The grinning Deadpool's movements froze mid-laugh.
As if sensing something unspeakably terrifying, he hurled Kuzan away and scrambled back in a frenzy.
"That is..."
The white eyepieces of Deadpool's mask shrank to pinpricks.
A hundred meters away, Abel, who had been silently gathering power, slowly raised his right hand.
In his palm rested a sphere no larger than a fist.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Deadpool's voice turned shrill, like nails raking across a blackboard.
The arrogance that had threatened to devour an Admiral vanished the instant he saw the red-and-white orb in Abel's hand.
In its place came a fear that drilled straight into his bones.
The sight was almost comical: the hulking, blade-formed monster hunched over, stumbling backward, each step punching a crater into the ice.
"Damn you, Abel! Are those old fossils in the O5 Council out of their minds? They actually let you take that thing out of containment?"
While roaring, Deadpool frantically scanned left and right, hunting for an escape route.
A bitter wind howled.
Kuzan knelt on the ice, his chest heaving.
Every breath felt like countless tiny ice knives carving his lungs.
He tracked the retreating red figure, then glanced at the black-haired man who had watched everything with cold detachment.
It's finally ready?
Any longer and even a Logia user wouldn't survive that eerie life-drain.
It was a wretched feeling as if stamina, Haki, and even life itself were pouring out through the wounds to feed the monster.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!"
Deadpool clutched his head, the twin bone blades slashing wild arcs that shattered the ground.
"How dare you bring that thing out?!"
"It violates the Convention! It's a trampling of human rights! I'll file a complaint with the O5 Council! I'll find the Ethics Committee!"
Mordred, controlling Deadpool, acted out the hysterical terror to perfection even forcing the body's muscles to spasm erratically, as if foretelling imminent doom.
"Run! I have to run!"
Deadpool spun, his leg muscles exploding with power.
Boom!
Ice shards flew.
He shot off as a red-black streak, fleeing madly from Abel.
He moved so fast that he left a visible shockwave in the air a true, desperate sprint with no hesitation and no holding back.
"Trying to run?"
Abel watched the rapidly receding figure, expressionless.
He lifted his right arm, the red-and-white sphere aimed at Deadpool's back, his motion as precise as a sacred rite.
"Spatial anchor locked."
"Containment protocol... executing."
With a low shout, Abel snapped his wrist.
Whoosh!
The unremarkable red-and-white sphere left his hand.
It traced a leisurely arc through the air Kuzan could have caught it blindfolded at that speed yet the ball behaved as if it had eyes.
No matter how Deadpool zigged or serpentined, the sphere stayed locked on his tail.
The gap shrank.
"No!!!"
"I'm not going back! That damned subspace doesn't even have anyone to talk to!" Deadpool screamed.
He whipped out a Desert Eagle and emptied the magazine at the pursuing orb.
Bang-bang-bang!
Sea Stone-laced bone bullets struck true.
But then a horrifying scene followed those rounds, lethal even to a Logia user, vanished the instant they touched the sphere, without even a spark in return.
Kuzan's pupils contracted.
One hundred meters.
Fifty.
Ten.
The red-and-white ball caught the sprinting Deadpool.
Clack.
A soft, crisp sound.
The sphere tapped the armored hide of his back.
In the next second, the ball rebounded and hovered in the air.
Crack.
It split along the seam.
Blinding red light erupted from within.
In an instant, the beam engulfed Deadpool's towering form.
"Aaaaargh!!"
The scream cut off abruptly.
Kuzan and Smoker, further off, stared in disbelief at the most reality-shattering sight of their lives.
The monster with regenerative immortality, strength rivaling an Admiral, and a being that could devour everything the moment the red light touched him, his body twisted and stretched like smoke yanked into a vacuum.
The several-meter-tall frame condensed into a stream of red energy, offering no resistance.
Whoosh!
All the red light, together with the dying scream, was sucked into the tiny sphere.
Clack.
The ball snapped shut.
It fell from the air and landed on the cold ice.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
It bounced a few times, then lay still.
Only the circular button in its center blinked an eerie red.
The frozen plain sank into a deathly silence.
The wind died.
Only Kuzan's ragged breathing remained.
He stared at the fist-sized orb.
It's over?
The creature he'd fought with everything he had was sealed by a toy-like ball?
Is there no justice in this world?
Bzzt—
The sphere jolted violently.
Kuzan instinctively stepped back, frost swirling around him.
What now? Did it fail to contain him?
"Relax," Abel said, arms folded, his voice indifferent.
"It's normal during compression."
"The target's life energy is immense; it's battering the subspace barrier, resisting dimensional suppression."
Before he could finish
Bzzt—!
The sphere rolled hard to the left.
Kuzan's heart leapt into his throat.
Bzzt—!!
It jerked to the right.
The red indicator flashed faster, as if it were about to burst.
Inside his mental space, Mordred watched gleefully.
Damned Poké Ball mechanics even catching yourself still needs the whole show.
Ding.
A crisp chime sounded from the orb.
The frantic red light turned into a steady green.
The sphere stopped moving, lying on the ice like an ordinary red-and-white plastic ball.
"Containment complete."
Abel walked over, his boots clacking.
He bent and picked it up as casually as if he were lifting a stone.
"Whew..."
Only then did Kuzan exhale a long, stale breath.
His legs felt weak not from injury, but from the hollow relief of surviving a disaster.
It was finally over.