The moment the soft pad in Kuma's palm touched Sladra's body
A red "balloon" seemed to wriggle out from inside him, swelling as if someone were inflating it.
In the end, it became a huge crimson sphere, floating in midair.
"My wounds… my wounds don't hurt anymore?!" Sladra stared in disbelief.
He felt light all over. If he ignored the torn flesh and blood on his body, he almost felt like he was in the best condition of his life.
Like…
He'd been restored to full HP in an instant.
Sladra said excitedly, "Not just pain even fatigue, weakness, that drained feeling… it's all gone!"
Kaido stared at their new companion Kuma and blurted out, "I didn't expect the Paw-Paw Fruit to be this ridiculous! It can even repel pain out of the body!"
Now he finally understood…
Why Big Bro Ares had insisted on taking Kuma in. This ability was insanely powerful!
"It really… works." Kuma stared blankly at the pink pads on his palm.
And in that instant, his thoughts went to his parents already dead.
If he'd had this power sooner…
Maybe they wouldn't have suffered so much.
Ginny gasped in amazement, "Driving away pain! Kuma!! Your ability is incredible!"
"It suits you so well "
Ivankov nodded hard. "Yes, yes! This power is perfect for kind-hearted Kuma. He can help friends suffer less!"
Even not far away, Linlin and Streusen couldn't hide their shock.
Streusen looked dejected. "No wonder that Garling wanted to trade with us… so the Paw-Paw Fruit has an ability this strong…"
Garling's face darkened, ugly as storm clouds.
A slave had eaten the Paw-Paw Fruit.
To him, that was unforgivable.
Just as everyone was still basking in the surprise
Ares poured cold water straight over them.
"The negative state Kuma repels won't vanish. Unless someone absorbs it, it'll return… and rebound onto Kuma."
"Making the user endure all that damage."
As he spoke
Ares' gaze sharpened. He thrust his massive hand into the red sphere.
In that instant
All the pain Sladra had suffered at Marine G-1, along with every miserable negative sensation, slammed into Ares' body.
His dark muscles trembled like a sieve, as if Sengoku's shockwaves and countless other attacks were blasting into him at once!
Blood seeped out from his pores
A horrifying sight.
Sladra's eyes went wide. He shouted in alarm, "Big Bro Ares, you !"
He rushed toward Ares, but Ares gritted his teeth and barked, "Don't come closer!!"
Sladra froze mid-step.
Kaido was dumbstruck, eyes wider than bells, staring at Ares enduring that agony. His lips trembled.
"Ares… big bro…"
Sladra's big eyes brimmed with mist. His tear ducts stung, and tears spilled out as he choked up, "Big Bro Ares, you already took so many injuries in that fight…"
"You… you don't need to take my pain too!"
Ares' entire body looked soaked in blood.
Pain flooded him from head to toe, inside and out.
Every corner of his being was being ravaged by it
Piercing, bone-deep
Like thousands of savage beasts tearing and chewing at his flesh.
Even Garling stared, stunned then his eyes flashed bright.
A perfect chance!
He didn't hesitate.
He launched at Ares at once, his body vanishing like a ghost.
A cold glint flashed across the air his blade cutting down.
"You dare?!" Kaido exploded, fury surging, veins bulging at his temples.
He was about to move
But Ares was faster.
His blood-soaked arm erupted with crackling lightning!
Conqueror's Haki wrapped his fist like flame.
"Conqueror's Coating Great Ape King Fist!"
In an instant, the air screamed.
It howled like it was being blown apart.
BOOM!
Ares' punch landed perfectly on the blade, forcing Garling back.
Garling shook his arm, still trembling from the impact. A flash of fear crossed his eyes as he sneered,
"Hey Ares, are you really that full of yourself?!"
"Using the Paw-Paw Fruit to take your companion's injuries… you really think we're nothing!!"
"You'll pay for that arrogance!"
"Heh." Ares let out a cold laugh then bared his teeth in a wide grin.
"Hahahaha! You don't get it."
"You have no idea how happy I am right now!"
"My dream is to forge my body into something that surpasses a Supreme Grade Blade."
"What's a little pain?!"
"What makes me happy is this "
"I finally found another way to hammer my physique!!!"
His voice hit the battlefield like a bronze bell, rattling everyone's eardrums until they rang.
And Ares understood something else too.
This bit of physical pain…
Compared to what Kuma had endured…
It was nothing.
If you're not mad enough
How are you going to overturn the World Government one day and reshape the seas into the world you want!?
Kaido blinked, then threw his head back and laughed.
"Wororororo That's exactly why I follow Big Bro Ares!!"
"He'll definitely achieve his dream!"
And become everyone's nightmare
The kind that never goes away.
Sladra was shaken to the core. Surrounded by enemies, and he was still thinking about tempering his body…
A true freak of nature.
Sladra's eyes burned with worship as he exclaimed, "With that kind of will, Big Bro Ares will become the strongest on the seas!"
"Ares… big brother?" Kuma stood there frozen. "S-So this is the dream Big Brother Ares is chasing…?"
Ivankov went numb. "Forge your body to surpass a Supreme Grade Blade?! Hey, hey can a human body even do that?!"
Even Linlin was stunned, a hint of fear rising in her eyes.
"He's insane. This kid Ares is genuinely insane!!"
Madness.
Reckless.
Suicidal.
"Ares' will is terrifying…" Streusen felt ice-cold all over. Just watching Ares endure that level of pain made him shake, unable to look.
And Ares was enjoying it!?
God
Was this man made of iron!?
Even Garling, seeing Ares for the first time, was left pale.
"Supreme Grade Blade… he… he actually wants to make his body reach that level?!"
"What a joke!"
"How could human flesh compare to a Supreme Grade Blade "
"Something forged a thousand times over, bathed and tempered by Armament Haki?!"
"What kind of absurd dream is that?!"
Garling's world was nobles, subordinates, and slaves.
He'd never truly seen how vast the seas were.
Ares' dream shattered his common sense.
But Ares didn't care what anyone thought.
He was thrilled, exhilarated, thinking to himself:
"I've been searching for ways to temper the inside of my body."
"Now I have Ryuo, Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit… and lightning."
"That's three methods that can train my body from the inside out."
"My steps toward my dream are going to get faster and faster!!"
"One day…"
"I'll forge my physique…"
"Until inside and out become one."
"A single perfect whole."
"Surpassing even a Supreme Grade Blade!!"
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