"Jack the Drought?"
Jack did not wait long before Renji arrived.
Seeing Renji standing calmly on the deck of the Mammoth Pirates' ship, a flash of battle intent appeared in Renji's eyes.
This would be his first fight against a Yonko-commander-level opponent.
"You stole from the Whitebeard Pirates and still dared to remain inside our territory," Renji said coldly. "You've got quite a lot of nerve."
"If pirates don't rob people, do you think I'm running a charity?" Jack replied.
However, his eyes were not focused on Renji.
Instead, he looked around.
A hint of dissatisfaction appeared on his face.
"You're not taking me seriously?"
"Marco and Jozu didn't come?"
It was obvious.
Jack did not take Renji seriously at all.
Even though he knew Renji was strong, he still looked down on him.
Renji gave a cold laugh.
He knew that if he did not show real strength, Jack's attitude would not change.
"Attack."
As he spoke, the Fourth Division ship and its hundred pirates rushed toward Jack's Mammoth Pirates vessel.
Renji charged ahead personally.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The battle cries shook the sea.
Every member of the Fourth Division was excited.
Even when facing one of the famous Three Calamities, Jack the Drought.
They trusted Renji.
They trusted the strength of their acting commander.
"Kill!"
Soon the Fourth Division ship closed the distance.
At the level of Yonko commanders, cannon fire was meaningless.
The best way to fight was direct boarding combat.
"Jack, today you'll learn the price of arrogance!"
Before the ships had even fully docked, Renji leapt forward.
A deep black-purple coating appeared on his fingers.
It was high-level Armament Haki.
"So brave? Charging alone?"
"Hahaha! Maybe we'll get to kill a Whitebeard Pirates vice-captain today!"
Seeing Renji board alone, the Mammoth Pirates rushed toward him.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
But these small fry were no match for him.
With fists and kicks, Renji knocked them flying.
"Anyone who dares touch the Whitebeard Pirates deserves death!"
"You're nothing but clowns pretending to be important!"
As the ships connected, boarding combat began.
Led by Renji, the entire Fourth Division stormed onto Jack's ship.
Soon the crews of both sides clashed violently across the deck.
The Mammoth Pirates were elites.
But Renji's Fourth Division was no weaker.
After more than a year of training under Renji, they had grown much stronger.
For a while, the battle fell into a fierce stalemate.
"Jack, today will be your last day!"
Renji covered the boarding of the Fourth Division pirates.
Once everyone had boarded successfully, he moved directly toward Jack.
His fists were covered in extremely dense Armament Haki.
Then he threw a punch straight at Jack's face.
"Good!"
Jack did not back down.
His modified shotel blades were covered with dark Armament Haki.
The black-purple coating spun with concentrated energy.
This was advanced Armament Haki, Haki coating.
The blades looked sharp enough to pierce skin from a distance.
"Tremor… Shatter!"
Renji remained calm.
Cracks like shattered glass appeared around his fist.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed.
Jack's Haki-coated blades shattered instantly.
"How is that possible?!"
Jack barely dodged the punch and stared in disbelief.
"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit?"
"Did that old man Whitebeard die already?"
Devil Fruits followed strict rules.
The most important rule was that only one person in the world could possess each fruit's power at any given time.
For example, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit could only reappear once its current user died.
"That's not right."
Jack suddenly sneered.
"Your power must be some inferior Devil Fruit related to the Tremor-Tremor Fruit."
He had simply been startled by the familiar power.
Looking at Renji again, Jack showed mockery.
"You've been hiding well."
"Even the Beast Pirates' intelligence network didn't discover it."
In the New World, especially between the Four Emperors, intelligence gathering was extremely thorough.
Spies, informants, bribery, infiltration.
All methods were used to learn about enemies.
Jack might appear arrogant, but Renji, as a vice-captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, was already a monitored target among many factions.
"Interesting," Jack continued. "Your fruit must be the inferior version of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit… the Shake-Shake Fruit, right?"
Having found what he believed was a logical explanation, Jack no longer seemed nervous.
Devil Fruits often had similar abilities.
Some were superior, while others were inferior.
For example, in terms of heat abilities, the Magma Fruit was superior, the Flame-Flame Fruit was inferior to it, and other heat-based fruits ranked even lower.
Jack, like Marco and Jozu before him, concluded that Renji possessed a weaker fruit related to the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
"Who knows?" Renji replied with a faint smile, giving a deliberately vague answer.
After their first clash, Renji had already gained the advantage.
But he did not press the attack.
"Scared?"
Jack sneered.
"Scared?"
Renji's words made Jack laugh.
"You think having a Devil Fruit makes you stronger than me?"
Jack spread his hands.
The broken handles of his shotel blades fell into the sea.
His body began to change.
The power of the Ancient Zoan.
The Elephant-Elephant Fruit, Model: Mammoth.
This was Jack's Devil Fruit.
"Speaking of Devil Fruits," Jack said coldly, "did you forget that I have one too?"