As he fell, Wilder's expression was grim. He hadn't expected the enemy to have such a trick up their sleeve, accurately predicting his path and hiding astonishingly powerful bombs on the mountain road's cliff edge by the valley. They were hidden so deeply that even a cursory sweep with his Observation Haki hadn't detected them. The instant they detonated, the entire mountainside where Wilder stood collapsed. The impact force that surged through his body at that moment left even him temporarily unable to muster any strength.
"Careless," Wilder's face was dark. But an endless amount of poison gas continuously seeped into his nostrils, and soon, a sense of weakness arose.
But at the same time, Wilder discovered that the moment the poison gas entered his body, a long-unseen change occurred within the swamp in his system.
"This is…" Wilder's eyes snapped open, a trace of astonishment appearing on his face.
"Hahaha! Morass's head is ours!" Several figures emerged on the cliff wall, and another walked out from behind on the mountain path. Looking at the poison gas-filled valley, they let out excited and wild laughter. This person was the one who had shouted first earlier.
"Two hundred million Beli! Enough for us to do a lot of things!" The other few also stared at the valley below, one of them with an excited, malevolent glint in his eyes.
The person who had walked out from behind nodded in strong agreement, his eyes never leaving the valley floor. "I didn't expect it to be this easy. I thought Morass was supposed to be so tough. Looks like he's just another guy overhyped by rumors."
Hearing this, a person beside him turned, looked at him, and shook his head slightly in rebuttal. "Not necessarily. His actions just now seemed like he'd discovered us. If we hadn't detonated just in time, the outcome might have been different." Pausing, this person revealed a sinister smile, his eyes filled with excited light as he stared at the valley below, adding, "But now, everything is set in stone."
"Hehehehe…" Hearing this, the others also burst into excited laughter.
When the poison gas in the valley began to dissipate and visibility started to clear, the group exchanged glances, put on their gas masks, and jumped down into the valley.
"Gurgle!"
Wilder lay on the ground, completely immobilized, but his consciousness remained clear. He stared at the sky, which had turned a pale purple due to the poison gas, his mind immersed in the changes within his body. To be precise, the changes in his swamp.
At this moment, faint wisps of purple gas were emanating from the surface of Wilder's supine body. Wilder's lips gradually curled into a grin. His eyes, bloodshot with excitement, stared fixedly at the pale purple sky, the light of thrilled excitement in them growing stronger, showing no sign of worry about the impending danger.
"Mwahahaha!" Wilder, lying on the ground, unable to move a muscle, suddenly burst into laughter. "So that's how it is! I get it now! Hahaha, finally some action, eh?"
Wilder's eyes shone with an excited yet malevolent light. He had finally figured out what that change in his swamp from before was. That gas which had appeared on his swamp not long ago—Wilder had once tried to control it, and also tried to understand what it was, but all his efforts were fruitless. Gradually, the gas had also disappeared from his swamp for a long time. Over time, Wilder had put the matter aside.
Until just now, when his body inhaled a large amount of poison gas, that faint change had reappeared. And this time, the gas presented itself much more clearly, a rich purple, no longer elusive as before. The purple gas practically filled every corner of the swamp within him. Wilder finally understood: this gas was none other than another characteristic inherent to his swamp—Swamp Gas!
"Not enough...! Still not enough! Not enough!" Wilder's eyes were wide, his voice growing somewhat hoarse and hysterical with excitement. Wilder clearly knew everything about the current changes in his body and swamp. He knew he hadn't truly possessed this characteristic yet; in fact, everything happening now was merely an illusory phenomenon. What he was experiencing was just the manifestation of barely unlocking the Swamp Gas characteristic—not even fully unlocked. If he stopped absorbing the external poison gas at this moment, all these changes in his body would disappear. However, he had also simultaneously gained the qualification to actively initiate this change again.
Although his body was immobilized by the influx of poison gas, due to the demands of the swamp within him, the poison gas hadn't completely affected Wilder's physical body itself. Wilder took a sharp breath and began to actively absorb the poison gas. The current situation wasn't that Wilder had gained the ability to ignore "poison." Rather, he had coincidentally stumbled upon this catalyst. After being inhaled, the poison gas wouldn't remain in his body at all but would be devoured by his swamp ability, acting as a key to unlock the new characteristic.
The poison gas in the valley diminished at a rapid pace. The few men walking towards Wilder paused, startled.
"What's going on? The speed at which the poison gas is dissipating seems to have increased since just now," one of them said, frowning.
"Who cares! It's better if it dissipates; saves us the trouble of searching!" another waved his hand dismissively. True enough. In this situation, the target would have long been paralyzed and weak; the presence or absence of poison gas would yield the same result. Thinking of this, the others didn't dwell on it and continued walking towards Wilder.
Before long, they saw Wilder's figure.
"Hahaha! I was right, wasn't I? Look at him, lying there like a dead dog!" The man who had spoken earlier saw Wilder lying on the ground from a distance and immediately laughed triumphantly. Seeing this, the others immediately sighed in relief, completely letting go of their worries. Truth be told, facing this recent prominent figure of the East Blue still made them somewhat uneasy.
"Let's go. Finish him off quickly, then we can relax once we get the money."
Hearing the word "money," the last trace of worry in their hearts vanished. They all grew excited and quickened their pace towards Wilder.
Wilder's body was still immobilized at this moment. But when he saw the few men approach him with drawn blades and malicious smiles, Wilder showed no fear or worry at all. Instead, a smile that baffled them appeared on his face. His mask had fallen off to the side when he fell, so Wilder's face was currently exposed.
"This guy looks a bit familiar." The men paid no attention to the smile on Wilder's face. One of them, seeing Wilder's face, muttered this.
He and the others failed to notice that one person among them, upon seeing Wilder's face, had their expression instantly change. Their body trembled slightly, and a look of disbelief appeared on their face. His eyes were fixed on Wilder's face and happened to meet Wilder's gaze and smile. His body stiffened, and he had unknowingly begun to retreat. The others didn't notice anything unusual. The principle of "let my comrade die, not me" was perfectly normal among these desperados. That man didn't speak out, merely trying hard to calm his trembling body, ready to find a chance to escape at any moment. He knew clearly who this person before him was. He had also clearly seen the scenes of the Summit War on the big screens and had learned what a Swamp-Swamp Fruit user was from numerous reports about this man. He wanted to draw his blade and kill the other party without hesitation right now… but he was even more afraid that he wouldn't be able to kill him and would instead enrage him.
"You're Morass?" Just as he was thinking this, a companion spoke, the tip of his blade pressed against Wilder's neck, looking down at Wilder condescendingly.
Wilder's smile didn't change. He stared quietly at the other man for a while, only speaking when his expression began to show impatience. "Yes." Wilder was stalling for time.
"Hahaha! Good then! You can die!" Unfortunately, the other party wasn't one for lengthy speeches. After getting the correct answer from Wilder, he immediately raised the blade in his hand and brought it down hard on Wilder's neck.
"The timing is just right," Wilder's smile instantly intensified. He didn't need much time; the silence during that exchange was enough.
"Hiss!" In an instant, the man who knew Wilder's identity, upon seeing the intense smile on Wilder's face, immediately understood something and turned to flee without hesitation!
"Hey! What are you doing?!" His fleeing startled the others! For some reason, a bad premonition suddenly arose in their hearts, and they quickly turned their heads!
Schlick! The sharp chopper sliced across Wilder's neck. Wilder was instantly decapitated.
But no matter how they looked at it, something felt off.
"Wh-why is he still smiling?!" one man's voice trembled.
At this moment, the man who had run off glanced back and happened to see Wilder's head being cut off. Due to his prior suspicions, the first thing he noticed was the state of the cut on Wilder's neck. Upon looking, he immediately saw that what flowed from the cut was not blood, but a sticky liquid. The word "swamp" instantly flashed through his mind. He screamed, his face filled with uncontrollable terror. Having confirmed his thoughts with his own eyes, only the thought of escape remained in his mind.
"I… I remember who he is now!?" At this point, among the men beside Wilder, the one who had earlier muttered that Wilder looked familiar instantly turned deathly pale. Pointing at Wilder on the ground, his finger trembled slightly, his body recoiled, his face full of terror.
"Who?" The others now also sensed something was wrong. Seeing the swamp flowing from Wilder's neck, their expressions also changed. They began to back away but still maintained a posture of readiness to act. Hearing his words, one of them couldn't help but ask while retreating.
"The... the Warlord Wilder!" The moment he shouted this, he turned and fled with a terrified expression, without the slightest hesitation.
"Gasp…" The faces of the remaining men instantly stiffened. They turned their heads, looked at each other, and saw disbelief and unconcealable terror in each other's eyes.
Just one glance. The next second, wisps of purple smoke, under Wilder's control, seeped into their gas masks. These shoddy gas masks could only protect against stationary or slowly drifting poison gas; they offered no resistance at all against the poison gas deliberately controlled by Wilder.
"Let's try it out on you guys!" Wilder's voice, filled with excited laughter, rang out.
The men struggled to turn their heads. The head on the ground had, at some unknown point, squirmed and reconnected to the body. In the blink of an eye, it was restored. Wilder twisted his neck and stood up. "Let's use your lives for a little experiment!" His excited gaze and bloodthirsty smile made the men feel as if they had been plunged into icy water, their bodies stiffening from the cold.
"This half-finished ability." Wilder's final voice became low. As his words fell, thick purple swamp gas surged from his body, instantly coalescing into several rope-like tendrils that violently rushed into the men's gas masks.
"Gack...!" A few sounds, as if someone's throat was being squeezed, were heard. In fact, their throats were indeed being constricted. After the poison gas entered their gas masks, due to the pain, the men wanted to rip off their masks, but in their panic, not only did they fail to remove them, but they also tightened the straps.
In less than a minute, the men stopped struggling. With a few dull thuds, they successively collapsed to the ground, their bodies stiffening, their skin turning a pale purple, clearly lifeless.
Wilder regained his composure, his eyelids lifting slightly, his calm gaze turning towards two small black dots hastily fleeing in the distance. Perhaps in their panic, they had chosen the same direction to flee, which saved Wilder some effort.
Swoosh! A ring of air swirled up from the ground, and Wilder's body vanished from the spot.
Thump, thump, thump! Dull sounds echoed in the air. Wilder, using Moon Walk, rapidly closed in on the two!
Sensing the poison gas within his swamp gradually dissipating, Wilder sighed inwardly. He knew this coincidental encounter ultimately hadn't allowed him to acquire the Swamp Gas characteristic. But Wilder wasn't disappointed. Although he didn't possess the Swamp Gas characteristic now, he had already gained the qualification to actively unlock it. The previous situation, where he knew there was gas on his swamp but couldn't utilize it, wouldn't happen again. Swamp Gas, after all, was a deviation from ordinary swamp. It was understandable that developing it would be extremely difficult. If not for this coincidental situation, Wilder wouldn't have known if he could ultimately develop this characteristic at all.
However, after this experience, Wilder now possessed the qualification for this development. And the method of development wasn't the so-called absorption of poison gas; absorbing poison gas this time merely granted Wilder the qualification to possess the Swamp Gas characteristic. Afterward, if he wanted to develop Swamp Gas and completely master this characteristic, there was only one path to take.
Development! Practice!
That's right. No need for external aids like poison gas. He just needed to continuously develop his Swamp-Swamp Fruit ability.
"I'm afraid this characteristic won't be so easy to develop," Wilder thought as he advanced. He knew in his heart that developing Swamp Gas was definitely not a simple matter. It wasn't just about developing in this direction; he probably also needed to enhance his application of the Swamp-Swamp Fruit and his physical strength!
The two fleeing individuals ultimately couldn't escape their fate of being slain by Wilder; he descended from the sky and directly decapitated them.
...…
Five in the afternoon. The black market had already opened an hour ago.
Wilder, clad in his black cloak, strode in.
A person reached out and blocked him.