Chapter 69: I'll Let You Die a Little Faster
The ear-piercing sound of cutting filled the air.
Ceilings, floors, windowsills, oil paintings, even the treasure in the vault—the entire corridor, the entire palace, erupted with countless slashes!
"AHHHHHHH!"
Caramelo III screamed in terror and promptly passed out.
Judging by the stench, he could no longer pretend his wet pants were from sweat.
Beside him, Snack's face was ashen.
"An ability user..."
He scanned the countless slashes, identifying their source—hands sprouting from every surface, holding blades.
But the problem was...
"I can't sense him at all!?"
This was what he couldn't understand.
As one of the Sweet Commanders, his Haki was excellent. Though not on the level of his strongest brother, Katakuri, his Observation Haki was proficient.
Normally, he should be able to roughly pinpoint an attacker's location through their intent and the source of the attack.
But now, he felt nothing.
It was as if the relentless attacks came from another dimension.
But...
"You think that's enough to stop me?"
He reached back and grabbed his massive sword.
"Doesn't matter where you're hiding... I'll just cut everything down!"
VMMM!
Coating his blade in Armament Haki, he swung!
The slash cleaved through everything in its path—except the unconscious Caramelo III lying on the floor.
The corridor walls, and even the palace roof above, were split in two.
RUMBLE!
Massive chunks of the building crashed down, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
Almost every bit of cover in the corridor was destroyed by that single strike.
But...
SLICE! SLICE!
Snack discovered that even after his destructive slash removed all cover, he still couldn't see the enemy.
And the slashes... continued.
Those arm-blades kept sprouting, unrelenting.
"What the hell is this guy's ability?"
Snack gritted his teeth.
Meanwhile...
"What the hell is this guy's ability?"
Inside the pocket dimension, Nezumi was equally confused.
He watched Snack and Caramelo III from the safety of the dimension.
"The slashes definitely hit."
He could clearly see his 'Sky Slash: One Thousand Eight Hundred Blades' connecting. As an extension of his body, he could even feel the sensation of the blades cutting their skin.
But the problem was...
The slashes hit, but caused no damage.
"Judging by his move name, is it a defensive fruit?"
"Taking zero damage? That's absurdly broken."
Nezumi muttered.
Charlotte Snack was a Sweet Commander, but in the original story, he was defeated off-screen by Urouge and stripped of his title before he could even show his abilities. So Nezumi genuinely didn't know what Snack could do.
However, despite his confusion, Nezumi didn't panic.
Because...
He would know the fruit ability soon enough.
Meanwhile, outside the pocket dimension.
"It stopped?"
Snack noticed the slashes had ceased.
No more bladed arms sprouted. Only the pathetic whimpering of the unconscious Caramelo III broke the silence.
"Hmph... finally realized it's useless?"
Snack sneered. "Cowardly rat. Your ability is perfect for assassination, but against me, the 'Strongest Shield,' it's useless."
"On the contrary—if I find you, you're..."
His threat died in his throat.
Because at that moment...
VMMM!
He saw a figure walk out of thin air at the end of the corridor.
A figure wearing a Rat Mask.
"Strongest Shield?"
The figure tilted his head, looking at Snack. "These days, any random cat or dog dares to call themselves 'Strongest'."
"...Nezumi?"
Seeing the figure, Snack's eyes lit up.
'Nezumi' had made quite a name for himself in the Underworld recently. As a high-ranking executive of the BIG MOM Pirates, Snack had heard of him.
Even BIG MOM herself had heard the rumors and was quite interested—especially in 'The Zodiac' organization.
"I see. Someone hired you to kill this idiot?"
Snack deduced the reason immediately.
Then...
"I'm... so lucky!"
A grin spread across his face. "Running into one of The Zodiac's top executives here."
He could almost imagine how happy Mama would be when he brought Nezumi back to her!
"Hahahaha!"
Laughing excitedly, he stared at Nezumi and raised his massive sword.
Armament Haki coated the blade.
Then, he swung!
Interestingly—the direction and distance of his swing seemed completely off target. It wasn't aimed at Nezumi at all.
But...
"Mark!"
As the word left his mouth...
VMMM!
A sharp slashing sound erupted right next to Nezumi.
If one looked closely, they would see a small red dot had appeared on Nezumi's abdomen.
SLICE!
And now...
Snack's slash... emerged from that red dot out of thin air!
"You fool! If you stayed hidden, maybe you had a chance—but showing yourself was your biggest mistake!"
Seeing this, Snack laughed louder.
"You're the best birthday gift for Mama... Huh!?"
But just as he finished imagining Mama's praise, he realized...
No blood sprayed. Nezumi didn't fall.
Instead, the masked man just looked at him calmly.
"Im-impossible!"
Snack's face changed. He swung his sword again immediately.
"Mark: Nine-Fold Slash!"
He swung nine times in rapid succession.
Nine slashes erupted from nine directions, all centered on the red dot on Nezumi's abdomen.
But...
"I see..."
Nezumi murmured softly.
He seemed unconcerned by the deadly slashes converging on him.
And the next moment proved he didn't need to be concerned.
Because...
Click.
The sound of doors opening echoed in the air.
Nine spatial doors opened out of nowhere, swallowing the nine slashes instantly. They vanished without a trace.
"This is..."
Snack's pupils constricted to pinpoints.
He couldn't understand. What just happened?
Isn't his ability creating slashes?
No, wait... his sudden appearance earlier... What is his ability!?
While Snack stood in disbelief...
Nezumi remained calm.
Because in Nezumi's vision, the scene was completely different from what Snack saw.
He could sense the pocket dimension created by the Door-Door Fruit.
And inside that dimension... countless hands had sprouted.
These hands acted like safety locks, surrounding him invisibly.
Whenever Snack's slashes approached, a hand would open a door from within the pocket dimension.
The slash would fly into the dimension and vanish.
That was the source of Snack's shock.
It was another application of this clone's ability...
[Sky Slash Defense: Thousand Doors].
But clearly, what Nezumi cared about most right now wasn't his clever ability usage.
It was...
[Devil Fruit User 'Charlotte Snack' discovered]
[Confirmed Devil Fruit: 'Paramecia · Mark-Mark Fruit'. Analyzing and saving to 'Fruit Encyclopedia']
[Fruit Ability: Can mark targets/objects and transfer attacks (hostile or friendly) between marks.]
[Effects by Level]
[LV3: Gain full fruit effect. Mark a physical object or living being by touch, creating a 'Mark Point'. Can transfer all nearby attacks to the vicinity of the Mark Point. Requires 800 Million Berries for Permanent Unlock.]
[LV4: Fruit Deep-Dive Development. Can mark targets by sight without physical contact. Number of Mark Points increased to two. Max marking range: 1000 meters. Requires 2.2 Billion Berries for Permanent Unlock.]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening · Giant Mark. No limit on Mark Points. Max range increased to 5000 meters. Consumes stamina continuously; more points consume more stamina. Requires 10.3 Billion Berries for Permanent Unlock.]
[Note: Once a Mark Point is selected, it cannot be changed for 5 minutes.]
[Mark Points can be discovered and destroyed. If destroyed, cannot re-mark for 10 minutes.]
[Analysis Progress: Complete]
"What 'Strongest Shield'? You made it sound so real... You just marked a spot and transferred the damage."
Nezumi looked at Snack. "And you even gave it a fancy name like 'Guard' to confuse people?"
You're an embarrassment to all the straightforward brawlers in the pirate world!
But after the internal吐槽 (roast), Nezumi's tone turned strange.
"However... you said meeting me was lucky. Now I think it's the opposite."
"Me accepting this commission... that was the lucky thing."
Under the mask, Roy spoke sincerely.
Because Snack's ability wasn't just strong.
Roy realized—this ability was the final piece of the puzzle needed to complete his next clone!
So...
"As a reward... I'll let you die a little faster."
Hearing this, Snack's expression twisted. "What the hell have you been talking about since..."
Nezumi ignored him completely.
Click.
He reached out and opened another door, stepping back into the pocket dimension.
There, several sprouted hands were holding a pair of gloves.
The gloves were covered in fragments of yellow pills.
And they were writhing, seemingly devouring the fragments.
Then...
Nezumi picked them up and put them on.
☆☆☆
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