"Found you!"
Rorschach's eyes sharpened. Without hesitation, his body swelled, transforming into a towering seven-meter-tall azure beast-man.
Electric arcs crackled across his burly frame, swirling winds whipping around him.
"Boom!"
A massive shockwave erupted in the skies above the Upper District, making the entire Water 7 tremble for an instant.
In the next moment, Rorschach broke the sound barrier, streaking through the air like a bolt of thunder toward the target he had locked onto with his Observation Haki.
"Jean Ango! Hanks! What kind of monster did you two piss off?!"
From within the black abyssal rift that had suddenly torn open on Shipwreck Island's ground, a man's panicked shout rang out.
A fat man with a samurai topknot crawled out from the unzipped ground, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he stared toward the Upper District's sky.
There, a terrifyingly massive figure was barreling toward him at breakneck speed.
At this rate, he'd be here in less than three seconds!
The sheer power of that lightning, combined with the overwhelming Armament Haki, made Morisue Ichirō lose all hope of resisting.
He wanted to run!
But his ability had a major limitation—
If he teleported more than 1,000 meters, he'd need a 10-second cooldown before using it again.
Morisue Ichirō was a Paramecia-type Zip-Zip Fruit user.
His ability allowed him to unzip himself or inorganic objects, opening portals to a pocket dimension.
The range of his power was equal to his Observation Haki's range.
And the farther he teleported, the longer he had to wait before using it again.
10 seconds sounded short…
But as Morisue Ichirō stared at the behemoth crashing toward him, his face darkened—
He wouldn't last even five seconds against this monster!
"100 Million Volts—Thunder Pool!"
Before Rorschach even reached the ground, a colossal claw of lightning formed in his outstretched hand.
A raging thunder pool erupted from it, crashing downward toward Shipwreck Island like an unstoppable force of nature.
"Am I fighting a freaking Admiral?!"
Morisue Ichirō's fat face twisted in horror as the blinding thunderstorm loomed above.
A gigantic, 20- to 30-meter-wide storm of pure lightning destruction was about to engulf him whole.
His eyes turned bloodshot—
Then, something snapped inside him.
"If I'm going down, you're coming with me!"
He grabbed the zipper on his chest and yanked it open.
"Zzzzzip!"
His round, bloated body split apart, spilling a chaotic mess of objects onto the ground.
Among them, the most eye-catching were seven or eight cylindrical glass containers glowing with a pinkish hue.
Inside each container, an unknown liquid sloshed around, with suspicious purple stones submerged inside.
"Hahahaha! Navy scum! Let's die together!"
Morisue Ichirō lifted one of the glass containers high, his face contorted with madness.
Up in the sky, Rorschach had just unleashed a massive surge of lightning when he saw the glass container in Ichirō's hand.
In that instant, his pupils shrank, his heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran up his spine.
"That's… Explosive Rock?!"
Explosive Rock.
A mineral so destructive, its explosive power rivaled Ancient Weapons.
Rorschach had read about it in manga—but he'd also heard Fleet Admiral Sengoku talk about it back at Marineford.
Even just a dozen fist-sized pieces of Explosive Rock could wipe out an entire island.
If hundreds of them detonated simultaneously, they could annihilate an island the size of Marineford itself!
The moment he recognized Explosive Rock, Rorschach didn't hesitate.
He threw his hands forward, recalling the Thunder Pool he had just unleashed.
"Zzzzt—!"
The blinding electric storm abruptly halted, stopping just before striking the seven or eight glass containers on the ground.
Then, streaks of thick lightning arcs whipped backward, retracting into Rorschach's body.
The sudden reversal of power shook his insides—
Even with his Mythical Zoan endurance, a sharp pain surged through his chest.
His face flushed red.
And then—
"Pfft!"
Rorschach spat out a mouthful of blood.
He had recovered his Thunder Pool—
But Morisue Ichirō had already thrown one of the pinkish glass containers toward him!
"Explosive Rock detonates the moment it touches air!"
"As long as the glass container doesn't break, it won't explode!"
Rorschach snapped his right hand forward—
A gust of wind swirled together, forming a soft, invisible tendril, reaching out to catch the glass container mid-air.
But—
Morisue Ichirō had anticipated this.
His hands wove a bizarre ninja seal, then he pointed directly at the pink container flying toward Rorschach.
"Fire Release—Explosive Shuriken!"
At that moment—
A black shuriken embedded on the glass container's surface suddenly ignited—
Reasoned for 33 seconds
At that moment, a faint flicker suddenly quivered and burst into a small, weak flame.The flame was so tiny that Rorschach even wondered if it could ignite a pile of dry firewood.Yet, at that very moment, that almost imperceptible flame managed to blast the glass bottle—filled with pink liquid—until it split with a series of cracks.Through those cracks, pink liquid immediately began to seep out.
"Damn it! You're asking for death!"
Rorschach plunged downward in a fierce descent. With a sudden lunge, he extended his enormous Qilin Claw and reached for the explosive rock container—one that was cracking open with a cacophony of splits.He didn't know just how powerful this thing was, nor did he dare let the Explosive Rock detonate in Water 7.If its power truly were as Sengoku claimed—where a small cluster could obliterate a large warship—even an explosion on Shipwreck Island would surely send shockwaves crashing into the Lower District's houses.Over there, many Lower District residents were busy with post-disaster reconstruction; their bodies, unlike those of hardened fighters, wouldn't withstand the blast's shockwave.
"Grabbing Explosive Rock with your bare hands? Hahaha, how stupid! Go die!"Morisue Ichirō roared with mad laughter."Snap!"A lightning bolt, as thick as a bucket, crashed down, electrocuting him until his entire body was charred black, and he collapsed to the ground, spewing black smoke.
In mid-air, Rorschach bellowed as he retracted his enormous Qilin Claw, clutching in his palm the purple mineral slab that had been exposed to the air.Time was far too short—he didn't even have a moment to manipulate the airflow to create a brief vacuum that would have kept the Explosive Rock from contacting the air.
"It's about to explode!"Rorschach's pupils contracted as he sensed a terrifying energy expanding limitlessly within his closed Qilin Claw."Life Reclamation!""Deep Blue Armament!""Iron Block – Steel!"His already massive right arm suddenly swelled to twice its size, muscles bulging like hills.It was cloaked in deep blue Haki, making the azure scales on his skin seem even more profound, shimmering with a jade-like glow.
In the very next instant,"Boom!"The five fingers of Rorschach's right hand, clenched tightly, suddenly spread apart as a violent shockwave erupted.The deep blue Haki covering his palm was torn asunder by the force, and the azure scales shattered, with torrents of fresh blood gushing from between his fingers and dripping downward.Even his entire right arm trembled from the tremendous force—as if it had taken a punch from Cap himself.
"What immense power! It really is Explosive Rock!"Rorschach's eyes narrowed to needle-like slits as he looked down at the ice-cold, ghostly expression on Morisue Ichirō's face."Where did you get the Explosive Rock?""Monster! You held Explosive Rock in your hand and let it detonate—and you didn't even die!"Morisue Ichirō's face was awash with horror.
Suddenly, he rapidly formed hand seals with both hands and shouted, "Earth Release! Ground-Shattering Technique!""Shila!"The ground beneath him split open like a zipper, forming an opening that instantly swallowed his corpulent form.Rorschach's gaze turned as cold as a blade as he silently watched the opening vanish in an instant, choosing not to strike further.He couldn't employ his lightning, nor did he dare use his wind-manipulation ability—because not far away on the ground, there were still eight pink glass containers quietly resting.They appeared harmless, even somewhat beautiful, yet they were terrifying weapons capable of destroying the entire Water 7 beneath their feet.
Rorschach then turned his head toward the sea in one direction.Over three thousand meters from Water 7, on the surface of the sea, the bottom of a small boat suddenly revealed a zipper.The zipper was pulled open from within, exposing a pitch-black opening.Then, a fat man billowing with black smoke clumsily emerged from it, clutching a man with a cactus-shaped head in his grasp.
"Smack!"Morisue Ichirō slapped Jean Ango across the face, causing blood to spurt from his mouth and nose."Quickly, use your ability to toss the boat away! If that terrifying guy catches up, we're all dead!"Jean Ango's face darkened with fury from the slap, yet he knew all too well how formidable Rorschach was.Now wasn't the time for debate.Gritting his teeth, he grabbed one side of the boat with both hands and, in an utterly unorthodox manner, hurled it forward.
"Emergency Dash! Sonic Spear!""Whoosh!"The small boat beneath them immediately accelerated with both men aboard. With a roar, it skimmed almost along the sea surface, carving a straight path before vanishing swiftly into the vast ocean depths.
"Phew!"A dozen seconds later, high above the spot where the boat had been, Rorschach's figure reappeared as he looked on at the now-distant boat."How did the Bounty Hunter Guild end up entangled with something as dangerously volatile as Explosive Rock? I must contact old Sengoku immediately to get to the bottom of this."
Three bounty hunters had appeared in succession—two of them possessing strength no less than some Vice Admirals in the headquarters—and the last, a corpulent man resembling a samurai from Wano, even had the bizarre ability to traverse space.Perhaps it was by hiding within that strange zipper space that he managed to elude detection by Rorschach's Observation Haki."As expected, this world is full of bizarre and peculiar Devil Fruit abilities; sometimes raw power isn't everything."
(End of Chapter)
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