A Punch of Salvation

Bai Cangshu looked at the card in his hand as the spirit before him dissipated like specks of light.

This guy…

Bai Cangshu realized that the other party had deliberately let him kill him. The next moment, a chilling killing intent emerged. The Black King opened his eyes once more, his grief gone, leaving behind only killing intent.

Bzzz~

Bzzz!

Jet-black Conqueror’s Haki washed over Bai Cangshu’s body like an electric current, continuously triggering his Flame Dragon Scales.

The next moment, crimson flames erupted all over Bai Cangshu’s body.

Rank Trait: Solitary Jealousy Flame activated. All attributes +1.

Rank Trait: Solitary Jealousy Flame activated. All attributes +1.

In the blink of an eye, the crimson flames blazed fiercely. Since obtaining this trait, Bai Cangshu had rarely triggered it, because few enemies could make him feel such intense oppression. Moreover, the pressure from that presence came at an extremely high frequency, almost instantly stacking Bai Cangshu’s Solitary Jealousy Flame to its limit.

All his attributes received a +7 boost. This was an increase to his base attributes, and after being converted through efficiency, Bai Cangshu’s physique and spirit were immediately enhanced to a tremendous degree.

But it still wasn’t enough…

Ignoring the possible backlash to his body, Bai Cangshu’s heart pounded violently as his body instantly swelled to its full size. His talent had activated.

At this moment, Bai Cangshu had reached his most powerful state since entering the Infinite Dimensional Space.

He would never sit still and wait for death to come, no matter who his opponent was.

In an instant, activate!

Space and time seemed to slow at once, but Bai Cangshu’s pupils suddenly contracted. The place where his opponent had been standing was already empty. Bai Cangshu turned his head just as the vast area slowed by the Slow-Slow Fruit returned to normal.

Flesh and blood exploded through the air in an instant.

Any target struck by the Slow-Slow Fruit’s slowing rays—except objects capable of reflecting light—would suffer the effects of temporal stagnation. However, once the slowing effect ended, all impacts, displacements, and other effects sustained during the ability’s duration would take effect.

Thus, the Netherworld demons that Bai Cangshu had violently slashed with the Dragon Slayer earlier instantly became severed limbs and chunks of flesh, spraying everywhere.

Bai Cangshu, bathed in blood, turned around only to have a finger press against the center of his brow.

Black King Luffy was not particularly tall, but his lone arm was exceptionally long. His index finger, without a fingernail, rested upon Bai Cangshu’s forehead. A burning point of light instantly released intense heat, making the scales on Bai Cangshu’s brow scalding hot.

Bai Cangshu’s heart sank. An unprecedented shadow of death enveloped him. At that moment, he felt an electric current pierce through every nerve in his body from his brain.

Countless images flashed through Bai Cangshu’s mind. Their speed and sheer volume gave his brain no chance to process them. It was as though humanity’s genes had evolved all the way from the age of paramecia, or as though genes were developing anew from the embryonic stage.

Bai Cangshu’s body, which had expanded to over three meters tall, instead began to shrink. Yet at this moment, every strand of his hair stood upright. ripple, aura, Satsui no Hado, and even the power of Yellow Springs flowing through Bai Cangshu’s body all turned into tiny points of light and particles, scattering out from within him.

Bai Cangshu’s hair moved without wind. Amid those points of light, his fluffy hair made his features gradually begin to change.

Great Sin Reincarnator EX051, Talent Anomaly Anchoring is now beginning re-anchoring.

Anchoring…

Bai Cangshu looked at Luffy standing before him. For the first time, he saw the other’s appearance clearly through that jet-black Haki.

Buzz!

A golden laser burst from Luffy’s fingertip. Though it was pressed directly against Bai Cangshu’s forehead, an invisible barrier appeared when the laser erupted. No, it was not a barrier. It was aura!

Bai Cangshu’s hair streamed backward as his eyes widened. Garp’s figure was reflected in his pupils. For the first time, rather than relying on that left arm, he himself unleashed Conqueror’s Haki.

The two Conqueror’s Hakis collided violently. And that was not all—crimson lightning began to radiate from Bai Cangshu’s body.

The way that Conqueror’s Haki wrapped around his body resembled Black King Luffy’s current state somewhat.

Luffy watched as the laser between his fingers remained unable to pierce through. Their Conqueror’s Hakis clashed, and the other party was no longer so suppressed by him that he could not even release his aura.

Clearly, this brutal Reincarnator was highly gifted. In that brief span of time, he had comprehended—or rather, learned—his method of using Haki.

Bai Cangshu spread his arms and roared. A fierce presence surged up in an instant as he forcefully drew back his left hand. His movements and rhythm were exactly the same as when Garp had used Fist Bone Impact.

At that moment, Black King Luffy’s pupils contracted as well. It was as though he saw that familiar figure appear behind Bai Cangshu.

Luffy looked at the shadow in his eyes, and something changed in his gaze. Rather than using any other ability, he threw a punch as well.

"Don’t!"

A shrill cry rang out from behind him. Bai Cangshu’s pupils shrank. His perception was unprecedentedly powerful at this moment, as though his body had become a receiver and information from every direction flooded into his brain.

He had clearly been fully immersed in this punch, wanting to unleash his strongest strike in this desperate situation.

Yet his pupils trembled involuntarily as he saw a girl standing shakily at the railing beside the damaged warship. Olgins clung to the edge of the ship, while above them, a winged Netherworld demon opened its enormous jaws and bit down toward them.

Bai Cangshu’s control over his body had reached an unprecedented level. He had even truly touched upon the state of Logic Shen Wulong had described. He began to understand the mysteries of every acupoint and nerve within his body. As the muscles in his left arm trembled, his fist shifted one inch to the right.

That fist, shining with crimson Conqueror’s Haki Infusion, scraped past Luffy’s right fist, which was wrapped in jet-black Conqueror’s Haki, and punched toward the sky above the warship.

Buzz—boom!

First came a muffled sound, as though the fist had completely shattered the air. Then blazing white clouds of smoke split apart to either side before Bai Cangshu’s fist.

Beyond the clouds of smoke was a jet-black sky where the sun could not be seen. In an instant, it was as though a single punch had torn open a sea of clouds within the Netherworld, its terrifying fist force piercing through everything.

The enormous Netherworld demon exploded with a roar. Along with the black demon army behind it, it burst into minced flesh and fell away. Even the jet-black sky of the Netherworld was illuminated for a moment.

Bang.

The jet-black right fist landed on Bai Cangshu’s chest. Conqueror’s Haki pierced through his body, yet no injury appeared. That destructive force had completely vanished before it could touch Bai Cangshu’s body.

Every muscle in Bai Cangshu’s body trembled, and his joints spasmed. That overwhelmingly powerful Conqueror’s Haki made it feel as though every cell in his body was screaming.

But Bai Cangshu only heard a whoosh as Black King Luffy vanished. The next moment, a tyrannical punch appeared in the sky, and the two God Hands’ bodies exploded one after another.

That was not all. The enormous radiance of Eight-Foot Jade appeared in the sky as countless light bullets began striking every Netherworld demon with precision.

"It’s time for you to return to your own world."

A violent gale suddenly rose. Terrifying storms emerged from all directions, sweeping up the corpses of Netherworld demons, the corpses of the God Hands, and even large numbers of Behelits, sending them flying back into the enormous hole in the sky.

The next moment, the Black King transformed into a bolt of black lightning and vanished into that hole as well. The black Netherworld disappeared in an instant, and the azure sea and sky reappeared.

Everything seemed like a dream.

Only the corpses on the warship and the terrifying new marks upon shattered Skuld Island could convince anyone that everything just now had been real.

Cindy stood on the warship, struggling to pull Uncle Olgins aboard. She turned to look around, and her eyes suddenly lit up. She waved at Bai Cangshu, who stood frozen in a punching stance like a statue on the shattered beach.

"Hey, big guy!"

"You saved me!"

No smile appeared on Bai Cangshu’s face. That overwhelming power still weighed heavily on his heart.

Who had saved whom? Who could truly say?

Bai Cangshu looked at his fist. Even now, he still did not understand why, at that moment, he had punched in that direction.

What would the result have been if he had punched at the Black King?

Was that pounding thing what they called the heart…? Heh.

Crack!

Blue lightning erupted once more, and a Thunder Dragon instantly pierced through Bai Cangshu’s completely stiff body.

Under the disbelieving gazes of Cindy, Olgins, Doberman, and the others, Enel, his entire body crackling with lightning, appeared where Bai Cangshu had fallen. Where the Thunder Drums had once been placed on his back, four new heads had emerged.

The arrogant expression of one who saw himself as a god was gone from his face. His gaze was calm and cold, while the four heads behind him each displayed expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight.

Enel looked at Bai Cangshu, who lay on the ground covered in blackened burns. The golden staff in his hand was instantly metallurgically reshaped by extreme heat, becoming a golden saber.

"You will never be able to control that man’s arm, mortal."

The golden saber fell, and Cindy cried out in despair.

Pfft!

A charred arm suddenly seized the golden saber. Enormous force instantly began twisting and deforming the gold.

Enel frowned. His opponent should indeed have died just now.

Bai Cangshu’s heart began beating again. Clutching the twisted golden saber in his left hand, he rose from the ground in an eerie manner using nothing but the tips of his toes.

The shifting of his center of gravity completely defied common sense. This bizarre sight made even Enel retreat two steps.

Looking at Enel’s current appearance, Bai Cangshu guessed that he too had been corrupted over the past two years. Perhaps he was another hidden piece left behind by the Lord of the Abyss.

The enemy’s strange methods were endless. Who could be sure Enel was the opponent’s final trump card? At this moment, might there still be Behelits and Eggs of the King drifting across the sea?

Someone had initiated the Eclipse in this world. The Lord of the Abyss’s goal was destined to be difficult to stop.

"But you, Enel, are mistaken about one thing."

"I have already mastered this arm."

Crack!

Crimson Conqueror’s Haki erupted from Bai Cangshu’s body, and even the Haki in his left hand turned crimson.