"Hmph!"
Jack snorted coldly, tightening his grip. With a sickening crack, the Marine's hands were crushed, left hanging limply like noodles.
"Damn it!" Smoker's eyes sharpened, his body dispersing into smoke as he lunged forward, swinging his ten-jitte with force!
On the other side, Drake's expression was grim. His body noshifted into a half-beast form, claws of his dinosaur hybrid tearing ferociously through the air.
"Fire!"
At Colonel Hill's command, muskets rang out in unison, unleashing a volley of bullets toward Jack.
But the barrage was useless. The bullets clinked harmlessly off his thick hide, doing nothing more than tickling him. Smoker and Drake's strikes could wound him slightly, but at most they only drew pained grunts before Jack sent them flying one after another with his crushing fists.
"I'll say it again, Marines—where are my things?!"
Jack roared, bloodlust surging. He stomped down with monstrous strength, the ground rippling like waves before collapsing inward. A shockwave burst out, hurling Marines into buildings like ragdolls.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"If you don't tell me…" His eyes gleamed with savage light. "…then every last one of you will die!"
The Marine in his grasp had already fainted from pain, but Jack's cruel grin only deepened.
"Then let's start with you."
Lifting the soldier high, Jack released him and drew his fist back. The strike he unleashed could level a mountain—against a helpless man, it meant certain death.
But before the blow could land, a figure draped in the Navy's cloak of justice leapt forward, silver sword flashing. In a single motion, the blade met Jack's punch head-on!
BOOM!
The earth trembled violently, a bowl-shaped crater forming beneath their clash as an overwhelming gale exploded outward.
"Huh?" Jack's eyes narrowed in shock. Someone had stopped his strike.
"Pirate, you're far too presumptuous." Yuno's cold gaze pierced him. He hadn't expected Jack to charge straight in and wreak such havoc before even reaching him.
Silver light flared from the blade, and with a powerful slash, Yuno forced Jack back several paces. In the same breath, he seized the Marine and withdrew into the camp.
"You were the one using Observation Haki on me earlier, weren't you?"
Jack's glare sharpened. He tossed aside the ivory ornaments from his shoulders and drew two massive sickle-shaped blades.
Eyeing the insignia on Yuno's coat, Jack growled, "Rear Admiral, huh? Not many at your rank can withstand me. Boy, tell me your name!"
Yuno handed the soldier off, then reappeared before Jack. His voice was calm, resolute. "Rear Admiral Patino Yuno."
Jack's scythes gleamed menacingly. "Then you must be the strongest one here. Tell me, Navy—where's my Devil Fruit?"
"So it's the Devil Fruit you're after…" Yuno muttered under his breath. He ignored Jack's demand and countered coldly, "Beasts Pirates… Drought Jack. Do you even realize where you are?"
"I don't care where I am!" Jack roared, his temper flaring from being ignored again. Crossing both scythes, he slashed downward with destructive force.
Yuno's eyes flashed. Instead of meeting the strike directly, he dodged. The ground split open, the G-7 Marine base crumbling beneath Jack's fury.
Landing among his men, Yuno's voice was firm. "All units, push back the landing pirates. Leave Jack to me!"
With that, he launched himself back into the fray, clashing against Jack once more.
BOOM!
"Rear Admiral Yuno…" gasped a Marine in awe.
"I didn't think he'd be this strong—able to hold back a pirate with a bounty of 700 million berries!"
Everyone who witnessed the scene felt a brief sense of relief, though their expressions quickly grew solemn.
Rear Admiral Yuno… can you really take on Jack alone?
Without hesitation, Colonel Hill spoke firmly:
"We can't do much to help here. Go outside and stop those pirates first. Once we've handled things outside, we'll return to assist Rear Admiral Yuno!"
Smoker and X Drake exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and left together.
Their earlier attacks hadn't even scratched Drought Jack!
Rather than getting in Yuno's way, it was wiser to deal with the Beasts Pirates' underlings first.
After that, they could regroup and strike at Jack together.
Indeed, none of them truly believed Yuno could defeat Jack outright—they only hoped he could stall him long enough.
...
Bang! Boom! Boom!
Yuno's sword clashed violently with Jack's twin sickles, the sheer shockwaves tearing through buildings nearby.
"GETSUGA TENSHŌ!"
Yuno's blade glowed with Armament Haki, a silver arc of sword energy condensing at its edge. With a sudden flash step, he appeared above Jack, both hands gripping the hilt as he slashed down fiercely!
"Mammoth Thrust!"
Jack's eyes flashed red. Crossing his two massive sickles, coated in dense Armament Haki, he countered Yuno's attack from below.
Boom! Boom!
The impact was overwhelming, the ground splitting apart, cracks spiderwebbing outward in all directions.
Tch… what a monster physique…
Yuno's arms trembled slightly. Even his crescent-shaped, sky-splitting strike couldn't push Jack back.
If it had been Damon, the pirate from before, he would have been blown away instantly.
But Jack—one of Kaidō's three Calamities—was immovable, like an unshakable fortress.
"Marine, if this is all you've got… then go to hell!"
Jack roared, forcing through Yuno's sword and blasting him backward.
Bang!
Yuno's body was hurled into a building, the structure collapsing into rubble around him.
Jack was not only a Fishman but also the user of the Ancient Zoan: Mammoth-Mammoth Fruit.
Fishmen were naturally far stronger than humans, and with the durability and brute power of an ancient Zoan, Jack's physical strength was overwhelming.
On raw power alone, Yuno couldn't compare.
Yet in the very next instant, Yuno shot forward like a ghostly blur, reappearing before Jack. His sword flashed as he roared back:
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
A massive silver slash erupted from his blade, like moonlight crashing down from the heavens, cold and merciless.
The strike slammed into Jack's body, actually blasting the mammoth man off his feet and sending him flying!
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