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“Bang!”
As Vice Admiral Hamo’s massive body crashed to the ground, Roy slowly descended and landed lightly.
Looking at the enormous crater spreading across the earth and the snapped trees in every direction around it, he nodded silently before continuing deeper into the forest.
“The power’s not bad… but it’s still not quite right.”
As he walked, his brows furrowed slightly.
“Where did I go wrong?”
Muttering to himself, he replayed the scene from earlier in his mind. It was the moment when Vice Admiral Hamo unleashed the “Spear of Elbaf.”
In his mind, he saw every detail of that strike with crystal clarity.
The shifting of muscles. The movement of the body. The bulging veins. Even the reddening of the skin caused by accelerated blood flow was visible.
Details that are almost impossible to perceive on an ordinary human body were strikingly obvious on a giant’s frame.
Of course, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to memorize all that.
But Roy could.
[Human-Human Fruit, Level 5: Grants the peak intellectual capacity of an ordinary human.]
“I didn’t expect the Human-Human Fruit to be useful like this.” He muttered inwardly, realizing that he had judged this Devil Fruit too hastily.
“Too bad Vice Admiral Hamo only used it once. I’ll have to find someone else to spar with.”
Just as Roy was thinking this, the countdown timer above his head continued to tick away.
[Devil Fruit user ‘Sora’ detected.]
[Devil Fruit identified as ‘Paramecia · Reversal Fruit.’ Parsing and storing in the ‘Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.’]
[Devil Fruit Ability – Reverses the properties of tangible objects. Ineffective on living beings. The act of reversal itself cannot cause direct harm.]
[Level Effects]
[LV3: Unlock full Devil Fruit effects. Can reverse the properties and operating mechanisms of tangible matter, liquid becomes solid, and solid becomes liquid. Cost: 500 million Beli.]
[LV4: Advanced development. The concept of reversal becomes broader, can reverse the taste of food and even the properties of medicine. Eternal Unlock Cost: 1.5 billion Beli.]
[LV5: Devil Fruit Awakening · Reversal Corridor. Ability affects the surrounding environment; freely reverse nearby objects. Eternal Unlock Cost: 8 billion Beli.]
[Analysis Progress: 0%]
“Hm?”
The notification from the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia immediately sharpened Roy’s focus.
He quickly switched to the “Five Senses Enhancement” series and instantly captured the surrounding sounds.
“There!”
His body shot forward as he sprinted toward the source of the noise.
By the time the analysis progressed within the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, finally began to move, Roy had already found two figures.
The area clearly showed signs of a fierce battle. Scars of combat were everywhere. But now, the outcome had clearly been decided.
“Heh heh… what a useless piece of trash.”
At the center of the battlefield, a Skypiean with bandages wrapped around his body and wings on his back lay collapsed on the ground.
He was the “White-Winged Knight,” Hasmod.
The earth around him had turned into a muddy swamp, trapping him firmly in place. The spear he once wielded had transformed into a mass of blue liquid beside him.
A gloomy man with an unusually long tongue stood before him, sneering coldly.
“White-Winged Knight? You’re nothing but garbage from a non-human race. You trash actually dare appear before me, the great guardian of the Celestial Dragons? It disgusts me.” He spat on the ground, his tone thick with pride.
Yes—
He was Sora, the Vice Legion Commander of the Holy Land Guard Army and the “Stalwart Shield” who protected the Celestial Dragons.
He was utterly loyal to the Celestial Dragons.
Therefore, he despised every other race.
“I heard your Sky Guard is full of trash like you. No wonder you were attacked and couldn’t do anything about it.” He sneered.
Then, his venomous tongue lashed out again.
“Oh, not just you. Everyone outside the Holy Land is the same.”
“The Marines, the guards of the Allied Kingdoms, they’re all garbage. Not long ago, they even allowed the so-called Twelve Zodiac to steal the Heavenly Tribute, provoking the righteous fury of the great World Nobles!”
In just a few sentences, he perfectly demonstrated why he earned his nickname.
“We… we’re not…”
At that moment, Hasmod struggled to speak, but in the next instant, Sora slammed his foot down on Hasmod’s face.
“Ha!?” Sora sneered. “How are you not? The one who attacked you was a Skypiean, wasn’t he? And…”
With a cold smile, he waved his hand. The muddy ground instantly transformed into sharp blades that sliced away the bandages wrapped around Hasmod’s body. The grotesque scars that remained even after three years were exposed.
The scars were branching red welts and burn marks covering almost his entire body.
From the side, Roy recognized them at a glance:
Lightning burns.
“… ”
Roy’s brows furrowed as a guess formed in his mind.
At the same time…
“Look at you,” Sora continued mockingly. “I heard over 500 of your Sky Guard died that day. In the end, a Great Figure from Mary Geoise still had to handle the intruder for you personally.”
As Sora said this, Hasmod let out a low growl.
“Shut up!”
His eyes widened in fury as memories dragged him back to the nightmare of three years ago…
The lightning descending from the heavens. That sneering figure and his fallen comrades.
But most importantly…
“After sacrificing so much, we finally captured him! But the people from Mary Geoise barged in and took him away without explanation! They took the guard brothers who interrogated him, along with all the files. None of them ever came back! Bastards! Bastards!”
He roared hoarsely.
They had finally captured the enemy. They interrogated him. They were about to execute him.
Yet he was taken away, along with every informed witness and document, so that even now, Hasmod still didn’t know the man’s name.
Hasmod had asked the Sky Guard’s legion commander but was told nothing. It was as if the comrades who died in that battle had never existed.
It was as if the humiliation that the Skypieans and the Sky Guard had endured for three years was natural.
“I joined the Three-Forces Military Exercise to wash away this disgrace!” He shouted.
But the next moment…
“You trash!” Sora snarled, and sharp spikes suddenly pierced Hasmod’s body, drawing a muffled groan from him.
“Even I’m not qualified to meet that great lord of Mary Geoise. And a stray dog like you dares call him ‘that guy’?”
Sora’s teeth ground together with a cracking sound.
Then he grinned viciously.
“No matter. The Three-Forces Military Exercise doesn’t concern itself with life or death. After saying something like that, don’t expect a quick and painless death.”
He was just about to continue tormenting Hasmod when…
“Perfect timing.”
A voice rang out.
“Who’s there!?” Sora instinctively turned his head.
Roy stepped out from the nearby forest.
“Roy Amos!?”
As a fellow contestant, Sora recognized him immediately, and his expression changed drastically. After the first and second rounds of evaluations, most contestants had grown wary of Roy’s strength.
Sora was no exception.
So…
“Why are you here?”
He tried to steady himself. “I have no intention of being your enemy. The objective of this round is to survive for three hours. There’s no point in fighting.”
That was what he said.
“Your ‘venomous tongue’ doesn’t sound very venomous right now.”
Roy simply grinned and continued walking toward him.
“You’re right… the rule is exactly that. But, unfortunately, this is just too much of a coincidence.”
Sora naturally didn’t understand what he meant.
“What are you talking about? What coincidence?”
‘What nonsense had this guy been spouting since earlier?’
But the next moment, he understood.
Because now…
“By coincidence, I happen to have some questions for Sir Hasmod.”
Roy raised his hand level with his body.
“And by coincidence, I happen to be looking for something to practice my punches on. And by coincidence, you just happened to appear right in front of me.”
He bared his teeth in a grin.
There was a piercing chill in his eyes.
“Tell me… how could there be such a coincidence in this world?”
As the words fell… Sora saw it.
Roy’s fist had already been thrown.
“And there’s one thing you said that’s absolutely correct. In the Three-Forces Military Exercise… life and death are irrelevant!”
(End of Chapter)
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