Ares patted Kaido on the shoulder and said in a low, steady voice, "Go. Katakuri is our crewmate. We have to bring him back."
"I will handle things here."
As he spoke, his brows drew together, and his expression turned ice cold, killing intent rolling off him.
"This matter will not just be brushed aside. Once we rescue Katakuri, the people behind this will pay in blood."
"Anyone who lays a hand on my comrades… can go report to the King of Hell."
In this world, he had no real family. So he treated his comrades as family. And he absolutely would not allow anyone to harm his family.
"You are right, Ares–aniki. Anyone who dares to touch our comrades has to pay the price," Kaido said, his face fierce.
Of course, he did not forget the task Ares had given him. "Then I am going to look for Katakuri first."
"Go."
Even as Ares answered, his gaze had already locked onto Linlin, who was charging toward him in huge strides, her sandbag–sized fist raised high, a harsh glint flashing over her knuckles.
That cold sheen came from Armament Haki hardening, light bouncing sharply off the pitch–black surface.
Buzz.
The muscles along Ares's arm twisted and rolled like dragons and snakes, rock–like muscle plates layering over one another to form a suit of living steel armor. It was brutally terrifying.
In an instant, those devilish muscles turned blood red.
That was Ares's unique technique: Crimson Armament.
[Crimson Armament: Adamant Wolverine Fist]!
His fist shot out, gigantic knuckles ripping the air apart with a wail like ghosts and demons, a violent explosion trailing in its wake.
Boom.
Their fists clashed in midair, thunder cracking overhead.
Shockwaves rippled out in concentric rings, sweeping wildly over the harbor.
The monstrous force hiding in Ares's arm was like a towering mountain range erupting forward, irresistible and overwhelming. It smashed directly into Linlin, sending her body flying. With a deafening crash, she slammed down into a distant building at the harbor's edge.
Ares watched the direction she flew in and said coolly, "I am not Kaido. You want to compare 'monster strength' with me?"
"You are still a bit too green."
Ever since he was a child, he had tempered his body with inhuman, extreme methods. In terms of raw power, he had almost no equals. After gaining the Mythical Zoan Azure Dragon form, the sturdy foundation he had laid was pushed to a whole new level.
In pure strength…
Ares was utterly confident. Coupled with his unique Crimson Armament, sending a rampaging Linlin flying with a single punch was nothing surprising.
Even if she had been fully lucid, he still had the confidence to use his fists to show her…
Just who was the real "monster" when it came to brute force.
Ares stood where he was, tall and unshakable, not chasing after her. To him, there was no need.
By now, after clashing with so many top–tier monsters, he no longer put Linlin at the top of his list. To put it bluntly, her power simply did not impress him that much anymore.
More importantly, there was not much in Linlin's fighting style that he considered worth learning. That alone made his desire to fight her very low.
The dust finally settled.
Linlin's eyes snapped open. Light burst from her pupils, twin scarlet flames burning in their depths.
Seeing that, Ares clicked his tongue. "Even that punch was not enough to knock some sense back into her? Looks like I did not hit hard enough…"
"In that case, I will stop holding back. With her 'steel balloon' body, she will not get hurt that easily anyway."
Linlin, still on the ground, went berserk again. She swung her fist, that terrifying monster strength exploding outward. Wherever her fist fell, the air rippled like the surface of water, shockwaves spreading in visible waves that made onlookers' hearts tremble.
Ares could clearly feel that this punch was even stronger than the last, her Armament Haki thicker and more oppressive.
"Good!"
"If your fists were weak and soft, I would not be interested in fighting you at all."
Instead of fear, delight flashed in Ares's tiger–like eyes. At last, a spark of true fighting spirit began to burn.
His feet moved.
Every step he took crushed the stone slabs beneath him into shards, the excess power leaking from his soles alone enough to pulverize the ground.
At the same time…
His core tightened and twisted, sending power surging like a tidal wave through his body and into his knotted arms. Those already thick arms seemed to swell another size, blood and qi roaring like the Yellow River in flood.
Terrifying did not begin to cover it.
[Crimson Armament: Great Ape King Fist]!
His fist roared out, the blow like a war god's hammer, a strike that wanted nothing less than to destroy everything in front of it.
Boom.
The deafening blast left the pirates in the distance with their ears ringing. Their minds went blank, as if they had gone deaf, their heads buzzing painfully with nothing but that thunderclap echoing inside.
The overwhelming force twisted and distorted all the muscle along Linlin's arm, her body bending like a bow drawn to full moon before she was blasted away like a meteor.
The red haze vanished completely from her eyes, leaving only a pure, empty white, like the belly of a fish.
Crash.
Her massive body plowed across the ground like a bulldozer, carving out a deep gash several hundred meters long. Everything in her path was reduced to rubble.
The power of a single punch…
Left every pirate watching struck dumb, as if some ghost had clamped a hand around their throats and strangled the words from them.
All they could feel was endless shock at that towering figure standing in the harbor.
In the distance, Longarm Bread was dumbfounded as well, eyes wide.
"Ares just keeps getting stronger… Even when she goes berserk, Linlin's power and Haki are terrifying."
"But now… it looks like Ares has surpassed her in both."
Staring at that devil–bodied figure that looked half man, half god, Longarm Bread could not help recalling the first time he had seen Ares.
Back then, he had just been a calf that did not know how to fear tigers.
Now…
He had completely grown into a main pillar of the Rocks Pirates.
…
Ares let the Crimson Armament fade from his arm. The blood–red muscles seemed to deflate, shrinking by two sizes, his blood and qi no longer raging as wildly as before.
"With that punch, Linlin should have her sanity back…"
"I really do not know why she falls into that weird state over and over. And it is not just once or twice. Has no doctor ever been able to cure her?"
"Or is her condition something medicine cannot fix at all?"
He did not know much about Linlin's past, and he had never bothered asking anyone about this problem before.
Just then…
Hearing Ares muttering to himself, Longarm Bread ran over and offered an explanation. "Linlin's eating disorder, I have taken her to many doctors. All of them were helpless."
He was terrified of Linlin's rampages too, afraid one day she would fail to distinguish friend from foe and kill him on the spot.
So he had once gone out of his way to find famous doctors to treat her. None of the results had been satisfactory.
That was why…
The idea of letting Linlin have as many children as possible had taken root in his heart. He had realized he could not fully control Linlin. So it would be better to make use of her terrifying talent to give birth to a new generation of talented offspring.
Those thoughts, of course, he would never dare to say out loud.
"I see…" Ares nodded, understanding.
Longarm Bread nodded as well, saying nothing more.
At that moment…
Linlin, who had been lying motionless, abruptly opened her eyes. The blood–red color was gone, but flames of sheer fury were burning there, hotter than ever.
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