Chapter 555: Brook's Redemption, Look at the Panties!
Just as Luffy and his crew stepped into Wano Country, the battle on Ryuunosuke's side was also approaching its end.
In terms of raw combat power and stamina, Krul Busurud and Keshia were starting to fall behind.
There was a clear difference between a sudden burst of strength and the ability to keep pouring power out without stopping.
And under the current circumstances, the power they had forced out was simply not enough to finish the fight quickly.
As the energy in their bodies was gradually absorbed and fused, the drawn out battle began to tilt the scales.
Little by little, the steady side gained the advantage.
"Krul Busurud," King said, breathing evenly now that he had seized control of the rhythm. "The captain has no intention of killing you. Can't we stop and talk properly?"
At this point, King held absolute dominance.
He had also already mastered the fourth transformation of the Spear of Life.
With that level of control, Krul Busurud no longer needed to exist as a target for King to practice on.
So King stopped his attack and spoke directly.
After Ryuunosuke and the others arrived, they had not rushed in.
Their intentions were obvious.
They were letting King and the others make full use of these battles, letting the fusion of their powers stabilize and deepen.
"Talk?" Krul Busurud's voice rattled, and even through bone and hollow laughter, the madness inside it was impossible to hide.
"I have nothing to talk about. All I want right now is to kill you!"
"Or rather… you killed him!"
Even though he was a skeleton, the insanity in his words made the air feel sharp.
King clicked his tongue.
"I don't want to fight you like this."
Then he turned his head and spoke toward the side.
"Ba . This guy's yours."
The Tree of Life behind King instantly compressed and reshaped, transforming back into the Spear of Life.
In the same breath, King vanished from where he stood.
A heartbeat later, he appeared on the deck of the Eternal Ark.
Ban surged forward immediately.
Now that the baton had been passed to him, there was no reason to refuse.
Fighting was what he loved most.
With a different opponent, Krul Busurud found it even harder to hold on than before.
Ban's abilities made him fight in a way that completely ignored his own injuries.
It was an exchange of life for life, a brutal style that felt like a storm choosing to collide with another storm.
Krul Busurud had the awareness to gamble his life too, but awareness and habit were not the same thing.
Soon, Krul Busurud's bones cracked and shattered under Ban's assault.
On the other side, a roar tore through the battlefield.
"Why do I feel so panicked when I see that guy get hurt?!"
"That's impossible! He tried to kill me before!"
"What are you trying to do?!"
Keshia's voice was trembling with rage and confusion.
She stopped defending entirely and charged toward Krul Busurud.
Diana's attacks were already beyond restraint.
Her hammer slammed down, and the shockwave launched Keshia away like a cannonball.
Keshia crashed down onto Krul Busurud's side of the battlefield.
"Keshia!"
"Liberation!"
Krul Busurud saw her fly in and instantly released his power.
A strange aura spilled from his skull.
The injuries Ban had carved into him a moment ago rapidly restored, bone knitting back into its original form.
"No!"
"Don't use Liberation!"
Smack!
The moment Krul Busurud tried to trigger it, Keshia lunged forward and slapped him across the face.
The slap cut the technique off mid surge.
Krul Busurud froze, stunned, the power he was about to unleash choking back down his throat.
"Keshia, you…"
He stared at her, shocked.
It had to be said.
Keshia still had not regained her memories.
She should not even understand what she had just done.
So why would she risk herself like that to stop him and help him?
Keshia's expression twisted like she was angry at herself for even being here.
"Don't look at me like that!"
"I don't know!"
"Don't ask me either!"
Something stirred inside her chest, a strange emotion she could not name, and it made her skin crawl under his gaze.
She did not want to be stared at by the skeleton in front of her.
Not like this.
Not when her heart was acting like it was betraying her.
A new voice slipped into the chaos, calm and sharp at the same time.
"Gentlemen, I think there are some things we should discuss, if you can."
"We can't negotiate like this. At this rate you'll all just die."
"If you're not even afraid of death, what else is there to be afraid of?"
Ryuunosuke appeared in front of them.
He raised a hand.
In an instant, the sea surface locked solid, frozen into a wide field of ice.
Ryuunosuke landed lightly on it and looked at them with a faintly mocking expression.
"Captain Ryuunosuke…" Ban's voice carried from behind, but he did not step forward.
Krul Busurud suddenly dropped to his knees on the ice.
He bowed his skull low and shouted with force.
"Keshia, I'm sorry!"
Keshia's eyes widened.
For some reason, watching him kneel there made something inside her tremble.
Something tried to awaken.
She dug through the feeling, searching for the source.
But no matter how hard she reached inward, she found nothing she could grasp.
That emptiness only made her more restless.
More irritated.
That irritation snapped into anger.
"If this apology is for trying to kill me before," Keshia said coldly, "I won't accept it."
Ryuunosuke tilted his head slightly, watching her reaction.
Krul Busurud lifted his skull.
"No!"
"The person I've actually been looking for is you!"
"Before, I thought it was Perona. But it was just an outburst of energy I released back then."
"That energy became a Devil Fruit, and that girl ate it."
"That's why you feel close to Perona."
"Because my essence is inside her body!"
Krul Busurud spilled the words out like he had been holding them in his ribs for too long.
Even Ryuunosuke's interest sharpened at that.
A story this juicy did not come around often.
Before, Ryuunosuke had felt there had to be some connection between Perona and Krul Busurud.
Now, looking back, he realized he had still been thinking too simply.
Some things were never just what they looked like on the surface.
And Krul Busurud had just mentioned Devil Fruits directly.
Keshia's eyes narrowed.
"The person you're looking for…?"
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't you want to kill me back then?"
The words landed like they had brushed against a locked door inside her.
Krul Busurud's voice dropped.
"I made a mistake back then."
"I believed Perona was you, so…"
Krul Busurud explained it to her, piece by piece.
He had wanted to kill Keshia before because Keshia's current body was his lover's body.
He misjudged the soul and believed the true one was Perona.
So he tried to kill Keshia and bring back the person he truly loved.
But now he finally understood.
The truth was not that simple at all.
Keshia listened.
And when he finished, she did not explode the way anyone expected.
Instead, she went terrifyingly calm.
Her voice came out steady, almost quiet.
"What were you thinking… when you used me as a bargaining chip?"
Krul Busurud did not flinch.
"You know the terms of the contract."
"You trade your most precious thing to enter it."
"And in that moment, the first and most precious thing that came to my mind…"
"…was you."
He kept speaking, almost like he was confessing to a judge who had already decided the verdict.
No matter what his reasons were, Keshia had no reason to forgive him.
His true purpose in coming here was never to win.
It was to die, and to force the return of Keshia's memories through that death.
Keshia's lips trembled.
A tear slid down her cheek.
Then she lifted her skirt slowly, as if daring the world to laugh at her.
She stared at the kneeling skeleton in front of her.
"You…"
Her voice shook.
"Didn't you want to see my panties?"
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