Chapter 108: The Beast's Hunt Ends Here
Deep underground, in another hollow.
"Grrraaaah!"
With a low roar, Hanafuda continued to climb upward.
His colossal Tyrannosaurus body was like an unstoppable wrecking ball. His claws easily pierced the rock, allowing him to smash through the layers of barriers Nezumi created with his head.
The sharp rocks couldn't even scratch his skin. The gruesome stitches on his body made him look like a true monster.
Clearly—as Nezumi said earlier.
The deep underground environment was enough to trap most creatures, but it couldn't kill a powerhouse of the sea.
Especially not a beast thirsting for hunting and revenge.
But the next moment...
"Roar!"
Hanafuda paused his climb.
THUD!
He leaped onto a nearby stone platform, transforming into his half-human, half-beast Hybrid Form.
On the other side of the platform, he saw a figure emerging from the stone.
No—looking closely, the stone was clearly sliced open and reshaped into a passage.
Drip... Drip...
In the quiet underground, the sound of dripping blood was jarring.
Nezumi shook the blood off his hand, looking at Hanafuda from a distance.
Hanafuda seemed curious.
"Whose blood?"
The question escaped his fangs.
"Cracker's."
Nezumi didn't hesitate to answer.
"No wonder... the blood of the weak always smells foul."
Hanafuda sneered.
"The so-called Sweet Commanders are just brats at that level."
"But... kid, you shouldn't have appeared in front of me."
As his words fell, the stone platform beneath him buckled instantly.
With the roar of his massive body breaking the wind, Hanafuda vanished, reappearing on the cave wall above Nezumi.
That terrifying speed... he was faster than when he fought Roy.
"ROAR!"
The growl, combined with his stitched appearance, was terrifying in the dark underground.
"I'm different from that soft brat!"
Without further greeting, his massive tail slammed down.
But...
VMMM!
An invisible spatial door appeared instantly, swallowing his tail attack.
"ROAR!"
The feeling of hitting empty air infuriated Hanafuda. But he didn't hesitate, stomping his foot to attack again.
But before he could, he felt the rock wall beneath him collapsing.
Looking down, he saw several blade-like arms had already sliced open the ground beneath him.
"Trim · Stone Gouge!"
As Nezumi spoke, Hanafuda lost his footing and began to fall again.
"This move again..."
Falling, Hanafuda growled.
But before he could find leverage...
The next instant.
"Sever · Thousand Body Blades!"
Nezumi launched another attack. Countless slashes erupted from the rock walls and Hanafuda's body simultaneously.
Falling in mid-air, Hanafuda had no way to dodge.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Almost all slashes hit. The intense cuts erupted from within Hanafuda's body.
"ROAR!"
Hanafuda spat blood, and blood burst from all over his body.
But...
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
Under countless slashes capable of mincing a real Tyrannosaurus, Hanafuda spat blood and weakened, but his body remained intact.
Instead, sounds came from inside him.
Clear, cold, metallic mechanical sounds... definitely not biological.
And it was true.
The next moment, spikes shot out from Hanafuda's legs.
The sharp spikes pierced the surrounding walls instantly, halting his fall.
Then...
"It hurts... Slahes erupting from inside? Such a thing exists?"
Muttering, the stitched wounds on his body seemed to split open from the slashes, revealing the bones inside.
Within the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, amidst the blood vessels and muscles... was a strong metallic texture.
But in his vertical pupils, sharpness and violence remained.
"But... useless!"
"Pain... as long as I can gain power and victory, a beast doesn't care about such things!"
Roaring, his muscular legs began to emit scorching fire.
VROOOM!
Engine roars erupted from his legs!
The truth was clear.
The metallic sheen, the engine sounds... this creature was no longer purely biological.
Hanafuda was now a full-fledged Cyborg!
BOOM!
Engines roaring, he leaped toward Nezumi with even more terrifying speed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The massive figure moved through the underground walls so fast the naked eye couldn't track him, only seeing the walls shatter and cave in as he approached Nezumi.
Countless arms sprouted from the walls, unleashing slashes to block his path.
But...
"USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!"
Hanafuda roared, charging through the slashes.
"Queen's modification tech is top-tier! To ensure strength, I even had him use the 'QUEEN Alloy' developed from your Zodiac metal!"
He recalled the pain.
To undergo this modification, he even ignored 'Fire Fist' Ace attacking his subordinates.
According to Queen, such extensive modification required him to be in peak condition, even with Ancient Zoan vitality.
And to ensure muscle integration, he couldn't be anesthetized.
Even Hanafuda almost died.
But he survived, and what he gained... was unprecedented power!
"My pure strength, explosive speed, and internal and external defense... are leagues above before!"
"Your weak slashes do nothing but excite me with pain!"
"This power was prepared for revenge against 'Black Judge'—"
He grinned savagely.
"But using the blood of a Zodiac executive as a sacrifice for the first battle isn't bad!"
"After defeating you and handing you to Brother Kaido to get the alloy formula, I can hunt Black Judge's crewmates' friends and family in peace!"
Yes, he had planned his revenge on Roy.
Per the agreement, he couldn't attack Roy or his crew directly.
But he could kill their families and friends.
He could force Roy to challenge him to a duel.
Of course, since Roy was now an Admiral Candidate, doing so would cost him his Warlord title and affect Kaido's dealings with the Government.
So he held back.
But now it was different. If he secured the alloy formula for Kaido, the World Government wouldn't be a crucial buyer anymore.
Every faction in the world would crave deals with the Beast Pirates.
Even if he lost the Warlord title, Kaido's ambition could still be realized.
CLICK!
As his words fell...
His tail split open.
A sharp sword grew from it—shaped from his tailbone and metal.
"King Dragon · Tail Sword!"
Hanafuda's tail extended and stabbed with terrifying speed.
Beside Nezumi, spatial doors opened again to swallow the attack.
"This move again..."
Seeing this, Hanafuda smirked.
In that instant.
CLICK! CLICK!
Miniature rocket thrusters 'grew' beside the tail sword.
Hanafuda's tail changed direction and accelerated instantly!
"I've seen through your move—tricky defense, but you need to track the attack to open those 'doors' in the air."
Hanafuda roared.
"But you can't track the speed of my 'Tail Sword'!"
The sharp tail sword accelerated to the limit. The underground filled with the piercing shriek of breaking air.
In Hanafuda's eyes, everything seemed to slow down.
He was the best beast.
Though violent and arrogant, he was patient when hunting!
Until... he saw Nezumi move slightly.
"NOW!"
He knew... this was the chance he waited for!
"Seeing my speed and power, he must want to use his ability to dodge or flee."
As rumored—Nezumi's elusive ability was well-known.
This was the moment Hanafuda waited for.
Prey is most vulnerable and defenseless when trying to flee.
"You can't escape!"
"King Dragon Car · Super-Speed Tail Sword!"
The sharp sword stabbed down.
In that instant, Hanafuda was certain of the hit—the sensors on his tail could almost feel the body heat.
But the next moment.
Hanafuda was stunned—no sensation of piercing flesh, no sound of spilling blood.
BOOM!
Where his sword struck, the rock wall shattered, a massive hole punched through.
But there was nothing there.
Then...
"You made two mistakes."
Hanafuda heard a voice.
His body froze.
The voice was too close.
He looked down.
He saw the Rat Mask right in front of him.
"First, you assumed I appeared because I didn't know you were a cyborg."
Reacting, Hanafuda transformed fully into a Tyrannosaurus and bit down.
But he bit empty air.
"But on the contrary—I know you very well."
The voice came from behind him—still frighteningly close.
"Where..."
Hanafuda turned instinctively.
But then, footsteps came from directly in front of him again.
The whistling wind in his ears made Hanafuda realize the impossible truth.
The enemy wasn't using 'spatial doors' to dodge.
He was using pure 'physical speed'.
"How can he be this fast?"
His mind went blank.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Nezumi raise his hand.
An intense crisis surged in Hanafuda's heart.
At that moment...
"..."
Under the mask, Nezumi's eyes were cold and murderous.
Yes.
After 'Inu' copied Hanafuda's body, he knew about the modifications.
Plus, having fought Hanafuda before, he knew his strength well.
He could have dodged into another dimension long ago.
But he didn't.
The reason was simple...
"A modified Ancient Zoan user is the best material to test slash power."
As he spoke, black Haki gathered on Nezumi's raised hand.
'Ryou'.
[Munch-Munch Fruit - Can fuse living and non-living things, granting the living thing the properties of the non-living. Only one property at a time.]
Yes, the Munch-Munch Fruit allowed fusion.
'Enma Iron' was included.
So in fact, since the Tri-Force Demonstration, all of Roy's clones could use Haki.
But that wasn't the key.
The key was the last fruit Nezumi carried...
[More-More Fruit (Moa Moa no Mi) LV3]
[Multiplies the speed and size of objects. Ineffective on living beings other than the user's main body.]
[Current Multiplier Limit: 50x]
This was what Nezumi wanted to test.
But now, he didn't want to test anymore.
"Second, you said the wrong thing."
Hanafuda's revenge plan... made him lose patience.
"Tell me, Hanafuda."
He looked up at Hanafuda. "You said you became many times stronger?"
"How many times?"
The words fell.
His hand slashed out.
[More-More Fruit - 50x Enhancement]
[Ryou Infusion]
[Severance Fruit · Sever]
"Air Cut · Sever · Fifty Black Slashes!"
With the speed of the More-More Fruit, Hanafuda couldn't dodge.
BOOM!
With speed and mass enhanced, this slash was incomparable to before.
Hanafuda clearly heard his metal skeleton snapping, his muscles pulverizing.
It was power even a 'Cyborg' body couldn't withstand!
The next moment, his head flew.
In that instant, the Warlord's eyes were still confused.
But then.
His fading consciousness saw—his massive Tyrannosaurus body exploded!
Oil, metal, and blood mixed and sprayed.
Nezumi stood in the rain of blood, but a spatial door opening above him kept him dry.
His cold gaze looked at Hanafuda, making Hanafuda feel strangely familiar.
His dying beast instinct suddenly reminded him of something.
A possibility he had never imagined, never dared to imagine.
"YOU!!!"
His expression filled with disbelief.
But then, his consciousness faded.
"Brother Kaido."
He didn't think of his treasure, or his children. Only Kaido.
"That guy... The Zodiac is..."
In this moment, he finally realized.
Just how dangerous the organization named [The Zodiac] was.
And he instinctively foresaw—what a massive threat this organization would pose to the Beast he respected in the future.
But clearly...
Ambition, hatred, unwillingness—everything belonging to him lost meaning.
Thud!
The head landed.
The Lizard King's hunt ended here.
☆☆☆
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