"This Imu, as expected of the World King, can still increase his strength at this point!!"
Feeling the surging power erupting from Imu's body, Nox immediately became serious.
He originally thought that even if Imu had another power surge and became stronger, he wouldn't get much stronger, at most increasing his strength by thirty to forty percent on the original basis.
But now, even with just a slight perception using Kenbunshoku Haki, he knew that Imu was at least sixty to seventy percent stronger than before, and possibly even twice as strong!
"Lowly Pirate, it is your honor to witness my true strength!"
"Even the Joy Boy of back then didn't get to witness my current power!!"
Seeing Nox's solemn expression, Imu immediately scoffed with disdain.
This was the strongest state he had developed after defeating Joy Boy. Even if the original Joy Boy were resurrected, he was confident that with his current state, he could kill Joy Boy in one fell swoop!
"You have hidden power, how do you know I don't have hidden power!!"
Looking at Imu's contemptuous and mocking tone, the corner of Nox's mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.
"What?"
Hearing Nox's words, Imu's rather good mood instantly disappeared.
After fighting with Nox for such a long time, Nox's body that could inexplicably increase in strength at will, and his continuous self-healing ability on his back, had already created some psychological shadows for him.
Otherwise, Imu wouldn't have been forced to this point!
Since he knew that the other party still had reserves, he wouldn't give the other party a chance to use them.
After all, the current Nox was already very strong. If he were to increase his strength further, what would happen?
Imu's surging power instantly exploded, crossing the distance of space in an instant and arriving in front of Nox.
"Go to hell!!!"
Imu poured all his strength into his fist and punched out. Instantly, the world lost its color, and even the sun dimmed, replaced by a fist like a black sun!
However, facing Imu's dark and sunless punch, Nox didn't resist at all, and a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Spatial Swap!!"
Just as Imu rushed over, Nox's true body had already swapped positions with the blood bat ten thousand meters in the air. The body that remained in place now was just a fake body condensed from blood.
"Bang!!!"
As expected, Imu's full-strength punch directly shattered Nox's body into pieces, and countless drops of blood scattered into the air.
"Damn guy, I was tricked by this guy again!"
When Imu shattered Nox with a punch, he immediately realized that he had been tricked by this move again.
"This guy Imu, it's not just his pure physical strength that has become stronger, his Busoshoku Haki has also become stronger, which is incredible!"
Although Nox's fake body was shattered, the bit of mental power stored in the fake body was not shattered.
Through this bit of mental power and his own observation, he was surprised to find that Imu's Busoshoku Haki and physical strength were much stronger than before.
In other words, Imu's strengthening this time focused on enhancing Busoshoku Haki and physical strength.
"How did he do this?"
Nox was very puzzled by this. Logically speaking, when increasing strength, it usually involves increasing one's Devil Fruit ability or physical strength. He had never heard of being able to increase Haki, and by at least two times!
Imu's original Busoshoku Haki was already incredibly strong. Now that it was amplified by more than two times again, this was simply inhuman!
"However, this is more interesting. Otherwise, if I were to kill Imu with one sword after my power surge, wouldn't that be a pity?"
Nox was only slightly surprised by Imu's power surge. After all, he himself still had ways to increase his strength!
"Blood Burning!"
With a thought, all the blood in Nox's body instantly began to burn fiercely. His entire body was like being bathed in blood fire, and blood mist sprayed from all his pores.
A bloody aura surged out, dyeing the entire sky blood red.
"Rumble rumble!!!"
Nox's heart contracted and beat several times faster than before. Under the heart's transportation, the burning blood in his body flowed and washed all parts of his body like a rushing river.
This was only possible because his body had been strengthened by Life Return before, and he had also cultivated the ninth layer of the Sword God Body Tempering Art, completing the strengthening of all his muscles, organs, bones, and blood.
Otherwise, under the impact of such rapidly flowing blood, his entire body would explode!
At this moment, Nox felt that his entire being was in a state of explosion. In this state, his strength was undoubtedly amplified to its peak!
The explosive power all over his body made him feel stifled. Only by venting the accumulated power in his body could he feel more comfortable!
"Up there!"
Under the scan of Kenbunshoku Haki, Imu quickly determined the location of Nox's true body.
"How is this possible, this level of power!!"
However, just as Imu was about to chase after Nox and eliminate him in one fell swoop, he discovered a power that made his heart palpitate suddenly surge from within Nox's body.
Nox had said before that he possessed even greater power that he hadn't revealed yet.
Imu originally thought this was just a bluff to scare him, but he didn't expect it to be true.
Even the aura of his greatest enemy, Joy Boy, was not as strong as the power on Nox at this moment.
"Imu, come and fight!!"
The burning blood fire all over his body surged out, making Nox as wild as a legendary Super Saiyan. After sensing Imu's Kenbunshoku Haki probing, Nox directly flew down from the sky.
The Seven Star Sword also began to burn with blood fire. As Nox tightened his grip on the hilt, the Seven Star Sword instantly condensed a blood fire sword body hundreds of meters long.
"Arrogant ant!!"
Imu was only surprised by Nox's increase in strength. He had absolute confidence in his own strength. So what if Nox was stronger than the Joy Boy of back then?
He was no longer the Imu of eight hundred years ago. Even if Joy Boy stood in front of him now, he would still be beaten to death just like eight hundred years ago!
"Dark God Fist!!"
Facing the extremely arrogant Nox, Imu erupted with even more dark energy from his entire body, condensing with the original shattered black hole energy. Even his vast Busoshoku Haki was integrated into the Dark God Fist.
He punched out, like a black sun descending, devouring everything in the world.
However, facing this Dark God Fist, as the giant blood fire sword slashed down, the devouring power of the Dark God Fist could not devour the blood fire.
The power unleashed by Imu's proud Busoshoku Haki could not destroy the giant blood fire sword.
And Nox, holding the giant blood fire sword, instantly unleashed even more powerful strength, directly splitting the Dark God Fist apart.
And the giant blood fire sword was unstoppable, and then slashed down towards Imu!
"How can he be so strong!!!"
Imu couldn't believe that he had unleashed his peak power, yet he was still defeated by the ant in front of him!
In front of the giant blood fire sword, Imu looked even more like an ant at this moment!!
Facing Nox's sword, Imu had nowhere to hide. Subconsciously, he covered his entire body with Busoshoku Haki and held his fists in front of him.
"Bang!!!"
Having taken a direct hit from Nox's sword, Imu was like a meteor falling from high in the sky towards the Red Line.
"Ah!!!!"
Imu let out a sharp scream. The bones in both his arms were shattered, and his body suffered unprecedented heavy damage.
The most important thing was not the physical injury, but that his soul was deeply cut by Nox's sword. The sword wound penetrated his soul, which was his most severe injury!
"Rumble!!!"
Imu's body crashed onto the Red Line, causing a massive roar and tremor throughout the Red Line. Fortunately, the location where Imu crashed was not the Mary Geoise battlefield, otherwise people might have been accidentally killed!
But even so, Imu created a giant deep pit on the Red Line. Even when looking down from ten thousand meters in the air, a clear deep pit mark could be seen.
"Is that the World King Imu? Was he slashed down from the sky by Nox?"
"Impossible, our King will never be defeated!"
"Hahahahaha, Captain is mighty! Defeating the World King and usurping the world's authority is now! Brothers, kill!!"
"As expected of the Captain, we must also work hard. We can't let the Captain defeat Imu and then have to personally handle the matters below!"
""
Many people on the Mary Geoise battlefield saw Imu falling, and the Limitless Pirates immediately became more excited.
To be honest, they had also believed that Nox could defeat Imu before, but they didn't have the ability to witness the situation on the battlefield ten thousand meters in the air with their own eyes, so they felt some psychological pressure.
But now, seeing Imu fall, they had no more pressure. If they did, it was pressure on themselves, for fear that the battle there would end before their battle here, leaving a bad impression on Nox!
"Jie hahahaha, Nox did well. I can't keep lying here either!!!"
Golden Lion, who was lying in the infirmary, saw this scene and immediately burst into laughter. Ignoring his newly stabilized injuries, he flew out with his two swords and joined the battlefield.
He couldn't defeat Imu, the World King, but could he not defeat Imu's lackeys?
At this moment, Golden Lion no longer had the ambition to compete for the World King. All he wanted was to help Nox deal with the World Government's lackeys and then gain more benefits after the final battle.
With the addition of Golden Lion, the World Government side was undoubtedly worse off.
They were already in a precarious situation before, and now that they saw Imu being shot down by Nox, their persistence weakened!
"We still have the national treasure, we will definitely not lose!"
It was only the Gorosei who still firmly supported Imu, because they knew that the power of the national treasure was invincible. Even Joy Boy eight hundred years ago died under the bombardment of the national treasure. No matter how strong Nox was, he would definitely not be stronger than the bombardment of the national treasure!
"Father is as incredibly strong as ever. Since Father is working so hard, as a daughter, I cannot disappoint Father!"
"Next, are you ready to die?"
Rhea said coldly to her opponent.
Her opponent was a body art expert of the Ancient Zoan type, who could be said to be an opponent that countered Rhea's ability.
But countering was only relative, Rhea never felt that her ability was countered.
"Little girl, you shouldn't talk big like that!"
Although Julius Roberto spoke easily, he was actually on high alert in his heart. He would never underestimate Rhea, who was Nox's daughter.
Nox's five sons were Entangled the Gorosei, Nox's eldest daughter killed a top-tier Celestial Dragon. Rhea, as Nox's daughter, was also not to be underestimated, he knew this very well!
"Awakening!!!"
Rhea didn't continue with the verbal sparring, but instead her eyes revealed a deep red curse.
Then she directly activated the Awakening state of her Devil Fruit, and the red curse power instantly erupted.
The Animal-type Mythical Zoan: Nue form Devil Fruit allowed Rhea to control the power of curses.
But in the non-Awakened state, she needed to touch the opponent to curse them, and the opponent's strong physical defense and Busoshoku Haki isolated Rhea's curse.
But at this moment, after Awakening, Rhea's curse power no longer required touching the opponent; she could still curse them!
"This is Awakening, impossible, absolutely impossible!!"
Seeing Rhea's aura instantly surge, Julius Roberto's eyes revealed deep fear. He knew too well the power of Animal-type Mythical Zoan after Awakening!!
He himself was a Devil Fruit ability Awakened user, otherwise he wouldn't have such a strong body to withstand the erosion of Rhea's curse power.
However, facing the Awakened Rhea, he had absolutely no confidence in being able to withstand Rhea's strange curse power. The best proof was the two colleagues who were killed by Esdeath and Bullet before.
"Curse Heaven and Earth!!"
The curse power instantly erupted from Rhea's body, then enveloped the area of a thousand meters around her.
Compared to cursing a person, cursing heaven and earth consumed more stamina.
But Rhea still insisted on cursing this area, turning it into her home ground.
It was true that Julius Roberto could isolate the curse power, but he needed to breathe, his entire body's pores also needed to be in contact with the air, and his seven orifices couldn't be completely closed. These were all avenues for Rhea's curse to invade Julius Roberto.
And this curse invasion was silent. Even Julius wouldn't notice it, and this was Rhea's true goal!