Golden light shimmered, dazzling and brilliant.
Those who couldn't dodge and were enveloped by the pale golden light felt as though they were bathed in sunlight, warm and comfortable.
Many people in tattered clothes widened their eyes, disbelief filling their gazes. They could feel their injuries gradually healing. Wounds from swords and bullets closed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The weakness brought on by severe dehydration and malnutrition gradually faded, and long-lost health seemed to return to their battered bodies.
When they came to their senses, they all lifted their heads and gazed at the golden figure on top of the high wall, dragging a spear as he walked slowly. Their eyes held traces of gratitude.
On top of the high wall, more than a dozen agents and the soldiers of the Kingdom of Jacob looked on in shock and uncertainty. After confirming that they themselves weren't injured, their expressions turned exceptionally grim.
"Damn it, you dare make a fool of us!"
"You filthy lower-class scum, die!!"
The soldiers charged forward with swords in hand, ready to make the one who had mocked them bleed on the spot.
The dozen or so agents hesitated at the sight. Unlike those country bumpkins from the East Sea, they hadn't let their tempers get the better of them. Their instincts told them the youthful-looking boy before them was no ordinary person, and might be a Mythical Zoan ability user.
So they raised their guard to the highest level, planning to let the soldiers test the threat he posed.
Unfortunately, their superior, a CP0 agent, had the same idea.
A cold command came from dozens of meters away. "You few, go! Make those villains who interfered with the World Government's operation pay!"
CP0 believed that soldiers alone couldn't reveal anything about the man before them, who gave him a strong sense of danger. Having the CP agents attack might let him learn a thing or two.
"..." The dozen or so agents froze in place, their expressions shifting unpredictably as bitterness welled up inside them. They wanted to ask their superior why he wasn't going himself.
But for their families' sake, they ultimately swallowed those words, gritted their teeth, and launched a desperate attack on the mysterious boy.
In an instant, sharp blades closed in on Louis. The smooth steel reflected the contorted faces around him, twisted by anger and fear.
But in the next moment, they all froze in place. The sharp blades slipped from their hands and clattered against the city wall.
The life force that had entered their bodies began to flicker, awakening the billions of bacteria and fungi within them and disrupting their balance until they gained the upper hand.
Their faces twisted visibly from the unbearable pain. Their bodies went rigid, and their shrill wails drowned out the thunder of guns and cannons, making everyone who heard them shudder.
Dozens of meters away, Joseph's face beneath his mask showed an expression that said he'd expected as much.
Devil Fruit abilities were bizarre. The slightest mistake could result in serious injury, so they couldn't be taken lightly.
Then, under Joseph's gaze, the soldiers and agents frozen in place underwent a horrifying transformation.
Their skin turned blue-black and began to rot at a speed visible to the naked eye. Their bodies swelled like those of bloated corpses, and their abdomens split open in enormous wounds that gaped like monstrous mouths. Blue-black intestines spilled out, writhing like living things.
The terrifying part was that even after undergoing such a dreadful transformation, they still hadn't died. They remained frozen in place, wailing.
Everyone who witnessed this scene shuddered, feeling as though they'd suffered a violent shock to both body and mind. They instinctively shrank their heads, nearly vomited, and trembled uncontrollably.
Louis walked unhurriedly, dragging his spear, his whole body bathed in the dawn's golden light. Under the sun's radiance, he looked utterly sacred.
As he walked, the land beneath the high wall stirred with life, and vivid plants multiplied rapidly. In only a moment, a stretch of verdant grass, fragrant with fresh greenery, came into view.
"All things decay, but life endures..." Louis murmured.
As far as the eye could see, life and decay existed side by side.
Bathed in the golden dawn, Louis stood in stark contrast to the hellish scene, like an angel descended to earth, sacred beyond compare.
The next instant, Louis vanished from everyone's sight, leaving behind only a section of the city wall crumbling apart.
Before the scattered stones had even fallen, Louis's figure was already reflected in Joseph's pupils. He raised his spear, a blazing sun shaped from flames coiling around its tip.
Scorching heat surged toward him, charring Joseph's clothes black. Deadly danger closed in around him, making his pupils contract violently.
Joseph instinctively wanted to use the Rokushiki technique Iron Body to withstand the blow, but the frantic warnings of his Observation Haki forced him to abandon the idea.
"Paper Arts."
With no time to dodge, Joseph sensed the shifting airflow and folded his body in a bizarre manner, like a sheet of paper. At the last possible moment, he let the spear skim past his throat.
"Pfft..." The searing heat engulfed him, instantly setting the upper part of his clothes alight and burning his throat.
The intense pain made Joseph grit his teeth and squint. He quickly reached out, took off his burning clothes, and threw away his badly warped mask, which obstructed his vision.
"Flying Finger Pistol..." He coated his finger in Armament Haki and pointed it at the golden-haired boy before him.
Louis tilted his head slightly, letting the attack—empowered by Haki and far more powerful than a bullet—pierce through the strands of his hair.
His special Observation Haki extended, enveloping CP0's body and making everything about his opponent transparent to him.
The movement of muscles, the flow of blood, the smallest shifts in bones—every change let Louis understand CP0's next move as clearly as day and predict it with ease.
In another series, an ability like this might also be called the Transparent World.
Under the cover of Louis's Observation Haki, he could even quickly learn his opponent's abilities from their movements.
Like this...
"Explosive Shot!" Louis shook his spear with one arm. After conjuring another blazing sun, he thrust it forward in a flash.
"Whoosh..."
The miniature sun combined with the shock wave, drawing a golden beam that enveloped CP0 head-on.
"!!" CP0's expression changed drastically. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and coated them in Armament Haki.
"Boom..." The sun suddenly exploded, and the flames expanded. The heat turned the city wall within a radius of dozens of meters bright red, nearly melting it into lava.
Louis lifted a hand and unleashed a fierce gust, scattering the smoke and dust sweeping toward him. Then he beat his wings once and flew close to the ground, charging straight into the high-temperature zone.
As he moved, the finely crafted spear scraped across the rock. Sparks flew, and it left a smooth, foot-long groove behind.
Louis gave the CP0 agent, who had suffered burns across much of his body and was nearly reduced to charcoal, no chance to react. He suddenly raised his spear.
Red-hot fragments of rock flew up from the ground and scattered like exploding fireworks. Louis's spear swept upward in a graceful arc.
After carving a wound deep enough to expose bone into Joseph's charred body, it sent him flying through the air.
Before you continue