Chapter 133: Exchanging Blows with Makarov (Patreon)

"Who's making noise outside the door?" A scolding voice came from inside the room, laced with underlying anger.

The familiar disdainful voice reached Hughes's ears, and a smile unconsciously curled at the corners of his mouth. He swept his right foot upward from the ground, and a transparent slash like a blade mark materialized in the air, hurtling straight toward the room ahead.

Makarov, who had never seen Hughes's Tempest Kick before, was momentarily stunned. The next second, golden light emerged from the tip of his index finger. The golden light, like a shooting star, overtook the blade-like transparent slash and shattered it in two.

"BOOM! BOOM!"

The two halves of the slash landed separately, leaving behind massive craters and sending up clouds of dust.

The massive commotion stirred the still-intact room amidst the dust into chaos, panicked cries rising one after another.

"Get back, now!" Makarov pushed Hughes, his face filled with urgency.

Did this reckless brat even realize he was about to commit an act that would shake the heavens? If the Chairman and the Councilors died by Hughes's hands, even he couldn't protect him.

Hughes had no time to explain. Alarms were blaring throughout the Magic Council, and his Observation Haki picked up countless people rushing toward them. There was no room for delay.

With a gentle nudge, he pushed Makarov aside. Performing a swift aerial flip, a transparent slash 4 to 5 meters long materialized above him.

By the time Hughes's feet touched the ground, the massive, terrifying transparent slash had already landed on the room where Crawford Seam and the others were.

"BOOM!"

The magnificent room was split in two. The ornate upper half crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, shaking the earth and sending dust billowing.

Hughes waved his hand, whipping up a powerful gust that blew away the dust, his eyes gradually turning solemn.

"Looks like the old man is determined to protect these pieces of trash," Hughes lamented internally.

This was tricky. The old man's strength was no joke...

On the other side, within the swirling dust, Crawford Seam, Oga, and Michello were pinned to the ground, their heads held down firmly by Makarov's grip.

They looked disheveled, but at least their worthless lives were spared.

Crawford Seam and the others looked up slightly and were shocked to see that their attacker was Jose.

"Jose! What are you doing?! Even as one of the 'Ten Wizard Saints,' attacking the Chairman and Councilors of the Magic Council is enough to imprison you for life!" Michello's cat eyes widened as he roared in accusation.

So close. He had come so close to dying just now!

Hughes didn't respond, merely offering a gentlemanly Jose-like smile. The next instant, he stomped the ground and vanished like a phantom.

"Stay down!"

Makarov shouted, sensing the danger, and pressed their raised heads back down like chicks.

Then, his right fist, wreathed in golden magic, suddenly expanded and shot upward.

"BOOM!"

The golden giant fist collided with two clenched, pitch-black hard fists. The shockwave sent the arriving Magic Council Enforcement Unit members flying, coughing up blood nonstop.

In midair, the three fists remained locked in a stalemate. One breath, two breaths...

Suddenly, Hughes, floating in the air, tensed his waist. The evenly matched deadlock was broken in an instant.

The pitch-black hard fists pressed down on the golden giant fist, descending relentlessly...

"BOOM! BOOM!"

The ground beneath Makarov's feet gave way first, cracking into a spiderweb pattern before collapsing.

Worried about harming Crawford Seam and the others, Makarov gritted his teeth, flicked his foot, and kicked them toward the Magic Council Enforcement Unit members.

Taking advantage of Makarov's distraction, Hughes applied continuous pressure. Where their fists met, a harsh grinding sound rang out.

With the sound, Makarov was slowly driven into the ground.

"Old man, are you okay? If not, go home and babysit your grandson!" Hughes sneered, pulling back his strength in time.

By now, Makarov was buried up to his waist.

Keeping up the act, Hughes adopted Jose's tone and mocked the old man.

Being looked down upon by Hughes, Makarov, his head bowed and lower half buried in the ground, let out a chilling laugh. "Heh heh. Young people don't know their place. Looks like I need to teach you a lesson."

The next moment, terrifying golden magical energy erupted from Makarov's body, shooting into the sky like a golden pillar.

The winds suddenly ceased. The entire Magic Council seemed to be enveloped in a domain of stillness, as if everything was yielding to that overwhelming magical pressure.

Golden radiance appeared throughout the heavens and earth. As time passed, more and more golden light emerged until the world itself seemed to become a boundless sea of shimmering gold.

Hughes frowned. He had wanted to launch a surprise attack while the old man was powering up, but some inner voice held him back.

It told him to face this terrifying aura head-on. It wanted him to fight Makarov at full power openly and honestly...

Suddenly, the sound of tearing fabric shattered the silence. The golden radiance seemed to find its source, surging and flowing into Makarov's body.

The old man's form shifted, growing to Hughes's height, then to the size of the nearby buildings, and finally until he stood far taller than the entire Magic Council.

Now towering like a giant of light, Makarov's eyes, as large as light bulbs, glared down at the fully armament-clad Hughes. "You were trying to sneak attack me just now, weren't you, kid?"

Makarov took a heavy step forward, as though he had stepped onto the eye of a hurricane, unleashing an endless gale that surged outward and bore down on Hughes with overwhelming force.

To better mimic Jose Porla, Hughes had even dressed exactly like him. Under Makarov's stomp, his cloak snapped loudly in the wind.

Hughes grinned, reached back, and with a flourish, tossed the cloak away. It drifted down, landing before the stunned Crawford Seam and the others.

Since it had come to this, he would follow his heart.

Hughes slapped his blackened palm, and in an instant, his entire body turned as black as black iron.

Beginner-level Armament Haki could at most achieve full-body armament.

Although full-body armament would reduce the hardness of his body, that weakness was more than compensated for by his Mastery-level Tekkai.

"Bring it on!"

Hughes shouted at Makarov, his eyes blazing with excitement. Every cell in his body was exhilarated.

"BOOM!"

The pitch-black hard fists and the golden giant fist collided once more, generating an even more terrifying shockwave. Wherever the shockwave passed, even the sturdy stone pavement was ripped apart.

One breath, two breaths...

This time, the golden giant fist, as large as a house, gained the upper hand, steadily forcing Hughes downward.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, Hughes, still brimming with excitement, twisted away from beneath Makarov's fist, stepped onto Makarov's fist, and leaped up to Makarov's eye level.

With a whip of his leg, a Tempest Kick slash around ten meters long ripped through the air, its chilling edge aimed straight at Makarov's face.

Makarov calmly raised his giant hand and effortlessly caught the slash that could cleave mountains and split rivers.

"CRACK! CRACK!"

With a slight squeeze of his five fingers, the massive slash shattered into countless fragments before slowly dissipating.

Hughes wasn't surprised. He lashed out with both legs, leaving a blur of afterimages. In an instant, a rain of slashes blanketed the skies above the entire Magic Council.