Chapter 649: Pain Can Kill
Chapter 649: Pain Can Kill
Once again, the transformation was different.
Kuzan observed the black flames that burned fiercely around Sagel, the occasional black-red lightning flickering within them, and the white flame clouds on his shoulders, which resembled the awakening of a Zoan-type ability. He shook his head and said:
"Ahaha, you’re not a Zoan-type, and I’ve seen this form before. Is it just for show, Sagel?"
The black flames were familiar, but they didn’t seem as powerful as his own Haki. This seemed a bit superfluous.
"Try it yourself and you’ll know."
Sagel extended his index finger, hooking it at Kuzan with a malevolent grin. "Or should I come to you first?"
"Ha ha ha ha, since you’re in my territory, I’ll treat you to a show!"
Tee raised his darkened hand, laughing heartily. Suddenly, his expression turned serious, and he bent down to press his hand against the ground. "Sink into the darkness! Dark Pit!"
A deeper darkness spread rapidly from his palm, quickly covering the land in front of him and swallowing half the island.
Thud!
Before the darkness could reach Sagel’s feet, he stomped the ground and launched himself high into the air.
At that moment, Kuzan seemed to have anticipated Sagel’s move and unleashed a long-range burst of freezing gas.
"Frozen Time Capsule!"
The freezing gas shot through the air, instantly freezing the air around it into layers of ice crystals.
The gas was not ice, and it moved much faster than the solid ice it created. Almost as soon as Sagel reached the air, the freezing gas was already in front of him.
But before the gas could reach him, Sagel twisted his body, dodging the gas and pushing his hand downward. A black-red glow burst from his palm, releasing a rapid beam of light.
Thud!!
"Airquake!!"
Tee’s other hand clenched into a fist, and he slammed it into the air, causing a shockwave that shattered the ice crystals in the air and disrupted the Haki shockwave.
But in the midst of the shockwave, Sagel’s figure darted through the air, appearing in Tee’s field of vision.
"Ha ha ha ha, Sagel!"
Tee, missing a few teeth, extended his hand, which spiraled with a dark energy, and lunged at Sagel’s figure.
No matter how terrifying Sagel’s aura or how many battles he had won, one thing was certain: he was a Power Holder!
And any Power Holder could not escape his dark gravitational pull!
That form was definitely a full release of Haki and his ability. If he could reduce Sagel’s power, his combat effectiveness would surely drop.
"Tee! Get out of the way!"
Before his hand could make contact, Kuzan’s voice rang out from the side, and two ice spears mixed with freezing gas shot toward the figure that had suddenly appeared next to Tee.
The figure vanished, and the ice spears pierced Tee’s chest, causing him to howl in pain and fall to the ground. However, the freezing gas clung to the figure, forming ice crystals around it.
"Remarkable, Kuzan."
Sagel glanced at the ice crystals still blocked by the black flames and smiled. "You noticed, didn’t you?"
Kuzan exhaled a deep breath of freezing gas. "My freezing gas isn’t slow. I clearly hit you, and even if you used Haki to block it, it should have shown some resistance. That aura of yours isn’t just for show."
If Logia abilities were inherently area-of-effect attacks, then the strongest among them wasn't Yellow Monkey or Akainu, but Kuzan.
Freezing gas mixed with cold temperatures could turn anything into ice. The speed of the gas made it hard to dodge.
As an experienced fighter, Kuzan was certain that his freezing gas had hit Sagel. At the very least, ice crystals should have appeared on Sagel’s body.
That kind of freezing was beyond the defense of Haki, and could only be mitigated by hardening.
The strength of Logia abilities lay in this.
But his freezing gas had not touched Sagel’s body. In that instant, Kuzan understood that the black flames were not just for show.
And now, he was even more certain.
"This is a simple Haki release I developed after fighting Akainu to prevent you Logia users from getting the upper hand."
Sagel sneered. "I may not like it, but you guys are quite persistent."
The sixty-fold form was a result of his increased willpower and further development of his ability after his grueling battle with Akainu.
Unlike the fifty-fold form, which only enhanced his strength and speed, the sixty-fold form marked a qualitative leap. On this foundation, he revived the black flames of his earlier transformations, imbued with Haki.
In this form, he further amplified his abilities, projecting Haki outward to form shockwaves that could counter elemental attacks. By harnessing the power of will, he hardened his defenses, creating specialized protection against Logia types.
This specialized Haki projection was different from the traditional method. It could resist the temperature and weather changes caused by Logia abilities. Combined with his adaptive Haki, he could now ignore the area-of-effect attacks of natural elements.
For a martial arts expert like Sagel, Logia types were always challenging. But with this new form, he could at least neutralize the extreme heat and cold generated by lava and freezing gases.
As for how much he could block...
Sagel glanced at Tee, who had just stood up, all the freezing aura absorbed by the darkness. He sneered, "Too bad, or you would have felt the pain now."
"Hehehe, Kuzan, aim better next time! That really hurt!"
Tee took a couple of breaths, a clear look of pain on his face, but he still managed to manifest darkness in one hand and a vibrating punch in the other. Pain was something he couldn't tolerate, even though the damage could be absorbed. The two ice spears from Kuzan weren't just any kind of pain.
"Ahaha, if Sagel had gotten close to you just now, and that darkness hadn't touched you, a single punch from him would have hurt a lot more than this."
Kuzan's body began to be covered in frost, which shattered with a crack. He quickly condensed into an Ice Crystal in the air, forming his shape again. His right hand quickly elementalized, and the arm covered in ice was infused with Haki.
"Ice..."
Blue-white lightning flickered on the Haki, not just any Haki, but the ultimate Busoshoku Haki.
The sensation...
Sagel twisted his upper body and slammed a powerful punch into the side, colliding heavily with the approaching fist.
"...Glove!"
Boom!
Black-red lightning mixed with blue-white ice breath spread out from the point of impact. The intense freezing aura, absorbed by the darkness on the ground, began to form substantial Ice Crystals in the air.
"That was a good punch."
At the center of the impact, Sagel's eyes were still splattered with small Ice Crystals. Through the Ice Crystals and lightning, he looked at Kuzan, who had punched him, and smiled viciously.
"Stronger than Garp."
Bang!
As he spoke, Sagel moved his arm and shattered Kuzan's hand, punching through his arm and smashing into his chest, reducing him to pieces.
"Airquake!"
Tee, at this moment, raised his fist and swung it directly at Sagel. Sagel didn't dodge, and his other fist met the vibrating punch. The moment they touched, the intense vibration split the air and Sagel's form, like a shattered mirror.
Sagel instinctively tried to use his other hand, but the shattered Ice Crystals from Kuzan transformed into a solid ice ring, pressing down on the light flames and binding his wrist, causing a momentary delay in his movements.
Despite the delay, Sagel's form remained straight, and his vicious smile only grew more intense.
The power of vibration was indeed destructive.
Being able to match his punch was impressive, but as a master of martial arts...
"I have more than just fists, Tee!"
Sagel's foot stabbed like a sword into Tee's abdomen, the tip clearly embedding itself, causing Tee's face to contort in pain. At the same time, a cascade of darkness flowed down from his head, enveloping his body.
Bang!
Tee was sent flying, sliding along the ground and leaving a deep trench.
Sagel shook his right hand, shattering the ice ring, and spread his fingers, watching the light flames on his hand burst like bubbles, disappearing.
"Not very useful. This specialized form failed. I came up with a new move, but it doesn't seem to be very effective against you veterans."
"Of course, in the end, it's just a manifestation of willpower. Willpower and ability, it's always the stronger one who wins."
Nearby, the freezing aura formed Ice Crystals, quickly condensing into Kuzan's shape. He scratched his head and said, "But I thought you were a perfect genius, and it turns out you need practice too."
"Practice is the only way to gain true knowledge, Kuzan. No one starts by standing at the pinnacle of the heavens."
Sagel turned and smiled, "Only by climbing step by step, through extensive practice, can one truly sit on that throne of the heavens!"
Hokuto Shinken was not perfect from the start. It was through his gradual practice and localization that he gained this power, and after a long period of refinement, it evolved into its current form.
Whether it's a form or a transformation, it's all about how power is used.
If one path is blocked, just take another.
"We still need to work on the body."
Sagel clenched his fists, making a cracking sound. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly exhaled, the breath shooting out like an arrow, and at that moment, his body seemed to solidify a bit.
"I'll go!"
Basco Jet, sitting on a bubble of alcohol, took a deep swig, then with one hand cupped over his mouth, he rubbed it frantically against the air. A high-concentration alcohol spiral flame erupted from his mouth, descending from the sky and hurtling toward Sagel.
Boom!
The flames filled the space, the ones that hit the ground were absorbed by the darkness, while the shockwaves from the flames that exploded in the air momentarily halted.
Sagel extended one hand, the palm facing the flames that were continuously drilling into it. Though they were elements, they didn't disperse but seemed to solidify, as if he was holding them in his palm.
How can a person catch elements?
"Almost there."
Sagel nodded, "I still need to rely on 'force absorption.' As long as my strength is strong enough and my body is tough enough, the day when I can walk on lava in my normal form won't be far off!"
He can't handle lava yet, but he can still cover it with frost. As for mere flames...
Bang!
He clenched his fingers, and the spiral flame in the air exploded, turning into a fiery fireworks display.
This temperature and form couldn't harm his body at all. With precise control of his strength, he could briefly manipulate the air to fix the elemental form, and with his tough body, he could touch it.
"You..."
Basco Jet's eyes widened. Just as he was about to raise his flask, a flash of an afterimage appeared in his eyes.
Sagel appeared above him, looking down, his hand forming a knife-like shape, and he gently swung it down.
"Who gave you the right to look down on me at your level?"
Swoosh!
The hand knife cut through Basco Jet's head like a sharp blade, leaving a smooth, tilted surface on his neck.
In the next instant, the headless corpse disappeared, and only the head fell, sinking into the dark ground.
"Too late."
Fan Oka teleported back to Basco Jet's headless corpse, shaking his head, "Fate didn't favor him."
Even though he had reacted and teleported to save him, he was still a step too late.
Sagel's attack was too fast.
They couldn't block it, and the only one who could, Kuzan, didn't make it in time. As for Tee...
"Pain! It hurts so much! It's killing me!!"
Tee lay in the trench he had gouged out, one hand deeply embedded in the ground, the other clutching his abdomen, his body convulsing in agony, his face deathly pale.
He had no visible injuries, but the pain was exponentially greater than the one Kuzan's mistake had caused.
"I told you, I'd make you feel real pain. How did I not notice before? You're a great punching bag."
Sagel bounced in the air, looking down at Tee, grinning, "You can't be injured, you can absorb, and you can take it all. I just don't know where the breaking point is. Tee, a person can die from pain."
Hokuto Shinken didn't just hit his abdomen; the Haki instantly pierced all his secret holes. Anyone else would have exploded by now. Even a Logia user like Kuzan would have been injured by his attack.
A Logia user who couldn't elementalize would have fared even worse.
He clapped his hands together, gathering an unstable black-red light point in his palm. After another bounce, a smoke ring erupted from his feet, and he shot down like a straight line.
"So, will you die from pain now, Tee!"
Sagel spread his hands, and the singularity in his palm exploded, releasing a blinding light that obscured everyone's view.
"Great Crimson Flame!!"
Boom!!!
A mushroom cloud erupted from Honeycomb Island, splitting the island into fragments without the protection of Pisarro's body.
(End of Chapter)
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