One Piece: From Picking Up Red Hair's Broken Arm

Chapter 372 Bitter Battle Against Im
Inside Pangu City, the ceiling between powers collapsed completely amidst violent tremors, with rubble and debris constantly falling down.

"Owner!"

The five elders immediately showed surprise and looked up at the purplish-black pillar of light shooting into the sky.

In the beam of light.

A tall, slender figure gradually appeared, stepping into the void and slowly descending.

Unlike her time in Beihai, she was now surrounded by a terrifying aura. Just by standing there, it was as if the whole world was trembling beneath her feet.

Im!

The supreme ruler of the world government, a being hailed as "God"!

This was also the first time Xia Nuo had seen what Im looked like in his true form.

After the light faded, he squinted, looked him up and down, and frowned slightly.

The other person had long, flowing blue hair, an exquisitely beautiful face, and eyes that shone like stars.

Looking at that face alone, it's really hard to associate it with that dark and evil power.

However, it also seems somewhat familiar...

I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?

"Owner!"

Saint Vochuli knelt on the ground excitedly, "You have finally emerged from seclusion! The Holy Land has now fallen. Please take action and suppress these audacious rebels!"

"Shut up."

Im didn't even glance at the Five Elders; his gaze fell directly on Shano on the sofa.

“You are indeed very strong. If it were the old Mu, she wouldn’t even have a sure chance of winning. To have reached such a level with a mortal body, you have every reason to be proud.”

Im spoke softly, his voice ethereal and otherworldly:

"However, thanks to the sense of urgency you gave me, I was able to complete the construction of the 'world' ahead of schedule. Now, I have transcended the boundaries of the world and reached an unprecedented height."

"In return, I will forgive all your past sins. From now on, you may become my disciple and serve as my shepherd for humanity. What do you say?"

no respond.

Xia Nuo remained seated with her legs crossed, blowing away the tea foam on the surface of her teacup and slowly taking a sip.

"Insanity!"

Im's eyes turned cold: "You are rejecting Im's mercy? In that case, then..."

Bang!
She slowly raised her right hand, and several enormous demonic spikes suddenly sprouted from behind her:

"May your ignorance and arrogance be utterly annihilated!"

Bang!
The demonic spikes tore through the air and suddenly attacked Xia Nuo, but stopped abruptly when they were still half a meter away from him.

As if encountering some terrifying natural enemy, it trembled and shuddered, then retreated even faster than it had come!
"Ok?"

Im's pupils contracted.

"It seems your so-called breakthrough is nothing more than this."

Xia Nuo finally put down his teacup and slowly stood up. His tone and expression were calm, but there was an invisible sense of pressure emanating from him.

Pfft!
The three Elders instantly knelt on the ground, each trying their best but unable to move an inch.

Im stared intently at Shano, his expression turning serious.

"There's no need for such probing tricks. Go all out, Im. Show me your strongest moves and see if you're even worthy of letting me warm up."

He put one hand in his pocket, casually raised the other, and flicked his finger lightly towards Im:
"However, this place is a bit cramped. Let's find a more open space."

Snapped!
Only this one finger.

Before the Five Elders could even react in disbelief, Im vanished from his spot, blasted away by the force of that finger and transformed into a shooting star in the sky!
It sped across the top of the red earth continent, past the revolutionary army fighting fiercely on the other side, across the boundless sea, and finally...

Rumble!
A colossal wave surged into the sky, and Im's body slammed into the sea. The terrifying impact instantly evaporated the seawater within a radius of several kilometers, revealing the bare seabed beneath!

puff!
Im coughed up a mouthful of blood and staggered for a long time before finally standing up.

Looking around, there was a desolate sea, an impenetrable thick fog, and at the edge of the horizon, a huge three-masted sailing ship that almost completely blocked the view.

Her expression changed.

and many more!

Could this be...?

"The Devil's Triangle".

A detached voice came from high above. Im looked up abruptly and saw that Shano was now standing on a cloud, looking down at her as if she were an ant.

"This place has a terrible reputation and few people come here. It would be perfect as a battlefield, wouldn't it?"

Is this really the Devil's Triangle?!
Im was shaken.

From Mary Geoise to this sea area, it is at least a thousand nautical miles, but Shano only flicked his finger and sent her flying to such a distant place.

What a terrifying power this is!

This power...

"It seems that I underestimated you."

Im wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, slowly straightened up, and the surprise in his eyes was gradually replaced by coldness:

"However, it would be naive to think that brute strength alone is enough to defeat Mu!"

She took a deep breath, and countless crisscrossing purple-black rays of light suddenly appeared around her, spreading out in all directions like a chessboard.

"World, unfold!"

In an instant, the entire ocean seemed to be completely covered by a boundless giant net!
Amidst the crisscrossing paths, each island, along with the surrounding sea, becomes a square on a chessboard, with the player holding the pieces high above...

It is Im!

"Did you see that?"

Im slowly ascended through the void, reaching a position level with Shano. He indifferently spread his arms, "Using the world as a chessboard, everything on the sea can become Im's pieces at any time. This is Im's true power!"

"Finally something interesting."

Xia Nuo raised his eyelids. "But this is probably not your power. The demon that controls darkness is your true form, and the ability to turn the sea into a chessboard probably comes from this body of yours."

"..."

Im narrowed his eyes and stared coldly at Shano.

“Looks like I was right, Narona Imsa.

Xia Nuo said calmly, "This is your real name, right? Of course, how could a Celestial Dragon, who is called a Saint, be a woman?"

"No wonder I felt I looked familiar the moment I first saw your true form. Now that I think about it, the original owner of this body was probably Nefertari Lily, one of the twenty kings of Alabasta and an ancestor of the royal family!"

"You possessed her body; her soul is long dead. And you've never fully mastered the power of her Devil Fruit, which is why you couldn't leave the Flower Garden until today..."

"Shut up!"

Im suddenly flew into a rage and roared.

"You...you...whose blood flows in your veins, Joy Boy? Davy Jones? Otherwise, how...how could you know so much!" Enraged, Im's voice lost its previous ethereal quality, replaced by a piercing shrillness.

"That's enough! Stop spouting nonsense. How dare you, a mere mortal, presume to discuss the secrets of the gods!"

Im suddenly raised his hand and pressed down.

Snapped!
The sea beneath Xia Nuo's feet instantly distorted, and space shrank like a piece of waste paper being crumpled by an invisible hand, causing the endless seawater that was swept into it to collapse into a huge black chess piece.

After hovering high in the sky, it fell headfirst towards Xia Nuo!
"Are you really playing chess?"

The moment the black chess piece crashed down, Xia Nuo raised her head slightly and examined it with great interest.

He stood still, letting the enormous chess piece, with its destructive power, crash down on him.

Click!

Just a second.

The moment the black chess piece touched Xia Nuo's head, countless cracks suddenly appeared. Then, to Im's horrified gaze, it only lasted for a second before it exploded into countless black fragments!
Wow!
These fragments, having regained the essence of the seawater, transformed into countless black raindrops, pouring down from the sky.

How……

How could this be?
Im was soaked to the bone by the heavy rain, but he still stood there, staring blankly at Shano who was unharmed.

No.

She expected this, but it wasn't like this at all!
Once the world is complete, her chess pieces, once successfully placed, will possess the power to easily destroy an entire island.

Even if the opponent's physical body is incredibly strong, it cannot be wiped out in a single blow...

But how could there not even be a single scratch?

"He can't even hit someone, yet he calls himself a god?"

Xia Nuo's voice drifted over, "If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, then use them all. If you keep tickling me like this, don't blame me for starting to fight back."

"Stop being so proud!"

Feeling utterly scorned, Im's gaze suddenly turned ferocious. "Don't be so smug! In the end, you're nothing but physically strong. Since the chess pieces can't harm you, then let's change the game to the chessboard!"

She raised her right hand high and then suddenly flipped it over!

"Chessboard swap!"

Space suddenly tore apart, and the surrounding thick fog and seawater rapidly receded.

Swish!
Xia Nuo felt a blur before her eyes, and when her vision returned, she was already in the familiar orange grove of Cocoa West Village in the East China Sea.

As the sun sets, the evening breeze carries the sweet scent of citrus fruits.

Even though Bellemere has been gone for a long time, are the orange trees here still being taken good care of?
Xia Nuo saw the house where she had grown up and a look of nostalgia appeared on her face.

"Speaking of which, did they swap the grids in the Devil's Triangle with those in Cocoyasi Village?"

Xia Nuo looked up again at the sky, and saw that the celestial phenomena had not changed at all. He was certain that the only thing that had changed was the land beneath his feet.

He remained in the same spot, but the "chessboard squares" below him were swapped by Im using his fully awakened chessboard fruit ability.

"Lily's Devil Fruit ability is indeed very powerful and interesting, but what are you trying to do?"

Shano glanced at Im.

"Playing dumb is pointless, mortal! Since you knew to rush to save Edward Newgate and to relocate everyone from your homeland, didn't you already understand the conditions for 'Dark Domination'?"

Im's gaze turned indifferent again. "Now that you are in your homeland, you can be controlled by me at any time. How will you deal with that?"

The words have not yet been spoken!

She raised her hand and activated "Dark Domination"!
The man in front of me was incredibly fast.

Therefore, we must strike first and not let the other side react or escape from this sea area!
The overwhelming darkness swallowed everything, completely enveloping Xia Nuo's body.

Witnessing this, Im finally felt relieved, a smile playing on his lips. "Hmph, given the chance but not appreciating it, now that I have such a powerful puppet, it's quite something..."

Um? ?

Im's expression suddenly changed, and he stared intently at the center of the darkness.

She could sense that Xia Nuo showed no signs of being corrupted at all!
When his Dark Transformation Domination Technique landed on the opponent's body, it was like a tide hitting a giant rock, passing right through without being able to penetrate even a little.

"Impossible! How could there be no response?!"

Im couldn't help but exclaim in shock and anger, "What...what have you done?!"

"What's impossible?"

Shano slowly emerged from the darkness, glanced at Cocoyasi Village below, and looked at Im with some pity:
"That's interesting. Speaking of which, who exactly told you that my true hometown... is this place?"

Not here?

Im's expression was uncertain. She had already had the Five Elders investigate the other party's background, so she naturally knew that the other party's actual birthplace was the Kingdom of Oycot in the East Sea.

But place of birth doesn't matter at all.

Since the other party grew up in Cocoyasi Village from childhood until they turned eighteen and went to sea, there is no doubt that Cocoyasi Village is the first hometown they cherish the most!
unless……

Unless the other party has lived somewhere else for a longer period of time and has developed deeper ties, they cannot disregard this constraint and break the black transformation.

But how did they manage to do that?!
The other person is not even twenty years old yet, so where did they come from in that kind of place?!

Xia Nuo did not offer an explanation.

"Forget it, if I let you keep going, there seems to be a risk of accidentally hurting innocent people. I'm too lazy to play any more board games with you."

He looked up at the dark sky, then suddenly took a step forward, instantly appearing in front of Im.

The latter felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and before he could react, a strong hand grabbed his neck.

"Since you've spent eight hundred years finally turning this ocean into your chessboard..."

Xia Nuo smiled slightly:
"Then let's just play outside the chessboard."

The words have not yet finished...

boom!
Xia Nuo suddenly exerted his strength, and a terrifying shockwave erupted from beneath his feet!

In an instant, space seemed to be torn apart, and the two figures vanished!
20,000 meters, 50,000 meters, 80,000 meters!
In the blink of an eye, the two ascended tens of thousands of meters, traveling at hundreds of times the speed of sound, penetrating the troposphere, until they were about to break through the thermosphere...

Snapped!
The next moment, Im, who was having difficulty breathing, felt his body freeze, and when he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by a dark and deep boundless space!

Beneath my feet lies a slowly rotating blue planet;
In the far distance above, there is a dazzling Milky Way;

All around them was endless darkness.

There was no sound, no air, and most importantly, the world that had been painstakingly constructed was now completely unusable due to the distance.

"Where...where am I?!"

Im's pupils dilated sharply, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

She then realized that her thinking was far too limited!

They naively believed that no matter how powerful Xia Nuo was, as long as he was on their own chessboard, they would eventually be able to wear him down and defeat him.

But I never imagined...

The other party was able to take her directly away from the planet and into this vast and boundless universe!

(End of this chapter)