OP: AMP Ch. 219

The ankylosaurus-transformed pirate's eyes burned as he glared at the Straw Hat crew blocking his path. If these random nobodies hadn't shown up out of nowhere, his future would've been secure. Second Division Captain at minimum, maybe First Division if he played his cards right. There was no way he'd have fallen below Third Division, not with the numbers he brought to the table and an Ancient Zoan backing him up.

Add in his years of experience running criminal organizations, and becoming vice-captain should've been a cakewalk. If he could've heard what Shiki was thinking about him, he would've had a breakdown right there.

The truth was, he'd considered joining the Beast Pirates. How could he not? Kaido's crew had the largest concentration of Zoan users in the world, plus the guy controlled the biggest weapons factory in the New World. That meant steady money flowing in, real resources to work with, power to wield.

In terms of raw strength, he honestly believed he could match any of the Flying Six. Hell, with enough time and the right opportunities, maybe even compete for an All-Star position.

And Kaido didn't give a shit about management. The guy just wanted to drink and fight. That meant someone with brains and ambition could rise fast. Becoming an All-Star with authority over thousands? That should've been achievable.

But after doing his research, he'd walked away from that option.

Kaido had zero ambition. The man sat in Wano getting drunk every day with no plans to expand his territory. Even if taking on Whitebeard head-to-head wasn't smart, what about the newly risen Red-Haired Pirates? They were still building their reputation, still vulnerable.

But no. He just sat there, wasting his natural advantages. If it had been strategic patience that would've made sense. But he had no long-term plans. He was just settling. Content with his little corner of the world.

And this pirate was not a man who accepted the status quo. Even after realizing his natural talent would never put him at the absolute top, he'd doubled down on training, on building his crew, on climbing the ladder through sheer determination.

"You think you can just waltz through here like it's a game?!" he roared.

Bon Kurei's eyes lit up as he sized up the transformed Ancient Zoan user. "Oh, this one's mine!"

His legs began shifting mid-stride, the transformation flowing smoothly as horse legs replaced his human ones. Layers of Armament Haki coated the transformed limbs almost immediately.

This was a relatively new application of the Clone-Clone Fruit he'd been developing: partial imitation. In the past, he'd rarely bothered with it outside of entertaining himself by copying people's faces. What was the point during combat?

But after his fruit had evolved, partial imitation gained serious tactical value. He could selectively copy Zoan transformations from people he'd touched, and adjust them to match his own body's proportions and strengths. The result wasn't just a copy of someone else's power, it was his own baseline strength enhanced by the Zoan transformation.

The source of this particular transformation was Kira. Since he'd recorded her chimera merged state, he could pick and choose which animal parts to use. Horse legs for power, elephant legs for weight, eagle talons for precision.

BOOM!

The ankylosaurus' club-like tail collided with his horse leg, Armament Haki clashing between them with a sound like thunder.

Bon Kurei got pushed back, his feet sliding across the stone floor. The gap wasn't just in raw strength. The Haki disparity was obvious too.

This pirate was over forty years old. For normal people, that's when physical decline starts setting in. But for someone who'd spent decades training? Forty to fifty was prime time. Years of accumulated experience, refined Haki control, perfect understanding of their own capabilities.

For rookie pirates barely a year into their journey, fighting someone like this was like facing an opponent from a higher dimension entirely. Armament Haki might depend on talent to some degree, but it depended even more on time investment. It grew through constant training, through years of pushing your limits and refining your control. Even someone with mediocre talent could develop formidable Haki if they worked at it long enough.

The most famous example was Zephyr. A symbol of hard work triumphing over natural limitations, respected by Marines across all ranks. His reputation was second only to Garp himself among the old guard.

The ankylosaurus pirate's expression soured as he processed what had just happened. He could clearly feel that his opponent's Haki and physical strength were both inferior to his own. And yet his hammer-strike had been blocked.

"How can you transform just part of your body?"

"Not only can I transform just part of it," Bon Kurei replied, his voice taking on that theatrical flair he was known for, "I can also do THIS!"

What happened next made everyone watching freeze in shock.

His body began growing, expanding rapidly. Two large horns and two smaller ones sprouted from his head. Armored scales erupted along his spine, spreading across his back. That club-shaped tail grew from his lower back. The already cramped corridor was now occupied by two identical ankylosaurs.

"What the fuck?!" someone shouted from further back.

"That's impossible! Two ankylosaurs?!"

Even Shiki's most experienced subordinates couldn't process what they were seeing. Devil Fruits were unique, there might be similar fruits, sure, but never identical ones. That was a fundamental law of how Devil Fruits worked. But the two figures standing in that corridor looked like they'd been cast from the same mold. Same size, same build, same distinctive features.

"This can't be real!" The original ankylosaurus was the most shaken of all.

This was an Ancient Zoan. One of the rarest and most powerful types of Zoan transformations in existence.

"It's got to be fake!" he snarled, trying to convince himself. "All show, no substance!"

He gathered strength in his legs, muscle and scale creaking with the buildup of power, then launched himself forward with explosive speed.

CRASH!

The stone floor cratered under the force of his charge. Despite his massive, seemingly cumbersome body, his acceleration was frighteningly fast. Within a single heartbeat, he'd closed the distance.

The two ankylosauruses collided with the force of a small earthquake. The entire corridor shook. Support beams creaked ominously. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling.

"Leave this to me!" Bon Kurei called back to his crewmates, his voice distorted slightly by his transformed vocal cords but still maintaining that characteristic enthusiasm.

Despite both fighters being ankylosaurs, telling them apart was easy. One radiated authority and menace, clearly a seasoned fighter who'd earned his position through blood and violence. The other, however, somehow managed to look flamboyant and coquettish even in Ancient Zoan form. There was a certain... grace to his movements that was completely at odds with the brutal appearance.

For the original ankylosaurus, having to fight this mockery of his transformation was revolting.

When Bon Kurei threw him a playful wink, the pirate's stomach turned. It was like watching a two-meter-tall muscle-bound thug with a scarred face try to act cute and flirty. Any sane person would find it disturbing.

The Straw Hat crew, however, showed no disgust whatsoever. They'd gotten used to Bon Kurei's antics long ago.

"You freak!" the ankylosaurus roared. "Stop using my face!"

"I'm not a freak!" Bon Kurei shot back cheerfully.

BOOM!

Their tail clubs crashed together again, the impact sending shockwaves through the corridor. Nearby wooden support pillars simply exploded into splinters from the pressure wave alone. The original ankylosaurus' mind was racing, trying to understand what was happening. In terms of raw power and transformation capability, his opponent was perfectly matched to him. The only advantage he had was slightly stronger Haki.

In a fight this evenly balanced, there was no way to score a quick victory. It would come down to a war of attrition, grinding away at each other's Haki reserves until the weaker one's defense finally broke.

And Ancient Zoans were notorious for their endurance. If the Haki difference was this small, they'd be trading blows for at least a full day. If his opponent had strong willpower on top of everything else? Three or four days of nonstop fighting wasn't out of the question.

That was the normal duration for battles between Zoan-type powerhouses of similar strength.

Three or four days of mutual beatdown?

Sure, his opponent could afford to waste that time. But could he?

This entire situation was already embarrassing enough. Getting held up by some flamboyant wannabe while Shiki and the other division captains were watching his performance...

"Fuck this!" he roared, putting everything he had into his next strike. His Armament Haki condensed to maximum density, flowing into his tail club until the appendage was almost black from the concentration of Haki.

He swung with enough force to shatter stone walls.

Unfortunately for him, Bon Kurei was perfectly matched in combat instinct. The moment the original ankylosaurus began his wind-up, he was already preparing his counter-swing.

BOOM!

The two club tails met again, Haki clashing against Haki.

The floor beneath them gave way entirely, both fighters dropping a meter as the stone collapsed into the level below.