Alber followed Kaido’s orders and walked over to Arthur, looking down at him.
“You’re an anomaly too…
but you chose the wrong side.”
He acknowledged Arthur’s strength.
Then, with a slash of his black wings, he struck Arthur and knocked him away from Kaido.
Arthur plummeted from the sky toward the sea below.
As he fell, gripping the hilt of his sword, one question continued to echo through his mind.
Why?
How could a person’s body be this hard?
Harder than steel itself.
“Bolo Breath!”
High above, Kaido’s enormous Azure Dragon body spun through the air, creating a massive vortex.
Like a gigantic spinning top, the dragon’s body rotated at incredible speed, drawing every storm Dragon had summoned into the whirlwind.
The compressed winds transformed into countless razor-sharp air blades that rained down upon the sea.
Below, the Marine warship was torn apart by the barrage of slashes and quickly sank beneath the waves.
Dragon and Karasu hovered in the air, doing everything they could to rescue the survivors.
“Consider this my farewell gift, Dragon!
Worororo!”
Carrying Alber , Kaido flew away from the battlefield.
Arthur looked at the warship disappearing beneath the sea and thought bitterly,
My hundred thousand Berries are still in the cabin…
“Cooper!”
(Idiot!
You’re covered in wounds, and you’re still worried about money?!)
“Go help the Marines save everyone, Cooper.
I’ll be fine.”
Arthur forced the words out stubbornly.
These were the worst injuries he’d suffered since arriving in this world.
Even so, he still believed they were within his limits…
Completely unaware that his stamina had already been exhausted.
Cooper quickly carried Arthur to the shoreline of Punk Hazard before immediately flying back to assist with the rescue effort.
After returning his sword to It’s sheath, Arthur staggered alone into a nearby forest.
His unfocused eyes and strangely excited smile made him look almost delirious.
He simply wanted to find somewhere safe to rest until Cooper returned.
“So…
no matter how hard I work…
I still can’t beat bloodline talent…”
His vision gradually blurred.
“Some people reincarnate already invincible…
Some are born with cheat abilities everywhere…”
“But what do I have?”
“…Looks like…”
“…other than this sword…”
“…I have nothing.”
His body swayed more violently with every step until he could no longer remain standing.
He slowly sat cross-legged beneath a tree, hugged his sword, and leaned against it.
“…Just a short rest…”
When he had deflected Kaido’s Thunder Bagua, it had felt as though his entire body were about to explode.
Everything afterward had been sustained by sheer willpower alone.
Before long, Arthur lost consciousness.
From the outside, however, he simply looked like he had closed his eyes to meditate.
A short while later, two figures appeared nearby.
One was a beautiful woman with short blonde hair, dressed provocatively and carrying a rifle.
The other possessed an enormous head several times larger than an ordinary person’s.
“What an astonishing young man…”
“To fight that race’s experimental subject to this extent…” Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
the large-headed man murmured.
The woman raised her rifle with a charming smile and aimed it at Arthur.
“Vegapunk, he looks unconscious.”
“Should we kill him?”
“I have a feeling he’ll become a major threat.”
“Stop, Buckin.”
“He’s a Marine.”
Dr.
Vegapunk immediately stopped her.
“Then…”
Buckin looked toward him.
“How about bringing him back to the laboratory for research?”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Vegapunk stepped out of the bushes and knelt beside Arthur, carefully examining his wounds.
“The flesh around his injuries has completely frozen over…”
“Is he a Devil Fruit user?”
Buckin asked curiously.
“I don’t know.”
“We’ll find out after examining his blood.”
Punk Hazard Coast
Hundreds of soldiers were gradually rescued and brought ashore.
However, Dragon couldn’t find Arthur anywhere.
Cooper landed where he had left Arthur moments earlier, frantically searching in every direction.
“Cooper!
Cooper?!”
(He’s gone!
He’s gone!
Where did Arthur go?!)
To Cooper, Arthur was family.
His parent.
His partner.
Without Arthur, he felt like an eagle that had lost It’s soul.
“Calm down, Cooper.”
“Knowing him, he probably forced himself to walk off somewhere.”
“He should still be somewhere on this island.”
Dragon tried to reassure him.
But Cooper couldn’t hear a word.
His eyes filled with determination as he soared high into the sky, scanning every corner of the island.
Why are both the eagle and It’s owner exactly the same?
Dragon sighed inwardly.
He then ordered Karasu to dispatch more than twenty soldiers to search the island.
The warship had sunk.
All of their supplies were gone.
To keep a force of 370 soldiers alive, they would have no choice but to seek assistance from the island’s research laboratory.
PH-001 Laboratory, Punk Hazard
Arthur was brought into the laboratory by Dr.
Vegapunk and Buckin.
They laid him on an operating table and collected samples of his blood and cells.
Using laboratory instruments, Vegapunk carefully analyzed their activity and density.
“Incredible…”
“The cellular activity in this man’s body is hundreds of times greater than that of an ordinary human.”
“They’re unbelievably active.”
Looking through the microscope, Vegapunk’s expression turned to one of pure excitement.
Unfortunately…
Research required both time and enormous funding.
“Hundreds of times?!”
Buckin stared in disbelief.
Nearby, inside a large cultivation tank, floated a youthful clone of herself.
Within MADS, Buckin contributed little to the group’s scientific work.
Instead, she had offered her own body as the foundation for their cloning research.
The result was a successful clone.
Although it had yet to be activated and was still developing inside It’s nutrient tank.
Just then, Arthur let out a loud snore.
Vegapunk smiled.
“What an enviable genetic structure…”
“It’s enough to make any scientist’s blood boil.”
“With cells like these, aging speed, lifespan, growth rate…”
“They all vastly exceed the limits of ordinary humans.”
As the leader of MADS, Vegapunk’s passion for science bordered on obsession.
He desperately wanted to dissect Arthur and study every inch of his body.
But Arthur was still a Marine.
“We’ve studied Zoan Devil Fruit users before.”
“Even their cells aren’t remotely this active.”
Buckin couldn’t hide her amazement.
“Exactly.”
“Ordinary cells die within hours after being exposed to the air.”
Vegapunk continued studying the samples.
“But his cells…”
“Not only are they still alive…”
“They’re actively repairing the original body on their own.”
“Hey, Vegapunk…”
Buckin’s eyes lit up with greed.
“What if we dissect him and sell him?”
“Huh?”
Vegapunk looked at her in shock.
“Rich people all over the world dream of living longer and becoming stronger.”
“If we inject them with this guy’s blood and cells…”
“We’d become unbelievably rich!”
“And give me the first injection.”
“I’m already starting to get wrinkles.”
Buckin had always valued money above everything else.
The more she spoke, the more frenzied she became.
Vegapunk immediately rejected the idea and warned her.
“You’d better watch what you’re saying.”
“These injuries are practically nothing to someone like him.”
“He most likely just exhausted all of his stamina.”
“He’s probably resting…”
“And he may very well be awake, listening to every word we’re saying.”
“You think he’s listening?”
Buckin immediately turned toward Arthur.
He continued snoring peacefully on the operating table.
Yet a chill instantly ran through her entire body.
She instinctively stumbled backward several steps.
At that moment, she looked at the sleeping Arthur…
…as though she were staring at a monster.