Chapter 547: Fists and Fate on the Battlefield
by xennovel“With what?”
“With fists, of course!”
“Fists the size of sandbags!”
Karl was the cautious type—there was no way he’d let his guard down around her.
Especially now, with Im plotting new ways to grow stronger.
A golden giant, towering nearly eight hundred meters tall, slammed down onto the black dragon’s wings from midair, pinning her to the earth and breaking her rhythm of absorbing Devil Fruit users to power up.
Crack!
Karl reached out and tried to forcefully tear Im’s wings right off.
“Ah!”
Im let out a wretched scream as a gush of pitch-black blood burst from her broken wing. The searing heat of it was more molten lava than blood.
Karl had never seen anything like it before. No one awakened a Devil Fruit and changed their blood color—did Im somehow awaken the demon within the Devil Fruit itself?
“Roar!”
Through blinding pain, Im forced her legs beneath her and staggered upright, only to suddenly collapse backward and lash out at Karl.
A shockwave of deafening sound exploded from Im as she became the epicenter, rocking the void and the entire Continent. The ferocious vibration shattered the ground inch by inch.
The weaker Straw Hat Pirates took the brunt of the sonic assault, sent flying and coughing up blood, powerless to resist.
The shrill sonic blast caught Karl off guard. Im slipped free from his grasp and shot back into the air.
She could feel how overwhelming Karl’s power was. Just relying on this body meant this fight would be dead even at best.
Her figure trembled as she ramped up her pull, and suddenly even Luffy and the others found themselves being dragged helplessly toward her.
“Aooo!”
Above the clouds, a massive trunk swung down from the sky, smashing into Im with incredible force.
Boom boom boom!
The blow caught Im by surprise, slamming her back to the ground and leaving a crater several kilometers wide at the edge of the Plaza.
“Is that… Zunesha?”
Sengoku narrowed his eyes at the shadowy shape moving step by step through the clouds. “That’s the colossal elephant from the New World, isn’t it?”
“Looks like Karl and his crew came more prepared than I thought.”
“There’s no way! How can an elephant be that enormous?”
“Sukii!”
“Yohohoho!”
“That elephant’s been around far longer than I have,” Brook chuckled.
Back when Brook first sailed the Grand Line, Zunesha was already famous in the New World thanks to all the news.
For years, everyone thought Zunesha was long dead. Nobody expected it to appear on this battlefield today.
“Bring me my halberd!”
Karl roared, reaching forward as a kilometer-long halberd appeared in his grip.
He’d spent decades fusing all the ore he could find into this halberd, reforging it time and again to make it stronger.
Now, the mighty weapon was as formidable as any legendary artifact—its size and power limited only by Karl’s will.
“Old friend, after all those years of being tempered, this is your first taste of a god’s blood.”
“Crescent Slash!”
Karl swung with reckless abandon, his massive form unusually nimble. The halberd spun in his grip, stirring up a sandstorm and unleashing wild currents of power that twined around the blade, forming an even more colossal spectral halberd.
“Go!”
In an instant, the massive silhouette slashed down toward Im’s left shoulder.
Slice!
But Im was already stumbling backward. The blow only severed a third of her wing.
Strangely, whatever Devil Fruit powers Im had absorbed, that wasn’t enough to slow her down. Attacks like this barely seemed to matter.
Fleshy growths blossomed across her body, healing visibly by the second. Within minutes, her wounds vanished—even the spots torn up earlier looked perfectly restored.
“Hey, anyone seen where the Five Elders went?”
“Huh? Weren’t they just here a bit ago?”
“Not good! Im’s rapid healing might be ‘cause she pulled in the Five Elders earlier and inherited their Devil Fruit abilities.”
Shanks spotted the budding tissue on Im’s wounded shoulder and instantly recalled Borg Saint.
He’d eaten the Cow Demon Fruit and had perfected his Devil Fruit powers.
Borg’s tough hide had always seemed invincible—every attack failed to break him outright. Nothing left a mark until Kaido accidentally shattered his shoulder, which healed in seconds, and only then did Shanks realize what was happening.
Beckman frowned. “Shanks, you’re saying Im can absorb Devil Fruit users and take over their powers?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“All Devil Fruit users, get off this battlefield—now!”
“Your powers won’t just be useless here. Stick around, and you’ll wind up making Im even stronger!”
Shanks’ warning left Marco, Whitebeard, and the rest staring in shock.
“Im really has that kind of ability?”
“Gurararara! We can’t let this battle get any messier. Marco, we’re leaving.”
Whitebeard had no intention of being Im’s next meal to use against Karl.
“King, Quinn, Jack—we’re out of here.” Even Kaido, glaring back at Im and Karl’s fierce struggle, was forced to lead his crew away.
“Ma ma ma ma! Kids, let’s move out!”
Charlotte Linlin looked frustrated and unwilling, never imagining Im’s power would transform after awakening like this.
But retreat was the only option—over 80% of the Rox Pirates had Devil Fruit abilities.
That meant at least eight out of every ten among them had eaten a Devil Fruit, and the longer they stayed, the stronger Im would get.
“Dragon, what now?”
Kuma joined Dragon, eyes on the rampaging war machines across the battlefield.
Even with Luffy’s help destroying seven of the machines, twelve more still chased after them. If not for the risk of their abilities being stolen by Im, they wouldn’t be in such a pinch.
“We’re leaving—and we’ll drag these monsters with us, so they don’t mess with the Revolutionary Army outside.”
“Alright, alright, now it’s my turn! Garp, care to join the fun?”
Roger stood near the Navy’s warship, hauling a tightly bound Ace over his shoulder.
Things here were just too dangerous. Even Logia users could die if they strayed alone, so Roger wouldn’t let Ace fight by himself and had no choice but to tie him up.
“Roger, never thought I’d get to fight alongside you.”
“What?”
“Vice Admiral Garp and Roger teamed up? Really?”
“Never even heard about that.”
“That’s front-page news if I ever heard it!”
“Garp, are you sure about this?”
Sengoku didn’t try to stop Garp. If he weren’t also a Devil Fruit user, he might have already joined them.
“Yeah… that’s the fate of D.”
Only now did Garp realize why the elders in his family always warned him, as a child, to never eat a Devil Fruit. Here was the truth: eat one, and you wouldn’t even have the strength to stand beside Im in battle.