The Door and the King · Lin Yuan vs. Imu
Imu stood at the deepest part of the Room of Authority, two swords embedded in his body. Roger's sword was stuck in his left chest and abdomen, while Lin Yuan's sword was stuck below his left rib. He did not pull out the swords, nor did he stop the bleeding. The skin around the wounds had changed from dark brown to dark red, spreading two patches of different shades on his white robe, expanding by about two fingers' width from the original size.
How many swords do you have left?
"The sword is gone, but we still have six people," Lin Yuan said. "That's enough."
Imu didn't speak. He raised his hands, arms out to shoulder height, palms down, and in an instant, all the air in the room was sucked out—not thinned, but completely vanished. Everyone felt a momentary emptiness in their chests, as if the air in their lungs had been drawn out from the inside, and breathing ceased for a moment. Then the air surged back in, carrying a scorching current that filled the room from the edges of the walls towards the center. Everyone inhaled that current at the same time, experiencing the exact same sensation, as if pulled by the same force to complete the inhalation, without any distinction of timing.
Rocks was the first to regain his footing. His feet found support again, and without retreating, he raised his right hand from his side. His fist wasn't covered in Haki, but it began to glow as he raised it—not Conqueror's Haki, but something else entirely, like a translucent film covering the skin, shimmering with a pale gray sheen under the light. His fist slammed into Imu's face. When his fist was about three steps away from Imu, dense black ripples appeared in the air. The ripples lingered for less than a breath where the fist passed before being pierced through, the remaining ripples scattering into fine gray fragments that fell to the ground.
Whitebeard's Naginata slashed horizontally as Rocks' fist struck, the white light from the Tremor -Tremor-Tremor Fruit on the blade exploding in succession upon contact with the air around Imu —each explosion shorter than the last, the intervals gradually decreasing. Imu's attention was constantly being diverted in different directions, and his hands, in maintaining spatial stability, experienced a noticeable delay. His left defense had a blind spot, overlapping between Kaido's Dragon Breath and Rocks' fist, while his right defense was forced to narrow between Lin Yuan's sword and himself. Kaido's Dragon Breath pressed down from behind, covering Imu. About three steps behind Imu, the flames forked upon contact with the ground, extending to both sides along cracks in the earth. The Golden Lion's Gravity Field pressed down from above, causing Imu's body to sink about two fingers' width after being enveloped by the Gravity Field. His knees bent at about ten degrees before straightening again, but about half a breath slower than before. Big Mom stood to Rocks' left; only eleven fragments of the remaining Homies Army's souls remained, lined up in a row. Her Soul-Soul Fruit fluctuations covered the area around Imu, causing Imu body to pause for about a breath as the fluctuations swept over him.
Rocks' fist slammed into the invisible barrier in front of Imu. The barrier did not shatter, but continuous ripples appeared on its surface. The ripples spread outward from the point of impact, forming fine wrinkles on the surface of the barrier. The wrinkles continued to thicken, like the marks left after water was repeatedly stirred. There was a blank period of about half a breath before it was repaired.
Lin Yuan didn't use his longsword, nor did he clench his fist. He raised his right hand, fingers together, fingertips pointing forward, and drew a straight line on the surface of the barrier in front of Imu. A crack appeared in the barrier after his fingertip passed through it—about a finger's width, penetrating the barrier's covering layer and extending from the inside out. Imu's body tilted at the same moment the crack appeared in the barrier, his left shoulder pressing down about two fingers.
"Your spatial barrier is thinning." Lin Yuan withdrew his right hand. "Roger's Counter-Curse is still in effect; your regenerative ability is decreasing by one level every fifteen minutes. The healing speed of the barrier cracks is almost twice as slow as it was initially."
Imu regained his balance from the tilt. He didn't answer, but it took him about half a breath longer than before to regain his balance. Everyone noticed that delay.
Rocks took a step forward, then a second, then a third. With each step, a new crack appeared in the ground, spreading outwards from his feet. The crack's trajectory changed on his second step, transforming from a straight line into an arc. The edge of the arc overlapped with the crack beneath Imu's feet on his third landing. Whitebeard's Naginata slammed down from the side, the white light from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit on the blade exploding upon contact with the barrier in front of Imu. Three consecutive layers of cracks appeared on the barrier's surface, extending from the center outwards to form a crisscrossing network of fissures.
Kaido's dragon wings pressed down on Imu from the side, the wingtips scraping against the barrier surface with a grating metallic scraping sound. Two parallel scratches were left on the barrier surface after the wingtips passed, and a clear discontinuity appeared during the healing process—the front section healed, but the rear section remained open, leaving an irreparable gap in the middle. As Kaido's dragon wings swept across the barrier, Golden Lion's Gravity Field pressed against the gap in the barrier surface—the gap widened by about half an inch after being covered by the Gravity Field, and the cracks at the edges extended to other areas of the barrier.
Lin Yuan took a step forward. His foot landed about three steps in front of Imu. Without opening a door, the space beneath his feet folded naturally—he arrived at that spot directly from five steps away, without a trace of a door, without any spatial fluctuations; he simply appeared there, as if he had always been there. Imu's gaze turned to Lin Yuan at that moment. His body delayed for about half a breath during the turn, and his hands, unable to readjust their defensive positions in time, shifted the area covered by the barrier by about two fingers, revealing an opening on Imu's left side.
Lin Yuan's sword sliced into Imu's left side, passing through the gap. The blade encountered no resistance during the thrust—it went straight through without pause or deviation. The blade pierced Imu's left shoulder, entering from the front and exiting from the back, leaving a section of the sword tip in his back. Imu's body tilted to the left by about ten degrees after the blade pierced him. His right hand hung at his side, his fingertips slightly curled, but he made no counterattack or attempt to defend against the next attack. His reaction speed was clearly lagging behind his body's natural rhythm.
"Your body can't keep up anymore." Lin Yuan didn't draw his sword. He loosened his grip on the hilt, took a step back, and moved between Whitebeard and Rocks. Roger's sword was still stuck in Imu's left chest and abdomen, while Lin Yuan's sword was stuck in his left shoulder. The two swords covered the main area of Imu's upper body.
For the first time, Imu's breathing was clearly audible. He slowly raised his right hand, palm facing Lin Yuan. A dark silver light pattern appeared on the surface of his palm, extending from the base of his palm to his fingertips, forming a complete circle in the center. After the light pattern took shape, dense dark lines appeared around Imu's body—each line was like a Space Cutting compressed to its limit, covering an area of about five steps from him. The lines converged inward, like a closing fence, Space Cutting around Imu's body into tiny fragments. Rocks stood at the forefront. The lines stopped about a step in front of him, not advancing further, but the lines themselves did not disappear. Whitebeard's Naginata moved forward a distance, stopping about a palm's width from the edge of the lines, leaving a small gap between the blade and the lines.
Kaido's dragon claw slammed into the nearest dark line—a piercing screeching sound and sparks flew as the claw tip met the line, leaving burn marks on the dragon scales at the point of contact. Several tiny nicks appeared on the surface of the scales. Golden Lion's Gravity Field enveloped the area where Imu was Gravity Field, causing the dark lines to begin contracting inwards. The contraction was slower than expected, and when it reached halfway, the edges of the lines began to bend irregularly, the gaps being compressed to the point where they could no longer maintain complete coverage. Big Mom stood to the left, the energy of her Soul-Soul Fruit covering Imu's hands. Imu's hands, under the continued permeation of the energy, began to freeze, remaining in the same position without further movement.
Lin Yuan stood between Whitebeard and Rocks. He saw Imu's hands slowly and steadily moving downwards from their highest point. The dark lines were continuously tightening, each one contracting inwards, but at the same time, their edges were irregularly curving, the original complete coverage being thinned layer by layer. His right hand rose to his chest, palm facing inwards, fingers spread, neither clenched nor pointing in any direction. His voice was clear, powerful, and resonated throughout the room. "Space Definition —Based on my current location, define the space within three steps of Imu as 'impassable'."
Imu's body froze. The dark lines around him stopped contracting at the same moment, remaining stationary—neither advancing nor retreating, neither expanding nor shrinking, like a painting nailed to the air. Imu's hands were suspended in mid-air, his fingers still outstretched, unable to move forward.
"You... defined space?" Rocks looked at Lin Yuan. "You redefined the spatial rules of that area, forcibly applying those rules to the space where Imu is, cutting off Imu's manipulation of space without altering the space itself. You are now vying with him for control of that space."
Lin Yuan's right hand trembled slightly, the muscles throughout his arm tensing, veins bulging on his skin, running down his forearm to his fingertips. His breathing was heavier than before, but his gaze remained fixed. "I defined the space around him—he can manipulate space with his Devil Fruit ability because he can exert his will within that space. Now, the rules of that space have been redefined by me. Within that space, only one will can take effect."
Imu's body remained stiff. His hands hovered in mid-air, the dark lines around him remaining still. But Lin Yuan's right hand was also trembling; the longer he maintained the stance, the greater the strain. Imu's gaze lingered on the still lines for a moment before moving to Lin Yuan, but he still made no move.
Rocks took a step forward, stopping about three paces in front of Imu. His right fist was once again covered in Armament Haki. "How much longer can you maintain this stance?"
"I'll hold out until you finish," Lin Yuan said. "Make your move."
(End of Chapter 119)