That was right.
After wandering around Dressrosa for a while and roughly confirming how things would end, Ozz rode Seagull King elsewhere for fun.
On the way, he happened to run into Zou.
Ozz, who loved amusement and new experiences, was naturally very interested in these Mink Tribe members who would take the initiative to come over and rub against him.
After all, the Roger Pirates had visited Zou before, so Ozz was familiar with them.
Especially Pedro the jaguar mink, who had once made a fuss about wanting to join the Roger Pirates.
When Ozz arrived, a fierce battle was happening there.
An enormous mammoth was rampaging through the city. Members of the Beasts Pirates, dressed like primitive savages, were fighting the minks everywhere.
The city had fallen into chaos.
...
New World, Dressrosa.
The battle in the colosseum was still ongoing.
"It's useless, Straw Hat. The situation is already obvious, isn't it?"
With Armament Haki wrapped around his fist, Lucci clashed with Luffy head-on. Both sides were forced back.
"Against Saint Ozz, you have no chance of winning."
On the other side, Zoro had also fallen into a stalemate.
Kuina was gradually adapting to the power of the Pink Dragon Fruit.
"Hoo..."
As she exhaled, flames spilled from her mouth, then slowly wrapped around Wado Ichimonji.
With the power of her dragon-man body behind it, every Iaido slash forced Zoro several steps back.
The two of them had always been geniuses nearly equal in swordsmanship. Now that the gap in strength and physique had been made up, and Kuina's Haki had also been taught by Ozz to a decent level, the outcome was still uncertain.
If Luffy and Zoro's battles could be called temporary stalemates, then Ace and Sabo's side was far less easy.
Looking at the long-haired young man standing in the flames without being affected at all, Ace gritted his teeth and frowned.
"What a monster of a body..."
Sabo looked at his steel pipe, now crushed flat, and said to Ace with cold sweat on his face,
"Be careful, Ace. Don't let him grab you."
"With his Haki, there's no way you'll be able to turn into flames."
"I know!"
Ace and Sabo stared at Azure Ozz, but they truly could not think of a way to deal with him.
Azure Ozz did not act rashly either. Bathed in flames, he simply crossed his arms and stood there quietly.
It was not that he did not want to attack freely.
It was that when Void Ozz created the painting, he had not used too much energy. If Azure Ozz acted without restraint, he might disappear very quickly.
Ozz had not set up a dead end for the three brothers.
Otherwise, he would not have drawn Azure Ozz.
He could have directly summoned peak Golden Lion, the original owner of the Float-Float Fruit.
Unless Luffy watched Ace and Sabo both die and awakened into Nika, peak Golden Lion would absolutely be able to cut the three brothers into mincemeat.
So, strictly speaking, the three brothers still had a chance to win.
As long as they were durable enough to survive until Azure Ozz's power ran out, they could win.
This could also be considered the care of an elder like Ozz.
After all, only by encountering enough powerful enemies and experiencing enough life-and-death battles could they become stronger.
"Gah!"
Sabo took a punch to the stomach and instantly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Blood poured from his mouth and nose. A punch from the world's strongest creature truly made him feel how vast the world was.
This was merely the small price he paid for trying to attack Azure Ozz head-on.
Seeing this, Ace's eyes widened instantly. Black-red lightning faintly appeared in his hand, wrapped together with the power of fire.
"Fire: Ara-mitama Fist!"
Crack, crack, crack!
Only when the power of this punch appeared did Azure Ozz's gaze finally turn serious.
One corner of his mouth lifted.
"Interesting. An unpolished Conqueror's coating?"
Facing this punch, Azure Ozz clenched one hand into a fist. Black-red scales finally faintly appeared over that fist.
It was a fist marinated through and through in Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki.
A terrifying aura erupted instantly.
Azure Ozz's entire body seemed to sink into darkness. The only things glowing were his scarlet vertical pupils and the fist wrapped in black-red lightning.
"What?!"
Ace, who was about to hit Azure Ozz, saw this and his pupils trembled violently.
It felt as though he was facing a true mythical creature.
That aura was terrifying.
Fist Bone: Thunderclap Punch.
Like rotten wood being crushed, Ace's Conqueror's Haki fist was instantly shattered.
Just like Kaido smashing Fourth Gear Luffy, even if both possessed the spirit of a king, there were still differences between Conqueror's Haki users.
Immediately after, just like Sabo, Ace's eyes rolled white. He flew backward and crashed straight into the spatial barrier, then fell to the ground, retching nonstop.
On this sea, no one could surpass him in raw stats at the same age.
Not even Big Mom, who possessed the strongest physique.
As time passed, Sabo and Ace took turns forcing themselves back up, constantly consuming Azure Ozz's remaining energy.
With the support of his demonic aura, Zoro also gradually began to gain a slight advantage in the swordsmen's battle.
The only battle that could be considered stable was Luffy versus Rob Lucci.
Lucci, who had not yet completed his Devil Fruit awakening, was still somewhat strained against Fourth Gear Luffy, who had already learned Ryuo.
Every clash made him feel pain tearing through his internal organs.
Felines were naturally agile, but their defense was weaker. On top of that, with Azure Ozz and the others occupying the colosseum, there was not much space left to maneuver.
Before long, Lucci was beaten until he began coughing blood.
"Damn it..."
In a corner of the colosseum, a Visual Transponder Snail was broadcasting the scene to the palace in real time.
Seeing Azure Ozz's overwhelming, terrifying power repeatedly knocking Fire Fist Ace and Revolutionary Army Sabo to the ground, Doflamingo's grin widened.
"Fuffuffuffuffu!"
"How about it? This gift Mr. Ozz left behind, even the descendants of monsters famous across the seas feel powerless before a true monster!"
"Even if you live in the same era, you have no possibility of victory."
"The Worst Generation?"
"What a laughable joke. People who never experienced that era thirty years ago will never understand how terrifying the monsters of that era truly were!"
"Watch carefully, Law."
Doflamingo looked toward Law, who was in a miserable state and shackled with Seastone cuffs.
"Watch how fragile this so-called Worst Generation of yours really is!"
"Fuffuffuffuffuffuffu!"
Law, his face covered in blood, raised his eyes toward the screen.
On the screen, that terrifying figure was slowly turning into fragments and disappearing.
The Float-Float Fruit appeared where he had been.
Law: "..."
Doffy: "???"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"