Struggling to crawl in front of the sword, he slowly picked it up, and staggered towards Jack like a zombie.
Gust also took the thing he had been carrying on his back and brought it to the front. It was nothing other than a huge wine pouch. A few gulps of strong liquor downed his throat, Gust became drunken, yet his tone remained fiercely aggressive.
"Don't force me to use my powers against you! Those who flee better think twice about the consequences!"
Gust is a Paramecia-type Drunk-Drunk Fruit user, different from Vasco Shot's Glug-Glug Fruit. Although both abilities resemble alcohol, the manifestations of these two fruits are entirely different.
The Drunk-Drunk Fruit Gust consumed produces liquor with potent corrosive properties, capable of not only corroding physical substances but even hearts. Contact with his liquor can lead to one's body being corroded or losing one's mind, becoming a puppet.
Those whose hearts are corroded will die within twenty-four hours due to mental dissolution.
The original owner of this fruit was Buck, a relative of the elderly man who sheltered Law. After being defeated, he was sent to prison and died there, eventually leaving the fruit to Gust upon its rebirth.
Those infected by Gust's liquor no longer feel fear, but their attacks lose any intimidation power, failing even to wear down Jack's stamina.
This technique works on the weak ones; fearless cannon fodder is much stronger than ordinary cannon fodder, but such moves are useless against ordinary officers, let alone monsters like Jack.
Jack charged forward like a steel mammoth, blasting away all the pirate obstacles in front as he headed straight towards Gust.
"Damn it... don't underestimate me!"
Gust showed no fear, stomping his foot forcefully, causing a huge rock to be propelled into the air due to the impact from Jack's seismic charge. Gust then embraced the rock with both arms and hurled it towards Jack.
In response, Jack neither dodged nor slowed down, ramming directly into the rock, smashing it into pieces.
Without losing momentum, Jack then collided into Gust, sending him flying with the massive impact, and lots of liquor splashed onto Jack, but was blocked entirely by Jack's Haki.
Neither his body nor mind was affected; on the contrary, Gust was in a dire predicament.
Under Jack's Machamp influence, Gust's control over his ability severely weakened, causing the liquor surrounding his body to lose control and splash over the nearby pirates who feared and tried to flee.
The pirates had no time to utter a single word before being drenched headfirst by the liquor imbued with the Drunk-Drunk Fruit's powers, turning into drunken zombies within the blink of an eye and surrounding Jack's body.
But as before, against an opponent with high defense like Jack, numbers mean nothing. These ordinary pirates couldn't force Jack to lose even a drop of blood; no matter how flamboyant a move looks, if there's no damage, it remains futile.
However, Gust wasn't idle. Watching his underlings ensnare Jack under the influence of his ability, Gust clasped his hands together and swiftly flung them to the sides.
As he swung his hands, the purple liquor shot towards Jack like a rain of arrows.
"Die, you ivory bastard!"
During the trajectory of the arrow rain, Gust clapped his hands again, causing a large volume of liquor arrows to coalesce mid-air into spears, shooting rapidly towards Jack.
"Slightly stronger than before, but essentially unchanged."
Several white spots appeared on Jack's body; for him, these were mere superficial wounds. But Jack wasn't planning to let this opportunity slip by. While running, he transformed into his Human-Beast Form, closing in on Gust with a sliding tackle, his gigantic fist colliding towards Gust's head.
But just as Jack's fist was about to hit his opponent's head, Gust's body underwent a transformation again.
"Don't think just because I'm a Paramecia-type that physical attacks work on me!"
With a furious roar, Gust's body began to melt.
This was another ability of the Drunk-Drunk Fruit; it could dissolve clothes, mind, and even one's body, transforming it directly into liquor and rendering it immune to physical attacks.
But this wasn't elementalization; it was a fusion technique altering his body.
Unlike others, Gust could reassemble his body. Upon melting, Gust directly seeped into the ground, aiming to evade Jack's attack.
Even with Haki, as long as the opponent can't touch him, it naturally can't harm his liquor body.
But such a move might work against other Zoans, but Jack is different.
"Idiot, I'm a Fishman, Fishman Karate·Onigawara Seiken!"
Fishman Karate, utilizing impact on liquids to exert greater power through vibrations on bodily fluids, was perfectly suited for Gust who had transformed fully into liquor. In this situation, Jack could unleash the full power of Fishman Karate.
Boom!
After a brief delay of several seconds, a several-meter-deep pit appeared under Jack's feet, its affected range sprawling across most of the square.
On the fringe, Gust, now liquified, was punched back to his original form, blood streaming from his mouth, nose, and ears, even his eyes turning red.
Jack's punch inflicted severe damage on his liquified state, making Gust feel as if a mud truck was rampaging inside him; organs, viscera, bones, and skin all felt a profoundly painful ripping sensation.
"Damn it... all of you attack! Take down that guy!"
A massive amount of purple liquid soared into the sky, ultimately descending onto the square like rain, transforming the battlefield filled with fear into a gathering of drunken people within moments. Countless pirates, under the control of Drunk-Drunk Fruit, launched a desperate charge towards Jack.
"A futile struggle; no matter how many ants there are, they can't halt the strides of a giant elephant."
Bang, bang, Jack kept moving forward. With his sprint, a high-temperature barrier enveloped Jack's body which gradually evolved into a high-temperature bulwark as the charge began.
High-temperature pressure, fire attribute techniques; the heavier the user compared to the enemy, the greater the power exerted.
"Fishman Karate·Warm Pressure Elephant Swoop!"
The halo of high-temperature pressure concentrated on Jack's hands, his metallic arms even burned red-hot. Before reaching his body's limit, Jack unleashed that punch forward.
The power of high-temperature pressure was integrated into Fishman Karate, wielded alongside its techniques.
Gust hardly had time to dodge, feeling as if a mountain had been thrust upon him, and then the high temperature ignited the surrounding purple liquid, setting him ablaze into a man of fire.
While the Drunk-Drunk Fruit itself isn't weak, in front of Jack, it stands no chance. Even the quasi-elementalization akin to a Logia-type served only to add a negative buff of expanded striking surface against Jack.
Yet pressure and high temperature were just precursors to Jack's attack. After Gust was set ablaze, Jack's fists became imbued with Armament Haki, relentlessly pounding against Gust until no signs of life remained.
With Gust's demise, Jack's battle concluded, leaving the square on Hive Island in total ruin. Buildings were razed, the ground shattered, and the soil cracked under the baking of high temperature, laying the groundwork for Jack's ultimate title.
Due to the nature of his battles, any fights on land led to the area becoming a wasteland—a land as if it had endured years of drought, and lives were ravaged by his destructive warm pressure.
Numerous battles forged Jack's reputation, combined with Kaidou's acknowledgment, Jack's wanted poster eventually shifted from Steel Mammoth to a unified disaster.
The ground he tread turned to scorched earth; he was the Drought Disaster, the newly emerged fourth disaster of the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew.