Chapter 169: You Know Nothing About My Ability
As a great pirate surviving from the Rocks era, Ochoku was undoubtedly a top powerhouse on the sea.
His three types of Haki and five senses were extremely powerful.
His combat experience was incredibly rich—he had experienced basically every type of battle.
But...
The battle he was experiencing now was a unique experience in his life.
BOOM!
"Oven's" fist burning with flames struck. Ochoku dodged nimbly sideways.
But in an instant, above his head, the smoke genie created by "Daifuku" and "Smoothie's" slash arrived hand in hand.
[Paramecia · Boil-Boil Fruit (Fake)]
[Paramecia · Wring-Wring Fruit (Fake)]
Ochoku had to punch to counter, but moments later he discovered—whether Oven, Daifuku, or Smoothie, they were all illusory "Phantoms".
But before he could think more, three identical figures appeared beside him again.
The difference was...
RUMBLE!
This time, the attacks from all three were real!
Ochoku was blasted away instantly, but while flying, he found time to write characters on the ground.
[Spike]
[Spike]
[Spike]
The extending "Spike" characters instantly turned the ground into sharp spikes, blocking the trio's path.
Following that, Ochoku wrote the character "Staff" casually on a nearby wall.
The next moment, the wall turned into a long staff landing in Ochoku's hand.
"Wind Cloud Sweeping Staff · Horizontal Sweep!"
He swung the staff, sweeping out a gale.
But at this moment, he saw the figures of the three dissipate instantly—at some point, they had become "Phantoms" again.
"What exactly... is this ability?"
This extremely disgusting combat experience was a first even for Ochoku.
He had basically determined the characteristics of the opponent's ability.
The man named Inu seemed capable of creating tangible, almost indistinguishable phantoms. Before the attack hit, even Observation Haki couldn't distinguish them.
If that were all, it would be fine.
After all, phantoms were just for confusion and intimidation.
The key was—among Inu's phantoms, some seemed Real.
Ochoku couldn't determine the specific number yet, but there were at least seven or eight.
The most terrifying part was... for some reason, those phantoms seemed to copy even the opponent's fruit abilities, though the power and strength seemed weaker than the original.
But even so...
"Inu... this guy is simply a monster."
Even though disgusted, Ochoku had to sigh.
Yes—even the ability displayed now was a solid monster level.
Real and fake, void and illusion, he couldn't tell them apart.
This meant he had to respond to every strike regardless of whether it was real or fake, eventually leading to his complete suppression in this battle.
He barely had a chance to counterattack; all he could do now was defend and... Observe.
"Looks like he realized my ability."
On the other side, Inu observed Ochoku's movements silently—from the opponent's reaction, he analyzed that the opponent seemed to have realized his ability.
[Shell-Shell Fruit · Model: Shen (Mirage) LV5: Can create Mirage Qi, change its color and form at will, and create near-realistic illusions within the Mirage Qi coverage.]
[Fused Fruit · Dog-Dog Fruit · Model: Nine-Tailed Fox (Kyubi no Kitsune) LV5: Can create 9 independent fox-tail avatars, gaining weakened versions of all abilities of the copied target.]
Yes.
What Inu used now was the combination of these two Mythical Zoan abilities.
In fact, invisible Mirage Qi was floating throughout the entire "Mirror World (Fake)", only Ochoku hadn't noticed it.
Within the Mirage Qi, Inu could create various false illusions at will, attacking Ochoku in coordination with the Nine-Tailed Fox clones.
The combination of truth and illusion fit Inu's role in The Zodiac exactly—"Trickster".
But...
"Ochoku—this guy... something is wrong."
At this moment, Inu frowned slightly.
He looked down at Ochoku, who was holding a long staff, constantly changing various weapons to tangle with the illusions and clones.
He instinctively sensed something wrong with Ochoku.
"He is too weak."
Inu realized this.
In fact—after deciding to declare war on Big Mom, he had secretly arrived near Totto Land via Nezumi and secretly copied the members of the Big Mom Pirates.
Currently, his nine fox-tail clones, except for "Hananafuda" who was in Wano Country, were all members of the Charlotte Family.
Katakuri, Oven, Daifuku, Smoothie, Cracker... except for "Brûlée" who had special strategic value due to the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, the rest were basically the strongest combatants of the Big Mom Pirates.
But in reality, even so.
"A pirate of Ochoku's level shouldn't be suppressed like this by a group of weakened clones."
Inu knew well—as one of the few surviving members of the Rocks Pirates, even if Ochoku was weaker than the Four Emperors, the gap was limited.
In terms of individual strength, there was no reason to be suppressed to this extent.
Besides that, another problem was that compared to the displayed strength, Ochoku's vitality seemed too strong.
Since the start of the battle, Inu was sure his clones and illusions had inflicted multiple injuries on Ochoku.
But so far, although Ochoku coughed blood and got injured as expected, his vitality and aura hadn't changed a bit.
Strange vitality and strange strength combined were weird enough.
But if these two reasons weren't enough.
Then Inu had the most critical third reason.
[Devil Fruit User 'Ochoku' Discovered]
[Confirmed Devil Fruit: 'Paramecia · Script-Script Fruit' (Kaku Kaku no Mi / Write-Write Fruit), analyzing...]
[Fruit Ability: Can imagine needed characters and corresponding scenes in the mind and write them out.]
[Effects by Level]
[LV3: Gain full fruit effect. Can write characters on physical matter and change its form and nature through mental imagination. E.g., imagine the ground becoming a shield, write the character "Shield", and the ground becomes a shield. Requires 1.8 Billion Berries for Unlock.]
[Characters written by the ability consume mental power. The limit of the effect is the limit of imagination, but can only write on matter, not on living beings other than oneself.]
[The stronger the "Imagination" written through text, the stronger the effect, and the more stamina consumed.]
[LV4: Deep-Dive Development. Can write on non-physical matter. The scope of writable content and concepts is broader, but requires more mental power and stamina. Requires 3.7 Billion Berries for Unlock.]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening · Text is Imagination. Ability can affect the surrounding environment. Character effects are stronger. Can write characters anywhere within 100 meters at will using thought. Requires 12.5 Billion Berries for Unlock.]
[Analysis Progress: 100%]
Yes.
From the first moment he saw Ochoku, Inu knew the opponent's fruit ability through the Fruit Encyclopedia.
Paramecia · Script-Script Fruit. Even Inu, who had seen many abnormal fruits, had to sigh that this fruit was extremely strong.
Just imagine, then write the corresponding content, and achieve the corresponding "Reality".
Despite the limitation of not being able to write on other living beings, this ability to make fantasy come true was undoubtedly in the top tier category.
But until now, all fruit abilities used by Ochoku were limited to the LV3 level.
This was the biggest problem.
After all, according to intel, Ochoku occupied Hachinosu shortly after the God Valley Incident—and he was already an ability user when he occupied Hachinosu.
It has been thirty full years since then.
In such a long time, a great pirate like Ochoku couldn't possibly have failed to develop his fruit ability at all.
So...
"I don't have time to waste with you."
"Let me see what you are hiding!?"
At this moment, accompanied by Inu's low murmur.
On the battlefield.
BOOM!
Ochoku, knocked away by "Cracker's" Biscuit Soldier again, saw countless illusions walking out of the air nearby as usual.
Oven, Katakuri, Daifuku, and Smoothie... Ochoku couldn't judge which of the countless illusions were real and which were fake.
So, Ochoku gritted his teeth, reaching out to grab the ground.
"Writing..."
[Hundred Shield Wall]
Characters appeared. The next moment, massive shields arranged into a wall, converging.
But just moments later...
"!!!"
Ochoku was horrified to find that the attacks of the countless illusions passed directly through the massive shield walls the next moment.
And the originally indestructible shield wall became illusory at this moment.
"..."
He looked down incredulously—he saw the "Ground" he grabbed just now was slowly disappearing.
That wasn't ground, but a cliff.
"Even the environmental illusions are real!?"
Ochoku realized this immediately—his ability must be written on physical matter to be effective. But if the "Physical Matter" itself was a tangible illusion created by Inu, it would naturally disappear when the opponent canceled the ability.
"This ability... so disgusting!"
Ochoku cursed internally but realized the danger.
His body was "Special", but even so, getting hit by this attack wouldn't feel good.
And if this continued...
"I will lose."
At this moment, Ochoku understood this clearly.
Dragging it out wasn't a solution.
So...
"Must 'Liberate' a part."
He gritted his teeth, and then...
Click!
Visibly, a part of the tight-fitting armor on his body seemed to "Cave In".
Ochoku's face turned somewhat pale instantly; his aura and Haki seemed to decline at this moment.
But moments later, he raised his hand.
Then...
Characters appeared out of thin air in front of him.
[Thunder]
RUMBLE!
Massive thunder exploded in front of him. Intense lightning destroyed all surrounding illusions instantly.
At the same time...
"Found you!"
The few fox-tail clones that weren't destroyed instantly appeared in Ochoku's vision immediately.
"Solving these clones with real attack capabilities will make dealing with that guy much easier!"
Knowing this, Ochoku didn't hesitate to raise his hand and write again.
[Lock]
Thus, from the air, a massive chain made of air formed abruptly, shooting toward the fox-tail clones instantly.
Click!
It locked all clones accurately.
Then...
[Speed]
Ochoku wrote this character on himself without hesitation.
Then...
WHOOSH!
His figure burst out with speed far exceeding before in an instant.
On the way, he waved his hand again.
[Blade]
A long sword landed in his hand instantly. Wielding the sword with his right hand, he roared toward the clones.
At this moment...
His left hand wrote on his right hand again—[Power].
"Riki-Oh Style · Great Wheel Slash!" (Strength King Style)
The long sword in his hand swung down abruptly.
Black-red Conqueror's Haki and pitch-black Armament Haki exploded. The slash slammed heavily onto the ground of the Mirror World.
RUMBLE!
Terrifying shockwaves erupted instantly. The ground of the Mirror World cracked with this strike as the center.
The structure of the entire space seemed to become unstable; countless rays of light refracted constantly in the mirrors.
Amidst rising dust, Ochoku withdrew the long sword slowly.
"It's over, Inu."
"I've seen through your ability!"
He looked at the distant Inu.
"After your clones are destroyed, your ability is meaningless!"
He extended his forked long tongue, raising the sword in his hand. "Next, it's your turn!"
He seemed certain of his victory.
But just then...
"Destroyed?"
Inu, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, finally stood up.
Under Ochoku's incredulous gaze, his figure dissipated slowly.
Yes.
Even the Inu watching from afar was an illusion.
At the same time...
"When did you get the illusion that you destroyed my clones?"
Ochoku heard Inu's voice coming from the smoke in front of him as usual.
"..."
He looked into the dust.
Then he saw...
VMMM!
Swaying Flame Clouds surrounded Inu.
On his body, fine golden fur had grown.
On the Dog Mask, a pair of fox ears grew.
His eight clones gathered behind him.
And around them.
Nine pitch-black shadows clearly formed a massive "Shadow Wall".
At this moment, the shadow at the front had a shocking wound—it was almost split in half.
But now, the hideous wound was healing rapidly.
Clearly—it was these shadow walls that blocked Ochoku's slash just now.
[Doppelman · Nine Shadows Barrier]
And just then...
VMMM!
The barrier formed by the nine shadows dispersed, each standing beside Inu and his eight clones.
This scene almost stunned Ochoku.
What is this again?
"Also..."
Clearly, Inu had no interest in answering questions.
"You think you saw through my ability?"
He just looked at Ochoku.
"Then I can only say—You know nothing about my ability."
☆☆☆
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