The sea wind carried a thick stench of blood as it howled across the damaged deck.
The left wing warship’s side had completely deformed.
Seawater poured in as the ship tilted heavily.
Amidst the wreckage, a suffocating murderous aura rapidly condensed.
Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Onigumo.
This veteran powerhouse who dominated the New World stood atop the broken main mast.
He didn’t rush to attack.
Instead, he locked onto the black figure that had just surfaced from the water and was still flicking its tongue in mockery.
When anger reached its peak, it turned into absolute calm.
“Very good.”
Onigumo slowly lowered his center of gravity.
His famous blade returned to its sheath as he assumed an extremely strange stance.
The muscles across his body began vibrating at a bizarre frequency.
The wooden mast beneath his feet creaked under the strain.
“As a mere beast, forcing a Marine Headquarters task force to this extent is something you can be proud of.”
“But the game is over.
From now on, I will treat you as an equal enemy and crush you completely with the iron fist of justice!”
Whoosh!
Before he finished speaking, Onigumo’s figure vanished into thin air.
It wasn’t a residual shadow from speed — it was a complete disappearance from sight!
Zane’s golden vertical pupils contracted into needle points.
[Observation Haki · Warning!]
Danger alarms exploded in his mind, but he had no time to react.
“Finger Pistol · Yellow Lotus!”
Bang bang bang bang bang!
A series of machine-gun-like dull impacts exploded across Zane’s body.
“Hiss!!!”
Zane let out a painful hiss.
His massive body was sent flying sideways and crashed heavily into a gun turret, denting the steel structure.
He looked down in shock.
His proud “dark-golden scales” had been pierced with over a dozen bloody holes in an instant!
Although his dense muscles prevented fatal internal damage, the drilling pain reminded him — the enemy had broken through!
“Too fast…”
Zane endured the pain and quickly coiled into a defensive posture.
In that instant, he couldn’t even see how Onigumo had attacked.
“So this is ‘Shave’?”
One of the Marine Six Powers — Shave — created explosive propulsion by stomping the ground dozens of times in a single moment for super-high-speed movement.
“It’s not over yet!”
Onigumo’s cold voice came from mid-air.
“Moon Step!”
Onigumo actually walked on air, diving down from above like a predator.
His fingers were pressed together, jet-black Armament Haki coiled around them, fingertips gleaming with metallic cold light.
“Finger Pistol · Speck!”
This time it was a powerful single-point strike aimed straight at Zane’s vital heart spot!
“Damn it!
Can’t dodge!”
Zane wanted to evade, but his large body was too clumsy against the extreme speed of Shave.
Since he couldn’t dodge—
[Mimicry · Partial Enhancement — Tail Hammer!]
Zane roared and his tail instantly hardened like a black iron whip, smashing viciously toward Onigumo in the air.
Slap!
The tail struck empty air with a loud crack.
Onigumo’s figure twisted bizarrely in mid-air like a weightless sheet of paper, sliding past Zane’s tail.
“Six Powers · Paper Art!”
Zane’s heart sank to the bottom.
He couldn’t match the speed (Shave), had no advantage in aerial combat (Moon Step), physical attacks were dodged (Paper Art), and defense was pierced (Finger Pistol).
This was the absolute advantage of systematic combat techniques against raw instinct!
“Beasts are beasts after all — they only know brute force!”
Onigumo had closed to within three meters of Zane.
A judge’s coldness appeared on his face.
“It’s over!
Finger Pistol · Heart Pierce!”
That Haki-coated finger enlarged infinitely in Zane’s vision.
If this hit, his heart would definitely explode!
The shadow of death instantly enveloped him.
“Brute force?”
In this life-or-death moment, Zane’s previously panicked eyes suddenly became extremely calm.
In his mind, the proficiency of Observation Haki on the system panel was skyrocketing.
If he were human, he might have closed his eyes and waited for death in such a desperate situation.
But he was a snake.
Snake hunting often required only a thousandth of a second of explosive burst.
“I may not know the Six Powers, but I have cheats!
I have Thermal Energy Perception, I have Observation Haki, and I have… a head harder than iron!”
The instant before that finger touched his scales—
Zane did something extremely insane.
He didn’t retreat.
He didn’t try to block with his scales.
Instead, he removed all defensive power from his vital spot and concentrated every ounce of Armament Haki and muscle strength into his — skull!
[Mimicry · Partial Enhancement — Cranium!] [Armament Haki · Full Concentration!]
“Take this… headbutt!”
Zane’s head shot upward at a speed that defied inertia, like a fired cannonball, actively meeting Onigumo’s finger!
“What?!” Onigumo was shocked.
It was too late to change moves.
Clang!!!
Fingertip collided with skull.
The sound wasn’t of flesh tearing — it was a resounding metallic clash like a great bell!
A terrifying shockwave erupted from the point of impact.
The surrounding deck planks instantly shattered into powder.
Crack.
A crisp sound rang out.
Zane felt as if his head had been hit by a train.
A sharp cracking pain came from his skull as blood flowed down his forehead, blurring his eyes.
But Onigumo fared worse!
“Ugh!” Onigumo grunted.
Sharp pain shot through his finger — the bone had actually cracked!
He never expected this snake to dare meet Finger Pistol with its head!
And the hardness of that skull was simply unbelievable!
“Now!”
Taking advantage of the split-second stiffness caused by the recoil—
Zane’s blood-red eyes exploded with bloodthirsty ferocity.
In this moment, the roles of hunter and prey reversed.
“Six Powers · Iron Body!”
Onigumo reacted extremely fast.
The instant he sensed killing intent, his muscles tensed to steel-like hardness.
But Zane’s gaping maw had already arrived.
“Iron Body?
Let’s see if your iron body is harder than my fangs!”
[Fire Venom Breath · Injection Mode!] [Talent: Armor-Piercing Venomous Fangs!]
Puchi!
Two venomous fangs burning with dark-red flames sank viciously into Onigumo’s left arm!
The “Iron Body” that could withstand blades felt like thin sheet metal in front of Zane’s refined, fire-element-infused fangs.
It was a bit hard on the teeth, but… it penetrated!
“Ughhh!!!”
Onigumo let out a miserable scream.
It wasn’t from the pain of torn flesh, but the terrifying burning sensation of molten lava being injected directly into his veins the moment the venom entered!
“Get off!!”
Onigumo endured the agony and kicked out with his right leg.
“Rankyaku!”
A vacuum slash exploded at close range, sending Zane flying.
Zane tumbled through the air several times before smashing heavily onto the deck, head bleeding and scales flying.
But he was smiling.
He flicked out his crimson tongue and licked the remaining blood from the corner of his mouth — the blood of a Marine Vice Admiral.
“Hiss— (Not bad.
It has the… taste of a strong one.)”