"Qi Yan, do you also want to obstruct me?"
"Obstruct? If anyone's obstructing, it's you obstructing me. Targeting my client makes you an enemy of Fairy Tail."
"Hmph! In that case, disappear!"
Lyon raised his hand and unleashed an ice meteor hammer, shooting it towards Qi Yan.
"Ice-Make: Ice Shield!"
Gray appeared in front of Qi Yan, conjuring an ice shield.
Boom—!
Both the ice shield and the ice meteor hammer shattered.
Gray stared at Lyon and said, "Lyon, your opponent is me!"
"Gray, huh? If that's what you want, then I'll take care of you first!"
"It's three against one over here too."
Sherry and her two companions also took on a fighting stance. The strength the opponent had just displayed was already terrifying. If they all ganged up on Lyon, he might not be able to win. As for the villagers, they could be dealt with at any time.
"It's not three against one, it's three against two!"
Lucy stood beside Qi Yan, pulling out her Celestial Spirit keys.
Happy, not to be outdone, raised his fist and said, "And me! It's three against three!"
Even though he wasn't much of a fighter, he couldn't lose in terms of morale.
"Me! And me! It's four against three!"
Natsu, dragging his ice-bound body, stumbled over.
Qi Yan couldn't help but laugh, saying, "Gurararara! You all should just protect yourselves. We don't need this many people to deal with the three of them."
"Understood!"
Lucy and Happy immediately pulled Natsu back.
"Hey! Don't pull me, let go! I want to fight them!"
Natsu struggled on the ground, but at this moment, he was like a turtle on its back, his feet unable to reach the ground.
"You're like this, what fighting are you going to do? It's already good enough if you don't hold us back."
"Aye!"
Yuka's expression turned slightly grim as he said, "Are you looking down on us? We were once Mages from a famous guild. You must know the Lamia Scale Mage Guild, right?"
Toby said somewhat proudly, "Yes, we have the one known as Jura of the Iron Rock... Hey!... Are you even listening to what I'm saying?!"
Qi Yan was currently stretching his muscles and bones. The sudden surge of power within him made him somewhat unaccustomed, but this powerful feeling was truly wonderful.
"Doll Attack: Rock Doll!"
Sherry had already begun to act. As she cast her magic, the surrounding rocks on the ground began to move, rapidly converging, and in a blink of an eye, formed a giant stone man over ten meters tall.
"You're interfering with the love between me and Zero Emperor! You can just die!"
Sherry controlled the giant stone man to punch towards Qi Yan's head.
"Qi Yan, watch out!"
Lucy quickly shouted a warning when she saw it, but Qi Yan seemed to be suffering from senile dementia and didn't react.
Boom—!!
The stone man's giant fist slammed into Qi Yan's face.
"What?!"
They had originally thought that Qi Yan would be knocked down by this single blow, but Qi Yan stood rooted to the spot, completely unharmed, not even looking slightly injured.
Armament Haki, the most common Haki in the One Piece world, is one of the three major categories of the Haki system. Its core function is to enhance offense and defense, and it can touch the physical form of Logia Devil Fruit users, making it the most practical Haki in the Pirate world.
Qi Yan looked at Sherry, his eyes showing a hint of disdain as he said, "Not enough power!"
This look stimulated Sherry, and she immediately increased her magical output: "Rock Doll, show my crazy love!"
Boom boom boom boom boom!!
The stone man continuously attacked Qi Yan. After a while, Sherry stopped; such an attack consumed a significant amount of her magic power.
"How unlucky! To provoke Sherry, this crazy woman."
Yuka said calmly. After being attacked so many times, the opponent might already be beaten into a pulp.
"Oh, oh!"
Toby also agreed.
Soon, the smoke dissipated, and Qi Yan's figure was still standing in place, even stretching lazily.
"Comfortable~~!"
Qi Yan glanced at Sherry and said, "Can you put a little more strength into it? If you don't even have the strength for a massage, what kind of Mage are you?"
"What?!!"
Sherry and her two companions were all dumbfounded by this scene. Was this guy a monster? She had just controlled the rock doll to attack with all its might, yet the opponent looked completely unharmed, even asking her to use more strength.
"Sherry, get out of the way!"
When Yuka saw Qi Yan unharmed, he knew they had encountered a monster.
"Wave!"
Yuka raised his hand and unleashed a wave.
Boom—!!
Yuka's wave slammed into Qi Yan, erupting in a fierce explosion.
"Hmph! The wave I create can neutralize all magic. In other words, it's a magic that can nullify other magic. No matter how strong your defensive magic is, against my wave..."
"Mmm... Even more comfortable..." Qi Yan's voice came from within the smoke.
"What?!! How is this possible?!"
The explosion smoke cleared, and Qi Yan was still standing in place, completely unharmed.
Sherry and her two companions were all stunned. It was one thing for Sherry's rock doll to fail to break through his defense, but even Yuka's wave had no effect on him.
"You've all had your turn, now it's mine."
Qi Yan gripped murakumogiri with both hands, his muscles tensed, and the veins on his arms bulging.
"Hah—!"
With a loud shout, Qi Yan raised murakumogiri with an earth-shattering momentum, hack ing forward with unstoppable force.
Swish—!
Boom boom boom boom boom—!!
A massive slash swept past. The giant stone man was directly cut in half. A huge gap was carved into the ground of the ruins, and the distant mountain was also directly split in half by this slash, until the slash continued towards the sea, splitting the surface of the sea in half, and finally disappearing.
Gasp—!!!!!!!
Everyone who witnessed this scene felt as if their throats were squeezed, and their hearts were clutched by a large hand.
"A monster—!!!"
The mountain was cut open, and the sea was split in half. What else could this be if not a monster?
"Invigorating! Truly invigorating! Gurarararara!!!"
Qi Yan burst into hearty laughter at this moment, feeling both the exhilaration of possessing immense power and the release of the pent-up frustration from the Summit War.
It was only after taking over Whitebeard that Qi Yan realized how poor Whitebeard's condition was during the Summit War. That body wouldn't have lasted long even if he hadn't participated in the war.
His physical problems also prevented Whitebeard from freely using his three types of Haki, and he couldn't even utilize the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as he wished. Coupled with that pre-war blow, this directly led to his strength being less than a tenth of its peak when he entered combat, making the battle incredibly stifling.
Ultimately, he could only end in that way.
But now it was different. Qi Yan had taken over Whitebeard. As long as he had enough magic power, he could fully display Whitebeard's peak combat strength.
He would make the title of Whitebeard, 'The World's Strongest Man,' resound throughout the entire Fairy Tail world.