It was no wonder Tesoro was so shocked.
After all, Doflamingo’s power and influence far surpassed his own at present. He was completely incapable of confronting him, which was why he had always hidden in the first half of the Grand Line, rarely coming to the New World.
If the Clifford Kingdom hadn’t discovered another gold mine on the island recently, he wouldn’t have risked being found by coming to the New World. After all, the Gold-Gold Fruit’s ability was to control gold, not create it.
"My captain has a partnership with Doflamingo, so Doflamingo has secretly placed a hefty bounty on your head," Enrod licked his lips, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Looks like I’ll be collecting that money."
In truth, Doflamingo hadn’t specified the exact amount for Tesoro’s head, only promising a "heavy reward." However, coming from someone of Doflamingo’s caliber, that reward was undoubtedly extremely valuable, certainly not a small sum.
"Your captain?" Tesoro frowned, not paying attention to the latter part of the sentence. With his current strength, dealing with ordinary pirates was more than enough.
But Enrod himself was the captain of the White Mane Pirates. The "captain" he referred to must be some great pirate he had allied with.
Yet, towards the end of last year, the pirate alliance that the White Mane Pirates belonged to was defeated by the Garfield Pirates. He’d also heard that the heavily wounded White Mane Pirates had fled to Fish-Man Island, preparing to return to the first half of the Grand Line.
How had they suddenly joined an unknown Grand Fleet and dared to attack the Clifford Kingdom?
"I’ll be taking your head."
Enrod sneered, his body flashing as he lunged in front of Tesoro. A sharp sword light immediately slashed down at his head.
"You’re not good enough for that!"
Tesoro coldly retorted, and the large golden gauntlet on his right fist transformed into flowing gold, resembling a shield as it solidified in front of him.
The sword light, like white lightning, was incredibly sharp, instantly cutting through the flowing gold in front of Tesoro.
However, the momentum of the blade was spent, and it didn’t manage to wound Tesoro.
But Tesoro was also startled, not expecting Enrod’s slash to be so powerful. If it had been just a little stronger, he would have already been wounded by the blade.
Enrod’s first strike failed to wound Tesoro. He then moved with his blade, and another slash fell like lightning.
By now, Tesoro had reacted. He knew Enrod’s strength was not to be underestimated. Instantly, the fluid gold in front of him solidified, transforming into thick, sharp spikes that thrust outwards.
Clang, clang, clang...
With a series of slashes, Enrod left several extremely deep marks on the thick golden spikes, almost severing them.
But due to Tesoro’s perfect control, these blade marks were repaired in a flash, forcing Enrod to retreat.
Tesoro wiped the sweat from his forehead, letting out a slight sigh of relief. The opponent’s swordsmanship was too strong, too sharp. Even a slight lapse would result in a wound.
Then, Tesoro raised his left hand, as if pulling something.
Rumble-rumble-rumble~
Almost simultaneously, from the ruins of the collapsed high-rise, a large mass of continuously flowing gold poured out, flying towards Tesoro, drawing many greedy gazes.
Because Tesoro’s Gold-Gold Fruit ability was to control gold, not create it, to avoid embarrassing situations in battle, he always carried many gold ornaments and a large chest of gold with him on his travels, almost exclusively for combat.
"The Gold-Gold Fruit, truly a good thing."
Enrod gazed somewhat greedily at the large mass of gold that had flown to Tesoro’s side.
Although he had seen the gold mountain in the underground palace on Alvis Island, and he himself had received a lot of gold, who would ever complain about too much treasure? The more, the better.
However, seeing this, Enrod also noticed Tesoro’s predicament and the Gold-Gold Fruit’s drawback: it could only control gold, not create it.
"Right, if he could create gold, how rich would he be?" Enrod muttered to himself.
Similarly, thinking of this, Enrod relaxed a lot.
Tesoro now only wanted to quickly take down his opponent and leave. Otherwise, once the main force of the Grand Fleet arrived, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
The large mass of surging gold rapidly took shape, forming a fully armed golden armor around Tesoro, completely encasing him.
The ground suddenly exploded, sending shattered rocks flying, as Tesoro, clad in golden armor, charged straight ahead.
"Come on! One Sword Style, Black Blade: White Mane!!!"
Enrod roared, and the katana in his hand was immediately covered in Armament Haki, turning pitch black.
Then, white light burst forth, and the entire space seemed to be engulfed in it, transforming into a massive, sharp white blade aura that slashed downwards.
Tesoro bellowed, and the golden armor on his body began to flow. Half of the gold on his body flowed into the other side, forming a massive golden great axe.
Tesoro wielded it, fiercely hacking towards Enrod, the heavy great axe creating a whistling gust of wind.
On the port’s coastline, all the coastal turrets had been destroyed, and the Grand Fleet had also reached the shore.
Dimitri waved his hand grandly, full of vigor.
This battle was unexpectedly smooth.
They had landed at Micity Port without losing a single soldier.
Once ashore, with their various animated creatures, they could easily overwhelm even the Clifford Kingdom’s one hundred thousand troops.
After all, ordinary people couldn’t fight against stone or metal. Even with guns and cannons, they could at most only damage the stone animated creatures.
As for the metal animated creatures, without the swordsmanship mastery of a Sword Master, powerful Devil Fruit users, or strong martial artists, they were simply impossible to deal with and could only be wantonly slaughtered.
Large numbers of animated creatures swarmed out from each ship, thousands of them, a dense mass.
There were stone ones, metal ones, even five-meter-tall pure silver golems, and silver devils with bat wings sticking out of their ribs.
"Kill! Slaughter all resistors!"
After all the animated creatures had been deployed, the pirates from each ship also landed, brandishing their blades and guns, shouting as they charged into the port.
Not long after, the Grand Fleet easily pushed the front lines into the center of Micity Port city. Thousands of Kingdom soldiers and resistors lay dead on the spot, bodies strewn everywhere on the streets.
At this point, Dimitri noticed Enrod locked in a fierce battle on the main street.
"What’s happening? Who’s Enrod’s opponent?"
After all, Tesoro had only eaten the Gold-Gold Fruit three years ago; his abilities hadn’t developed to their later formidable state. It wasn’t surprising that he couldn’t immediately defeat Enrod.
As for Enrod, while his talent was good, he was still no match for someone like Tesoro, who would later be known as a monster. Thus, both sides were locked in a bitter struggle.
"It’s Gild Tesoro! The guy who stole Doflamingo’s stuff three years ago," explained a pirate captain from the same vanguard fleet.
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