"Just here for the money?"
Nekomamushi, Inuarashi, and the others’ faces immediately turned ashen.
Even Caesar and the Golden Emperor, Gild Tesoro, couldn’t help but twitch the muscles in their cheeks.
Yet when they thought about everything that had happened along the way, they found themselves unable to refute him.
At least, from their perspective, Lucas really hadn’t forced any of them to fight him head-on from beginning to end, had he?
"This guy is as arrogant as ever."
Aramaki, a blade of grass clenched between his teeth, couldn’t help speaking up.
"I’ve decided that I’ll challenge him again later!"
"Fujitora, what do you think? Who has the better odds this time?"
Fujitora, standing nearby with his cane sword in hand, slightly raised his eyelids and smiled.
"Aramaki, I hope you’ll still be able to say that later."
"That guy seems to have changed again."
"Changed? How?"
Aramaki stared at him.
"Are you trying to scare me, Fujitora? Don’t forget, I’ve been scaring people since I was a kid!"
"Heh. Is that so?"
Fujitora gave a dry chuckle as Aramaki continued running his mouth.
He then "looked" toward Lucas.
Others might not have noticed it, but although Fujitora had lost his eyesight, his Observation Haki had become even more sensitive.
"What an arrogant young Marine."
Inuarashi clenched the sword in his hand and spoke angrily.
"If this were any other time, perhaps you would have had the right to act so arrogantly."
"But I’m sorry."
"You chose the wrong day to come here."
"The night of the full moon is when our Mink Tribe is at its strongest. On this day, we can unleash several times, even ten times, our normal strength."
"You agreed to one slash each earlier, but you never specified whether the two of us could attack simultaneously!"
"Marine, in order to drive you back and uphold the principles of our Mink Tribe, we’ll have to bully you just this once!"
ROAR!
Two deafening roars instantly reverberated throughout the plaza.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi had joined forces once again after several decades.
The two suddenly raised their heads and looked toward the full moon in the sky.
Their already extraordinary physiques began expanding once more.
The golden fur covering their bodies rapidly turned silver-white.
Crackling arcs of electricity erupted around them.
In an instant, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi transformed into gigantic beasts bathed in lightning.
Their crimson eyes gleamed with an overwhelming wildness.
Yet unlike Carrot, who had lost herself in a rampage earlier, both Nekomamushi and Inuarashi remained perfectly conscious.
Feeling their auras suddenly multiply several times over, Fujitora and the others couldn’t hide their surprise.
In their eyes, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi had already possessed considerable strength.
But now that they had displayed their Sulong forms, they finally understood why Lucas had specifically come looking for the two of them.
Lightning crackled and raged around them, while the ground beneath their feet cracked like a spiderweb.
Feeling that violent aura radiating from their bodies, Wanda and Pedro couldn’t hide their excitement.
Pedro spoke in a deep voice.
"Carrot, watch carefully!"
"Against a Marine Admiral, the two Dukes may indeed have a low chance of winning."
"But under the terms of this wager, this one slash will be their strongest attack."
"Keep your eyes open and see just how powerful the Sulong form truly is."
"They may not be able to defeat him, but they should at least be able to shake him!"
"This may be the only opportunity you’ll ever have to see the two Dukes join forces and unleash their Sulong forms."
"Don’t miss it!"
Carrot’s expression became tense.
It wasn’t just her.
Everyone present unconsciously held their breath.
They were afraid that even a single breath might cause them to miss the decisive moment.
Feeling the countless gazes focused upon them, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi revealed ferocious smiles.
Every muscle in their bodies gradually tightened to its absolute limit.
The next instant, they suddenly kicked off the ground.
Endless lightning erupted like a raging tide.
ROAR!
A thunderous roar shook the heavens.
In an instant, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi, transformed into their Sulong forms, pushed their speed to the absolute limit.
They shot forward like two bolts of heavenly lightning, tearing through the sky and charging straight toward Lucas.
"Ryūō — Oden Two-Sword Style: Cat Smile Clash!"
"Ryūō — Oden Two-Sword Style: Dog-Slaying Mighty Arrow!"
Pitch-black Ryūō surged forth, merging with the Minks’ unique, violent electro.
The combined force seemed to transform into two enormous thunder beasts—a cat and a dog—crashing toward Lucas with overwhelming momentum.
The several-hundred-meter distance between them was crossed in the blink of an eye.
The earth beneath them seemed unable to withstand the violent electrical force.
Everything along their path was instantly torn apart.
Watching Lucas rapidly enlarge in their pupils, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi couldn’t help feeling provoked.
He was still standing there, casually drinking his liquor.
He wasn’t dodging.
He wasn’t defending.
He wasn’t even moving.
It was as though he was completely ignoring them.
The cat and dog let out another thunderous roar.
The impact that had already reached its limit broke through that limit once again.
The two slammed headlong into the Thousand-Armed Kan’on surrounding Lucas, its surface reinforced with Armament Haki.
BOOM!
Violent lightning exploded.
Endless shockwaves swept outward like a hurricane.
The two attacks, carrying tremendous force, crashed heavily into the Thousand-Armed Kan’on.
Everyone watching from the surrounding area was forcibly driven backward by the impact.
Yet faced with the overwhelming storm of shockwaves, no one had time to worry about anything else.
They desperately focused their attention on Lucas.
They wanted to know whether he could really continue standing motionless in the face of the combined ultimate attack of the two Dukes.
Or whether this attack would finally force him to make a move.
"It shattered!"
Someone suddenly cried out.
Everyone’s nerves instantly tightened to the limit.
The sight before them sent a tremendous shock through their hearts.
The Thousand-Armed Kan’on, which had been covering Lucas’s body and whose defenses had been strengthened by Armament Haki—
Under the combined ultimate attack of Nekomamushi and Inuarashi, it was now cracking apart like shattered glass before everyone’s eyes.
Wanda, Pedro, and the other Minks were overjoyed.
In their eyes, even that seemingly heaven-defying defensive technique had finally been broken.
If they could break through this defense, then it was only a matter of time before they could shake this Marine Admiral!
"Marine Admiral, it looks like you’ve lost!"
Inuarashi roared again.
"Nekomamushi, pour everything you’ve got into it!"
The power unleashed by the two surged once more.
In an instant, the cracks spreading across the Thousand-Armed Kan’on became increasingly severe.
Looking at the spiderweb-like fractures covering its entire body, an indescribable ecstasy finally appeared on the faces of all the Minks.
However—
The moment those smiles appeared, Lucas, who had been calmly drinking his liquor all this time, slowly raised his head.
His pupils, which had been as black as ink, suddenly seemed to have been dyed crimson with blood.
An indescribably terrifying aura erupted like a volcano.
At that moment, an utterly absurd thought emerged in everyone’s minds.
His defense hadn’t been broken.
It had been blown apart from the inside by the force it was containing!
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