The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

At this moment, John's eyes revealed an unprecedented madness. His original intention to give up and come back next time with full preparation was now burning to the extreme.

He stubbornly blocked the attack, a move that the extremely arrogant Im had never made before, which meant that he was afraid!

Rolling thunder erupted from John's body, pouring down on Im and sweeping towards him, determined to numb and powerless him.

As he was engulfed by the lightning, Im's hands, which had been able to grip the sword's edge tightly and prevent it from advancing even an inch, began to tremble.

The sword's edge began to slowly approach Im's neck.

"John! I hereby appoint you as one of the Five Elders, placing you in the highest position of power in the world!"

In the deep pit of solid rock on the Red Earth continent, Im panicked for the first time and began to tempt John to stop with promises of profit.

John remained silent, his forehead veins bulging and twisting, his eyes contorted with rage as he gritted his teeth and pressed down hard on the hilt of his sword.

"Bastard! You lowly commoner!"

Seeing that John was determined to kill him, Im was so angry that he cursed and no longer showed any of his kingly demeanor at the top of the world.

Faced with death, this King of the World was not as composed as Luffy on the execution platform in Loguetown.

During the prolonged stalemate, Im's hands, which were covered in Armament Haki, were cut by the sword blade, and blood flowed out, resulting in insufficient friction and causing the sword to slide in his tightly clenched hands.

As the sword's edge drew ever closer to his neck, Im's eyes widened in fury. He changed his grip from grabbing to pulling, forcefully altering the sword's trajectory.

puff

The sword pierced flesh, and blood splattered.

However, it did not pierce Im's neck; instead, he forcibly changed its trajectory and it pierced Im's chest cavity.

It was half an inch off from the heart, an absolutely safe position.

Immediately afterwards, Im released his Seastone longsword, raised his fist, and slammed it down on John, who was standing above him.

This blow sent John flying off Im and crashing into the inner wall of the deep pit on the right.

A sharp pain shot through his body, and John couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of blood. This was the first time he had taken Im's punch head-on, and he hadn't expected that he would still have such strength even when weakened by the Seastone.

"Damn monster!"

Just as Im was about to pull the sea stone sword stuck in his chest, John disregarded his pain and transformed into lightning to pull his body out of the tightly embedded stone wall.

He reappeared on Im, who was lying on his back, with incredible speed, and gripped the sword hilt with both hands, pressing down hard once more.

"We have no grudge against each other, why are you making things so difficult for me?!"

Seeing John's murderous look, Im really couldn't understand why he would go against him if he wasn't D or David.

That damn madman!

"The change of power is always accompanied by bloodshed; what you're saying is utter nonsense!"

John spat on Im's face, then bent over and pulled back, trying to use Im's hands as a fulcrum to tilt the sword blade stuck in his body upwards.

If the sword is raised, it can slice open Im's chest cavity and go straight for his neck!

However, under the immense force of the two, the sword, which was covered in Armament Haki and made of a material even tougher than the alloy barrier at Crescent Bay Marine Headquarters that could withstand Whitebeard's full-force attack, was actually bent.

Then, with a "crack," the entire sword could not withstand the weight and broke in two.

John lost his footing and fell backward, tumbling off Im's massive body, clutching the broken hilt of his sword.

Seizing the opportunity, Im quickly pulled the sword out of his chest cavity, spread his wings and flew out of the pit without stopping.

John quickly steadied himself, crawled over, grabbed the broken half of the sword that Im had thrown to the ground, and used the high temperature of his palm to melt it and reassemble the broken sword blade and hilt.

But at that moment, a cold voice came from above...

"The Sword of Nothingness!"

Flaming clouds swirled behind Im, and from one of his pupils emerged a jet-black longsword. He grasped it and thrust it downwards towards John, who was in the deep pit below.

As Im's body sank downwards, the black Void Sword also suddenly lengthened, reaching the deep pit below.

Sensing the attack, John reacted and transformed into lightning to dodge quickly.

But the attack came too fast, and the pit was too narrow with nowhere to hide, so the Void Sword still managed to cut off a section of the lightning.

The large cluster of lightning that was about to escape revealed its form: John, who had lost his entire right leg and could only float in mid-air, unable to stand on one leg.

The excruciating pain caused John's cheeks to twitch. He gritted his teeth, trying not to let himself cry out in pain, and only the hissing sound of his rapid breathing between his teeth could be heard.

Not daring to linger in the deep pit, John once again transformed into lightning, flashing and swaying back and forth in the atmosphere before finally arriving in the air to confront Im from afar.

At this moment, the penetrating wound in Im's chest has visibly healed rapidly, leaving only a faint scar.

Looking at John again, not only was his right leg severed, but the leg that fell into the deep pit was also withered and turned to ash under the effect of the Void Sword.

Desperate situation!

Chapter 171 Bounty on John, 10 Billion!

"such a pity!"

John can get a completely new body at any time; losing a leg is nothing to him.

However, the loss of a leg caused a loss of balance, which greatly reduced his combat power, making him completely lose any chance of victory since he was already at a disadvantage.

"Are you ready to die?!"

The scales of victory tipped, and Im, who had previously cowered and yielded, instantly reverted to the arrogance and conceit unique to Celestial Dragons.

John's response was to raise his middle finger, and then...

Rumble

The rolling thunderclouds that had been gathering power in the sky poured down, with countless lightning bolts swirling and colliding within them, creating a deafening roar, and an extremely terrifying burst of energy suddenly erupted.

"Thunderous destruction!"

The greatest sound is the silence. Mary Geoise was brightest at this moment, as if the sun had sunk down, even illuminating the Sabaody Archipelago below as if it were daytime.

The people of the Sabaody Archipelago below only saw a blinding white light, followed by a massive earthquake, and the towering, solid, and majestic red earth continent trembled violently.

"what happened?!"

"Could it be that someone has angered the Celestial Dragons, and those descendants of the creators are going to destroy the world?!"

"Run! Run! The tsunami caused by the earthquake is coming!"

"..."

In the endless, world-destroying lightning, Mary Geoise was instantly vaporized, leaving a huge crater on the Red Line.

As the light faded, Im crashed onto the scorched earth, his entire body completely carbonized into a hard shell, unable to move at all.

But soon, a cluster of black flames ignited on his body, and his terrible injuries rapidly healed in the flames, soon returning to their former state.

But the dense, wavy electric lines left on his skin could not be removed, becoming a permanent mark that John left on Im.

"John!"

Surrounded by scorched blackness and deathly silence, Im's roar echoed through the sky.

From this moment on, the hatred for John far surpassed that for Joy Boy.

Beneath the Red Earth lies the Sabaody Archipelago.

Huge waves, tens of meters high, rolled in, threatening to engulf the archipelago, which was based on the branches of the Sun Tree Eve. In despair, people knelt, slumped, and stood numbly, helplessly preparing to face death.

Sizzle

As the sound of electricity surged into people's ears, a thick bolt of lightning came from nowhere, instantly engulfing the giant wave and evaporating it into a towering fog.

"There aren't many bad people as kind as me anymore."

Beneath the imposing, jet-black Yatagarasu armor, John muttered something, his face pale.

He was exhausted and his whole body ached as if it were about to fall apart. He was only able to stay upright because of his armor.

"Tch! If I were on the field, we would have won long ago!"

The voice of the foolish bird echoed from inside the cold, stern raven helmet; even at the very end, John still had a trick up his sleeve.

John rolled his eyes, too lazy to bother arguing with this stupid bird.

Actually, this is a very simple question. Joy Boy possesses the power of "Sun God Nika" and is further enhanced with terrifying Conqueror's Haki.

But how come Joy Boy is the ultimate loser?

In other words, even a Conqueror's Haki as powerful as Joy Boy's might not be able to kill Im.

That old bastard Im still has a trump card up his sleeve!

However, using it might result in heavy losses.

When the Seastone sword pierced Im's chest, his apparent weakness and compromise gave John hope, but now, having calmed down, he realized things weren't so simple.

"I still need to find a power other than Conqueror's Haki and Seastone. Only that kind of power can truly kill Im."

John pictured Teach with her unkempt curly hair.

The nemesis of Devil Fruits: the Dark-Dark Fruit!

"Let's go back to Atlantis and let me recuperate for a while."

"Damn it! I've been turned into a gofer?"

"..."

On the vast sea, the moon is bright and the stars are few.

Inside the luxurious cabin of the World Government's ship, the Five Elders, who had been anxiously waiting for a long time, suddenly heard a familiar and reassuring voice.

"John is wanted, bounty of 10 billion Berries!"

"Lord Im, what happened in Mary Geoise? Has Saint John really betrayed us?" Saint Pitt hurriedly asked in the contract.

But Im only uttered one sentence before falling silent, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Receiving no response for a long time, the five elders sitting around the round table exchanged glances and couldn't help but show their anger.

They were deceived and betrayed!

"Notify Kong that a bounty has been placed on 'the traitor to God,' John, with a reward of 10 billion Berries!"