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"Haki??" Gasparde was stunned.
He couldn't believe it.
He'd seen Haki users at Marine Headquarters. Anyone who was a Vice Admiral had to have mastered it.
Unfortunately, he had left before he had the chance to learn.
He never thought he'd see it in a kid, especially not in the first half of the Grand Line. How was that possible?
Wasn't he just some street fighter?
Was this a spontaneous awakening?
Gasparde's eyes widened.
An intense heat radiated from Jin's body, and a crimson aura, like a blazing torch, erupted around him.
It was dazzling.
He looked like a Sun God.
In his radiance, the churning sea, the soaring birds, the whipping wind—everything seemed to freeze, as if time had stopped.
His figure seemed to grow, to tower over Gasparde like a giant, and a strange emotion began to stir in Gasparde's heart.
Awe, fear, terror...
"How...?" he choked out. "What kind of Haki is this? What are you??"
The fear turned to rage. Gasparde roared, the muscles in his arms bulging as he pushed down with all his might, trying to crush Jin.
The force was so great that the ship itself began to tilt.
"DIE!" he screamed.
Jin snapped back to reality from the transcendent state of his awakening.
An endless wellspring of power was erupting from within him.
It was as if a layer of restraint had been shattered.
The shackles had been broken.
He was stronger, stronger than ever before. And this wasn't the borrowed power from the demonic carrier he'd felt last night.
This was his own potential, transformed into strength.
It was a strange and wonderful feeling.
Gasparde's strength felt diminished, his speed slowed.
Jin held the candy cone with one hand.
He drove his knee upward, aiming for Gasparde's stomach.
Gasparde tried to turn to candy, but it was useless.
The knee strike landed solidly.
WHAM!
"Gwah...!"
Gasparde's body bent backward like a shrimp. His face turned beet red, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
'WHAT???' Gasparde thought, his mind reeling in shock.
'How did he get so much stronger in an instant? Even a Haki awakening shouldn't be this absurd.'
Absurd?
Armament Haki didn't just increase defense; it increased attack power as well.
And this wasn't a normal awakening. The Spacetime energy that had been dormant within Jin's body was now transforming him. His constitution, his strength, his speed—they were all being amplified as the very essence of his being grew stronger.
Jin didn't let him fly back. He pulled him in by the candy cone and smashed a fist into his face.
Gasparde tried to fight back, his body erupting in a series of sharp spikes, like a porcupine.
Jin ignored them.
A torrential storm of blows rained down on Gasparde, each one imbued with Armament Haki, each one finding its mark.
The spikes shattered.
Gasparde couldn't even protect his head and chest. He was a punching bag, blood flying with every impact.
In a flash, Jin had thrown hundreds of punches and kicks.
When he finally stopped, letting out a long breath, Gasparde was kneeling before him, bloody and battered, the whites of his eyes showing.
THUD!
He collapsed to the deck, barely clinging to life.
"Ai, take him for processing."
"Right away!"
The deck split open, and Gasparde fell through, transported to the specially designed "Biological Matter Extraction Chamber."
Jin took a deep breath, savoring the feeling of having broken through another limit. It wasn't just his physical abilities that had been enhanced.
The world around him was sharper, brighter.
He could see more, hear more...
"After the hunt is over, I'll have Ai run a full diagnostic," Jin thought. "I need precise data to measure my progress scientifically."
In truth, with Gasparde's death, the "Dead End Race" was essentially over.
"The General is defeated??"
"RUN!"
"That guy is a demon!"
The Salamander tried to flee, but the demonic carrier caught up to it. Before the horrified eyes of its crew, the ship, like a monster, opened its cavernous maw and swallowed the massive steam-powered warship whole.
The pirates had lost all will to fight. They were like lambs to the slaughter, rounded up and imprisoned by Jin's soldiers.
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"GRAMPS!"
"LET GO OF MY GRANDPA!"
A small child with pink hair and a headscarf was trying to stop the crew from taking away a bald, red-nosed old man.
"Get out of the way."
"Grab him."
"Anaguma, look out!"
A crewman grabbed the child by the back of his collar and lifted him into the air. "Nowhere to run now, are you?"
"Let me go...!" the child struggled.
"Stop it!" the old man shouted, worried. "What kind of pirate bullies a child?"
"Pirate?" the crewman said, confused. "We're not pirates, old man. But you two... an old man and a kid... you're pirates?"
The old man and the child were both a little confused.
Not pirates?
"Hey! What's all the commotion?" a deep voice boomed.
The child looked over.
A towering figure emerged from the shadows. His fearsome appearance and fierce eyes radiated an oppressive aura.
"Sir Wilson!"
"It's like this..."
Wilson, his wounds now bandaged, listened to the crewman's explanation and looked at the old man and the child, frowning.
The old man, his experience showing, quickly spoke up. "Wait! We're not with Gasparde! I'm just an old man who stokes the boiler. My name is Biera. And this is Anaguma! I rescued her four years ago when Gasparde attacked a town. We have a grudge against him, but we had no choice but to serve on his ship to survive. Thank you for saving us! Hahaha! See, I always say, life is interesting. If you just keep living, something good is bound to happen."
Wilson looked at Anaguma and was reminded of the little girl Fisher Tiger had rescued, Koala.
He was silent for a moment.
"I'll take it from here," he said. "I'll take them to the Captain. He'll decide their fate."
"Sir!"
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Jin wasn't surprised to see the three of them. Everything that happened on the demonic carrier was within his "sight." He already knew Biera and Anaguma's situation. But he was pleased that Wilson had come to plead for them.
He was different from most Fish-Men. He possessed a capacity for compassion and tolerance.
'Why weren't Captain Sherlock and Wilson in the original story?' Jin wondered. 'Were they killed by Minister Sherlock?'
Jin had Wilson take Anaguma outside and spoke to Biera alone.
"I am the King of the Winter Blossom Kingdom," he said. "If you are willing to share your knowledge of boiler operation and maintenance, I will take you in as citizens of my kingdom. I will provide you with food, shelter, and medical care, and I will see to Anaguma's education."
The Winter Blossom Kingdom?
He'd never heard of it.
But that didn't stop Biera's heart from racing.
And really, what choice did he have?
When you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.
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