A few days later…
"Hey, Leo… are you sure the two of us are enough to kill that thing? Aren't you overestimating our strength?" Jack asked, adjusting the fuel barrel in one hand and traps in the other while his two spears rested over his shoulder.
Leo walked beside him, bait trailing behind.
At his side hung several blades, one dagger in particular stood out, its white jade polished hilt far too refined with some characters engraved on it in unknown language.
"We are not going to war," Leo replied flatly. "It is just one fucking animal." Without a word, he bent, picked up a stone, and hurled it toward the distant tree.
The air whistled as the stone broke the sound barrier and hit something.
Crack.
High above, a monkey dropped from the branches, hitting the ground with a dull thud, dead before it even landed.
'…He's different today.' Jack thought.
In his view, Leo moved with a sharp focus today. There was no restraint, no mercy for the animals they encountered and killed on the way.
Where their usual hunts were swift and respectful… this was something else entirely.
They continued in silence, making their way to the far side of the island, where clawed markings scarred the trees at every turn, clear signs of the bear's territory which they usually avoided.
They dug deep pits, masked it with leaves and lined up its base with sharpened stakes.
This was not their usual method of hunting, they were preparing a killing ground which Jack observed silently.
It took the entire morning to prepare, positioning everything along the edge of the bear's hunting route.
A pit nearly forty feet deep and at the center of it lay their final trap, concealed beneath a fragile layer of earth and scattered across the ground… The bait.
A massive bluefin tuna from the South Blue lay at the center, its body split open, blood slowly seeping into the soil. Thick honey coated its flesh, the sweet scent spreading through the forest, from the distance berries were scattered across the ground, forming a deliberate trail.
Leo lowered his palm to the ground, eyes narrowing as he felt the faint tremor beneath the soil.
"He's close."
Without a word, they split—each moving to their assigned position.
Then the bear stepped into view, taller, broader, and stronger than the last time they had seen it a year ago. A twisted grin stretched across its face, arrogant and mocking, uncannily similar to Leo's.
It moved on all fours, slowly eating the scattered berries as it approached the bait, stopping just at the edge. Its eyes flicked downward, as if it had already noticed the trap. For a moment, it simply stood there, staring… then stepped forward anyway, as if it didn't care.
The ground gave way beneath it.
It crashed into the pit with a heavy impact, the tuna falling with it onto the sharpened stakes below but the spikes snapped under its weight.
A low grunt escaped the beast, not of pain but annoyance.
"Now!"
They moved at once, pouring fuel and flammable powder into the pit before setting it alight. Flames surged upward, and the bear let out a roar that shook the trees around.
It had already left the bait behind. Its claws dug into the walls as it began to climb, fire wrapping around its body, burning through its fur and skin. Still, it kept moving.
"Don't let it climb out!" Leo said.
They struck its limbs as it reached up, forcing it back again and again. One of Leo's blades drove through its paw, piercing out the other side before snapping, but the bear roared this time differently.
'…So only now you register us as a threat?' Leo thought.
From deep in the forest, movement stirred. Animals that should have run away were coming toward them, obeying the bears will.
Without waiting, Leo stepped forward and drove his clenched fist into the bear's face, sending it crashing back into the pit. The bear didn't stay down. Shaking his head he rose again and started climbing the fiery pit once more, his body burning continuously his pained cry clearly audible.
"This is bad," Jack said, looking toward the trees. "There are too many coming."
He threw a spear toward Leo, gripping another for himself.
"I'll take care of this mutt. You deal with the rest," Leo said, catching the spear without looking away from the pit.
The smell of burning skin and fur filled the air as the bear kept climbing furiously, but a mysterious grin plastered on Leo's face.
"You don't seem angry enough…" Leo said, raising the spear and taking aim at the climbing bear.
He threw it with full force.
The spear struck, driving straight into the bear's open mouth, piercing through its lower jaw and bursting out through its tongue. Blood spilled out in a thick stream as the impact forced the bear back down into the pit.
This time, it didn't climb.
It stayed there, glaring up at Leo, its eyes bloodshot, fire still clinging to its body slowly eating him away. It clenched its jaw, crushing the shaft of the spear, its teeth grinding against the embedded metal spear tip as it endured the pain.
"Oh… scary," Leo muttered.
A sudden movement from the side, a gorilla broke past Jack's line and lunged at him.
With just a glance, Leo caught the gorilla by the neck and tightened his grip. It thrashed, trying to break free, but couldn't match his strength slowly suffocating. With a sharp twist, its spine snapped inside. Leo tossed the corpse into the pit, and the flames surged higher as it fell.
Below, the bear shoved the burning body aside and began slamming its claws against the walls of the pit. The ground trembled with each strike, cracks spreading outward.
Leo stepped back, putting distance between himself and the edge. Falling in it wasn't part of his plan.
At the same time, he moved in to support Jack, who was being overwhelmed by the horde of animals, having overestimated his abilities earlier.
Soon the pit collapsed.
The surrounding ground gave way with a heavy rumble, caving inward and swallowing the flames, leaving behind a deeper, wider crater.
For a moment, there was silence, no roar, only heavy breathing.
A low, dragging sound echoed from within the dust and something emerged.
A huge bear composed of fourteen feet of muscle and burned flesh. Its fur was gone, its skin charred and cracked, thick fluid leaking from open wounds. It no longer looked like an animal but a wounded demon.
"Khwaaaaaa—!"
The roar that followed wasn't just sound, it carried Pain and Killing intent.
Everything froze, even Jack and Leo.
'Is it some kind of skill like in the game?' For a brief moment, his body refused to move.
Leo dug his nail into his own skin, snapping himself out of it.
"It doesn't look weakened," Jack spoke, his fear tightening as he fell to his knees. "If anything… it's worse."
The bear began moving toward them, advancing on all fours, each step shaking the ground beneath it.
"That was the point," Leo said, stepping forward. "Did you really think fire alone would kill it?" Before Jack could respond, Leo moved.
He closed the distance in an instant, leaping over just as the bear lashed out to grab him, missing him entirely.
Caught off guard, the beast skidded across the ground, before turning only to find Leo already on his face.
The bear swung its claw down to shred him but contrary to his expectation, Leo caught its claw.
For a moment, the two forces held against each other, then Leo's other fist drove forward, slamming into the bear's jaw.
A Bone cracking noise resounded the impact sending the massive body of bear crashing backward into the distance tree.
Leo looked at his bloodied hand, the one that had just struck the bear, leaving it with a minor injury. He shook it once and focused back on the fallen beast.
"This is disappointing…" he said, his voice carrying clear irritation. The bear felt dim witted slower… weaker than he had expected.
The bear, on the other hand, was confused. This human had overpowered him, why hasn't he frozen like the others. Its roar had always frozen its prey, yet this one stood unaffected.
It turned toward the other human.
Jack dropped to his knees, his body trembling as fear took hold.
The bear came to a simple conclusion, this human was abnormal, just like he was… but not nearly as threatening as the other human it had once encountered in the distant past.
A small stone struck Jack in the forehead, snapping him out of the feared state. He blinked, breathing heavily, then rushed toward Leo's side.
"Do not interfere in this fight," Leo said without looking at Jack.
Leo moved first.
He met the bear head-on. Its claws slammed into his fist, the impact sending a shock through both of them separating them apart.
He glanced at his bleeding knuckles, still not enough…
The bear let out a low growl and lifted a large boulder from the ground, throwing it straight at him. Without hesitation, Leo stepped forward and smashed it mid-air, breaking it into fragments.
Behind the debris, the bear charged.
"Too obvious…"
Leo ran forward and leapt, rising high before dropping straight down, using his momentum to drive his fist into the bear's head.
The impact forced the massive body into the ground, burying it halfway, which bleeded from all the wounds Leo had inflicted.
"This bear is still not enough to force out the haki inside me." He kicked the half buried bear in the back of his head, blood spilling spreading over its tattoos.
"Even you can kill it now, Jack…" Jack hiding in the distance stepped forward, more afraid of Leo than bear now.
No one in the village knew he was this strong. Tightening his grip on the spear, he lunged, driving it toward the beast's heart.
The tip pierced through skin and fat but went no deeper.
The shaft trembled in his hands, refusing to sink any further. Blood seeped from the shallow wound, trailing downward not randomly, but along the beast's carved tattoos.
An anomaly neither Jack nor Leo noticed.
'…Pathetic.' Leo muttered to both and turned away, though his gaze flicked back briefly, watching Jack struggle to finish off a half-dead beast.
Frustrated, Jack tightened his grip and shifted his aim, aiming the spear toward the bear's skull for a finishing blow but unexpectedly the bear moved.
Its eyes remained closed, yet its claws snapped upward in a blur, shattering the spear mid-strike. In the same motion, its other claw struck Jack across the stomach, too fast for him to even react. (Bear has entered the Ultra Instinct State haha)
Leo's eyes widened as he turned.
Jack was hurled backward, a deep gash tearing across his abdomen, before he crashed into the distance trees.
But Leo's focus remained locked on the bear.
Its body was now traced with blood-dark tattoos, the patterns pulsing faintly as its claws dripped with fresh blood. Slowly, it pushed itself upright, its movements heavier and far wild than before.
"How are you standing…?" Leo muttered, he had clearly felt his last hit broke the skull of this monster and soon he received his answer.
"...Its wounds are regenerating, but at the cost of its own blood." For the first time in the fight, Leo was genuinely shocked.
Without hesitation, he drew a knife and hurled it at the bear's head with full force but before it could land, the bear roared.
"GWAHHHHHHH—!!!"
A violent gust burst outward, tearing through the surroundings and throwing everything off balance. The knife veered off course, missing completely.
The moment the roar hit him, something in Leo snapped.
His thoughts went blank and he moved without strategy and restraint.
Charging straight at the beast, his broken fist clenched, a grin slowly twisting across his face.
Only when he was already within its striking reach did he realize it.
The bear's claws were already descending, aiming to take his head clean off.
At the last instant, Leo twisted his body, just enough to avoid a fatal blow, but the strike tore across his back instead.
The force sent him flying, crashing deep into the forest.
He slammed into a tree, the trunk splintering on impact, his body left hanging upside down as blood dripped from the wound on his back.
Still, his eyes remained fixed on the bear now charging toward him.
"…Did it just use some kind of 'Taunt' skill on me…?" Leo muttered.
The bear looked different now, larger, heavier, its movements more aggressive and powerful, as if it had entered a 'Berserk state'.
'He is definitely a Devil Fruit user…'