One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 109 The Hunt for the Beast Ends Here

Underground, inside another hollow.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

With a deep roar, the figure of Hanafuda is climbing upwards.

His massive Tyrannosaurus Rex body was like an unstoppable sledgehammer, his claws easily piercing through rocks, allowing him to forcefully smash through the layers of barriers created by the rats above with his head.

The sharp rocks couldn't even scratch his skin, and the gruesome stitches on his body made him look like a monster.

Obviously—just as Zishu said before.

The deep underground environment is enough to kill most creatures, but it is not fatal to the powerful creatures of the sea.

This is especially true for beasts that crave hunting and revenge.

But the next moment...
"Roar!"

The flower cards, which were climbing upwards, suddenly stopped.

"boom!"

He suddenly leaped onto a stone platform not far away, transforming into a half-human, half-beast 'human-beast form'.

At that moment, on the other side of the platform, he could see a figure emerging from the stone.

No—if you really look at it, the stone was clearly cut open and then reshaped into the shape of a passage.

"Tick-tock!" "Tick-tock!"

In this quiet underground place, even the sound of dripping blood seemed jarring.

Zishu shook the blood off his hand and looked at the flower cards in the distance.

At this moment, Hanafuda seemed somewhat curious.

Whose blood?

The question uttered from within his fangs.

"Cracker".

And the Rat seemed quite willing to answer him.

"No wonder. The blood of the weak always smells so bad."

Hanafuda sneered upon hearing this.

"The so-called Three Generals are nothing more than brats of this caliber."

"But, kid, you shouldn't have shown up in front of me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the stone platform beneath his feet caved in instantly.

With a whooshing sound as its massive body cut through the wind, Hanafuda's figure vanished from its original spot and reappeared on the rock wall above Koji's head.

That terrifying speed was even faster than when he fought Roy before.

"Roar!"

The low growl, combined with the stitches on his body, sounded utterly terrifying in the dark underground.

"I'm not like that weak brat!"

No further greetings were needed; the giant tail crashed down with a deafening roar.

But
"Buzz!"

The next moment, an invisible spatial gate suddenly appeared, directly absorbing his tail attack.

"Roar!"

The feeling of his power hitting empty air infuriated Hanafuda, but he did not hesitate and took a step forward to attack again.

However, before that, he felt the rock wall beneath his feet begin to collapse.

When he looked down, he saw that—sometime during the night—several blade-like arms had once again sliced ​​open the ground beneath his feet.
"Cutting and gouging out the stone!"

As Zishu finished speaking, Hanafuda's body, having lost its footing, began to fall once again.

"That trick again."

The falling flower cards growled softly.

But he didn't have time to find another leverage point.

The next moment.

"Sever the body with a thousand cuts!"

As the rat launched another attack, countless slashes suddenly erupted from the rock wall and the body of the flower card.

And naturally, the falling hanafuda (flower cards) had no chance to dodge.

"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!"

The slashes almost all hit their mark, and the powerful strikes all erupted from Hanafuda's body.

"Roar!"

Blood gushed from the mouth of the slashed Hanafuda, and blood suddenly spurted from its entire body.

But
"Click!" "Click!" "Click!"

Despite being struck countless times with enough force to slice a real Tyrannosaurus Rex into minced meat, Hanafuda, who was coughing up blood, was instantly weakened, but her body remained intact.

However, a continuous stream of sounds was emanating from his body.

And without a doubt—that crisp, metallic, cold mechanical sound—is definitely not the sound of a normal living being.

And this is indeed the case.

The next moment, the sharp claws on Hanafuda's legs suddenly began to extend.

The sharp claws pierced through the surrounding mountain walls in an instant, stopping the falling figure of the flower card.

then
"Ouch! That slash that erupted from inside my body? Is this even possible?"

As he whispered, the stitches-like wounds on his body seemed to crack open from the slashing, revealing the bones inside his body.

Within the skeleton that originally belonged to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, amidst the surrounding blood vessels and muscles, there was a distinctly strong metallic texture.

But at this moment, his vertical pupils were still full of sharpness and violence.

"But it didn't work!"

"Pain. Beasts don't care about things like that, as long as they can gain power and victory!"

Amidst the roar, Hanazawa's muscular legs suddenly burst forth with intense flames.

"boom!"

It sounded as if an engine was roaring from his legs!
Now, the facts are clearly before us.

The creature, covered in a metallic sheen and emitting engine sounds from within its legs, was clearly no longer just a mere 'creature'.

Hanafuda is now a true 'cyborg'!
And the next moment.
"boom!"

The engine roared from between his legs.

His figure leaped toward the rat with even more terrifying speed.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The massive figure moved swiftly through the underground rock walls at a speed almost impossible to detect with the naked eye; the only indication that it was moving at high speed toward the Rat was the constantly breaking and denting rock face.

At that very moment, countless arms grew out of the mountain wall again, unleashing powerful slashes to block the only way for Hanafuda to ascend.

But
"It's useless! It's useless! It's useless!"

Hanafuda roared, enduring countless slashes as it continued to ascend.

"Quinn's modification technology is top-notch, and to ensure the strength after modification, I even had him use a special alloy called 'QUEEN Alloy' that was recently developed based on the metal of your twelve constellations."

As he spoke, the pain still lingered in his mind.

In order to carry out this transformation, he even recently allowed 'Fire Fist' Ace to attack his subordinates.

According to Quinn, even an Ancient Zoan user would need to be at their peak to withstand such a level of modification.

Moreover, to ensure effective muscle transformation, he cannot even be anesthetized.

So even Hanafuda (flower cards) almost died during that transformation.

But he survived, and what he gained was unprecedented power!

"My pure strength, explosive speed, and internal and external defenses are all much stronger than before!"

"Your feeble strikes can do nothing but bring me pain and excitement!"

"This power was originally prepared to avenge the 'Black Xie'—"

He grinned.

"But using the blood of the twelve constellation leaders as a sacrifice for the first battle isn't bad!"

"After defeating you and handing you over to Brother Kaido, and obtaining the formula for that alloy, I can then safely hunt down the Black Xeno's crew's friends and family!"

Yes, he had already planned how to take revenge on Roy.

According to the previous agreement, he could not attack Roy and his crew.

But he had already made up his mind—he could go and kill the families and friends of Roy's crew.

He could easily force Roy to come and challenge him to a duel.

Of course, since Roy is now a candidate for Admiral, he will inevitably have to give up his position as a Shichibukai after doing this, which will affect the deal between Kaido and the World Government.

So he hadn't done that before.

But things are different now. As long as he can help Kaido get his hands on the alloy formula for the twelve constellations, then the World Government will no longer be an important buyer for Kaido.

All the major and minor powers in the world crave to trade with the beasts.

Even if he gave up his position as a Shichibukai, Kaido's ambition could still be realized.

"Crack!"

As the words fell...
His tail also split open at this moment.

At its tail, a sharp sword grows out—and judging from the shape of the sword, it seems to have been modified from its tailbone and metal.

"King Dragon - Tail Sword!"

The next moment, the tail of the Hanafuda suddenly extended and stabbed out at a terrifying speed.

Beside the Rat, the portal opened again, intending to 'incorporate' the tail sword of the flower card.

"It's that trick again." But as he saw this, Hanafuda's lips curled into a smile.

In that very instant.

"Click!" "Click!"

Several miniature rocket jet-like devices 'grew' out beside the tail sword.

So the tail of the Hanafuda, while constantly changing direction, suddenly accelerated again!
“I have seen through your moves—they are indeed extremely difficult defensive measures, but you always need to catch the attack in order to open those ‘doors’ in the air to transfer the attack.”

Hanafuda roared.

"And you simply cannot catch the speed of my 'Tail Sword'!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the sharp tail sword accelerated to its maximum speed, and almost nothing could be seen underground except for the whistling and ear-piercing sound of the air exploding.

In Hanafuda's eyes, everything around him seemed to slow down at this moment.

He is the best beast.

So although he was verbally aggressive and arrogant, he was very patient when hunting!

At a certain moment, Hanafuda noticed that the rat seemed to move slightly.

"coming!"

He knew this was the opportunity he had been waiting for!
"After witnessing my speed and strength, he will definitely want to use his abilities to temporarily evade or even escape."

Just as mentioned before, there are many rumors about the Rat's elusive abilities on the high seas.

This is the moment that Hanafuda (flower cards) has been waiting for.

Because when prey is trying to escape, it is often at its most vulnerable and defenseless.

"You can't escape!"

"Wang Longche - Super Swift Tail Sword!"

The sharp tail of the sword finally fell.

In that instant, Hanafuda was almost certain that the attack had hit its mark—because at that moment, the sensors on his tail could almost feel the opponent's body temperature.

But, just a fleeting moment later...

Hanafuda was astonished to discover that there was no sensation of being pierced, no sound of blood splattering.

"boom!"

Where his sword pierced, the mountain wall instantly crumbled, leaving a huge hole.

But there was nothing there.

But in the next moment...
"You made two mistakes."

Hanafuda heard the sound.

Then, his body suddenly froze.

Because the sound came from a very close place.

He looked down.

Then he saw the rat-head mask right in front of him.

"First, you think I didn't know you were a cyborg, which is why I appeared in front of you."

Before she could finish speaking, Hanafuda had transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex and snapped at the rat.

However, he still missed.

"But the truth is quite the opposite—I know you very well."

At the same time, a sound came from behind him—the sound was still frighteningly close.

Where is it?

Hanafuda instinctively turned her head, trying to determine the other person's location.

But the next moment, the sound of footsteps falling came from directly in front of him.

The lingering whistling air around her ears made Hanafuda realize that incredible fact.

The opponent did not use that strange 'spatial portal' to evade.

At this moment, what the opponent is using is pure 'physical speed'.

"How could it be this fast?"

Such were the only murmurs in his heart.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the movement of the rat in front of him—it raised its hand.

Thus, an intense sense of crisis began to surge within Hanafuda's heart.

And it was precisely at this moment
"."

Beneath the rat mask, the eyes held a distinct chill and murderous intent.

Yes.

After 'Dog' copied Hanafuda's body, he already knew that Hanafuda's body had been modified.

In addition, he had fought against Hanafuda before, so he was confident that he had a good understanding of Hanafuda's strength.

He could have actually escaped into another dimension to hide long ago.

But he chose not to do so.

the reason is simple.
“A modified Ancient Zoan user is the best material to test the power of a slash.”

As he spoke, a domineering, jet-black aura gathered in the raised hand of the Rat.

That's 'Ryusakura'.

The Gluttony Fruit allows a creature to fuse with a non-living object, granting the living object its characteristics, but only one non-living characteristic can be possessed at a time.

Yes, the Swallow Fruit allows living beings to fuse with non-living things and acquire their characteristics.

And 'Enma Iron' is naturally among them.

So in fact, after the Three Armies Exercise, all of Roy's clones were already able to use Haki.

But that's still not the key point.

Most importantly, there was the last fruit that the rat was carrying at that moment.
[Multiplication Fruit LV3]

[Can double the speed and size of objects, but has no effect on living beings other than the object itself.]

The current maximum multiplier is 50 times.

The power of this fruit is exactly what Zishu wants to test.

But now, he doesn't plan to test it anymore.

"Secondly, you said something wrong."

The revenge plan that Hanafuda had just revealed made him somewhat impatient.

"Tell me, Hanafuda (flower cards)."

He raised his eyes and looked at Hanafuda: "You said you've become many times stronger than before?"

How many times?

The words fell.

His hand had already struck out.

[Multiplier Fruit - 50x Enhancement]

[Blessed by Flowing Cherry Blossoms]

【Cutting the Fruit - Cutting】

"Air Cut, Sever, Fifty Black Cut!"

With the speed boost from the multiplied fruit, Hanafuda had no chance to dodge and was struck.

And the next moment.
"boom!"

With the enhancement in speed and quality, this strike was completely incomparable to the previous ones.

Hanafuda can clearly hear the sound of his own metal bones breaking and his own muscles shattering.

That's a power that even a 'cyborg's' body couldn't withstand!
The next moment, his head also flew up.

At this moment, a sense of bewilderment still flickered in the eyes of this Shichibukai.

But until now.

His remaining consciousness allowed him to see—in that instant, his entire massive Tyrannosaurus Rex-transformed body clearly exploded!

Engine oil, metal, and blood mingled and splattered.

The Rat was bathed in the blood rain, but the slowly opening spatial gate above his head left him completely untouched by blood.

His cold gaze fell upon Hanafuda, yet at that moment Hanafuda felt a strange sense of familiarity.

His remaining, animalistic instincts seemed to suddenly make him realize something at that moment.

That was a possibility he had never considered, or even imagined.

"you!!!"

His expression instantly lit up with an incredulous gleam.

But the next moment, he began to lose consciousness.

"Brother Kaido."

He didn't think about his treasure, nor about his children; he only thought about Kaido.

"That guy's zodiac sign is..."

Only at that moment did he finally realize it.
Just how dangerous is that organization called the "Twelve Constellations"?

He also instinctively sensed that in the future, that organization would pose a tremendous threat to the Beast he respected.

But obviously
Whether it was ambition, hatred, resentment, or anything else—everything that belonged to him had lost its meaning.

"Boom!"

The head landed.

The Lizard King's hunt ends here.

(End of this chapter)