The Marine flagship was unrecognizable.
The upper structures had completely vanished, leaving only a bare deck covered in cracks.
In the center of the deck, two terrifying auras were climbing madly.
“Huff… Huff…”
Vice Admiral Onigumo gasped heavily.
With every breath, white steam erupted from his nose.
This was the sign that Life Return · Martial Body had been pushed to its absolute limit.
His skin had taken on a bizarre flushed red.
His body temperature had long exceeded human limits.
His originally somewhat thin frame had swelled noticeably.
Onigumo gripped his beloved famous blade with both hands, pouring out every ounce of his Haki without reservation.
“One Sword Style · Secret Technique…”
“Dragon Slayer!!!”
With a thunderous roar, Onigumo’s figure vanished from his spot.
This slash exceeded the speed of sound.
Before the blade even arrived, the compressed air blade had already carved a hundred-meter-long vacuum trench across the sea.
The seawater was neatly parted to both sides, revealing the muddy, coral-filled seabed below.
Facing this slash capable of splitting a steel warship in two, Zane — coiled atop the wreckage — did not retreat even half a step.
At this moment, he was at the peak of Overload Mode.
Beneath his dark-golden scales, glowing blue circuit patterns flickered wildly with blinding brightness.
Zane’s abyssal maw snapped shut.
The muscles in his throat vibrated at high frequency, compressing the raging black-blue energy orb in his mouth for a second and third time to the extreme.
[Mimicry · Partial Enhancement — Throat!] [Overload · Particle Acceleration Cannon!]
“Puff—— BOOM!!!”
A deep, muffled explosion rang out.
Zane opened his mouth wide.
A black-blue beam — only as thick as an arm but ten times brighter than the noon sun — shot forth.
This beam fused his body’s fire venom, the high-compression plasma energy from the core he had swallowed, and his own Armament Haki.
Zero point one seconds later.
The black-blue death ray collided head-on with the pale sword energy in the air between the two ships.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!
The two ultimate forces created a brief stalemate at the point of contact.
A piercing screech erupted.
All glass objects in the surrounding sea shattered instantly.
In the distance, the Kuja female warriors clutched their ears in pain.
“Break for me!!!”
Bloodshot veins filled Zane’s golden vertical pupils as he roared inwardly.
The death ray sliced through the sword energy with unstoppable momentum and slammed viciously into Onigumo’s chest!
“Pfft!”
Onigumo coughed up a massive mouthful of blood.
The Armament Haki defense layer on his chest shattered instantly.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Onigumo’s body smashed through three layers of reinforced steel walls before slamming heavily into the massive reinforced steel gun turret at the rear of the main ship.
The several-dozen-ton turret was knocked off its base by the impact and reduced to scrap.
“Clang.”
The famous blade that had accompanied Onigumo for half his life could no longer withstand the terrifying energy.
It snapped cleanly in two.
Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral — defeated!
The surviving Marines on the main ship looked at Onigumo collapsed in the wreckage, unconscious and on the verge of death.
Their eyes were filled with despair and terror.
“Bad!
Energy is going out of control!”
When the two ultimate forces collided earlier, although the death ray had pierced the slash, most of the energy hadn’t canceled out.
Instead, it had been compressed into an extremely unstable high-density energy sphere.
Now, without the restraint of both sides, the sphere had completely lost control.
At the center of the sea, the energy sphere rapidly expanded before exploding.
A visible white shockwave spread outward in a ring.
This shockwave not only flipped the remaining two already damaged Marine warships, but also carried thousands of tons of seawater, forming a twenty-meter-tall towering wave that slammed viciously toward the nearby “Perfume Snake.”
Even worse, the warship debris blasted into the air — massive steel plates, broken masts, heavy cannons — were carried by the shockwave like a dense rain of cannonballs, smashing indiscriminately in all directions.
“Bad!”
Hancock’s expression changed drastically.
She had brought the ship too close earlier to watch Zane’s battle up close!
“Everyone hold on!!”
Hancock shouted.
She leaped high into the air, her long, beautiful legs turning into countless afterimages.
“Fragrant Kick · Great Rankyaku!”
Pink slash waves kicked out like a storm, trying to scatter the oncoming giant wave and shockwave.
Bang bang bang!
She successfully shattered most of the flying boulders and cannonballs.
But the kinetic energy within the shockwave was simply too great.
A piece of warship keel the size of a truck, hidden in the shockwave’s blind spot, spun as it flew over.
A heartbreakingly heavy impact sounded.
The entire massive Kuja pirate ship shook violently.
Crack!!!
Then came a clear, crisp sound of breaking wood.
At the bow, the two massive sea serpents pulling the ship let out pained hisses.
After the debris struck the hull, its momentum swept sideways and completely destroyed the special power harness system connecting the sea serpents.
The frightened, unrestrained sea serpents struggled wildly.
Their immense strength only worsened the ship’s tearing.
“Hiss— (Damn, we broke the car.)”
Zane, in the air, saw this and felt a chill in his heart.
The next second, the backlash of Overload Mode hit him like a tidal wave.
The blue light on his body extinguished instantly.
Excruciating pain like torn muscle fibers spread throughout his body, along with an extreme weakness as if his body had been hollowed out.
His consciousness darkened.
His massive battle-ready body rapidly shrank back to around two meters and fell powerlessly from the air.
“Night!”
Hancock ignored the crumbling ship beneath her.
Using Moon Step, she turned into a red flash and caught the limp Zane in mid-air.
His scales had lost their luster.
“I’m fine… just overexerted… won’t die…”
Zane weakly flicked his tongue.
His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.
His body was burning hot — a high fever reaction from overexpending energy.
On the sea surface, the surviving Marines no longer cared about pursuit or counterattack.
They dragged the heavily injured and unconscious Onigumo and scrambled onto the few remaining lifeboats, fleeing in panic as if escaping a plague.
They had been completely terrified by that “black demon god” of a snake.
“Lady Snake Princess!
This is bad!”
Marigold ran up from the lower deck, face full of anxiety.
“The main keel is cracked and the bilge is taking on water badly!
Although Ran and the others are desperately pumping, if we don’t repair it immediately, the ship could break apart at any moment!”
“Also…” She pointed at the two rampaging sea serpents at the bow.
“The harness is completely destroyed.
The sea serpents are out of control.
We can’t sail at full speed, let alone pass through the violent whirlpool currents of the Gates of Justice to reach Impel Down!”
Hancock landed on the tilting deck while holding Zane.
She looked around.
The once magnificent and majestic Perfume Snake now had a broken mast, shattered railings, and was listing fifteen degrees to the left.
In this state, forcing their way to Impel Down would mean the entire crew would become Sea King food before they even saw Magellan.
“Night’s injuries also need rest…”
Hancock lowered her head and looked at Zane, whose eyes were tightly closed in her arms.
The dark-golden scales on his body were dull, with fine cracks in some places from energy overload, seeping tiny beads of blood.
She gritted her teeth and made an immediate decision.
“Turn back!”
Hancock waved her sleeve, her voice carrying unquestionable authority that spread across the entire ship.
“Turn the ship around!
Full speed with oars!
Return to Amazon Lily for repairs first!”
“Gather the island’s best shipwrights.
No matter what it takes — two days… no, one and a half days!
The ship must be repaired!”
“But… Lady Snake Princess,” Elder Nyon walked over worriedly, leaning on her snake staff.
“That was a mandatory summons from the World Government.
If we return now, it means delaying the deadline.
If Marine Headquarters blames us…”
“Shut up, old hag!”
Hancock shot her a cold glance.
The chill in her eyes made Elder Nyon instinctively step back.
“How are we supposed to go with a broken ship?
Fly there?”
“Let the Marines wait!
If they dare rush us, I’ll turn every person they send into stone!”
In his hazy state, Zane suddenly thought of a critical timeline point.
According to the original timeline, that troublemaking boy with the straw hat who shouted about becoming Pirate King should have been sent flying to the Isle of Women before the Empress departed.
Could it be that because of his transmigration, the butterfly effect caused the Empress to set sail early?
And now, because of the battle and the ship damage, they were forced to delay and return to the island.
With this back-and-forth time difference…
The image of the red-vested boy appeared in Zane’s mind.
That boy sent flying by Bartholomew Kuma — at this very moment, was he streaking across the night sky of the Calm Belt like a meteor, heading straight for the Isle of Women?
“Hiss— (Going back is fine…)”
Zane murmured inwardly.
“(Maybe we’ll just happen to run into that legendary… Straw Hat kid.)”
Zane closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.