A guttural roar of pure fury ripped from Jack's throat. The taunts, combined with the stinging pain from the internal attack, had pushed him past his limit. With a surge of motion, he rolled onto his feet and reached for the two massive mammoth tusks strapped to his back. With a sharp twist, he pulled free two enormous shotels—brutal, sickle-like swords with a forward curve designed for hooking and tearing flesh.
The air around him warped with pressure. "You've made a grave mistake, fly," he snarled, his voice distorting as his body began to contort.
"GRAAAAAH!"
In a grotesque and terrifying display of power, he transformed. His lower body thickened and expanded, morphing into the colossal, pillar-like legs of a mammoth. His torso swelled with muscle, covered in a thick, brown hide, while his human head and arms remained, creating a monstrous centaur-like silhouette. This was the hybrid form of his Ancient Zoan fruit, the perfect fusion of a mammoth's unstoppable power and a swordsman's lethal skill.
The ground shuddered as he stomped his four elephantine feet. With a forward lurch, he charged. His speed was utterly terrifying, defying his immense size. He closed the distance between them in a single heartbeat, the ground cracking under his stride. His twin shotels became a blur, slashing through the air with such velocity that they were invisible to the naked eye, leaving shimmering trails in their wake.
Jerry, who had been enjoying his momentary victory, felt a chill of genuine danger. The sheer speed of the charge caught him off guard. By the time his instincts screamed and he reacted, the blades were already upon him. With no time to dodge, he did the only thing he could: he crossed his arms in front of his face, pouring every ounce of Haki he could muster into them.
CLANG!
The impact was like being hit by a freight train. The sound of metal on Haki-infused bone rang out across the beach. Jerry was launched backward like a baseball struck by a giant, his body a helpless projectile. He crashed through the wall of a nearby port warehouse, the structure exploding into a cloud of wood, stone, and dust before collapsing in on itself.
"Tch!" Jack turned his head and spat a glob of bloody saliva onto the sand. He stared at the smoldering hole where Jerry had disappeared, his chest heaving with rage. "How dare you insects bring your filth to this island!" he bellowed, his voice a roar that carried across the water. "Come on out! Weren't you so brave? Come on and face me!"
In the world of hand-to-hand combat, Jack the Drought feared no one. He was a force of nature, a walking calamity. The idea that this small, agile pest could survive, let alone challenge him, was an insult.
A moment later, a figure emerged from the settling smoke and dust. Jerry waved a hand to clear the air, his clothes torn and his arms aching, but otherwise intact. He rotated his neck, producing a satisfying crack, and fixed his gaze on the arrogant, monstrous form of the All-Star.
"My mistake," Jerry said, his voice dangerously calm. "I was careless. I won't be again."
He bent his knees. The ground beneath his feet spiderwebbed with cracks before erupting as he launched himself forward. He wasn't just running; he was a meteor streaking across the night sky, disappearing from his spot and reappearing directly in front of Jack in less than a second.
"So you want to play rough?" Jack roared, his eyes widening in a mask of manic fury. "I'LL CRUSH YOU!"
The two figures collided, and the real battle began.
It was a whirlwind of breathtaking violence. Every move was filled with lethal intent, a dazzling and deadly dance of destruction. Jack, in his hybrid form, was a fortress of offense. His two shotels were a relentless storm, each strike carrying the weight of a collapsing mountain. There were no fancy techniques, no elegant parries—only pure, unadulterated killing intent poured into every earth-shattering blow.
In contrast, Jerry was a tempest of controlled chaos. His attacks were lightning-fast and surgically precise. His movements flowed from offense to defense with seamless grace, his fists and feet a blur of motion. But beneath the elegant surface was a brutal secret weapon. On the surface, it was a physical brawl. In reality, with every punch, kick, or block that made contact, Jerry injected a micro-burst of pressurized water directly into Jack's body. It was a secondary attack, a subtle but relentless internal assault that bypassed the tough hide and targeted the organs within, an exquisite defense-breaking effect.
The air whistled and cracked around them as they fought like a dragon and a tiger, each determined to put the other in the ground. Under Jerry's subtle guidance, their battlefield drifted further and further away from the beached Piece of Spadille. The last thing he needed was for a stray swing from the enraged mammoth to damage their only means of escape.
The environment around them was torn to shreds. Warehouses were pulverized, crates were splintered into kindling, and the very ground was a pockmarked ruin. Finally, amidst the maelstrom of their exchange, a thunderous bang echoed as they both committed to a final, desperate charge.
Their attacks met in the center. After a moment of screeching metal and cracking Haki, both figures were sent flying in opposite directions.
Jack was thrown backward by a devastating uppercut that connected squarely with his metal jaw. He soared through the air and crashed onto the beach, carving a deep crater into the sand like a fallen meteorite.
Jerry, in turn, took the flat of Jack's shotel to his side. He became intimately familiar with the local architecture once again, smashing through the remnants of two more small buildings before being buried under a mountain of splintered wood and rubble.
The sudden silence was deafening. The battle had been so loud and chaotic that it had attracted more and more members of the Beasts Pirates, who now watched from a safe distance, their faces pale with disbelief.
"Who… who in the world is that man?" one of them stammered. "He's fighting Lord Jack to a standstill!"
"I don't know!" another replied, his voice trembling. "They just landed on the island and smashed their way through everyone! None of the brothers stood a chance!"
To them, Jack was an invincible demigod, one of Lord Kaido's chosen few. To see him locked in such a brutal, even-sided fight was to see their worldview crumble before their eyes.
Lying in his crater, Jack coughed, spitting out a tooth. He took a few ragged breaths before pushing himself to his feet, shaking his massive head to clear it. His metal jaw, a symbol of his fearsome reputation, was shattered, hanging loosely from one side. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, revealing the sharp, jagged teeth beneath. His hybrid form was covered in dozens of shallow cuts—marks left by Jerry's water-based attacks that had managed to bypass his legendary defense.
Across the battlefield, the pile of debris shifted, and Jerry pushed himself out, taking off the pile of garbage on his body. His clothes were in tatters, little more than wisps of fabric fluttering in the sea breeze. His body was a canvas of cuts and bruises, a deep gash weeping blood from his side. Yet, through a combination of his own insane durability and skill in deflecting and dispersing force at the last second, his face remained largely untouched. His head was his top priority, and his extreme concentration had paid off.
Even so, he was gasping for air, his stamina reaching its limit. This hadn't been a drawn-out duel; it was a non-stop, ten-minute explosion of all-out combat. Jack, enraged by Jerry's taunts and the shame of his home being invaded, had fought with no restraint, holding nothing back. In response, Jerry had been forced to match his intensity, burning through his energy at an alarming rate. Both of them were battered, bruised, and running on fumes.
Jerry slowly stretched his aching arms and legs, then walked forward until he was once again standing a short distance from Jack. He tilted his head back, raised his left hand, and slowly extended his index finger, hooking it in a deliberate, insulting gesture.
"Come on, big elephant," Jerry rasped, a bloody grin splitting his face. "Get over here."
"YOU… INSOLENT WORM!" Jack, who had been trying to catch his breath and let his Zoan recovery kick in, felt his blood pressure skyrocket. Veins bulged on his forehead as a fresh wave of uncontrollable rage washed over him. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Like a madman, he let out a final, desperate roar and charged, swinging his swords in a wild, furious arc. The wind howled as his attack came once more.
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