable one. I might really kill you even if Zechs-sama had ordered me to capture you alive. It would get me into a lot of trouble and also punishment… but... anything to keep a thot away from my Zechs-sama…" Then her eyes narrowed dangerously. "So... what's it going to be, old hag? Are you going to honestly surrender... or are you going to test your luck and find out whether I kill you or not?"
Veins bulged across Nightin's forehead. "It seems I really need to discipline your bratty ass, you insolent little girl..."
"Haah... so that's your decision..." Pudding replied with a cold smile. "Fine then."
She pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Thus, while Asmodeus Zechs and Byrnndi World remained locked in a standoff, with World trying to infuse Conqueror's Haki and Zechs allowing him to attempt it while simultaneously searching for a way to deal with World's speed, the battle between Pudding and Nightin also resumed.
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