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After two upgrades to the carrier and a Haki awakening, Jin was far from an ordinary human.
During his three months of training with Garp in the Calm Belt, aside from the first two days of basic instruction, he had been in a constant state of battle.
He had to fight super-large Sea Kings and sea beasts, all while fending off the old man's cheap-shot surprise attacks.
Through this ordeal, his control over his own power, his Haki, his technique—everything had been elevated.
And this punch was packed with power.
Hanafuda slowly straightened up, his face twisted in pain. It felt like the force of the blow had pierced his abdomen, as if he had been torn open.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. The smile was gone from his face, his eyes now cold and sharp.
"I was careless," he said.
He swung his weapon, the chain mace, and in an instant, a hundred iron balls were flying through the air, raining down on Jin.
The iron balls were coated in Armament Haki, multiplying their destructive power.
The reef was torn apart.
Jin weaved through the countless iron balls, each one missing him by a hair's breadth.
"You've mastered Observation Haki!" Hanafuda exclaimed, shocked.
In that moment of distraction, Jin vanished. Not vanished, but moved so fast that he seemed to. And his movement was completely silent, not even stirring the wind.
He had integrated the Calm-Calm Fruit into his movement, creating a soundproof barrier around himself. It was the perfect counter to Observation Haki users who relied on "hearing," and it could even mask his presence from the senses of other strong fighters.
Jin appeared in front of Hanafuda and smashed an uppercut into his chin.
The blow sent him flying dozens of meters, a spray of blood erupting from his mouth.
During his training with Garp, Jin had broken his limits again and again, his potential constantly being unleashed. His strength, his speed—they were all terrifyingly powerful. Otherwise, why would Garp have called him a monster?
If an ordinary person had taken that punch, their head would have exploded.
The moment the fist approached, Hanafuda had coated his chin in Armament Haki, but it still hurt like hell.
He crashed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"DAMMIT!"
If the first punch was due to carelessness, then the second was proof that this young king was... a freak.
But Hanafuda was the man who had fought Kaido and become his friend. His physical stats were top-tier. He was tough. He wiped the blood from his mouth, pushed off the ground with both hands, and dodged Jin's follow-up kick.
The kick slammed into the ground, and the rock shattered, sending a shower of stones flying and leaving a crater seven or eight meters in diameter.
Jin leaped into the air, moving even faster, and appeared above Hanafuda. He brought his leg down in a powerful axe kick, his Haki coiling around it, the force of the blow so great it seemed to tear a rift in space.
Danger!
The hair on Hanafuda's arms stood on end. His pupils contracted. His body swelled, the bones within his flesh cracking and popping as he underwent a dramatic transformation.
A bestial roar erupted from his throat.
"ROOAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The sound was like a thunderclap, a shockwave that sent the rocks below flying.
A massive wave crashed against the shore, colliding with the receding tide.
"WUUUAAAAAH..."
The dust settled.
Beneath Jin's foot stood a massive, humanoid dragon, its black and red claws crossed to block the blow.
His clothes were torn, revealing a powerful, muscular upper body, rippling with explosive strength.
He had withstood the attack.
And he had transformed.
From a man to a Half-Dragon.
A ferocious, fanged dragon's maw, breathing scorching hot dragon's breath. Dark Golden Dragon's eyes, incomparably cold.
Scaled skin, shimmering with Armament Haki. He was majestic, powerful, savage, a truly awe-inspiring sight.
Ancient Zoan, Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Tyrannosaurus Rex.
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He roared, his claws pushing Jin's leg away. In the same instant, his thick, powerful tail whipped around.
WHAM!
The blow sent Jin flying a dozen meters. He pushed off the air with a boom, flipped, and landed on his feet.
Hanafuda stomped the ground, and it trembled, as if an earthquake were about to strike.
He launched himself forward and closed the distance, his attacks now wild and furious.
He was enraged.
Some nameless punk had made him look like this.
Before, he hadn't even considered Jin a threat. He had been dismissive, contemptuous.
And now, he was injured.
He was the King of Lizards!!
"YOU'RE DEAD!"
Claws, feet, head, tail—his half-beast body was a deadly weapon, a flurry of attacks that rained down on Jin.
Jin, in the midst of the storm, calmly used his Observation Haki to dodge. And when he couldn't dodge, he simply took the blows.
And in the brief openings, he countered.
They traded blows, a relentless flurry of close-quarters combat, a contest of stamina and endurance, a battle to see who would break first.
Finally, after a cross-counter, Jin took a claw to the chest, and Hanafuda took another punch to the face.
Jin grunted, his clothes torn to shreds, a series of bloody gashes across his chest. He was panting, his insides churning.
Hanafuda landed, his face contorted in a mask of pain, blood streaming from his mouth and staining the ground.
He stared at Jin. An attack of that intensity, and he wasn't seriously injured?
He took a sharp breath.
Was this guy even human?
A Zoan Devil Fruit allows a person to transform into an animal, with three forms: human, beast, and human-beast. In their transformed states, their endurance, stamina, and overall physical stats are massively increased.
In theory, Zoan users should dominate in close combat. Among Zoans, carnivores were naturally more vicious than herbivores. And his fruit represented the ultimate predator—easily rivaling even Mythical Zoan types.
But this guy... he'd actually survived his full-power attack while transformed? How the hell could some random human tank that kind of damage?
Even a giant—a natural-born warrior—couldn't have survived those hits!
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"Hah..." Hanafuda took a deep breath. "I admit, I underestimated you. But... I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE!"
He let out a low growl as a crushing aura exploded from his body.
His dinosaur scales bristled, and electricity began crackling across his form. He moved like a bolt of lightning, appearing instantly in front of Jin with his claws wreathed in blue sparks, slashing downward.
Jin's eyes flashed.
He sidestepped, his body as thin as a piece of paper, and slipped through the gaps between the lightning-wreathed claws.
"Paper Art!"
In the next instant, he returned to his normal form and threw a punch he had been charging, his Haki coiling around it, creating a visible vortex of air.
"Conqueror's Lightning Fist!"
Hanafuda didn't dodge. It wasn't pride; it was honor. He twisted at the waist and met the punch with his own, his fist crackling with the light of Conqueror's Haki.
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