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The alarm bells in their minds were screaming. The Kuja were a nation of Haki users. They had a much more direct understanding of what they were seeing. The power radiating from Jin was terrifying.
"Hancock," Jin said calmly. "Your Slave Arrow. Hit me with it again."
"HUH??" Hancock was floored. Was this man insane? Hadn't one petrification been enough?
"I want to challenge my own weakness," Jin said, his gaze as steady as a mountain.
"You incomprehensible man!" Hancock snapped, a mixture of shock and anger in her voice. "Slave Arrow!"
She unleashed the attack again.
Jin didn't move. He stood his ground, his mind focused.
'Who in this world can escape death? No matter how beautiful you are, in the end, you're just a pile of bones.'
'Hancock? Just a skeleton beneath the skin.'
It was an old mental trick to counter lust.
But the Love-Love Fruit was an ability that operated on a metaphysical level. If you felt attraction, you were done for.
The power of "will" in the world of One Piece wasn't just limited to Haki. Devil Fruit abilities were also a matter of "I think, therefore I am." If you believed you could do something with your fruit, and you worked hard enough, you could make it happen.
Look at the String-String Fruit, the Gomu-Gomu Fruit... they had been pushed to absurd lengths.
And the Love-Love Fruit.
What did love have to do with petrification?
Was it because beauty can stun a person into stillness?
Or was it related to the legend of the Gorgons, which was passed down among the Kuja?
The Gomu-Gomu Fruit had awakened into the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.
Jin suspected that the Love-Love Fruit's awakening was the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Medusa.
The petrification, and the fact that the fruit itself looked like two cherries on one stem... it all fit.
As he was thinking, he realized that this time, he hadn't been turned to stone.
Hancock and her crew were all stunned.
That man... he was looking right at the Snake Princess, but he wasn't petrified?
Why? How?
Jin smiled. The trick had worked.
But more importantly, his will had been tempered by the impact of countless resentful spirits and the refinement of the soul crystals. His mental fortitude was on another level.
"You detestable man!" Hancock snarled, her expression turning deadly serious. "You have challenged me. I trust you are prepared for the consequences."
A black, shimmering Armament Haki began to radiate from her body. The failure of her Slave Arrow twice in a row had made her realize that this man had come prepared. He was not to be underestimated.
But she was the Empress of Amazon Lily. She would not run from a fight.
She wasn't Hanafuda.
Hancock launched herself from the mast, her body a whirlwind of killing intent, and unleashed a spinning kick. The force of her leap sent the Perfume Yuda reeling back a hundred meters.
She was deliberately putting distance between their ships. She would take the fight to his ship. Any damage would be to his vessel, not hers. If she won, great. If she lost, her ship could make a quick getaway.
Armament Haki coated her leg from the calf down, her entire foot gleaming with a metallic luster.
"Perfume Femur!"
It was the same kick she had used against Bullet. A spinning kick, imbued with Haki, that would explode from the inside upon impact. It was powerful enough to shatter mountains.
Her beautiful form tumbled through the air, the force of her spin tearing through the air with a piercing shriek.
Countless chains, like serpents, shot out from the demonic carrier, wrapping around the Perfume Yuda from all angles, creating a suspension bridge of iron between the two ships.
"Chains??"
"Cut them!"
The Kuja warriors hacked at the chains with their swords, but the blades just bounced off. They were made of a super-alloy, created by the Munch-Munch Fruit from diamond, refined steel, and other materials. They were incredibly hard.
Jin, with a single step, appeared on one of the chains, directly in Hancock's path.
He didn't dodge.
BOOM!
The Haki-infused kick slammed into his chest with an explosive crack that was deafening. A shockwave ripped through the air, shaking the chains, churning the sea.
The Perfume Yuda shuddered violently, and the crew was thrown from their feet.
But Jin, standing on the chain, had taken the full force of the blow and hadn't been pushed back an inch.
Hancock was stunned.
What kind of Haki, what kind of body, was this??
It was completely irrational.
Was this Kaido of the New World? A mini-Beast?
Using the recoil from the chain, Jin pushed forward. A burst of "crushing force" erupted from his Armament Haki, sending Hancock reeling back.
She flipped in mid-air and landed on one of the chains, one leg raised in a perfect crane stance to maintain her balance.
'No wonder he could beat Hanafuda...' Hancock thought, her expression grim.
She launched herself forward again, her form graceful yet deadly. A lightning-fast sidekick aimed at his head.
Jin raised an arm and blocked it.
BOOM!
The clash of pure Armament Haki sent a shockwave blasting outward, a brilliant flash of light as bright as the sun.
"My turn," Jin said, throwing a straight right.
It was a simple punch. No fancy moves.
But... it was a punch that carried the full force of his will.
Danger!
Hancock's Observation Haki screamed. The punch contained an immense, condensed power. She couldn't take it head-on.
She immediately leaped backward. In mid-air, she touched her fingers to her lips, and a massive pink heart materialized.
"Slave Arrow!"
She drew it back like a bow and unleashed a volley of pink arrows.
Anything they touched, regardless of whether it felt attraction toward her or not, would be turned to stone.
The chains were instantly petrified.
Jin was protected by his Haki, but as Hancock had leaped into the air, the high slit of her cheongsam had... shifted.
He wasn't a pervert... but it was the unintentional, the fleeting glimpse, that was the most stimulating.
He was turned to stone again.
Seeing this, Hancock raised her right leg high above her head, her entire body wreathed in Haki.
A bewitching red light, the brilliant flare of Haki, erupted from her foot. Red lightning crackled in her eyes.
She unleashed her Conqueror's Haki, a crushing pressure that filled the sky.
The power she had gathered reached its peak, and she brought her leg down like a battle-axe, aimed at the petrified figure below.
The air tore, the space around her kick warping.
At the same time, the stone shell around Jin shattered once again, and a fist shot up to meet her attack.
BOOM!
The fist and the foot collided, and a clash of Conqueror's Haki erupted.
Red lightning shot out in all directions, a beautiful and terrifying sight.
At the center of the impact, a brilliant light exploded.
A powerful spiritual pressure, a shockwave of will, washed over the Perfume Yuda, and the entire Kuja crew was knocked unconscious.
Hancock's beautiful face was a mask of disbelief.
Her full-power attack... had been stopped?
The last of the stone shell fell away from Jin's body, revealing his powerful physique.
His eyes blazed with a tyrannical light.
In that moment, he was a king, powerful, invincible.
Conqueror's Haki, a faint golden light, swirled around him, wisps of energy dancing in the wind.
He was dazzling, blinding.
Hancock couldn't help but squint.
Jin threw his other fist, a blur of motion that left an afterimage in the air.
He was too close.
Hancock, still falling, crossed her arms to block.
WHAM!
The fist landed.
An overwhelming, unstoppable force exploded from the point of impact.
With a deafening roar, Hancock was sent flying, the sound of her arm bones cracking echoing in her ears.
Jin was instantly upon her, his body wreathed in what looked like blazing fire. He threw a series of punches, each one radiating a terrifying, heart-stopping Haki.
Hancock was a woman, a beautiful woman, but Jin believed in respecting his opponents.
A merciless barrage of fists, like raindrops, rained down on her.
A final, brutal punch connected squarely with her face, and the force of it sent her careening from the sky and into the sea below.
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