"Demon Slash!"
With a sharp shout from Lancelot, the Sandai Kitetsu in his hand was instantly enveloped by a dense aura.
Simultaneously, his originally deep eyes glowed with an eerie green light, resembling a malevolent spirit emerging from the underworld and exuding a sinister, terrifying aura.
As Lancelot swung his arm abruptly, an extremely sharp and oppressive flying slash burst forth.
It raced toward Jinbe with astonishing speed, crossing the distance in an instant.
Faced with such a swift and powerful assault, Jinbe remained unflinching, his stance solid.
He even praised involuntarily.
"Well done..."
Based on his years of combat experience and sharp intuition, he could clearly sense that Lancelot had finally revealed a portion of his true strength.
This was no longer the casual, probing attack from before.
"Fish-Man Karate: Gosenmai Gawara Seiken!"
Jinbe immediately executed his signature move, but unlike before, this time his fist was already wrapped in a layer of pitch-black, gleaming Armament Haki.
Clearly, Jinbe was also giving this fight his full respect.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as Jinbe's Haki-clad fist, the size of a clay pot, collided violently with Lancelot's demonic slash.
In that moment, the two terrifying energies intertwined and clashed fiercely.
The immense power raged wildly between them, setting off wave after wave of surging shockwaves that swept outward in all directions like raging tides.
Wherever the shockwaves reached, both Jinbe's and Lancelot's hair and clothing fluttered and billowed wildly.
Even the small gravel on the ground couldn't withstand the tremendous impact, being swept up and shot out like dense bullets, whistling sharply as they flew in all directions.
For a moment, the sounds of "bang, bang, bang" were incessant, and the surrounding rocks looked as if they had been ravaged by machine gun fire.
"Soru..."
Yet, at this critical moment, Lancelot's figure flickered.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from his original position, using the impact's dust cloud as cover.
The next moment, when he reappeared, he had ghostly materialized at Jinbe's right flank.
The Sandai Kitetsu in his hand gleamed with a chilling light, tracing a cunning and bizarre arc through the air as it slashed toward Jinbe's neck with lightning speed.
"Hah!"
Facing this sudden, lethal strike, Jinbe remained unshaken, letting out a deafening roar.
He didn't try to meet the blade head-on. Instead, in the blink of an eye, the Warlord abruptly lowered his stance, his movements flowing as naturally as drifting clouds.
He parried the Haki-infused blade with his own Haki-clad forearm, the impact creating a sharp CLANG.
While the power of the blade cut into his arm, he narrowly avoided a fatal blow.
Immediately after the parry, he gracefully shifted a small step to the right, moving inside Lancelot's guard.
Seizing the moment, his free hand shot out like lightning, firmly grasping Lancelot's sword arm.
Instantly, a surge of immense, water-channeling power erupted from within him.
"Fish-Man Jujutsu: Kairyu Ipponzeoi!"
With masterful use of Lancelot's own momentum and his superior strength, Jinbe hoisted the towering Marine high into the air before hurling him down with thunderous force.
Boom!
Accompanied by a deafening crash, Lancelot slammed into the ground like a cannonball.
The terrifying impact seemed capable of tearing the earth apart—even the unyielding rock surface of the deserted island couldn't withstand such force, fracturing into a massive crater.
The unfortunate Lancelot lay precisely at the crater's center, his body deeply embedded within.
Simultaneously, the ground began to fissure rapidly around him, cracks spreading like a sinister spiderweb in all directions.
This alone revealed the sheer dreadfulness of the earlier blow.
Surprisingly, Jinbe—who had executed this earth-shattering attack—did not press his advantage. Instead, he retreated several meters, planting himself firmly in a low stance.
His expression turned grave, his eyes locked intently on Lancelot within the crater.
In that fleeting instant of the throw, Jinbe's acute Observation Haki had sensed an unprecedented, colossal, and dormant power within Lancelot..
This foreboding left no room for carelessness; he trusted his intuition implicitly, and it was now screaming at him.
"Cough... cough..."
A painful, racking cough echoed from the crater.
Lancelot pushed himself up slowly, his hands braced on the fractured rock.
He climbed out of the hole, turned his head, and spat fiercely to the side.
An observer would have noticed faint traces of blood streaking the saliva.
He had been wounded.
Though merely a minor internal injury from the concussive force, it marked the first time Lancelot had been truly harmed since arriving in this world.
His once-confident gaze instantly sharpened with a new, cold gravity.
He stood straight, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip, his mind wholly absorbed in introspection.
'It seems my rapid growth in strength and smooth, undefeated journey thus far... have made me complacent and reckless,' he reflected inwardly.
The realization sent a chill of hindsight fear through him.
At this moment, he felt profoundly grateful that Jinbe had, as he suspected, only come to test him, not kill him.
Had he faced a more formidable and cunning opponent—such as the treacherous Crocodile—in such a state, they might have seized that opening to deliver a crippling or even fatal blow.
It was as if he could hear a voice from the depths of his soul, relentlessly warning him.
'No matter the time or place, even when facing the most insignificant enemy, one must never show the slightest slack or carelessness. Never lose vigilance. Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit.'
He would not make this mistake again.
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