Under Joy Boy's furious gaze, Imu curled her lips into a mocking smile.
"Joy Boy, you're still as self-righteous as ever. What gives you the right to brand me a sinner?"
The light on Joy Boy's chest pulsed erratically. Clenching his fists, he growled through gritted teeth,
"You, a member of the D clan, sided with the rebel faction and stole Uranus... Your crimes are unforgivable!!!"
"The rebel faction... heh. So anyone who opposes you is a rebel, huh? With your way of thinking, you'll drag the entire world into chaos. True freedom can only exist within the framework of order. Only order commands the will of the people. Even now, you still don't get it. It's you—the one trying to drag history backward—who truly deserves to die!"
...
Carl stood nearby, listening. He nodded in agreement.
In his eyes, Imu—or rather, Lily—made perfect sense.
But one thing still puzzled him. Lily had clearly been one of the original Twenty Kings, so why did she assume the name Imu?
Joy Boy, however, could no longer contain his fury. With a roar, he transformed into a white comet and dove straight toward Lily.
Carl didn't move. He just watched from the side, wanting to get a better grasp of Lily's abilities first.
After all, from the way she had appeared, she was clearly a Devil Fruit user.
Lily remained calm. As Joy Boy charged at her like a rabid dog, she simply snapped her fingers. In the blink of an eye, their positions reversed—Lily hovered above, looking down at Joy Boy, while Joy Boy plunged downward, narrowly missing Carl as he passed by.
Carl raised an eyebrow. That ability... it looked awfully familiar. Wasn't that the spatial swap of the Op-Op Fruit?
Could Lily be an Op-Op Fruit user?
Joy Boy halted mid-air and turned his gaze to Lily above him, his voice cold.
"Op-Op Fruit? No... the user of that fruit can't perform the Youth Operation on themselves. You wouldn't choose that fruit."
Lily replied evenly,
"You're right. But what I used just now was indeed the power of the Op-Op Fruit."
Joy Boy's anger cooled slightly. Lily was shrouded in mystery, and he wanted to understand what exactly she had done all those years ago.
But Lily clearly had no intention of chatting. She slowly raised her hand, golden arcs of electricity dancing across her palm.
Suddenly, a thick bolt of golden lightning erupted from her hand and struck Joy Boy directly, powerful enough to blast his body into several irregular clumps of glowing white light.
Lily turned to Carl.
"Saint Carl, I can't completely destroy Joy Boy. Quickly, seal him with the power of darkness!"
Carl didn't hesitate. Black energy surged from his body like a tidal wave, rushing toward the floating clusters of light below.
But he was a step too late. Just as the darkness reached out, the white clusters rapidly fused together, instantly reforming Joy Boy's body.
Joy Boy extended a hand, releasing a white barrier formed from Nika's power. It repelled all of Carl's darkness in a single pulse.
Lily sighed inwardly—what a shame. She summoned golden lightning once more.
But this time, Joy Boy wouldn't give her another opening. He vanished from sight and reappeared before her the next instant, swinging a fist. Lily immediately raised her electrified hand to block it, and the two clashed in a deadlock.
Carl decided he'd watched long enough. Taking advantage of the moment, he drew his sword and slashed at Joy Boy. Forced to retreat, Joy Boy used Nika's power to spring away from Lily and redirected his attention toward Carl.
...
Lily steadied herself, eyes locked on Joy Boy as he fought Carl. She raised her hand and pointed. A jet-black arrow-shaped projectile shot from her fingertip, striking Joy Boy in the back.
Now under attack from both sides, Joy Boy was under immense pressure. He yanked the arrow from his back, kicked off the air twice, and launched himself upward like a spring.
High above, he looked down at the black arrow in his hand and muttered,
"Damn it... what kind of ability is this? She's a multi-fruit user too?"
Carl was wondering the same thing.
That black arrow Lily had fired looked very familiar—another Devil Fruit power he recognized. In fact, within the God's Knights, there was someone with a similar ability.
A young Celestial Dragon woman named Gunko, with heterochromatic eyes, was currently fighting the projected D clan warriors outside the Red Line.
Her Devil Fruit was the Paramecia-type Arrow-Arrow Fruit.
Though the name sounded unimpressive, its abilities were incredibly powerful, classified under the Paramecia's superhuman branch.
She could generate black arrows at will with properties similar to the Target-Target Fruit—locking onto enemies—and the shapes could shift freely. The arrows could be used to extend limbs, amplify physical power, transform into black constructs for battle, or even allow for flight. It was easily one of the more formidable Paramecia Fruits.
One absurd feature: if the user attacked in the direction the arrow pointed, the force of the attack would increase due to the momentum—"the force of trajectory".
...
As Carl considered whether Lily's powers matched those of the Arrow-Arrow Fruit, she gave him a direct demonstration.
The black arrow in Joy Boy's hand suddenly twisted and extended, morphing into a long black ribbon that wrapped tightly around him.
At the same time, dozens of black arrows appeared in the air, all pointing at the bound Joy Boy.
Carl tested something—he sent out a slash wave. As it followed the black arrows' trajectory, its speed and size increased dramatically. Joy Boy was cleaved in two once again.
This time, however, he reacted swiftly, immediately reforming his body. A white light pulsed outward from him, disintegrating all the black arrows in the air. He turned to Lily with a cold glare.
"What exactly is your ability?"
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+150 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg