To test his new invention, Luo Xing and Queen headed to the encampment of the Gifters—soldiers who had eaten the artificial Devil Fruits known as SMILEs and gained Zoan-type powers.
Creating an army made entirely of animal-type users was one of Kaido's long-standing ambitions for Wano, and the four to five hundred Gifters assembled before them were the result of more than a decade of collaboration between Kaido and the Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo.
"You. Step forward," Luo Xing ordered.
The one he pointed at was a burly man with the head of a lion growing from his belly.
"At your service, Lord Consort!"
This was Holdem, one of Jack the Drought's subordinates—a Headliner with the power of the Lion-type SMILE fruit.
"And you, come here too."
The second man he indicated was the complete opposite—skinny, hunched, almost monkey-like.
"Yes, Lord Consort, whatever you need!"
The scrawny man's smile was all flattery and nerves.
Holdem shot him a look of disdain.
"My lord, that's Billy, one of my underlings. Weakest in the whole Gifter corps. What do you want with him?"
"Oh, perfect." Luo Xing tossed the strange purple lump in his hand lightly.
"Billy, how'd you like to beat Holdem—and earn yourself a Headliner's rank?"
The Beasts Pirates were a rigid hierarchy: at the top, Governor-General Kaido; then the Three Calamities; next, the Tobi Roppo; below them, the Headliners—and beneath those, the countless grunts.
Billy was pure grunt material, worlds below someone like Holdem.
"No, no, I could never fight Master Holdem!" Billy shrank back, terrified.
Queen chuckled, smoke curling from his pipe.
"Lord Consort, you've got a wicked sense of humor. A low-level grunt beating a Headliner? Don't make me laugh. Our Headliners aren't pushovers—each would fetch a nine-digit bounty outside!"
Over a hundred million berries — in the world two years before the main story, that was Supernova-tier strength.
Luo Xing only smiled. He wasn't joking.
The "meat" in his hand wasn't ordinary tissue—it was a Tiger-class Mutant Cell.
In the world of One Punch Man, monsters were ranked: Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and God.
Luo Xing's system used the same scale.
A single Tiger-class cell, if its host survived the transformation, could instantly grant Tiger-level power—more than enough to crush a Headliner.
"You can't beat him now," Luo Xing said evenly, "but swallow this and you might. Eat it or don't—it's your choice."
A murmur rippled through the Gifters.
Eat a piece of purple flesh and suddenly surpass a Headliner? Absurd.
It wasn't a Devil Fruit, and SMILE users couldn't even eat another fruit without dying.
Nobody believed him—Billy included.
But why would the Son-in-law of Kaido bother lying to a nobody?
Should I gamble…?
He clenched his jaw. In a world where only the strong survived—especially in the Beasts Pirates—who could resist the chance to grow stronger, even one in a thousand?
Billy shut his eyes, steeled himself, and gulped the entire chunk down.
The taste wasn't bad—certainly better than a Devil Fruit.
Then it hit.
He collapsed, screaming.
"What's happening?! Billy's poisoned—was that stuff toxic?!"
"Idiot, why would Lord Consort poison him for no reason?!"
The camp erupted in confusion. Even Queen's smirk faltered; suspicion flickered in his eyes.
Only Luo Xing remained calm.
The pain was expected. If Billy endured it, he'd be reborn.
If not… well, he'd meet the King of Hell.
"AAAHHHHH!"
Billy's shrieks grew blood-chilling as his body twisted like coiled rope. His skin bulged; his muscles writhed; cells multiplied at a mad pace.
Minutes later, the screams stopped.
The figure that rose from the ground left everyone breathless.
"He's huge!"
"His arms—his whole frame—it's nothing like before!"
"What the hell just happened?!"
Queen's eyes bulged so far his pipe dropped unnoticed to the dirt.
"This… this is the power of your Mutant Cells, Lord Consort? Incredible!"
Even the most miraculous Devil Fruit couldn't turn a frail weakling into a powerhouse in mere minutes.
"You haven't seen the most incredible part yet," Luo Xing said with a knowing grin.
"Billy, how do you feel?"
Billy clenched his fists; raw power pulsed through every vein.
"I feel… stronger than I've ever imagined!"
"Think you can beat Holdem now?"
"Yes, Lord Consort!"
"Good. Show me."
The crowd backed away, clearing space.
Holdem stared at the towering figure before him.
Was this really the same scrawny underling? Impossible!
"Holdem-sama, I'm coming!"
For once, timid Billy charged first.
"You dare look down on me?!" Holdem roared, swinging his blade as the lion head on his belly spewed flame.
"Inferno Blade!"
The fire-wreathed sword came slicing down—
—and Billy vanished.
"What—?!"
Before Holdem could even process it, pain exploded at the back of his skull. He crumpled, unconscious.
Silence.
Every Gifter had seen it: Billy had dodged the flaming strike at impossible speed and appeared behind Holdem in an instant.
A Headliner—defeated in a single blow by the weakest of his men.
Every gaze turned toward Luo Xing, minds racing.
This wasn't Billy's doing. It was the work of Luo Xing's Mutant Cells.
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