T0 Version! Abel! (Please Keep Reading!)

The time rewound to a little earlier.

"There really is a body this tough! I didn't believe them before."

Inside one of the rooms in a research institute, a group of white-coated researchers clicked their tongues in amazement. "He's almost catching up to that Lunarian kid."

They laboriously pressed drills against the arm of the man strapped to the operating table.

"No! We can't drill through at all. How about getting Vice Admiral Garp to help again, like before? Without Haki, breaking through his skin is far too difficult!"

"Why not try somewhere else? Not every part of him is that hard. Take off his pants."

"You trash, stop right now!"

The man bound to the enormous custom-made metal operating table—Luo Ya's sworn big brother, Kaido—had his hands and feet shackled in high-purity Seastone cuffs. Even a monster like him was weak and powerless at the moment.

All he could do was curse at them. "How far are you bastards going to humiliate me?! If you don't stop, once I get out of here, I'll grind every last one of you to dust!!"

"Get out? That day will never come, Kaido."

A scientist with his face covered by a mask disdainfully patted Kaido's cheek. "Vice Admiral Garp is stationed right here. Once we've collected all your data, he'll throw you into Impel Down to die. Do you know Impel Down? An iron-walled fortress no one has ever escaped from in over seven hundred years."

Before Kaido could say anything—

"Oh! The needle finally went in!"

Kaido's face instantly flushed red. He clenched his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. "Bastard!!!"

Luo Ya, you little brat, hurry up and get here!

I'm suffering the ultimate humiliation!

He had calculated everything from the start.

He still wasn't strong enough to defeat that old lunatic Garp.

By the time he realized Garp was coming for him, it had already been too late to run.

So he had simply told his subordinates to contact Luo Ya.

Once that brat arrived, everything would be fine.

If the two of them joined forces, it wasn't impossible to fight that old lunatic!

But he had never expected to suffer something like this after being captured!

To Kaido right now, these scientists were more terrifying than ten thousand Garps!

In another room of the research institute.

The man known as the Hero was crunching away at rice crackers, speaking indistinctly through the Den Den Mushi beside him to his superior. "How many days has it been now, Big Brother Kong? That little 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 Fleet Admiral's voice came from the Den Den Mushi. "Once the research on Kaido is complete, bring that fellow back first. As for that little brat, we'll discuss it once there's news of him."

"Wahahahaha! Does that mean I can finally take a vacation?"

The Marine Hero laughed loudly. "But the Celestial Dragons are too petty. Didn't that kid just kill a few Celestial Dragons?"

"Garp!"

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

"Haha, right, I shouldn't say that. Forget it!"

Iron Fist Garp continued to grin flippantly.

"Garp, remember this: the Marines are first and foremost a military force!"

The Fleet Admiral earnestly advised, "Our duty is to be loyal to the government, and then to protect the Affiliated Nations!"

Vice Admiral Garp merely laughed.

Neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"Alright, Big Brother Kong, have Sengoku save all the rice crackers for me—"

The Hero's laughter abruptly stopped, and he instantly looked up.

"Garp?"

The Fleet Admiral on the other end of the Den Den Mushi sensed that something was wrong.

"He's here! Just don't know whether it's that kid! We'll talk later, Big Brother Kong!"

Garp casually hung up the call, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to move.

But—

Rumble!!

The research institute suddenly began to shake.

The ceiling swayed violently, and cracks instantly spread across the walls.

"What?"

The Marine Hero was somewhat bewildered.

An earthquake?

At a time like this?

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

"Uororororo! It's finally here! Prepare to die, you trash!"

Luo Ya plummeted from the sky.

He had already transformed into his beastman form, his black wings folded as he fell like a meteor.

As he descended, he activated his ability!

The island below suddenly began to tremble.

The mountains swayed like jelly, while the earth undulated like the surface of water.

The earthquake had arrived!

If it had been a much larger island, Luo Ya's current ability naturally wouldn't have been enough.

But for an island this small, there was no problem!

Roads split apart, the harbor churned with waves, and numerous research facilities began to collapse.

In an instant, the entire island had descended into chaos.

Screams and cries immediately rang out everywhere.

Luo Ya took a deep breath and said blissfully, "That's the stuff! Now there's nothing to be afraid of!"

"Brat!!"

The roof of a teetering research facility below suddenly exploded, and a figure shot toward him like a cannonball.

Black hair, black suit, and terrifyingly long black lightning trailing from his jet-black right fist.

He really was here!

So much for being afraid of nothing. Could you not come after me?

Luo Ya abruptly halted his descent. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and unleashed a roar at the man flying toward him.

Its name was Roar of the Tiger King!

The sound wave fused with Conqueror's Haki became a white beam, sending ripples through the air.

"Fist Bone Galaxy!!"

Luo Ya fired a laser, while Garp punched out a nuclear explosion!

The violent Haki shockwave was unstoppable. Luo Ya's sound wave was indeed immensely powerful, but it collapsed at the first impact.

The irresistible shockwave struck, in an instant—

A massive rock.

"What?"

Garp froze.

Where had such a huge rock come from in the sky?

Fragments of stone scattered everywhere. The unstoppable shockwave shattered the rock, then crashed into a second one.

"Whew, that was ridiculously powerful. It pierced through two meteors in one go?"

Luo Ya had already used the moment the meteors blocked the attack to pull away to the side. "Good thing I reacted quickly."

"That brat's ability?"

Garp stood in the air by stepping on it, his face filled with disbelief.

An ability that created rocks out of thin air?

But whatever. Once he caught this brat, he could figure it out!

Geppo!

The Marine Hero kicked off the air and charged after Luo Ya at a terrifying speed.

But—

"Stop getting in my way, Hero Garp."

Luo Ya calmly raised a hand and pointed toward the harbor. "Is it really okay not to deal with that?"

Garp instinctively looked back, and his pupils instantly contracted.

In the sky, enormous meteors were raining down toward the harbor—where warships were docked, and the temporary quarters of the Marines stood along the shore.

"You little brat! Just you wait!!"

Even as he spat out a threat, Garp raced away like lightning.

He could move that fast?

Luo Ya clicked his tongue. This was in midair!

What an outrageous Geppo!

Still, easy.

Saying he was scared earlier had been a lie. If he said he wasn't scared, then he wasn't scared.

As everyone knew, hostages plus threats were the true T0 of this version!

Then...

Luo Ya crashed heavily into a stretch of ruins and casually grabbed a lab coat with blood streaming from his head.

The lab coat tried to put up a tough front, but the next second, terror had him sobbing uncontrollably.

"Where is my most respected Big Brother Kaido?"

"Over there! He's over there!"

The lab coat trembled in terror, his raised hand shaking so badly that Luo Ya could barely tell where he was pointing.

Wasn't that where Garp had come out from?

"Thanks."

Luo Ya casually tossed the guy away, then leaped high into the air and smashed down onto the roof of the research institute like a mortar shell.

The already crumbling institute instantly collapsed completely.

"Ah, it was that fragile? Does the Navy have Commissioner Smiths in its ranks too? I suggest a thorough investigation."

Standing atop the rubble, Luo Ya muttered to himself before shouting at the top of his lungs, "Big Brother Kaido, I'm here to save you! Say something!"

Before Big Brother Kaido could answer, a voice came from beneath his feet. "Excuse me, could you please not stand on me?"

"Huh?"

Luo Ya looked down.

The building fragments beneath his feet began to weather away, turning into yellow sand that swirled into the air.

Desertification!

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Violent coughing came from within the flying sand. "What's going on? Where did all this sand come from?"

Luo Ya had already gotten a clear look at the person beneath the ruins.

Bound to a metal operating table, he had dark skin, snow-white hair, a pair of black wings on his back, and flames burning behind his head.

Oh my, that was outrageous. He'd stumbled onto an unexpected gain too?

"What's your name?"

Luo Ya asked.

"Me? Abel."