Chapter 391: You Wear the Face of Death Today
Chapter 391: You Wear the Face of Death Today
"Achoo!"
Amidst the forest, a sneeze echoed.
Agin swung his cane hammer, twisting his body to dodge the attacking branches. With a swift motion, he smashed his hammer down, shattering the branches.
After the strike, Agin quickly jumped back, ready to continue evading. But something felt off, and he descended once more.
His brows furrowed as he gazed at the dark and dense forest around him, murmuring, "Has it stopped?"
He had been on a dark cloud just a moment ago, and in the next instant, he found himself here without even realizing it.
When he first arrived, it was just a hillside, but soon after, trees sprouted rapidly, transforming the area into a forest.
These trees seemed almost alive as they attacked him. However, before long, they ceased their assault.
Agin waited for a while, confirming that the trees were no longer a threat. Then, he thought to himself, "The captain said that when all else fails, it's the ability user's fault. Perhaps the ability user is restrained or has been killed. As long as it stops, that's good enough."
His Perception Color allowed him to sense the strength of others' auras and their numbers, but in this forest, it was useless.
It was as if he were being blocked."
"Well then..."
He took out a Life Card with Sage's name on it and held it in his palm, moving it to determine a direction. Then, he stepped onto a thick tree trunk and leaped forward.
"First, I'll find Sage-dono."
After a few minutes, as he stepped over a tree, about to move forward, his gaze suddenly froze, and he quickly jumped down.
Within this grove, about a dozen people were impaled on upward-reaching branches, like skewered corpses, their bodies desiccated as if all moisture had been sucked out.
These corpses were all dressed as pirates, each in different attire, but Agin recognized their faces.
Unlike Sage-dono, who was the overall commander, Agin couldn't recall the faces of all his thirteen thousand subordinates. Still, he knew the pirates who had been selected for the main ship.
These individuals were the elite among pirates. While they might not be able to take on a hundred alone, they were by no means weak among ordinary pirates. Some of them even possessed the Armament Color.
But now, they were all skewered like this!
"Are they still alive?"
Agin noticed someone twitching and breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as they were alive, they could be saved.
But before he could fully relax, he suddenly noticed something and looked intently ahead.
In front of a massive tree root, another group of about a dozen people were covered in a layer of white crystals, frozen in combat poses, like statues, unmoving.
They were pirates from the Cataclysm Pirates!
Just as Agin was about to look around, a burst of laughter came from above. Instinctively, his right arm radiated heat, turning crimson, and he struck upwards.
Bang! His fist struck with a loud impact, and Agin's brows furrowed. He stomped his feet on the ground, creating afterimages as he retreated to a tree trunk.
He glanced at his right hand, now covered in white crystals, then looked ahead, his expression grave.
"Hehehehe, it's still quite intact. It hasn't been absorbed? This doesn't align with the plan, but never mind. Weakening this many is enough!"
Before him stood a hunched figure wearing a cowboy hat, with a face resembling a baboon.
"I was supposed to find you earlier, but on my way, I encountered a group of pirates with bounties. Several million Belly is still money, and I couldn't let it go."
He licked his lips and laughed at Agin, "With your head worth one billion and two hundred million, we can make two billion Belly!"
"Who are you?" Agin asked sternly.
"Hehehe, I'm Dennis, a bounty hunter. Kai Hai-dono sought me out and asked me to defeat you here!"
Dennis extended his fingers, now covered in white crystals, pointing at Agin, "This forest is quite something, isn't it? Your Perception Color is disrupted by the trees' vitality, making you unaware of us."
"I see. So, you were sent here to stop me?"
Agin stretched out his arms, and his left arm also turned crimson, emitting steam. "If I defeat you, those turned into statues will be restored."
Before he could finish, he frowned, looking at his right hand covered in white crystals, and fell silent.
"Hehehehe, you've noticed? Your high temperature is useless against my ability. To defeat you, Kai Hai-dono has assigned us specific opponents!"
Dennis laughed, "I know you're a Steel-Steel Fruit user, but I ate the Quartz Fruit and became a 'Quartz Man'. I can turn anything I touch into quartz, specifically to counter your ability!"
His five fingers transformed into quartz claws, and with swift movements, he pounced, laughing, "Neither your high temperature nor your steel will work! You can only be defeated by me!"
Abilities indeed have their counters.
In the face of such suppression, the direct counterplay between abilities was far more effective than mere resistance through Dominance. Even Dominance sometimes proved futile against such power.
As a bounty hunter, Dennis had always struggled to catch the big fish, only managing to capture pirates worth a few tens of millions.
While his abilities as a power user were decent, and his martial arts skills passable, he had absolutely no proficiency in Dominance.
There were plenty of people in the great seas who survived without Dominance, and they weren't necessarily stronger than him. But when it came to Perception Color, the difference was night and day!
His martial arts style was characterized by swift and unpredictable moves, but against opponents with Perception Color of equal skill, he couldn't land a single hit.
Even if he believed he could defeat them, the Perception Color of his opponents always thwarted his attacks, allowing them to escape or even turn the tables on him.
Even in the early stages of his career, he could only capture pirates worth less than a hundred million.
And in the New World, this situation became even more pronounced.
His dream was to capture a pirate worth over a hundred million to prove his worth.
A year ago, Kai Hai approached him, offering an opportunity to capture a pirate worth over a hundred million and make a name for himself in the great seas.
After a long wait, Kai Hai finally provided him with information about Agin, revealing that the target was a member of the Cataclysm Pirates.
Initially, Dennis refused to take on such a top-tier pirate crew, but the information Kai Hai provided changed his mind.
Agin's power was something Dennis could completely counter, and with Kai Hai's assurance that their Perception Color would be ineffective against sensing danger, Dennis readily agreed.
Now was his chance to make a name for himself!
This was a great pirate from the Cataclysm Pirates!
"Die!"
Dennis screamed as he lunged at Agin, his five fingers reaching for Agin's head.
"Paper Drawing."
A quartz claw sliced through the air beside Agin, as if trying to grab a fluttering piece of paper, and smoothly stuck to his side.
"Useless!"
"My power isn't that easy to dodge! Quartz Powder!"
The quartz claw shattered, turning into powder that covered Agin's twisting body. Instantly, his chest, waist, left ribs, and even his left calf were encased in quartz.
"Quartz can immobilize your movements, and it's so fragile!"
Dennis howled, clenching his extended fingers into a fist and slamming it towards Agin's quartz-encased chest.
One punch, and his chest would be shattered!
"Meteor Hammer!"
Agin's body moved, swinging his quartz-encased right hand towards Dennis's face.
Bang!
The quartz hand smashed into Dennis's face with tremendous force, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. The flying quartz fragments struck the tree trunk behind him, creating a deep dent.
"Damn you! Sacrificing your hand to stop me!"
Dennis clutched his chest, gasping for breath. He raised his head and shouted, "But it's useless! You're destined to be defeated by me! This time it was your right hand, and next time—"
Before he could finish, his expression froze in disbelief as he stared at Agin's right hand.
The quartz-encased hand, which he had just touched, was now crumbling, revealing a complete right arm.
"Next time what?"
Akin's right hand was imbued with a black Dominance. He clenched his fist, and then his entire body shook, causing the quartz-encased parts to shatter and fall away, revealing his intact body.
"Apart from abilities, Dominance is also crucial."
Agin spoke with a solemn voice, "The power of will is so free that nothing can bind it! You can turn my body into quartz, but you'll never be able to quartz my will!"
"Damn Dominance!"
Dennis slammed his hands onto the tree beneath him, "Can your Dominance withstand my power? It's consumable! Quartz Earth!"
Quartz powder erupted from his hands, spreading rapidly across the forest, turning the surrounding ground and trees into quartz.
"There's no need to withstand it, I just need to defeat you!"
Without even approaching, Agin aimed at Dennis, pulled his fist back to his waist, and assumed a stance. He unleashed a perfectly executed straight punch.
"Bone Fist: Empty Shot!"
Bang!
Despite there being nothing in the air, not even a gust of wind, a sudden impact blocked the spreading quartz powder and struck Dennis's chest like a cannonball, causing his chest to cave in.
Dominance unleashed!
"Storm Kick: Triple Strike!"
After landing the punch, Agin followed up with a flying kick, unleashing a series of three slicing kicks in rapid succession.
Ignoring the wound on his chest, Dennis gritted his teeth and leaped sideways with a swift motion.
His speed was still remarkably quick.
Whoosh! Just as he moved, a residual image materialized before him.
"Shave."
Agin appeared in front of Dennis, holding his crutch-hammer horizontally with his left hand, looking down at this short fellow. The already black hammerhead was now covered in an even darker dominance.
"Finger Gun: Grenade!"
The round hammer swiftly approached Dennis's already sunken chest, instantly pressing down and slamming him into the tree roots below with tremendous force.
Boom!!
The blast of air sent wood chips and dirt flying, creating a cloud of dust where the impact occurred.
Soon, the dust settled, revealing a massive dent, and in its center, where the hammerhead had made contact, was a pool of flesh barely recognizable as human.
Agin spun his crutch-hammer, letting it hang freely. Due to the dominance covering the hammerhead, it didn't even touch the bloody mess.
"There are too many people on the high seas who become arrogant because of their abilities. Even if you have an advantage over me, without dominance, you wouldn't be my match. Moreover, your ability development is also weak."
If it were truly an ability that surpassed dominance, Agin would naturally admit defeat and perhaps even die here.
But this fellow's ability was lacking, and he had no dominance either.
He wanted to defeat me solely based on a supposed advantage? Aside from releasing dominance, he could also cause this level of destruction with 'Internal Destruction.'
He was already proficient in Armament Dominance.
"In the Cataclysm Pirates, if you dare to underestimate me, I won't bother with you."
Agin glanced at the pool of flesh, shaking his head. "But outside the pirate crew, you should know that I'm a Great Pirate you can't afford to offend!"
His bounty hadn't increased recently, but even so, with a bounty of 120 million, he could still be called a Great Pirate in the East Sea, let alone the first half of the Grand Line.
Speaking, he looked at the people who had been quartzified. With Dennis's death, the quartz on their bodies dissipated, and they began to move again.
This was not only a fellow with underdeveloped abilities but also the type whose ability would be nullified upon death.
"Captain!"
"It's Captain Agin!"
The pirates regained their forms, calling out in surprise.
"Put down the injured comrades and use water and medicine to treat them. Don't let them die!"
Agin immediately started giving orders, "The rest of you, search the surroundings and see if there are any stragglers. If you find any, shoot and signal."
He had initially planned to look for Sage, but now he thought it wasn't necessary.
Searching for his crew was the priority.
As for Sage, no one could defeat him.
That fellow with the feather fan would meet his demise sooner or later.
Only someone on par with the Pirate Emperor could defeat him. Others didn't have the qualifications!
...
A short while earlier.
In another forest.
Hawkins sat on a tree root, slowly pasting tarot cards, glancing at them before choosing to head east. "The probability of finding Sage there is 98%."
Urki, standing beside him, nodded and took out a life card of Sage, watching it move eastward in his palm, and nodded, "You're right."
Hawkins: "..."
"What were you doing earlier?"
Urki held up his palm, "Forgot, sorry."
Hawkins reshuffled the tarot cards and slowly pasted them again, saying, "We don't need to worry about Sage. No one can defeat him. But that guy named Kai Hai, who deliberately separated us, and those trees that just attacked us, are all strange."
"If our Perception Color can't sense them, it means there's danger in this forest. Hmm."
He examined the newly pasted tarot cards again, frowning, "Urki."
"Understood!"
Urki was startled but immediately hugged the lead column.
Clatter! Just as Hawkins finished speaking, the sound of chains abruptly rang out from the distant trees, quickly weaving a net of chains above the treetops, which then plummeted downward.
"Raging Man's Chain Net!"
Urki looked up and smiled, his arms bulging with veins as he hugged the lead column and thrust it upwards.
"Break Evil, Reveal Righteousness!"
Clatter!
The dense chains were broken by the lead column, causing numerous broken links to fall.
"93% chance of engagement, 61% chance of victory, 22% chance of escape, hmm, none of that matters now. What's important is..."
Hawkins looked at the thick tree trunk above him and said calmly, "You bear the face of death today."
(End of Chapter)
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