Just before plunging into the cool ocean waters, Roya's thoughts moved. With a sharp flick of his arm, he flung the Black Jade Dragon Scale Gauntlet upward.
Under the cover of the violent explosion, the gauntlet shot silently into Black Mountain, concealing all of its aura—thoroughly hidden.
Only then did Roya transform into a streak of black lightning, blasting out from the seabed, streaking straight toward Dressrosa.
Inside the lab, the female researcher stared at the damage report displayed on the screen, her expression dark enough to drip water.
But soon, her face lightened, turning joyful with a trace of excitement.
She muttered to herself gleefully, "Unbelievable... I never imagined that this damned Life Origin entity would possess an automatic retrieval feature for its body parts!"
"Though it did attract a monster like Roya because of it, I still got a treasure trove of valuable experimental data. Hahaha!"
"All things considered, the complete destruction of the lower-level Pacifista production line isn't that big of a loss."
As she spoke, her mind had already become immersed in the streams of data scrolling across the screen.
On Dressrosa Island, at the palace in the island's heart, Squard stood atop the outer wall—barely able to meet the shoulder level of the magma giant formed by Akainu.
From that alone, it was clear—the magma giant stood nearly a hundred meters tall!
The bigger the body, the greater the strength. That's an unshakable truth.
Noticing Squard's gaze, the magma giant turned and slammed a massive fist toward the palace walls.
With a deep shout, Squard leapt into the air.
Facing the incoming magma fist, he thrust his blade downward.
With perfect precision, the blade pierced the giant's wrist just as the fist swept by, burying itself to the hilt!
Squard gripped the hilt with both hands, his body vibrating violently as he finally synchronized with the motion of the magma arm.
With a nimble flip, both feet landed atop the magma arm.
Then, he began sprinting up the giant's arm with remarkable agility.
He hadn't run far when the magma giant realized it had an unwanted guest.
Its left palm, like a mountain, swept over and slammed onto its own right arm!
Squard failed to dodge the sweeping, all-encompassing attack and was sent flying.
Yet mid-air, Squard remained calm and composed.
With a flick of his hand, his thread-blade extended over 20–30 meters and stabbed into the magma arm once more.
The contracting thread yanked his body in an elegant arc through the air, allowing him to land lightly on the magma giant's back.
No matter how long your arms are, there's no way you can reach every inch of your own back, right?
As both feet landed, Squard drove the hilt of his blade deep into the giant's back.
Using the lodged blade as an anchor, he supported his full weight.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, the blade's extended thread rapidly retracted, returning it to its normal sword form.
Squard stood on the blade's spine and launched himself upward.
As his feet left the blade's back, a thread extended from the hilt, coiling around his ankle and pulling the sword along with him.
Squard had intended to leap onto the giant's head and deliver a decapitating strike.
However, just as he reached the back of the giant's head, its left arm had already swung around.
The massive magma palm offered him no room to dodge.
With no other option, Squard was forced to abandon his original plan.
With a twist of his foot, he caught the thread-blade's hilt again.
Driving it forward, he stabbed it into the giant's nape.
In that instant, the blade shot forward, extending over 40 meters, piercing straight through the magma giant's body.
At the same time, Squard twisted his torso. His left arm hammered the blade's back while his right locked onto the hilt. Both legs kicked off the giant's back as he sprinted downward!
Channeling all his strength, he drove the enormous blade in a diagonal downward slash!
RROOAARR!!
The magma giant let out an agonized howl.
Because this attack, like all of Squard's previous blows, bypassed its magma-based immunity, dealing real damage!
As Squard sprinted down the molten back, a horrifying wound began to open from the nape down the giant's body.
Meanwhile, far off across the sea, an overwhelming energy was condensing.
Standing tall on the soft beach with his back to the sea, Jinbei steadied himself.
His right fist was drawn to his waist, enveloped in a strange water sphere.
After a deep inhale—
He suddenly punched forward.
Fish-Man Karate Secret Technique: Vagabond Drill!
The water sphere expanded rapidly to the size of a mountain and shot toward the magma giant's back.
Just as Squard landed, and his thread-blade had nearly sliced the magma giant in half—
Jinbei's water-punch struck!
BOOOOM!!!
Water and fire collided, triggering a world-shaking explosion!
Especially at the severed point made by Squard—when the water sphere struck, the explosion was particularly violent.
Molten lava burst forth like a mudslide from the gash, tumbling down the giant's form.
Half of the magma giant's body tilted drastically, nearly falling from its lower half.
Fortunately, dozens of thin lava filaments still connected the two halves, barely keeping the body together.
Seeing the devastating result of his and Jinbei's combined assault—
Squard didn't smile.
Because this level of damage still wasn't enough to bring the magma giant down for good.
What worried him more was that his thread-blade, after prolonged contact with magma, had caught fire.
The destruction of the blade wasn't a problem—but the one imprisoned within it—Donquixote Doflamingo—if he were to break free now, the situation would become unimaginably worse!
Just then—
The clear blue skies suddenly darkened as thick black clouds gathered overhead.
Within the clouds, a platinum bolt of lightning began to form.
In an instant, the platinum lightning was complete—striking with unstoppable force into the wound on the magma giant.
At the same time, a strange green light shot from the palace, merging into the lightning bolt.
As it struck, the platinum lightning split into countless white-gold and green serpents of electricity, slipping into every crevice of the magma giant's form.
"AAARRGGHH!!"
The magma giant screamed in agony, finally collapsing to one knee.
As it knelt, it slammed its left arm down onto its right shoulder—
Forcibly shoving the near-disintegrated half of its body back into place!
At that exact moment, the thread-blade exploded—
A transparent thread emerged from within, finally breaking free!
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