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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Inazuma's scissor-hands, forged to cut the world, shattered like glass under Arthur's unstoppable force. The Revolutionary was launched backward like a bolt of lightning, crashing headfirst into the ruins of a collapsed skyscraper.
CRASH!!
The building, already weakened by the shockwaves of the ongoing war, groaned and disintegrated, burying the half-dead Inazuma under tons of rubble.
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Fish-Man Island.
The dark, damp alleys of the Fish-Man District.
"BROTHER TIGER!!"
Dozens of fish-men stared at the snail screen, their eyes bulging with rage, tears streaming down their faces.
"Damn humans…"
"How dare he??"
Arlong, Hody Jones, Kuroobi—all the young fish-men who worshiped Fisher Tiger—couldn't believe their eyes. In that moment, their hatred for humanity ascended to a new, terrifying level. It wasn't just dislike anymore; it was a blood feud.
"I'm going to the surface! I'll kill every human I see!!" Arlong roared, wiping tears from his face, his eyes burning with pure malice as he glared at the screen.
"I'm coming with you!" Hody Jones stepped up, right behind him.
The grudge between humans and fish-men was already deep, but now, it was war.
"STOP right there!"
Jinbe appeared behind them, his own eyes red with unshed tears, his voice a low, commanding growl.
"Brother Tiger went to free the slaves as an individual! He didn't do it in the name of Fish-Man Island! He went there prepared to die!!"
"And he attacked the Thunder Emperor first! Arthur killed him, but he's too arrogant to care about small fry like you. But if his crew finds out you're seeking revenge? Have you thought about what will happen to this island??"
"So we just watch Brother Tiger die??" Arlong screamed back. "If you're too scared, then we will go!"
More than half the fish-men stood up, glaring at Jinbe with contempt.
"Without power, you have no voice! You are just prey!!" Jinbe shouted, tears finally spilling down his cheeks. "Fish-Man Island is already on the brink. If you go out there for revenge, think about the consequences!"
"If you want revenge, get stronger! Seeking vengeance now with your pathetic strength… you'll achieve nothing but your own deaths!"
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"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Dragon, Rayleigh, Kuma, and Ivankov landed simultaneously near the spot where Inazuma had fallen. They didn't dare split up.
Keeping a wary eye on Arthur, they frantically dug Inazuma out of the rubble.
They had to retreat. If this fight continued, total annihilation was a certainty.
Inazuma was barely breathing. More air was leaving his lungs than entering.
He had survived Arthur's punch only because his scissor-hands had taken the brunt of the impact. Without that split-second block, he would have been atomized just like Fisher Tiger.
Rayleigh and Dragon took point, shielding the others from a potential follow-up attack, giving Ivankov a window to work.
"Hang on, boy!"
Ivankov cradled the broken revolutionary, his fingers extending into needles, ready to inject Healing Hormones. Even a ten percent chance was better than zero.
"Let me," Kuma said, his deep voice cutting through the panic. He reached out, stopping Ivankov's hand.
The Horm-Horm Fruit was too risky. A twenty percent chance of survival, at the cost of lifespan? Failure meant death.
Kuma had a better idea.
The Paw-Paw Fruit was a terrifying power. It could repel anything—solids, liquids, gases. It could repel abstract concepts like fatigue, pain, damage, heat, sword slashes, shockwaves.
Matter or energy, it didn't matter. Kuma could push it away. He could literally repel "damage" out of a body.
It was inconceivable.
Kuma's talent and creativity were staggering. His offensive power might not be the absolute peak, but his utility was unmatched. Who could kill a man who could simply push his own death away?
He had developed a technique called "Pain Repel"—turning a fruit that had nothing to do with healing into the ultimate medical tool.
Some Paramecia fruits had pathetically low ceilings. Others… had no ceiling at all.
"Dragon. Rayleigh. Ivankov." Kuma placed one paw on the chest of the fading Inazuma. "Go. Keep the Thunder Emperor occupied. Don't let him move. I'm going to push the damage out… and send it into him. Otherwise, none of us leave here alive."
Without a trump card, they would all die here. If the leaders of the Revolution fell, the dream of equality died with them.
"Pain Repel?"
Arthur's eyes lit up with a fervent, almost scientific curiosity. He stared at the red, paw-shaped bubble of "damage" emerging from Inazuma's chest. He was mesmerized.
He was so captivated by this conceptual application of power that he completely ignored Rayleigh and Dragon.
This healing method… it gave him immense inspiration. Kuma's ability to repel fatigue and injury was sheer genius.
"Good. Move fast!"
Dragon shook off the grief of Tiger's death. His black eyes shifted, elongating into reptilian slits. Cold. Ruthless.
"ROAAAR!!"
A draconic roar erupted from his throat. Scales rippled across his skin, climbing up his neck and face. Two horns burst from his forehead, piercing the sky. A thick tail smashed through his pants, slamming into the ground.
Dragon transformed.
Clouds gathered around him as his body expanded, his scales gleaming with a metallic luster.
"ROAAAAR!!"
With a deafening bellow, Dragon's serpentine body, now hundreds of meters long, coiled around Arthur in an instant, wrapping him tight, completely obscuring him from view.
Caught off guard by his own fascination, Arthur had been snared.
But he didn't care. He hadn't even snapped out of his trance staring at Kuma's technique.
"Kuma! Do it!" Dragon roared, squeezing tighter.
"Hmph!" Arthur's view of the "Pain Repel" bubble was blocked. He scowled.
"Get your carcass off me!!"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzt!!"
Violent lightning exploded from Arthur's body, surging directly into Dragon's coils.
The metallic scales were incredibly tough, but they couldn't withstand the point-blank discharge of a billion volts. In seconds, the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
"You want to leave? I'll help you!"
Arthur's muscles bulged. With a heave of titanic strength, he nearly tore Dragon's serpentine body in half. But he didn't even look at the Revolutionary leader. His eyes were locked on the red bubble floating in the air.
"Let me taste Kuma's pain!!"
His second Devil Fruit was already decided: the Op-Op Fruit. He had been pondering how to develop it beyond the conceptual "Immortality Operation." Kuma's technique just gave him infinite inspiration.
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Dragon and Rayleigh froze. Even the stoic Kuma looked baffled.
He wanted to taste the damage? Did he want to check if it was real?
The red, paw-shaped bubble of pure pain hovered ominously.
"GET LOST!!"
Arthur's strength exploded. He grabbed Dragon's tail and swung the hundred-meter dragon like a whip, smashing him into the ground with earth-shattering force.
The ground split. The mountain shook.
Freed from the coil, Arthur didn't attack Kuma. He actively moved towards the pain bubble.
The agony hit him instantly. It was a concentrated extraction of lethal damage.
But Arthur's Observation Haki was focused elsewhere. He sensed Inazuma. The damage was gone, but the man was still half-dead, his vitality critical.
'So it removes the pain and the physical trauma, but it doesn't restore the vitality lost,' Arthur analyzed through the haze of agony.
"GO!!"
Seizing the moment of Arthur's distraction, the Revolutionaries fled.
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