Jack never thought that he would one day appear before an enemy in such a state.
He was furious, his Face so contorted that the metal jaw guard covering his mouth rattled with a "clack-clack."
"Taro?"
Jack's voice was somewhat muffled; perhaps because Taro wasn't wearing a Marine uniform, he wanted to confirm.
As everyone knows, people in the world of pirates are more or less Face-blind.
"Ho, it's me."
Taro pulled his lips into a smile, looking relaxed and indifferent.
As fellow members of the Billion Club, Jack's threat was much smaller than Katakuri's.
What he was wary of was a battle of attrition against two Yonko Commanders.
Hearing this, Jack cracked his neck. Feeling his strength return, he wasted no more words and reached behind his neck to draw two sickle-shaped weapons.
His legs, which seemed extremely thin compared to his thick and burly upper body, erupted with incredible power.
With a "whoosh," he leapt into the air, raising both sickles high and slashing down vertically at Taro.
"Clang!"
Taro held his blade horizontally in front of his chest. As thunderstorm met the sickles, a crisp sound rang out.
"Creak, creak..."
Jack used the momentum of his descent to press down hard on Taro.
Taro supported himself with effort but still slid back a distance, secretly surprised in his heart.
"This guy's strength really is amazing!"
His gaze turned cold as another surge of Internal Energy welled up.
"Conquerors Haki Infusion!"
Blue and red lightning suddenly erupted, the "sizzle" of electric currents exploding.
"Boom!"
As the weapons clashed, a surging power erupted fiercely.
Jack's figure paused. After exerting force once more, he did a backflip, breaking contact.
Taro swung his horizontal blade in stride, delivering a Slash.
"Mihawk Slash: Swing!"
An incomparably overbearing Sword Qi chased after him, slashing toward Jack.
Jack's small bead-like eyes twitched violently. His body twisted and flipped in mid-air, barely dodging the blade before landing on the ground.
This probing attack allowed Taro to breathe a sigh of relief.
This guy really doesn't seem that strong.
In fact, he doesn't even seem to know how to use Haki?
(Author's Note: According to Jack's 1522 Vivre Card, the Haki section is blank; therefore, this book assumes that the 1520 Jack cannot use Haki. This is specifically stated because I'm truly afraid of being flamed for no reason!)
(Just like Oda-sensei, the author is just a novelist; what do I know about One Piece?)
This guy really is just a brute who relies on physical strength and combat instinct to charge straight through!
Jack was also somewhat surprised. According to intelligence, Taro was indeed a master swordsman.
Whether it was clashing blades with Whitebeard during the Marineford War or recently beheading Edward Weevil, both proved this point.
But he hadn't expected that an already injured Taro could still possess strength not inferior to his own.
"Jack, my battle with him isn't over yet. Are you planning to interfere?"
In the gap as the two faced off again, Katakuri spoke. He hated it when people interfered in his battles, so his voice was very cold.
"I only follow Boss Kaido's orders!"
Jack didn't respond to Katakuri's questioning about "interfering" and directly brought up Kaido's name.
On one hand, it was the truth.
On the other hand, Katakuri had also seen his pathetic state just now. If possible, he wouldn't mind killing Katakuri as well.
If Katakuri didn't give Kaido Face, killing him would be perfectly justifiable and exactly what he wanted!
Hearing Jack's words, Taro's heart stirred. If the two of them could come into conflict, it would be much easier for him to slip away.
However, he underestimated Katakuri's intelligence and his judgment of the situation.
Katakuri weighed his own combat dignity against the interests of the Big Mom Pirates.
As fellow Four Emperors, Mama and Kaido's relationship wasn't bad, and Taro was a common enemy.
Ultimately, he chose the latter.
After a moment of contemplation, he nodded slightly.
"Taro, I hope you're alive long enough for me to kill you!"
Having said that, he leaped back a hundred meters, yielding the battlefield.
"Also, don't think about escaping. I'll be watching you!"
Taro really wanted to curse Katakuri's mother in his heart.
Dammit, it ended up becoming a battle of attrition anyway!
Taking a deep breath, Taro gripped thunderstorm tightly, his entire body's Internal Energy ready to be unleashed.
Seeing Katakuri step back, a hint of regret actually flashed in Jack's eyes.
If Taro knew that Jack had the idea of killing both him and Katakuri at the same time, he would probably die laughing.
Wait, you can't actually die from laughing!
But you can be hacked to death with a blade!
Internal Energy surged wildly, Armament Haki was applied, and a blue-white vibration pressure shield was added as he swung his blade.
"Mihawk Slash"
Sharp blue Sword Qi burst from the blade. The massive Slash seemed to swallow the surrounding light, darkening the sky and causing the air to tremble.
Jack's bead-like eyes contracted sharply again, his muscles tightening and bulging throughout his body.
He squatted slightly, took a step back with his right leg, leaned his upper body forward to steady himself, and crossed his two sickles in front of his chest.
"Clang! Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"
The Sword Qi slammed into Jack's sickles. The power of Internal Energy competed against Jack's physical strength, resulting in a temporary stalemate.
"Boom!"
Vibration power suddenly erupted. Within the narrow space, the air vibrated violently and the earth shook.
Jack only felt the force he was bearing suddenly increase, and the muscles in his arms began to tremble.
"Crack!"
The massive force shattered the metal jaw guard on his mouth. Jack was shaken to his core, using all his strength to parry Taro's Slash upward.
After a period of stalemate, the Slash's power weakened slightly. After the Vibration Energy erupted, it weakened further, and Jack finally managed to alter its trajectory, sending it straight into the sky.
The low clouds were instantly split by the whistling, fast Slash. A long while later, an explosion echoed from the sky.
"Rumble!"
After blocking Taro's strike, the expression in Jack's bead-like eyes became solemn.
This guy is much stronger than he appeared during the Marineford War!
Taro was also a bit dazed. He had already found Jack's eyes somewhat familiar. Now that he had shattered his jaw guard and saw his teeth, it suddenly dawned on him.
"Fishman bloodline? You're from the Fish-Man Race?"
Yes, Jack's teeth were the serrated kind characteristic of the Fish-Man Race.
Taro remembered that among Hody Jones's subordinates, there was a Fishman who liked digging tunnels, and his features were also bead-like eyes and those teeth.
Jack was very annoyed to see that Taro had recognized his race; he was a Half-Fishman.
But for a long time, he had hated the Fishman blood flowing in him, which was why he used a jaw guard to cover his mouth.
Now that his race had been exposed by Taro, he was even more shocked and furious.
A gust of air swirled up, mixing seawater with soaked soil and kicking up a hazy cloud of dust.
"Pawoo!"
From within the dust, a loud elephant's trumpet sounded.
Jack transformed into a Mammoth over ten meters tall, raising his two thick forelimbs high and stomping them down heavily.
The wet soil splashed in all directions, and the earth shook violently.
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