Chapter 100.1 : King Punch!!

A few days later, by the coast of Greenbit.

The Golden Dragon was quietly docked here.

The small Tontatta tribe members sat quietly on the ship's railing, each holding an apple that was quite large for them, staring intently at the shore below, where Ian was continuously throwing punches and retracting them.

Ian's skin was flushed, with faint steam rising from his body's surface, giving him a peculiar, drifting feeling, almost like Luffy in his Gear Second.

However, his breathing was steady. Every punch he threw was exactly like the one before, with the same posture, strength, and timing, as if he were a robot—completely stable.

This punching had already been going on for almost an hour. Ian had been standing there, continuously throwing punches.

This was the King's Punch he learned from Elizabello II.

To be honest, the technique itself wasn't particularly difficult.

The essence of the King's Punch was to accumulate power.

This accumulated power, however, was not muscle strength. It was a special type of energy, essentially the personification of physical stamina.

Once there's willpower, adding physical energy is not too hard to comprehend, as long as the two don't merge into chakra, there's no issue.

Of course, this wasn't a technique that just anyone could use. It required someone like Elizabello, who had a naturally strong body. 

For ordinary people, they wouldn't even have time to accumulate enough energy and would likely exhaust their bodies in the process.

Fortunately, Ian met this requirement.

In these past few days, Ian had easily learned the technique from Elizabello's guidance.

And now, it was time for the experiment.

The overwhelming energy surged inside his body, so powerful that his body couldn't contain it anymore. The energy began to leak out of his pores as steam.

Law also stood by the railing, quietly watching. But in his mind, he was wondering if this ridiculous technique was for real. A move that needed an hour of warm-up to use?

In battle, this would be useless.

But regardless, the energy was ready, and Ian was about to throw his punch.

He took a deep breath, his right fist pulled to his ear, his legs spread wide in a stance, his body turning to the right. His muscles tensed, like the string of a bow.

He threw the punch!

Law's eyes widened in an instant.

The air in front of Ian instantly froze, and visible water vapor spread out. In the center of this vapor, a hole was punched through!

The air was twisting... no, it looked as if space itself was being twisted by this punch.

A streak of light!

A streak, almost like a laser, roared out in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, it had already crossed the sea, vanishing at the horizon of the ocean.

The streak that cut across the sea ripped it apart, leaving a mark on the surface of the ocean that remained for a long time without fading.

Forget what I said earlier!

Law's pupils trembled.

This is insane!

A move with this kind of power would be totally worth an entire hour of energy buildup!

After a brief silence...

"That's amazing!"

"Ian-Land!"

The little ones watching from the side of the ship instantly burst into cheers.

Each one was even more excited than Ian himself.

Ian slowly exhaled, his forehead already covered in sweat.

A large amount of energy had been expended in one go. To say it wasn't tiring would be a lie.

However, the power of this strike was indeed impressive.

It was already far stronger than the strongest punch he could deliver in his Human-Beast Form.

He couldn't even imagine the kind of power he'd unleash if he used his abilities first and then followed up with the King Punch. Maybe even Kaido-sensei would be left dumbfounded by a single punch.

The only downside was that the buildup time was too long—an hour. It basically meant that the preparation had to be done before the battle and then delivered as a heavy blow to the enemy.

If it were a surprise encounter, it would be completely useless.

As for Ian's previous idea—using the Sphere Mode's defensive power to take hits while warming up—now that he truly understood this move, it could be considered a complete failure.

The warm-up movements weren't really about accumulating energy; they were about forcing the hidden physical energy within the body to the surface, and then sealing it inside.

If the warm-up is interrupted, then the energy will either dissipate or return to the body, making all the prior preparation useless.

Even in his Sphere Mode, no matter how tough he was, it was impossible to guarantee that his movements wouldn't be interrupted.

Unless... there was a way to forcibly keep the energy in the body? 

A way to ensure the energy continued to accumulate, even if the warm-up was interrupted.

Ian thought about it—something like "life return"?

But that would make the energy accumulation process much slower.

It would always be interrupted. Even if the energy didn't dissipate, filling it up would take an eternity.

In the end, it still wasn't very practical.

Maybe he could think of a way to improve it later.

For now, there was something else to do.

"Ian!"

The white-haired girl jumped down from the Golden Dragon Ship, her face full of excitement. "Can we go play now?"

They had been docked at Greenbit for several days already, and Yamato was growing impatient.

Now that Ian's training was a success, that meant it was finally time for some fun.

Seeing the girl's eager, wet eyes, Ian nodded. "Alright, let's go. We'll visit Dressrosa."

"Yay!"

After all, Dressrosa was a well-known tourist destination. Now that they were there, not going sightseeing would be too much of a waste.

A short time later...

Outside Dressrosa, in a field of flowers, Ian and Yamato strolled among the blooms.

Ian wore a black hoodie on top, loose dark blue casual pants, a baseball cap, and a pair of brown sunglasses. He looked casual and comfortable, and it also helped disguise his identity.

Without some disguise, he feared that entering Dressrosa would cause chaos right away. What kind of vacation would that be?

In contrast, Yamato, who was still not on the bounty list, didn't have that worry.

The girl was also wearing a brown duckbill cap, a large red and white baseball jacket on top, with a white T-shirt underneath, and slim-fit light blue jeans. She radiated the same youthful energy and vibrance.

There were only the two of them. Jack and the others weren't interested in sightseeing. 

Jack and Law were more focused on training. Law, especially, after escaping the life-threatening crisis, didn't slack off at all. Instead, he became even more diligent.

Because now, he had a future!

As for Black Maria, she preferred playing with the little people of the tribe rather than shopping. She loved these cute little ones. She had already earned the title of Maria-Land among the Tontatta tribe.

Ian was curious as to why it wasn't Black-Land.

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