Waking from his hangover and looking around at everyone collapsed unconscious on the ground, Drake finally realized just how monstrous his alcohol tolerance had become.
Only Ain, who rarely touched a drop, had remained sober to keep watch through the night.
Kenshin and the rest of the crew—even Aokiji—had passed out cold. The sole culprit behind this carnage was none other than Drake.
The previous night, for reasons unknown, Drake had turned into a bottomless pit. In one unbroken barrage, he had drunk Kenshin, Aokiji, and finally even Bell straight under the table.
[See that? Consider this another perk of the final quest. It completely revamped your baseline constitution, truly gifting you one of those inhuman bodies native to this world,] the System piped up.
What Drake possessed now was not just terrifying raw power, but a fundamentally rebuilt physiology.
He now shared the same freakish metabolism and endless appetite as Luffy and his ilk, along with an iron liver that could throw back a thousand cups without toppling.
Even a hardened old veteran like Aokiji had been put down by him, which spoke volumes about the change.
More importantly, before the drinking contest had even formally kicked off, Drake's face had already been flushed crimson from pre-gaming.
Yet even starting from that state, none of them had stood a chance against him. In pure drinking capacity alone, Drake now stood at the absolute summit of the world!
Pleasant surprise aside, a delightfully wicked smirk gradually spread across Drake's face.
A smile so thoroughly villainous it was almost cartoonish.
Nearby, Aya had just stepped forward to check on Drake's condition, only to stumble back in sheer fright at that terrifying expression.
How could Captain Drake, usually so gentle and refined, wear such a horrifying grin?!
In the month she had spent aboard, Aya had never once seen him make a face like that.
Ain, on the other hand, was long accustomed to it. The moment their captain flashed that particular smirk, it meant some mischievous scheme was cooking in his head.
Someone was bound to have a very bad day thanks to that wicked smile.
"Alright, alright, wake up, everyone! Time to set sail!" Drake roused Kenshin and the rest, setting off once more into the unknown.
Time flew by, and a full year slipped past in the blink of an eye. Through pure serendipity, the Dragon Flag Pirates crossed paths with the Straw Hat Pirates once again.
It was an expanse of dead calm. The surface of the sea was glassy and unbroken by a single wave, stretching to the horizon where two extraordinary pirate vessels sat anchored face-to-face.
The Calm Belt.
The ship belonging to the crew of the world's number one man, Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy: their pride and joy, the Thousand Sunny.
And on Drake's side, naturally, was their own Demon Warder.
At this moment, both the Straw Hats and Drake's crew were gathered aboard the Demon Warder.
They hadn't assembled merely to sip tea and trade pleasantries. A duel!
With the title of World's Greatest Swordsman on the line, a clash between two supreme blade masters had begun.
The duelists were none other than the World's Greatest Swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, and the Dragon Flag Pirates' vanguard, Kenshin.
Both stood poised upon the open sea, their feet skipping across the water's surface in blurs of lightning-fast footwork as flashes of cold steel lit the air.
CLANG!
Their flying slashes collided with earth-shattering force. The thunderous boom of Armament Haki and the screech of grinding steel echoed ceaselessly across the sky.
The placid sea instantly erupted into towering, sky-splitting tidal waves. Currents churned violently beneath them as gale-force winds howled through the calm.
"Three-Sword Style Secret Technique!" Zoro tapped the water lightly with his toes, his body rocketing forward like an artillery shell.
"Demon Spirit: Asura's Killing Ground!"
In a heartbeat, pitch-black darkness swallowed the sky.
A suffocating, ink-black aura flooded the entire area. From inside the Demon Warder, everyone watched the spectacle unfold with crystal clarity.
A collective look of astonishment washed over the onlookers.
Zoro's technique left even Drake somewhat wide-eyed. It was practically a personalized domain of Conqueror's Haki, developed entirely by his own hand.
It truly was...
Nothing short of sheer, unadulterated genius.
The sheer, oppressive dread radiating from this killing ground was enough to heavily suppress even an Admiral-level combatant.
"Will Kenshin... be alright?" A flicker of deep worry surfaced in Aya's eyes.
Even through the protective barriers of the Demon Warder, she could distinctly feel the paralyzing fear radiating from that domain—a suffocating pressure that made simply drawing breath feel worse than death itself.
Every fiber of her being screamed that lethal peril lay within.
If she were to stand within that killing ground right now, she would be crushed on the spot.
It was utterly terrifying!
"No, if it's Kenshin, he'll be fine," Aokiji remarked, shaking his head gently.
His gaze remained fixed upon the two figures outside, grim and intense. Both men had unquestionably crossed into the Admiral tier. Kenshin went without saying.
During their routine sparring sessions over the past year, Aokiji had personally witnessed Kenshin's meteoric growth. In their most recent training bout, even he had felt strained when trading blows with him.
That meant Kenshin was firmly operating at Admiral caliber!
At first, Aokiji had assumed the scales of this duel would tilt in Kenshin's favor. Looking at the battlefield now, reality had defied his expectations entirely.
Roronoa!
Barely a year has passed, yet what in the world did you go through to push your strength to such absurd heights?!
"Heh..." Luffy grinned broadly, casting a sideways glance toward Drake. "See that? My crewmate isn't going to lose!"
"Don't be so sure," Drake chuckled back, though deep in his eyes, a profound solemnity lingered.
He's an absolute monster!
Kenshin possessed his current level of strength thanks in part to the enhancement of a Devil Fruit provided by the System.
Yet Zoro had dedicated his entire life solely to the blade!
He had relied on zero external abilities or unnatural gimmicks.
Out on the water, Kenshin clearly recognized the sheer lethality of Zoro's technique and instantly dropped into full battle readiness.
Azure thunder surged across his frame, crackling and erupting outward until lightning saturated the surrounding airspace.
The purple-black killing ground and the azure-violet sea of divine thunder collided violently, their energies twisting and tearing into each other as shockwaves ripped across the sea.
Swells heaved back and forth. The tranquil Calm Belt had been violently transformed into an Asura's purgatory, filled with the shrieking tear of rending air and howling winds...
"Let's settle this with this one strike!" Kenshin dissolved into a streak of pure lightning, vanishing for a fraction of a second before piercing straight into Zoro's domain.
Carrying the full fury of rolling thunder, he tore a massive breach through the dark killing ground. Plunging inside, Kenshin drew the long blade from his hip.
Thunderous radiance detonated!
"Demon Spirit: Nine-Sword Style: Asura—Dead Man's Purgatory!"
"Thunder God: Iai Slash!"
Blinding light exploded from both men's eyes as streaks of lightning and violet radiance surged forward simultaneously.
RUUUUMBLE—!
The entire battlefield was swallowed by a dazzling wall of blinding illumination. As far as the eye could see, pure, searing white light filled the vision, so intense it forced everyone to squeeze their eyes shut.
Yet inside the Demon Warder, the crew kept their eyes glued to the epicenter of that radiant curtain.
"The victor is about to be decided!" Locke's eyes narrowed, his breath held tight.
Every onlooker held their breath in rapt concentration.
Watching them, Nami and her companions were utterly baffled.
"Y-You guys can actually see what's happening in there?!"
They could hardly believe it. Could the entire Dragon Flag crew really peer through that blinding blaze of light?
No, not all of them.
Only Aya shared their bewildered, helpless look.
"Zoro is making his move!" Usopp suddenly cried out from beside them.
Nami and the others whipped their heads around to stare at Usopp, their jaws practically hitting the floor in sheer disbelief.
"Usopp! You can see what's happening out there too?!"
"What?!" Chopper's jaw hung slack, staring up at Usopp with boundless admiration. "Usopp can see it too?!"
"Is that really true?!"
"Mwahahaha..." Usopp's lips curled into a proud smirk as he struck what he considered an immaculate pose. "Chopper, what is my name?!"
"Aha..." Chopper's eyes sparkled with starry wonder. "Could it be... that one?"
"Mm-hmm!" Usopp nodded with profound gravity.
"Captain Usopp..."
"Chopper, call me that one more time."
"CAPTAIN USOPP!!" Chopper screamed at the top of his lungs, holding nothing back.