Cliff's bones were mostly shattered, and his skin was cracked in many places, with blood gushing out.
However, he was still conscious. Although his body couldn't move, his eyes could turn flexibly.
At this moment, he stared at the black-haired middle-aged Marine in front of him, his eyes filled with shock and bewilderment.
'Who exactly is this person? Someone capable of wielding Conqueror's Haki infusion should definitely not be an unknown figure...'
'Damn it, what terrible luck to run into such a top-tier expert!'
'When did the Marine get such a person? Is he the newly appointed Admiral?'
Cliff was very concerned about the few powerhouses within the Marine: Admiral Sengoku, Hero Garp, former Admiral Zephyr...
He had even seen Kenji, who was newly appointed this year and whose strength was often mocked by many pirates, from a distance a few times.
If he could speak now, he would surely be eager to first ask about Kenji's identity.
'You're so strong, does Fleet Admiral Kong know about you?'
Unfortunately, his body had suffered comprehensive severe injuries, and his throat bone was also damaged, so no matter how hard he tried to open his mouth, he could only make 'ah ah' sounds.
Kenji didn't pay attention to Cliff's changing expressions, nor did he bother to probe the thoughts of this collapsed, highly wanted criminal.
Rather than patiently deciphering Cliff's meaningless 'aba aba' sounds, Kenji was more interested in testing another matter.
To test the power of the new trait.
"Suppressing Devil Fruit users... doesn't seem to be a power just anyone can possess."
Kenji recalled that among the world's top powerhouses, basically all could use Conqueror's Haki infusion.
However, the materialization of Conqueror's Haki was rarely displayed by anyone.
Kenji didn't think that the power of those top powerhouses was insufficient.
A ruthless person capable of dominating an era, or even harboring the immense ambition to devour the world, could not be said to be weak.
"Perhaps this power has some special qualities..."
Kenji thought of Joy Boy, that ancient ruthless person whose Conqueror's Haki was extremely strong.
And this ancient powerhouse had another identity: an Awakened user of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika form, the God of Liberation!
In other words, he was the protagonist of that era eight hundred years ago.
"Thinking about it this way, it does feel quite epic." Thinking of this, Kenji couldn't help but smile.
Then, he collected his thoughts, looked directly at Cliff, who was still playing dead, and a strong surge of Pressure of All Things accumulated and swelled.
The next moment, visible lightning-like Haki was released, rushing towards Cliff at an extremely fast speed.
"Wuwu!!"
Cliff's eyes widened, and his body twisted uncontrollably, as if enduring pain beyond his limits.
However, he soon forgot the intense pain in his body, shocked by the sudden anomaly, his eyes showing deep horror.
He saw that his transformed state was gradually fading, and his Devil Fruit Awakened body was slowly transforming back into a human.
'What's going on? I didn't do anything!'
'Ah ah ah! Damn it! Why?!'
As the transformed state receded, the terrifying vitality and recovery power brought by the Devil Fruit Awakening also rapidly weakened, leading to slower wound healing and more prolonged pain.
However, compared to the physical pain, the inexplicable anomaly that occurred at this time—the deprivation of his transformation and passive return to human form—made Cliff feel even more pain and terror.
In Cliff's view, this change was extremely bizarre and incomprehensible.
After all, this situation was somewhat similar to 'losing his devil fruit ability,' a domain unknown to him, and the unknown was the most terrifying.
Cliff even suspected: Did the consciousness residing within his Zoan Devil Fruit actively withdraw its power?
'My power... ugh, completely unusable.'
After several failed attempts to reactivate his Devil Fruit ability, Cliff watched in despair as his transformation completely faded, his body's injuries worsened, and more blood gushed out, submerging him in a pool of blood.
In reality, his injuries didn't worsen. It was just that the terrifying recovery brought by the Devil Fruit Awakening state weakened. As his recovery diminished, the injuries increased, making his injuries appear more severe.
If Cliff in his Devil Fruit Awakened transformed state earlier was compared to a monster with nearly an 'undying body.'
Then Cliff, now returned to human form, was merely a human with slightly stronger regenerative abilities.
"Hmm, the effect is not bad." Kenji withdrew his ability and nodded slightly.
Although the target for the first use of Pressure of All Things was someone with severe injuries, the final effect was still satisfactory.
"This trait is relatively low in strength right now. It can be upgraded and strengthened further in the future..."
Kenji glanced at the trait on the system interface.
Just then, a new system reward notification appeared.
[You have successfully defeated the wanted criminal 'Sea Tiger' Cliff, with a bounty of 465,000,000 Berries! Your achievement has once again shocked Marineford!]
[Mission (Side): Entangle with 'Sea Tiger' Cliff for at least 1 hour! — Over-completed!]
[Reward boosted!]
[Reward has been changed to: Upgrade lowest rarity owned trait 5 times!]
[Rewards are being distributed...]
[Please select any of the following traits to upgrade: Iron Body (Light White), Pressure of All Things (Light White)]
"Oh dear, it's you again?" Kenji saw the familiar Iron Body trait again.
"Although you're very good, but um..."
He suddenly remembered the battle with two Legendary Pirates not long ago. In that battle, the Iron Body trait performed remarkably well.
Even when facing powerful enemies who could use Conqueror's Haki infusion, Iron Body ultimately withstood the ranged attacks.
"I can't always neglect such a strong trait!"
"Moreover, after the trait advances, its defensive strength will be greatly enhanced!"
Kenji smiled and silently selected the Iron Body trait with his mind.
[Your Iron Body (Light White) upgraded... White... Dark White... Super White... Light Blue... Blue!]
[Trait upgrade completed! Current Iron Body (Blue)!]
...
[Name: Kenji]
[Traits: Armament Haki (Super Gold), Observation Haki (Light Gold), Conqueror's Haki (Dark Gold), Physique (Gold), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Light Gold), Swordsmanship (Super Blue), Sea Beast Power (Light Blue), Superspeed Regeneration (Super Blue), Iron Body (Blue), Future Vision (Blue), Berserk (Super White), Pressure of All Things (Light White)]
"...I can feel it, the improvement in defense is very obvious."