"Legend of Dracula: Blood Inheritance."
The Impaler murmured the words, causing the robed Elder to pause for a fraction of a second, though his confusion vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Regardless of what was happening, one thing was certain: whether it was the girl from before or this man standing here now, they were enemies of the Government. That was all he needed to know.
To preserve the Government's dignity, he would claim their heads and broadcast the photos to the world. Only then could the absolute power of the World Government be reaffirmed.
With that thought, the robed Elder drew his blade another two inches. However, he couldn't shake the feeling, perhaps it was just an illusion, that the moment the man spoke those words, his very aura had undergone a subtle, profound shift.
"Hmph!!"
The Elder swung his blade. A violent gale erupted, blowing Alucard the Impaler's hair back. The bronze knightly broadsword collided with the Japanese katana, releasing a circular shockwave that decimated everything in the vicinity.
The sheer force of the impact sent both men reeling backward, skidding nearly a hundred meters apart.
The robed Elder took a deep breath. Though his pride tempted him to hide it, the intense numbness throbbing through his right hand forced him to give it a sharp shake.
What terrifying strength... He's just swinging a sword. He hasn't even used high-level Armament Haki or any other abilities yet, has he? Then how...
The Elder's expression tightened again. He watched as the man pointed his bronze blade toward the heavens. Suddenly, following the direction of the sword's tip, the clouds in the sky began to rotate violently like a whirlpool. With the blade as the epicenter, a bolt of lightning thundered down from the eye of the storm. The purple lightning transformed into a deep, crimson bolt the moment it struck the steel.
"That's... Roger's..."
The robed Elder gritted his teeth as he stared at the Impaler holding the sword of crimson lightning.
He recognized this technique. While the form and execution differed slightly, the essence was the same: the Spirit of All Things used by the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
The most destructive lightning, the most corrosive fire, the most vibrant wood, the hardest stone... Roger had commanded the spiritual energy of all things, which was why he had been the Government's greatest headache for eight hundred years.
And now, the one standing at the pinnacle of that threat was Alucard of the Immortal Pirates.
"I cannot be careless. I must go all out."
The last trace of the contempt the robed Elder had felt toward Loli A vanished completely. Although he had claimed to his peers that he would not underestimate his opponent, at his level, a certain degree of arrogance was inevitable. Now, that arrogance was dead.
The robed Elder straightened his back. The four-armed Asura phantom that had been faintly flickering behind him transformed into a six-armed entity, manifesting into a near-solid state.
"Non-Celestial: Six-Heavens Vajra!"
The "God" behind him gradually merged with his body. In the next instant, he lunged before the Impaler.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The shockwaves from the clashing blades grew more violent with every strike. Suddenly, a stray arc of sword-intent, unleashed but uncontrolled, sliced toward the distant horizon.
Ten nautical miles away from Mariejois, Princess Vivi was on one of the twenty-odd large ships, discussing the events of the Holy Land with her father, Cobra. These ships didn't all belong to the Nefertari royal family; many were vessels of other allied nations traveling the same route.
Suddenly, three streaks of orange-red light flashed past, striking a deserted island a few miles ahead of Vivi's ship.
Two seconds later...
BOOM!!!!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted on the island, instantly leveling a mountain peak.
"Ah..."
The passengers on the twenty ships watched, their jaws dropping in shock. After a long silence, Pell of the Alabasta Royal Guard turned to look back at the distant, red silhouette of the Red Line. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple. "That attack... it came from Mariejois."
Cobra thought of the girl he had seen in the conference hall, his heart turning cold. "Just what kind of monsters are fighting over there?"
He had once thought Crocodile was the strongest enemy he would ever face, but this...
Vivi clasped her hands to her chest, her face full of worry. "In our future voyages, everyone... we must be careful."
The battle at the summit of the Holy Land raged on. The longer it lasted, the more horrified the robed Elder became.
Who is this guy? Where did such a monster come from?
Is it Alucard?
No! His fighting style was completely different from Alucard's usual suicidal, tank-everything approach. Combat habits and techniques are like personal traits; once perfected, they rarely change, especially for the world's strongest. Just as Hawkeye would never abandon his sword, Whitebeard was one with the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and Garp fought only with his fists.
But if that's the case, is he another officer of the Immortal Pirates?
"Do you really have time to let your mind wander?"
Alucard the Impaler delivered a horizontal slash. The blade, wreathed in crimson lightning and backed by immense physical power, forced the robed Elder back dozens of meters.
"Dammit! In that case—"
Just as the Elder prepared to switch techniques, he noticed the man's left hand, the one not holding the sword, had transformed into bubbling, churning magma. The scorching heat made the Elder instinctively swallow hard.
This was the Blood Inheritance.
By temporarily discarding the undying physique of the River of Death, he gained the abilities of everyone within that river. Red-Haired Shanks' Spirit of All Things, "God" Enel's Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Black Arm Zephyr's top-tier Armament Haki... and even Akainu Sakazuki's Magma-Magma Fruit!
"Who the hell are you!?"
The Elder's eyes widened like copper bells. In that split second of distraction, he realized his feet had been firmly ensnared by shadow hands.
"More-More: One Hundredfold Speed!"
The acceleration of the More-More Fruit covered his magma-clad left hand. Alucard the Impaler swung his fist violently, the magma fist expanding at an extreme speed mid-flight.
"Hundredfold Speed: Great Eruption!!!"