Outside the great forest, at the watchtower.
"Hey! Brothers, wake up!"
Following Lanley's advice, the Lieutenant Commander who had fled here looked at the severely injured Marines amid the wreckage of the watchtower. He felt both relieved and anxious.
The relief came from the fact that the situation here was better than expected. Although the watchtower had suffered an extremely brutal attack and almost all of its equipment was unusable, the Marines' lives were not in immediate danger.
It wasn't hard to guess that the other four bases were probably in a similar state.
In addition, he had already reported the attack on Arsasite Island to headquarters.
But this was also what made him anxious.
"The nearest reinforcements in the surrounding seas will need at least half a day to barely make it here."
"But even if they arrive… can we really help at all in a battle of that level?"
Murmuring to himself, his gaze turned toward the center of the distant forest.
From deep within the heart of the forest—
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"
Deafening explosions and grinding sounds echoed like thunder, piercing the ears even from such a distance.
With every collision, he could see a giant tree inside the Arasite Forest collapse with a thunderous crash, kicking up massive clouds of dust.
From time to time, enormous slashing waves cut out from the forest toward the sky, shredding the dust apart.
Without question—
This was a battle the Lieutenant Commander had never witnessed before.
"Commodore Lanley… can he win?"
He murmured softly.
...
"I can't win."
Within the forest, Commodore Lanley of the Marines, locked in a deadly battle with Roy, silently reached that conclusion in his heart.
"So this is the power of an Ancient Zoan user?"
He muttered inwardly.
He had long heard from his teacher, Vice Admiral Kasayama, about how troublesome Ancient Zoan users were. In fact, among the world-famous Seven Warlords of the Sea, there was one who was renowned precisely for possessing an Ancient Zoan ability.
According to Kasayama, facing that man was like standing face-to-face with the savage wilderness of ancient times.
Lanley hadn't fully understood back then.
But now, he did.
"Boom!"
A violent tearing of the air rang out—it was a massive tail.
Lanley barely managed to swing his great katana in retaliation.
"Volcanic Flow · Explosive Slash!"
His Haki and strength erupted with everything he had.
But in the next instant, it felt as though he had been struck by a mountain. His body was blown completely out of control, sent flying backward.
"Rumble!"
The ground was gouged open by his body, and the giant trees knocked over along the way testified to the sheer force of the impact.
Lanley felt that another rib might have broken.
"Which one is this now… the third, or the fourth?"
He forced himself upright using his sword for support, swallowing down the blood about to spill from his mouth. His ragged breathing made it clear just how dire his condition was.
Then he raised his eyes to look at his enemy.
That monster stood not far from him.
On the tail of that massive body—over three meters tall—there was a wound he had just carved out, a shallow gash.
But now—
Lanley could clearly see the muscles and skin at the edge of the wound rapidly repairing themselves.
In just moments, the bleeding injury had already faded into a faint red mark.
And this, more than anything else, was what gave Lanley the greatest headache—what filled him with despair.
"Vitality, stamina, speed, defense, strength… completely on different levels."
Even though the opponent hadn't used Haki—whether because he couldn't, or because he simply didn't want to.
Even though Lanley himself was already using Haki and sword techniques at full power.
But the gap between the two lay in the very essence of life itself—the vitality granted by an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit was simply far too terrifying.
So…
"My training still isn't enough. If Kasayama-sensei were here in person, he might be able to cut this thing's body apart."
Lanley pondered silently.
"In a normal fight, I have no chance of victory."
"So… I can only stake everything on the next strike."
He had made his decision.
...
At the same time—
"This fruit is ridiculously overpowered. No wonder any random Ancient Zoan user is at least at the level of a Tobi Roppo or one of the Three Calamities of the Beast Pirates."
Roy was making almost the exact same observation.
That's right.
This battle with Lanley was, from the beginning, also intended by Roy as a whetstone—a way to acclimate himself to his new powers by testing them against a capable Commodore.
And as the fruit's owner, he understood even more clearly than Lanley just how powerful the Quetzalcoatlus Fruit truly was.
"My base combat ability and martial arts aren't weak. Combined with this fruit, I'm already close to having combat power on par with a Marine vice admiral."
Roy came to that conclusion.
Of course, considering how enormous the difference between the strongest and weakest Vice Admirals actually was, that assessment was still fairly conservative.
"Not to mention I still have… hmm?"
Just as Roy was about to continue analyzing and summarizing, his heart suddenly stirred—the unique danger sense of a Zoan user made him look toward Commodore Lanley.
And there he was.
Lanley had already emerged from the drifting smoke and dust.
At some point, his great katana had been sheathed.
He had lowered his stance, his right hand gripping the scabbard, his gaze frighteningly sharp.
"So it's coming down to the final clash, huh?"
Naturally, Roy understood his opponent's intent—Lanley was clearly planning to decide the outcome with the next strike.
So—
"Fine by me."
"I've more or less adapted to the Quetzalcoatlus Fruit anyway. It really is time to end this."
Roy muttered to himself, then fixed his gaze on Commodore Lanley as well.
And at that moment—
"Boom!"
Lanley's hand clenched tightly around the hilt, his breathing heavier than ever before.
"Huff!" "Huff!" "Huff!"
With each breath, Haki slowly coated his hand, and all the strength in his body converged at once.
At that instant, his presence was like a volcano gathering pressure, on the verge of eruption.
"If you encounter a powerful enemy, it is of course a crisis—but it can also be an opportunity."
"Gather your presence, stake everything on a single sword strike."
"Unite intent with intent, compress everything into one point—this is called Iai Form."
In his ears, the voice of his teacher, Vice Admiral Kasayama, seemed to echo once more.
Then—
"Boom!"
In the next instant, killing intent burst forth.
Like a volcanic eruption!
It was a slash—an unprecedented slash!
Its speed and ferocity far surpassed any strike before it, tearing through the air itself.
Wherever it passed, countless surrounding trees were split cleanly in two in an instant, massive clouds of dust exploding in its wake.
"When the heart moves, the sword follows; heart and intent as one—this is called Batto."
At that moment, Lanley felt deeply satisfied.
Because this was the strongest strike he had ever unleashed in his life.
"Volcano Style · Iai Slash · Burning Mountain!"
At that instant, even within Roy's vertically slit, bestial pupils, a flicker of surprise appeared.
The next moment—
The slash flew past.
"Splurt!"
The head—wearing the rooster mask, covered in shadowy dragon scales—silently separated from the neck!
A single strike—decapitation!
Lanley finally let out a long breath.
"I won."
He slowly collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, feeling as though even the slightest movement of his body was unbearably difficult.
But—
"That slash wasn't bad."
The sudden voice nearly made Lanley's heart stop.
"What—"
He turned his head in disbelief.
Then he saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Within the ravaged forest, bathed in sunlight—
Roy's severed head, still wearing the rooster mask, was breaking apart into countless tiny, flowing particles of golden light.
Then—
"Hum!"
Those scattered fragments of light continuously gathered, gradually reassembling atop the headless body.
Within the dazzling radiance, the outline of a head took shape.
In just moments, Roy's form was completely restored.
However, Lanley could now clearly see the changes in him.
Golden bands of light were visibly coiling around his body, and even his draconic claws seemed to gleam with golden brilliance.
The forest fell into utter silence.
Lanley's gaze went blank.
He stared at the unbelievable scene before him—something impossible to describe with ordinary words.
"A Zoan user… but with elementalization?!"
His still-functioning mind replayed the incomprehensible scene from moments earlier.
After such a long battle, he had been almost certain that Roy was a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user.
Yet what he had just witnessed was something he had seen before in the Marines—
It was strikingly similar to the Logia abilities of Admiral Kizaru.
And so, he arrived—almost inevitably—at the only possible conclusion.
"You're… a Mythical Zoan?"
Only that rarest type of Fruit in the entire ocean, a Zoan, Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, could possibly grant such an unbelievable power!
And with that realization came another conclusion.
"Just now… you weren't even fighting me at full strength?"
If the opponent truly was a Mythical Zoan user, then this was practically a certainty.
A chill of dread surged through Lanley.
He had confidence in his own strength—among the Marines below the rank of Vice admiral, he believed he would not lose to anyone.
And yet, this mysterious attacker before him had defeated him without even going all out.
"Who… who are you, really…?"
He tried to ask.
Then he saw the opponent slowly raise a draconic claw.
"Hum!"
Golden light gathered in the claw, erupting in the next instant.
"Boom!"
In the following moment, Lanley lost consciousness.
"Who am I?"
Just before his awareness faded, he seemed to hear the opponent's calm yet confident voice.
"My name is 'Rooster' (Yǒujī)."