The moment Rorschach stepped into the mist-shrouded areas, the electric arcs surrounding his body keenly sensed the peculiarity of this mist.
Thanks to his super-enhanced perception, stimulated and strengthened by lightning, Rorschach could clearly distinguish the subtle differences between natural energy and Devil Fruit abilities.
This enhanced perception told Rorschach that the surrounding mist was not naturally formed.
In other words, a Devil Fruit user created this mist.
So, what was their purpose?
Or rather, what kind of effect would this mist have on those who entered it?
Rorschach, enveloped in the hazy mist, decided to test it himself, to see what kind of power this mist contained.
He retracted the Armament Haki covering his body, absorbed the lightning swirling outside, and exposed his bare upper body directly to the ubiquitous mist.
As the Armament Haki and lightning power contracted, the mist, previously blocked outside his body, submerged Rorschach's form.
The instant the slightly damp mist touched Rorschach's skin, he immediately detected something amiss.
This abnormality wasn't physical; it was on a mental level.
He felt his mind become somewhat hazy, as if something had suddenly left his thoughts, or perhaps something had been added.
For some reason, he suddenly thought of North Blue, his hometown, the island buried in blood, and...
Deep blue Haki once again formed an unbreakable shield around his body, pushing the mist away.
A look of solemnity gradually appeared on Rorschach's face.
The moment his mind was affected by the mist, he felt a very familiar sensation.
After a brief thought, a tall man in a black suit with slicked-back hair immediately appeared in his memory.
That was the Head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of Marine Headquarters, Tenzan Black Horse.
That man's ability to enter dreams was very similar to the power contained within this mist that could influence one's mind.
It seemed that the Devil Fruit user who created this mist should be a powerful individual skilled in mental attacks.
Considering the strange smiles on the faces of the residents in the outer town, this conclusion became even more plausible.
After spending some time, Rorschach passed through several kilometers of misty area and finally saw the large basin ahead and the vast number of buildings within it.
Rorschach was in no mood to slowly explore the specific situation here; he just wanted to find Hibari and Law.
So, he decided to use the simplest and most efficient method.
Looking at the buildings, somewhat indistinctly visible through the mist, Rorschach extended both hands into the void in front of him, curled his ten fingers, grasped the invisible atmosphere, and with muscles bulging in his arms, pulled downwards with great force.
Instantly, the air within a radius of several kilometers boiled explosively, like a lake into which tons of dynamite had been thrown.
A raging hurricane swept across the sky and earth, and powerful, surging air currents swept in all directions, causing the vast mist covering half the island to churn and surge.
The sudden storm made the buildings in the basin rattle.
Some unstable houses even shook and collapsed under the strong wind.
Thousands of people on the streets also lost their balance, some being blown back repeatedly by the strong wind, causing a scene of chaos.
Feeling the chaotic atmosphere above the entire basin, Rorschach didn't stop. He continued to manipulate the airflow, pushing his hands forward with great force!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As he exerted force, the previously violent airflow rapidly began to spin, quickly forming a hundred-meter-tall tornado column on the high ground outside the basin, drawing in all the surrounding swirling mist.
After doing this, Rorschach immediately released the lightning power within his body, spreading it throughout the large basin.
His powerful Observation Haki, now unobstructed by the mist, quickly locked onto several familiar figures.
He saw Hibari sitting face to face with a very strange-looking person in a courtyard within the basin below. On her face, she wore a happy smile.
The reason Rorschach described the person opposite Hibari as strange was because that person's face appeared blurry and indistinct, as if seen by someone with severe myopia who had removed their glasses.
Seeing this scene, Rorschach's heart trembled.
The ground beneath his feet exploded, shattered rocks flying. Rorschach's figure flickered, instantly traversing a kilometer, plummeting down, and landing with a thud in the courtyard where Hibari was.
"Hibari!"
Hibari, who was holding her face in her hands, her face beaming with a happy smile, as if talking to the person with the blurred face, immediately turned her head upon hearing Rorschach's voice.
Upon seeing that it was Rorschach, the smile on her face instantly vanished. She suddenly stood up from the ground, blocking the monster behind her, and shouted at Rorschach, "Who are you? Why are you breaking into my home?!"
Rorschach's body stiffened, "What did you say?"
"No matter who you are, leave this place immediately, otherwise..." A coldness appeared on Hibari's small face. She extended her slender hand, and immediately a large amount of dark clouds appeared above the courtyard. Silver-white electric arcs zipped and flashed within the dark clouds, emitting a dangerous aura.
Just as Rorschach was about to speak, he saw the monster, blocked by Hibari, suddenly stand up, seemingly about to approach Hibari.
Seeing this, Rorschach no longer cared about anything else. He stomped his foot, his figure shooting out, his right fist clenching, deep blue Haki flowing. He bypassed Hibari who was blocking him and slammed his fist towards the blurry-faced monster.
"No!" Hibari's face drastically changed, and she cried out in alarm, "Brother Rorschach! Help!"
No sooner had Hibari's voice fallen than a blurry flash of electricity streaked from the house in the courtyard. The next instant, a fist covered in black Haki blocked the descending punch.
Bang!
With an explosive sound, Rorschach's body remained motionless, while the person who rushed out of the house grunted, retreating a few steps, but also pulling the monster with them.
"What?"
Upon seeing the appearance of the newcomer, Rorschach's cheek involuntarily twitched.
The person opposite him was another him.
However, unlike the current Rorschach, the Rorschach opposite him was wearing a neat Marine Rear Admiral uniform.
This point made Rorschach even more speechless.
Although his rank had been promoted to Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral after the Spring Queen City incident, due to travel issues, he simply hadn't had time to return to Headquarters to receive the Rear Admiral rank insignia and the corresponding uniform.
There were only a dozen Vice Admiral uniforms on the Kirin Go, which Garp had brought out when he left Marineford.
Disguising himself, he didn't even bother to make it believable.
Moreover, the Haki used by the Rorschach opposite him was clearly black.
Hibari, who was always meticulous, couldn't possibly miss such obvious loopholes.
And since Hibari still firmly believed that the imposter opposite her was the real Rorschach, it was very likely that Hibari's mind had been affected by the mist, leading to a cognitive bias.
Or, more seriously, Hibari's memory might have been tampered with!
Thinking of this, Rorschach's eyes couldn't help but turn cold.
Terrifying killing intent uncontrollably erupted from his body, as if lowering the temperature of the entire courtyard by more than ten degrees.
"Mama! Are you okay!"
Hibari rushed past Rorschach like the wind, heading towards the blurry-faced humanoid monster.
"Mama?"
The cry Hibari uttered made Rorschach freeze.
Hibari's mother, of course, was Akainu's wife.
Rorschach remembered that when he was chatting with Hibari earlier, Hibari had also mentioned some things about her mother.
Hibari said that she had never seen her mother since she could remember.
There weren't even any photos left in her home; she didn't even know what her mother looked like.
And when asked about Akainu, his answer was always the same: "She looks a lot like you," followed by endless silence.
Hibari once said that her greatest wish was to see with her own eyes what her mother looked like.
She wanted to know what kind of woman would fall in love with a man like Akainu.
Upon closer inspection, the strange person Hibari was anxiously asking about seemed to also have the outline of a woman.
Why would Hibari call that monster "Mama"?
Did she, in her eyes, believe that the woman with the blurred face was the mother she had fantasized about?
The situation here seemed to be getting stranger and stranger.
Not just Hibari, Rorschach turned to look around.
Under his Observation Haki, he saw Law, Bepo, and Pammer.
He even saw Zephyr!
Zephyr, who had been missing for ten days, and the Marine soldiers he had brought, Ain, Bins, and others, were all in this town.
In a house two hundred meters to the left, Law, dressed in a doctor's uniform, was sitting around a circular table with his family, discussing medical topics.
Law's parents, sister, and a tall man with an awkward smile sat opposite him.
It was Donquixote Doflamingo's brother, Rocinante.
On the street three hundred meters ahead, a sniffling Bepo, with a silly, innocent smile on his face, was happily walking down the street, holding hands with two blurred-faced Mink Tribe couples.
A little further down the street corner, the tall Pammer was staring with shining eyes at a giant, towering and majestic like a Titan god.
The giant's face was also blurry.
And in a square a kilometer to the right, Ain, Bins, and other Marine soldiers were laughing and chatting with another group of Marines Rorschach didn't know.
A petite Marine girl was holding Ain's hand and saying something.
As for Zephyr, he was looking at the woman and infant in front of him with a gentle expression Rorschach had never seen on his face, full of love.
The moment Rorschach's Observation Haki touched that courtyard, Zephyr's gentle expression instantly vanished. He suddenly turned around, his usually kind eyes now filled with endless cruelty and rage.
"No matter who it is! Don't disturb me!"
Zephyr let out a beast-like growl, and a terrifying surge of killing intent erupted from his robust body.
It was an aura Rorschach had never felt from the old man before.
Seemingly stimulated by the sudden burst of Zephyr's killing intent, the woman sitting behind him showed a frightened expression, and the infant in her arms also began to cry loudly.
Zephyr's boundless, brutal killing intent instantly dissipated. As he turned around, the gentleness on his face reappeared. He smiled and walked towards the woman and infant in front of him, speaking in a gentle, comforting voice.
"Teacher Zephyr..."
Rorschach froze.
Looking at everyone's current situation, and feeling the genuine happiness and joy emanating from them, Rorschach was completely stiff.
At this moment, Rorschach finally understood why even a man as powerful as Zephyr would suddenly disappear so strangely, without causing even a ripple on the sea.
The reason was simple: there was no battle happening here at all.
The master of this island used the deepest and softest emotions within them to create the family and students Zephyr most wished to see, those he felt most guilty about.
Hibari's mother, whom she had never seen.
Law's deceased parents and sister, and Rocinante, who died to save him.
Bepo's Mink Tribe parents.
Pammer's desire to see the strongest warrior of the Giant Race of Elbaf.
These were the people they most wanted to see, and they represented the softest parts of their hearts.
The master of the mist, using the mist's erosion of the mind and some strange ability, created the people they longed for, thus making those affected feel genuine happiness and willingly accept this mental enslavement.
Even someone as strong as Zephyr, due to the deep guilt and longing he harbored for his deceased family and students, gave up fighting and chose to live with those who had passed away.
Not to mention Hibari and Law.
In this messed-up world, how many people have no regrets, no one they long for?
If this place were to be compared to a dream, it would be a beautiful dream that no one would ever want to wake from!
(End of Chapter)
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