"AAAAAAH!! A monster!"
The "Carpenter" finally snapped awake and screamed as he stumbled backward, directing the remaining puppet constructs as he retreated, "Stop it! Kill it! Hurry up and kill it!"
A monster?
Was he talking about me?
This was the first time Xia Nuo had heard someone call him that.
He thought it sounded rather unpleasant.
But thinking about it carefully, he seemed to enjoy the title deep down.
"Call me whatever you like!"
He grinned savagely as he closed in, throwing several punches with booming force and sending the puppet constructs rushing to stop him flying away.
The one that charged at him head-on with its sword was even caught around the neck by his arm. He drove his knee up with the strength of his waist and abdomen, then tore it in half with both hands.
Wood chips flew everywhere. Through the gaps in the chaos, the "Carpenter's" face grew more and more terrified.
Smack! Xia Nuo leaped into the air and jumped down from the arena, landing directly in front of the entrance and blocking his opponent's escape route.
The only ones still guarding the man were the town's security officer and Major Tom T. of the Marine branch.
"Get lost!"
He threw two more punches. The two men, weapons and all, grunted as they flew several meters before crashing to the ground and passing out.
Xia Nuo had deliberately held back. These two had not been completely Puppetized yet, so perhaps there was still hope of returning them to normal humans after the Carpenter was dealt with.
Crack.
Xia Nuo reached out. His speed far surpassed that of an ordinary human, leaving the "Carpenter" no chance to evade as his neck was seized and he was lifted like a chick.
The "Carpenter" struggled with all his might, but the web between Xia Nuo's thumb and forefinger was like an iron clamp, and he could not budge it in the slightest.
"Cough... cough cough..." The "Carpenter's" breathing gradually grew more labored. He forced the words through his clenched teeth, "I... I can't breathe. Let go! Let go of me!"
Xia Nuo did not release him. His eyes were filled with disappointment.
"You're really weak."
"You're a Devil Fruit ability user, so I thought you might at least entertain me a little. But you're just a coward hiding behind your puppets and putting on a brave front."
"Without your puppet constructs, you have nothing to rely on."
"Someone as weak as you—how did you manage to control the heads of the Seven Great Dojos in the first place?"
"What kind of nonsense are you asking? Don't look down on me!" the "Carpenter" snarled through gritted teeth. "I couldn't beat him head-on at first, but couldn't I have ambushed him? If I hadn't run into a nonhuman monster like you, who on Asagiri Island would have been my match..."
"Boss Xia Nuo!"
Junichi had approached at some point. He wiped at the tears in the corners of his eyes, his own eyes red, and clutched a sword he had picked up. "Please, give me a chance! Let me kill him with my own hands!"
"Don't rush."
Xia Nuo held out a hand to stop him, then turned back and narrowed his eyes as he examined the middle-aged man in the luxurious windbreaker. "There are still a few things I don't understand. I need to ask him about them."
"Are you humiliating me!"
The "Carpenter" shouted in exasperation. "Who says I'll answer your questions? Just give me a quick death! Besides, I can barely breathe. If you don't let go, how am I supposed to answer you?"
"You see? That's one of the inconsistencies."
When Xia Nuo was not hitting anyone, his cellular activity seemed to retreat from his muscles back into his brain.
He glanced at his right hand, which was still clenched tightly. "I've been squeezing your neck this whole time. Are you really unable to breathe?"
"..." The "Carpenter" froze. He suddenly lowered his head and realized that his breathing was still perfectly smooth. The suffocating sensation from earlier had been nothing more than an illusion.
Why was this happening?
How was it possible?
"I don't know if you've noticed, but many of the things you say don't make sense with your actions."
Xia Nuo narrowed his eyes and continued, "Let me ask you this. You suddenly came here and exposed your own identity and the identities of the ten puppets you controlled. What were you trying to accomplish?"
"Didn't you always rack your brains to make money? You spent years struggling to run Asagiri Island before finally getting it into your hands. Why did you suddenly develop a desire to destroy yourself today? Were you planning to run away and find somewhere else to make money?"
That's right. Why had he done that?
The "Carpenter" was even more bewildered. Yes, why?
He had countless ways to cover everything up and continue happily earning his ill-gotten gains. Why had he suddenly torn off the mask?
He suddenly recalled, vaguely, that something even stranger had been happening to him.
He clearly knew that Sakuraba Tree was the most difficult puppet to control, and that it would occasionally develop opinions and thoughts of its own.
Yet he had never considered Puppetizing him completely. Instead, he had kept him by his side, entrusting him with the most secret and important tasks.
"Come here." Xia Nuo suddenly reached out with his other hand and grabbed the man's right hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Control me." Xia Nuo's voice was cold. "Eight of your puppets have died, so the fingers that have been freed can be used to recruit new puppets, right? Try controlling me with your ability!"
"B-but powerful people aren't easy to control. You're even less controllable than Sakuraba Tree was back then..."
The "Carpenter" stammered, but before he could finish, Xia Nuo abruptly pulled Junichi over. "Then try it on him!"
"Eh? Boss Xia Nuo!"
Junichi had been listening intently from the side and had calmed down as well, beginning to mull over the inconsistencies. Now that he was suddenly dragged in front of the Carpenter, he was dumbfounded.
"..." The "Carpenter" shakily reached out and grabbed Junichi's arm, but soon stood there blankly in confusion.
He understood the principles of planting puppet threads and controlling others through a Devil Fruit, but how was he supposed to do it again?
"You see? Controlling these few puppets was the greatest authority you ever possessed."
Xia Nuo lifted Junichi away with one hand again and looked at the luxuriously dressed middle-aged man. "Do you still think you're really the 'Carpenter' who can create puppets?"
As he finished speaking, Xia Nuo suddenly slammed his palm into the man's chest.
Bang! The sound was crisp and brief, like someone striking a hollow bamboo tube.
The "Carpenter" understood what that meant better than anyone.
Xia Nuo finally released him, allowing the middle-aged man to slide limply to the ground and slump there.
"I... I'm not the Carpenter..."
His expression was dazed, unable to accept reality, and his voice was hoarse. "I... So I was just a puppet too?"
"So the real 'Carpenter' is someone else?"
Junichi felt as though his brain were swelling and was almost about to crash. "Then... then who could it be? And what grudge does he have against my father? Why would he target him?"
Xia Nuo looked at Junichi with pity before finally sighing.
"Whoever started today's farce is the Carpenter."
He suddenly threw a punch, caving in the middle-aged man's chest. Then he turned toward the corpse on the arena and spoke in a low voice:
"Am I right, Mr. Sakuraba Tree?"
No one answered.
The clock on the wall ticked forward second by second. Amid the sound of its ticking, the deathly silence lasted for more than ten seconds before movement finally came from the arena.
Crack, crack.
The grating sound of wood rubbing against wood suddenly rang out. The corpse's limbs bent backward at the joints, rising at right angles. In a posture that violated human anatomy, they dragged the upper body upright once more.
Amid a dense series of clicks, Sakuraba Tree's body remained facing away from them, but his head slowly twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, revealing a withered face full of sorrow, as though it were neither crying nor smiling.
Junichi stood frozen in place.
His hands and feet were ice-cold. An unprecedented chill shot from his spine straight to the crown of his head.
"Why..."
The withered face finally spoke in sorrow. The voice that came from its throat sounded like an old gramophone needle catching, human speech unnaturally overlapping with the trembling of wood. "Why, exactly..."
"Why did you have to discover it? And why did you have to say it out loud?"
"Why... couldn't you let me give this identity of Sakuraba Tree a perfect finale and leave in peace?"