Jayce's POV
While Camille was fighting against the fifty pirate men, the scene shifted to Jayce, who was facing three wild animals simultaneously. Due to his arrogance, he had attacked a giant wolf without thinking, only to realize too late that it was part of a pack with more than five members.
Excited by the challenge and confident in his strength, Jayce transformed his hammer into its cannon form and fired an orb of electricity toward the five wolves. However, all of them managed to dodge the blast with surprising agility. Undeterred, Jayce quickly reverted the cannon into hammer form and leapt at the wolves.
As he descended, he struck one of the wolves that had been slow to dodge. The impact from his enhanced strength and the hammer's immense weight instantly crushed the beast, killing it on the spot.
Almost simultaneously, another wolf lunged at him from the side. With swift reflexes, Jayce swung his hammer upward in a powerful arc, catching the creature mid-air. The strike disoriented the wolf, causing it to crash to the ground. Seizing the opportunity, Jayce roared and hurled his hammer with all of his might at the dazed enemy, crushing it and killing the second wolf.
With two wolves down, Jayce turned his attention toward the remaining three. They had now formed a tight triangle, slowly circling him with cautious eyes, aware that the man in front of them was no ordinary human. Jayce, breathing steadily, reached for his hammer that had buried itself deep into the side of a boulder after the last throw. He yanked it free with one hand, dust and fragments of rock falling from its head.
"Come on then," Jayce muttered, grinning as sparks of electricity crackled around the hammer's core.
One wolf, likely the leader, lunged first. Jayce didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, meeting the beast head-on with a thunderous swing. The two collided in a clash of might and instinct — the hammer struck the wolf's shoulder, sending it crashing to the ground, howling in pain but not yet dead.
The other two wolves leapt in from the flanks. Jayce dropped to one knee, sliding across the dirt as he spun his hammer in a wide arc. The weapon smashed into one of the wolves mid-air, throwing it off course and slamming it into a nearby tree with a sickening crunch.
The last wolf managed to sink its teeth into Jayce's arm, piercing through his clothes and drawing blood. He gritted his teeth, lifting the wolf with sheer strength and slamming it down hard onto the forest floor. The impact stunned the beast long enough for Jayce to finish it off with a brutal overhead smash from his hammer.
Now, only the alpha remained — bruised, bloodied, and growling through broken teeth. Jayce stared at the beast as electricity started crackling stronger from his hammer, blue arcs running across his shoulders and arms.
"This one's for the bite," Jayce said coldly, pointing the hammer's cannon end directly at the wolf's face.
With a flash of light and a resounding crackle, a blast of pure electricity erupted from the cannon, engulfing the wolf. When the smoke cleared, the alpha lay lifeless.
Jayce stood in silence, his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. His muscles ached, and blood dripped from his arm, but his grin never faded.
The gunshot echoed through the forest, sharp and sudden.
Jayce turned instinctively and, without hesitation, activated Tekkai. His muscles hardened like steel. The bullet hit his shoulder and bounced off harmlessly, leaving only a faint sting.
"Tch," he muttered, eyes narrowing toward the source.
From behind the trees, a pirate stepped out, pistol still raised. Then more followed. One after another, armed figures emerged from the underbrush, surrounding him in a tightening circle. Swords gleamed. Rifles cocked. Rough armor clanked with movement.
By the time the last pirate stepped into view, Jayce counted roughly fifty.
The lead pirate stepped forward with a cruel smile. "Well, now, look what wandered into our camp. Big guy with a toy hammer. Drop it, and we might just let you crawl away."
Jayce let out a low, humorless chuckle.
"Try me."
He slammed his hammer into the earth. The shockwave exploded outward, throwing up dirt and knocking several pirates off balance.
Then he charged.
The first group—eight men—rushed in. Jayce spun his hammer around and transformed it into cannon form, unleashing a crackling orb of electricity into their midst. The explosion tore through the front line, sending limbs and weapons flying.
He followed with a leap, shifted the weapon back into hammer form, and brought it crashing down onto a stunned pirate's chest. The man didn't rise again.
Jayce pivoted, parried a sword slash, and crushed the attacker's knee with the shaft of his hammer before swinging the head sideways into another pirate's jaw.
"Four down," he muttered.
More bullets flew toward him—he hardened his body again with Tekkai and pressed forward, brushing off glancing shots. Every swing of his hammer was a calculated obliteration, powered by brute strength and perfect balance.
Another five came at once. Jayce ducked under a wild slash and uppercutted with the hammer, launching his opponent into the trees. He twirled and swept the legs of the next group, following up with a ground slam that fractured the earth.
"Eleven."
They kept coming. Ten more rushed from behind, attempting to flank. Jayce backstepped, then turned mid-spin and hurled his hammer like a discus. It plowed through three men before he pulled it back with a magnetic pulse. As it returned, he caught it with a grunt and smashed it down onto a fourth opponent.
"Fifteen."
Sweat beaded on his brow, blood ran from a cut on his cheek, but his eyes gleamed with thrill. His muscles, despite the 10-ton training weights still clinging to him, moved with fluidity and explosive force.
Another volley of pirates came—fifteen more. Jayce charged straight into them.
He activated the cannon mode again, this time charging it longer, the glowing core pulsing with unstable electricity. He slammed it into the ground and released a massive dome-shaped pulse of electrical energy. Pirates screamed as they dropped, convulsing or stunned.
Jayce rushed into the fray, hammer spinning like a windmill. He moved with rage and rhythm, each step crushing foliage, each strike breaking bone. He disabled or knocked out a dozen more in under a minute.
"Thirty-seven."
The survivors hesitated now, panting, bruised, shocked by his endurance and raw power.
Jayce raised the hammer slowly, resting it against his shoulder.
"You sure this is the fight you want?"
The leader gave a shaky yell. "Don't just stand there—he's just one guy!"
Ten more lunged at him.
Jayce responded with a low sweep, knocking down four, then vaulted into the air and came crashing down like a meteor. The shockwave toppled trees, sent dirt flying, and silenced all but a few.
The final three tried to escape.
Jayce, not wasting breath, transformed the hammer back into cannon mode and fired three rapid electric blasts. Each one found its mark, dropping the runners instantly.
Silence followed.
Jayce stood alone, surrounded by the aftermath—bodies strewn across the field, the forest torn and scorched from the fury of battle.
He wiped a trail of blood from his lip and let out a deep breath, rolling his neck with a satisfying crack.
"Fifty."
He tightened his grip on the hammer.
"Now, where's my next fight?"
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Viktor's POV
While Jayce and Camille were unknowingly walking into traps, Viktor was fully immersed in his hunt.
The earth shifted beneath his feet with each careful step. He had grown significantly more in tune with his Devil Fruit abilities—every vibration in the soil spoke to him. Like an underground sonar, he had replicated a kind of seismic sense, not unlike the techniques used by the earthbenders of myth. Through this, he didn't need to see—he could feel.
And what he felt wasn't just wild beasts.
There—two large clusters of movement. One to the northwest, the other to the northeast. Erratic, aggressive, coordinated.
He paused, focusing.
"Camille… Jayce…"
Although they had gone their separate ways, Viktor could sense they were in the middle of fights—multiple opponents, surrounding them. A coordinated ambush.
So they weren't alone in this forest.
He took a slow breath and centered himself.
From the branches above and the dense brush around him, he felt subtle tremors—light, practiced steps. Dozens of them.
A trap.
Viktor closed his eyes and pressed his palm to the ground.
Without warning, the earth roared.
A massive tremor burst from beneath his feet, extending outward in a hundred-meter radius. Trees shook violently, birds scattered from the canopy, and the hidden pirates, caught completely off guard, were thrown from their perches and cover, crashing down into the dirt like broken dolls.
Cries of confusion and pain rang out as they scrambled to recover.
Viktor didn't give them the chance.
With a quick, sweeping motion of his arm, stones the size of bullets rose from the ground, floating in the air around him like a constellation of death. With a snap of his fingers, they launched—fired in bursts at lightning speed.
It was like standing in the path of a living machine gun.
The pirates had barely begun to rise when the stone bullets tore through them, piercing through armor, ripping into flesh. Screams turned to silence in seconds as bodies collapsed in heaps.
One pirate, crawling away with a shattered leg, looked up just in time to see a jagged boulder hovering above him.
Viktor brought it down without a word.
Silence returned to the forest. Dust floated lazily in the aftermath.
He stood tall in the center of the destruction, stone still swirling around his form like orbiting moons. His expression was calm, but his eyes were sharp and focused.
"Fools," he muttered.
Then he turned toward the direction of Camille's seismic imprint—and sprinted.