The young Zephyr was the strongest opponent Blake had encountered so far.
He compensated for his lack of attack power with his martial arts, making himself a strong person without weaknesses.
No wonder this guy liked to comment on others "relying too much on Devil Fruits."
Perhaps in his opinion, if Kizaru could cultivate one of his martial arts or swordsmanship to his level, his strength would definitely increase significantly.
The reefs near the beach had been shattered into dust by the aftermath of their battle.
Zephyr's martial arts showed terrifying evolvability—after each of Blake's attacks, his muscle memory would automatically optimize his counter-attack mode.
"Cicada's Cry!"
When Blake used the same skill for the third time, Zephyr had already anticipated Blake's attack route.
He opened his mouth and bit down, and amidst a twisted metallic grinding sound, Zephyr actually bit Blake's long sword with his teeth, and his left hand took the opportunity to grip the back of the blade.
Blake was greatly surprised:
"What the hell? Do the Marine's recruit camps also teach the acrobatics of 'catching a sharp blade with your bare teeth'?"
Without time to think, Blake was about to pull back, but Zephyr's one-inch punch had already slammed into Blake's heart.
Blake only had time to condense Armament Haki for defense.
Instantly, his clothes turned to ash, and three hundred meters behind him, huge waves erupted from the sea.
Blood was flowing from Blake's mouth, and his breathing had a slight rattle.
Armament Haki and the Iron Balloon talent helped him resist part of the attack, but Zephyr's Armament Haki also had the ability to cause internal damage, giving him a not-so-light internal injury.
Zephyr had already rushed close, delivering a penetrating finger thrust with Armament Haki compressed to the extreme.
Blake gritted his teeth and plunged the long sword in his hand fiercely into the ground.
Power was channeled from the sword into the earth's crust, and the entire beach suddenly rose.
Zephyr clearly didn't expect Blake's target to be the ground, and subconsciously adjusted his center of gravity with the rising and falling of the ground.
"Final Act · Overlord's Martial Dance!"
Blake seized this opportunity to unleash his strongest attack to date, the Haki entwined around the blade tip creating plasma blue light through friction with the air.
A crisp sound of dislocated bones came from Zephyr's blocking right arm.
Before he could counter-attack, Blake's true killing move followed.
He activated his Armament Haki to the maximum extent, condensing it on his forehead, and slammed it fiercely into Zephyr's face.
Boom!
A scar was torn in the clouds, and Zephyr's figure slowly fell to the ground.
Learning from Bullet's lesson, Blake didn't give the opponent time to recover.
As the last slash fell, Zephyr gradually turned into blue light particles and dispersed.
Returning to the System Space, Blake let out a long breath.
He glanced at the ability card in his hand—
Armament Haki (Young Zephyr)
"Sure enough, Zephyr's martial arts cannot be counted as a special ability."
Blake sighed, but wasn't too disappointed.
He got out of bed and stretched.
With the help of the maid who had been standing by, Blake yawned and left the cabin.
Perona, who was playing on the deck, saw Blake's appearance and made a face at him:
"Big lazybones! It's already noon!"
Robin also began to complain:
"This is the decadent life of a Celestial Dragon."
Blake waved at them, ignoring their teasing.
Originally, he had planned to challenge young Hawkeye after defeating Zephyr, but now it seemed better to wait a few days.
Combat in the card space doesn't consume physical strength, but continuous high-intensity combat made Blake's spirit slightly fatigued.
He didn't feel much during the battle, but afterward, it was like entering a sage mode.
He just wanted to lie on a lounge chair and rest, not wanting to do anything.
Seeing Blake's exhausted face, Robin and Perona exchanged glances, a little suspicious.
Perona wondered:
"This guy clearly slept for over ten hours, so why does he still look like he hasn't woken up?"
Robin, on the other hand, stroked her chin, looking thoughtfully at Stella, and had a very impolite thought in her mind.
"Could it be that Sister Stella is so amazing? I really didn't expect you to be such a Stella."
If Stella knew what Robin was thinking, even with her good temper, she would definitely scold her... The route the sanctuary was on was one of the main shipping lanes of the North Blue, and they encountered passing ships almost every day.
These people, seeing the World Government flag on the sanctuary, would choose to steer clear.
However, today a rather stubborn ship appeared.
Just as Blake was recovering his spirits, a pirate ship was slowly approaching the sanctuary in the nearby sea.
On the torn-looking sails hung a rusty anchor and a pirate flag with three claw marks crossed, but the skull in the center was a dripping hyena skull... On the deck of the Hyena Pirates, Gerald fiercely sniffed the air with his beast-transformed nose, saliva mixed with blood dripping from his fangs:
"Do you smell it? It's the smell of gold."
He grinned and pointed towards the blurry huge ship silhouette in the distance—
The sanctuary was passing through a sea fog, its bow glimmering in the mist.
Poruk, the helmsman, swung a hydraulic anchor chain against the ship's side, rust flaking off:
"Boss, such a big ship must be full of good stuff."
Crawford, the sniper, knelt on one knee in the crow's nest, his modified flintlock rifle's scope sweeping across the cruise ship's mast:
"It's a World Government ship, but the main sail seems a bit different, it also has an iris emblem on it."
"Fools always play these tricks!"
Gerald kicked over an empty wine barrel:
"Last year's 'Silver Gull' was like that, and it turned out to be just an official using a World Government ship for his family's private business."
"We robbed it and it didn't even make the newspapers, and the bounty didn't go up."
"That guy probably secretly covered up the hole himself, not daring to make a fuss."
"The situation this time is probably similar."
Gerald's analysis was actually not wrong.
The iris emblem was the symbol of the Hilbert family.
Both the Silver Gull and the sanctuary were ships built by the World Government, but were being used privately by a certain family.
Poruk crushed a wooden table with an anchor chain:
"Just ram it! I'll cut down their mast!"
"Idiot!"
Crawford's gun stock slammed hard on the back of Poruk's head:
"That's a ship built by the World Government, the mast has a coating, your broken anchor would have trouble even scratching the paint."
He unfolded a hand-drawn sea chart:
"There's a reef cluster three nautical miles northeast, we'll drive that ship over there and make them run aground."
"The sea fog is also thicker there, we can use smoke grenades to cover boarding."
Gerald suddenly transformed into his full beast form, the hyena's roar shaking the deck.
His claws pressed onto the deck, instantly creating a scratch half a foot deep:
"I'm going to tear open the throats of those nobles right now!"
Crawford helplessly slapped his forehead:
"Alright, alright, but at least let me fire a round of flare shells first."
"You go in after their vision is obscured."
He finally instructed:
"Remember not to kill everyone, at least the treasurer must be captured alive."
"I know! So annoying!"
On the other side, Blake, on his lounge chair, looked up and frowned slightly in the direction of the Hyena Pirates ship.
To interrupt his rest at such a time.
Immediately, Blake smiled, clapped his hands, and said:
"Girls, it's time to test the results of your training!"