"Maria, get out of the way."
Jack glanced at the incoming green fireball, a flash of black light flickered across his body, and he charged at the chemical flame ball.
His resistance to fire had its limits, but he was still unafraid of flames of this magnitude. Indigo's chemical fireball essentially relied on chemical agents to cause damage, with the flames being merely a byproduct. Such flames were no more than a tickle to him.
As for the chemical toxins, metal would not be poisoned by them.
Whoosh!
Jack swung his trunk forward, the massive trunk swatting the chemical element ball to the ground. The chemical ball exploded, releasing thick smoke that enveloped Jack's figure.
According to the famous "where there's smoke, there's no harm" principle, Jack was unharmed beneath the smoke, though he did cough twice from the irritation.
Indigo wanted to continue attacking, but Jack was no longer interested in taking hits, realizing he had overestimated the officers here.
"Stop showing off with these childish tricks!"
The charging Copperajah had already reached Indigo, raising its forelimbs to stomp down on him.
Boom!
Earth and rocks splattered as Jack's stomp missed. Indigo didn't have the ability to dodge Jack's attack, but a gorilla helped him out significantly.
"Oooh ooh ooh."
In front of Jack, there appeared a giant gorilla, dressed in a red suit, howling.
"Gorilla..."
Looking at this oversized gorilla, Jack's actions did not halt. Whether it was a gorilla or a human, anything that dared stand in his way was the same.
Metal trunk swung at the opponent, though Jack felt some resistance. To him, this gorilla was much stronger than Indigo.
But the outcome didn't change. The gorilla was still flung away by Jack's trunk, crashing through a series of trees before coming to a stop.
"Scarlet, is everything done?"
Indigo asked the gorilla before him.
Scarlet was the name of this gorilla. Since discovering this island, the Golden Lion had Indigo conduct similar experiments.
Their test subjects were mainly various animals. Before discovering the Corviknight, they generally searched for animals from the Grand Line and other sea territories for experiments.
On the vast ocean, there are plenty of Exotic Beast Islands teeming with magical creatures, and those island animals were their targets.
Scarlet was an exception, being the Beast King of an Exotic Beast Island in the East Sea. Not only was it powerful, it also possessed intelligence comparable to humans, and got along well with the whimsical Golden Lion, becoming his subordinate.
"Ooh ooh!"
Scarlet patted its chest. Compared to the whimsical Golden Lion, although Indigo wasn't normal, he was more in tune with the times.
After the Golden Lion got entangled in Yamato's taunts and delayed, he had Scarlet lead people to dismantle the outer IQ defense wall and let those beasts in.
Due to the fight between the Golden Lion and Yamato, the ground had been continuously trembling, so it was only when those beasts were upon them that Jack and Maria noticed the strange and raging creatures.
"I'll handle those beasts; you take care of that person and the gorilla. Any problems?"
Jack roughly assigned their opponents. In his view, the beasts were evidently harder to handle than Indigo.
"No, I'll take on those beasts. That gorilla... makes me feel a little disgusted."
Jack allocated opponents based on strength, but Maria chose based on personal preference. Just as she previously found the spider's humanoid form too ugly, Scarlet now likewise gave her a visceral discomfort.
The gorilla's eyes sparkled with hearts, and it even blushed.
"Oooh ooh ooh!"
This gorilla inherently had a lecherous trait, harboring a special feeling toward human females, especially for someone like Maria whose size was comparable.
"As you like, but be careful, those beasts seem to be in a frenzy."
"Don't worry, within the spider web, those mindless beasts are nothing but prey."
With fingers interlocked, as Maria's hands parted again, her fingers were already covered with an electric web. Seeing the brainless charging beasts, a cluster of spider silk was cast out by Maria. As the electric net expanded and descended from the sky, Galvantula's hunting ground was ready.
Indigo's experiments weren't particularly successful, and during the modification process, they often used electricity to fend off those beasts, leading them to develop a fear of it.
Under Maria's electric web, they proved to be quite vulnerable.
As for Scarlet, it was the same. In his Human-Beast Form, Jack's fists mercilessly pounded the gorilla. Though strong compared to ordinary beasts, it was no match for Jack.
The Golden Lion forgot one thing: the Flying Sky Pirates were not what they used to be. He had lost those powerful officers, and with himself being stalled, the Flying Sky Pirates were left defenseless.
....
"Slash Wave!"
"Thundering Hakken!"
The slash collided with the Wolf Fang Club, causing a shockwave that overturned the nearby brook. The Golden Lion controlled the stream to form two massive lions, lunging at Yamato.
"Ice Seal!"
"Lion's Might·Imperial Earth Scroll!"
The Ice Seal froze the stream, but the shattered ice shards reformed into a new lion head. This scenario had repeated multiple times, even making the Golden Lion envious of Yamato's abundant stamina.
"Zoan's stamina is really indulgent, but how long can you keep it up?"
With a wave, a dirt mound again coalesced into a giant lion, its rocky fangs biting toward Yamato.
"At the very least... longer than you, old man!"
A large hole was punched through Lion Mountain. Using air as a stepping stone, Yamato's speed surpassed the pursuing lion. Aiming the Wolf Fang Club at the navigation wheel on the Golden Lion's head.
Although he dodged again, she noticed a problem.
The Golden Lion's slashes were sharp, and his body reaction speed was quick, but they relied more on muscle reflexes. Besides the Slash Wave, he mainly depended on the Float-Float Fruit to control a large number of lifeless objects for attacks.
As for defense, he either used earth and stone for blocking, slashes for negation, or evasive flying maneuvers. The Golden Lion had never used Armament Haki to withstand attacks.
With each block leading seamlessly to a counterattack, she couldn't believe this veteran of the old era lacked such combat experience.
"I say, could it be... you've forgotten how to use Haki?!"
The Golden Lion did not reply, only transforming into a black-faced lion. Yamato's words once again pierced his heart. Since his prison break, he noticed something wrong with his body. The Haki that used to obey him as if it were an extension of his body had become unstable since then...