"You troublesome insect!!!"
"With your strength alone, there's no way you can stop me!!!"
Clang!!!
A sharp blade and a pitch-black leather boot collided in midair, erupting into blazing flames that rose like fireworks blooming within the silent dark chamber.
Faced with that terrifying force, a trace of blood seeped from the corner of Sanji's mouth. His entire expression tightened with strain, savage and twisted.
Across from him, Saint Shamrock—who had repeatedly tried to attack Zoro only to be perfectly intercepted each time by Sanji in his high-speed state—seemed to have finally found some small pleasure in brutally suppressing a member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Having lost his peerless enlightenment in swordsmanship, he had now completely abandoned his former identity as a swordsman. The Supreme Grade Meito in his hand had become nothing more than a convenient weapon, and he was now relying purely on his raw power and physical strength to overpower Sanji.
"Don't screw with me!!!"
Wrapped in deep crimson flames from head to toe, Sanji roared.
And yet under Saint Shamrock's overwhelming power, his body was steadily forced backward.
If not for his absurd speed constantly creating openings, he would have had no chance against Saint Shamrock at all.
And that was exactly what made Sanji even more furious.
"Why is it that something that moss-head can do... I can't!?"
Zoro's slashes had been able to block even Saint Shamrock's attacks at full strength.
But now, he was struggling this much against a Saint Shamrock who had already lost an arm.
He possessed a body forged from the most advanced science and technology of the Germa 66 Kingdom—a technological body with overwhelming regeneration, an incredibly hard exoskeleton, and mastery over abilities like flames, lightning, and invisibility.
But still!
Even like this, if not for the advantage brought by the Speed-Speed Fruit, his strength simply would not measure up to that green-haired idiot who relied on nothing but his own effort!
Sanji understood that clearly.
That was why whenever he had the upper hand, he would mock that bastard like crazy.
But...
"If I can't even deal with someone like you... then what right do I have to stand beside him..."
Whoosh~!
A fierce gust of wind swept through, stirring the surrounding sea of flames into sharp, dancing arcs in the air.
Sanji suddenly took a deep breath. The flames he had released to burn everything around him abruptly flowed back into his mouth, surging inward through his body as though they were being devoured.
Behind his armor of fire, Sanji's eyes flickered with unwillingness and madness.
Holding Saint Shamrock off for a few minutes was not something he couldn't do.
It was just...
Sanji was unwilling!
He was unwilling to remain forever in Zoro's shadow.
Even this time... even now, he was still benefiting from Zoro's efforts!!!
The surging flames were released madly from Sanji's body in the form of Pokémon energy, only to be drawn back into his mouth through a special method.
In the blink of an eye, every last trace of Fire-type Pokémon energy within his body was exhausted.
In its place...
What ignited was the boiling inferno burning within Sanji himself!!!
"Th-This... what is this!?"
As the scorching flames came rushing toward him, Saint Shamrock felt as though he had been thrown into a world of fire. Every corner of his body, every cell, was being baptized by blazing high heat.
Even the Supreme Grade Meito pressed against Sanji's foot looked as if it were about to be melted down and reforged, gradually glowing red-hot.
Seeing this, Saint Shamrock immediately recoiled in alarm, hurriedly pulling back his blade and retreating several steps.
After all, Supreme Grade Meito were revered as the strongest famed blades in the world not only because they could better carry sword intent and Haki, but also because each of them possessed powerful unique characteristics.
Resistance to fire and water, immunity to ordinary weapons—those were practically standard traits.
And yet even such a world-famous blade had nearly failed to withstand the terrifying heat radiating from Sanji's body, almost reverting to a liquid metal state.
This was simply...
Too outrageous!
Are these bastards even human!? They're monsters!
Saint Shamrock was inwardly horrified.
But Sanji, on the other hand, seemed to have entered a strange state. He did not continue his pursuit. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes.
Ever since just now, he had been thinking—
If Zoro could use his Pressure ability to create attacks that directly struck an enemy's mind and soul...
Then what exactly could his own ability do!?
Sanji's ability was Battle Armor—making his body incomparably tough, a battle machine without any weak points.
Among all the Abilities Red had encountered so far, this one could only be considered above average.
Not especially high, not especially low.
The little bit of defensive amplification it provided was barely worth mentioning in front of Sanji's exoskeleton.
And besides, none of the Straw Hat Pirates had previously gained any major increase in combat power through their Abilities, so no one had really cared much about that.
But now, under the pressure Zoro had brought him, Sanji's potential...
Had erupted in an entirely new explosion!!!
Sanji had long understood the effects of Battle Armor.
And after seeing Zoro, through extreme mastery of the sword, slash even the enemy's soul, he had finally realized...
Flame was his secondary attribute.
But Fighting—Fighting was his true natural talent!
Lately, however, he had relied far too much on the all-purpose power of flames, too intoxicated by their grand spectacle and easy destructive force.
So much so that it had been a long time since he had seriously studied anything related to hand-to-hand combat.
More flexible fighting techniques? More advanced assault methods!?
Before the overwhelming roar of brute-force flames, all of that had seemed pale and insignificant.
Compared to how he utilized Fire-type energy, Sanji's understanding and use of Fighting-type power remained at the most superficial level.
Even after fully undergoing Pokémon-ization, the Fighting type had still only served as a supporting role to his Fire type, condensing into battle armor that accompanied him.
And since he had never really encountered many enemies worth risking his life against, Sanji's utilization of the Fighting type had not even reached half the level of his use of Fire.
Only now, at this moment, had he finally realized the mistake in that.
And under the immense pressure Zoro had brought him, he had developed a brand-new move!
Man of Light, Transform!!!
Shua—!
Under Saint Shamrock's stunned gaze, Sanji's body suddenly burst forth with dazzling, scorching radiance, as though the Sun God himself had descended, illuminating the entire room.
The unbearable heat melted everything around him that could be liquefied.
Even the walls, dried out beyond their limit, began to crack and crumble, chunks falling away as dust scattered everywhere.
In an instant, the whole room seemed to have leapt thousands of years into the future, prematurely entering a state of "old age," fragile and decrepit like a collapsing ruin.
Yet none of that could stop Saint Shamrock's gaze from locking onto Sanji.
For before his eyes, Sanji's body began to be assimilated, from the inside out, by that searing light.
Until at last, his entire form was engulfed by that blinding radiance, completely merging with the blazing glow itself.
Just like—
"This is..."
At that moment, even Zoro, who had been wholly focused on comprehending swordsmanship at the side, couldn't help opening one eye in surprise as he looked at Sanji's current state.
"Hah~"
A wave of burning breath escaped from Sanji's mouth.
Then, the next second, even though his face was now glowing, that familiar curled eyebrow remained—and on that shining face appeared a cold smile.
Looking toward Saint Shamrock in the distance, he said softly:
"Celestial Dragon, wipe that ignorant look off your face."
"What's truly shocking... is still yet to come!"
Whoosh~!
The instant the words fell, Sanji's figure vanished completely, leaving only a straight trajectory of light in the air.
And yet even so, terror flashed through Saint Shamrock's eyes.
Because he...
Couldn't "see" Sanji at all!!!
Although his soul had suffered a strike from Zoro, his Observation Haki had not weakened much. Sharing the same bloodline as Shanks and having lived an even more privileged life, he naturally possessed the ability to glimpse the future through Observation Haki.
So even if Sanji's Speed-Speed Fruit allowed him to move faster than Saint Shamrock's dynamic vision could track, future sight should still have been able to capture him.
But now... that ability had completely failed against Sanji!
There were only two possibilities.
One was that Sanji's Observation Haki had surpassed his.
But that was obviously impossible!
Observation Haki depended even more on talent than Armament Haki. It wasn't something that could be casually surpassed just because someone wanted to.
But the second possibility was even more absurd!
It meant that the speed Sanji had unleashed had already exceeded the future Saint Shamrock could perceive!
He possessed the power to alter the future before even arriving at it!!!
So even future sight could no longer capture Sanji's movements.
Because at this moment, he had already transcended the shackles of time.
But the speed required for that...
Could a human being really achieve it!?
At that instant, Saint Shamrock felt like his head was about to explode.
But before he could even react, an attack that had arrived without his awareness slammed violently into his abdomen.
"Divine Light · Rotisserie Spin Kick!!!"
Sanji, now transformed into the Man of Light, reappeared. But his body had twisted into an inverted posture before Saint Shamrock, his legs spread wide like the blades of a helicopter at a smooth angle.
The next moment—
Shushushushushu...!
Countless streaks of light struck Saint Shamrock's body like bullets, making pain explode across his face as he spat out a huge mouthful of blood.
Under that endless barrage of kicks, his body was sent flying like a meteor, crashing straight into the wall behind him.
Tap!
After finishing the strike, Sanji landed smoothly on the ground. The very spot where his foot touched instantly blackened into a scorched mark.
"Red was right after all!"
A smile rose at the corner of Sanji's lips as he said softly:
"The power of the Speed-Speed Fruit really isn't limited to speed alone!"
Even Sanji himself didn't fully understand why he had suddenly broken through Saint Shamrock's future sight just now, but he simply felt that if he wanted to do it, then he definitely could!
He didn't know whether this counted as breaking through time itself, but he was certain that as long as he kept walking down this path, his strength would undergo a qualitative leap!
And all of this was thanks to his brand-new form.
Sanji had tentatively named it:
[Divine Light Form]!
Right now, he felt that even if he ran into the gods from storybooks, he could still beat them into the dirt!!!
And the principle behind this new form was actually not that different from his original Diable Jambe.
The power of Battle Armor made every part of Sanji's body like a single iron plate, all possessing the same level of endurance.
In that case, if the soles of his feet could withstand that level of heat, then his body, his organs, his cells...
Naturally, they could withstand it as well!!!
Taking advantage of that principle, Sanji first released every bit of Fire-type energy in his body and transformed it into real flames.
Once energy-converted flames met the air of the natural world, they burned even more fiercely and intensely, effectively borrowing the power of nature itself. Then, under Sanji's control, all of it was drawn back into his body, filling every single cell from head to toe!!!
Under the effects of Battle Armor, those flames and thermal energy caused no damage whatsoever to Sanji's cells. Instead, just like Diable Jambe, they were retained within them.
And that was precisely how Sanji had gained the appearance of a man of light.
Cells that had absorbed such massive energy naturally became stronger, allowing Sanji as a whole to achieve an entirely new evolution!
Overall, the total amount of energy inside his body had not increased that much.
It was just that the energy originally used for flames had now all become pure physical power!
Stamina, strength, speed, explosiveness—his abilities had been enhanced across the board. Not only did this give Sanji's Fighting attribute far more room to shine, it also pushed his development of the Speed-Speed Fruit a step further!
Though it looked as if not much had changed, his body's energy had now become specialized entirely toward combat and physicality, violently raising his upper limit.
"Damn it!!!"
"Why... why do weird freaks keep popping out one after another!?"
Boom!!!
From beneath the collapsed rubble, Saint Shamrock suddenly shoved away a massive slab of stone and crawled out, filthy and disheveled, roaring like a madman.
He'd had enough!
He had truly had enough!!!
If the enemy had been Luffy, or even the vice-captain Red, then fine!
But today, he had actually been pushed to this point by two "grunts" from the Straw Hat Pirates!?
Utter humiliation! This was the greatest humiliation imaginable!!!
Clutching his blade, Saint Shamrock charged at Sanji and slashed again.
Even without swordsmanship behind it, the sheer force of the blow caused the surrounding air itself to rupture into terrifying shockwaves.
But before he could even fully close in, Sanji's figure flashed and appeared directly above him at an angle.
"Your struggle is already meaningless!!!"
"Divine Light · Axe Kick!!!"
Boom!!!
That plain, unadorned kick smashed directly into Saint Shamrock's head, instantly warping his entire face out of shape.
His body shot downward like a meteor, crashing brutally into the ground below!!!
As a Fighting-type move, Axe Kick not only possessed a mighty base power of 120, but also carried a certain chance of leaving the target confused.
And Saint Shamrock, whose mind was already on the verge of collapse, was naturally struck by the effect without exception. His body twisted unnaturally as though it no longer obeyed him.
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't get up.
Only several seconds later did he finally regain control of his limbs and spring back to his feet.
But the moment he lifted his head, he found a bandana-wearing Three Sword Style swordsman standing directly before him.
"Not bad, love-cook."
Zoro smiled faintly, having once again condensed his God-Slaying sword intent.
Whoosh~!
A streak of fire flashed by, and Sanji landed steadily right behind Saint Shamrock, forming a pincer with Zoro.
Hearing Zoro's praise, however, Sanji didn't look especially pleased.
"So you beat me again."
"But next time, I'll be the one ahead!!!"
In Divine Light Form, Sanji was only one final step away from awakening the Speed-Speed Fruit.
He believed that once this battle was over, he would completely comprehend the power of Fruit Awakening, and his combat strength would undergo another all-around ascension!
(End of Chapter)