I guarded Impel Down for a hundred years in the pirate world.

In the center of the battlefield, Figo's punch paused slightly before Im's fist landed on his wound, spraying blood. Then, Figo's fist finally crashed down, crushing Im's face and sending her plummeting into the abyss!

Then a barrage of punches continued to rain down, causing Im to vomit blood and spit out tears!

The enemy seems to have a sad past.

The enemy suddenly lost their minds.

Figo would feel some sympathy.

But they'll also feel: an opportunity has arrived!

Chapter 104 Im and Joy Boy

Thud! Fist and palm clenched tightly!

Im was only in a frenzied state for half a minute before Figo beat him awake.

Figo's fist continued to press down, and just as it was about to land on Im's face again, he suddenly thought to himself that it was a pity, and his body moved away and flashed back.

Two sharp sword lights flashed past Figo's original spot, one from the left and one from the right, as Taikotamp Saint and Zachersu Saint came to his aid.

If he could use Armament Haki, Figo's current physique would be more than capable of taking those two swords head-on. Unfortunately, he was restricted when he came into contact with Im, and had to rely entirely on his body to take the two SSR7 swords, which still caused him some damage.

It's not worth the risk.

After all, the victory was already secured!

Imwadi, who was helped up by Saint Cherrolin, vomited a mouthful of blood, which was mixed with blackened fragments of internal organs and a strong stench.

He is in critical condition.

Without asking, Saint Cheryl Rolin knew just by smelling Im's scent how bad Im's current situation was. He felt a pang of sadness, knowing that the Celestial Dragons, who had ruled the world for over seven hundred years and enjoyed the privileges of the world's nobles, would never regain their former glory.

He said dryly, "Stop, Gaston Figo. Lord Im cannot die. Lord Im is the linchpin of the demon race, the origin of the Devil Fruit, and the pinnacle of the Great Kingdom's technological achievements."

If Lord Im dies, all Devil Fruits in the world will lose their regenerative abilities, and existing Devil Fruit users will most likely die from the rampage of their Devil Fruit powers.

These restrictions were imposed by Lord Im's creator to control the legion of ability users and prevent them from turning against him.

Lady Im will not threaten the Navy's next actions. Her creator imprisoned her on this Red Line to prevent her from escaping. She cannot withstand the ocean's aura, and only on the Red Line is the ocean's aura weakest.

Of course, in the past, it would have been fine for Lady Im to leave the Red Line for a short time, but as you can see from her current physical condition..."

Figo frowned slightly.

Saint Challorin continued, “I am not lying. There is no point in lying in this situation. Do you know the bridge that the Kingdom of Workers has been building for seven hundred years? The bridge connecting other countries with the Red Line, was specially built using soil and rocks from the Red Line, so that Lord Im could leave the Red Line and escape his imprisonment.”

The other two stood on either side of Im, wary of Figo.

Figo sized up Im, remaining silent for a while.

Figo wasn't too surprised by the origin of the Devil Fruits, since the Devil Fruit Tree was just a rumor.

There are too many things about the tree that cannot be explained. For example, after a Devil Fruit user dies, the corresponding ability will randomly find a fruit to attach to, and the fruit will be reborn and the ability will be restored, instead of returning to that so-called Devil Fruit Tree.

In the future, even figures like Vegapunk and Caesar will be able to create artificial Devil Fruits by extracting bloodline factors. The semi-finished Devil Fruit that Momonosuke ate, extracted from Kaido's bloodline factors, possessed immense power, further suggesting that Devil Fruits are actually products of artificial technology.

Although it has some advanced technology, it's still the world of One Piece, so it's not really that strange.

However, the birth and death of Im and the demon race were quite unexpected for Figo.

If Im dies, will the Devil Fruit disappear?

Figo doesn't believe it! Then One Piece would have a terrible ending, with the protagonist and the final boss dying together?

He began, "I need to know more. What exactly did you cover up during that blank hundred years?"

Im, who was being helped up, looked uneasy, while Saint Cherrolin breathed a sigh of relief.

If you're willing to listen, that's fine.

He said, "During the blank century, there existed an evil kingdom that ruled the entire world. Their technology was extremely advanced, and they conducted all sorts of inhumane human experiments."

For example, experiments on human gigantification, experiments combining the advantages of different races' bloodlines, and, as I mentioned, the experiment that created the demon race…”

As Figo listened, he activated Im's character event 1. Just listening? Seeing is believing!

……

"Mother! Mother!"

A boy of about 10 years old with purple horns on his head hopped over to Im.

In the picture, Im is still a beautiful young girl with red lips and white teeth, and her hair is snow-white rather than pale. Her appearance is still good.

“What’s wrong, Nuber?” she asked.

"I've awakened a power!" the little boy exclaimed excitedly. "Guess what it is?"

Im shook his head, amused, and pinched the boy's cheek: "Everyone's abilities are completely unpredictable, how am I supposed to guess... Is it nature, superhuman, or animal...? Huh?"

She pinched the boy's face, and it suddenly stretched out as if it were stretched, to a degree that an ordinary person could never achieve.

"You've been found out!" The boy dodged her hand, puffed out his cheeks, and his head swelled up into a large ball with a loud bang: "I've gotten bigger!"

"This is... a balloon?"

“It’s rubber!” the boy corrected.

……

The scene shifts, and after an unknown amount of time, Im finds himself in a dark cave.

Lying in the cave was a boy who appeared to be a giant. He was only "appearing" because his lower body was about the size of an ordinary human, no more than a meter long, but his upper body was several sizes larger, roughly three meters long. The largest part of his body was his head, which was bigger than his entire body.

Deformed and bizarre.

A huge straw hat was barely covering his large head, and when he sensed Im's arrival, he reluctantly turned his big eyes towards him.

“It’s you, Im.”

"Thank you for the hat, my head feels a bit better..."

"However, don't come again."

A huge, deformed face stretched into a bright smile: "Sorry, I'm going to die!"

……

The scene shifts again, and Im sees two researchers in white coats carrying a box and walking by quickly, talking quietly at the same time.

"Those failed experiments on giantification are almost dead, so why waste this latest achievement on them?"

"It's nothing, experimental subjects and failures are a perfect match," the other person laughed.

Im vaguely saw a strange purple fruit in the box, with bizarre patterns on it that gave him a sense of foreboding.

For no apparent reason, she felt uneasy and frowned: "An experimental subject?"

……

The scene shifts again, and Im's unchanged clothes and makeup seem to indicate that not much time has passed since the previous scene.

She returned to the cave.

But they didn't see the deformed giant.

Only a huge straw hat remained on the ground, lying steadily. She twitched her ears and faintly heard a sound, so she lifted a corner of the hat.

"Oh no! We've been spotted!" A fist suddenly shot out from under the straw hat, heading straight for her face, but Im caught it with a thud.

"Huh? Im, is that you?" A normal-looking human boy emerged from under the straw hat, smiling as he withdrew his fist: "Sorry, sorry."

"You...are you alright?"

"Hmm!" The boy smiled brightly: "They gave me a strange fruit to eat. It tasted awful, but after eating it, I felt better and returned to my original form."

"A fruit?" Im recalled the purple fruit that had given her an uncomfortable feeling.

"I'm escaping now, Im. Do you want to come with me? Even though you're with those guys, you're a good person!"

The boy scratched his head and laughed, "Also, thank you so much for the hat, although I can't quite wear it now... but it's okay!"

He took a step back, puffed out his cheeks, and his head suddenly swelled up: "I've gotten bigger again! Hahahaha, isn't that funny?"

The boy put the huge straw hat on his head, and his strange appearance made people laugh.

Im stood frozen in place.

Then she turned and, under the straw-hat boy's strange expression, ran quickly away, straight back to where their demon race lived: "Where is Nuber?"

"Uh, Mother? Nuber? Nuber was taken away by the Kingdom's army a few days ago. It seems they need his abilities for some kind of experiment. I really envy him, being able to help the great King..."

Im's face was somewhat pale.

……

The scene then changes.

She helped the giant straw hat boy crawl out of a cave.

"Run! Run!"

"What? Im, you're not leaving?"

“No, I can’t leave.” Im shook his head. “My people need me. I must stay! If… if one day I’m captured and I need you to save me, you will come, won’t you, Joy Boy?”

The boy was taken aback: "Of course!"

……

The scene shifts again, and countless years have passed.

Slightly weathered and wearing a straw hat of the right size, Joy Boy stood on the bow of a huge warship, gazing at Im, who stood on the edge of the Red Line and whose face had not changed much.

Indistinctly, the outlines and shadows of countless giant sea kings could be seen around the enormous warship.

Those were all his companions.

Behind Im, there was only a sea of ​​fire.

She demanded frantically, "Joey Boy! You're going to kill me?! Why?!"

Joy Boy pressed his straw hat down hard, obscuring his expression and demeanor.

"Oh, I'm sorry... I broke my promise."

……