Chapter 93 – Psykos-Orochi
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
One violent explosion after another tore through the ground struck by the searing beams.
Aokiji dodged as casually as a child playing catch.
Countless rays grazed past him.
Fresh detonations bloomed behind his back.
Yet when Orochi swung around, trying to track him with a steady stream of heat-rays,
the wildly swung, near-bending Hassaikai(Kanabo) would swat the beams aside.
Blasts blossomed behind Aokiji in unbroken succession.
To Orochi and Psykos facing him, the firelight cast a thick, smothering shadow over his figure.
Super Psycho Gravity Wave!!
Psykos unleashed her power again.
She tried to check Aokiji's advance.
The ground caved under the sudden surge of gravity.
Aokiji lifted a dragon-clawed foot and stepped forward, idly smashing an incoming tentacle with his staff.
The zone of amplified gravity clung to him like a shadow.
''Like having someone dump a bucket of water over your head every so often—annoying.''
'Still, after training with Tatsumaki for so long, I've worked out a few counters.'
The Conqueror's Haki lightning crackling over his skin flared wildly.
It was no longer mere armor.
It looked as though a living storm had been torn from the sky and draped over his shoulders as a black-red mantle.
''In the end, it's Psychic Power interference—so I just have to stop it reaching me.''
Aokiji lifted his chin slightly.
Already larger than Orochi in dragon form, he now looked down even more disdainfully.
The might of his Conqueror's Haki lightning grew even more terrifying.
It surged and crashed around his body,
ruthlessly ripping the psychic energy apart.
The distorted gravity snapped back to normal.
''Damn it!''
Having her power broken so forcibly left Psykos shaken.
She hovered in mid-air, her glasses pushed up to her forehead.
Psionic rays burst furiously from her eyes.
The 'dragons' forming Orochi's body spat crimson energy that blazed across his surface,
vaguely foreshadowing his future flame form.
As Psykos fired her psionic blast, the flame-wreathed Orochi charged.
Ice Age—
A towering iceberg condensed from thin air.
The psionic beam carved through layer after layer of ice before finally exhausting itself.
Orochi, frozen inside, occupied only a tiny part of the ice.
The red glow pulsed faintly within the ice, then flared brighter.
Heat surged; clouds of steam billowed up.
By the time Orochi melted a tunnel and broke free,
Aokiji already held Psykos in his hand.
An ice-Azure Dragon-scale fist had almost completely closed around her; her curves were crushed out of shape.
Psykos held her breath, veins bulging at her neck as she released every ounce of her power—
yet she couldn't budge the fingers gripping her.
''Checkmate, I'd say.''
Aokiji lifted her like a collectible, bringing her level with his eyes.
Another psionic beam shot from her pupils.
He tilted his head and let it pass.
The two pairs of curved horns on his brow looked, to her, like the tusks of a demon out of Hell.
—Damn it! Still not enough!
She felt her body squeezed so tightly that a little more pressure would burst her apart.
Orochi dared not move rashly.
Recently reborn as a Monster from the brink-of-death experiments, he was still brainwashed to obey Psykos completely.
A reckless attack would almost certainly endanger her rather than free her.
While Psykos racked her brain for a way out,
Aokiji studied her for a moment,
then casually tossed her toward Orochi.
—Eh?
The throw was gentle; a bewildered Psykos steadied herself and landed beside Orochi.
What did this mean?
Why release her so suddenly?
Reading her confusion, Aokiji said:
''I can see you're not convinced. Show me everything you've got—beat you into submission quicker that way.''
So that was it?
He really means to make us his subordinates… Psykos swept the tangled hair from her face and gave a cold, dangerous smile.
Very well—time for that move!
Orochi may be only in his initial stage, but we've no other choice!
''Orochi, fuse with me! Lend your life-force to amplify my Psychic Power!!''
The Monster beside her hesitated for the briefest instant.
Then the implanted obedience overrode his instinctive refusal.
A dozen writhing 'dragons' parted, opening a hollow in his chest that lifted Psykos inside.
Orochi's energy began transferring to her.
The Energy radiating outward grew stronger and stronger!
Aokiji rested Hassaikai(Kanabo) on his shoulder, using Observation Haki to track the change in the other's Energy.
Unlike the original course of events,
this time Orochi, during the Fusion, made no bid for control; his mind was suppressed and left to sleep.
The merger into Psykos-Orochi proceeded smoothly.
Naturally, its strength was far below the peak form that would later confront Tatsumaki; even Orochi's size was worlds apart.
This newborn Orochi stood barely six metres tall, shorter than a single shin of his future full-grown self.
Still, even at this level, his energy outclassed any ordinary Monster that had just crossed the Dragon Level threshold!
Thick, dazzling psychokinetic power condensed into a radiant energy body.
It poured out of the dragon-formed torso,
quickly gathering into a gigantic figure that mirrored Psykos herself.
There was no spare focus for clothing or fine details.
An enlarged, slightly blurred silhouette shimmered in the light, looming before Aokiji.
The Elementary-stage Psykos-Orochi Fusion was complete!
''Haa—ahhh~!''
Psykos stretched luxuriously, her hair of light-strands drifting.
Though not the perfect form she had planned, the flood of power still delighted her.
So much so—
that haughty confidence bloomed across her face.
''Arrogant hero, are you regretting this yet~?''
She laughed, fingers resting lightly against her lips.
The colossal radiant body now dwarfed even Aokiji, its waist level with his torso.
With proud eyes Psykos looked down on him.
Aokiji planted Hassaikai(Kanabo) on the ground, spider-web cracks racing outward.
A small dragon driving a big cart?
No.
A titanic dragon bearing down on a tiny cart!
flame clouds surged as Aokiji's size exploded outward!
Psykos's gaze climbed from its lofty perch until she was staring skyward.
The energy-formed face stiffened visibly.
How had she forgotten? His Azure Dragon form had never been hidden.
Online, a whole craze of'snap a selfie with the sky-cruising Azure Dragon Aokiji' had people glancing up every few minutes, hoping to spot him overhead.
The Azure Dragon coiled above the abandoned town, frost and flame clouds swirling together.
With a sweep of its body it whipped up a colossal tempest,
pelting the air with razor-edged ice shards and wind blades like a hailstorm!
The sky over the deserted settlement was blotted out entirely.
Ice Storm: Tornado of Ruin!!
''So what if you're bigger! After fusing, I'm definitely stronger!'' Psykos roared defiantly.
Her body blazed with radiant light,
compressing and gathering in front of her!
A psionic beam far mightier than any before ripped through the air!!
It collided head-on with the countless ice-laced wind blades!