Drip.
Drip.
Blood slid down from the severed arm in Kai's hands.
It ran across the cracked floor, pooling into a slow, spreading river.
The thick, metallic stink of blood filled the huge warehouse, so heavy it made people sick to their stomachs.
Every pair of eyes there, wide with terror and disbelief, locked on Kai.
On the arm he had torn off alive.
And on Kai himself, his small body now soaked in blood from head to toe.
Fear pressed hard on the hearts of the Sword-Lion Pirates' officers.
Gulp.
They swallowed in unison, faces pale and twitching.
"S-So brutal…"
"Boss's arm… one got blown off head-on…"
"And the other one… he ripped it off with his bare hands…"
"God…"
"That brat is actually this strong?!"
"Even Boss in his Sword-Lion form can't beat him?"
"He's a monster…"
Their minds trembled.
Looking at their boss, now missing both arms, they already knew what was coming.
Sword-Lion Gart was finished.
He had been crushed even at full strength.
Now, with both arms torn away and his power more than halved, what chance did he have against that four-year-old monster?
"I-It's over…"
"Boss is done…"
"I thought once Boss transformed, even if he couldn't kill the kid, he'd at least drive him back. I never imagined he'd be crippled in just one exchange…"
"Just what kind of monster is that kid…"
Nearly ten pirates were shaking so hard their teeth almost chattered.
On the other side, Lucci stared at Gart's ruined body, eyes full of shock.
"A pirate with a bounty close to fifty million Berries…"
"Is he really this weak?"
His brain short-circuited.
One clash.
Two arms gone.
One arm blown apart, the other torn off alive.
It was too cruel.
Was this really a big-name pirate worth nearly fifty million?
How could he look so helpless?
"No…"
"It's not that he's weak, and it's not that he's that fragile."
"It's just…"
"His opponent is too strong."
"Kai… this monster is unbelievably strong."
"That's why Sword-Lion Gart looks so weak in comparison. It's only an illusion."
"If I were the one fighting him, I'd be the one getting crushed."
Lucci sucked in a cold breath.
Right now, watching everything play out in front of him, he had no choice but to admit it.
At only four years old, Kai's strength already towered above his own.
The big-name pirate Lucci couldn't handle at all was being smashed one-sidedly by Kai, almost unable to fight back.
That was the gap between them.
A chasm.
The difference between heaven and earth.
"In other words…"
"If I had to fight this monster Kai…"
"He could blow me away with one hand."
His mood churned, his heart pounding.
With the battle now at this point, he could already see the end.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, Sword-Lion Gart was doomed.
A pirate worth nearly fifty million Berries was going to die here, at the hands of a four-year-old monster.
Hoo…
Lucci let out a slow breath and stared at Kai's blood-covered back.
A terrifying aura, like that of some ancient beast, rolled off the boy and crashed into him, making his whole body feel like it had fallen into an ice cave.
Chill seeped into his bones.
His limbs went cold and numb.
"Too brutal…"
"And too strong…"
"This kind of blood-boiling battle… this is what it means when men fight."
"Four-year-old Kai… he actually blew apart Sword-Lion Gart head-on."
The more he thought about it, the more his heart shook.
On the battlefield, Kai casually flung away the severed arm.
Then he lifted his foot and stomped down hard.
Boom.
The arm and the floor beneath it shattered together, stone collapsing inward.
Kai raised his head and looked at the tormented Gart with a playful expression.
It was obvious at a glance.
Having lost both arms, Gart was enduring pain so intense it felt like his very soul was being ripped apart.
He wanted to die.
"Arghhh!"
Agonized screams tore out of his throat again and again, deafening in the enclosed space.
The unbearable pain sent him rolling across the ground like a madman.
The more wildly he struggled, the faster the blood gushed from the stumps of his shoulders.
In just moments, the floor all around had turned into a giant pool of his blood.
"A pirate worth nearly fifty million Berries?"
"This is all you've got?"
Kai rolled his shoulder, wiped the streaks of blood off his face, and studied the Sword-Lion sprawled on the ground with open curiosity.
"If this is your limit…"
"Then I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."
"You really are going to die here."
He finished speaking and began to walk forward.
One step at a time.
Drawing closer and closer.
Just as he was about to strike again, Gart, who had been howling and rolling around, suddenly kicked off the floor with both feet. His massive body shot into the air, a crazed look twisting his face as he charged straight at Kai.
He lowered his head, going for a full-force headbutt.
"Even if I die…"
"I'm taking you with me, brat!"
"You monster, die with me!"
Gart roared, his voice full of fear and fury.
He bared his fangs, each one razor sharp and gleaming coldly.
He lunged for Kai, jaws open wide, ready to bite down.
He was going to tear Kai apart with his teeth.
In his Sword-Lion form, Gart's greatest weapon wasn't his limbs or brute strength. It was his terrifying bite.
If he sank his jaws into someone, their body would likely be ripped apart in an instant.
At the same time, Kai's expression barely changed in the face of this desperate counterattack.
No panic.
No fear.
Just calm.
"So you were playing dead just now?"
"In that case, I'll let you die for real."
Kai slowly lifted his right arm.
His fingers curled into a tight fist.
Gart's giant head rushed closer and closer.
Kai's fist shot out, straight at those fangs.
Boom.
Power exploded from his knuckles and smashed into the Sword-Lion's teeth.
A crisp crack followed.
Fine lines spread through the nearly half-meter-long fangs. The cracks grew and deepened, spiderwebbing across the surface.
Kai punched again.
This time, the fangs shattered completely.
They burst into countless fragments that sprayed through the air.
Seeing this, Gart's bloodshot eyes filled with raw terror.
"H-How is this… possible?!"
His composure shattered.
Before he could react, Kai's fist came down again, this time aimed squarely at his head.
Boom.
Boundless power erupted, slamming into Gart's golden-furred skull. The force punched straight through, driving into his head.
To the naked eye, his enormous lion head visibly caved in.
The crack of breaking bone rang out sharp and clear.
The powerful force that penetrated his skull ground it to dust from the inside.
Splurt.
Blood gushed from Gart's mouth like a burst dam, pouring out wildly and crashing down like a rainstorm.
His skull was shattered.
His head had been smashed beyond repair.
Gart's vision grew hazy and dim.
Even his thoughts started slipping away.
His life force plummeted.
As it fell, the shockwave from Kai's punch flung his huge body away. He tumbled through the air for hundreds of meters, trailing blood like a scarlet ribbon.
Rumble.
He finally crashed into another solid wall in the warehouse. The impact boomed like thunder.
The wall collapsed on impact.
Stone and debris rained down, burying more than half his body.
Before their eyes, the Sword-Lion form slowly faded.
Gart turned back into a human.
Both arms gone.
Skull shattered.
Head crushed.
No one like that could possibly still live.
No matter how tough his vitality was, there was no stopping the life that was spilling out of his broken body.
"Am I… going to die?"
"How pathetic…"
"A lifetime of infamy, ruined in a single day."
"Never thought I'd end up dying in the hands of a four-year-old brat…"
With the last of his fading awareness, Gart let out a bitter smile.
His eyelids felt as heavy as lead. They slid shut on their own.
Moments later, the battered Gart finally stopped breathing.
His life was gone.
A pirate with a bounty close to fifty million Berries.
An animal-type Devil Fruit user.
Sword-Lion Gart.
Died here today.
Killed by a four-year-old boy named Kai, crushed in absolutely overwhelming fashion…
And in the end, blown apart by a single punch.
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