The vast, ruined dock fell into an eerie silence.
The pirates who had been watching from afar, ready to heckle and gloat, now looked like the third emoji in a reaction meme—ashen and pale.
—
They stared at the magic circle blooming beneath Luoyu's feet, and the endless golden light behind him, rapidly condensing into a tangible Hundred-Armed Kannon.
A suffocating sense of dread radiated outward from Luoyu like a tidal wave.
—
BOOM!
Nine layers of magic circles erupted in the sky.
His Conqueror's Haki burst forth, transforming into a massive qilin that soared into the heavens.
Behind him, the Hundred-Armed Kannon opened its furious eyes, golden arms blooming like a lotus in full bloom.
—
In that instant, three overwhelming forces surged skyward.
Like waves crashing against cliffs, the pressure was enough to steal breath from lungs.
—
A divine beast looming above the clouds.
Nine radiant, arcane magic circles.
A golden Kannon blooming behind Luoyu.
—
Everyone on the battlefield felt it—
That crushing, cosmic insignificance.
—
Was this divine judgment?
—
Jack. Ulti. The hundreds of pirates nearby.
They had all studied Luoyu's fighting style through Ulti's intel.
But none of them had imagined he'd fight like this.
—
Most people unleash their trump cards one at a time.
Luoyu?
He dumped the whole deck at once.
—
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they'd never believe it.
—
Even Tashigi and the others, who had planned to support Luoyu, froze.
They hadn't expected this kind of move.
—
Smoker, cigar clenched between his teeth, looked up at the sky, where power churned like a storm.
He loosened his grip on his jitte and growled:
"Listen. No matter what happens—grab my hand. I'll use everything I've got to run. If we're even half a second too slow, we're dead."
"Move!"
—
He roared, grabbed Ain and Tashigi, and bolted.
—
Only a madman would fight like this.
—
For the first time, Smoker realized—
His Smoke-Smoke Fruit was actually pretty good… for running away.
—
He blasted forward, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
—
As the wind howled past his ears, Smoker glanced back—
And his pupils shrank.
—
The pirates near Ulti, seeing Smoker flee, panicked and scattered like dominoes.
Ulti's composure shattered.
She screamed and turned to flee.
"Lord Jack, run! This guy doesn't fight fair—this isn't just one move!"
—
"ROAR!"
Jack, in his mammoth form, whipped his trunk like a steel whip.
Armament Haki coated his body in black.
And then—
He turned and ran.
—
The so-called "King of Getting Sunk" was now ruled by pure survival instinct.
—
Jack ran.
Even Luoyu was surprised.
—
But he couldn't blame him.
In the original story, Jack earned his nickname without ever being truly punished.
Now?
He was living the punishment.
—
But he only made it seven or eight steps—
Before the Hundred-Armed Kannon appeared in front of him like a ghost.
—
Its massive hands closed in.
Jack's charge was halted mid-run.
—
The serene-faced Kannon opened its gaping maw.
And from within—
The Zero-Style technique, long charged, exploded like a dam bursting.
—
Above, the beast-shaped Haki and the super-tier spell Skyfall began to descend.
—
In that moment—
Whether it was Jack, or Smoker and the others fleeing in the distance—
They all had the same thought:
The sky is falling.
—
BOOM!
Three colossal forces collided, sweeping across tens of thousands of meters of sea.
—
Tidal waves surged like a category-12 tsunami.
Pirate ships at the dock shattered like toys.
Even the distant Marine warship was hurled thousands of meters by the shockwave.
—
Sailors on deck couldn't stay upright.
Only by clinging to anything they could grab did they avoid being flung into the sea.
—
"Smoke Jet!"
Smoker roared, blasting apart a crashing wave with his smoke-powered punch.
—
Cold seawater sprayed everywhere.
Smoker shivered as he regained his footing.
—
He looked back toward Uss Island, still hidden behind the waves.
His cigar had snapped in half.
—
But that wasn't what mattered.
—
What he needed to know was—
Had Jack, the billion-berry Calamity, survived Luoyu's triple finisher?
—
The air calmed.
The sea settled.
—
Smoker, Ain, and Tashigi scrambled up the mast for a better view.
—
All they saw was dust.
The battlefield had been obliterated.
Like shattered porcelain scattered across the sea.
—
On the largest fragment—
Luoyu stood, untouched.
—
Ain and the others broke into relieved grins.
—
But their eyes scanned the wreckage.
They needed to know—
Was Jack still standing?
—
"Lord Jack, please be okay!"
—
Far off, Ulti crawled from the rubble, covered in dust and blood.
Her makeup ruined, her body aching, she looked toward the battlefield.
—
The dust cleared.
And a massive figure came into view.
—
Jack.
—
His fur was charred black.
His skin torn open.
Blood gushed from his wounds like a broken dam.
—