Amid the explosive roar of shattering air, Norton reached out and caught the descending claw.
Veins bulged along his arm, yet his hand remained as steady as a mountain.
Even with the mountain-crushing strength of Mongola's werewolf form, he could not move Norton an inch.
"Again! You still have strength left, don't you? Bring out your full potential!" Norton's eyes burned with excitement as he smiled expectantly.
But in Mongola's eyes, that smile looked like the grin of a demon king.
A faint fear quietly spread from the depths of Mongola's heart, stabbing at his pride.
"Claw Pistol!"
The werewolf Mongola slashed with his claws, tearing visible trails through the air.
In wolf form, Mongola's speed had multiplied several times over—far beyond the speed of sound, even faster than bullets.
And yet Norton handled it with ease.
Mongola was horrified.
He had never encountered such a terrifying opponent—someone whose strength and speed seemed endless.
Unfathomable.
He had never felt anything like this from anyone before.
"Finger Pistol: Wolf Fang!"
Under overwhelming pressure, Mongola unleashed power he had never drawn upon before.
His Armament Haki condensed across his body and gathered upon his fangs, turning the originally pale wolf teeth jet black.
Opening his massive maw, Mongola lunged forward to bite Norton.
The black fangs collided with sparks flying.
With a metallic clang, the attack missed again.
Norton's figure reappeared a few steps away. The foul stench from Mongola's mouth made him frown slightly.
"Don't think you can escape!" the werewolf Mongola howled sharply toward the sky.
The piercing wolf howl spread far into the distance.
Outside the palace hall, Nami, the duke, and Funing, who had already fled, heard the terrifying cry and couldn't help turning back toward the palace.
"What is happening to Mr. Norton?" the duke's heart pounded wildly.
"There's no time to worry about that! Just trust Norton!" Nami said, though a flicker of concern passed through her eyes before she forced herself to look away. "He's strong! He'll be fine!"
Funing grabbed the duke's hand.
"Let's go, Father! Back to the castle! All the guards are heading toward the palace!"
Sure enough, the patrol guards outside the palace had been drawn by the terrifying wolf howl and were rushing inside.
Not only that, several figures in black uniforms, whom Funing had never seen before, were also pouring into the palace along with them.
"Who are those people?" Funing asked curiously.
"They're agents of the World Government intelligence agency, known as Cipher Pol," the duke said grimly. "You're right, Funing. The situation has become too complicated. We must return to the castle immediately!"
"Wait! I need to bring the White Pearl back!" Funing protested.
"There's no time! Leave it to Mr. Norton!" the duke said seriously. "He'll protect his own ship!"
Something enormous was about to happen in this country.
---
Meanwhile, inside the palace hall—
The terrifying shadow of the wolf-headed monster flickered repeatedly.
Massive claws, as dark and hard as steel, tore through the air, stirring violent gusts of foul wind.
Mongola pushed his body to the limit using the Rokushiki secret technique Life Return (Seimei Kikan), forcing every muscle in his body to tighten like iron.
Within the violent wind and deadly claw strikes, a silver-haired figure flashed constantly, always dodging at the last possible moment.
"Not enough! Not enough! Not enough! Your speed and power are still not enough!"
A wild grin spread across Norton's face as he spread his arms.
"Draw out your body's full potential! This alone isn't enough to satisfy me!"
Faced with Mongola's relentless assault, Norton only dodged and occasionally blocked—never attacking first.
And this only caused Mongola's momentum to grow even stronger.
Under the werewolf's destructive frenzy, the palace hall's pillars, domed ceiling, and walls were continuously shattered.
Dust filled the air like fog, stones crashed down with thunderous echoes, and the entire hall began to show signs of collapsing.
The red glow in Mongola's eyes grew brighter and brighter, his monstrous appearance resembling a beast driven mad.
By the end, he no longer shouted the names of his techniques.
His power had swelled to its limit. With nowhere further to advance, he could only pour all of it into each claw strike while roaring in rage.
Killing intent slowly consumed Mongola's mind.
Unknowingly, under the immense pressure Norton exerted—and his relentless verbal provocation, the barrier that had long restrained Mongola began to crack.
He had begun touching the realm known as "Awakening."
According to legend, when a Devil Fruit user's body and mind fully align with their ability, they can enter the state known as Awakening.
Once awakened, their combat power increases dramatically, and they gain terrifying vitality—the ability to rise again no matter how many times they are struck down.
However, Zoan awakenings carry enormous risk.
If the user forces awakening when their body and mind are not compatible with the fruit's nature, it will fail.
And if it fails—
Though they will gain monstrous vitality and regeneration, their consciousness will be overtaken by the animal instinct of the fruit itself.
In other words, they lose their reason and human intelligence, becoming nothing more than slaves to the Devil Fruit.
The Jailer Beasts of Impel Down were examples of failed Zoan awakenings.
...
"Looks like that's about enough…"
Norton murmured softly as he watched the rampaging werewolf.
He could sense that the power within Mongola had been pushed to its absolute limit.
The maximum value of his limiter.
Norton clenched his right fist.
For the first time, he prepared to throw a second punch.
"If I end it instantly, that wouldn't be fun," Norton said calmly. "In this state, you should be able to take a few punches, right?"
As his words fell—
He threw a serious punch.
A completely plain punch.
No Armament Haki.
No Rokushiki techniques.
Yet the blood-red glow in Mongola's eyes instantly vanished. His instinctive fear of death snapped him back to clarity.
Norton's fist rapidly expanded in his vision—
Like a mountain descending from the sky.
The black Haki-coated fangs shattered and flew apart.
Mongola's wolf head twisted violenty, blood bursting out.
In that instant—
He heard the sound of bones breaking.
Even after partially entering Mythical Zoan awakening, his bones were harder than steel.
Yet under Norton's fist, they broke as easily as rotten wood.
The immense force engulfed Mongola and launched him away like a cannonball, leaving behind a massive afterimage in the air.
That streak of force blasted through the palace pillars, tore through the fog-like dust, punched through the thick palace walls—
Then shot out of the island entirely.
A long scar of waves split across the sea before the figure finally vanished into the distance.
...
The palace guards and Cipher Pol agents who had just rushed into the hall witnessed an unbelievable scene.
The silver-haired man still stood with his fist extended.
Before him stretched a bottomless trench, carved straight through the palace hall, across the town's streets, and all the way out to the roaring ocean.
Around the silver-haired man, whose presence resembled that of a demon king, the smoke drifted away like dissipating mist.
"I still overestimated you…" Norton lowered his fist and glanced calmly at the guards and agents.
"You couldn't even make this entertaining."
His gaze swept across them.
Everyone felt as though they had fallen into an endless abyss.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
If you liked the story, adding to library and dropping stones are enough. I will add extra chap for stone milestones:)
400 P.S - Bonus chap
800 P.S - Bonus chap