Chapter 429: Drums of Liberation! Nika Finally Appears!

Accompanied by Ah Jin's low voice, the bone armor that had completely enveloped him shattered inch by inch, exposing the true form hidden within.

Yet that form was not what everyone had expected—Ah Jin's flesh and blood—but a monster entirely wrapped in jet-black spikes!

Fierce and sinister!

The sky was clear and blue, the clouds long since scattered by the successive battles.

Blinding golden light shone upon the arena, illuminating Ah Jin, who was clad head to toe in jet-black bone armor!

It carried an indescribable, chilling implication!

"This fellow... this subordinate of Knight Gao Wen... what kind of monster is he?!"

"Luffy has gone this far, even unleashing his trump card, the Gear Fourth Snakeman form, yet he hasn't even left a single scratch?!"

Sabaody Archipelago.

Xia Qi leaned against the bar, watching the projection screen where Straw Hat was being lifted by Ah Jin's hand, his eyes filled with extreme astonishment.

With Lei Li and Gaban joining forces for nearly three months of special training, plus Straw Hat's own immense potential stemming from the D., his combat power could be said to be incomparable to the past.

He was even not far from Lei Li himself!

But now, facing Ah Jin, he had been completely suppressed throughout the entire fight!

"Lei Li..."

Xia Qi couldn't help but turn his head to look at Lei Li:

"If you were to face that guy..."

"The new era..."

Lei Li's hand holding the wine flask paused slightly, his gaze extremely complex:

"There is no ship left capable of carrying us old relics, and Britannias... is not a stage that belongs to me."

Although Lei Li did not answer directly, Xia Qi could see the loneliness in Lei Li's eyes.

Before her eyes, the scene from two years ago inevitably emerged, when Gao Wen's crew had just arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago.

At that time, Gao Wen, as the captain, already possessed combat power comparable to the Four Emperors, yet his crewmates still had a very long distance to go before reaching the summit.

To reach this step, the Roger Pirates of those years had spent over a decade, undergoing countless bloody battles and facing innumerable powerful foes.

Among the outstanding figures were great pirates like Golden Lion, Whitebeard, and Rocks; any one of them alone required the World Government to handle with extreme caution.

Yet for newcomers like Ah Jin, Zoro, and Sanji to achieve the same level, the time it took them...

Was only two years.

And furthermore, Ah Jin's current combat power had already surpassed Lei Li's!

Xia Qi's heart tightened:

"Won't Luffy be in danger?!"

Lei Li shook his head:

"If Ah Jin had used his full power from the very beginning, Luffy would have been defeated in that instant."

"What he is doing now, rather than fighting Luffy, is more like..."

Speaking thus.

Lei Li paused, his gaze falling upon the projection screen, while in his mind echoed the figure of Gao Wen.

"You also know of Nika's existence... saying that, you must have seen it, haven't you? The One Piece and the future of this world!"

"Are you also trying to draw out Nika's power?!"

"No!"

The words had just left his mouth when Lei Li denied his own speculation:

"Knight Gao Wen would absolutely never do such a thing!!"

"If he wants to obtain something, he relies on the blade in his hand, not on a destined savior."

"Therefore..."

As the thoughts in his mind grew increasingly complex, Lei Li gradually began to understand what Gao Wen truly desired.

In his eyes there was shock, there was surprise, and even more, a heroic spirit that he once possessed but had been worn away by the passage of time!

"So whether it is the legendary Nika, the contemporary Four Emperors, or the legends of the previous era, they are merely seeds for the Martial Arts Tournament!"

"What you truly desire is an opponent!"

"An opponent powerful enough to make you excited!"

"Invincible in the current age, so you create an existence capable of matching yourself?!"

"What arrogance!"

After this exclamation, Lei Li drained the strong wine from his flask in one gulp; the liquor, sharp as a knife, scraped down his throat, causing this body gradually walking toward withering to radiate brilliance!

In the hazy intoxication.

Lei Li seemed to return to those magnificent and turbulent adventures of twenty years ago!

Time rewound to a few minutes earlier.

Clad in jet-black bone armor, Ah Jin casually threw Straw Hat toward the distant surrounding wall, smashing a huge crater directly into it, then step by step, he walked toward Straw Hat with unparalleled oppression.

Boom—!

Boom—!

Boom—!

The footsteps echoed through the silent Round Table Arena like agitated drumbeats.

Even the heartbeats of the crowd seemed affected, suddenly accelerating as if they were about to leap out of their mouths!

"This form..."

"Three-Bone Six-Heaven Demon King!"

Barrett leaned against the windowsill, lowering his gaze to look at Ah Jin in the midst of the battlefield.

As one of the top workaholics under Gao Wen's command, he had fought Ah Jin more than ten times, so he naturally understood Ah Jin quite well.

But at this moment, watching Ah Jin reveal his final trump card, his expression was likewise one of astonishment.

"When Ah Jin used this move before, there was no such momentum; is this a hidden trump card?!"

"This is aimed at me!"

The corners of Barrett's mouth curled into a slight smile; with arms crossed and a casual posture, he appeared immensely confident:

"However, with this, the battle should end; this farce stops here."

Kaido and the others nearby made the same judgment as Barrett.

Seeing this, a trace of anxiety inevitably grew in the eyes of Sabo and Kid.

Straw Hat's defeat was one thing, but if even his life were lost here...

Not worth it!

"I will not lose!"

A stubborn voice rang out from the distant ruins.

Straw Hat pushed aside the rubble pinning him down; covered in blood, his eyes were far more determined than before.

His fists clenched tighter, and the Conqueror's Haki born of will within his body surged even more violently, so that merely raising his hand caused crimson lightning to flash around him!

"Hoo..."

A mouthful of turbid air was exhaled.

Straw Hat shattered the floor with a single step; going against the overwhelming momentum pressing down from Ah Jin's Xiong Xiong, he mobilized all his strength and rushed forward to kill Ah Jin!

"Gum-Gum Nine-Headed Snake!"

Straw Hat's dual fists blasted forward, squeezing out every last ounce of strength within his body!

He had reasons he could not lose: the promise made half-jokingly to Kid, the One Piece he pursued, and a certain premonition that had arisen for some unknown reason.

If he retreated here, he would lose the qualification to advance further and ascend the Wang Zuo.

"Aaaah—!"

Accompanied by a roar, Straw Hat's dual fists swung through the air, creating countless afterimages, moving so fast that even Observation Haki could not perceive them.

Even experts who had mastered the future-sight aspect of Observation Haki would find it difficult to dodge, because...

Fast!

So fast it exceeded the speed of nerve conduction, so fast it surpassed the time needed for thought!

Among the various abilities derived from Observation Haki, future sight was undoubtedly an extremely powerful one, but just like in a food chain, no ability was absolutely invincible.

Even if one saw the future, it was futile if the body could not react in time!

In Straw Hat's view, this move was like Ah Jin's bone spear in his Two-Bone form; it could only be met head-on.

However.

Ah Jin's Observation Haki had likewise been cultivated to an extremely high degree.