Chapter 623: Chapter 622: The Lion and the Dog, Which One is Stronger?

Bang! Bang!

With the sound of gunshots, the chains on Jinbe were broken. Shiki was slightly surprised; he hadn’t expected Alucard to save him.

Jinbe pulled the broken chains off his body and cupped his hands toward Alucard. "Once I have helped Pops Whitebeard finish this war, I will surely repay your kindness."

With that, Jinbe ran off. This scene triggered another wave of protests from the other prisoners.

Shiki let out a huff of air at the sight. "What pathetic weaklings."

"Then use them to practice your moves." Alucard gave a contemptuous glance at the clamoring prisoners and, without saying more, headed toward Level 5.

"Then I’ll start by testing the sharpness of my Oto and Kogarashi."

Shiki suddenly kicked high, unleashing a sharp, golden sword-aura. In an instant, over twenty prisoners in one cell were sliced in two.

"Hmm... it seems the sharpness hasn’t diminished much." Looking at the chunks of meat in the cell, Shiki nodded with satisfaction.

Only after the two had disappeared into the lift at the end of the corridor did anyone dare speak again. "Dammit, those two madmen..."

Arriving at Level 5, Shiki looked at the place known as the "Freezing Hell" as if he were admiring a beautiful landscape. "I haven’t seen any scenery outside of Level 6 for over ten years," he marveled.

"But soon, you won’t be able to see anything," Alucard said from dozens of meters away.

"That’s not necessarily true."

Shiki activated his Float-Float Fruit ability, instantly soaring dozens of meters into the air. He delivered a high whip-kick downward. The swords replacing his feet, Oto and Kogarashi, erupted with golden, crescent-shaped sword-auras. A single strike was enough to cleave the sea; the combined power of the flurry was enough to make even an Admiral take notice.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sword-auras slammed into the snowy ground, creating a series of explosions. The snow on the ground was sent flying like ocean waves, turning into a fine mist that dispersed into the air.

"Habitually showing off your undying ability?" Shiki narrowed his eyes and shouted, "Come out! I know you won’t die that easily!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Countless bullets, their surfaces coated in a blue light, rushed toward Shiki. Seeing this, Shiki immediately used his Float-Float Fruit powers to maneuver his body with masterful precision. Coordinating with the twin swords on his legs, he swung them rhythmically, causing the unleashed sword-auras to collide with the bullets.

Swish!

A sword-aura sliced into Alucard’s body.

Thud!

A bullet struck Shiki’s body.

However, Shiki was left with a wound, whereas the blood spraying from Alucard flowed back into his body in the next second, his wounds healing instantly.

Shiki had seen this ability of Alucard’s over a decade ago and wasn’t surprised at all. Having been imprisoned for so long, he wasn’t like Sengoku or the Gorosei who knew the secret of Alucard’s immortality; he could only attack based on his own deductions.

"Then try this move!"

Diving down at high speed, Shiki slammed his palms onto the snow.

Rumble...

Instantly, the snowy ground of the entire Level 5 trembled. The prisoners in the cells felt the vibration beneath their feet.

Just as they were wondering what was happening, the entire snowy landscape flipped upward, condensing into several massive lion heads. Each opened its cavernous mouth and surged toward Alucard.

Normally, Alucard wouldn’t bother dodging or resisting, letting Shiki’s ultimate move hit him before counterattacking once the technique ended.

But this was his final battle with Shiki, and Alucard wanted to utterly crush his opponent.

The pool of blood beneath Alucard’s feet suddenly rose, surging to a height of over a hundred meters and continuing to expand.

In the next moment, a giant, red-eyed hound crawled out of the blood. It was covered in black fur, with chains bound around its shoulders and limbs.

Its size exceeded even that of the snow-lion heads!

True Ancestor Familiar: Baskerville!

Shiki was first struck with shock, then burst into a wild, joyous laugh. "Jihaha... Jihahahaha!"

After laughing, Shiki bit his lip and roared, "The dog or the lion, which one is stronger? Let’s settle this right now!"

"Lion’s Threat: Earth Bind!!!"

In contrast to Shiki’s roar, Alucard simply held up his right index and middle fingers and flicked his wrist upward, issuing the command.

"ROAR!!!"

Baskerville’s arms shook; because of the chains, its power was still in a sealed state. Even so, it lunged directly into the lion heads. The two forces collided, sending powerful tremors through Level 4 above and Level 6 below.

Jinbe, who had just reached the exit from Level 5 to Level 4, grabbed the nearby wall with both hands to steady himself against the intense shaking. He looked back at the black and white beasts clashing in the distance and sighed, "This is... a battle of monsters."

But soon, Jinbe saw the dog suppress the lions, biting their heads to pieces and tearing them apart.

The shockwaves grew stronger. Jinbe could only crawl along the wall with great difficulty; otherwise, the collapsing floor would have sent him sliding toward the center of the battlefield in the next second.

Eventually, Jinbe didn’t even dare to continue crawling. Left with no choice, he pressed his hands firmly against the wall to maintain his balance, waiting for the battle to end before leaving.

"Roar!"

Within a dozen seconds, Baskerville broke through the encirclement of snow-lion heads and charged straight at Shiki, who was floating in mid-air.

"An impressive monster, but don’t think you can catch me so easily!"

Though shocked by Baskerville’s terrifying power, Shiki did not lose his composure. Using his fruit ability, he maneuvered through the gaps of that massive body, circling from the neck to the hind legs, and then to the tail.

Since this is something summoned by that Immortal brat, if I just take him out... Shiki calculated. He didn’t need to fight this giant wild dog; if he dealt with the controller, Alucard, then the beast would naturally lose its combat power.

But when Shiki flew around the massive body to Baskerville’s tail, he discovered that Alucard had disappeared.

He tried to sense him using Observation Haki, only to find that his Haki had dropped to its absolute limit. Not just Observation, even Armament Haki was difficult to use.