Under the night sky, Sabo took out a purple crystal, its outer edge encased in metal.
"What is that?"
"An Evil Eye, or rather, the activator for the Demon King Armament." Robin was happy to explain the principle of the Demon King Armament to them.
This was the only Evil Eye, once a gift Ren gave to Yuriko. But later Yuriko left it in Enkanomiya for Keiko to study. After so many years, the Evil Eye still hadn't achieved mass production.
Actually, in the Demon King Armament, the Evil Eye's function was to provide energy for the armor. This was the same as the Electro Crystals and Smoldering Pearls in other elemental weapons.
The only difference was that those had too little energy to sustain the Demon King Armament's operation. Only the Evil Eye, with its infinite energy, had the potential to do so.
In other words, the Demon King Armament in Sabo's hands was currently the only one Inazuma had.
And the metal around the Evil Eye was actually a Memory Metal Alloy created by the Munch-Munch Fruit. It looked like very little, but once the armor was activated, it would immediately transform back to its original form.
Actually, Ren had hoped to make nano-equipment like Iron Man's suit, but the technology really couldn't keep up. Unless they could get a Devil Fruit with similar abilities in the future.
Speaking of which, the Gold-Gold Fruit could actually do this. After awakening, it couldn't create gold from nothing, but it could multiply small amounts of gold.
However, that would make the Demon King Armament unnecessary. If one could truly awaken, they could pilot a Gundam themselves.
"Demon King Armament!"
Sabo gripped the Evil Eye. The metal outside instantly transformed. Under Smoker and Tashigi's stunned gazes, a suit of purple armor materialized piece by piece, enveloping Sabo's small body.
Soon, a fully armored warrior in purple hovered in mid-air, looking down at Smoker and Tashigi.
The dark red cloak fluttering behind him, the visor embedded with the Evil Eye, and the Supreme Grade Pipe now transformed into a long spear by lightning!
After entering the armored state, Sabo, who had been less than 1.3 meters tall, suddenly became a "giant" over 2.5 meters tall.
Normally, he couldn't have controlled such a massive machine at all. But after turning his body into flames, that concern disappeared.
Fusing with the armor, Sabo immediately released a powerful aura. Ren wondered what principles Keiko and Stussy had used, but the Demon King Armament seemed to have the ability to enhance Armament Haki.
The powerful aura even formed air currents, with wind and waves crashing outward in all directions.
"This is… the Demon King Armament…"
He could indeed feel an incredibly powerful aura. But in Smoker's view, though Sabo's abilities had increased with the armor restricting him, he could no longer use his Logia characteristics as flexibly to dodge attacks.
If the enemy used the internal destruction technique of Armament Haki, they could easily penetrate the armor and damage him!
Then the question was—could Smoker and Tashigi, who weren't even proficient in Armament Haki emission or basic Haki, use internal destruction?
Smoker: …
He was numb.
Moreover, he had underestimated the power of the Demon King Armament!
"Crack—"
A sudden sound of lightning crackled in the air. Smoker's ears twitched as he detected the sound, but his pupils were instantly pierced by a flash of lightning!
Almost in the same instant!
Sabo, wielding the lightning blade, transformed into a jagged bolt of lightning and shot straight toward him. One hand pressed down on Smoker's head, carrying him flying forward until they crashed into a protruding rocky mountainside!
Meanwhile, Tashigi, who remained in place, still hadn't processed what had happened. It wasn't until the onrushing gale and the shockwave from the impact behind her converged on her body that she realized her comrade had been taken out in the blink of an eye.
"Thud."
When Sabo released his grip, Smoker, whose eyes had rolled back, collapsed to the ground like a dead man.
"Smoker!"
Mr. Smoker didn't respond.
"Too weak. Using the Demon King Armament on you two is a waste." Sabo said with slight regret. Though he was still a brat, with the Demon King Armament's enhancement, he could already squeeze into the T3 or even T2 tier of combat strength on the seas.
Just one suit of armor had given him combat power comparable to a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral.
That last move had only been a small test. The armor's lightning power and his own flames hadn't been fully released yet.
But ultimately, he couldn't maintain the Demon King Armament for long. Not because of the armor's side effects, but because of the Evil Eye's side effects.
The side effects were a bit bizarre. When Stussy later studied it, she even suspected whether the Evil Eye's creation process had involved infusing some of Ren's Haki, because even Logia users were affected by the Evil Eye's side effects.
Fortunately, the side effects weren't actually that strong. Sabo's Haki and physical strength were currently insufficient, otherwise he could have ignored them completely.
After quickly dealing with Smoker, Sabo deactivated the Demon King Armament.
For dealing with just Tashigi, there was no need to use this at all. It wasn't even Sabo who finished her off.
Robin, eager to bring the Demon King Armament's data back to the lab, instantly took out Tashigi. Her fruit ability was impossible to guard against—even people with much higher combat power could be caught off guard.
Don't believe it?
Let her pinch you once and you'll know…
Not only would she crush them, she'd twist them into a pretzel!
But though Robin had dealt with them, she didn't kill them immediately. Instead, she sprouted many arms and carried them back to Enkanomiya.
Killing them directly would have been the biggest waste. These two could be used to negotiate with the Marines, or turned into pawns to infiltrate the Marines. Either way, they were good options.
If all else failed, they could be used as experimental material or put to work in the mines. That would at least be putting waste to use.
"Let's go back, Sabo."
"Go back just like that? I haven't had enough fun yet." Sabo was actually very reluctant. Being able to use the Demon King Armament without restraint was an exhilarating experience.
Riding inside the armor, feeling the immense power and speed it provided—that feeling was indescribably wonderful.
This was probably why so many people loved street racing. That exhilarating sensation was impossible to put into words.
"Don't be blinded by the armor's power. This isn't your own strength." Robin saw his mindset and reminded him.
If Sabo became obsessed with the armor, even overly reliant on this power, then he would be ruined.
What Inazuma needed was a Fatui Harbinger who mastered all forms of combat—the Tartaglia—not an armor pilot.
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