Chapter 185: Substitute withered rose!

Chapter 185: Substitute withered rose!

Chapter 185: Substitute: Withered Rose!

The pirates started chatting with great interest. Today, the Universe Dark Matter Pirates are strong and powerful, and even if they are about to face the World Government that has ruled the world for 800 years, no pirate thinks that they have the possibility of losing.

After all, the scene of Boros suppressing two pirate emperors by himself was too exaggerated, especially since such scenes happened almost every day. Even the newly joined pirates could quickly witness Boros's unparalleled terrifying strength.

Therefore, even though there was such a shocking noise coming from the Overlord, the pirates who were used to it did not feel nervous at all. Some even placed bets on the spot on how long this battle would last.

However, the only ones who would be fooled are the newcomers who just joined yesterday or even today. The "veterans" all have almost blind and even unreasonable confidence in Boros.

The fierce battle on the Overlord is still going on. At first, Charlotte Linlin just wanted to take advantage of the trouble to trick Kaido once, but now she is in a dilemma and must defeat the 'newcomer' Esdeath to consolidate her position.

Otherwise, if Esdeath ended the duel in a tie or even with the upper hand, as she is also a top-level fighter, the opponent will definitely take away some of the power that originally belonged to her.

For Charlotte Lingling, who has fallen to this point, this is a result she absolutely cannot accept!
"Elbaf's Spear·Powerful Country!"

Realizing this, Big Mom used all her strength in every attack, wishing she could tear Esdeath into pieces to prove her strength, even at the cost of being punished by Boros.

Anyway, based on her understanding of Boros, the winner and the strong are always right in the eyes of that monster, and Boros won't care even if it will damage the strength of the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates.

"Armed Double Ice Wall!"

Feeling the almost crazy warning of her Observation Haki, Esdeath gritted her teeth and stabbed the saber into the ground, and two thick ice walls quickly formed.

Facing Charlotte Linlin who was giving her all, Esdeath's physical disadvantages finally showed up bit by bit.

The difference in power prevented her from engaging Charlotte Linling in close combat, especially after testing the old woman's incredible defense, which made Esdeath completely give up the idea of ​​using the saber to scrape her skin.

The difference in physical strength caused Esdeath to quickly fall into a disadvantage in the fight with Charlotte Linlin. After all, Esdeath needed to consider the issue of physical energy consumption, while Charlotte Linlin did not need to at all.

At the age of only five and without any training, Charlotte Linlin was able to destroy the giant village by herself. As long as she could remember, she had never experienced what it was like to lack physical strength!

"Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka..."

The indestructible sword pressure kept cutting through the ice like a drill. Esdeath, who had witnessed Charlotte Linlin's destructive power, did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. A large amount of armament domineering continuously poured into the ice wall, offsetting and weakening the power of the enemy's attack bit by bit.

"Stolen Fire!"

At the critical moment, Prometheus showed the same hideous smile as Charlotte Lingling, turned into a meteor and violently slammed into the already precarious ice wall.

'boom! ’

The fierce flames once again filled every corner of the passage. With the blessing of the exploding flames, the sword pressure of Elbaf's Spear, Weiguo, finally broke through the ice layer and was about to turn Esdeath into dust.

At this time, Borsalino, who was far away in Marinford, had turned into a dazzling light. Boros, who was silently "watching the battle" through his mental power, had also made preparations to tear the void for emergency rescue, but everything stopped at the last moment.

"Heh... let me show you my limits!"

Deliberately putting herself in a near-death situation, Esdeath revealed a crazy smile on her beautiful face.

A golden arrow with a beetle decoration appeared in Esdeath's hand.

As the deafening explosion sounded, the expression on Charlotte Lingling's face became extremely ugly.

The next moment, a blanket of icy air surged out from the center of the explosion, extinguishing the raging flames all around in the blink of an eye. Then, Esdeath, unharmed, walked out of the white icy air.

"It doesn't look like the power of a devil fruit... Humph! He is indeed a troublesome guy..."

Kaido narrowed his eyes slightly in the distance. His observation Haki could sense that something seemed to be following the blue-haired woman, but he couldn't see what it was.

If Borsalino were present now, he would see that behind Esdeath was a 'woman' wearing an iron mask, with long burgundy hair, and whose figure was almost exactly the same as Esdeath.

This was exactly the stand that Esdeath obtained in desperate situation. With the power of the stand, she not only survived, but also gained abilities that made Esdeath quite satisfied.

"Go to hell! Zhen Yu Lei!"

Charlotte Linling revealed a ferocious expression, grabbed the thundercloud Zeus and blasted a huge beam of lightning towards Esdeath.

‘Boom! ’

The lightning column wrapped in domineering aura hit Esdeath directly. However, this shocking blow that was enough to kill a sea king instantly still failed to cause any damage to Esdeath, and even disappeared without a trace after hitting Esdeath.

However, the stand behind Esdeath hugged his arms and curled up his body, as if he was enduring the pain, or as if he had gained a huge amount of pleasure in an instant, so that his whole body was shaking.

"Eleven percent... is that all?"

Esdeath glanced at the Stand behind her and gave a slightly contemptuous smile.

At this time, Smoothie, who was watching the battle from a distance, had fallen into a daze.

She had never thought that there would be a woman in this world who could fight her mother head-on, and even take her mother's full-strength attack without any damage.

And the woman looked much younger than she was.

Apart from monster, Smoothie could not think of a second adjective to describe Esdeath.

"How terrible, how terrible...lick, lick, you are indeed a top fighter who can be ranked alongside my mother, lick, lick, but is it really okay to keep fighting like this, Katakuri?"

Perospero kept licking the candy cane in his hand. This was an old habit of his. Whenever he was nervous, he had to keep licking the candy to relieve his mood.

"We cannot interfere with their fight, and Captain Boros has not shown up yet..."

Katakuri's grip on the trident relaxed a little. He was already prepared to intervene at any time, even if it meant risking his life.

But now it seems that he was overthinking it. After all, the top fighter recognized by Captain Boros is indeed a top powerhouse at the same level as his mother.

If Lady Tornado, who looks like a little girl, has the same strength as Lady Esdeath, then there would be nothing to worry about even if they face the World Government!
"You damned stinky girl!"

The ground beneath Charlotte Linlin's feet exploded, and her huge body rushed towards Esdeath at an astonishing speed.

Although he didn't know why the two attacks just now were useless to Esdeath, the battle-hardened Pirate Emperor instinctively realized that something was wrong.

In addition, Charlotte Linlin sensed an unknown existence following Esdeath with her Observation Haki, so she simply gave up the idea of ​​long-range attack and rushed forward to swing the knife to attack the person.

"Exactly what I want!"

Facing Charlotte Linlin who suddenly attacked with an extremely ferocious attitude, Esdeath's mouth curled up into an exaggerated arc.

He seemed to have forgotten the difference in strength and defense between himself and the enemy, and swung his sword without any hesitation.

'Clang clang clang clang clang clang...'

The two sabers, which were of a huge difference in size, kept colliding with each other. In theory, Esdeath's swordsmanship was not inferior to Charlotte Linlin's, but the strength of both was completely different.

Charlotte Linling pressed forward with her brute force, but she did not notice the malicious smile on Esdeath's face.

"Puff!"

As if taking advantage of Esdeath's mistake, Charlotte Linlin's saber directly hit Esdeath's body, as if she wanted to end the fight by almost cutting her opponent in half.

But before Charlotte Linling could show a smug smile, Esdeath, who should have been cut in half, seemed to be unaffected and almost cut off Charlotte Linling's arm with one knife.

However, the defense of the "Iron Balloon" was too strong, and the knife only cut a deep wound on Charlotte Lingling's arm that was deep enough to see the bone.

"Fireball from the sky!"

Fortunately, Prometheus came to the rescue in time at the critical moment, spitting out a fireball that exploded between Charlotte Linlin and Esdeath.

Although Esdeath was immune to damage due to the ability of her stand, her body was still blown away by the exploding fireball.

"Mom, mom, are you okay?!"

Thundercloud Zeus came over in a panic. This was the first time he had seen his mother injured since they were created.

"That stinky girl..."

Charlotte Linlin's huge body trembled slightly, as if the murderous aura that seemed to be materialized was rising from her continuously. The knife that Esdeath used to cut off her arm only further aroused the ferocity of the Pirate Emperor.

"Mom, mom, stop fighting! That woman can't be killed!"

Napoleon the Sabre shouted in horror. His mother had just hit Esdeath with it, and Napoleon was sure that he almost cut the woman in two.

But in the end, not only was the woman not injured, she almost cut off my mother's arm with her backhand.

"Twenty-four percent...shall we continue?"

Esdeath, who was blown away by the explosion, appeared in front of Charlotte Linling again. Not to mention the wound that almost cut her in half, even the explosion just now did not leave any trace on her.

Only Kaido, with a serious expression not far away, was staring at the back of Esdeath. The feeling of danger was becoming more and more obvious. At this moment, Kaido was extremely sure that there was some unknown existence following Esdeath.

And because of that existence, the old woman's attacks not only failed to work, but also triggered some bad changes.

Among all the people present, only Katakuri could vaguely "see" that there was another Esdeath following behind her.

"I'll kill you, you little bitch!"

After being injured, Charlotte Linling became even more ferocious. She waved her saber and rushed towards Esdeath again, as if the incident of almost having her arm cut off by Esdeath had never happened.

Seeing this, Esdeath grinned and rushed forward. This time, she simply gave up dodging and let Charlotte Linling chop her in half. Then the scene just now reappeared, and Esdeath, who was unharmed, chopped down with a knife and chopped Charlotte Linling's belly.

Although Charlotte Linlin was well prepared this time and covered her belly with Armament Haki, Esdeath still cut a deep gash in a hurry.

Then Charlotte Linling chopped back again, but the result was the same as before. This time Esdeath simply stabbed Charlotte Linling's stomach from the same place as the previous wound.

This extremely bloody and crazy battle lasted less than three minutes. Charlotte Lingling was already covered in blood, with at least six or seven wounds on her body that would be fatal to an ordinary person.

However, such an injury is still a piece of cake for Charlotte Linlin, the Pirate Emperor. Even the wound on her arm has shown signs of healing.

Esdeath, who was stabbed again because she couldn't dodge in time, turned to look at her stand. She didn't know when the iron mask on her stand's face had disappeared, revealing an overly excited and flushed face.

"Go, Withering Rose!"

Esdeath gave Charlotte Linling a crazy smile, then quickly pulled away, as if something terrible was about to happen.

Charlotte Linling, who was covered in blood, didn't react at first, but then her observation Haki frantically warned people in her mind, and its intensity was almost as intense as when she faced Boros.

"Damn old woman! Run!"

Kaido, who was not far away, suddenly roared angrily. Compared to Charlotte Linlin, whose reaction was a little slow due to the interference of Esdeath's domineering aura, Kaido, who had been a bystander, realized what happened earlier than Charlotte Linlin.

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Charlotte Lingling. It was Boros who was supposed to be in the temple.

"Don't damage my boat..."

Boros suddenly appeared and opened his palm towards Esdeath's stand. The next moment, a "black hole" suddenly appeared. Esdeath's stand disappeared directly into the "black hole". When it reappeared, it was on an island hundreds of kilometers away from the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates.

With a sound like breaking glass, countless fine cracks appeared on Esdeath's body...

"Lord Boros!"

Katakuri, who was still in shock, was the first to react and knelt on one knee towards Boros.

Although he had the ability to 'predict the future' and didn't notice that Esdeath's stand would explode, the feeling of death knocking on the door just now still left him with lingering fears.

"Captain Boros!"

"Boss Boros!"

"Lord Boros!"

……

The cadres who were about to flee now came over tremblingly. Who would have thought that even though they had hidden so far away, they were still nearly affected by the fight between the two top fighters.

"...Don't use that trick on the boat anymore!"

Boros ignored the pirate officers kneeling on the ground, and his huge single eye looked straight at the pale-faced Esdeath.

Although I don't know why Esdeath was able to launch an attack that exceeded her strength limit, I can roughly guess it by recalling the process of the battle.

Boros, who was once the overlord of the universe, doesn't care about a mere spaceship, but this spaceship will be useful in the future, and Esdeath cannot be allowed to do whatever she wants.

"I just want to try this trick..."

Esdeath spoke nonchalantly and gave Charlotte Linling a mocking smile.

However, Charlotte Linling was obviously not in the mood to pay attention to Esdeath's ridicule at this time. This was the first time in her life that she was so close to death.

If Boros had not taken action just now, given her condition at that time, if she had taken that blow at close range, she would have been seriously injured even if she didn't die.

Who could have thought that an opponent who was suppressed by her the entire time and could only rely on strange abilities to disgust people actually had such a dangerous trump card!
After warning Esdeath, Boros returned to the temple.

No one knows what Kaido said to Charlotte Linlin, but the two pirate emperors followed Boros and left one after another.

Just when Esdeath was about to leave, Fubuki dragged Tornado, who looked reluctant, along with passers-by, Xiao Yan and Xiao Mei and rushed over.

"What the hell!? Did the world war just end here?!"

Seeing the devastated battlefield, the passerby was stunned. Who could explain to him what had just happened?
"Ms. Esdeath, are you okay?"

Fubuki looked at Esdeath, whose face was pale, and asked out of concern for her group members.

"Oh, very good."

Esdeath replied casually, her relationship with Tornado was strained, but she had no problem with Fubuki.

Besides, Esdeath had just obtained a powerful stand through the insect arrow given to her by Borsalino, and she was in a very good mood at the moment.

"Lord Esdeath, all cabins in this area need to be renovated. Please allow me to help you prepare a new residence."

Katakuri spoke very respectfully, saying that this battle destroyed at least hundreds of cabins and more than ten passages on the Overlord.

However, for a spacecraft that is tens of kilometers long, this degree of damage is not a big problem.

"can."

Esdeath wasn't picky about where she lived, but there was obviously no point in staying in the ruins when she had a normal room.

'boom! ’

At this moment, a loud roar like thunder suddenly exploded.

Even though they were hundreds of kilometers away, even though they were inside the Overlord, everyone present could still feel the earth-shattering explosion happening in the distance.

The stand that Esdeath obtained is called 'Withered Rose', and the ability of the stand is also very simple, which is to absorb all the damage suffered by the stand user.

However, there is an upper limit to the damage that the Stand can absorb. When the absorbed damage reaches the upper limit, the Stand will release all the previously absorbed damage by self-destructing.

Strictly speaking, the Withered Rose's only ability is to absorb damage, and the subsequent self-destruction should be considered a side effect of the ability.

But Esdeath regarded it as a trump card, and was ready to fight Charlotte Linlin to the death.

Fortunately, Boros acted in time at the critical moment and exiled Esdeath's stand, otherwise even the Overlord would most likely be severely damaged by this horrible blow.

The island chosen by Boros to exile his Stand was previously the temporary base of the Universe Dark Matter Pirates.

Although no one lives on the island, this uninhabited island is considered medium-sized in the New World. Some small countries are even smaller than this island.

However, the explosion of Esdeath's stand easily destroyed the island, and the strong winds and huge waves generated by the explosion reached the location of the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates after more than ten minutes.

Dozens of pirate ships on the periphery of the fleet were directly overturned by the tsunami-like waves, and hurricane-like blasts tore hundreds of sails into pieces. The aftermath of the explosion alone easily killed hundreds of pirates.

However, Esdeath obviously did not have the extra energy to pay attention to these things at this moment. She had just walked into the cabin with a pale face, and her body, which was on the verge of limit, fell uncontrollably towards the front.

At the critical moment, a ray of light flashed, and Esdeath fell into the arms of Borsalino who suddenly appeared.

"If I had known you would do this, I shouldn't have given you the insect arrow..." Borsalino, who had been keeping an eye on Esdeath, said helplessly.

Originally, the Insect Arrow that could be used to obtain a substitute was given to Esdeath as compensation because there was no mythical animal-type Devil Fruit for the time being.

But what Borsalino didn't expect was that Esdeath was so courageous that she would not hesitate to push herself into a desperate situation to tap her potential.

"But I did get the ability I wanted, didn't I?"

Esdeath changed her position in Borsalino's arms to make herself more comfortable, raised her head slightly and spoke with a hint of pride.

The Stand User will receive the same amount of damage as the Stand, but Esdeath's 'Withered Rose' is special in that its self-destruction is strictly speaking just dumping out the excess absorbed damage.

Although it will still be a huge burden on Esdeath, as long as it is controlled properly, it can also be a special trump card.

"You still have the nerve to say that. Can you call out your substitute now?"

Borsalino gently poked Esdeath's cheek. He was used to seeing Esdeath's strong attitude, so it was quite exciting to see her so weak once in a while.

"No, it will take at least three days for Withered Rose to return to normal after self-destruction."

Esdeath said with some regret that the ability of the Stand was indeed very strong, but there were still some restrictions on its use.

If she could absorb damage infinitely and then let her stand self-destruct, she would be able to fight against Borsalino, right?

"What are you thinking about?"

Sensing a hint of malice from Esdeath in his arms, Borsalino couldn't help but pinch her cheek and spoke in a very unpleasant tone.

Even though she was so weak, she still refused to calm down. If Esdeath hadn't looked like a delicate "sick beauty", Borsalino would not have let her go so easily.

"Next time, when I fight that old woman next time, I can deal with her without a substitute!"

Esdeath answered confidently that the Baruts tribe she came from was a tribe that specialized in hunting dangerous species, and Esdeath had been taught since childhood to challenge the strong.

(End of this chapter)