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"You are thinking of other things. I... am angry."
Imu's eyes grew colder, the voice seeming to echo from another space, distorted and complex.
This was a matter of course.
Imu's true body was not in this dimension—but in the timeless space created by the Op-Op Fruit's ultimate ability—the Immortality Operation.
The Imu here was merely a manifestation at a spatial anchor point. But even as a manifestation, Imu could still wield Haki in this space.
Imu sat upon the Empty Throne, viewing the world as mere dust. The only one Imu had ever truly considered an equal was Joy Boy.
Even the high and mighty Five Elders, who viewed the world as insects, were just disposable chaff in Imu's eyes. If they failed their mission, lost their value, they would simply be replaced.
But Sky Sovereign Rowen—was different.
His Haki and strength had reached a level on par with Imu and Joy Boy themselves. Treating someone like that as insignificant would be both arrogant and stupid.
As the victor of the war against Joy Boy and the Great Kingdom, the founder of the World Government that had stood at the pinnacle of the world for 800 years—the King of the World, Imu, was clearly no fool.
Imu regarded Sky Sovereign Rowen as an equal.
But for someone to let their thoughts drift to another in his presence—Imu was, of course, enraged.
WHOOSH!
Without another word, the King of the World's scorpion tail shot out like a sword, lunging at Rowen.
The tail was wreathed in an eerie green flame.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Violent, tyrannical crimson-black lightning coiled around it. Frightening Haki made the entire space begin to tremble.
Legendary-Class Haōshoku Coating!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Rowen, looking at the incoming attack, his eyes narrowed sharply.
An incredibly horrifying crimson-black lightning instantly tore through this space!
And at this moment—
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Egghead!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A terrifyingly immense crimson-black lightning, with the broadcast Transponder Snail on Egghead as its core, instantly tore through the sky!
THUD!
Among the Five Elders, Saturn, whose combat strength was at the bottom, had beads of sweat pouring down his forehead. His massive Gyuki body began to sink, as if kneeling in submission.
VMM!
Saturn's form began to change rapidly. He couldn't even maintain the Gyuki transformation, gradually reverting to his human form.
"HOW?? HOW IS HIS HAKI EVEN STRONGER THAN WHEN HE CLASHED WITH IMU-SAMA BEFORE??"
Saturn's eyes were filled with utter horror.
The other Five Elders' movements also faltered under this terrifyingly immense Conqueror's Haki.
Zoro and the others seized the opportunity, inflicting massive wounds on their immortal bodies.
And at this moment, these Five Elders' wounds did not recover. Horrifying scars appeared, their faces contorting in extreme pain.
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"STRONGER THAN BEFORE? OF COURSE. THAT WAS JUST THE HAKI ROWEN LEFT IN A SPECIAL TRANSPONDER SNAIL. THIS—IS ROWEN'S TRUE HAKI!"
Zoro's eyes flashed with an astonishing crimson-black light. Combined with his Asura Aura, he smiled like a demon from purgatory.
To tie Conqueror's Haki into a 'knot' and store it in a specific Transponder Snail, was using the Strongest Trait System, imitating how Joy Boy tied his Conqueror's Haki into a knot and stored it in the ancient robot.
The moment the knot was untied, the stored Haki would be released.
This way, even when Rowen wasn't present, Vivi and the others could still use Rowen's Haki. Just like when Vivi released Rowen's Haki in Dressrosa, and when they released Rowen's Haki knot to clash with Imu's Conqueror's Haki earlier.
Under Rowen's current Haki, those below Admiral-level were like true ants, fainting instantly. Even top-tier Yonko Commander level fighters couldn't remain conscious for a moment.
Even powerhouses who had just entered the Admiral-level threshold would feel immense pain under Rowen's current Haki, unable to move freely.
Only the absolute top-tier Admiral level powerhouses could barely withstand Rowen's Conqueror's Haki blast.
But such a useful ability was not without a price!
In fact, the price was very high.
This power was created by using the Strongest Trait System to literally 'cut' a piece of Rowen's own Conqueror's Haki Trait, which was then tied into a knot and placed in the special Transponder Snail.
It was a real cutting—like cutting a piece from a cake.
This part of Haki could not be recovered.
In other words, as long as part of his Haki was stored in a special Transponder Snail, Rowen's own Haki wasn't at full power until that stored portion was used. For someone at Rowen's level, this was a major drawback.
On these seas, no power existed without a price—not even for a Legendary-Class powerhouse like Rowen. Every ability had its advantages and disadvantages, required some kind of fuel to activate. Nothing was ever created from thin air.
The reason for this side effect was that Conqueror's Haki was the manifestation of spiritual power. To use this powerful Haki, Rowen's own spiritual power was the fuel.
Without the support of his spiritual essence, the Conqueror's Haki could not be preserved, it would simply dissipate into the world after being released, just like a normal Haki blast.
Though Rowen had not yet fully figured out the principle, it could be compared to the collapse phenomenon in Quantum mechanics on Earth.
But the current Conqueror's Haki... was the Conqueror's Haki directly released by Rowen's main body!
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"SO PAINFUL! DAMN IT! SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN... HE'S TESTING OUR IMMORTALITY!"
Mars cried out in pain.
One can get used to pain. If one suffered pain for a long time, then their tolerance for pain would also increase.
But if one had not suffered any pain for a long time, then once injured, at the perceptual level, the degree of pain would be multiplied.
The Five Elders, who possessed immortality, were clearly in this category.
After they gained immortality—for these 800 years—the World Government had been the absolute ruler of this world. They were also the highest authority of the World Government.
In 800 years of history, those who could cause them substantial harm were few and far between.
The Five Elders—had long since become strangers to pain.
Now, with Sky Sovereign Rowen's Conqueror's Haki directly attacking the space they were anchored to—that is, attacking the Devil Fruit ability of the Immortality Operation—their ability to regenerate was temporarily nullified.
On top of that, Zoro and the others were unleashing Haōshoku Coating attacks—each strike searing them with unbearable agony, forcing cries from their throats.
The pain tolerance of these beings was even lower than that of an average Marine officer.
"Shishishi! So this ability... can be broken!" Luffy laughed.
At this moment, Luffy had directly completed the giantization of his Nika form, becoming a huge figure that surpassed even Ancient Giants.
He grabbed Mars in his Itsumade form from the sky with one hand—and Peter, who had transformed into a sandworm, with the other.
Terrifying crimson-black lightning crackled in his Giant hands.
Though these two were slightly stronger than the bottom-tier Saturn, they were no match for Luffy in his Gear Fifth state.
Plus, Mars and Peter were affected by the impact of Rowen's Conqueror's Haki, making it impossible for them to escape for a time.
"Sky Sovereign Rowen... is fighting with Imu-sama."
Compared to the pain and injuries he'd endured, Warcury was more terrified of this possibility. After all, with immortality, wounds and suffering would heal eventually.
But if they pissed off Imu, they might actually be cast aside. And that would mean death.
For the immortal Five Elders, the degree of fear of death was even greater than that of average people.
But no matter how desperate and panicked the Five Elders became, they were powerless to stop what was unfolding in the Room of Flowers at Holy Land Mariejois.
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
In the Room of Flowers, Rowen's right fist had already turned into lightning—wreathed in Haōshoku Coating—blocking Imu's scorpion tail attack.
The Thunder Gloves and Imu's scorpion tail collided from a distance, and a series of violent, tyrannical crimson-black lightning, divided into two camps, furiously tore at and annihilated each other in this space.
The terrifying Haki made the Room of Flowers begin to shake violently.
Imu's eyes began to change.
Though very subtle, it was naturally impossible to hide it from Rowen, whose Observation Haki was trained to its peak and further enhanced by the analytical ability of his Human-Human Fruit.
"If you don't want to fight me here, then just sit back and watch me walk away."
Rowen smiled.
The Room of Flowers must have some special meaning for Imu.
Imu clearly didn't want the fluctuations of battle to destroy this place. Even in the collision just now—Imu had divided a portion of his Haki and Devil Fruit ability to block the energy storm formed by their collision from causing damage to the Room of Flowers.
Rowen had also confirmed one thing.
The only one who could cancel the teleportation was Imu himself. The Five Elders, even if they were severely injured, could not cancel the teleportation and return to the Holy Land Mariejois.
Just as in the original story, when the ancient robot, at a moment when Imu was unprepared, opened the Haki knot Joy Boy had placed in its body, releasing an incredibly horrifying Conqueror's Haki.
Imu was caught off guard and suffered no small damage, falling to the ground in pain, his Devil Fruit ability also temporarily shattered.
The four Five Elders who had teleported to Egghead immediately vanished from the island. Only Saturn remained behind.
Imu's power only granted the Five Elders and God's Knights immortality—essentially the effects of the Immortality Operation. It didn't include one of his Devil Fruit's most signature abilities: The Pentagram Circle.
As for the Haki attack method to break immortality, it had also been verified just now.
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Directly using Conqueror's Haki—combined with powerful Observation Haki, to attack the space anchored by the Immortality Operation's ability.
This would temporarily make the Immortality Operation's ability disappear, temporarily nullifying the Immortality Operation.
And it would make the injured person with immortality feel the pain of being hit by Haki.
Being hit directly by Haki was excruciating beyond words. Since Haki was the manifestation of spiritual power, the pain struck straight at the soul.
Even Luffy, who was used to taking brutal beatings, couldn't handle the agony when Garp's Haki-infused punch caught him off guard—he'd scream his head off. The Five Elders had it even worse, since their pain tolerance was absolutely terrible after going so long without being hurt.
They couldn't move freely.
This was another major side effect of their immortality.
Pain would cause a huge fluctuation in their spiritual power. Once such a huge fluctuation occurred—whether it was Devil Fruit ability or Haki—would be greatly weakened.
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"I'm not wasting time on a pointless fight here. The next time we meet... things won't end like this, Imu."
Rowen laughed loudly.
Unable to cause substantial damage to Imu's main body, Rowen had no intention of consuming any unnecessary Haki and stamina here.
This was Imu's lair—with 800 years of preparation, who knew how many backup plans there were. Fighting an Imu who couldn't be truly harmed here was meaningless.
EVERYTHING WILL BE SAID AFTER HE GETS THE DARK-DARK FRUIT!
VMM!
Imu's cold gaze watched as Rowen was sucked into the spatial power.
Kamui!
"SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN!!!!!"
Imu's eyes were terrifyingly grim.
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