A faint smile curled at the corner of Lancelot's lips as he chuckled softly.
"That's only because you've lived in isolation. Beyond the East Blue lies a vast and boundless world, where swordsmen of our caliber are almost too numerous to count."
Hearing this, Golass couldn't help but show a trace of astonishment on his face.
He then raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh? Is that really true?"
Immediately after, he realized there was no reason for the Marine Rear Admiral—a man who had just effortlessly matched him—to deceive him about this.
So he nodded thoughtfully and murmured to himself, "In that case... perhaps I really should venture beyond these familiar waters and explore the outside world, to broaden my horizons."
As they spoke, an even more powerful aura and energy suddenly erupted from both of them simultaneously, surging outward like raging tidal waves as they pressed their blades together.
Simultaneously, they both had to endure the stronger recoil force generated by this explosive release of power.
Yet, under this tremendous recoil, Lancelot stood firm as an unshakable mountain, his feet not moving an inch.
In contrast, Golass appeared rather disheveled.
He was sent staggering backward seven or eight steps before he could barely steady himself, his sword arm trembling from the shock.
At this moment, Golass lifted his head, his gaze locked tightly on Lancelot, his expression now filled with shock and a dawning horror.
Just think! In that instant, he had unleashed eighty percent of his strength.
This power had erupted like a colossal tsunami, carrying an overwhelming, destructive force.
Yet, to his utter astonishment, not only did this marine easily withstand such a ferocious assault, but he had also erupted with an even greater power, surpassing Golass's own.
It must be known that within the entire East Blue region, his strength was considered unparalleled, with no rivals.
Over all these years, through countless life-and-death battles, he had never tasted defeat, always standing at the pinnacle of these waters.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have become the East Blue's number one assassin and mercenary.
But today... he never dreamed that he would encounter such a formidable opponent and, worse still, find himself at a clear disadvantage in this fierce confrontation.
For someone as proud and arrogant as him, this sense of defeat was an unprecedented, heavy blow.
However, he wasn't one to admit defeat easily.
"Swish..."
His eyes blazing with unwillingness and fury, he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands and swung it with all his might once more, channeling all his power into this single strike.
In that split second, the gleaming longsword cut through the air like lightning, striking toward Lancelot with even greater speed and force than before.
"Tekkai!"
This time, Lancelot neither dodged nor avoided the attack.
He simply stood there and allowed Golass's blade to strike him directly on the shoulder.
"Thud... CLANG!"
In the end, Golass's blade landed heavily on Lancelot's shoulder.
Yet, it didn't injure Lancelot in the slightest.
The Haki-infused Tekkai was absolute.
Instead, the horrifying impact, met with an immovable object, left Golass's own hands numb and trembling violently from the recoil.
"How is this possible!"
If being at a disadvantage in strength earlier was something he could still accept, then Lancelot blocking his full-power, mountain-cleaving blade with his bare body... completely shattered his self-confidence.
'You must know', he thought wildly, 'my blade can even slice through iron! Yet now it can't even injure a single person? How can I accept this?'
"Hah..."
After the shock subsided, Golass took a deep, shuddering breath.
Then, with a powerful push from his legs, he retreated over ten meters.
When he looked at Lancelot again, his gaze had completely changed.
It was now filled with both reverence and a deep-seated fear.
However, as a swordsman, he did not retreat. Instead, he chose to fight to the end... He gripped the hilt with both hands, raised his sword high, and then swung down fiercely.
An overwhelmingly terrifying flying slash burst forth.
"Boom..."
Wherever it passed, the ground was torn open, carving a ten-meter-wide trench, as it carried the momentum to destroy everything in its path.
Lancelot still did not move.
He stood there, watching the attack calmly.
Only when that peculiar, dust-filled slash was about to strike him did Lancelot raise the black blade, Shusui, forward.
He effortlessly blocked this strike, a blow capable of splitting mountain paths.
Yet, the immense power of the attack did not dissipate.
Instead, it continuously crashed and ground against Shusui's Haki-coated blade, attempting to break through its defense.
But Shusui stood like an insurmountable peak.
No matter how hard the mortal force tried, it could not surpass it.
"Hmph." Lancelot snorted coldly.
Then, a new, even more powerful Sword Intent erupted from Shusui, combined with another surge of his own power.
Like slicing through tofu, he cleanly split Golass's peculiar slash in two.
It ultimately dissipated before everyone's eyes.
"How... how is this possible?" Golass exclaimed in shock, then stood frozen in place, his spirit broken.
Outlock III's face had long since darkened to an ashen color.
He never expected this Rear Admiral before him to possess such unfathomable, monstrous strength.
Even the number one assassin of the East Blue couldn't harm him in the slightest.
"Swish..."
With a casual, almost bored wave of Lancelot's hand, a simple, crescent-shaped Rankyaku slash burst forth.
Outlock III had no time to react before the crescent air-slash swept across his neck.
"Gush..."
Blood sprayed wildly.
Immediately after, Outlock III's head rolled to the ground.
Only then did Golass snap out of his daze, watching Lancelot with full alertness, his body tense.
Lancelot pointed Shusui at Outlock III's fresh corpse.
"Your employer is dead, which means no one will pay you any more Berries."
Hearing this, Golass was momentarily stunned.
But he wasn't foolish and quickly understood.
Staring intently at Lancelot, he asked, "You have a task for me?"
Lancelot nodded. "Of course. From now on, I am hiring you. Long-term."
Golass raised an eyebrow. "Who am i to kill?"
Lancelot: "All inspectors in the East Blue except those under my command, as well as whoever comes to take the Chief Inspector position next."
"Deal!" Golass agreed without hesitation, not even asking about the price.
Because he understood that Lancelot sparing his life was the greatest reward.
Lancelot added another condition: "But before that, eliminate all the nobles in the Goa Kingdom."
"Deal!" Golass still agreed readily.
Killing was his business.
Lancelot continued, "I will issue a bounty on you according to naval regulations... but with your skills, as long as I and my subordinates don't act, no one in the East Blue can touch you. Moreover, working under me, I won't treat you poorly. Whatever you earned in a year before, I'll double it."
Golass nodded. "Then I'll go handle it now..."
With that, he gripped his blade and walked out of the palace, leaving Lancelot and Sarie alon.
Lancelot smiled, knowing that today the Kingdom of Goa would run red with blood.
His personal involvement from the start had been somewhat improper, and there were constraints.
After all, as a Marine, he could justify killing Outlock III and Stelly while "protecting" Sarie.
But slaughtering all the other nobles... he couldn't openly take action against them.
Now that Golass was here, things couldn't be better.
He would become the hero who saved the royal family and the entire Kingdom of Goa from the rampaging assassin, Golass—no one could find fault with that.
But Sarie nantokanette's expression shifted, a cold horror dawning on her face.
'Without the nobles... who would support the monarchy? The commoners? In the Kingdom of Goa, that was simply a fantasy'.
If all the nobles died... she would be stripped of her power base...
...she would become a puppet.
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