One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 236 Fruit Awakening Failed? Heavenly Palace Wonderland!
"Boom!" "Boom!"

The battle continues inside the dueling arena.

Of course, calling it a battle isn't entirely accurate.

"Nightmare Cave - Nightmare Army!"

Accompanied by Qilingom's roar, fragments of the colorful dream continued to gather.

Countless grotesque and ominous nightmare creatures surged out like a tide, rushing towards Shenhou.

"God-Slaying Spear - Bone Spear!"

Pierre Saint raised his hands, and dozens of bone spears were thrown out by him.

"Cut the scene faster!"

Fabian waved the light screen in his hand.

In reality, both the Nightmare Legion summoned by Qilingom and the spears wielded by Pierre Saint accelerated almost instantly and appeared in front of Shenhou.

The three worked together seamlessly, and their attacks were incredibly powerful.

But
"Little tricks."

Shenhou merely chuckled.

He neither dodged nor avoided, but merely moved his shoulder slightly and bumped into her from the side.

"boom!"

The next instant, the spear that Pierre Saint had thrust out was shattered by his shoulder—the immense force that followed even turned the group of nightmare creatures in front of him into dust.

[Indestructible Body, Mountain-Shaking]

At the same time, Shenhou raised his hand, plucked a tuft of hair, and blew on it.

"call!"

With a flash of golden light, numerous 'body-on-body' creatures, identical in appearance to the Monkey King, clad in simplified golden armor and wielding iron rods, leaped out.

【Homie - An External Avatar - Monkeys and Their Offspring】

They rallied together, moving with lightning speed, and charged towards the Nightmare Legion, wielding their iron rods!

But it's worth mentioning...
Compared to his previous role as an 'alien' who helped people around Dressrosa.

The aura and imposing presence of the monkeys summoned by Shenhou at this moment were clearly not on the same level.

That was not an illusion.

In the God of War stance, all allies around Shenhou can receive a significant power boost.

To put it bluntly, every monkey and its offspring present here at this moment could be considered a 'strongman' if they were in the amusement park.

so.
"boom!"

As soon as the monkeys made contact with the Nightmare Army, they saw the monkeys wielding iron rods, their eyes gleaming with golden light, and their staff fighting skills were exquisite.

The fierce and powerful Nightmare Legion, however, was like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, and was instantly routed.

Countless nightmare creatures were blasted apart by the monkeys and their offspring, their bodies scattered into fragments of the dream.

But that's still not all.

Because at this moment
"boom!"

The true form of the Monkey has also moved.

"sieve!"

His figure still broke the sound barrier at a speed completely invisible to the naked eye, flying to the three knights of the gods.

The golden cudgel, wrapped in black and red lightning, was raised and smashed down towards Pierre Saint!
Pierre Saint instinctively raised his hand, and a bone spear emerged from his armor, attempting to block the attack.

But a moment later.
"Crack!"

The sound of things breaking and shattering rang out, and Pierre Saint found that his bone spear was as vulnerable as tofu, and the blood mist around him, which was originally considered an 'absolute defense', was instantly shattered by the power of the Conqueror's Haki!

"Camera movement - Turn!"

At the same time, Fabian Saint's low shout came.

The next moment, the figures of two divine knights appeared simultaneously on either side of Shenhou.

"Camera movement, props, Earth-Destroying Sword!"

Fabian Saint raised his hand, and the scattered boulders on the 'stage' transformed into a giant sword that fell into his hand.

He covered it with Armament Haki and swung his sword down!
"Dream Trident: Nightmare Venom Sting!"

At this moment, Qilingom Saint had transformed into a form with a human upper body and a Qilin lower body.

He also swung his trident, on which a purple poison flowed.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Shenhou attacked Piersheng, they also launched a sneak attack.

But
"clang!"

"clang!"

Accompanied by two crisp sounds of clashing metal.

The greatsword and the trident were each held in place by an iron rod!
"!!!"*3
The three knights of the gods were horrified to see that from Shenhou's shoulders, two more heads wearing the masks of sea beasts and four muscular arms holding iron rods had grown out.

【Battle God Stance - Form Transformation - Three Heads and Six Arms】

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

Next, six arms and three sticks danced in unison.

The trident shattered, the greatsword turned to dust—the bodies of the three divine knights instantly crumbled and disintegrated under the shadow of the staff wreathed in domineering color!

Their mangled bodies flew backwards simultaneously, blasting a hole through the expanded bullring.

"Ugh, camera movement! Shift!"

Amidst immense pain, Fabian Saint managed to use his abilities to transfer the three people's reconstructed bodies to another location in the arena.

However, Shenhou clearly had no intention of giving them time to rest!

"Fire eyes and golden pupils!"

The laser beam shot out, traversing the entire arena and hitting all three directly.

Their bodies, which had just been reconstructed, were instantly missing half again.

At the same time, Shenhou's body rapidly expanded, transforming into a giant-like size in an instant.

He slammed the stick down, and the three who couldn't dodge in time were blasted into dust.

“Not incredible!”

In this already crumbling arena, Gaz and Doflamingo were both suspended in mid-air.

At this moment, the former was still explaining the situation on the battlefield with all his might.

"The battle was fierce and spectacular—and the outcome was clear even to the person who knows nothing about combat."

"It's a complete and utter crushing defeat! Those three guys are no match for Lord Shenhou!"

"According to my own rough estimate, they have been killed by Lord Shenhou more than 50 times in total!"

And at this moment, just as Gaz said.

Even ordinary spectators outside the arena who know nothing about combat can see it.

Although the Knights of God are fighting and resisting with all their might, their teamwork and individual abilities are also outstanding.

But none of that mattered to Shen Hou at this moment.

The numerical difference is too great—Shenhou could crush Pierce's full-force attack with a simple wave of his hand.

With the help of the nightmare army accumulated by the dream slaves over the years, Shenhou can directly fight against it by plucking a tuft of hair!
Even with the auxiliary effects generated by Fabian Saint's abilities, the gap could not be bridged at all.

Speed, strength, physique, defense—the gap in each aspect is too great!
In fact, the audience members present had lost count of how many times the three Divine Knights had been killed by Shen Hou.

But that's precisely why they're becoming increasingly anxious.

Because they had all realized that the most troublesome thing about those three Celestial Dragons, known as the 'Knights of God,' was their 'immortality.'

They were unaware of the existence of the Deep Sea Contract, only believing it to be some kind of powerful Devil Fruit ability.

"The birdcage is still getting closer!"

Are these three guys immortal?

"To be blasted to smithereens and still regenerate? How can someone possess such an overpowered ability?"

"Won't this go on forever?"

They watched anxiously as the birdcage drew ever closer.

But at this moment.
"No"

Marco, amidst the crowd, muttered to himself.

"It won't go on forever."

His gaze fell upon the screen displaying the live stream.

At this moment, the bodies of the Divine Knights on the screen are still being reconstructed under the power of the Deep Sea Contract.

However, the pace of their reorganization has begun to slow down visibly.

And it is just as I said before.

Marco had heard that these guys, known as the 'Knights of God,' had attacked Roger's crew many times, but were repelled by the Pirate King and his subordinates more than once.

Although the Whitebeard Pirates never directly faced these guys, Whitebeard had heard some things from Roger.

For example, continuous high-intensity Conqueror's Haki can gradually break their immortality, leaving them no time to recover, thus causing them to be truly injured and lose their ability to move.

And it is obvious
“Shenhou knows how to deal with them too.” So he was certain that the battle wouldn’t last long.

But at the same time, he also had some doubts.

According to what he knew, most of these 'Knights of God' were not considered particularly resolute by Roger—and that was why they had been defeated by the Roger Pirates more than once.

Once they realize that things are hopeless, they will decisively choose to run away.

However, these three did not choose to run away—even though the gap between them and Shenhou was visibly huge, and they saw no chance of winning.

"Or do they think they still have a chance of winning?"

Marco had already vaguely realized this.

And this is indeed the case.

"boom!"

Inside the bullfighting arena at this moment.

The bodies of Saint Qilingom and Saint Pierce were once again shattered by Shenhou's golden cudgel.

By this time, their bodies were recovering at a very slow pace.

"The power of the contract is about to crumble!"

What Marco knew, they naturally knew as well—the constant bombardment and destruction of their bodies by Shen Hou's Conqueror's Haki had weakened the power of their Deep Sea Contract to the extreme.

To be honest, they can only look out for each other.

In particular, Fabian Saint's ability allows them a short period of time to recover.

Otherwise, if any one of them had faced Shen Hou directly, they would probably have been cut off from the Deep Sea Contract and rendered unable to rise again, just like Pierre Saint who faced Roy himself earlier.

"This can't go on."

Upon thinking of this, their gazes also turned to Fabian.

Just as Marco had thought.

They should have fled when faced with someone like Shen Hou, who possessed the power of Conqueror's Haki and whose strength far surpassed their own.

And the reason they didn't run away was because
They still have one last trump card!

At that moment, Fabian Saint nodded almost imperceptibly.

This action also brought joy to Saint Pierre and Saint Chiringom.

"boom!"

In the next instant, they ignored Shenhou's attack and, despite the pain and risk of their bodies being shattered again, forcibly activated their abilities!
"Vector Manipulation - Static Domain!"

"Dream Creation: Eternal Ice!"

The surrounding vectors froze instantly, and huge chunks of ice materialized from the dream fragments in a flash.

Of course—it's the same as the previous battles.

"boom!"

In just a moment, the static vector began to flow again under the control of Shenhou's Overlord Haki, and the huge ice shattered as the iron rod was swung.

Even so, the two knights of the gods still managed to buy themselves a moment's time, allowing them to retreat.

at the same time
From the gap behind them, Fabian Saint, who was also covered in wounds and had not yet recovered, raised the ball of light in his hand high.

"Fruit Awakening: The Eternal Stage!"

At this moment, the radiance in his hand continued to fall downwards.

What he intends to use is precisely his own awakened fruit.

[LV5: Fruit Awakening - Unique - Eternal Stage, can only be used once]

After a period of preparation on the already constructed stage, it can be upgraded to your own 'Eternal Stage,' covering an area of ​​500 square meters. The user can dominate everything on the stage and control the actions and trajectories of everything on the stage by writing scripts. As long as the script is 'rational,' the actors and things must develop according to the script. It costs 111 billion Berries to permanently unlock.

[Once you leave the stage area, you cannot activate this ability and will need to rebuild and prepare again.]

Yes.

The 'Director's Fruit' that Fabian Saint consumed had a very special awakening effect.

It can only be used once, and before use, an area must be designated as a stage, and a long preparation time is required on the stage.

This is why Fabian Saint had never used this ability before.

Until recently.

When they received Doflamingo's message that the Twelve Constellations might come to Dressrosa, he received clear instructions from his great-grandfather, one of the Five Elders, 'Satan Saint'.

"If the twelve constellations appear, you must capture him, or at least bring his body back to me!"

"If you can accomplish this, I will suggest to that lord that you compete with Shamrock for the position of the next leader of the Knights of God."

That was news that even his two companions didn't know.

Therefore, Fabian Saint had already made preparations from the beginning—he was going to use this precious fruit awakening ability at this very moment.

That was also what he believed to be the only chance of winning this battle.

however--

"?"

The next moment, Fabian Saint's expectant expression froze.

The all-powerful force he had envisioned did not arrive.

Just the opposite
"Can't it be used?"

He stared wide-eyed at his hands in disbelief.

The radiance he was scattering in his hand now resembled a faulty light bulb.

It flickered violently a few times, and then went out completely!

"why?"

Therefore, Fabian Saint was even more puzzled.

He was clearly on the stage he had already set up, and he had enough time to prepare—so why couldn't he use his abilities?
"Can't be used!?" *2
At this moment, the expressions of Saints Chiringom and Pierre, who had returned to his side, also changed drastically.

But their reaction was clearly very quick.

"Since it's unusable, let's retreat!"

"I can say that," said Qilingom Saint decisively.

"Correct!"

Upon hearing this, Fabian Saint did not understand why his ability had failed.

But he also realized what was happening.

“We must retreat!”

If his Devil Fruit awakening is unusable, then the current situation is a true dead end—they must retreat immediately, or they certainly will.
"retreat!?"

But at that moment, a mocking voice pierced their ears like a cold steel needle.

Didn't I just say that?

Such words were spoken by Shenhou.

"Boom!"

The bullfighting arena, which had already fallen apart due to the battle of the four, was now clearly beginning to tremble.

The three knights of the gods subconsciously looked around.

Then they saw it.

It's unclear when it started, but four objects have begun to float in the sky at the four corners of the dueling arena.

Those were four banners that were very familiar to them.

"!!!"*3
Then the three knights of the gods realized what was happening.

In the battle just now.

The banner bearing the title "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" that Shen Hou had always carried on his back had vanished without a trace!

However, they were so badly suppressed in the battle that they didn't even have time to pay attention to these details.

And at this moment, the changes in the entire bullfighting arena are precisely due to them.

[Fighting God Fruit - Additional Fusion Effect - Fighting God Domain]

After condensing the four battle seals and entering the Battle God form, one can create a duel arena nearby using the four battle seals. Within the duel arena, the user will not be harmed, will be immune to any negative or control effects, and all combat attributes such as strength and stamina will never be consumed.

Within this area, ability users can freely set up the terrain of the dueling arena. If an enemy shows signs of cowardice or tries to escape, the ability user's attack will ignore their defense and cause a 'lethal effect'.

"I'm going to beat you all to death here—how can I let you get away like this?"

Shenhou's voice faded.

As he spoke, the four flags transformed into four enormous doors that descended into the arena.

"Boom!"*4
And at the same time they landed.

The shattered arena floor was then covered by a surging sea of ​​pure white clouds.

All the chaos melted away in the sea of ​​clouds, replaced by endless celestial mists and auspicious clouds.

In that instant, they were clearly no longer in the arena.

Instead, they arrived at a magnificent palace high above the clouds.

【Battle God Realm: Celestial Palace Wonderland】

(End of this chapter)