Chapter 278: Fruit Creation! Human-Human Fruit, Model: Sword God!
Undoubtedly.
"To think they even have the Abyssal Magic Circle..."
For the Five Elders, everything that had happened on this island had exceeded their expectations.
But at the same time, it all made sense.
As mentioned before, after The Zodiac gradually rose to power, the Five Elders had naturally investigated their fruit abilities. And as the highest authority in the world, they certainly had the right to view the Fruit Encyclopedia — or to be more precise, this secretive encyclopedia had been compiled by them.
In the distant past, they had even personally changed the name of the "Nika Fruit" to the "Gum-Gum Fruit."
But they discovered that the fruit abilities of The Zodiac could not perfectly match any fruit in the encyclopedia.
And now, looking at the several Zodiac members emerging from the teleportation circles—
"There is no mistake — even the intensity of their Haki is almost exactly the same."
There was no longer any doubt. Every member of The Zodiac seemed to carry the contract and partial essence of Star Lord — an existence similar to the five of them.
Their abilities, including the intensity of their Haki, seemed to originate from that Star Lord.
Moreover—
"The contract of The Zodiac is clearly on the same level as the Abyssal Sea Contract. Judging by this, there should be a full twelve such contracts?"
This was the most unbelievable fact to them. After all, the current Lord Imu could not even reach this number of signed Abyssal Sea Contracts.
Did this mean that Star Lord's power had grown to a level surpassing Lord Imu?
"No... that is not right."
But soon, Saint Mars realized something was off.
As Itsumade, possessing the power to sense life, he had already noticed the appearance of the five Zodiac members — they were surrounded by starlight, but their figures were clearly semi-transparent.
"There is no aura of life..."
"They have not descended with their main bodies. They merely used the contract to send a portion of their power here."
He stated with certainty.
The other Five Elders quickly noticed the same thing.
They understood well that the gap between a main body descending and a mere portion of power was massive.
For example, the remaining four Five Elders besides Saturn had used him as a coordinate to teleport their main bodies to this island. And the Abyssal Sea Contract on their bodies granted them immortality and near-infinite power.
In other words, unless a Conqueror's Haki exceeding their endurance limit could sever the connection between them and Saturn, forcibly sending them back to Mary Geoise — as long as they stood here, victory was assured. It was only a matter of time.
But The Zodiac was different. What arrived was only a portion of their power, and since it was a portion, it would eventually be exhausted.
"It seems that although Star Lord can sign twelve contracts on the same level as the Abyssal Sea Contract, the power granted to them does not appear to be strong?"
"Perhaps Star Lord's own power is also restricted, like Lord Imu's?"
"Regardless — they did not come with their main bodies, so their power is not infinite... They are most likely planning to cover Hebi's escape."
"That is right. Our primary target should still be Hebi. Even if they try to stop us, we just need to rely on our immortal bodies to outlast their power, then capture Hebi once it wanes!"
In just a few words, the four Five Elders felt they had already found the path to victory.
"Wait..."
But Saturn frowned.
"This old man feels things are not that simple."
He clearly had a different view. The logic was straightforward — judging from the current situation, The Zodiac was clearly also serving another God, an existence that also mastered the Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
Could it be that The Zodiac didn't know what the Five Elders could see?
No. They definitely knew.
But under such circumstances, they still chose to risk sending a portion of their power here. No matter how Saturn considered it, something felt deeply wrong.
"This old man proposes we retreat."
He spoke firmly within his mind.
"No!"
But the other four disagreed. "Them taking the risk to come here might purely be because they don't want Hebi to fall into our hands."
"That is right — if we retreat now, we will be playing right into their hands."
"Lord Imu is already very dissatisfied with us. If we retreat again, the consequences will be unacceptable!"
"Saturn, stop overthinking. We bear the Abyssal Sea Contract — there is no need for unnecessary worry... You should shed those habits from your past when you were still human."
Saturn fell silent.
Anger rose within him. After all, the other four were different — if something truly went wrong, they could sever the contract at any time and return to Mary Geoise.
But he could not. He was the coordinate.
Even so, he didn't speak again. He knew that once his four colleagues reached the same judgment, he had no room to refute. Moreover, if he showed any further desire to retreat, Lord Imu would inevitably be furious upon finding out.
BOOM!
The next moment, the Five Elders charged toward the Zodiac members once again.
Accompanied by the collision of Conqueror's Haki, the great battle restarted in an instant.
And undoubtedly — the combat style of this battle could be considered unique even across the entire sea.
At this moment, the massive boar body of Fengxi was seen charging toward Saru.
"A reckless boar charge, full of openings — take this!"
Facing the incoming attack, Saru laughed loudly. "Expand!"
The golden armor was already draped over his body. Even though the aura surrounding him wasn't like Dressrosa — where he had possessed transcendent might after more than two thousand victories — the strength of the Conqueror's Haki radiating from him was still enough to shake the sea.
Saru raised his hand and swung the golden-hooped staff.
His figure and the iron staff expanded against the wind, growing as massive as a mountain in moments.
He swung the staff down toward the charging Fengxi.
But Fengxi almost completely ignored the attack. Even though Saru's strike caved in his body and shattered every bone, the massive boar still braced itself and knocked Saru flying.
VMMM!
The power of the Abyssal Sea Contract activated, and Fengxi's body recovered rapidly.
But comparatively — although Saru had not been injured either, the starlight on his body had clearly dimmed.
A similar situation played out across every battlefield.
Clang!
On the other side, Bakotsu stepped on frost and headed toward Hebi as well.
Along the way, the half-dragon, half-human Tatsu held a lightning spear and hurled it.
But Bakotsu similarly ignored it, allowing the thunder and gale to tear at his body as he forced through a sword strike.
BOOM!
The strike was blocked by Tatsu raising his hand — but the dragon scales on Tatsu's body flickered constantly, and his starlight dimmed a little as well.
Meanwhile, Bakotsu's shredded body recovered once more. He looked coldly at Tatsu.
Yes. After making their decision, the Five Elders' strategy was identical.
They almost completely ignored The Zodiac's attacks. They did only one thing: consume The Zodiac's power and ensure Hebi could not escape.
And in fact, the plan appeared highly effective.
After continuous fighting — while the ruins of Instein Island partially sank once again — the starlight on all five descended Zodiac members had dimmed considerably. They were even gradually shifting from offense to defense.
It seemed just as the Five Elders had guessed: these Zodiac members had descended solely to cover Hebi while he recovered from his injuries and escaped.
"Sure enough — keep it up!"
"The closer we get to Hebi, the greater their pressure!"
Just as the Five Elders grew individually excited, the sense of unease in Saturn's heart grew stronger.
He silently stopped in his tracks.
"This is not right... something is wrong..."
And exactly as he muttered this—
VMMM!
The Five Elders perceived a change in the air.
Clang!
They seemed to hear the ear-piercing hum of a blade unsheathing, exploding through the void.
At the same time, their souls trembled.
It was not them who were trembling.
It was the essence belonging to Lord Imu that they carried. The Abyss was trembling.
The reason was simple.
"..."
The Five Elders all instinctively stopped, disbelief appearing in their expressions.
As holders of the Abyssal Sea Contract, carrying a portion of Lord Imu's essence, the five of them were theoretically almost impossible to kill.
Because they were a part of the Abyss. A part of the world.
The only one who could kill them was Imu Himself, who represented the World.
Besides that, theoretically nothing already existing in this world could kill them — because everything in the world was a creation of the Pillar of Creation.
Even the Nika Fruit was the same.
The "freedom" represented by the Nika Fruit and Conqueror's Haki could transcend bindings and could harm them, but at its core, it was still a creation of the Pillar of Creation. So it could break free from bindings to harm them — but could not truly kill them.
But now the situation was different.
Because what was being born here did not exist within the cognition of the World.
And in that moment, the Five Elders saw it.
The five Zodiac members who had been surrounding Hebi — seemingly protecting him — their bodies were rapidly dissipating and crumbling.
As their forms collapsed, countless motes of starlight — Source Energy of Lineage Factor — continuously converged toward the center they surrounded.
And right there, Hebi's body had long since fully recovered.
But his appearance had changed.
He had already deactivated the Jacket-Jacket Fruit's ability. The double wings on his back no longer existed, and his figure had become thin.
Beside him, the sutures on the corpse stitched together from Shimotsuki Ryuma and King were unraveling — those two bodies slowly turning to ash and dissipating.
But this was not what mattered.
What mattered was what Hebi held in his hands.
Where that countless starlight converged, a bizarre fruit shining with the brilliance of stars was slowly solidifying.
And in this instant, the Five Elders could perceive the wishes existing within that fruit.
The Sword God is the world's strongest swordsman.
The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Shimotsuki Ryuma exists in this world.
The Sword God possesses the top-tier sword techniques and physique on the sea.
The Shusui in the Sword God's hands can even slice open the sea, right?
That was the cognition brought to the world during this period — and through that duel not long ago.
[Consumed Source Energy of Lineage Factor — 200 points]
[Consumed Wish Power — Wish: Sword God]
[Fruit Creation Completed]
[Lineage Factor Creation — Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Sword God]
It was not a creation of the Pillar of Creation. It was a brand-new, just-born wish in this world.
"Leaving it to you, brother."
At the very end, the power of the five descended Zodiac members shattered completely into nothingness.
"Mm."
Hebi hummed softly in agreement.
"The final wrap-up — leave it to this one."
As he spoke, he opened his mouth and took a bite of that fruit radiating starlight.
(End of chapter)
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