"I don't want to see an ant suddenly break through in battle. If you don't have stronger power, then you can die!"
Perhaps Imu said this because he realized Nox's purpose.
Although he also used Nox during the battle to restore his body's fighting instincts, he was unwilling to let Nox learn his Busoshoku Haki techniques.
Although the probability was very low, Imu didn't want to gamble. Instead of that, it was better to directly use his true power to kill the opponent!
More importantly, he found that even though he was constantly bombarding the opponent's body, causing them injury, even with a body awakened with a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, under the cumulative effect of his constant bombardment, they should be seriously injured or even near death by now.
But now, the opponent still looked vibrant and showed no signs of injury.
This was what surprised him the most. If he hadn't felt the power of the Immortal Surgery on Nox, he would have suspected that Nox had achieved immortality!
As Imu spoke, a majestic power within him began to revive. Dark power burned around him like flames.
That dark power was like a black hole that devoured people. Anything that got close to him would be completely devoured by the darkness.
"Hahahaha, what a petty person. But it's not my style to keep getting beaten. I hope you don't get killed by me next!"
Seeing the change in Imu's aura, Nox naturally didn't dare to continue fighting in his ordinary human-beast form.
He clearly sensed that if he continued to use the power he had just been using, he might really be instantly killed if Imu seized the opportunity.
He valued his life very much and didn't want to use his life to verify whether Imu's words were true.
"Life Return · Full Body Enhancement!"
As he spoke, Nox used Life Return to enhance his entire body's muscles. Instantly, his entire body's muscles bulged to their limit. Even while wearing the blood armor, one could see Nox's physique becoming a size stronger.
After enhancing his entire body, Nox felt his strength surge. If the previous state was Nox's most ordinary state, then his current state was his body enhancement state!
"Now, let's start the second round of battle, Imu!"
"Kill!!!"
Without waiting for Imu to make a move, Nox held the Seven Star Sword and rushed forward first, slashing towards Imu's head with a sword!
Instantly, the dark power burning all over Imu's body contracted back into his body, leaving only the dark power on his fist burning.
Seeing Nox charging over, Imu still punched over as before.
Fist and sword collided again, but this time, Nox was not sent flying by Imu. Instead, he firmly blocked Imu's fist!
"Hmm? Interesting. This technique to enhance body strength shouldn't last long!"
Imu looked at Nox's current state with some surprise. Even though the blood armor covered Nox's body, Imu still perceived why Nox could increase his pure physical strength so much in a short period of time.
It was precisely because Nox was stronger than the current Imu in terms of pure strength that he could block Imu's punch!
However, Imu was mistaken. Nox's Life Return had long been cultivated to its peak and perfectly integrated with his own abilities.
It was impossible for normal people to sustain their enhancement with Life Return for long, but as a vampire ability user, the Seven Star Sword contained an endless supply of fresh blood, which could perfectly compensate for this deficiency with the power of blood.
In other words, this enhanced state could be maintained by Nox for ten days or half a month without stopping, enough to support him until the moment he defeated Imu.
"Darkness Infusion!"
While the fist and sword were in a stalemate, the dark fire that was originally burning on Imu's fist suddenly surged onto the Seven Star Sword.
The dark fire possessed terrifying devouring power. After it surged onto the Seven Star Sword, it began to devour the blood power and Busoshoku Haki on the Seven Star Sword.
This dark fire even wanted to spread from the Seven Star Sword to Nox's arm.
"This dark power is truly overbearing. Logically speaking, Devil Fruit abilities should be restrained by Busoshoku Haki. Now, this dark power can even devour my Busoshoku Haki, which is simply incredible. This ability is completely off the charts!"
"Blood Baptism!!!"
Seeing this scene, Nox immediately mobilized the blood within the Seven Star Sword to start flushing away the devouring dark fire, letting this blood stand at the forefront to be devoured by the dark fire, preventing the dark fire from devouring Nox's Haki and the Seven Star Sword itself.
Although he didn't know the consequences of being devoured by the dark fire, he would absolutely not give the opponent a chance to devour. The unknown is the most dangerous!
At the same time, Nox immediately increased his strength to force Imu back.
This dark fire was incredibly overbearing, capable of devouring even Busoshoku Haki. He didn't dare to let the dark fire continue to stay on the Seven Star Sword. Even though the Seven Star Sword had turned into a black blade, he didn't want to take this risk.
After all, the Seven Star Sword was a part of his power. Without the Seven Star Sword, he couldn't exert eight-tenths of his full strength!
"Instant Slash!"
While forcing Imu back, Nox burst forward again, taking advantage of the moment Imu hadn't stabilized his footing, and slashed at his abdomen with a sword.
"Pfft!!!"
The layer of dark power on Imu's body blocked most of Nox's strength, but the Seven Star Sword still cut through the protection of darkness and slashed at Imu's abdomen!
However, when Nox made his move, Imu's fist, carrying the dark fire, also punched him in the chest.
"Crack!"
With one punch, the blood armor on Nox's chest instantly shattered, his chest muscles caved in, and his entire body shot out like a cannonball.
"You deserve to die, how dare you steal divine blood!!!"
Although he injured Nox, Imu was furious because he had just sensed that a lot of blood had been sucked away from the injured area of his abdomen.
That was his blood, and it had been stolen by this damned ant!
In his anger, Imu burst out with even greater speed than before. Nox had only flown a few dozen meters, and Imu had already caught up!
Without any hesitation, a punch filled with Imu's anger smashed towards Nox.
"Hahahaha, that's just smelly blood, I wouldn't even want it if you gave it to me!"
Facing Imu in this state, Nox wasn't afraid at all. He blocked Imu's fist with the Seven Star Sword.
He even used the power from Imu's fist to retreat away from Imu, then released the force to stabilize his body, and then charged back to fight with Imu.
The power that Imu displayed in his anger was stronger than before. The power of Busoshoku Haki on his fist was constantly increasing, and the power of that dark fire was also constantly getting stronger.
However, the current Nox was not the normal Nox. Nox's strength in his enhanced state could be said to be the strongest in the World!
After all, he had already cultivated the [Sword God Body Tempering Art] to the ninth layer completion, and his entire body had been completely tempered into an [Overlord Body] with Haki, so his strength was naturally incredibly powerful, not to mention the strength after enhancement.
Imu's power was also very strong, the strongest person Nox had seen besides himself.
Nox suspected that he had also cultivated the Overlord Body, which was to temper the entire body with Busoshoku Haki, and his Devil Fruit was also a Mythical Zoan type that could enhance his own power.
After all, Imu had lived for eight hundred years, and his Busoshoku Haki was so strong. Nox had no doubt whether Imu could Training the Overlord Body because Imu had a unique advantage in this regard.
The great battle between Nox and Imu was more intense than before. Every collision of fist and sword was like an Explosive Rock exploding with a hundredfold increase.
If they hadn't been fighting ten thousand meters in the air, all the countries on the Red Line would have been destroyed, and the Red Line itself might even have been broken.
"Satisfying, truly satisfying, again, again!"
Fighting with Imu, Nox felt incredibly exhilarated. Every sword swing was so smooth and unrestrained, even getting injured felt so happy!
In the Pirate Alliance logistics department not far from the Mary Geoise battlefield, many doctors were rushing to rescue the seriously injured and dying Golden Lion. After more than ten minutes of rescue, the Golden Lion finally woke up from his coma.
However, the Golden Lion's head was severely injured, and his body was in great pain. Even many painkillers could not completely stop the intense pain.
"Damn it, how could I lose? I am the World King!"
When the Golden Lion woke up, he still refused to admit defeat. He had finally reached this point, and the throne of the World King was right before his eyes, but he was unable to sit on it. He never expected that he would lose, and lose so completely!
"Captain, your injuries are very serious now, you can't get up!"
Seeing the Golden Lion trying to get up, the doctor said with great worry.
"Get lost, I haven't lost yet, I can still fight!"
The Golden Lion snorted coldly, and his body floated up, directly leaving the infirmary and coming outside.
However, when he came outside, after losing the obstruction of the defensive base, the powerful collision aftermath from ten thousand meters high instantly shook the Flying Golden Lion, causing him to fall from the air to the ground.
"Ah!!!!"
All the wounds on his body burst open again as a result. The intense pain made the Golden Lion unable to help but scream loudly. It was truly too painful. Even though his consciousness was very strong, the pain was real pain!
"That's, Nox and Imu."
However, in the midst of this severe pain, his eyes were still fixed on the sky, watching the intense collision aftermath in the sky sweep over again and again like a tide, his heart filled with bitterness and a sense of defeat.
He didn't expect that Nox and Imu's strength was so strong. Even his final desperate move, looking back now, couldn't even compare to the power of one of their collisions.
The power that Nox and Imu were now displaying had completely surpassed him by an unknown amount. Even at his peak, he probably couldn't withstand one of their moves!
This sense of frustration was something he had never encountered in his life.
Even when he was suppressed by Rocks in the past, the Golden Lion was still full of confidence in himself because he believed that as long as he fully grew up, he could even defeat Rocks.
Now, he had grown to his peak, with no room for further advancement, but facing Imu and Nox at this moment, he had no confidence whatsoever in winning against them!
"Captain!!!"
The many Pirates in the logistics department saw the Golden Lion lying on the ground bleeding profusely and immediately rushed over to carry the Golden Lion back into the base.
At this time, the Golden Lion did not continue to refuse his crew members' carrying, because he knew that he had truly lost, and lost completely.
This World ultimately valued strength. Since his strength was inferior to Nox and Imu, he was not destined for the throne of the World King.
If their time difference wasn't significant, the Golden Lion would still have confidence in catching up, but the gap between them was too, too large, so large that the Golden Lion couldn't catch up even if he was twice or three times stronger than he was now. This gap made the Golden Lion feel despair for the first time, making him see no hope of catching up with the opponent!
"Nox, is this why you never competed with me all this time? So all along you were just letting me, or rather, all along you were sure of victory and never worried about losing!"
While being carried back to the infirmary bed to receive surgery from the doctor, the Golden Lion couldn't help but think about Nox's various behaviors towards him over the years.
All along, the whole World knew that the Limitless Pirates and the Flying Pirates were the two strongest Pirate Crew, both Legendary Pirates, and their status was equal, with neither being stronger than the other.
But today's World War made the Golden Lion see that the overall strength of the Limitless Pirates was at least twice as strong as the overall strength of the Flying Pirates.
And Nox's strength had long surpassed the Golden Lion, and it was a crushing superiority.
But none of this was shown by Nox before, all in order to bring together the Flying Pirates and all the Pirate Crew to deal with the World Government.
Now, the World War has been ignited, and all the Pirate Crew are bound together, having reached a point of no retreat.
Now that the Limitless Pirates and Nox have shown absolute crushing strength, if Nox continues to defeat Imu and the Pirate Alliance defeats the World Government, then this World will belong to Nox. No one can object to this point, and anyone who dares to object will be liquidated by Nox. No one believes they can survive under Nox's sword!
"Nox, ever since I met you, I knew your calculations were very deep, but I didn't expect you to hide them so well, and the whole World was calculated by you!"
"However, I, Golden Lion, am not someone who can't afford to lose. As long as you can defeat Imu, then what if this World is ruled by you!"
After understanding some things, the Golden Lion also let go of a part of his burden. After all, his strength was inferior, and he had truly lost, and he, Golden Lion, was not someone who couldn't afford to lose. If he lost, he would naturally admit it!
But it was not an easy task for Nox to truly defeat Imu, not to mention that the World Government still controlled the Ancient Weapon. The outcome was still unknown.
He also knew that Nox must have something hidden behind the scenes to deal with the Ancient Weapon of the World Government. After all, he knew Nox very well and never did anything without confidence. Since Nox knew that the World Government possessed the Ancient Weapon, he must have a way to deal with it!
"Quickly heal my injuries!!"
Thinking of this, the Golden Lion quickly urged the doctor who was performing surgery on him. The World War was not over yet, how could he, Golden Lion, be absent!
Even though he had decided not to be the World King anymore, he absolutely would not allow himself to lie in the infirmary throughout this great battle!
Because he knew that once the World Government collapsed, or rather, when Imu was about to be defeated, the Ancient Weapon would definitely be aimed at Mary Geoise and bombard it. He needed to heal his injuries before that, and then take his subordinates away before the Ancient Weapon fell!
"Yes, Captain!"
Seeing the Captain cooperating so well with the surgery, the doctor also immediately sped up the surgery.