Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Five successive massive explosions occurred. Intense, scorching flames engulfed most of Kuja Port. The surrounding ground shook violently, with the vibrations felt across most of Amazon Lily. Three or four sections of the Kuja Port city wall collapsed, burying dozens of female warriors under brick, stone, and packed earth.
At the same time, the powerful force generated by the explosions turned into howling gales, forming a huge current of air that swept in all directions, kicking up countless clouds of dust and causing the seawater to churn relentlessly.
A flurry of dust forced Hancock and the others to shield their faces to keep the sand out of their eyes.
"Aeridar!"
Hancock cried out in alarm.
"May you have no whole corpse left! Ba-ro-ro-ro-ro!"
"That's what you get for crossing me!"
In mid-air, World roared with laughter.
"Hey, what are you laughing at?"
Suddenly, a scornful voice entered World's ears, causing his body to jerk. He looked back in astonishment and saw Aeridar suspended in the air right behind him.
"He can fly!"
World was shocked. Although he knew of Aeridar, he didn't know much about him. He hadn't expected the man's ability to include flight.
Across the entire world, the ability to fly was extremely rare, comparable to a Logia or a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit.
"Impact Gun!"
Aeridar bent his index finger back with his thumb, flicking it forward.
Pop~
Boom!
The air gave a light pop, and an invisible air bullet shot out rapidly, hitting World directly on the shoulder.
World felt an intense, sharp pain in his shoulder. His body involuntarily tilted, and he plummeted downward, crashing heavily onto the ground.
"It's an air bullet!"
World's Armament Haki faded. He rubbed his painful right shoulder, his face grave, and looked up at Aeridar in the sky.
"You struck my woman and my subordinate. You can compensate with your ability!" Aeridar's voice was icy cold. He slowly descended from the air, looking down at World.
In truth, after these few exchanges, Aeridar had detected World's weakness.
"Compensate with my ability?"
World didn't quite understand the meaning of the phrase, but Aeridar's tone, condescending attitude, and gaze infuriated him, causing his eyes to become increasingly savage.
"Stop saying such nonsense, you bastard!"
"More-More: 50x Speed!!!"
Swoosh~
Rumble!
World's figure flashed, and almost simultaneously, Aeridar dodged to the right. A massive pit, covered in cracks, appeared where he had just stood.
"Your short-distance speed is certainly extreme, but you seriously underestimate me."
Aeridar twisted his waist and lashed his right leg backward in a black blur.
Bang!
A strong gust of wind dispersed. World violently retreated, his feet scraping two deep tracks on the ground.
"Impact Wave!"
Aeridar threw a punch. Terrifying shock force erupted from his body, generating immense air pressure that condensed into a visible shockwave, which burst forth violently.
Rumble…
The earth shattered inch by inch, and the ground shook intensely. The powerful shockwave carved a semicircular trench into the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
"More-More: 10x Shotgun!"
Pew, pew, pew, pew…
A dozen dust pellets, the size of a pinky finger, shot out from the billowing dust cloud, each carrying enough force to pierce a human body.
"Impact Wall!"
Aeridar put his hands together, palms forward. A powerful shock force erupted, compressing the air in front of him to form a visible, transparent wall of air.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump...
As if hitting an invisible barrier, the dozen pinky-sized dust pellets slammed heavily into the air wall in front of Aeridar, immediately bursting into puffs of scattered smoke.
Swoosh~
World swiftly shot out from the smoke not far away, violently throwing a stone fragment, about a quarter the size of his palm, toward Aeridar.
"More-More: 100x Pistol!!!"
The stone fragment was dyed pitch-black by Armament Haki, looking like a piece of black iron. It whistled through the air, instantly magnifying a hundredfold mid-flight, turning into a massive, heavy black iron boulder that flew out with a roar.
"Armament Hardening: Impact Fist!"
Aeridar took a step forward. His fist was coated in a shining, metallic black color, and he punched straight ahead.
Boom!
A wave of air instantly swept up, causing water vapor to condense into tiny droplets, which looked like a cloud—it was a sonic boom.
Dong…
Crack!
In a flash, Aeridar's punch smashed into the incoming black boulder. A fierce clanging sound immediately rang out, and a circular ripple of air spread outward, followed by an explosion of powerful wind that kicked up countless dust and debris.
At the same time, the ground beneath Aeridar cracked, and fine fissures spread out like a spiderweb.
Under Aeridar's immense power, the large stone, which had been hardened with Armament Haki and magnified by the Devil Fruit ability, was sent flying dozens of meters, diagonally carving a sizable crater into the ground when it landed.
"S-such powerful strength!"
World drew a sharp breath, but he didn't stop moving. He rushed in front of Aeridar in the blink of an eye and slammed a punch down violently.
The next moment, Aeridar straightened his five fingers and delivered a hand-chop.
Clang!
A sound like clashing metal rang out, and a fierce gale dispersed.
"How is that possible?"
World's eyes widened. He stared blankly at the blood dripping from his fist. Sharp pain stung his brain.
His much-vaunted Armament Haki had actually been cut open by the opponent's hand-chop!
Did this mean the opponent's Haki intensity was stronger than his own?
"Impossible!"
World couldn't believe it. The opponent was merely a brat under thirty years old. He himself had trained his Haki for decades and been through hundreds of fierce battles. Logically, only the Haki intensity of people at the level of Garp or Zephyr should be stronger than his!
"Just as I thought. All flash, no substance! Thirty years of being frozen means you couldn't possibly retain your former full power!" Aeridar grinned, looking satisfied at World's disbelieving expression.
In reality, it could be seen from the original work (3D2Y) that World, who had been revived after thirty years of being frozen, was no longer on the same level as Luffy in terms of strength, combat experience, speed, or Haki.
In 3D2Y, Luffy and World clashed three times. Twice, World easily defeated Luffy with overwhelming superiority, but the final time, Luffy somehow managed to defeat him.
However, the original work shows that during their first meeting, Luffy used his immature Armament Haki to punch World in the face.
And yet, despite World using Armament Haki to defend, a blow from Luffy's supposed Armament Haki should not have caused any damage given World's own Haki intensity. But World exclaimed that it hurt.
The fact that he could feel the pain indicated that Luffy's attack was effective against World!
Isn't that strange?