One Piece: Saving Hancock with the Batto Batto no Mi

Gulp!

After the plump man, Jones, swallowed Viktor the Mantis Man, his body shape suddenly underwent a drastic change! From a two-meter-tall fat man, he immediately metamorphosed into a sleek, four-meter-plus metal Mantis Man, equipped with cannons, machine guns, swords, thrusters, and other devices. This was the terrifying effect of his Baku Baku no Mi ability, which had evolved after consuming a living creature.

Buzz!

Two thrusters on the Metal Mantis Man's back suddenly activated, generating a powerful thrust while spewing intense flames, causing him to charge towards Sephiroth and Gilman, who were locked in fierce combat.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Metal Mantis Man swung the two metal mantis axes on his forearms, slashing towards the youth's neck and chest, forcing him to retreat. Gilman's Supa Supa no Mi ability made his body incredibly difficult to penetrate, as hard as steel, and the opponent's Busoshoku Haki was also not weak. Sephiroth, using the standard Autumn Leaf Blade, could only leave white marks on the opponent, completely unable to break through his defense. Now, with the added interference of the Metal Mantis Man, the battle situation became more intense, putting Sephiroth in a tight spot.

Seeing the attack from the metal Mantis Man again, Sephiroth, resigned and realizing that his revolver was ineffective, had to discard the useless firearm. His left hand quickly reached for his waist, and the Butcher's Blade, a long sword with a terrifying aura that had been hanging there all this time, was suddenly drawn with a swift motion!

A flash of bloody sword light!

The Metal Mantis Man's right arm was instantly severed, and blood spurted out, causing him to retreat rapidly over a distance due to the pain. If possible, Sephiroth actually didn't want to use the Butcher's Blade to hunt pirates. It wasn't because he couldn't bear the cost of lives or anything... Rather, people killed by the Butcher's Blade would show strange signs of wilting, and wrinkles would appear on their skin, which were traces of their life force being completely drained. Therefore, if anyone with malicious intent deliberately investigated, his alias as the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro would certainly not be able to be concealed! In his resignation, he had to equip himself with a secondary, ordinary sword, to obscure the traces.

"Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!..." After several painful groans, the Metal Mantis Man finally realized that he was a Baku Baku no Mi user and could replace the right mantis axe with another item. In an instant, his still-gushing right arm was replaced by a rotating machine gun, ready to spew bullets.

"Go to hell!"

Dadada....!

A dense rain of bullets swept wildly, forcing Sephiroth, who was fighting the short-haired man with twin swords, to divert some of his attention to dodge the bullet attacks. Even with the strength of his Busoshoku Haki currently, he could form an invisible armor on his body, but this alone was not enough to withstand machine gun bullets directly! To completely ignore machine gun bullets, at least super strong Busoshoku Haki needed to cover the body, forming a layer of black substance on the surface, only then would there be sufficient defensive power to resist.

Of course, Sephiroth could also use his bat transformation to evade, but this ability of his was ultimately not a Logia elementalization! When he reformed his body, he needed a certain buffer time and could not attack with full force. In this way, he could easily be completely suppressed, or even severely injured, by Gilman!

First, deal with that damned metal Mantis! Sephiroth thought, his resolve hardening. The opponent only had Kenbunshoku Haki but lacked Busoshoku Haki. With the sharpness of the Butcher's Blade, he could cut him in two with a single strike! Thinking this, Sephiroth immediately underwent a vampire transformation. His original two-meter height suddenly increased drastically, becoming three meters, and his speed and strength also increased rapidly.

Immediately after, before Gilman could react, he promptly turned and attacked the Metal Mantis Man. He ignored everything, disregarding the splashing blood that spattered on his body as machine gun bullets struck him, focusing on a single objective.

"Two-Sword Style: Slash!"

With the Metal Mantis Man's terrified expression, the youth's figure flickered, appearing behind him, while his body was sliced into four pieces and fell to the ground, stiff and lifeless.

Creak, creak, creak...!

Not far away, a swarm of black bats flapped their wings. They carried a black cloth bag and placed it beside the Metal Mantis Man's corpse. Not long after, the corpse reverted to its human form, transforming into severed limbs and body parts, revealing the cruel traces of the Butcher's Blade.

On the other side, the few pirates who had already been killed by Sephiroth were even more victims of the three-person battle, with only a handful remaining. The few surviving pirates lay on the ground, groaning and wailing, filled with fear.

After dealing with the Metal Mantis Man, Sephiroth did not let his guard down. He immediately split his body into black bats, evading the short-haired man's claw attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

Machine gun bullets fell to the ground one by one. The black bats flapped their wings, reassembling the youth's figure not far away.

"What a strange ability!" Gilman frowned, his voice filled with doubt. "Are you a Zoan-type... or a Paramecia-type..."

"If I said I was a Logia-type... would you believe me?" Sephiroth swapped the positions of the two swords in his hands, moving the Butcher's Blade to his right hand, a faint smile playing behind his mask.

"Then why don't you say you're not a Devil Fruit user...?" The short-haired man snorted before continuing, "Forget it... those are all just petty tricks!" His tone was dismissive. "In the face of absolute power, everything is just an illusion!"

Buzz!

With those words, spiral blades literally grew on Gilman's arms and began to spin at high speed. Pitch-black Busoshoku Haki wrapped around his arms, making the blades appear even sharper and more threatening!

Spiral Slash!

A terrifying and astonishing aura suddenly erupted from Gilman's body. He stomped his foot hard on the ground, and his entire body was like a ferocious tiger pouncing, swinging his arms, and brutally attacking Sephiroth.

Clang, clang, clang...!

The silver-haired youth continuously swung his two swords to parry and deflect. The weapons of both sides collided, generating countless sparks. Taking advantage of the gap when the enemy changed his movements, he swung the Butcher's Blade and landed several consecutive slashes on the opponent's body.

However...

What made Sephiroth feel rather helpless was that Gilman's Haki power was far superior to his own. After their Haki negated each other, he could only make shallow cuts on the opponent's body surface.

Clang!

"Are you massaging me...?" The short-haired man put on a mocking expression, his face arrogant. As he spoke, he actually grasped the standard sword in Sephiroth's hand with both hands, locking it.

The pitch-black Busoshoku Haki, channeled through Gilman's rapidly rotating hands, began to coil and spin quickly, eventually exiting his claws and surging into the sword...

Whoa!

Under the silver-haired youth's astonished gaze, the sword in his left hand was struck by a spiral Haki impact, causing it to shatter from within, instantly breaking the blade into several pieces that fell to the ground.

This was... an advanced technique of Busoshoku Haki!

Busoshoku Haki can generally be used to strengthen the body and applied to weapons. This technique can be used by anyone who possesses a certain amount of Haki; the only difference is the level of power. Furthermore, releasing Busoshoku Haki from a distance to form shockwaves, injuring people from afar, and causing internal damage is an advanced application.

To perform this technique, if the quality and quantity of Busoshoku Haki are insufficient, then the technique cannot be performed, or if released, it will not cause much damage. This is like Kozuki Oden using the high-level Busoshoku Haki technique Ryuo to slash Kaido, where every strike was fatal, whereas the Akazaya Nine using Ryuo to slash Kaido was like giving him a massage with every strike—a striking difference in Haki mastery!

Sephiroth, who had trained Haki on Amazon Lily, was currently unable to release Busoshoku Haki from a distance, but if used to attack, the effect was inexplicable... If the quality and quantity of Haki are insufficient, no matter how great the technique, it's all useless! Sephiroth thought, realizing the limits of his current abilities.

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