BOOM!
The residual force of Elbaf Spear: Hakoku collided head-on with Lucas’s Conqueror’s Haki.
A violent blast of compressed air erupted like a hurricane.
Then an even more powerful surge of Haki exploded from within Lucas once again.
The feeling was like a volcano finally awakening from a deep slumber.
Seeing that his attack had actually entered a stalemate with the Marine Admiral’s, a trace of delight appeared on Blue Ogre Dorry’s face.
An absurd thought quickly emerged in his mind.
Perhaps...
This battle wasn’t unwinnable after all!
Unfortunately, the moment that thought appeared, an overwhelmingly dangerous aura swept across his entire body.
He felt as though he had suddenly fallen into an icy abyss.
Just as Dorry managed to recover his senses, another wave of Conqueror’s Haki violently surged out from Lucas.
It came crashing toward him like a tsunami that towered into the heavens.
BOOM!
The stalemate instantly collapsed.
Dorry’s strongest individual technique, Hakoku, was shattered as easily as paper.
The overwhelming Conqueror’s Haki continued forward without losing momentum and crashed directly toward him.
"Dorry! I’m coming!"
Red Ogre Brogy, who had been standing nearby with his nerves taut and his attention fixed on the battlefield, had also never expected the slight advantage Dorry had gained to be reversed in an instant.
Especially after seeing the giant warrior technique Hakoku crushed so effortlessly, Brogy didn’t hesitate for even a moment.
He grabbed his enormous axe and shield and quickly moved to Dorry’s side.
The two giants, each standing nearly nine meters tall, came together like two mountains.
They raised their weapons and hurriedly brought them down.
BOOM!
The enormous explosion sent a shockwave sweeping outward.
Everything within several hundred meters was torn apart.
The two mountain-like figures were blasted away like cannonballs, flying several kilometers into the distance.
They smashed directly through the rocky mountains behind them.
Massive chunks of stone and clouds of dust were sent spiraling toward the heavens.
Vivi had already been taken to safety by Chaka and Igaram.
Her beautiful face had long since gone pale.
Were these really the mighty giant warriors she had always regarded as nearly invincible?
They couldn’t even withstand a single attack from a Marine Admiral?
Were the giants simply too weak?
No!
The problem was probably that the Marine Admiral was simply too powerful.
"Is that Conqueror’s Haki?"
Doll finally had a chance to catch her breath.
Shock flashed across her face.
"No..."
"This isn’t ordinary Conqueror’s Haki."
"He’s covering his Conqueror’s Haki with Armament Haki, creating an even more powerful impact."
"Can something like this really be done?"
As a Marine Vice Admiral and branch commander, Doll was not only proficient in the Six Powers but also highly skilled in the two standard forms of Haki.
Under normal circumstances, being able to use Armament Haki at the level of Ryuo was already an impressive achievement.
Even within Marine Headquarters, she could be considered an outstanding Haki user.
Yet in front of Lucas, she suddenly felt as though she were merely showing off her limited skills in front of a true master.
Especially after witnessing Lucas’s seemingly inexhaustible reserves of Haki...
That technique of layering Armament Haki over Conqueror’s Haki was something she had never seen before.
"Vice Admiral Doll, Admiral Lucas is rushing to clock out."
"Use everything you’ve got and run!"
Smoker glanced at the pocket watch in his hand.
His expression suddenly changed.
He shouted urgently through the cigar clenched between his teeth.
"White Smoke: Yamata no Orochi!"
BOOM!
Streams of smoke shot out from Smoker’s body.
The moment they were coated in Armament Haki, they seemed to transform into the heads of a gigantic Yamata no Orochi.
Before Vivi and the others could even react, the smoke instantly wrapped around their waists.
Before Doll could recover, a tunnel of smoke erupted in front of Smoker.
His entire body shot forward like an electromagnetic projectile, dragging Vivi, Hina, and the others along with him.
His speed was astonishing.
It was practically like teleportation.
In the blink of an eye, they had already flown several hundred meters away.
It could be said that, while following Lucas around, Smoker rarely had any opportunities to actually fight.
But that didn’t mean he lacked opportunities to train.
If Smoker were to face a Warlord of the Sea now—or even a Four Emperor—
He probably still couldn’t win.
But the escape techniques he had developed through constant practice were absolutely first-rate.
Because Smoker understood one thing very clearly:
When Lucas was rushing to clock out...
Even his own people could get hit.
Doll stood frozen in place.
She stared at Smoker disappearing into the distance, her mind seemingly entering a complete state of shutdown.
But before that feeling could even settle in, an extremely dangerous and terrifying pressure suddenly swept across her entire body.
It was as though she had been thrown into an icy abyss.
"One minute until I clock out."
"If you can withstand this attack, then my offer from earlier still stands."
"But if you die..."
"I’ll send your ashes back to Elbaf."
Lucas spoke calmly.
The next moment—
Three earth-shaking roars resounded through the heavens.
The Haki erupting from his body shot straight into the sky, taking on the form of a Qilin.
A Hundred-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva manifested behind him, its power gathering within its mouth.
Above the heavens, a gigantic array of Super-Tier Magic: Ninefold Skyfall spread across the sky.
In an instant, three terrifying sources of power gathered above Little Garden.
Their presence was so overwhelming that it became difficult to breathe.
Doll, who had been standing there in a daze and had momentarily forgotten to run, felt her scalp explode with fear.
At that moment, she finally understood why Smoker, who had followed Lucas for so long, had become so extraordinarily skilled at using a Logia Devil Fruit to run away.
Faced with an apocalyptic scene like this, only one thought remained in Doll’s mind.
The first lesson of serving alongside the Fourth Admiral...
was learning how to run faster.
"Dorry! Stop sleeping!"
"That brat really intends to kill us!"
"Don’t hold back even the slightest bit!"
"Otherwise, we’re actually going to die!"
In the ruins, Red Ogre Brogy’s entire body was screaming danger.
Every cell seemed to be sending him an uncontrollable warning.
Looking up at the scene surrounding them, Brogy and Dorry finally abandoned every trace of contempt they had held toward Lucas.
They understood that even if they gave this battle their absolute all, there was still a possibility that they could die.
But the arrow was already nocked.
They had no choice but to fight.
Brogy and Dorry gripped their weapons with both hands.
With a furious roar filled with unwillingness, they unleashed all the strength they had accumulated over the past century toward the heavens.
"Giant Combination Technique: Hakoku!"
"Death Triple Concerto!"
BOOM!
The collision was so devastating that words could no longer describe it.
Doll only knew that, at the instant the attacks collided, everything seemed to be swallowed.
Sound.
Light.
Even the surrounding world.
All of it seemed to disappear.
A sensation of death swept through her entire body.
The only thing she could do was desperately push her Armament Haki to its absolute limit and cover her entire body with it.
The next moment—
Doll, who was still desperately fleeing, was directly swallowed by the enormous shockwave of the explosion.
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