After two whole years apart, the Straw Hat crew should have completed their training and, upon arriving at Fish-Man Island, used this arc to showcase the results of their growth and announce their return to the world.
But for some reason, the moment they arrived, the difficulty had already jumped straight to hell mode.
Crack crack crack crack!!!
Wrapped from head to toe in flowing Armament Haki, Sadgeo revealed his overwhelming strength to the world for the first time.
He was Ozz Dotor's carefully crafted toy, a being powerful enough to rank among the rulers of the sea.
"You've got to be kidding me!!!"
Using Observation Haki to sense the massive crimson giant before him, the overwhelming pressure radiating from every breath it took, Sanji broke out in a cold sweat.
Sadgeo's eyes glowed red as he slowly exhaled a stream of white vapor.
He fixed his gaze on Luffy.
"If you want to become the final ruler of the seas, then this isn't some childish little pirate game!!!"
He bared his teeth in a grin.
"I am Sadgeo. Sadgeo!!!"
"And I will become the World King!!!"
"Fuuuuu!!!"
He blew air wildly into his arm, raising that Ryuo-coated giant fist over a hundred meters wide and aiming it at Luffy.
"You and I are similar, but in the end, we are not the same!!!"
"I believe in only one thing. That my fists will absolutely reach the summit of the world!!!"
"Gum-Gum..."
"Gigant Ape Ryuo Cannon!!!"
Under that single blast, even Luffy in Gear Fourth with Ryuo could only hold it back for a moment.
Then, just like taking a Thunder Bagua from Kaido himself, his eyes rolled back instantly.
Terrifying black-red lightning exploded everywhere.
He smashed through countless corals and buildings, then deflated and fell unconscious.
Faced with this Ancient Giant replica of Joy Boy, the still-immature Luffy, no matter how unwilling he was, had still been put to sleep.
That strength was despair made manifest.
Sadgeo stood like an unscalable mountain before the Straw Hat crew.
He looked toward the place where Luffy had been blasted away and began to walk forward.
After all, he still carried the bloodline factor of the David lineage within him. Beneath that appearance inherited from Joy Boy, there was the ruthless heart of a true conqueror.
If Luffy could not help pave his road to becoming World King...
Then it would be better to crush this highly promising enemy right here and now.
"Clang!"
Flowing Armament Haki instantly wrapped around Sadgeo's hand as he strode toward Luffy.
Seeing this, tears burst from Shirahoshi's eyes as she tried to rush forward to save him, but Neptune held her back with all his strength.
Neptune's face was dark and unreadable.
As a king, he could not move recklessly in a conflict between monsters. If he did, disaster would fall upon Fish-Man Island.
History had proven that time and again. From Joy Boy and the World Government long ago, to Tiger and Ozz Dotor in the more recent past...
Fish-Man Island had already suffered far too much from exactly this kind of thing.
"Luffy!!!"
Chopper and the others panicked and were about to move.
Sanji, ignoring the pain in his leg, was just about to charge out and stop Sadgeo himself.
But before any of them could move, a hoarse voice rang out from afar.
"Wait!!!"
Everyone turned toward that figure.
"Zoro!!!?"
"Mosshead, you..."
At some point, Zoro, who had already been half-dead, was somehow hauling himself back upright again.
A black bandana was tied around his head, revealing one sharp eye and a face soaked in blood.
He slowly raised his sword and pointed it forward, straight at Sadgeo.
"Curly-brow. Take the others to the safe half of Fish-Man Island."
"Nani?!"
Sanji's expression changed.
"What are you trying to do!!!"
But Zoro simply stared at Sadgeo's back without changing expression.
"Relax. I've still got one last move. If all of you go too, you'll just be throwing your lives away to this big bastard."
"Tch..."
Sanji bit down bitterly, but in the end he still used Sky Walk to rush toward the others.
Because he understood.
This was no longer a matter of whether they should keep fighting side by side.
If they made even the slightest mistake here, they would all die.
Once he saw Sanji leading the others toward the safe half of Fish-Man Island, Zoro finally eased up a little.
But his gaze grew colder and sharper still.
Sanji glanced back at him anxiously before leaving with the rest, those who could not even participate in a battle of this level.
"Mosshead..."
Zoro bit Wado Ichimonji between his teeth.
"A half-hearted fight only drags things out."
"If this doesn't work, then I guess that'll be the end of me."
"Curly-brow, I'm leaving Luffy and the others to you after this."
Sadgeo, who had been on the verge of finishing off Luffy, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. His pupils trembled.
It was a familiar and terrifying power.
"Hey!!!"
"Sadgeo!!!!"
Clang! Armament Haki instantly wrapped around arms and blades alike.
A terrifying purple blaze erupted from Zoro's body, surging skyward as though it could split open the deep sea itself.
Sadgeo turned around in disbelief and looked toward that demonic figure.
For the first time, the fearless, unstoppable Sadgeo broke into a cold sweat.
His pupils began to shake violently.
"How... how is this possible..."
In his eyes, the Zoro before him was not just unleashing his own power.
The purple aura burning around Zoro's body slowly began to darken with streaks of black. Threads of shadowy demonic energy seeped out from the blade of Yama Crow.
"That's our captain!!!"
"If you want to kill him, then start by smashing my head apart first!!!"
Those strands of black demonic energy swelled and engulfed the purple flames, finally taking the shape of arms, heads, and blades.
The silhouette of a sky-piercing black Asura emerged.
"Demon Aura, Nine-Sword Style!!!"
How could this be!!!
In Sadgeo's eyes, Zoro's figure began to blur.
That crimson stare gradually overlapped with another pair of eyes blazing scarlet from his memory, a terrifying face he could not forget.
Why!!!
Why did the man before him make him feel an irresistible force, as if he were facing an Emperor himself!!!
Black demonic energy and purple demon flame fused together, slowly forming more arms, heads, and blades.
A towering black Asura silhouette manifested.
"Asura King Draws His Blade!!!"
For a moment, Sadgeo was so shaken that the air began leaking from his body, returning him toward his normal form. He could only raise his fist wrapped in flowing Ryuo and clash head-on with the transformed Zoro.
Now in his Nine-Sword Style Asura King form, Zoro no longer feared Sadgeo's fists at all. The two collided with full power over and over again.
For a moment, even Sadgeo's mind wavered, and he was actually forced back several steps.
Then, in that one fleeting opening, Zoro's eyes turned demonic.
Demon Aura, Nine-Sword Style...
Black-violet demonic flames flashed across Sadgeo's chest in an instant.
Asura King Draws His Blade, Dance of the Dead!!!
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