One Piece: Dungeon Shop. Scamming Garp, Reward: Eight-Tails Jinchuriki-Chapter 385: This Blast Almost Brought the Grand Finale
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Chapter 385: This Blast Almost Brought the Grand Finale
Amidst the smoke and dust of the ruined arena lay a massive, horrifying crater. That was the result of Imu using Tien Shinhan as a living meteor hammer and brutally smashing him into the ground.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
A fit of violent coughing echoed from the bottom of the crater. A blood-soaked hand desperately grabbed the edge of the pit.
Tien Shinhan unsteadily pulled himself out. He looked absolutely miserable. His rugged martial arts uniform was torn to shreds, and his body was covered in deep bruises and scrapes.
The most severe injuries were the two deep, purplish grooves encircling his waist. They were left behind when Imu’s bizarre, massive hand had constricted around him. She had nearly snapped his spine in half!
"You aren’t dead yet?"
Up in the air, the pitch-black demon god, Imu, looked down mockingly at the "ant" below. Her massive body floated in the sky, the sharp tail on her back swaying casually. It was like a cat toying with a dying mouse.
"I must admit, your body is absurdly tough."
A white slit opened across Imu’s massive, pitch-black face. She was smiling—a smile overflowing with cruelty and sheer arrogance.
"But in this form..."
"I am immortal."
"And I am indestructible."
The moment she finished speaking, the surface of her pitch-black body suddenly writhed. The caved-in areas left behind by Tien Shinhan’s earlier strikes instantly reverted to their original state!
This was an Awakened Mythical Zoan! Combined with her eight hundred years of accumulated mastery over Life Return, as long as she wasn’t instantly blown to ash, she could regenerate infinitely!
"Huff... huff..."
Tien Shinhan gasped heavily for air. His three eyes stared fixedly at the monster in the sky, his heart sinking bit by bit.
It was exactly as she said. Physical blows were practically useless against this monster. No matter how heavy his punches were, the impact was either completely neutralized by that bizarre fluid body or blocked entirely by her impenetrable Haki.
Is this... what they call a ’god’?
"What’s wrong?"
"Are you in despair?"
Imu slowly descended, her massive shadow completely engulfing Tien Shinhan.
"Kneel."
"Repent to your god."
"Perhaps..."
"I might grant you a quick death."
Imu’s voice echoed throughout the entire venue like muffled thunder, carrying a demonic allure that compelled people to bow in worship. In the spectator stands below, quite a few weak-willed individuals felt their legs give out, nearly collapsing to their knees on the spot.
However, standing amidst the ruins, Tien Shinhan suddenly laughed. Although his face was covered in blood, his smile carried an unprecedented, ironclad resolve.
"Kneel?"
Tien Shinhan slowly raised his head. Within his three eyes burned a fierce resolve for mutual destruction.
"A martial artist..."
"Would rather die standing!"
"Than live kneeling!!"
BOOM!!
An aura several times more violent than before suddenly erupted from Tien Shinhan’s body! That wasn’t ordinary ki. That was... the brilliant radiance of burning life force!
"If physical blows can’t hurt you..."
"If techniques can’t defeat you..."
"Then I’ll use this move..."
"And blow you and this entire space to ash!!"
Tien Shinhan kicked off the ground with tremendous force! Shooting up like a white rocket, he instantly soared high into the sky. He reached a position even higher than Imu, looking down upon her!
At this moment, he held nothing back. He no longer cared about the extreme toll on his body. He didn’t even... care about his own life!
"What is he doing?" In the stands, Krillin jumped to his feet, his face filled with horror.
"Th-That stance is..." Master Roshi’s sunglasses slid halfway down his nose, the walking stick in his hands trembling violently.
"Oh no!!"
"That idiot, Tien Shinhan!!"
"He’s going to use the Tri-Beam!!"
"That technique burns through a person’s lifespan!!"
Up in the sky, Tien Shinhan completely ignored the panicked shouts from below. In his eyes, there was only that pitch-black demon god.
He slowly raised his hands. He formed a diamond shape in front of his chest. His fingers overlapped, the webbing of his thumbs pressed together. It was... a locking crosshair!
"What kind of parlor trick is this?" Imu looked up at Tien Shinhan, a flash of disdain passing through her eyes.
Another energy beam? The Dodon Ray from earlier had decent piercing power, but that was it. In this Awakened Devil Fruit form, her regenerative capabilities were absolute! Even if he punched a few holes in her, she would heal in the blink of an eye!
"It’s useless." Imu sneered.
Her massive black body didn’t even attempt to dodge. Instead, she spread her arms wide, striking an extremely provocative pose.
"Come on!"
"Let me see the final struggle of a pathetic bug!"
Arrogance. This was the arrogance ingrained in the very bones of the Celestial Dragons. It was the natural contempt a ruler held for mere mortals.
But this time, she was wrong. Dead wrong!
In the sky, Tien Shinhan stared through the diamond aperture formed by his hands, locking firmly onto Imu below. His blood and ki began to boil wildly. He wasn’t merely mobilizing his internal ki. He was... forcibly extracting the life force from every single cell!
VMMMMM—!!!
A spine-chilling, high-frequency vibration rang out across the clouds.
Between Tien Shinhan’s hands, the light was no longer golden. It was an impossibly blinding, stark white! The light was so intense that it even eclipsed the brilliance of the sun itself!
An aura overflowing with annihilation, tyranny, and absolute destructive power instantly blanketed the entire arena.
"Hm?!"
Down below, Imu’s expression finally changed. That aura... something was wrong! Very wrong!
That wasn’t a standard energy attack. That was... pure, unadulterated crushing force! It was like compressing a massive mountain into a single pebble and violently hurling it down!
DANGER!!
Imu’s top-tier Observation Haki let out a shrill, terrifying scream in her mind! She would die! She would actually die! If she took this attack head-on, even with her immortal body, she would be completely erased from existence!
Dodge!! Imu desperately tried to move.
But right at that moment, Tien Shinhan’s furious roar echoed from the sky like a thunderclap.
"Too late!!"
"A strike risking my very life..."
"How are you going to dodge it?!?"
"TRI! BEAM!!!"
BOOOOOOOM——————!!!!!
A gargantuan, perfectly square pillar of stark white light instantly crashed down from the heavens! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
There were no flashy explosions. There were no scattered shockwaves. There was only pure, absolute, unreasonable... crushing pressure!!
Wherever the pillar of light passed, the very fabric of space seemed to be crushed into glass shards! It was too fast! Too fierce! It gave Imu absolutely no time to react!
"AAAAHHHHH!!!!"
From within the pillar of light, Imu’s agonized shrieks echoed out.
The Armament Haki she prided herself on was as fragile as an eggshell against this apocalyptic impact, instantly crumbling to dust! Her fluid body, capable of shapeshifting at will, was violently flattened against the ground!
Escape? In her dreams! The colossal pressure acted like a giant, invisible hand, pinning her firmly to the chopping block!
Sizzle—!!
Under the relentless scouring of the white light, the black matter frantically melted away! It was absolute suppression on a biological level! It was the sheer resolve of trading a life for a life!
RUMBLE—!!!
The entire tournament venue shook violently, as if a magnitude 10 earthquake had just struck! The sturdy arena was completely gone. In its place was a bottomless, perfectly edged... square abyss!!
This was the Tri-Beam! The forbidden technique of the Crane School! Its power exceeded the Kamehameha several times over, but the terrible price was consuming the user’s very lifespan!
"Huff... huff..."
As the light faded, Tien Shinhan’s silhouette plummeted from the sky like a kite with a snapped string.
His face was as pale as paper, and every muscle in his body spasmed. That single strike had nearly drained away all of his life force. Yet, he still forced his heavy eyelids open, staring intensely at the bottomless square crater below.
"Is... is it over?"
The scene fell into a dead silence. All the spectators sat with their mouths agape, staring blankly at the terrifying pit.
Is this really an attack a human could unleash?!
This kind of power... even a nuclear bomb wouldn’t be much worse, right?!
"S-So strong..." Krillin swallowed hard. He could feel his legs trembling.
Is this Tien Shinhan’s true strength? If I took the full brunt of an attack that massive... even if it just grazed me, there wouldn’t even be ashes left!
"Did he win?"
"That monster... should be dead, right?" Yamcha wiped away a bead of cold sweat, asking with uncertainty.
Taking the full brunt of an attack that massive... even a man of steel would have melted!
However, just when everyone thought the dust had settled...
Thump.
A dull, heavy heartbeat echoed abruptly from the bottom of the deep pit.
Tien Shinhan’s eyes, which he had been about to close, suddenly widened. His pupils filled with sheer, suffocating despair.
"No... impossible..."
Whoosh—
A chilling wind blew up from the bottom of the crater, accompanied by a nauseating stench of blood. In the bottomless darkness, a lump of pitch-black sludge squirmed slowly.
It was Imu. At this moment, she had completely lost her human shape. Half of her body was entirely gone. The remaining half hung from a shattered skeleton like melted asphalt.
Wretched. It was a gruesome, unbearable sight. If it were a normal person, they would have been dead a hundred times over from such injuries.
But... that lump of rotten flesh was still moving!
Sizzle, sizzle...
Countless black threads frantically wove together, repairing the damage like writhing, living organisms. Bones regrew. Flesh and blood were reforged.
In less than three seconds, that terrifying black silhouette stood up once again!
Even though her aura was drastically weakened and her size had shrunk by half... She... was still alive!!
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