Heaven help him—that was Uranus!
One of the three Ancient Weapons.
Whoever controlled its power held the power to destroy the world itself!
And yet…
Even such power couldn't harm Alex in the slightest?
What kind of monster was this man?
"This is impossible!"
"This kind of thing is absolutely impossible!"
Im shook his head repeatedly, muttering in disbelief.
Boom!
Another sonic boom rang out.
Alex, completely unfazed by the terrifying lightning and raging storms, appeared beside Im as if no one else existed.
"There's nothing that's impossible!"
Boom!
With those words, Alex smashed another heavy punch straight into Im.
This time, Alex used even more strength.
Boom!
Crack!
This time, even with Uranus protecting him, Im was beaten into utter ruin.
His chest collapsed inward like rotten mud.
Bones and muscles inside were pulverized into a bloody slurry.
His entire upper body was nearly destroyed.
Under normal circumstances, even a monster like Im would have died instantly.
But now—
With the power of Uranus shielding him, Im's body regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the blink of an eye, he was once again full of vitality.
If not for the shocking bloodstains covering him, it would be as if he'd never been injured at all.
Even so—
Im was utterly shaken.
No—he was terrified. Completely terrified.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard, his face filled with pure fear as he stared at Alex in disbelief.
Even with Uranus protecting him…
He had still been killed?
Killed by a single punch?
What kind of freak was this?!
Why did such a monster exist on the seas?!
"Regenerated?"
Alex looked Im up and down with interest, clicking his tongue.
"Your healing ability is almost on par with Wolverine's."
Even so, Im posed no real threat to Alex.
Because it was already obvious—
Im himself didn't possess this regeneration. Uranus was granting him that power.
Earlier, when Alex first smashed him, Im hadn't regenerated at all.
That made things easy to judge.
And if Uranus was the source of that power—
Then once Alex destroyed Uranus, Im would be finished.
So the question was—
Was destroying Uranus difficult?
Alex didn't know exactly what Uranus was, nor how it functioned.
But he felt it wouldn't be a problem for him.
All he needed to do was destroy Mary Geoise itself.
If Uranus was Mary Geoise, then simply annihilate Mary Geoise!
With Alex's current abilities, destroying Mary Geoise would be no great challenge.
"Alex… stop."
After swallowing hard again, Im forced himself to speak, his tone clearly weakened.
"You can't kill me."
Faced with someone as absurdly powerful as Alex, Im had no choice but to submit.
He had to submit.
There was no other option.
"Can't kill you?"
Alex grinned.
"Do you really think destroying Mary Geoise would be difficult for me?"
Im's expression instantly changed, as if he'd been slapped hard across the face.
Yes.
Would it really be difficult?
Even Yonko-level monsters had the potential to do such a thing.
Granted, with Uranus active, Mary Geoise's durability was vastly enhanced.
It was no longer something mere Yonko could threaten.
But Alex wasn't comparable to a Yonko at all.
Just moments ago, even Im himself—protected by Uranus—had been killed.
If anyone could destroy Mary Geoise…
It was Alex.
Im didn't dare gamble.
Not even a little.
However, Alex tilted his head, thought for a moment—
And abandoned the idea.
Or rather, temporarily abandoned it.
Because Alex's goal had never been killing for its own sake.
Killing Im wasn't difficult—just slightly troublesome.
But killing Im had no real value to Alex.
Keeping Im alive, however, was very useful.
If Alex destroyed Mary Geoise and killed Im, who would gather Devil Fruits for him?
Would he really storm Marineford again and force the Marines to do it?
Not only did Alex not want the hassle, but given the personalities of Sengoku and the others, it wasn't even guaranteed they would comply.
The best solution was simple—
Make Im submit.
Have Im, in the name of the World Government or the Five Elders, order the Marines to collect Devil Fruits.
That was the optimal choice.
So Alex's objective was clear:
Break Im and make him serve.
If that failed, then killing Im later would still be an option.
Was making Im submit difficult?
Alex didn't know—but he felt it was worth trying.
"I've changed my mind," Alex suddenly said.
"I won't kill you."
"But I will slaughter the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise—right in front of you."
"No!"
Im's face turned deathly pale.
If even he couldn't stop Alex, then the Celestial Dragons were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter.
Boom!
Alex ignored Im entirely.
In a flash, he vanished.
"No—don't!"
"Stop!"
"Please, stop!"
Im began trembling violently, screaming in despair.
Because he could feel it—
In a single instant, half of the Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise had died.
Just one blink of an eye.
Alex had massacred half of them.
That demon.
Boom!
The familiar sonic boom echoed once more as Alex reappeared in front of Im.
He casually dusted off his hands, as if he'd just done something utterly trivial.
"From now on, you follow my orders," Alex said calmly.
"Otherwise, I'll kill the remaining Celestial Dragons as well."
Im's facial muscles twisted violently, his expression contorting again and again.
But soon—
He made his decision.
"Alex… my lord."
Im knelt halfway before him, lowering his once-lofty head.
And with that—
The Ancient Weapon Uranus was deactivated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 60 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~