Chapter 128

"Why is that guy continuously banging his head against the ice?"

Luo Bin recognized the origin of that group, and also identified the identity of the old man banging his head against the ice.

She smiled at Konis, who was now nearly as tall as she was: "That's the leader of the Pepper Family from the Flower Kingdom—Pepper. He's the twelfth-generation pillar of the Flower Kingdom pirates, the Eight Treasures Navy, or you could say their head. He was once a bounty of five hundred million. But now he's retired."

"F-five hundred million?! That old man with the sunken head?!"

Boni, now transformed into a little girl with pink long hair, was slightly stunned.

Luo Bin covered her mouth and laughed: "His head wasn't always like this—it used to be conical. Back then, his conical head was his most prized weapon. Even this incredibly hard ice bed, buried with countless treasures, could only be opened by his conical head."

"That powerful?" Boni winced. "Then how did his head get flattened?"

"They say it was crushed by a single punch from that Marine hero, Admiral Karp."

Luo Bin smiled.

"So that's why. If it was that Marine hero Karp, it's not surprising."

Boni nodded.

"Karp…"

The hunched old man Pepper, who had been using his Iron Head Technique to smash against the jade ice mountain hiding his vast wealth, stopped striking. His white beard fluttered as he twisted his face, ghoul-like, toward the direction where Luo En and the others stood.

Luo Bin, Konis, and Boni all froze.

Standing beside them, wearing a black fur coat, his figure now taller and more robust, a black sword at his waist, Luo En smiled: "It seems you were all heard quite clearly."

"No way—he could hear us from this far?!"

Boni was astonished. "Does that hunched old man have such sharp hearing?!"

The frozen ground trembled.

Pepper's massive body shot toward them like a cannonball.

"Looks like he really heard us."

Konis gave a wry smile.

Luo Bin watched the towering figure charging toward them and nodded:

"We really shouldn't have spoken ill of someone behind their back."

Pepper covered the hundreds of meters in three seconds.

His enormous body landed heavily before them, his beard and hair whipping wildly as he loomed over them with a terrifying gaze, radiating overwhelming presence.

"You were talking about Karp, right? Tell me! Who are you to Karp?!"

Konis, Luo Bin, and Boni's long hair was blown backward by his aura, yet all three women looked at him with calm, relaxed expressions—not a trace of fear.

Beside them, the kung fu sea cow Xiao Qi stared at him with eager anticipation.

"Karp… I'd say we're acquainted."

Luo En smiled.

Luo En, now one meter eighty tall, still looked tiny compared to Pepper, who stood five to six meters tall and was massively built.

"Karp's… acquaintance."

Pepper's eyes instantly flashed with deep, bitter hatred.

"Anyone connected to Karp—I won't let them live!"

His voice carried rage and hatred as he reached out a massive hand to crush the black-haired, black-clad boy before him.

Meanwhile, the members of the Eight Treasures Navy who had come with Pepper to this ice continent rushed toward them. At their head was a man carrying a Yongdao sword—Old Cai, the deputy pillar of the Eight Treasures Navy, master of the Eight Impact Fist.

He glanced at the distinguished black-clad boy, the beautiful women beside him, and the kung fu sea cow wearing a steel vest and carrying a huge bundle, his eyes filled with doubt.

"Who are these people…?"

Before he could think further, Pepper, consumed by hatred and fury, swung his palm through the air toward the black-clad boy with the black sword at his waist.

Shhh!

In the instant before the giant hand could grasp him, the black-clad boy vanished as if teleported.

Old Cai's eyes narrowed.

Incredible speed!

Where?

He scanned the area, activating his Observation Haki.

When he sensed the black-clad boy suddenly appearing in midair, Old Cai urgently warned: "Liang…"

"Don't tell me!"

Pepper spun and punched upward into the air.

The black-haired boy in the black coat punched downward from midair.

Two fists, vastly unequal in size, collided.

The air froze instantly, then exploded with a thunderous roar!

A staggering shockwave erupted outward in all directions.

Old Cai instinctively raised his arms to shield himself, while the Eight Treasures Navy behind him were blown back several meters by the blast.

117, One Punch to Sharpen Your Head (Combined)

In Old Cai's stunned gaze, Pepper's fist was knocked back by the black-clad boy's fist—and Pepper's massive body staggered backward two steps from the impact.

"Impossible… The boss was pushed back?!"

"Don't talk nonsense—the boss must've let his guard down."

"Yes, that's definitely it!"

"But that guy's strength seems pretty strong too."

The Eight Treasures Navy murmured among themselves.

Feeling the terrifying power contained within that punch, Green Pepper steadied himself and fixed his gaze on the black-clothed youth who had landed on the emerald ice surface.

"The force of this fist gives this old man the same feeling as that detestable fellow Garp… Boy, give this old man your name."

Luo En raised his right hand and lightly clenched his fist; lv6 Armament Haki instantly hardened over it, turning his entire arm pitch-black.

He glanced sideways at Green Pepper and said, "Beat me, and I'll tell you."

"Interesting!"

Green Pepper was instantly thrilled.

He raised his thick, massive right arm; Armament Haki hardened over it in an instant, and he smashed a fist down toward Luo En.

Luo En, whose HP had reached 3000 points, met his attack head-on; his Armament-Haki-hardened right arm pierced through the air, wrapped in scorching heat waves as it blasted upward.

The instant a large and a small pitch-black fist collided.

Heaven and earth fell silent.

The air frozen between the two of them cracked apart with a roar, like a pane of glass covered in countless silver-white fractures.

Along with the collision of this punch.

Green Pepper's Conqueror's Haki was activated; the instant Luo En felt his Conqueror's Haki, the lv2 Conqueror's Haki within Luo En—like an enraged tiger—activated in an instant as well.

The two sides' Conqueror's Haki collided.

Hmm!

Along with the wave of pressure produced by the collision of Conqueror's Haki spreading outward, the Eight Treasure Water Navy soldiers behind Lao Cai were all intimidated into unconsciousness, toppling over one after another with their eyes rolled back.

And Lao Cai himself was dazed for a moment; when he came back to his senses, cold sweat poured down his forehead.

"This is the… collision of Conqueror's Haki?!"

Along with the collision of the two men's Conqueror's Haki, countless blood-colored lightning bolts appeared around both figures, and visible streams of air snaked outward from the collision of their fists.

Rings of aura impact carrying an awe-inspiring pressure spread outward along with astonishingly fierce winds; the unconscious Eight Treasure Water Navy soldiers were blown away like leaves.

Astonishing phenomena also appeared in the sky—countless blood-colored cracks spread across the heavens; this Ice Island trembled continuously under the impact and collision of the two men's Conqueror's Haki, and the surrounding sea was whipped up into fierce winds and great waves.

Luo Bin and Conis could not help but reveal looks of shock.

This was also the first time they had witnessed a collision of Conqueror's Haki; they never imagined it could be so astonishing.

Bonney, who had turned into a little girl with long pink hair, gazed at that figure with its back to them—black hair, a black coat fluttering ceaselessly under the assault of the fierce wind.

Compared to Green Pepper's massive frame, that figure was utterly insignificant.

Yet in Bonney's eyes it appeared incomparably tall, as if so long as that figure was there, one would feel utterly at ease.

Back then, her insistence on boarding the ship was partly because of Luo En's tremendous strength, and partly because she had personally seen Luo En willing to fight an Admiral of the Navy for the sake of his crewmates…

It was precisely this sense of loyalty that made Bonney at the time firmly resolve to board the ship and become their companion no matter what. And the year and a half since then had also made Bonney deeply feel how correct her choice back then had been.

Thinking of this, Bonney—now in the form of a little girl with long pink hair—gazed at Luo En's back, a smile curling at the corner of her lips.