OP: My Aircraft Carrier Evolves#39+40: The Man Behind the Curtain, the King of Lizards, Warlord Hanafuda! The Fruits of Training, Overpowering a Warlord, and the Ancient Zoan Tyrannosaurus Fruit!

Clap... clap... clap...

The sound of applause echoed through the street.

"Well said."

Jin looked toward the end of the road. A tall, imposing figure stood there, like an iron tower.

"Many of those who consider themselves 'good' are, for the most part, either fools or villains. Sometimes, good intentions can do more harm than good," the man said.

"It's him!"

At the sight of the man, Wilson's pupils contracted, his surprise evident.

"Impossible! What is he doing here?? One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea... the King of Lizards, Hanafuda!"

A Warlord was on the island, and he hadn't heard a thing.

But it was understandable. If he could detect a Warlord operating in secret, his bounty would be much higher than twenty-something million.

'Hanafuda?' Jin thought. 'The Warlord who was defeated by Ace? Kaido's close friend. The one who collects Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits and travels the world?'

Jin's eyes narrowed.

He knew that the small-fry pirates from before wouldn't have had the guts to rebel on their own.

So this was the man behind it all.

"A WARLORD!"

Shuraiya was stunned. The pirates and guards around them had the same expression. Some of them were already breaking out in a cold sweat.

In the world of pirates, the gap between the strong and the weak was as wide as the ocean itself.

The Warlords—the dogs of the World Government—were all infamous pirates in their own right. Each of them possessed the power to cause catastrophic destruction, a fighting force comparable to that of an entire nation.

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The street fell silent. Some people began to back away, smart enough to know that when the city gates catch fire, the fish in the moat are in danger.

Jin watched him calmly. "So, you're the one who incited them. You want to take my place?"

Hanafuda grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "I just happened to be in the area. I heard about what was going on in Hannabal Island and got interested. I wanted to see if you were... qualified."

"Qualified?" Jin asked.

"Yes," Hanafuda said. "Qualified to be my subordinate."

Jin froze.

Then he burst out laughing. "I think you've got that backward. You should be the one working for me. I'm a king. You're just a Warlord."

"...Hmph!" Hanafuda scoffed.

He was, in fact, Kaido's undercover agent, responsible for collecting Devil Fruits. He'd been working for him since before Doflamingo had come into the picture. It was his defeat at the hands of Ace, and his subsequent death, that had led Kaido to choose Doflamingo as his replacement.

His status as a Warlord was just a cover, a convenience. He didn't really care about it.

When the news of what had happened in Hannabal Island had reached him, Hanafuda had a gut feeling that this island could become the central hub for pirates in the first half of the Grand Line. If he could take it, it would be the perfect place to gather intelligence, collect fruits—and recruit talent for the Beasts Pirates.

A KING? SO WHAT?

The Beasts Pirates were known for their audacity.

In Hanafuda's mind, all he had to do was control Jin. He didn't need to be the one in the spotlight.

Jin sensed his intentions and smiled. "We'll see if you're strong enough to do that."

"Cocky bastard," Hanafuda said, hefting the kusarigama in his hand.

"Let's take this somewhere else," Jin said. "You don't want to destroy this nice little town we've built, do you?"

"Indeed," Hanafuda replied. "It will be my territory soon. It would be a shame to damage it."

Jin leaped onto a rooftop and began to bound across the town, pushing off the air with a boom and covering thirty meters in a single step.

"The Six Powers... Moonwalk?" Hanafuda raised an eyebrow. The intelligence he had received hadn't mentioned that. But Jin's movements were always kept top secret. Only Dalton and Wilson knew that he had gone to G-3 for special training.

"Interesting," Hanafuda said with a confident grin. "I hope you can give me a good fight."

How could he not be confident? This was the first half of the Grand Line, not the New World, with its hordes of monsters. The chances of him being defeated here were practically zero. Unless he ran into a Marine Admiral.

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"Is he really going to fight a Warlord?"

"He's insane."

"Does he not know how big the gap is?"

The people in the town murmured among themselves.

Shuraiya frowned.

Even Wilson wasn't so sure. He had seen Jin's strange powers, and he knew he had trained with the Marines. But this was a Warlord.

"The king will win!"

Only Maya was unwavering in her belief.

She had also undergone special training at G-3 and had reached the level of a commissioned officer. If she had improved so much, then how much stronger must the king, who had been trained by the hero Garp himself, have become?

Wilson glanced at her. He didn't know where the little girl's confidence came from, but it gave him a little courage of his own.

"Lock down the port!" he commanded. "No ships in or out!"

This assassination attempt was not over yet.

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To the northwest of Hannabal Island was a windy region where a large river snaked out to sea, creating a vast area of tidal flats and reefs. This was the mouth of the river from the Dead End Race.

The constant high tides and strong winds made it completely uninhabitable. It was a no-man's land.

On a dry patch of reef, Jin landed, and Hanafuda followed. They faced each other, about twenty meters apart.

Hanafuda was 514cm tall. He wore a large black coat, adorned with a sash and other decorations. He had a pair of mechanical gauntlets on his hands. His weapon was a crescent-bladed scythe, with a long iron chain attached to the end, connected to a large, spiked iron ball.

It was a fearsome and strange weapon.

Usually, the stranger the weapon, the faster you die.

But if you master it, the stranger the weapon, the greater the damage.

"Very well," Hanafuda said, swinging the scythe in a circle, the chain rattling. "Let's see what makes you think you can take on a Warlord."

With a whoosh, the scythe flew through the air.

Jin sidestepped, and the scythe crashed into a massive rock behind him, a rock that had stood against the wind and the sun for centuries, and shattered it into a thousand pieces.

Hanafuda yanked on the chain, and the scythe flew back, its blade glinting in the light as it swung around for a reverse cut.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Jin ducked, and the blade passed just over him.

Hanafuda spun the scythe and grinned. "Hey, is that all you can do? Dodge?"

Jin cracked his knuckles. "You know, you remind me of a certain hero."

"A hero?" Hanafuda said, surprised.

"Thresh, the Chain Warden."

He vanished. In the next instant, he was standing right in front of Hanafuda, and he threw a punch.

WHAAAAAAAM!!!

The fist slammed into Hanafuda's stomach.

"Gwah...!"

His body bent into the shape of a shrimp, and he was sent flying back twenty or thirty meters, crashing through a dozen rocks before he finally came to a stop.

He struggled to his feet, his face contorted in pain.

He was in shock. He couldn't believe it.

How?

Here, in the first half of the Grand Line, he had been wounded by a single punch from a man he had considered a mere toy.

<><><><><><><><>

After two upgrades to the carrier and a Haki awakening, Jin was far from an ordinary human.

During his three months of training with Garp in the Calm Belt, aside from the first two days of basic instruction, he had been in a constant state of battle.

He had to fight super-large Sea Kings and sea beasts, all while fending off the old man's cheap-shot surprise attacks.

Through this ordeal, his control over his own power, his Haki, his technique—everything had been elevated.

And this punch was packed with power.

Hanafuda slowly straightened up, his face twisted in pain. It felt like the force of the blow had pierced his abdomen, as if he had been torn open.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. The smile was gone from his face, his eyes now cold and sharp.

"I was careless," he said.

He swung his weapon, the chain mace, and in an instant, a hundred iron balls were flying through the air, raining down on Jin.

The iron balls were coated in Armament Haki, multiplying their destructive power.

The reef was torn apart.

Jin weaved through the countless iron balls, each one missing him by a hair's breadth.

"You've mastered Observation Haki!" Hanafuda exclaimed, shocked.

In that moment of distraction, Jin vanished. Not vanished, but moved so fast that he seemed to. And his movement was completely silent, not even stirring the wind.

He had integrated the Calm-Calm Fruit into his movement, creating a soundproof barrier around himself. It was the perfect counter to Observation Haki users who relied on "hearing," and it could even mask his presence from the senses of other strong fighters.

Jin appeared in front of Hanafuda and smashed an uppercut into his chin.

The blow sent him flying dozens of meters, a spray of blood erupting from his mouth.

During his training with Garp, Jin had broken his limits again and again, his potential constantly being unleashed. His strength, his speed—they were all terrifyingly powerful. Otherwise, why would Garp have called him a monster?

If an ordinary person had taken that punch, their head would have exploded.

The moment the fist approached, Hanafuda had coated his chin in Armament Haki, but it still hurt like hell.

He crashed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"DAMMIT!"

If the first punch was due to carelessness, then the second was proof that this young king was... a freak.

But Hanafuda was the man who had fought Kaido and become his friend. His physical stats were top-tier. He was tough. He wiped the blood from his mouth, pushed off the ground with both hands, and dodged Jin's follow-up kick.

The kick slammed into the ground, and the rock shattered, sending a shower of stones flying and leaving a crater seven or eight meters in diameter.

Jin leaped into the air, moving even faster, and appeared above Hanafuda. He brought his leg down in a powerful axe kick, his Haki coiling around it, the force of the blow so great it seemed to tear a rift in space.

Danger!

The hair on Hanafuda's arms stood on end. His pupils contracted. His body swelled, the bones within his flesh cracking and popping as he underwent a dramatic transformation.

A bestial roar erupted from his throat.

"ROOAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

The sound was like a thunderclap, a shockwave that sent the rocks below flying.

A massive wave crashed against the shore, colliding with the receding tide.

"WUUUAAAAAH..."

The dust settled.

Beneath Jin's foot stood a massive, humanoid dragon, its black and red claws crossed to block the blow.

His clothes were torn, revealing a powerful, muscular upper body, rippling with explosive strength.

He had withstood the attack.

And he had transformed.

From a man to a Half-Dragon.

A ferocious, fanged dragon's maw, breathing scorching hot dragon's breath. Dark Golden Dragon's eyes, incomparably cold.

Scaled skin, shimmering with Armament Haki. He was majestic, powerful, savage, a truly awe-inspiring sight.

Ancient Zoan, Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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He roared, his claws pushing Jin's leg away. In the same instant, his thick, powerful tail whipped around.

WHAM!

The blow sent Jin flying a dozen meters. He pushed off the air with a boom, flipped, and landed on his feet.

Hanafuda stomped the ground, and it trembled, as if an earthquake were about to strike.

He launched himself forward and closed the distance, his attacks now wild and furious.

He was enraged.

Some nameless punk had made him look like this.

Before, he hadn't even considered Jin a threat. He had been dismissive, contemptuous.

And now, he was injured.

He was the King of Lizards!!

"YOU'RE DEAD!"

Claws, feet, head, tail—his half-beast body was a deadly weapon, a flurry of attacks that rained down on Jin.

Jin, in the midst of the storm, calmly used his Observation Haki to dodge. And when he couldn't dodge, he simply took the blows.

And in the brief openings, he countered.

They traded blows, a relentless flurry of close-quarters combat, a contest of stamina and endurance, a battle to see who would break first.

Finally, after a cross-counter, Jin took a claw to the chest, and Hanafuda took another punch to the face.

Jin grunted, his clothes torn to shreds, a series of bloody gashes across his chest. He was panting, his insides churning.

Hanafuda landed, his face contorted in a mask of pain, blood streaming from his mouth and staining the ground.

He stared at Jin. An attack of that intensity, and he wasn't seriously injured?

He took a sharp breath.

Was this guy even human?

A Zoan Devil Fruit allows a person to transform into an animal, with three forms: human, beast, and human-beast. In their transformed states, their endurance, stamina, and overall physical stats are massively increased.

In theory, Zoan users should dominate in close combat. Among Zoans, carnivores were naturally more vicious than herbivores. And his fruit represented the ultimate predator—easily rivaling even Mythical Zoan types.

But this guy... he'd actually survived his full-power attack while transformed? How the hell could some random human tank that kind of damage?

Even a giant—a natural-born warrior—couldn't have survived those hits!

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"Hah..." Hanafuda took a deep breath. "I admit, I underestimated you. But... I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE!"

He let out a low growl as a crushing aura exploded from his body.

His dinosaur scales bristled, and electricity began crackling across his form. He moved like a bolt of lightning, appearing instantly in front of Jin with his claws wreathed in blue sparks, slashing downward.

Jin's eyes flashed.

He sidestepped, his body as thin as a piece of paper, and slipped through the gaps between the lightning-wreathed claws.

"Paper Art!"

In the next instant, he returned to his normal form and threw a punch he had been charging, his Haki coiling around it, creating a visible vortex of air.

"Conqueror's Lightning Fist!"

Hanafuda didn't dodge. It wasn't pride; it was honor. He twisted at the waist and met the punch with his own, his fist crackling with the light of Conqueror's Haki.