Resurrection of the dead?
Kuzan was stunned.
He froze in place.
Even his hands, tucked into his pockets, unconsciously clenched.
Resurrection...?
"A-ra-ra..."
Kuzan's Adam's apple bobbed. He opened his mouth, but found his throat so dry that even his characteristic catchphrase came out with difficulty.
He pushed up his sunglasses, and the eyes beneath the lenses, for the first time, were fully wide open.
He stared intently at the still-lazy White-haired Youth on the reclining chair, every word squeezed out through gritted teeth.
"Something like this..."
"Can it really be done?"
His tone no longer held its usual casualness and leisure, only an undisguised tension and solemnity.
White Night looked at him, at his eyes that could no longer remain half-closed, and a playful smile curved on his lips.
"Why can't it be done?"
He retorted, his tone infuriatingly matter-of-fact.
"As I said, my main goal here is to make guests feel at home."
"If a guest has a need, of course I'll try my best to fulfill it."
"Does resurrection sound like such a big deal? In my scope of business, it's just one of many paid services."
These words, heard by Kuzan, were nothing short of a violent mental storm.
He fell silent again.
He carefully observed White Night's expression, every subtle movement, trying to find even a hint of boasting or joking on that excessively handsome face.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The other person's gaze was clear and frank, and that bone-deep laziness was not a pretense; he genuinely... didn't take "resurrection of the dead," something that could drive the World Government mad, seriously at all!
To him, it was truly just a business.
A "paid service" with a clear price tag.
"Hoo..."
Kuzan slowly exhaled a plume of white mist tinged with chilling cold, and the ambient air temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
His taut body finally relaxed again.
He slowly straightened up, his hands returning to his pockets, and his signature lazy posture returned.
However, anyone could feel that he was now completely different from a few minutes ago.
"A-ra-ra..."
He drew out the sound, his tone carrying an indescribable, complex emotion, like Feeling, like awe, and like an extreme form of inquiry.
"Boss Bai Ye."
"You truly are... omnipotent."
Hearing this assessment, White Night finally deigned to sit up a little on the reclining chair.
He stretched, his bones cracking, and a brilliant, business-like smile appeared on his face.
"No, no, no, omnipotent is too exaggerated a word."
He waved his hand, saying modestly.
"But..."
White Night paused, his clear eyes meeting Kuzan's gaze, and he spoke clearly, word by word.
"Everything you can imagine, in theory, can be obtained in my instance."
This Admiral of Marineford, a man who stood at the pinnacle of the world, for the first time felt that his proud Ice-Ice Devil Fruit ability showed signs of being out of control.
The ground beneath his feet, at some unknown point, had been covered with a thin layer of white frost.
Kuzan was silent for a long time.
His face, which always wore a lazy expression, was now as tense as a rock.
Finally, he slowly exhaled a plume of white mist that condensed into ice crystals, and his taut body relaxed again.
"A-ra-ra..."
He drew out his characteristic long tone, slowly putting his hands back into his pockets and pushing up the sunglasses on his nose.
"It truly is... amazing."
He gazed at White Night, and in the depths of his half-closed eyes, unprecedented waves surged.
"Then... Boss Bai Ye, please choose a suitable instance for me."
White Night leaned lazily on the reclining chair, a professional smile curving on his lips.
"No problem."
"Intermediate Instance, right?"
"Mm."
Kuzan nodded.
His tone returned to its characteristic casualness, as if his earlier lapse had never happened.
"As a Logia Devil Fruit user."
He slowly added.
"I'm quite confident when it comes to self-preservation."
His words exuded the absolute confidence of an Admiral, of a Logia Devil Fruit user.
Physical attacks are ineffective.
His body can elementalize.
As long as his core isn't directly hit by Haki or Sea Stone, he is an almost immortal existence.
However.
Upon hearing this, White Night's smile became strange.
It was a smile mixed with playfulness, pity, and a hint of... mischievousness.
White Night yawned lazily, his finger lightly swiping across the virtual panel that only he could see.
His gaze finally landed precisely on that name.
[Intermediate Instance: Moon Eye].
[Description: Face the power of a god, challenge Six Paths: Uchiha Madara, who absorbed the God Tree and activated the Moon Eye.]
The curve of White Night's lips reached a degree that could be called malicious.
"Ten million Berries."
White Night extended his hand, fingers spread, and wiggled them.
"Cash or transfer? I support multiple payment methods here."
Kuzan looked at his money-grubbing appearance and, instead, felt relieved.
As long as it was business, it was manageable.
He pulled a golden card from the inside pocket of his suit and casually tossed it over.
"Password is six zeros."
He contentedly tucked the gold card into his pocket.
"Pleasure doing business."
White Night stood up from the reclining chair, patting the dust off his pants.
He walked in front of Kuzan, extended his hand, and patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Then..."
"Good luck, brave Mr. Admiral."
The smile on his face was dazzlingly bright.
Kuzan wanted to say something, but White Night had already withdrawn his hand and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
A blinding white light, for the second time, erupted in front of the tavern in Foosha Village.
This time, the white light was even more intense, even more vast than when it swallowed Garp.
The light faded.
The tall Marine Admiral disappeared without a trace... [Intermediate Instance: Moon Eye]
[Description: Face the power of a god, challenge Six Paths: Uchiha Madara, who absorbed the God Tree and activated the Moon Eye.]
[Task: Defeat him, or survive.]
When Kuzan's consciousness reformed, he found himself standing on a completely desolate wasteland.
The sky was an eerie dark red.
The earth was cracked and scorched, showing no signs of life.
The air was filled with a suffocating sense of oppression, so heavy that even he, an Admiral, found it difficult to breathe.
"A-ra-ra..."
"This truly is... an extraordinary place."
Kuzan pushed up his sunglasses, looking around.
His Observation Haki spread out like a tide, but only perceived emptiness.
No wind, no sound, no living things.
Only pure, chilling stillness.
Just then, his pupils sharply contracted.
He looked up.
At the horizon, an indescribable, colossal tree, reaching the heavens and piercing the earth, stood between the sky and the land.
The tree was too immense.
Its roots pierced the earth, its branches tore through the firmament, as if connecting the beginning and end of the world.
Just looking at it brought a sense of insignificance and trembling from the instinct of life itself.
However, what shocked Kuzan even more was the figure silently suspended in mid-air before the giant tree.
It was a man.
With flowing white hair and a simple white robe.
On his forehead, a bizarre, crimson eye, filled with black tomoe and ripples, was embedded.
Behind him, nine pitch-black orbs slowly revolved like satellites, emanating a terrifying aura that could annihilate everything.
The man had his eyes closed, arms crossed, and was just quietly suspended there.
He didn't emit any aura.
But his very existence was an ultimate oppression that transcended all things!
The laziness on Kuzan's face, for the first time, completely vanished.
His always half-closed eyes were wide open.
His muscles instantly tensed, and cold air uncontrollably seeped out from within him, freezing the ground beneath his feet into an ice field.
Danger!
Extreme danger!
Every cell in his body, his Observation Haki, was screaming the most urgent warning!
This man before him was the most terrifying existence he had ever encountered in his life!