"You World Government types always seem to favor abilities that can break a person's will."
Sakura pulled a kunai from her ninja tool pouch and, without the slightest hesitation, sliced open the poisoned areas on both arms.
Yang Attribute chakra spread from her Chakra Pathway to her muscles and bones. Using the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, she slowly dissolved the poison into her blood, then finally squeezed it out from her arms.
"Nonsense! The purpose of the central authority is order. The ideas of rebels like you only disrupt stability, cause turmoil on the seas, and cost countless commoners their lives!"
Sea Snake's nine heads writhed. Haki saturated his bluish-gray scales, making them shimmer like dark jade in the twilight glow.
The monster, with a snake's head and a human body, lowered its center of gravity.
Its flesh, sublimated by awakening, tensed. The power of the Mythical Zoan roared silently.
Harmful substances existing only in fantasy were absorbed, refined, purified, concentrated multiple times, then flowed between his fangs and claws.
Merely dripping onto the ground, they could madly assimilate the surrounding matter, transforming it into deadly poison that corrupted the mortal world.
[Shigan: Jaw: Horn Thrust!]
The nine snake heads abruptly elongated. The muscle movements of a serpentine creature hunting combined with the skill of Shigan made Sea Snake's attack emit a sharp whistling sound.
The material outline that a shadow should have lost its form under this extreme speed.
"So fast!"
Sakura's pupils contracted to pinpoints. Instinctively, she flicked the kunai, using Flying Thunder God Technique to flash into mid-air.
The ice surface where she had just been standing was bitten to pieces by the piercing snake heads. Poison liquid, poison mist burst forth, spreading towards the sky, earth, and all directions.
"What's wrong? This level isn't enough to oppose order, pirate!"
Several snake heads, holding chunks of ice in their mouths, emerged from the mist. Eighteen pairs of sharp pupils fixed on the girl in the sky.
"Troublesome guy!"
Sakura, treading air with Geppo, observed the situation below, a faint light swirling in her eyes.
The substances generated by low-temperature mode and Ninjutsu would be assimilated by his unreasonable awakening ability.
Using high-temperature mode would evaporate the poison liquid into poison vapor, further strengthening his field advantage.
Close-quarters combat meant not only resisting poison but also facing the frightening endurance and recovery power of a Zoan user.
'Damn, these Mythical Zoans are allowed to run this rampant? Doesn't anyone regulate them?'
"Not coming to attack? Or... thinking of running away with your tail between your legs?"
Sea Snake skillfully used words to erode Sakura's fighting spirit. Poison liquid gathered between his arms, Haki constantly flowing over his body's surface.
Then, he stomped down hard, shattering the ice surface, and transformed into a thin line shooting into the sky.
"That is absolutely impossible!"
Sakura's eyes narrowed. Peerless spirit erupted. Black lightning encircled her.
Sea Snake's words now were aimed directly at crippling Sakura.
If defeated in battle, there was still a chance to come back. But if she lost the courage to fight itself, she would truly be cutting herself off from the path of the strong!
"Then, let me sample the will with which you uphold order!"
Frosty winds emerged from the girl's hands. A massive greatsword and a battleaxe, stained with Haki, swept down towards the onrushing Sea Snake, raising a shrill scream.
[Spear of Elbaf: Ikoku Sovereignty!]
"Shallow fool! Now you shall learn the weight of order!"
Light flames ignited on the outer sides of Sea Snake's several heads. Haki infused with flowing poison formed a ferocious serpentine shell.
It nimbly evaded the prisms Sakura condensed in the air, tearing towards her.
[Fang Gun: Abyss: Living Thrust!]
Clang!
The collision of fang and sword/axe burst forth with a thunderous roar. A savage conflict erupted in mid-air.
The clashing wills stirred up a storm. Intensified frost and poison spread like a torrential downpour.
The sword and axe in Sakura's hands shattered. Poisoned, she was sent flying higher into the sky.
Sea Snake, falling towards the ground, also had a huge gash torn into his body.
Five or six snake heads were severed. Large amounts of poisonous blood spurted from the smooth cuts.
'Stubborn poison. I must learn the Yin Seal from Tsunade-nee when I get back!'
Once again using Medical Ninjutsu to extract the poison that had seeped into her body, the blood loss from two consecutive times left Sakura's face somewhat pale.
Her Observation Haki monitored the constantly regenerating Sea Snake below, while her gaze shifted sideways.
As if sensing the girl's thoughts, a line of golden text lit up.
[=ω=]
[Notice: Limited time payment discount, only 99 achievement points per minute.]
'Tch, no thanks, you profiteer. I'll figure it out myself!'
[Please do not slander this system...]
While Sakura was bickering with the system, Sea Snake on the ground had already finished regenerating his body. He stretched his limbs and necks and stood up.
More and more deadly poison overflowed from his body. The fantasy toxins, combined with Sea Snake's savage Haki, began to boil.
The brutal will forged from witnessing countless deaths and resentments condensed into Haki, paired with the extraordinary poison created by the Mythical Zoan.
The pale, pure substance formed by the mixture of the two, if one had to give it a name...
Perhaps it could be called… Soul Corrosive Poison!
"You so-called pirates are nothing but a bunch of children who never grew up, obsessed with laughable dreams chasing freedom. But in reality, the vast majority are content with mediocrity. What commoners truly seek is merely a sense of security."
The deadly poison injected into his body was still madly enhancing Sea Snake's mind and body. The fusion of his abilities had reached an unprecedented level.
His snake pupils revealed an expression of pain. He hugged himself with his arms. His body swelled and distorted. Flesh proliferated, continuously transforming towards the giant Hydra form.
"In this detestable world! Only the World Government, representing order, can give them what they want. Your so-called freedom only brings them painful choices. Wouldn't it be more dignified for them to live in ignorance!"
"Stop waving the banner of the common people! Human Auction Houses, Human Hunting Games... Isn't it always your World Government that creates suffering and deprives people of their freedom?!"
Sakura, high in the sky, raised a single hand, attempting to recreate the immature concept from her earlier Devil Fruit's ability development.
Her snow-white hair and eyes returned to normal, then in the next second turned crimson again under the effect of high temperature.
But this time, the blazing high temperature did not roar and spread out. Instead, it was firmly locked onto the girl's arm by the storm formed from hot and cold air currents.
Compress, compress, compress again!
Temperatures of thousands of degrees converged at a single point in her palm. The kinetic energy of the gas molecules' thermal motion exceeded the ionization energy, causing collisions between molecules to produce ionization.
Finally, an arc of electricity was born in Sakura's hand. Countless free electrons constituted blue starlight that danced merrily.
"Success!"
A slight smile touched Sakura's solemn face as she increased the drive of her ability.
Her five fingers spread open. Amidst the tremor that made the world resonate, what her small, pale hand restrained was a struggling, pure white lightning bolt.
The thermal cycle storm pulled vast thunderclouds together into a giant dark sphere, filled with vortices of air currents and lightning.
"Deprivation? In this world where one is destined to be dominated from birth, we are merely helping them reduce the troubles brought by choice."
Sea Snake opened his mouth and laughed, his fangs sinking into his own body, injecting more poison to recklessly squeeze out the Haki from his body.
The giant snake, having completely lost its human form, also used Life Return to compress its own flesh and blood.
It retracted the snake heads into conduits within its torso. Layer upon layer of skin, flesh, and bone accumulated peerless explosive power.
[Shigan: Serpent Beast Severity!]
Fierce light bloomed on the ice surface. The biting heads of the nine-headed snake left pure white trails in the void.
They gushed forth erupting towards the girl in the sky!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Several fangs pierced through the Haki barrier she had condensed in front of her. Mind-dissolving corrosive poison was injected into it.
"Cough... Cough..."
Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. The spreading poison made Sakura's emerald pupils bloodshot, appearing extremely ferocious.
Yet, under the erosion of this will-shattering toxin, the burning fire within her soul grew even more vigorous.
Sakura raised her hand holding the cloud sphere. Will-condensed Haki poured into it, making the sphere swell several times larger.
Her other hand grabbed Sea Snake's chest, her tone gradually stirring:
"That's not trouble, you bastard! That's the proof that we are alive!"
"You..."
Accompanying her words, the enormous thunder sphere hundreds of meters in diameter also fell.
[Lightning Mode: Lightning Blast!]
Sea Snake's massive body was instantly swallowed and covered. The cruel black sphere smashed down without mercy.
Lightning burst forth, dyeing everything pure white.
The rampaging light and flames tore the giant snake's scales and armor, leaving deep gashes. Poisonous blood gushed.
Then, the flesh burned to charcoal rapidly regenerated, growing new snake heads.
But they were quickly torn apart again by the coiled lightning. Flesh and blood cycled back and forth between destruction and rebirth, rendering Sea Snake immobile.
Falling all the way down, it smashed through the ice surface below, stirring up endless waves.
In the moment before being swallowed by the sea, Sea Snake's crimson snake pupils stared at the cold, downcast-eyed girl in the sky and let out an unwilling roar:
"Haruno Sakura!!!"