Chapter 43: Version T0! Abel!

To take a step back in time.

"To think his body is genuinely this hard! I didn't believe it when they told me before."

Inside a room within a research facility, a group of people in white coats were clicking their tongues in utter astonishment. "He's almost catching up to that Lunarian brat."

They were struggling with a drill, trying hard to pierce the arm of a man bound to a operating table.

"It's no use! It won't penetrate at all. We should just ask Vice Admiral Garp to help like last time! Without Haki, breaching his skin is simply too difficult!"

"Why not switch spots? Not every part of him is this tough. Take off his pants."

"Scum, stop this at once!"

The man bound to the massive, specially crafted metal operating table—Roya's good sworn brother, Kaido—had both his hands and feet bound by high-purity Seastone shackles, rendering a monster like him utterly powerless.

All he could do was resort to verbal curses. "How much further are you bastards going to push this humiliation? If you don't stop right now, once I break free, I swear I'll grind your bones to dust!!"

"Break free? That day will never come, Kaido."

A scientist wearing a mask dismissively patted Kaido on the cheek. "Vice Admiral Garp is stationed right here. Once all your data is fully collected, he'll throw you into Impel Down to rot. Have you heard of Impel Down? The impregnable fortress where not a single prisoner has ever escaped in over seven hundred years."

Before Kaido could reply—

"Oh! The needle finally went in!"

Kaido's face instantly flushed crimson, his teeth grinding so hard they threatened to shatter. "Bastards!!!"

Roya, you little punk, hurry up and get over here!

I am suffering the ultimate humiliation!

He had calculated everything from the start.

He still lacked the strength to defeat that old mad dog Garp right now.
And once he realized Garp was coming, it was already too late to run.

So he simply had his subordinates contact that brat Roya.
Once that kid arrived, everything would turn out fine.

With the two of them teaming up, fighting the old mad dog wasn't entirely impossible!

However, he hadn't anticipated enduring this kind of treatment after being captured!
To Kaido right now, these scientists were far more terrifying than ten thousand Garps!

***

In another room of the same research facility.

The man known as the Hero was loudly crunching on rice crackers while mumbling vaguely into the Den Den Mushi connected to his superiors. "How many days has it been now, Brother Kong? That brat still hasn't shown up. How much longer do I have to wait?"

"It seems their relationship isn't as close as we imagined,"

The voice of the Fleet Admiral came through the receiver. "Once the research on Kaido is concluded, bring that fellow back first. As for that brat, we'll deal with him whenever there is news of his whereabouts."

"Wahahahahaha, does that mean I finally get a vacation?"

The Hero of the Marines burst into hearty laughter. "Still, the Celestial Dragons are way too petty. Didn't that kid just wipe out a few of them?"

"Garp!"

The Fleet Admiral's voice suddenly sharpened. "That is not something you should be saying!"

"Ha, right, that shouldn't be said. Pretend I forgot it!"

Fist of Love Garp kept his cheeky smile.

"Garp, you must remember, the Marines are an army first and foremost!"

The Fleet Admiral lectured earnestly. "Our duty is to pledge allegiance to the World Government, and then to protect the allied nations!"

Vice Admiral Garp merely laughed heartily.
Neither agreeing nor objecting.

"Alright, Brother Kong, tell that fellow Sengoku to leave all the rice crackers for me—"

The Hero's laughter abruptly ceased, and he instantly raised his head.

"Garp?"

The Fleet Admiral on the other end of the line realized something was amiss.

"They're here! I just don't know if it's that brat! We'll talk later, Brother Kong!"

Garp casually hung up the phone, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared for action.

***

Yet.

Rumble!!

The research facility suddenly began to vibrate violently.
The ceiling shook intensely, and jagged cracks instantly spider-webbed across the walls.

"What?"

The Marine Hero looked momentarily bewildered.
An earthquake?
Right at this moment?

At the same time, in the laboratory where Kaido was held.

"Wororororo! They're finally here! Prepare to meet your doom, you scum!"

Roya was plummeting from the sky.
He had already transformed into his hybrid form, his black wings folded tightly, descending like a falling meteor.

As he lost altitude, his ability activated!
The island below suddenly began to violently tremor.

Mountains shook like jelly, and the earth undulated like the surface of water.
The earthquake had arrived!

If the island had been too massive, Roya's current abilities wouldn't have been enough.
But for an island of this size? No problem at all!

Roads were torn apart, the harbor surged with turbulent waves, and numerous research buildings began to collapse.
In just an instant, the entire island plunged into utter chaos.

Cries of agony and weeping echoed everywhere.

Roya took a deep breath, looking utterly intoxicated as he declared, "Now this hits the spot! With this, I'm not afraid of anything anymore!"

"You brat!!"

The roof of a crumbling research building below suddenly exploded outward, and a figure shot upward like a cannonball.

Black hair, a black suit, trailing terrifyingly long black lightning wrapped around a pitch-black right fist.

He really is here!
I lied when I said I wasn't afraid of anything. Can you please stop hunting me down?

Roya's descent abruptly halted. Without the slightest hesitation, he opened his mouth and unleashed a mighty roar directly at the incoming man.

It was called the Roar of the Fierce Tiger!

The sonic waves mixed with Conqueror's Haki transformed into a stark white beam, causing rings of visible shockwaves to ripple through the air.

"Fist Bone: Galaxy!!"

Roya fired a laser, while Garp punched out a nuclear explosion!

The feral shockwave of Haki was unstoppable. Though Roya's sonic wave was astonishingly powerful, it shattered upon the slightest contact.

The unstoppable shockwave slammed instantly into—

A massive boulder.

"What?"

Garp froze in mid-air.
Where on earth did such a massive rock come from in the sky?

Debris and shattered stone flew everywhere as the unstoppable shockwave pulverized the first boulder, only to immediately crash into a second one.

"Whew, that is an utterly exaggerated amount of destructive power. He shattered two meteors in one go?"

Roya had already used the brief obstruction provided by the meteors to veer sideways and evade. "Good thing my reflexes are fast."

"That brat's ability?"

Garp floated in the air, his face etched with utter incomprehension.
The ability to conjure boulders out of thin air?

Never mind, as long as he captured this punk, everything else would be easy!

Moonwalk!

The Marine Hero treaded upon the air, pursuing Roya with terrifying speed.

Yet.

"Don't get in my way, Hero Garp."

Roya calmly raised a hand and pointed toward the harbor. "Are you really okay with just ignoring that place?"

Garp instinctively glanced back, his pupils instantly constricting.

In the sky, massive meteors were raining down toward the harbor—where rows of warships were docked, and the temporary quarters of the Marines lined the shore.

"You damn punk! You wait right there!!"

Barking threats, Garp dashed away into the distance like a streak of lightning.

He can move that fast?

Roya clicked his tongue in amazement. This was mid-air!
What an exaggerated Moonwalk!

Still, he had him in the palm of his hand!

Saying he was afraid earlier had been a lie, but saying he wasn't afraid meant he truly wasn't.

As everyone knew, Hostages + Threats was the true T0 meta of this version!

Now then.

Roya slammed heavily into the ruins below, casually grabbing a scientist who was bleeding from the head.

The man in the white coat attempted to put up a tough front for a fraction of a second, but the next moment he was weeping tears of absolute terror.

"Where is my most respected Brother Kaido?"

"Over there! He's over there!"

The scientist trembled uncontrollably with fear, raising a hand so violently shaking that Roya had trouble figuring out where he was pointing.

Wasn't that the exact direction Garp had just come from?

"Thanks a lot."

Roya casually tossed the guy aside, then leaped heavily, slamming down onto the roof of that specific research building like a howitzer.

The already fragile laboratory finally collapsed entirely.

"Ah, are they really this fragile? Does the Navy have internal Smith agents here? An immediate investigation is strongly advised."

Roya muttered to himself as he stood atop the rubble, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brother Kaido, I'm here to save you! Say something!"

Before Brother Kaido could reply, a voice echoed from directly beneath his feet.

"Excuse me, would you mind terribly stepping off my body?"

"Huh?"

Roya looked down.

The fragments of the building beneath his feet were rapidly weathering, turning into billowing golden sand.
Desertification!

"Cough, cough, cough!"

A fit of violent coughing echoed through the swirling yellow dust. "What is going on? Where did all this sand come from?"

Roya finally recognized the person buried beneath the ruins.

Bound to a metal operating table, dark-skinned, with snow-white hair, a pair of black wings on his back, and flames burning at the back of his head.

Oh, fascinating. Was he getting unexpected bonus loot here?

"What's your name?"

Roya asked.

"Me? King."