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Chapter 458: Using His Own Son as Bait
Dragon slowly lowered his right hand. A gentle breeze blew past, sweeping away the lingering stench of blood in the air.
This was the new technique he had developed over the past few days in the tavern: combining the top-tier Haki of the One Piece world with the Six Paths power of the Naruto world. The results were even better than he had expected.
He turned around, preparing to head back and continue watching Luffy and the others fight.
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At the same time, deep within a massive ant nest hundreds of kilometers away from this forest.
A humanoid creature with silver-white curly hair, cat ears, and a cat tail paused what she was doing.
Neferpitou. One of the King's Royal Guards.
She had been in the middle of toying with a human corpse. Now, those ruby-like cat eyes dilated sharply. She turned her head, looking toward the direction of the forest. Every hair on her body stood on end.
"Meow~" Neferpitou let out a low purr. The corners of her mouth stretched into an incredibly exaggerated grin, revealing sharp fangs. "What a terrifying energy. It's as if a monster has descended."
She could sense that the aura that had just erupted absolutely did not belong to any Chimera Ant. That was purely human. And a human so powerful it induced trembling.
"It seems that idiot Zac was instantly killed," Neferpitou stretched lazily, her tail swishing excitedly behind her. "I wonder if the King would be pleased if I offered him prey of this caliber?"
A sickly fanaticism flickered in her eyes.
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Back in the forest, Dragon returned to the tree canopy.
Ivankov looked at Dragon, swallowing hard. Even though they were five kilometers away, both he and Kuma had clearly seen everything that had just happened. A monster with an aura more terrifying than a Marine Vice Admiral had been erased without leaving even a speck of dust behind.
"Dragon-boy, isn't your power a bit too much of a cheat?" Ivankov rubbed his massive head. He felt that his proud Hormone-Hormone Fruit was like a toy in the face of that pure, destructive force.
"I merely cleaned up a bug," Dragon's tone remained placid. He looked down.
Luffy, Ace, and Sabo were still locked in a bitter struggle with the three lower-level Chimera Ants. Luffy's face was bruised and battered, but his eyes were shining brighter than ever. Ace's flames raged through the forest, scorching large swathes of underbrush. Sabo's wind blades were becoming increasingly proficient, nearly severing the Mantis Monster's head several times.
"Let's go," Dragon retracted his gaze.
"Go where?" Ivankov asked.
"To cut off the source of this world," Dragon looked deep into the forest. "When I made my move just now, several very strong gazes looked over here. We'll leave these three brats here as bait. We're going to wipe out their nest."
Kuma nodded in agreement.
Only Dragon would be capable of throwing his own flesh and blood into a pile of monsters to act as bait. However, Kuma also knew that Luffy and the others had Blake's insurance policy to fall back on. They couldn't truly die; the most they would suffer was some physical pain.
"Vee-haw! Then let's go all out!" Ivankov pumped his fist excitedly.
The figures of the three men vanished from the canopy once more, leaving only the three brothers fighting a bitter battle below.
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Luffy missed a punch and rolled across the ground. He sniffed the air. "Ace! Do you smell something weird?"
"Shut up! Focus on the fight!" Ace roared without looking back.
In the dense primeval forest, the sun was blocked out all year round. Dragon walked at the front, his Observation Haki spread out like an invisible net. Kuma followed on his left. Ivankov trudged along on the right in his high heels, struggling through the mud.
The Okama King had major complaints about the muddy environment here. When his heel sank into the muck for the third time, he finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Dragon-boy, are we just going to keep walking aimlessly like this? The mosquitoes here are the size of fists!"
Dragon didn't look back. "There's the scent of blood ahead."
Kuma still held the Bible in his hands. "Three kilometers away. One human, and five non-human creatures. The human's vital signs are dropping rapidly."
Dragon quickened his pace. "Let's go take a look."
The three figures weaved rapidly between the thick tree trunks. In less than half a minute, they arrived at the scene.
In a clearing that had been forcibly destroyed by external forces, a man wearing a greyish-green vest lay in a pool of blood. His left arm had been severed cleanly at the shoulder, and there was a blood-soaked hole the size of a bowl in his abdomen.
Five Chimera Ants with beetle-like carapaces surrounded him. One of them was preparing to twist his head off.
"Vee-haw!" Ivankov executed an incredibly exaggerated twist in mid-air. His massive head aimed straight down at the five Chimera Ants. "Death Wink!"
An extremely intense blast of wind erupted from his heavily made-up eyes. The highly compressed air formed a terrifying shockwave.
The five beetle Chimera Ants didn't even have time to react. They were directly crushed into minced meat by the blast of wind. Pieces of carapace rained down, scattering across the ground.
Ivankov landed steadily. He walked over to the dying man and took a look. "Severe internal organ damage. Blood loss exceeding forty percent. An ordinary person would be dead by now."
The man's chest was still rising and falling faintly.
Kuma walked over. "Can he be saved?"
Ivankov stretched out both hands. The nails on his ten fingers rapidly elongated and sharpened. "This Queen is someone who creates miracles! Healing Hormones!"
He plunged his sharp nails directly into the man's body, injecting a special pink liquid.
The man's body spasmed violently. Granulation tissue began to writhe madly at the wound of his severed left arm. The bloody hole in his abdomen also healed at a visible rate. His previously pale face gradually regained its color.
In less than five minutes, aside from the severed arm that couldn't be regenerated, the fatal injuries had been completely repaired.
The man snapped his eyes open. He gasped heavily for air, the fear of death still lingering in his eyes. "I... I'm not dead?"
He looked at the scattered remains of the Chimera Ants around him, then at the three bizarrely dressed people before him. A cloaked man with a red square tattoo on his face. A giant holding a book. And a purple-haired okama with a head larger than his body.
"Did you save me?" The man propped himself up with his remaining right hand.
Dragon looked at him. "Who are you?"
The man took a deep breath. "My name is Reis. A Single-Star Magical Beast Hunter. Affiliated with the Hunter Association."
These terms were completely foreign to Dragon. "Hunter Association?"
Reis paused. "You don't know about the Hunter Association? Then why would you come to a hellhole like the NGL Autonomous Region?"
Ivankov flipped his hair. "We're here on vacation."
Reis nearly choked on his own saliva. Coming to a place swarming with man-eating monsters for a vacation? These three absolutely had a screw loose.
But he didn't dare say it out loud. After all, these three had just instantly killed the five Chimera Ants that had pushed him to the brink of death.
"Those monsters are called Chimera Ants."
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