Urouge's pupils constricted as he felt the oppressive force that could tear apart Causality Power. He poured all his strength into activating the Karma Karma Fruit to its maximum. His nearly ten-meter-tall body glowed with a dazzling golden light, and all the accumulated damage power converged into his fist. He roared as he punched Yun Lie: "Karmic Retribution!"
However, the moment the two forces collided, Urouge felt a mighty surge of power, like a tsunami.
His proud body shattered inch by inch under Yun Lie's fist, his bones letting out a strained "crack" sound.
"Boom—!"
An earth-shattering explosion ripped through the clouds, and a wave of air surged outwards like a shockwave.
Urouge's massive body was sent flying like a kite with a broken string. He crashed through three layers of cloud rock before hitting the ground, his ten-meter-tall giant form instantly disintegrating, reverting to his original robust physique. Blood seeped from his mouth and nose, and his eyes were unfocused.
"The…the boss is dead! Run!"
A Monk shouted, and the Rogue Monks immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
In the eyes of these minions, Urouge's almost invincible Causality Power was easily defeated by the person in front of them, so how could they possibly have any chance of winning?
The instinct for survival made them disregard checking on their boss's life or death; they only wanted to escape this death trap in the shortest possible time.
"Trying to escape? Not so easy." Yun Lie's lips curled into a chilling sneer, and a sharp killing intent flashed in his eyes.
He gently raised his hand, and dazzling white light condensed at his fingertips, like a falling star.
With a flick of his wrist, beams of silver-white light shot out like arrows from a bowstring, piercing through the heads of the frantically fleeing Monks at an extremely fast speed.
These Monk bullies, who usually lorded over others, didn't even have a chance to let out a scream before they fell straight to the ground.
He never showed mercy to such evil scoundrels.
After dealing with the small fries, Yun Lie walked over to the dying Urouge and casually put him into the "small dark room" of his Inner World.
The next second, he flashed back into his Inner World.
"Yun Lie, have you reached Liuyun Island?" Nami, with her sharp eyes, was the first to notice Yun Lie's appearance. Her face was full of surprise and concern as she eagerly asked.
"Yes, I just arrived and ran into the Rogue Monks causing trouble."
Yun Lie recounted his experiences since landing on the island, especially mentioning the incomplete strange murals on the walls of the Rogue Monks' temple. Even the usually calm Robin's eyes lit up: "The patterns on the murals look like ancient Sky Island script, perhaps related to the Moon civilization. We must go see them as soon as possible."
.......
The next day, the morning light filtered through the illusory clouds of his Inner World, casting its glow upon Yun Lie.
He sat quietly before an ancient stone table, holding the purplish-black Karma Karma Fruit, lost in deep thought.
The surface of this Devil Fruit was covered with strange spiral patterns, as if it contained endless mysteries, exuding a mysterious and eerie attraction.
Yun Lie could clearly feel a strong craving deep within him, like a parched person seeing a water source, wanting to eat this fruit at all costs.
To confirm if this feeling was normal, he asked Nami, Robin, and his other companions, but they all said they had no special feelings towards the fruit.
This made Yun Lie even more puzzled and cautious, not daring to try it easily.
But he knew the taboo of Devil Fruits—having the Space Fruit, if he were to eat a second one, he would only explode and die.
"Yun Lie, I can't find the Devil Fruit in your hand in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia!" Just as Yun Lie was lost in thought, Robin's surprised voice came from behind him.
Yun Lie's heart jolted. He quickly turned around, walked swiftly to Robin's side, and took the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia from her hand.
His fingers rapidly flipped through the pages of the encyclopedia, his eyes fixed on the content of each page, not missing any detail.
He searched carefully from beginning to end twice, but still found no information about the Karma Karma Fruit.
"No way?" Yun Lie murmured to himself, a look of disbelief on his face.
Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly had an idea and quickly flipped to the page where the Space Fruit was located. He remembered that the Space Fruit was on the last page of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
When he opened this page, his gaze fell on the previous page—the Time-Time Fruit. Flipping further back, there was the Munch-Munch Fruit.
Yun Lie narrowed his eyes, carefully observing the binding of the page, and finally discovered a slight anomaly: at the root of the page, several sheets of paper were clearly missing, and the edges still had frayed and uneven traces of being deliberately torn off.
"It was hidden…" Yun Lie's pupils constricted slightly.
This meant that in addition to the Karma Karma Fruit, information about other Devil Fruits had been artificially erased.
Who was covering up these secrets? What power did the hidden fruits conceal?
"Robin, stay away from me. I have a theory I want to test." Yun Lie's voice was low and solemn, his eyes flickering with determination and unease.
He knew that his next action was full of unknowns and dangers. The Karma Karma Fruit in his palm felt as if it were burning, continuously emitting strange fluctuations, as if silently luring him.
After Nami, Robin, and the others retreated a hundred meters away, their faces full of worry, Yun Lie took a deep breath, and his aura suddenly changed.
"Space Barrier, maximum power · reinforce!" With a low shout, silver-white light burst forth from his body like a tide. The light was dazzling, as if it illuminated the entire space.
He quickly formed hand seals, and streaks of silver-white light intertwined in the air, forming layer upon layer of overlapping space barriers, like an indestructible fortress, tightly encasing him.
The Space Power surged wildly, and the air emitted faint crackling sounds under the immense pressure, even showing faint spatial cracks.
Immediately after, under the astonished gaze of everyone, Yun Lie exerted force, his five fingers gripping the Karma Karma Fruit in his hand like steel pliers.
With a crisp "crack," the red-gold Karma Karma Fruit shattered, and blood-red juice splashed out like a fountain, spilling onto the ground, instantly staining it with a strange red hue.
The moment the fruit shattered, a strange energy entwined with blood-colored patterns shot into the sky, like an enraged blood-colored flood dragon, twisting and surging in the air, continuously emitting sharp hisses.
"Here it comes!" Yun Lie's eyes sharpened, feeling both nervous and excited.
The moment he saw this energy, the feeling of craving surged like a powerful tide, impacting his consciousness even more fiercely, almost drowning his rationality.
And this strange energy was not at all docile; as soon as it appeared, it tried to tear through space and escape.
It frantically crashed against the silver-white space barrier. Each impact stirred up circles of dazzling red ripples, and the powerful shockwave made the entire space tremble slightly.