“It’s impossible, this can’t be… I’m certain you were already dead. There’s no way what I did could have gone wrong.”
No matter whether he was facing the enraged Big Mom just now or the other out-of-control pirates, Ingres had remained calm, as if everything was within his expectations. Only when facing Avnisha did he lose his composure for the first time.
“Sir Ingres, is he that strong?”
“….”
Faced with this question, Ingres didn’t know how to describe it. Thirty-nine years ago, he had indeed killed Avnisha, but the process of that battle had not gone smoothly.
Back then, Avnisha had voluntarily stayed behind to cover King and Shayna’s retreat. At that time, he was already the last adult Lunarian of that lineage, while King and Shayna were only eight years old.
His refusal to retreat and fight to the death left an extremely deep impression on Ingres. Even now, Ingres’s chest would faintly ache. Avnisha’s final strike had pierced straight through it. That had been the closest Ingres had ever come to death in his CP0 career.
Moreover, that had been an ambush. If Ingres had been facing him head-on, the one who would have died would have been himself, not his teammate.
Rather than calling it a deep impression, it would be more accurate to say Avnisha had been a nightmare in Ingres’s youth. That gaze—one that would rather die than let them take a single step forward, dragging them down with him—was something he could never forget.
For such a dead man to appear before him again, he simply couldn’t accept it no matter what.
In an instant, he thought of a reason that was easier to accept than resurrection.
“It’s been thirty-nine years, yet your face hasn’t changed at all.
I understand now, you’re fake. This world is fake too. All of this is Phantom’s illusion battlefield!”
With CP0’s intelligence network, figuring out King’s true identity wasn’t difficult. If King had provided Olga with information, then with Olga’s abilities, creating such a false space to exert psychological pressure using an old enemy was entirely possible.
But that raised another issue. It was normal for pirates to guard against someone disrupting their alliance, but accurately guessing exactly who would come was far too unreasonable. It couldn’t be that there was an enemy spy inside CP0 headquarters, could it?
“An illusion? You can try it. Or use your body to feel whether all of this is real or fake.
Alber, leave this one to me. This new body needs to be bathed in the enemy’s blood.
You watch yourself, if it doesn’t work…”
“I’ve grown up, Brother Avnisha.”
“Yeah… I keep forgetting that sometimes. That soul life felt like a dream. In terms of physical age, you’re already about the same as my father.”
“So now, it’s my turn to protect you.”
“Cut it out. You’re a few decades too early to be saying that. If I had that kind of thought, I wouldn’t have come out to fight.”
Avnisha reached to his waist with both hands and drew out two short spears. Of course, “short” was relative to his height, similar to King’s—for outsiders, they were still two-meter-long twin spears.
Back in the underworld, his soul had continued fighting other souls in nearly endless battles. His combat skills had not dulled in the slightest.
To him, that had been both a dream and reality. Only his new body had yet to experience a true bloody battle.
“Ingres, you despicable hyena should feel honored. Dying in this divine domain is the greatest mercy you could receive.”
“Save it. Even if you’re still alive, so what? I’m no longer the man I was back then. Even if we fight again, I’m not afraid of you. Thunder Prison!
Besides, how could the dead possibly come back to life?!”
A ring of bluish-purple electricity flickered around Ingres’s head. Accompanied by the sound of mechanical turbines spinning, a roar of thunder suddenly echoed through the Reverse World. Centered on Ingres, a storm of lightning swept outward in all directions.
Against Olga’s illusion, large-scale area-of-effect attacks were the best choice. Though they couldn’t secure an instant victory, they had at least some understanding of how to deal with Beasts Pirates’ senior officers.
Relatively speaking, Olga was actually the easiest to deal with; at the very least, her close-quarters combat ability was the weakest among them.
“Blueno! Try to open a door, this place is too dangerous!”
“Sir, it’s useless. I already tried just now, but…”
Blueno pushed at the door in front of him. Although he could open it normally, the space behind the door that should have allowed them to hide had disappeared. The door had become nothing more than a decoration.
“As expected, it’s an illusion-type ability… how could it suddenly fail…”
“Of course it can fail. This is a divine domain, you being able to enter doesn’t mean you can leave!”
This had been a trap from the very beginning. The Reverse World was Giratina’s domain, and everything here was under its control. After they entered, Giratina used its power to fold the surrounding space.
Blueno’s ability could open doors, but no matter how he opened them, those doors would still remain within the Reverse World.
Amid the flashes of lightning, Avnisha, his entire body wrapped in blazing flames, slowly walked out. The lightning seemed to have caused him no harm at all.
“You look even uglier than you did back then. Let’s see who’s going to block my spears for you this time.”
Ingres frowned. No one could say exactly what extent Olga’s illusions could reach. Between truth and falsehood, it was extremely difficult to discern what was real and what wasn’t.
But he was certain of one thing: Olga’s ability didn’t include creating something from nothing. The matter of blocking his spears had happened after Shayna and King had escaped. Even if the Avnisha before him was an illusion, he shouldn’t be saying something like that.
“If I could kill you once, I can kill you a second time!”
Two broad blades suddenly sprang out from the backs of Ingres’s hands, crackling with lightning as they slashed toward Avnisha.
“A Devil Fruit User… Looks like quite a few people have died at your hands.”
“Heh, those who defy the World Government have only one outcome: death. This ability of mine… carries a share of your life’s ‘contribution’ as well.”
Under the illumination of lightning and fire, his green skin stood out sharply.
Zoan-type • Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Frankenstein Form. A legendary bio-engineered monster. The two blades were the modified parts within his body manifested by his ability, and the earlier lightning was also a power granted by the fruit.
“It seems I didn’t leave a deep enough impression on you, you’ve forgotten what kind of fighting style I’m best at.”
Avnisha didn’t choose to dodge the incoming blades. Instead, he raised his weapon and thrust straight at Ingres, allowing the blades to strike his body.
Lunarians possess dual modes of speed and defense. Most people, during training, develop two different fighting styles to adapt to changing battle situations. But Lunarians are not just individuals, they are an entire race.
Within such a large population, there are always exceptions, and Avnisha was one of them. He wasn’t skilled in the speed form; instead, he devoted all his efforts to the high-defense mode under his flame state.
“Flame Oni—Piercing Thrust!”
After enduring the attack with his body, Avnisha didn’t pause for even a moment. Using the momentum, he slammed into Ingres and, in one motion, drove his twin spears into his body.
“After all these years, has your Haki regressed? Have you completely abandoned that Tekkai you were so proud of?”
“Heh… you were an idiot back then. You could have escaped, yet you chose to stay and fight to the death for two brats.”
Avnisha might not be skilled at fighting in speed mode, but simply extinguishing his flames and retreating was something he could still do.
“I haven’t forgotten your abilities. The reason I let you get this close so easily is because… my ability grants me an undying body!”
Both his chest and abdomen had been pierced by the weapons, yet Ingres’s movements were unaffected. Instead, he exerted force with both arms and grabbed Avnisha. Even as the flames on Avnisha’s back burned him, Ingres didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
Frankenstein is a fictional monster; it was never truly alive to begin with. To it, the body is merely a collection of parts. Once his ability is activated, Ingres’s heart is no longer a fatal weakness.
Even if his entire body was pierced through, as long as he could piece himself back together before his stamina ran out, he wouldn’t suffer any real damage.
At the same time, Frankenstein also granted him the ability to discharge electricity and powerful strength. Grabbing hold of Avnisha, both of his arms exerted force, intending to finish off this nightmare of his.
“An old relic from decades ago… just go back to your grave already! You’ll pay for your carelessness with your second life!”
“Heh, why do you think I didn’t do this on purpose?”
Mockery filled Avnisha’s eyes as his body began to change as well. Ingres could even feel something sharp piercing into his arms. Before he could react, Avnisha’s body erupted in a violent explosion.
Boom!!
When the smoke cleared, Ingres still maintained his previous posture, but his two thick, muscular arms became mangled. The bones and metallic veins inside were fully exposed, covered in countless dents and scars.
His left arm was completely broken, hanging from his shoulder by only a single metal wire.
And the attack wasn’t over yet. At this moment, a star-shaped hole appeared in Avnisha’s chest. The high-temperature air currents generated by the explosion instantly surged out from that opening, blasting Ingres’s body away.
Under the impact, his left arm was torn off completely, and the twin spears were also pulled out of his body.
“You have power from demons… and we have also found the great power we worship.”
At this moment, Avnisha’s head and back had grown hexagram-shaped shells, and a crimson tail extended from behind him.
This was the power he obtained before Arceus left – Turtonator, the Blast Turtle Pokémon of Dragon and Fire-type.
Beneath its shell lies a layer of explosive material primarily composed of sulfur. When stimulated, it triggers violent explosions. Not only that, everything within its body can explode.
Its shell possesses powerful defensive capabilities and can counterattack through explosions. Able to spew toxic gas, scorching smoke, and flames, Turtonator is something almost no one is willing to provoke in volcanic regions.
The star-shaped opening on its chest was originally Turtonator’s weakness, but Avnisha’s powerful defense compensated for it, turning him into a heavily armored tank.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!