On the Golden Dragon.
Law sized up the little dragon person in front of him.
It really reminds me of when Kaido used his powers.
Most of its body was covered in pink scales, its teeth and nails had become sharper, and a tail, not too long, swayed behind it.
A pair of horns on its head looked very immature, and its face seemed to be wearing a mask.
Most of the face was covered in dragon scales, with only the area around the mouth remaining in its original form.
"You say you want to challenge me?" Law asked, intrigued.
"Hehe," Ace grinned, holding a steel water pipe in his hand, his makeshift weapon.
"Zoro and Kuina aren't my match. They said you're the weakest among the officers, so of course, I'm going to challenge the weakest first!"
Law's lips curled slightly.
First of all, the weakest officer on the ship was Viola, although that woman tried to avoid the fact by claiming to be a civilian employee.
Second, this little brat is asking for a beating, huh?
"Don't get too cocky, Ace!"
On the side, Zoro was still not satisfied. "I'll catch up to you soon!"
"Why don't you try catching up to Kuina first?" Ace chuckled.
There was already a gap in their strength, and after he ate this fruit, the gap only grew bigger.
Together, the two of them were no match for him, and their swords couldn't even break his dragon scales!
"Then come on," Law said, grinning with a fake smile. "Let me see the power of your Mythical Zoan."
"Oh! You wanna fight?"
The weakest among the officers, Viola, had already arrived with her three best friends, giggling.
"Law, you're really getting looked down on, huh? That guy doesn't even seem to see you as a threat."
A vein twitched on Law's forehead.
Who's the one actually being looked down on here?
Ace straight-up ignored all of you and challenged me, alright?
"Anyway, let's get started already!"
Standing next to Viola, Sandersonia urged impatiently.
You all sure seem eager when it comes to watching a fight.
Law seriously wanted to slice the whole bunch of them up.
"Here I come!"
Ace was already charging forward with excitement.
He couldn't wait to test out the power he had just obtained.
And Law looked like a pretty decent opponent.
"Heh."
The corner of Law's mouth curved into a mocking smile.
Kid, you think just because you've got the same ability as Kaido, you can do whatever you want?
You're still way too green.
A heavy steel pipe swung down at Law under Ace's attack.
But Law only chuckled softly.
Tekkai.
Clang!!
A thunderous crash echoed.
Instead, it was Ace—the one attacking—who was sent flying, his hands trembling as he held onto the metal pipe.
"That's hard as hell!"
He cried out in shock, "That's Tekkai?"
So this is what Jack meant by the Rokushiki techniques?
"You can go a little harder next time."
Law crossed his arms, smirking with contempt.
"Is that so?"
Ace suddenly gave a sly grin and took a deep breath, his chest swelling as he inhaled.
"Heat Breath!"
The dragon's breath turned into blazing flames, expanding into a massive fireball several meters wide the moment it was released, and it flew straight toward Law.
This kid is actually pretty smart.
Law chuckled softly.
Tekkai could indeed block physical attacks effectively—but fire didn't fall under that category.
After all, a degraded version of Armament Haki still wasn't true Armament Haki!
"Soru!"
In an instant, Law vanished from where he stood, blinking away. The fireball, now without a target, hurtled toward the ship's railing.
He wasn't the type to try blocking every attack with Tekkai.
When something couldn't be blocked, he had no hesitation about dodging instead.
"Don't go breathing fire randomly on the deck."
Ian, sitting on the ship's railing nearby, was flipping through a newspaper. With a casual wave of his hand, a surge of Haki swept out and instantly snuffed out the oncoming fireball.
The newspaper held the very story Morgans had told him about earlier.
It gave a detailed account of the Golden Lion's attack on the Goa Kingdom, and how Ian ended up slaying him.
Of course, it only focused on Ian's feats—the government didn't bother covering up the fact that he'd killed the Golden Lion this time.
Instead, they wrote extensively about why the Golden Dragon happened to appear in the Goa Kingdom.
They spun it to say Ian was there to plunder the kingdom, but happened to run into the Golden Lion's ambush—two pirates fighting like wild dogs, with Ian eventually taking the upper hand and killing the legendary pirate.
Not that it mattered much.
Ian had never cared much about his reputation anyway.
Why should a pirate care about things like that?
"Ian! Look!"
Hancock sat to his left, holding up his latest bounty poster. "A full three billion Berries!"
Just like Morgans had predicted—his bounty had gone up by a billion.
He was once again ranked fourth in the world.
"An Emperor!"
Yamato, sitting on his right and hugging his arm as they read the newspaper together, grinned cheerfully. "That's what everyone's calling you now!"
The Four Emperors.
It was a concept that originally shouldn't have emerged for a few more years, yet it had already surfaced upon this vast sea.
In the past, the newspapers referred to Ian as the "Fourth Emperor."
However, there was never any mention of a First, Second, or Third Emperor.
It was an implicit way of placing Ian beneath the other three true Emperors—essentially labeling him as an Emperor candidate at best.
But now, he was officially one of the Four Emperors.
Four true Emperors, standing shoulder to shoulder, ruling over the New World.
"They're just trying to drive a wedge between me and Kaido-sensei."
Ian said with a smile.
Even though he now believed his strength had reached that level,
The World Government's decision to hype him up like this was clearly an attempt to provoke internal strife within the Beasts Pirates.
"Isn't that a bad thing?"
Hancock asked, a little worried.
"This is a good thing."
Ian replied with a grin.
Because it meant—for now—the government likely wouldn't resort to direct military force.
**********
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