This battle wouldn't last long. That Mink Tribe ghoul's power was truly astonishing. Under the strikes of his claws, the buildings on the island seemed as fragile as paper.
At first, Ren had dodged several of his attacks, resulting in an entire street nearly being demolished.
Many pirates fled outside, watching that Mink Tribe member with ugly expressions. But being low-level pirates, they could only seethe in silence when facing powerful opponents.
However, this guy's behavior had clearly provoked other capable pirates.
Ren noticed several pirates with bounties over 100 million gathering nearby, coldly watching this farce.
In this era, having a bounty over 100 million was already quite rare. He even spotted a tall, red-haired man in cyberpunk-style clothing standing in the distance with his arms crossed.
Compared to when he first saw him a few years ago, Katakuri's height had increased significantly. Through the aura emanating from him, Ren could feel his strength was no less than Jack's.
And truthfully, Katakuri had even greater potential. Possessing Conqueror's Haki, he had the qualifications to reach the top tier of combat power.
Though this process might be lengthy.
"Damn it, all you do is dodge? You slippery eel!" The lion had also noticed the pirates continuously gathering around, making him even more agitated. After another missed attack, he roared in fury.
"Eel?"
Ren, who had been far away, heard his words and in an instant, appeared directly above him.
His pupils contracted sharply, but his brain couldn't react that quickly.
Ren casually slashed downward with her blade. The sunlight-reflecting blade left a deep gash across his face without any surprise.
This single strike blinded the lion's right eye.
"Ahhh—"
He clutched his eye and howled in pain, the agony rushing straight to his brain.
Plop.
Ren landed lightly on the ground like a maple leaf. The dust on the ground barely stirred, clearing a clean patch beneath her feet.
Ren didn't soften her heart at his pathetic appearance. This creature treated humans as food, viewing women and children as feasts. His sins were so deep that dying a hundred times wouldn't be enough.
Even during the era when discrimination between races was most severe, when people viewed fish-men and mermaids as fish, rarely did anyone treat them as food.
And in this era, even less so.
Ren's blade ignited with blue-purple flames. Holding a child in one arm and a flame-wreathed blade in the other, a fox shadow slowly emerged behind her.
She looked like a bewitching fox spirit.
But this beauty carried deadly danger. Any pirates watching with some knowledge grew solemn. Even a natural monster like Katakuri wouldn't ignore Ren's power.
He was indeed much stronger than Ren, but comparing the two, it wasn't hard to see that this woman's strength was definitely no less than his brother, Perospero.
As one of Big Mom's children, while Perospero wasn't one of the Sweet Commanders, he was still a capable fighter on the seas.
"Source Style—Killing Blossom—Flame Pillar."
Ren seemingly casually swung her flame-wreathed blade. When the purple flames were brandished, they twisted like silk ribbons.
The flames were like a curse that stuck to bone. After the blade passed over him, it seemed to grow on his wounds! The flames continuously burned his flesh as new fuel, like snakes burrowing into his flesh, burning his organs and marrow!
The lion-shaped Mink's body began to swell as if filled with gas.
In reality, this was caused by heat expanding inside his body after the flames burned it. He now looked like a giant balloon ready to explode at any moment.
He was clearly enduring tremendous pain, but when he opened his mouth, no wail emerged. Instead, scorching flames burst outward. Soon, his body swelled to its limit, even his skin turning purple.
In the next instant, his body suddenly exploded!
A blazing pillar of fire erupted from his body, bursting toward the sky like a volcano that had been suppressed for years!
The flame pillar was about two meters wide and reached six or seven meters in height.
'Special flames?' Katakuri remained silent, crossing his arms as he walked away.
As everyone knew, besides the Flame-Flame Fruit, other flame-type ability users all had some special abilities. Like Ren's demon fox flames now, or Marco's phoenix flames.
Strictly speaking, neither of these flames was produced by physical combustion.
Ren's flames could be used even in an oxygen-free vacuum environment. They only weakened in water. But it was hard to say whether this was due to water itself suppressing flames, or due to Sea Prism Stone factors.
Moments later, the blue-purple flame pillar gradually dissipated. The sparks dancing in the air faded in color, falling like scattered petals, turning to dust upon touching the ground.
Many thought it beautiful at first glance, but upon closer consideration, weren't those falling petals and dust actually the ashes of that Mink's corpse?
Then they felt a chill down their spine.
The commotion here was significant. Ren figured Matsuri's reputation would soon spread, but he didn't have the mood to care about that now.
...
"So you're saying she's a native of this island?" Ren grabbed the girl Matsuri had brought back. She still seemed somewhat afraid of Ren—partly not daring to resist him, while also staring desperately at Matsuri as if seeking help.
Hoping Matsuri could save her from Ren, this pervert who wanted to examine her body.
Of course, Ren wasn't some strange old man who liked to show goldfish to little girls. It was just that this little girl before him was truly special.
He pulled up her tattered sleeve. Beneath it, the girl's slender arm was covered in dense scales, and behind her ears were two gill-like slits.
"Could she have fish-man blood?"
"But there are tiny feathers at her elbow..." Matsuri said strangely.
These feathers reminded Ren of the plot in the movie "Strong World." The residents living on the island controlled by Shiki displayed similar characteristics.
Ren remembered that was caused by something called "IQ," but since it was a movie from many years ago, he'd forgotten many details.
He only recalled that the plants on Shiki's island contained a factor called "IQ" that could make animals go berserk. So he had his subordinates research this component, creating many ferocious beasts.
As for whether the feathers on the residents' arms were caused by this, he wasn't sure. He hadn't brought scientists on this trip, so he couldn't analyze it.
"Wait, actually it's not hard to verify." Ren released the little girl's arm, and she immediately shrank behind Matsuri as if escaping.
"Matsuri, where did you find this child?"
"She seemed to have been hiding in a cellar before, but that lion bastard found her." Matsuri answered.
"Do the other natives on the island have these characteristics too?" After coming ashore, Ren had seen one or two natives but hadn't paid close attention, possibly overlooking their differences from outsiders.
After all, the special features behind the ears and on the arms were easy to hide.
"Everyone is like that..." Before Matsuri could answer, the little girl stuck her head out and whispered.
She still seemed a bit afraid of Ren, but due to her trust in Matsuri, the fear wasn't very strong.
"So you're saying everyone who used to live on this island is like you, right?"
Ren tried to appear gentler and quickly gained her trust. You could only say that humans, even children, are visual creatures—they instinctively trust beautiful things.
Or rather, precisely because they're children, they more simply believe that good-looking people are good people.
The child nodded vigorously.
"Can you tell me your name?"
"I'm... I'm called Foresight... Mom and Dad both..." Foresight began speaking in a tearful voice. Ren had only asked for her name, but everything she'd experienced recently had clearly put tremendous pressure on this child's mind.
Once she started, she couldn't stop. Like finding someone to rely on, she poured out everything that had happened since the pirates appeared.
"Waa... Dad... Foresight is so scared..."
By the end, neither Ren nor Matsuri could understand what she was saying anymore. Her crying mixed with words, and given her young age and weak表达能力, plus her constant sobbing...
But neither Matsuri nor Ren interrupted her.
Experiencing all this at such a young age—if crying could help release her inner fear, that was a good thing.
Matsuri held her with concern. Before long, she fell asleep from exhaustion.
"Lord Ren, what should we do now?" Matsuri held Foresight in her arms. She was becoming more and more like Yuriko, especially after becoming more maternal, more easily showing a motherly radiance.
If people in the One Piece world could surf the internet, Matsuri would have countless unrelated sons by now.
"Let her rest first. There's no rush for other matters. According to the intelligence from Kaido's side, the polar day on Skull Island should appear in about ten days."
Ren wasn't anxious to get information from Foresight. Or rather, he felt this little girl probably didn't know much. She wasn't the only native on the island. If you could just randomly find someone and get useful information, John's conspiracy would have been discovered long ago.
As for his guess about IQ, it was actually easy to verify. Just check whether the monsters on this island were extremely berserk.
After letting Matsuri stay in the tavern room to watch over her, Ren went out again.
This time he didn't wander around town but headed up into the mountain forest alone.
"No ferocious beasts, and it seems even large animals don't exist." Ren looked around without finding anything unusual. Or rather, an island without animals like tigers or leopards was already unusual in itself.
Tigers and wolves of normal size weren't dangerous in this world at all. The three brothers Luffy, Ace, and Sabo could hunt giant beasts as children. Crocodiles several meters long were just food to them.
Ren walked along the ridge and arrived at the northeast side of Skull Island.
This was the "giant wolf's" forehead area.
"You've been following for so long, you should come out now." He stopped walking, his gaze fixed on the distance. From here he could see the entire island, but his eyes were drawn to a patch of darker forest.
That position should be... the wolf's eye.
"I didn't expect you to notice."
Behind Ren, a gentlemanly-dressed man stepped out. He wore a red cape and trousers, with a rose-colored shirt beneath. At the cape's clasp was a large blue flower.
Redfield.
Since their brief eye contact last time, he'd actually sought out Ren again.
"My name is Barlorick Redfield." This man known as the "Red Count" and "Solitary Red" was still very young. He had red hair and held a blue long umbrella—his weapon.
Redfield's reputation wasn't great right now, mainly because his influence on the seas was too low, but his strength was second to none.
"Interesting. The famously solitary Red Count, I wonder why you'd target an unknown nobody like me?" Ren turned around, one hand on his sword hilt.
"An unknown nobody, huh..." Redfield laughed softly while gently shaking his head, apparently denying Ren's words. He seemed to know something, yet didn't verbally contradict him.
Ren remained silent. He knew this man's Observation Haki was powerful enough to peer into others' hearts, but he didn't believe this ability would work on him.
His own Observation Haki was also strong. In his Thunder Soul state, Ren could even hear others' heartbeats.
Though he couldn't do that now, he could still prevent others from peering into his mind.
"Then, may I ask, Mr. Nobody, how should I address you?"
"You can call me Sesshomaru."
[
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