"Brother, are you alright?" Robin walked over to Shanter's side and offered to support him.
"I'm fine, huff—just, huff so tired!" Shanter gasped for breath. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries, but his stamina had been drained immensely.
Shanter had been using his legs and space shifting to outpace his opponent, and the fact that he hadn't been dragged to his death already was a miracle.
"That person we just faced, I'm afraid even an ordinary naval vice admiral would struggle to defeat him!" After catching his breath, Shanter said, his voice still carrying a trace of fear. "It looks like I still have a lot to improve in terms of strength!"
"Indeed," a cold, indifferent voice cut through the air, making Shanter's heart sink.
"You're back already?" Robin asked in disbelief. She didn't know the exact abilities or effects of the Void Reverie Fruit.
"I used space shifting, so naturally, I'm faster than just walking," Void Reverie replied. "Nico Robin, you can leave now. I doubt this person will treat you well. As for you, Fuster D. Shanter, you should accept your fate! Anyone who dares harm my brother must pay the price!" At the end, Void Reverie's gaze towards Shanter was as if he was looking at a corpse.
Void Reverie mistakenly saw Shanter as a pirate who had temporarily allied with Robin to seek protection, leading him to the wrong conclusion.
"Girl, you go first." Without waiting for Robin to speak, Shanter stood up, using his left hand to casually push up his nose and lightly nudging Robin away with his right hand.
"I don't want to!" Robin's attitude was firm, which confused Void Reverie: This wasn't in line with the original story. But this man with an 'S' on his face definitely didn't seem like a transmigrator.
"Since that's the case, I'll just kill you first." Void Reverie decided to deal with Shanter before worrying about Robin.
Although in his previous life he had been a decisive member of the Chinese Dragon Group, Void Reverie still carried the typical habit of a transmigrator: he didn't want to drastically alter the original plot. Especially when it came to characters who were beloved or important, it was hard for him to bring himself to kill them.
Rationally, Void Reverie should have no hesitation in eliminating Robin. But emotionally, he couldn't bear it.
"Do you think you've already won?" Shanter's blade pointed at Void Reverie at a slant.
"And what do you think?" Void Reverie's trident dagger once again pierced the air.
This time, Shanter didn't dodge because the trident didn't appear.
"Hm?" Void Reverie finally noticed—the trident had broken.
The material of the trident was of superior quality. Even after killing hundreds of people, it was unlikely to become dull. But after multiple uses in spatial shifts, the power of space was not something the human body could withstand. Even the finest swords wouldn't survive such a strain! The fact that the trident had held out this long was already a miracle.
This was also why Void Reverie was reluctant to use his own fine sword through the spatial folds. After all, the sword was high quality, not something to waste.
"Oh? Looks like you noticed the problem with my dagger already." Void Reverie drew out a new trident. "However…"
Void Reverie's words were abruptly cut off as he noticed something strange with Shanter.
Shanter's entire body had expanded, growing from his original 178 cm height to over 3 meters. His muscles were stretching out, looking grotesque and terrifying.
But in the blink of an eye, Shanter returned to his original size, though his skin was flushed red.
"Berserk!"
"Oh, performing a magic trick, huh?" Void Reverie remarked, though his wariness was now at its peak.
Right before Void Reverie's eyes, Shanter suddenly vanished.
Void Reverie was stunned—he had been focusing all his mental energy on locking onto Shanter's position. Yet, Shanter still disappeared.
"Fruit ability? Doesn't seem like it..." Void Reverie began to grow cautious about the situation.
A gust of wind suddenly hit, and Void Reverie instinctively sensed danger. He performed a space shift and retreated more than thirty meters, just as a large crater appeared where he had been standing.
Before Void Reverie could even be surprised by Shanter's increased strength, another powerful sense of danger rushed at him.
Unable to do anything, Void Reverie shifted again.
But before he could even steady himself, Shanter's attack was already upon him—without any flourish, Shanter stomped the ground, causing it to crack.
The scene flipped in an instant, and now it was Shanter suppressing Void Reverie rather than the other way around.
Berserk. A move that drained one's stamina. By consuming a massive amount of energy in a short period, it created an explosive surge of strength—this was "Berserk."
The human body can handle energy loads up to about 20%. Any excess energy used for movement isn't wasted but instead helps lighten the body's burden. Going beyond this limit would increase the body's strain, damaging its functions.
Berserk, however, pushed the body's load to 100% or even higher. Normally, the human body couldn't bear this, but thanks to the high recovery ability of the Battle God Fruit, Shanter could increase his load up to 120%.
Of course, this doesn't mean that energy is utilized at a 120% efficiency rate. That would be absurd. Rather, it means the energy is adjusted and distributed more efficiently across the body.
This enormous strain naturally brought immense strength. Shanter's speed and power now surpassed even Shanks and Mihawk (from the time of his duel with them, not when they were part of the Seven Warlords or the Four Emperors). His Dao power had risen to around 7,000.
Shanter's original Dao power was 1,000+, and with a five to six-fold increase, it became terrifying—more than ten times Void Reverie's, leaving Void Reverie struggling to keep up with his reactions.
Of course, this power wouldn't last long. It was only sustainable for a few minutes. The downsides were also obvious—without an increase in neural reaction speed, the body would deteriorate rapidly. Once the energy ran out, he'd be left vulnerable.
Void Reverie's Dao power was only around 600, slightly lower than Lucci's. However, due to his profound internal energy, his actual combat power reached about 1,000. His sustained fighting ability was much stronger. Coupled with his Space Fruit and Void Family Sword Techniques, even two Shanters might struggle against him.
Shanter located Void Reverie's position again and, without touching the ground, propelled himself forward with a powerful kick.
Void Reverie used another space shift, jumping about fifty meters away.
It wasn't that Void Reverie couldn't escape further; he had already noticed that Shanter's berserk state wasn't going to last long. It was similar to the "berserk" state of a berserker he had encountered during a mission in America—if he could just endure or dodge this wave, it would be fine.
Although Void Reverie's maximum distance for a space shift was around 1,000 meters, shifting more than 50 meters in one go required a cooldown. The further the distance, the longer the cooldown. Therefore, a 50-meter shift was the most efficient.
Shanter once again sensed Void Reverie's position and kicked off hard from the air, charging straight toward him.
The air Shanter had just stepped on reverberated like solid ground, producing a massive rumble as a shockwave radiated outwards.
Around Shanter, the air began to change from gaseous to sparse, then to dense, and finally to liquid. With a massive explosion, the air ahead of Shanter was pushed away, and the atmospheric pressure caused by his high-speed movement vanished.
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