Chapter 174

However, Brian didn't fare as well—although he dodged it, the resulting shockwave still blasted him off the Nirvana control platform, sending him crashing onto a distant mountain peak.

"Bang—!"

Brian slid several hundred meters across the ground before slowly coming to a halt, letting out a horrifying scream.

"Still planning to resist?"

Lin Cheng's enormous dragon eyes gazed coldly down at Brian—who looked like an ant below—as he spoke, glancing at the faint scratches on his own body.

A plan that had taken years of painstaking effort and careful scheming had been thrown into chaos by some fellow who had suddenly appeared.

At this moment, Brian's face was written all over with an expression of utter disbelief.

Brian struggled to his feet, his gaze toward Lin Cheng brimming with unwillingness,

"Where exactly do you come from?"

"The Grand Line? The Akatsuki? Or Soul Society?"

In his final moments, Brian forced himself to stay calm and managed to squeeze out these words.

In fact, connecting the recent events—and adding the dragon race to the mix—a bold guess had already begun to form vaguely in Brian's mind.

He knew this world was not the only one.

The sudden disappearance of the dragon race might not have been extinction—perhaps they had gone off to another world.

"The Five Elder Stars, from the World Government of the Grand Line."

The moment Lin Cheng's words landed, to Brian they were nothing short of deafening!

Because that sentence unmistakably revealed the other's identity.

"Same as Bai Huzi?"

Brian asked, forcibly suppressing his shock.

"No, the Four Emperors are enemies of our World Government. I came here this time to personally lead a team to capture the Bai Huzi Pirates."

Lin Cheng did not deny it, and casually assigned himself a new identity without batting an eye.

"Earlier, word came from Bai Huzi's side that a new world had been discovered. Out of curiosity I came to take a look, and I never expected the new world to actually exist."

The highest art of bluffing is mixing truth with falsehood, falsehood with truth.

Letting others draw close enough to glimpse the facts, yet never letting them see through or grasp them—drenched in mystery.

In his view, after the Akatsuki incident, the other factions also needed to surface and enter the world's spotlight.

Especially the Grand Line—the characters there were still too few.

From beginning to end, only Ace had appeared. Although the Monu Sect also had only Sloth so far, its background fit this world's story perfectly.

It was time to give the Grand Line a bigger role.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon's human form had joined the Akatsuki, but its true body had only just now appeared.

Moreover, since Lin Cheng had previously been moving about wearing a mask, no one would connect the two.

As for whether news of the Five Elder Stars would spread, Lin Cheng didn't need to worry about that.

Such a stunning battle—even if not many people had watched—would still spread.

"I see. A man capable of capturing a Four Emperor—no wonder I lost so badly."

Brian was well aware of the earlier news about Ace: a mere captain-level mission under the Four Emperors could go head-to-head with Ultear, so the Four Emperors' strength was self-evident.

For the other party to dare personally lead a team to capture a Four Emperor, their strength surely was no less than that of a Four Emperor.

Losing to such a figure was no disgrace—but Brian had no intention of giving up just like that.

Because once he gave up, the only thing waiting for him would be death!

Even if he survived, his fate would likely be no better.

"Killing me off just like that? It's not that easy."

Boom—!

The instant the words fell, a wave of evil and terrifying magical power erupted from within Brian's body!

At the same time, the last pattern on his face vanished completely, and dark magic coursed through his entire body!

"It appeared?"

"Brian's second personality, the Chairman-less."

Lin Cheng watched Brian's transformation in silence.

He was not surprised by Brian's change—in fact, Brian's second personality was the true leader of the Six Demon Generals.

Once the second personality took over, the Chairman-less… that is, Brian's strength would skyrocket.

Reaching the level of the top few among the Holy Ten, or even the Four Heavenly Kings of Ishgar.

However, if that was all the power he had, it still wouldn't be enough to change the situation.

But…

Just as Lin Cheng was about to make his move, he seemed to sense something and raised his gaze toward the distance.