Chapter 170: That Betrayal Was Worth It
A shadow is a unified object possessed by all things.
Whether stones, flowers, plants, water streams... everything has a shadow.
A living being's shadow possesses power; it is the reflection of spirituality, vitality, and mental power, the "Other Side" of each creature's unique soul.
And naturally.
As a "Perfect Copy", the fox-tail clones created by the "Dog-Dog Fruit · Model: Nine-Tailed Fox", which can even copy fruit abilities, would certainly have their own "Shadows".
That was exactly the scene Ochoku witnessed now.
After blocking his attack just now, the nine Shadow Mages beside Inu and his eight fox-tail clones changed slowly.
Their bodies compressed instantly, gradually turning into pitch-black shadow balls, landing in their respective masters' hands.
Then...
Inu and the eight fox-tail clones swallowed those shadow balls without hesitation.
[Shadow's Asgard · Ninefold Devour]
BOOM!
The next moment, immense power wrapped in surging aura erupted from them instantly.
The massive power boost equivalent to 200 shadows appeared on Inu and the eight clones simultaneously.
Then...
BANG!
The next instant, Ochoku was horrified to find that except for Inu, the eight clones vanished instantly with a violent sonic boom.
"So fast!"
Ochoku exclaimed instinctively—this speed was more than doubled or tripled compared to before!
But his reaction was extremely fast too.
"Free Characters · Protection!"
"Free Characters · Five Senses!"
He wrote four characters on himself immediately.
The next moment, his five senses were amplified massively, allowing him to hear the surging... wind from his side clearly!
BANG!
"Katakuri's" fist arrived.
BOOM!
His fist slammed onto Ochoku's body abruptly, making a harsh sound like clashing metal.
"Ugh!"
Even with "Protection" making his body tough as steel, Ochoku couldn't help but grunt.
"Strength increased too..."
Ochoku was shocked.
"Free Characters · Thunder!"
He wrote another character in the air without hesitation. Roaring thunder surged out instantly, trying to repel "Katakuri".
But...
VMMM!
At this moment, he saw the "Book" and "Mirror" appearing before him.
RUMBLE!
Roaring thunder shot into the book and mirror, swallowed completely.
That was the ability of "Charlotte Mont-d'Or" and "Charlotte Brûlée".
In this instant...
VMMM!
Katakuri's fist turned into mochi, wrapping around him.
At the same time...
WHOOSH!
Flames burned, steam exploded, slash wrapped in flowing liquid came from behind—that was "Oven", "Daifuku", and "Smoothie".
BOOM!
Fists roared, candy syrup flowed, sharp biscuit drills came from the front—that was "Compote", "Perospero", and "Cracker".
And now, the aura and ability erupting from them... were on a completely different level from before!
"Must liberate more!"
Ochoku gritted his teeth abruptly.
The armor on his body caved in visibly again; his vitality weakened further.
But as a price, the character "Protection" carved on him seemed to shine brighter.
[Free Characters · Enhanced Protection]
At the same time, Ochoku circulated one of the martial arts he learned in the past...
"Steel Chi Gong · Iron Bridge!"
His body hardened again instantly.
RUMBLE!
Moments later, the fists and slashes of the fox-tail clones hit Ochoku instantly.
The massive power cracked the ground where Ochoku stood inch by inch—slashes flew far away, flames burned everything.
Creak...
Although his body emitted creaking sounds like bending steel.
Ochoku didn't fall under the siege of eight people.
"Barely blocked it."
Just as he gritted his teeth, looking at the eight people around him, planning to strike back...
"!!!"
His peripheral vision caught a horrifying scene.
Because now, besides the eight fox-tail clones.
Inu's main body... moved at this moment.
THUD!
He took a step forward.
The cold, piercing fox eyes rose slowly in Ochoku's vision—his figure began to grow taller and larger like inflating.
In his hand, the bicorne hat Napoleon appeared.
RUMBLE!
Thundercloud Zeus floated.
WHOOSH!
Sun Prometheus circled.
Yes—in just a moment, he had transformed into Big Mom.
[Nine-Tailed Transformation · Charlotte Linlin]
"So it was you..."
Seeing this, Ochoku understood.
The person who gave him that heavy blow at the start of the battle was Inu's main body.
But the difference was...
At that time, Inu transformed into a weakened version of Big Mom.
But now, after swallowing shadows, although he still couldn't be Big Mom at her peak.
His aura and momentum were clearly incomparable to before.
And the most terrifying thing was...
"...Can't move."
Ochoku discovered the opponent's true goal—although he blocked the attacks of the eight clones, they clamped his body firmly, immobilizing him.
"HEA!"
"VEN!"
"LY!"
"FIRE!"
At this moment, overlapping voices rang out again—countless "Big Moms" appeared out of thin air around Ochoku.
Each raised a hand, pulling flames from Prometheus in the sky, attaching them to Napoleon in their hands.
Then...
"Elbaf Spear · Heavenly Fire Sovereignty!" (Heavenly Fire Ikoku)
Without greeting, from all directions, massive blades wrapped in terrifying slashes roared toward him.
Several fox-tail clones vanished instantly.
[Shen Fruit LV5: Can switch positions with illusions within Mirage Qi anytime.]
But Ochoku, having just broken free, had no chance to dodge—no, to be exact, he didn't know which strike to dodge.
Ochoku's teeth clacked.
Facing the incoming terrifying slashes, he knew... he had only one choice.
"Power... Full Liberation!"
Amidst a low roar, the slashes hit.
The next instant.
RUMBLE!
Violent slashes shook the entire Mirror World instantly.
The earth was torn apart by intense slashes instantly; the ground lifted, surrounding mirrors shattered instantly. Intense shockwaves and flames spread layer by layer toward the distance, piercing through almost everything in their path.
"..."
Seeing this, even Inu, the caster of this strike, looked solemn.
"As expected of Big Mom's power..."
Yes.
Even as a copied effect combined with "Shadow's Asgard".
The power of Big Mom he replicated was devastating enough.
One could imagine—if it were the Emperor herself, the power would be even stronger.
Of course, amidst this brief sigh.
Inu's gaze remained locked on the center of this strike.
Within the strike that almost pierced the entire "Mirror World".
He could clearly see a figure standing stubbornly in the flames at the center of the impact.
[Water]
Flowing "Water" characters were extinguishing the flames on his scorched body.
[Shield]
"Shield" characters circling on the ground and pierced giant shields explained his timely defense just now.
It was Ochoku.
But clearly.
Ochoku now was a completely different person from before.
Because now, the tight-fitting black armor covering his body, which withstood multiple attacks, was completely knocked off.
With the armor gone, Inu could see the body revealed beneath.
It was a horrifying sight.
On Ochoku's body, except for his head, the skin all over presented a corrupt gray color.
Large patches of muscle tissue had atrophied and rotted long ago, leaving only a layer of leather clinging tightly to the bones, revealing pale white bones beneath.
His body seemed long dead, even visibly rotting at a fast speed now.
At the same time, Inu could clearly see.
On Ochoku's knocked-off armor, lines of characters were disappearing.
[Heal][Heal][Heal][Heal][Heal]
Finally, only one character remained on his heart.
[Live]
"I see..."
Seeing this, Inu understood completely.
"You should have died long ago, only lingering on by maintaining your ability?"
Yes.
In the previous strikes, Inu noticed Ochoku's body anomaly—every time he unleashed stronger power, his vitality declined, weakening his Haki.
Now, the answer was clearly before him.
Ochoku should have died long ago.
His body seemed essentially dead.
He barely maintained his body from rotting with the armor created by his ability, sustaining his precarious life with the word "Live" on his heart.
So at the start of the battle, although he showed strong martial skills, he felt very weak overall to Inu, completely inconsistent with his seniority.
Besides that, his strange vitality was easily explained—forcibly sustaining life with ability, taking a little damage probably felt like nothing.
This also answered a question Inu had since seeing Ochoku.
In the original story, Ochoku was defeated and killed by "Blackbeard" Teach.
As known, after obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard mastered the method to obtain fruit abilities from others' corpses.
Although Ochoku was limited by his body and couldn't unleash the full power of the "Script-Script Fruit".
From the glimpse just now, the effect of this fruit was undoubtedly top-tier and comprehensive.
Blackbeard should have kept such a fruit, even if not for himself, for his subordinates.
However, in the original Blackbeard Pirates, no one possessed this ability.
Now, Inu knew the answer.
"Blackbeard stealing fruit abilities... judging from stealing Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, requires at least a complete corpse, maybe even a 'Fresh Corpse' just died."
But in Ochoku's current state, dying would probably mean turning into ashes.
It wasn't surprising Blackbeard couldn't steal his ability.
But speaking of which.
"Living like this is more painful than death, right?"
Looking at Ochoku's state, Inu clicked his tongue.
"Haa... haa... what do you... know?"
At this moment, Ochoku stared at Inu with bloodshot, cloudy eyes.
"If not for two-thirds of my ability maintaining the 'King's Armor', I would have killed you long ago."
He uttered a hoarse voice.
"Why find me at such a time? Why are you so strong?"
"You... scum!"
His chest heaved violently.
Yes.
Funny to say.
Although his body could no longer feel pleasure from drinking and enjoyment.
Although he could smell the rot of his own body almost every day, needing thick clothes and heavy spices to cover it.
Even so, he named the armor sustaining his life "King's Armor".
Or rather.
Only this way could he tell himself to persist in living.
Only this way could he tell himself—That betrayal back then was worth it.
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you