The mountain-sized Jack let out a muffled groan as his massive body was kicked over ten meters into the air by Jinbe. He arced through the sky before crashing heavily into the ground.
Despite being only three meters tall, Jinbe unleashed power that rivaled that of the eight-meter-tall Drought Jack, who had consumed an Ancient Zoan-type Mammoth Devil Fruit!
Both were Fishmen—one without a Devil Fruit, the other empowered by a fruit that greatly enhanced physical strength—yet they fought on equal footing.
This filled Jack with a deep sense of humiliation.
"Moo!"
A long elephantine cry echoed across the land as Jack's already massive form swelled even larger, as if inflated.
In the blink of an eye, a colossal brown mammoth over twenty meters long and more than ten meters tall stood on the ground before Jinbe.
Its crimson eyes locked fiercely onto Jinbe, and its four pillar-thick legs began to march forward.
RUMBLE RUMBLE!
The earth trembled and quaked violently!
Like a primeval beast charging out of an ancient jungle.
The mountain-like mammoth pounded the earth with deafening steps as it barreled toward Jinbe.
Faced with such a terrifying beast, even Jinbe dared not take it head-on lightly.
This was a Zoan-type ability user—
Not a real mammoth.
The pitch-black Armament Haki coating the giant beast's body amplified its already devastating charge several times over.
WHOOSH!
Jinbe flickered to the side, narrowly dodging the onrushing beast.
BOOM!
The coral reef boulders in front of the mammoth crumbled one after another, shattered to dust.
The explosion echoed like the sky and earth collapsing, ringing across the skies of Fishman Island.
"If you've got guts, stop dodging! Come on! Sea Knight Jinbe!"
The mammoth shook dust and debris off its face, turned around, and charged at Jinbe once more.
"I'm not as brainless as you, Drought Jack," Jinbe said coldly.
He sidestepped again, dodging the frontal assault. With a light tap of his foot, he leapt up and struck a mighty punch into the left side of the mammoth's abdomen.
"Fishman Karate Secret Technique—Buraikan!"
His fist, clad in jet-black Armament Haki, slammed into the mammoth's thick wall-like belly, sending ripples of shockwaves rippling outward.
The beast, as huge as a mountain, let out a piercing cry as it toppled sideways, rolling thunderously several times before crashing into the residential homes of Fishman Street.
Buildings in its path were flattened like paper under a steamroller.
"Damn it! Damn you, Jinbe! UGHAAAHH!"
Jack's furious roar came from the ruins.
The mammoth struggled to its feet, eyes bloodshot.
Suddenly, it spun around and stampeded toward the heart of Fishman Street.
Under the ten-meter-tall mammoth's rampage, buildings crumbled, streets cracked, and craters marked its destructive path.
"If you won't fight me head-on, I'll slaughter every last Fishman on this street! Hahaha!"
Jack laughed maniacally as he sucked in a huge breath, straightened his long trunk, and unleashed a powerful blast toward the end of the street.
BOOM!
The compressed air exploded like a cannon shot, obliterating the houses ahead into flying debris.
Over a dozen trembling Fishman thugs hiding inside were torn to shreds before they could even scream.
"Drought Jack!!"
Jinbe's eyes flared red with fury.
"Hahaha, that's more like it! Come fight me head-on, Jinbe!"
Seeing the enraged Jinbe charging toward him, Jack grinned savagely and turned his enormous mammoth body to meet the attack with a thunderous charge.
Mid-air, Jinbe shot down like a meteor, his right hand clenched into a fist, exuding a power so immense it seemed to distort the space around it.
"Fishman Karate Secret Technique—"
"Demon Tile True Punch!!"
BOOOOM!
The air in front of him detonated like a bomb, and the pitch-black fist surged forward, crashing into the charging mammoth.
BANG!
The ancient beast, over twenty meters long, was struck so hard it flew off the ground and was flung dozens of meters back, slamming into the earth with an explosion of shattered stone.
PUH!
Jinbe wasn't unscathed either. Taking the full force of the mammoth's charge, he spat out a mouthful of blood as his body was flung back, smashing into and shattering the decorative bow of the Mammoth Ship docked in the harbor.
The mammoth's massive head caved in at the center—bearing a deep, fist-shaped dent.
From all seven orifices of the beast's face, bright red blood poured out in shocking streams.
"UAAAAHHH!"
The overwhelming pain spread like a tidal wave across the mammoth's body. It howled in agony, thrashing its head on the ground, rolling, and kicking up clouds of dust.
Its enormous form rapidly shrank, reverting to Jack's human form.
Jack now stood with a deep, visible crack down the center of his forehead.
Blood poured freely from his head, staining his entire face a terrifying shade of red, making him look utterly ferocious and monstrous.
Through blood-colored vision, Jack's eyes widened as he locked his gaze on Jinbe, who had just landed back on the ground and was calmly walking toward him.
Jack had never imagined that he could lose.
Even more unthinkable—was losing this thoroughly.
He possessed the power of an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit, with endurance like a raging bull.
His mammoth form had drastically enhanced his already formidable physical prowess.
In the Beasts Pirates, strength reigned supreme.
Seniority meant nothing.
The strong rose, and the weak fell.
Even the positions of the All-Stars were constantly eyed by the Tobiroppo and others below.
Yet after all these years, he—Drought Jack—had firmly held his All-Star seat, proving he was clearly stronger than the likes of Who's Who!
In other words—
He was the fourth most powerful figure in the Beasts Pirates, behind only Master Yamato.
"I will never allow myself to lose to a mere Shichibukai!"
Jack clenched his fists tightly, bloodshot eyes sweeping across the shattered battlefield as if searching for something.
Finally, he spotted the red capsules Hody Jones had taken earlier, lying in the cracks between rubble and dust.
A savage grin spread across Jack's face.
With a sudden lunge, his massive body darted forward. Reaching out a huge hand, he scooped up more than a dozen scattered red capsules—grit and stones included—and shoved them straight into his jagged maw.
Crack, crack, crack.
Stone, dirt, and capsules were all crushed beneath his powerful teeth as he tilted his head back and swallowed it all with a crazed grin.
Jinbe furrowed his brows at the sudden move, visibly confused.
While it was true that some large animals in nature instinctively swallowed rocks and dirt to aid digestion or replenish minerals…
Jinbe wasn't foolish enough to think Drought Jack, a powerful Ancient Zoan user, had developed the same habit.
But then—his eyes landed on the few remaining red capsules scattered on the ground.
His expression changed instantly.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"That's… the ES—Mad Drug!"
"Why is that here?! It was supposed to be sealed in the Tamatebako, a treasure said to be a remnant of the Ryugu Kingdom from 800 years ago!"
The ES Mad Drug was a substance that could exponentially amplify physical strength and awaken latent potential in the user's body.
The number of pills ingested directly multiplied the effect.
One pill doubled one's strength.
Two meant four times.Three meant eight.Four meant sixteen times.
Such an absurd increase in strength, of course, came with a terrible price.
To gain inhuman power, one had to sacrifice lifespan.
The more pills taken, the more lifespan was consumed. The stronger the effect, the shorter it could be sustained.
If one's body wasn't strong enough, even a single pill could cause their blood vessels to rupture.
Conversely, if the user was too powerful, the amplification would be less effective.
For instance, if someone like Kaido took a few Mad Drugs, the most he'd feel would be a slight boost in blood flow—nothing game-changing.
But now—
Jinbe's face turned grimmer than ever.
Because right before him, Drought Jack's appearance had completely transformed.
"ROOOAAARRRRR!"
After swallowing more than a dozen Mad Drugs, Jack's eyes turned entirely crimson.
His fanged mouth opened to the extreme as an inhuman howl tore from his throat.
Standing at 8.3 meters, Jack already rivaled the Giants in size.
Now, his muscles rippled like tidal waves under his skin.
The tendons beneath his flesh bulged violently, tearing through the skin and revealing thick, bloody cords to the open air.
His entire body swelled enormously, packed so tightly with muscle that he resembled a blood-red humanoid muscle orb.
Shhhhhh!
Torrents of blood shot out from his pores like high-pressure jets, surrounding him in a thick mist of blood.
A brutal, suffocating aura erupted from this monstrous muscular form.
"Heheheh! Hahahahaha!"
"This strength! It feels divine!!"
Two glowing red orbs shone from within the mountain of muscle, locking onto Jinbe.
"Come fight me again, Jinbe!!"
BOOM!
The grotesque, inhuman Jack launched from the ground like a missile, dragging a blood-red afterimage across the earth as he charged at Jinbe with terrifying speed.
The earth instantly collapsed—the terrain for hundreds of meters cracked and shattered.
The entire Fishman Island trembled as if struck by a magnitude-eight earthquake, shaking even deep beneath the sea.
The shockwaves were so intense that even those far away in Ryugu Palace—King Neptune and the others—felt it and were struck with terror.
The blood-red muscle blur flashed across the battlefield, and in the next moment, it was in front of Jinbe.
A massive, muscular arm burst out from the orb of muscle and delivered a punch to Jinbe's raised black-armored forearm.
BANG!
The shockwave exploded outward, and Jinbe's body was blasted backward like a meteor.
"Kah!"
Midair, a torrent of blood spewed from his mouth!
(End of Chapter)
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