"This is finally getting interesting."
Shano lifted his eyelids. "However, this power probably doesn't belong to you. The Demon controlling the darkness is your true nature, while the ability to turn the ocean into a chessboard likely comes from this physical shell you're occupying."
"..."
Imu squinted his eyes, coldly staring at Shano.
"Seems like I hit the mark, Saint Nerona Imu."
Shano said calmly, "This is your real name, right? It's fitting—how could a person addressed as 'Saint' among the Heavenly Celestial Dragons be a woman?"
"No wonder from the first time I saw your true body, I felt familiar. Thinking about it now, the original owner of this shell must have been an ancestor of the Alabastan royal family, one of the twenty kings of the past, Nefertari Lily, no?!"
"She was usurped by you, her soul long dead, and even though you possess her Devil Fruit power, you have never fully mastered it, unable to leave the Flowers Room until today..."
"Shut up!"
Imu suddenly flew into a rage, shouting sternly.
"You, you... Whose bloodline flows within you, Joyboy? Davy Jones? Otherwise, how could... how possibly know so much!"
Out of breath, Imu's voice had lost its previous ethereal nature, replaced by a piercing shrillness:
"Anyway, enough! How dare a mere mortal speak so grandly about the secrets of the gods!"
Imu suddenly raised a hand to press in the air.
Smack!
The ocean beneath Shano's feet twisted instantly, space crumpling like waste paper squeezed by an invisible hand, causing the endless seawater drawn into it to collapse completely into a massive black chess piece.
Suspended high in the sky, it fell directly down onto Shano!
"Playing chess for real?"
As the black chess piece crashed down, Shano slightly raised his head, looking on with interest.
He remained unmoved, allowing the giant chess piece with the power to destroy heaven and earth to smash down onto him.
Crack!
Just one second.
The moment the black chess piece touched the top of Shano's head, countless cracks appeared, and under Imu's astonished gaze, it lasted just one second before exploding into countless black fragments!
Splash!
These fragments returned to seawater, turning into countless black raindrops pouring down from the sky.
How could this happen?
Imu was drenched by the rain, yet he stood dumbly in place, staring blankly at the unharmed Shano.
Clearly, once her chess piece fell, it should have the power to easily destroy an entire island.
No matter how strong the opponent's body, it couldn't have possibly left not even a scratch!
"No strength in your punches, yet you claim to be a god?"
Shano's voice drifted over, "What other tricks have you got? Use them all at once. If you keep scratching, don't blame me for starting to fight back."
"Don't get cocky!"
Scorned so much, Imu's eyes turned venomous, "Don't get cocky! At the end of the day, it's just physical strength. Since the chess pieces can't harm you, then it's time to use the chessboard instead!"
She raised her right hand high, flipping it with force!
"Chessboard replacement!"
Space tore apart suddenly, and the surrounding thick mist and seawater retreated rapidly.
Swoosh!
Shano felt his vision blur, and when his sight recovered, he found himself in the sky above the familiar Orange Garden of East Sea's Cocoyashi Village.
The sun was setting, and the evening wind carried the fragrance of citrus.
Although Belle-Mere had moved away long ago, the orange trees here were still well cared for?
Shano saw the house where he grew up and showed a hint of nostalgia.
"Speaking of which, have the squares of the Devil's Triangle and Cocoyashi Village been swapped?"
Shano raised his head again to look at the sky, noticing no changes in the celestial bodies, confirming that only the land beneath him had changed.
He hadn't moved at all, but the "chessboard square" underneath him had been swapped using the fully Awakened Level Chessboard Fruit Ability by Imu.
"Lily's Fruit Ability is indeed powerful and interesting, but what are you trying to do?"
Shano glanced at Imu.
"Feigned ignorance is pointless, mortal! Since you knew to rush to save Edward Newgate, since you knew to move all the people from your hometown, didn't you already break the conditions of 'Black Turn Control'?"
Imu's gaze turned indifferent again, "Now in your hometown, you are always subject to Imu's control, how will you respond?"
Before he finished speaking!
She raised her hand directly, activating 'Black Turn Control'!
This man before her was extraordinarily fast.
So, she must act first. By any means, she couldn't let the opponent react and escape outside the range of this sea!
Endless darkness engulfed everything, enveloping Shano's body completely.
Seeing this, Imu finally felt reassured, the corners of her mouth curling up into a smile, hmph, gave you a chance you didn't seize, having such a strong puppet in the future is also...
Hmm??
Imu's complexion suddenly changed, her eyes fixated on the center of the darkness.
She could feel that Shano showed no signs of being eroded!
Her Black Turn Control's technique, when cast upon the opponent's body, felt like a tide meeting a massive rock, slowing directly and unable to penetrate in the slightest.
"Impossible! How can there be no reaction?!"
Imu couldn't help but roar in anger, "You, you, what exactly did you do!"
"What's impossible about this?"
Shano walked out of the darkness slowly, glancing at the Cocoyashi Village below, looking at Imu somewhat sympathetically:
"That's interesting, anyway, who told you that my true hometown... was here?"
Not here???
Imu's expression fluctuated wildly, she had long asked the Five Elders to investigate the opponent's background, naturally knowing the opponent was actually born in the East Sea's Oyikote Kingdom.
But the birthplace didn't matter.
Since the opponent grew up in Cocoyashi Village from a young age, until setting out to sea at eighteen, undoubtedly, Cocoyashi Village was considered his most beloved first hometown!
Unless...
Unless he lived elsewhere for a longer time, forming deeper bonds, thereby ignoring such constraints and breaking the black turn.
But how was this possible!
He's not even twenty years old yet, where else could be that kind of place?
Shano showed no intention of explaining.
"Forget it. If I let you keep messing around, it seems there's a risk of injuring innocents. I can't be bothered to play chessboard games anymore."
He raised his head to look at the sky shrouded in darkness, suddenly stepping forward, appearing instantly in front of Imu.
The latter only saw darkness before her eyes, unable to react as a strong hand grasped her neck.
"Since you've spent eight hundred years turning this sea into your chessboard..."
Shano smiled faintly:
"Then, let's simply battle outside the chessboard."
Before he finished speaking...
Boom!
Shano exerted force, a terrifying shockwave erupted from under his feet!
In a moment, space seemed to tear, and their figures disappeared instantly!
Twenty thousand meters, fifty thousand meters, eighty thousand meters!
In an instant, they soared tens of thousands of meters towards the troposphere, until almost breaking through the thermosphere...
Snap!
In the next moment, Imu, finding difficulty breathing, felt her body pause, and when she opened her eyes again, the surroundings were a dark, deep, boundless space!
Beneath her was the slowly rotating blue planet;
Overhead were the distant dazzling galaxies;
And all around was endless darkness.
There was no sound, no air, and most critically, the world she'd painstakingly constructed was now too far away to use.
"This... where is this?!"
Imu's pupils trembled violently, cold sweat dripping.
She finally realized that her thinking had been far too limited!
Naively believing that no matter how powerful Shano was, as long as he was on her chessboard, there would eventually be a time to exhaust and defeat him.
Yet never imagined...
The opponent could directly take her off the planet, into this vast and infinite universe!