Urouge's expansion finally plateaued at a towering nine meters. The aura radiating from him was now several times more powerful than before! His head, which had been battered to one side by Uvogin's storm of punches, slowly straightened back up amidst the barrage.
The white of his eyes faded, replaced by a gaze full of renewed vigor and defiance. A smile of supreme confidence pulled at the corners of his mouth. Uvogin stopped his assault, staring up in genuine shock.
"Is that even possible?!!"
To Uvogin, Urouge now looked like a literal giant; Uvogin's fists could barely reach the monk's shins.
"Thank you... for 'charging' me for so long." Urouge cracked his thick neck and adjusted his massive arms, his joints popping like gunfire. He felt the unprecedented, overflowing power coursing through his veins, a look of pure ecstasy crossing his face. "This is the first time I've ever stored such a terrifying amount of energy~"
He looked down, peering at Uvogin with the playful mockery of a cat watching a cornered mouse. "As a reward... why don't you try taking a hit from me?"
"Bring the Captain his weapon!" a monk shouted.
Two men immediately scurried over, struggling to carry a bizarre, massive object: a giant hexagonal lead pillar, nearly four meters long, shaped like a colossal pencil. In the hands of a normal person, it would be an immovable hunk of metal, but for the nine-meter Urouge, it looked perfectly balanced.
Urouge gripped the pillar and swung it a few times. The resulting gale was so strong that nearby monks struggled to stay on their feet.
"The Captain is invincible!"
"Urouge-sama is too powerful!"
"No one survives that hit! He's dead meat!!"
The monks erupted in cheers once more, practically popping champagne mid-match as if Uvogin were already a corpse.
Whoosh—!
With a thunderous boom of displaced air, Urouge vanished from his spot.
Creeeeak!
The deck planks were crushed into two deep craters by the explosive force of his leap. His arm muscles bunched like knotted serpents, veins bulging as he thrust the massive pillar toward Uvogin with a speed far exceeding his previous form. The air in front of the pillar visibly warped and compressed, letting out a high-pitched sonic scream!
Before the weapon even landed, the sheer pressure of the wind sent the air around Uvogin whistling. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Facing this meteor-like strike of total destruction, Uvogin's face reached a peak of manic joy!
"Now that's more like it—!!!"
"Wahahahaha!!!"
His thunderous laughter shook the entire area. "Who said I couldn't take it?" Uvogin roared. Instead of dodging, he threw his arms wide, exposing his bulging chest directly to the path of the giant pillar!
"I'll take it head-on with 'Ko'!"
Deep within Uvogin, an invisible substance began to surge from every corner of his body, swirling frantically toward his chest. This was the power of the Hunter world—the core of the Nen system: Aura.
Uvogin used "Gyo" to concentrate his aura into a single point on his chest with terrifying efficiency. Then, using the advanced technique "Ken," he tightly bound and compressed that massive amount of aura into a small area, exponentially increasing its density.
The skin on his chest darkened by several shades. This was "Ko"—an advanced application of Nen that combines Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu to focus 100% of one's aura into a single point for maximum impact!
At this moment, the defensive hardness of Uvogin's chest had surpassed almost every known metal in the world.
The next second, the pillar met flesh.
A bang ten—no, a hundred times louder than any previous collision—erupted! Urouge's giant pillar slammed squarely into Uvogin's chest, where the "Ko" was focused.
At the moment of impact, a visible, tsunami-like ring of white shockwaves blasted outward from the two of them! Splinters and dust were instantly cleared from the deck, and nearby monks were sent tumbling by the pressure.
Crrr-ack!
The deck beneath them finally gave up, shattering and collapsing in a spiderweb of deep cracks. Under the impact of this unfathomable force, Uvogin's mountain-like stance was finally shaken!
His body buckled into an arc like a soccer ball being kicked with full force. His feet left the ground, and he was sent flying backward, leaving ripples of white air in his wake!
Rumble—!
He smashed through the mast, shattered part of the hull, and crashed violently into the rear cabin! Finally, the entire structure collapsed in a groan of twisting wood, burying Uvogin under a mountain of debris and dust.
Urouge held his follow-through pose, breathing heavily but wearing a victor's smile as he looked toward the rest of the Phantom Troupe. "One down. You're next."
"Ooooooh—!!!"
"The Boss is invincible!"
"Long live Mad Monk Urouge!"
However, Urouge soon noticed something wrong. The members of the Phantom Troupe... they didn't look sad. They weren't angry. They weren't even panicked. Their expressions were... terrifyingly calm.
What's going on?!
A chill crawled up Urouge's spine. His smile faltered.
Just then—
Creeeeak—
The debris was shoved aside, and Uvogin's silhouette slowly emerged from the dust. The cheering behind Urouge died instantly. Urouge stiffened, turning his neck inch by inch.
Through the haze, a massive figure stepped out with steady, heavy footfalls. It was Uvogin!
A trickle of crimson blood hung from the corner of his mouth. In the center of his bare chest sat a clear, deep circular indentation, and the surrounding skin was a bruised, unnatural blackish-purple.
Urouge stared in disbelief at the point of impact, swallowed hard, and whispered three words:
"Ar... mament... Haki?!!!"
Uvogin casually wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and brushed the dust off his chest as if he'd merely been bitten by a mosquito. He stretched his limbs, his bones snapping like firecrackers, as he walked step-by-step toward the still-giant Urouge.
"Warm-up's over."
"That's a nice ability you've got. Now, it's my turn..."
As he spoke, he began to rotate his right arm in a wide circle, winding it up like a massive spring... building tension for the final strike.
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