Ch 20: Victory

Chapter 20: Victory

With a loud bang, Ayaan felt an irresistible force crash into him. A sharp pain shot through his fist, and he was sent flying, thrown more than ten meters through the air.

Vice Admiral Dalmatian didn't follow up with another attack. Instead, he gritted his teeth as his entire right hand trembled, blood dripping steadily from his clenched fist.

Although he had relied on his physical strength to blow Ayaan away with that punch, he was likely the one who suffered the most damage.

Ayaan had prepared in advance. Before the battle, he had swallowed chakra metal and embedded it into the metal spurs on his fists. These chakra-infused spikes acted like drills, piercing through Dalmatian's Armament Haki and shredding his palm completely.

Despite the violent blow, Ayaan rose from the ground and shook his arms. Though he looked heavily battered, he wasn't seriously injured—his steel body absorbed most of the impact. He only felt a dull ache in his arms.

"A Devil Fruit user? Could it be a metal-type fruit?" Dalmatian asked, staring at Ayaan, whose skin shimmered with metallic light under the sun.

"Guess," Ayaan replied with a tilted head and a sly smile.

He wasn't one of those fools in the pirate world. Back in the ninja world, information was equivalent to life. Any competent shinobi would never reveal their full abilities.

"Hmph. Cunning pirate," Dalmatian snorted, preparing to charge again—but before he could, Ayaan formed hand seals with both hands.

"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Clone Technique)!"

This was one of the two water-style jutsu Ayaan had mastered. The other was Water Style: Water Wall. Since their mechanics closely resembled Earth Clone and Earth Flow Wall, Ayaan had picked them up in just three days.

Ayaan suddenly appeared in front of Dalmatian, who froze for a second. He couldn't figure out what kind of Devil Fruit Ayaan had. How could it grant both metallic transformation and clone creation?

But Dalmatian, as an old-school Marine, placed little faith in Devil Fruits. After all, he had reached the rank of Vice Admiral with the Inu Inu no Mi: Model Dalmatian, a Zoan-type fruit with minimal versatility. In his eyes, real strength came from physical prowess and mastery of both Armament and Observation Haki.

His logic wasn't wrong—but the flaw was that his Haki hadn't reached the level he imagined it had.

Ayaan's water clone was the first to charge. Dalmatian, sensing its weak aura, dismissed it and shattered it with a punch.

But the moment the clone exploded, a large amount of seawater splashed all over him. Since they were near the ocean, the clone had condensed from seawater.

The salty spray weakened Dalmatian instantly.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem. Devil Fruit users don't instantly lose strength when in contact with seawater—it usually requires more complete submersion. The water content from a single clone wasn't enough for long-lasting weakness.

However, on a battlefield, even a few seconds can be fatal.

As Dalmatian's body softened from the contact, Ayaan was already on him. He delivered the same punch as before.

Squelch! Blood splattered. Ayaan's metal bone spurs tore into Dalmatian's torso, puncturing through flesh and muscle.

Dalmatian roared and counterattacked, throwing a Haki-imbued punch at Ayaan's head. With a clang, the punch connected. Even though Ayaan's skull was reinforced with metal, the force of the blow cracked it open, and blood poured down his face.

But just then, a second water clone emerged behind Ayaan and lunged at Dalmatian.

"Damn it!" Dalmatian thought, but it was too late. The second clone exploded, drenching him again with seawater. This time, he was fully weakened.

He saw Ayaan, blood streaming from his forehead, smiling menacingly.

Then his vision went black as another iron fist smashed into his face.

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Thud. Dalmatian collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Haa~. He really deserves his title as a Marine Vice Admiral. If I hadn't used tricks, I probably couldn't have beaten him," Ayaan said while holding his dizzy head.

If he hadn't swallowed a huge amount of metal before the fight and turned his body into steel, that last punch would've given him at least a severe concussion—if not outright killed him.

"This guy's overall combat ability is almost on par with a Kage-level shinobi. But he seriously lacks in terms of tactics. Still, his physical endurance and toughness are leagues above any ninja."

"It's kind of crazy. The average combat strength in this world is too high."

But after some thought, Ayaan understood. Excluding the Ōtsutsuki clan, the world of One Piece did indeed surpass Naruto in general combat capability.

Take the fight between Aokiji and Akainu, for example—it permanently altered the climate of an island. That kind of power was on par with Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. And there were a dozen or more characters like that in One Piece.

In Naruto, figures of that level emerged once every century.

Overall, the Naruto world resembled a realm of fragile mages and assassins, while One Piece was packed with berserkers and tanky juggernauts. The fighting styles were fundamentally different, but in terms of average and direct combat strength, One Piece came out on top.

However, Naruto still had higher-end threats—such as Six Paths-level entities—while One Piece had yet to show such a character definitively in the manga. So when it came to absolute top-tier power, Naruto retained a slight edge.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ayaan glanced to the side and saw Ace in full battle mode, knocking down another Vice Admiral with explosive power.

"He really is the pseudo-protagonist before Luffy arrived… the kind of guy who levels up just by fighting," Ayaan muttered with a bit of envy.

In Naruto, Ayaan had been a civilian shinobi with no extraordinary gifts. And in One Piece, even with a body adapted via the Baku Baku no Mi, he only had the standard human physique.

Even with the advantage of two different power systems and years of strategic training, he had to rely on trickery just to defeat a Vice Admiral.

Compared to a natural-born combat genius like Ace, he still had a long way to go.

Still, looking at the bloodied Ace, a meaningful smile formed on Ayaan's lips.

"Soon… I'll have top-tier talent in this world too."

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