Boom!
Chinjao's massive frame vaulted into the sky and came plummeting down, unleashing a headbutt from the heavens.
A low hum rolled through the air. Shockwaves visibly rippled outward from that black, iron dome of a skull, ring after ring, expanding and crashing forward. Even from a hundred meters away, the pressure alone pressed the sea flat and shoved the water aside.
No wonder the old man carried a five-hundred-million bounty—his presence hit like a mountain.
Jin looked up as the wind knifed against his face. He dipped his stance, one hand sighting along Chinjao's fall, the other cutting up in a rising punch.
Paramecia, Spring-Spring Fruit.
Same fruit, different league. Jin's base stats were far beyond Bellamy's; the fruit's amplification soared with him.
Sprong!
The springs in his legs compressed to the limit, white shock-circles bursting out as the very air seemed to glow hot.
Hiss—
His figure vanished.
Not vanished—he was simply too fast. He broke past Mach 2, faster than a 98k round screaming from the barrel.
"Grandpa!" Sai and Boo were still a nautical mile away when they saw lightning spidering between the two figures as they met.
"Conqueror's clash," one of them breathed. "So strong…"
On the carrier's deck, Law, Robin, and Reiju watched with shock in their eyes.
Little Ai, meanwhile, had quietly brought the ship alongside and fired off sticky taffy. Like a syrupy giant's hand, it scooped Governor Madison's corpse from the sea.
Good. Still warm. Usable.
A Devil Fruit didn't jump hosts in an instant; even after a user died there was a window. Blackbeard had stolen the Tremor-Tremor Fruit after Whitebeard's death for exactly that reason.
High above, Jin met the falling hammer and stopped it cold.
His aura rose with his Haki, dark red light trailing off him like torn banners in a gale. Power poured through him, kindling the ambition and battle-hunger deep in his chest.
Strength without end, streaming from every part of him.
His intent condensed—tangible, circling him in black-crimson whorls.
"Good," Chinjao thought, fire leaping in his eyes. His beard thrashed. Haki licked over his body; his fighting spirit burned so hot it seemed to set the aura itself alight.
Before fist and skull ever touched, Conqueror's Haki slammed together. Lightning like jagged rivers burst between them, gale after gale ripping outward.
Thunder rolled.
Clouds tore.
The sea heaved.
Even the Eight Treasures ships that had been moving in to support were blown backward, crews clinging to masts and pillars as the wind howled.
Sizzle—sizzle—
Locked together in the air, the pressure built.
"Serious punch!" Jin roared. Power flooded his veins like a spring tide, limitless and deep. If this were "internal strength" on some martial scale, he had oceans of it. He could meet anyone knuckle to knuckle and not flinch.
Including Kaido someday.
His right fist rose to meet Chinjao's skull, carrying with it the weight of his will. The dark red Haki narrowed to a spear that seemed to lance the sky, blazing brighter than starlight for an instant.
Like a nail, it split Chinjao's Haki "armor."
Thunk.
Jin's fist crashed into Chinjao's forehead.
Power detonated.
The shockwave snapped wide. For ten nautical miles the sky seemed to split into two colors, each taking a half, the moonlight itself dulled and driven off.
Wind roared, sails snapped full.
Sai and Boo grabbed the lines, faces blanching as they dug in against the gale.
The twin tides of pressure slammed across the fleets. Most of the Eight Treasures fainted where they stood. They were lucky to be far enough that the edge had dulled.
On Jin's deck, if not for the sudden flare of green flame forming a shield, Law, Reiju, and the others would have gone to their knees.
Conqueror's Haki—pure spiritual domination. Small creatures tremble before dragons; the body follows the mind and collapses. Mice freeze before cats.
Only those with a king's heart—great power, broad chest, bold spirit, large vision—can stand awake in its path. The Hell Red Serpent's power, channeled by Ai, bled off part of that mental shock.
Sea and sky darkened. Waves shouldered each other. After three seconds of deadlock, Chinjao's bulk flung backward.
Wham!
He shot like a cannonball, a speck hurled a kilometer away before he smashed into the sea, geysering a tower of water into the air.
"Grandpa!"
"Chief!"
The Eight Treasures officers stared, stunned.
Chinjao, the Pillar—put down with a single punch… again?
Wait—again?
Jin turned a lazy somersault in midair. Geppo bled off his speed, and he came down light as a feather, a grin already tugging at his mouth.
"Ai, move! Scoop the bodies. Souls, souls, souls…"
His eyes gleamed. Kraken Tongue had fielded three thousand men. One sweep could make him rich.
Souls didn't dissipate at once either; the window was nearly half an hour. To avoid another clash with the Eight Treasures Navy, Jin had Ai pipe an announcement across the water.
"Professional salvage! We buy scrap, we take corpses. Our target is the Kraken Tongue only. Uninvolved parties, back, back, back…"
The loudhailers boomed. The Eight Treasures stared, speechless.
What… what were they doing?
Hey! Those are our prisoners! Our spoils!
Pirates—being robbed of their war loot? Sometimes even pirates wanted to call the cops…
But with Chinjao punched into the sea and Sai and Boo busy dragging him up, the Eight Treasures were headless for the moment. They could only watch while that strange ship gulped down Kraken Tongue bodies like a bottomless beast.
"What is that thing?"
"Too weird…"
"A holy relic? Or a demon that never fills?"
Jin had Ai tag the Eight Treasures dead—skip them to avoid picking another fight. Not out of fear.
First, the Kraken Tongue corpses were plenty. Know when you've had enough.
Second, he wanted to tour the Flower Kingdom. They said its Haki schools were even fiercer than Wano's.
At his peak, Chinjao might not crush the Red Scabbards outright, but against Kyoshiro at his strongest he could at least fight to a standstill.
And the Eight Treasures Navy was only one of the Flower Kingdom's official sea forces. There were several more on that level.
If there was a Second Treasure and a Third Treasure alongside the First, they stood as peers for a reason. Their strengths wouldn't be far apart.
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