Chapter 36: Fierce Battle
"Boa Hancock you've repeatedly defied the Navy's authority, and I see no reason to offer you any more leniency!
I am placing you under arrest in the name of the Marines!"
"Hmph! Try it if you dare, you arrogant brat!"
At the sound of Carl's stern proclamation, Boa Hancock's pride flared instantly she would never accept such humiliation, especially not from a man.
In the blink of an eye, the clash of Conqueror's Haki erupted between them.
The sky above cracked and thundered, ominous clouds splitting apart in jagged bursts as if the heavens themselves feared their battle!
Dark crimson lightning snapped and danced across the air, shredding the clouds with every collision of their will.
Carl's expression remained cold and composed, but the grip on his twin blades Sakura Ten and Deadwood tightened with intensity.
His eyes burned with an almost fanatical gleam.
He stood like a predator in perfect stance calm, coiled, and ready to pounce.
In that instant, he looked less like a Marine and more like a beast. The kind that tears through empires.
A drop of sweat rolled down Hancock's temple.
She hadn't expected this.
In just over a month since their last encounter, Carl's development had defied logic.
Back then, he showed only the potential of possessing the Haoshoku Haki, the Haki of Kings but he hadn't awakened it.
Yet now, not only had he awakened his Conqueror's Haki,
He had already mastered the advanced infusion technique clashing evenly with hers!
Hancock, who had long mastered her Conqueror's Haki through years of battle and noble lineage, realized something chilling:
Carl's progress was monstrous.
Even Doflamingo, a fellow Warlord with awakened Paramecia powers and advanced Haki, had been defeated by Carl.
That level of power, achieved in just one month—Hancock could no longer view him as beneath her.
But precisely because of that terrifying growth... she couldn't back down now.
She had to defeat him before his strength grew further.
"Perfume Femur!"
Without warning, Hancock vanished in a burst of speed—Soru-level in swiftness appearing before Carl with her leg raised in a sweeping arc.
The strike was laced with Armament Haki and her Mero Mero no Mi ability capable of petrifying anything it struck, be it flesh or stone.
Most opponents even seasoned Marine Vice Admirals would barely have time to react.
But Carl didn't blink.
His Observation Haki flared to its limit, and his focus was unshakable.
Even before Hancock's leg descended, his twin blades had already risen into a cross-guard, catching her kick cleanly.
Hancock's eyes widened she had barely touched the ground before Carl retaliated.
"Lion's Might: Dirth Roll!"
Carl let out a primal roar his blade technique triggering a violent upheaval of the earth.
The ground around them ruptured, twin spiraling windstorms bursting from the cracked terrain and circling upward to entrap Hancock in midair!
"What?! This... this is Golden Lion Shiki's technique?!"
The wind pressure was immense, nearly slicing the surrounding air.
Hancock instantly recognized the tactic Shiki's Fuwa Fuwa no Mi had once used wind as a medium for flight and destruction.
She narrowed her eyes and didn't hesitate.
With a flip, she launched herself feet-first toward the whirling towers of air.
Her kicks pulsed with fruit energy
She infused them with her signature ability to petrify any physical matter struck by love-infused force.
The wind, despite its intangibility, was moving physical particles of air and debris making it a viable target.
As her heels smashed into the vortex
The air distorted with pink light, Stone bloomed from the whirlwind's base, calcifying chunks of it into brittle rock!
Carl frowned, but not with surprise.
He had anticipated this.
"Petrifying wind currents... So her ability can affect particle-based phenomena.
Could this be a sign of... Paramecia Awakening?"
The realization deepened his respect and caution.
Only awakened Paramecia users had the ability to extend their fruit's effects to the surrounding environment.
"Oh? So you understand fruit awakenings?"
Hancock's voice dripped with amusement, but her brow furrowed in frustration.
This wasn't the naive, hot-blooded Marine she met a month ago.
This was a tactician a warrior who had grown sharper than ever.
The battle had only just begun.
But now, both of them knew this was no longer a test of strength.
It was a war of will, ability, and domination.
The battlefield crackled with power, and the world around them held its breath.
Hearing Carl's question, Boa Hancock did not answer directly, but gave a charming, haughty smile as if mocking him from behind her veil of beauty.
Carl didn't fall for the bait and instead dropped from the sky like a meteor!
"Cross Slash"
It was a simple technique coating both blades with Armament Haki, then unleashing a rapid X-shaped cross cut with tremendous speed.
But in combat, simplicity is often lethal.
By combining his Devil Fruit powers with gravity, Carl accelerated during descent reaching a speed that broke the sound barrier in that instant!
Hancock barely had time to react
His attack was already within striking range, only inches from her!
"Damn, filthy man!"
She growled in fury as a massive explosion of debris erupted from the impact zone, a cloud of shattered stone and smoke billowed upward from the battlefield!
A few seconds later, Carl's silhouette reemerged above, still mid-air.
But his assault didn't pause for a second.
He began unleashing ranged slashes from his twin swords, fusing them with whirlwind force generated by his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi-based powers.
Each slash curved like a scythe and whistled through the air with sharp precision.
The smoke thickened, engulfing a radius of over 100 meters in choking haze but Carl, using Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), clearly "saw" through the fog.
He locked onto Hancock's location and launched a relentless barrage
Two slashes per second, flying toward her like a mechanical onslaught.
Carl might not outmatch Hancock in pure speed,
But in raw strength and endurance, he was clearly superior.
That was the result of his brutal self-training—three million push-ups over five years a foundation that could rival the training regimens of even the most elite Marines.
In the world of the strong, even the most powerful fruit means nothing without a formidable body.
Look at the fate of Golden Lion Shiki
Once a fearsome pirate rivaling Roger himself, but after years of confinement in Impel Down, his body had deteriorated.
His physical decline, compounded by age and sickness, left him vulnerable ultimately defeated by Luffy, and later finished off by Carl himself.
Carl understood this lesson well
A powerful body is the cornerstone of survival in the New World!
"You're the worst kind of man! Coward! Why won't you fight me head-on!?"
Hancock was growing desperate under Carl's oppressive pressure.
Frustrated, she lashed out with insults hoping to provoke him, break his rhythm, maybe force a misstep.
But Carl was unfazed.
He wasn't fighting for pride, or glory, or even to prove a point. He was here for the system reward. This was a mission.
What Hancock said her taunts, her beauty, even her fame meant absolutely nothing to him.
And he certainly wasn't the kind of fool who would go easy on her just because she was a woman. That would be an insult both to himself and to her as a warrior.
"Damn bastard! Slave Arrow—!"
Realizing she couldn't escape by defending alone, Hancock finally counterattacked.
A barrage of pink heart-shaped arrows flew from her fingertips, each capable of turning flesh to stone upon contact!
But Carl's reaction was immediate.
With a burst of his Fuwa Fuwa power, he generated a vertical air pressure blast, scattering the arrows like autumn leaves
And simultaneously, the dense smoke and dust blanketing the ground were blown away.
But amid the swirl of dispersing dust—Hancock had vanished.
She had circled behind him, using the distraction to her advantage!
"Aromatic Kick!"
With fury in her eyes, Hancock's leg came whipping toward the back of Carl's head—coated in black Armament Haki and saturated with Mero Mero no Mi energy.
It was a devastating blow aimed at a vital point.
But Carl's Observation Haki flared again.
His right hand tightened on the hilt of Sakura Ten, and in less than a millisecond—he raised his blade in a quick parry!
He blocked her strikebut it was a rushed defense.
Her kick had power, and Carl hadn't reinforced the counter fully in time.
The impact sent him flying several meters through the air.
Hancock's eyes lit up
She had landed a clean hit.
And without missing a beat, she surged forward to press the advantage—rushing at Carl, intent on turning the tables!
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