As Nox raised the Seven Star Sword to block Brandon's punch, Brandon's other fist smashed towards Nox's heart.
Nox, who had already seen through Brandon's movements, shifted his body and head, dodging both of Brandon's fists, then twisted his sword and horizontally slashed at his thigh.
Brandon bent down and punched the Seven Star Sword, deflecting the sword's trajectory and simultaneously dodging the blade. Then, he closed in at an even faster speed, his fists relentlessly pounding towards Nox.
A long inch is a strong inch, a short inch is a dangerous inch.
While those with weapons have an advantage, martial arts experts also have their own advantages. As long as the distance is close enough, a swordsman will not be able to block all the punches in time.
As a martial arts expert, Brandon naturally knew the advantages he possessed.
So, the moment he successfully closed in on Nox, his fists continuously rained down like a storm. At the same time, their bodies were very close, and he wanted to suppress Nox's sword as much as possible.
But what Brandon didn't know was that Nox had long experienced this method. Garp was a martial arts expert, and an even stronger one than Brandon.
Nox wasn't afraid of Garp fighting him up close, so how could he be afraid of him?
"Rip!!"
Nox calmly dodged Brandon's fists, and the Seven Star Sword was not suppressed by Brandon. In fact, the moment a tiny opening appeared, he seized the opportunity and slashed him on the shoulder.
Dazzling crimson blood was devoured by the Seven Star Sword, making its blade even more demonic, as if it were not a sword, but a demon that devoured people.
The two fought fiercely, and their speed was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, they exchanged hundreds of blows.
Brandon did not gain any advantage as he had imagined; instead, he had many sword wounds on his body.
"Explosive Kill Punch!!"
During their continuous battle, Brandon suddenly focused all his killing intent onto his fist.
He was like a demon walking out of hell, unleashing a punch with accompanying killing intent, intending to slaughter everything under the heavens. No matter who it was, they would be killed by this punch.
Brandon's sudden attack did not scare Nox. Likewise, Nox had also prepared this sword strike.
"Three Elements Combined Mystery · Overlord Wrapped · Blood Dragon Severing Sky Slash!"
Behind Nox, a bloody Shura phantom appeared, and a blood dragon coiled around the sword's blade.
When the sword was unleashed, it was like a blood dragon breaking free from its shackles, soaring into the sky, tearing the entire sky apart.
Brandon had originally thought that his meticulously prepared punch would allow him to regain the previous disadvantage.
But upon seeing that sword strike, his eyes instantly became bloodshot. That murderous fist, in front of the blood dragon, was easily shattered like a child's toy.
The Seven Star Sword charged forward like a long dragon, striking Brandon's fist.
Instantly, Brandon felt as if his knuckles had broken, the pain was unbearable, and his whole body felt as if it had been smashed apart by a heavy hammer. His body was directly sent flying back several hundred meters.
His legs dragged two trenches several hundred meters long on the ground.
"Hahahaha, Brandon, I told you you're not as good as Silver Axe! If it were Silver Axe, he might have been able to take this sword strike from me!"
While taunting, Nox pursued the victory, rushing in front of Brandon and unleashing a sword strike.
Brandon did not speak. After dodging Nox's sword, he punched towards Nox's abdomen.
Nox dodged by shifting his body, then casually slashed at Brandon's head.
The two fought together again, just like before.
However, Brandon now felt the same stifling frustration that Silver Axe had experienced earlier.
Fighting Nox was too frustrating. His own attack trajectories seemed to be completely seen through by Nox; nothing worked.
Yet, Nox's sword could accurately strike his weak points. It could be said that he perfectly used the least amount of effort to dismantle his offense and maximize attacks on his weaknesses.
This was the second time he had experienced this stifling feeling.
"Captain has gotten stronger again!"
Bullet and the others couldn't help but exclaim as they watched the battle on the island.
They knew how strong Brandon was when they fought him before.
If Bullet and Ashura Doji hadn't both been Devil Fruit users of the Zoan type, relying on their tenacious vitality to withstand Brandon's punches, they would have long been defeated.
Even so, they had been defeated by Brandon several times and then fled in disarray, losing five islands in the process.
Now, Brandon was completely suppressed by Nox, and coupled with having seen Nox fight at full strength before, that's why they said such a thing.
"Of course! My Senior Brother is only 23 years old, which is when his strength improves the fastest. Of course, his strength gets stronger year by year."
Kano said with great admiration.
He and Nox had known each other for many years. Regarding Nox's strength and potential, he believed Nox was the strongest in the world!
"That's right, Captain is getting stronger and stronger, but we also need to work hard to get stronger, we can't drag Captain down!"
Ashura Doji said seriously.
Although he was also only in his twenties, his progress had slowed down significantly over the years.
After the initial period of rapid improvement, although his strength was still continuously improving, the speed of improvement was far slower than before.
He could only slowly hone his swordsmanship and Haki, as well as develop his Devil Fruit abilities, to continue getting stronger.
Three days passed in the fierce battle between Nox and Brandon. At this moment, Brandon's body was covered in countless terrifying sword wounds.
The most important thing was that Brandon's stamina was rapidly depleting; he already felt that he didn't have much left!
Brandon had long known the cause of all this. Logically, with his stamina, even fighting for seven days and seven nights would not result in such severe depletion.
But who made the Seven Star Sword in Nox's hand a bloodthirsty demonic sword? By now, it had absorbed an unknown amount of Brandon's blood, causing him to lose so much stamina that he was now running out of energy.
"Brandon, surrender!!"
The moment Nox and Brandon created distance, the Seven Star Sword was raised above his head, and countless compressed air gathered around the Seven Star Sword's blade.
Red lightning wantonly devoured everything around it, as if the Seven Star Sword was a surging pool of thunder.
Behind Nox, a thirty-meter-tall giant phantom appeared. The giant looked exactly like Nox, and he also held a giant sword, gathering momentum and poised to strike.
"Three-Element Fusion Secret Art - Domineering Enchantment - Domineering Country!"
As the Seven Star Sword slashed down, the surrounding air was instantly sucked away. Three perfectly fused Sword Intent, Conqueror's Haki, and the momentum of Bagguk instantly transformed into a shockwave that swept towards Brandon.
"I, Brandon, am the Violence King! How could I possibly lose?!"
Brandon roared frantically, fully activating his Devil Fruit ability, causing his already maximally expanded muscles to swell even further.
He had used this very state to withstand the encirclement of three Admirals, holding out until Nox killed the CP0 Chief!
"Seven Wounds Punch!!"
Brandon endured the pain of self-mutilating his muscles, gritting his teeth as he unleashed this punch.
This move was the strongest punch he had developed using his ability, but it injured the user before injuring the enemy. This was the first time he had used it since developing it!
As the punch was unleashed, the punch wind emptied all the air, and space itself produced fracturing ripples because of it.
However, his confident punch, in the face of the Bagguk impact capable of destroying an island, was like a small boat adrift in a storm.
It was utterly vulnerable in the face of a tempestuous impact wave capable of sweeping away everything.
In an instant, the momentum on Brandon's fist collapsed, and the violent shockwave overwhelmed his body, causing his swollen, almost exploding muscles to shrink back.
His body was sent flying into the air like trash, blood gushing from his mouth and splattering onto the shattered Rocks on the ground.
"Three-Element Fusion Secret Art - Domineering Enchantment - Heaven and Earth Destruction Slash!"
Nox anticipated Brandon's trajectory as he flew backward and instantly rushed into the sky, descending like a meteor.
The dazzling red lightning on the Seven Star Sword coiled around its blade, as if a true meteor was about to fall.
It seemed as if it would shatter the entire sky and destroy the entire earth.
The world-destroying aura filled Brandon with terror even before he landed. He quickly used Moonwalk to land and stabilize himself.
At this moment, Nox had already descended. It was too late for Brandon to escape; he could only cover his entire body with Busoshoku and then unleash both fists to block this sword.
"Boom!!!"
With a thunderous roar, the entire island vibrated violently, causing a massive tsunami several hundred meters high to surge around it.
Smoke and dust rolled like dragons, and the center of the island, spanning several thousand meters, had sunken down, forming a gigantic pit like an abyss.
In the center of the deep pit, countless blood-red lightning bolts erupted, and endless shockwaves surged skyward.
Brandon was covered in blood, his muscles and internal organs damaged. The muscles of his hands were cut open by the Seven Star Sword, but his hand bones, covered in Busoshoku, firmly blocked it, preventing the Seven Star Sword from descending further.
"Surrender!!"
However, Nox suddenly retracted his sword, then thrust it into Brandon's abdomen.
Brandon had not expected Nox to change his move. He wanted to dodge, but his body was severely injured and battered, making it impossible to evade. He could only use Busoshoku to defend.
"Pfft!!!"
However, Brandon's Busoshoku could not withstand the sharpness of Nox's Seven Star Sword. The Seven Star Sword pierced through his abdomen, and the sword tip emerged from his back.
Brandon's eyes were bloodshot, and he suddenly slammed both fists towards Nox's head and heart.
"Splat!!"
Nox pulled back, dodging Brandon's fists. At the same time, the Seven Star Sword was pulled out from Brandon's abdomen.
"Cough, cough!!"
Brandon coughed up mouthfuls of blood, one hand clutching the wound on his abdomen, the other clutching the wound on his back. His face was pale, devoid of color, and his knees buckled, forcing him to kneel.
He lost, completely and utterly lost.
He had lost to Rocks before and was invited to join his Pirate Crew, then lost to the Marine and was imprisoned. Now, he had lost to Nox, this rising star!
This time, if he lost, he might die!
He thought that since Silver Axe had lost to Nox, his own loss to Nox wasn't so bad.
Brandon was exhausted and unable to fight further, quietly awaiting the arrival of death.
However, after waiting for a while, it seemed death did not come. At this moment, he also used Life Return and his Devil Fruit ability to suppress the bleeding from his wounds.
He recovered some strength and looked up at Nox's domineering, supreme, and disdainful eyes.
"You're not going to kill me?"
Brandon asked the same question Silver Axe had asked earlier.
"I can choose not to kill you. Do you want to die that badly?"
Nox said calmly.
"If I don't have to die, of course I don't want to die!"
Brandon said with a twitch of his mouth. If he could live, he naturally didn't want to die; otherwise, he would have committed suicide when he was captured by the Marine!
"When I defeated Silver Axe, I didn't kill him either."
"And you, I don't plan to kill either, but you must surrender half of the Violence Pirates' territory."
"From now on, you must not oppose the Limitless Pirates, and when I summon you, you must assist me three times unconditionally!"
"Finally, hand over all the Devil Fruit you have collected!"
Nox stated his conditions.
Brandon could lose, but he didn't want Brandon to die so soon; he still had value to be exploited.
"No problem, I agree!"
Like Silver Axe, Brandon agreed without a second thought. Compared to living, what did these conditions matter?
Losers have no right to negotiate conditions, only the right to accept the victor's terms. As an old pirate, he was very clear about this.
"In that case, you may leave. Three days from now, I will send people to take over your territory, but don't let me receive a bunch of barren islands!"
Nox looked down at Brandon, who was lying on the ground.
Although Brandon was very displeased with Nox's attitude, tone, and the way he looked down on him, as a loser, this was something he had to accept!
"Don't worry, I, Brandon, am a man who can accept defeat!"
After speaking, Brandon stood up and walked towards the outside of the island.
"One of the former great pirates also has a day of defeat, but I will not be defeated!"
Looking at Brandon's somewhat lonely back, Nox felt even more confident. Others would lose because they would lose when they encountered him. As for himself, he would absolutely not lose. The only person who could defeat him was himself!
"Captain is awesome!"
"Captain is invincible!"
"Long live Captain!"
"…"
When Nox returned to the Hades, his Pirate Crew cheered.
Nox had successively defeated Silver Axe and Brandon, who were once as famous as Nox, and their Pirate Crew now stood above the Silver Axe Pirates and the Violence Pirates!
"Lads, rest for three days, then go and take over the Violence Pirates' territory. That is our spoils of war!"
"Now, let's have a banquet to celebrate our Limitless Pirates' victory over the Violence Pirates and the Silver Axe Pirates!"
Nox shouted loudly, looking at the many pirates cheering for him.
"Hahaha, our Limitless Pirates are the strongest!!"
"A banquet, I love banquets the most!"
"Finally, we can have a banquet again!"
"…"
Hearing Nox's words, the many pirates cheered again and immediately started a banquet on the ship.
"Ashura Doji, Bullet, Howard, come drink! This time, it's all thanks to you for holding back Brandon!"
After the banquet began, Nox sat and drank with the many Captains and three Executive Officers.
"Captain, this is what we should do! When we become stronger in the future, we'll be able to hold off Brandon by ourselves!"
Ashura Doji loved to drink the most. After chugging a jar of sake, he said excitedly.