Flashy Abilities

"Kill him!"

"Charge!"

The pirates panicked. They even resorted to firing from a distance and ganging up on him.

Chaos stayed calm. He only had to protect his head. Even if a bullet or two hit his chest, it wouldn't matter. He still had some Golden Inner Armor, though it was a little thin.

But Chaos had refined the gold, so the bullets didn't even leave a mark.

Chaos raised his right hand. Five Golden Longswords hovered in the air, then rapidly split apart with a metallic clang, forming countless slender golden needles, each about ten centimeters long. The pirates charging toward him all stopped in their tracks, their faces turning pale with fear.

"Run!"

Someone shouted, and more than thirty pirates scattered in every direction.

But Chaos lowered his right hand, and hundreds upon thousands of golden needles came raining down, whistling through the air in a dense, indiscriminate barrage.

"Ahhh!"

"Help!"

They had no way to defend themselves. Some had heads riddled with needle holes. At first, they didn't even feel the pain, but as blood and brain matter spilled out, they screamed and wailed.

Perhaps because the wounds were so small, they didn't die right away. Instead, they suffered terribly.

The pirates who had been watching from the sidelines had already run far away.

Now, seeing the pirates writhing and wailing on the ground, and the countless tiny holes covering the area, they all shuddered.

Those with trypophobia were even more horrified.

"Die!"

Just then, Garp appeared behind Chaos. He raised his sharp right claw and lunged for the back of his neck, his face twisted in a vicious, triumphant grin.

But in the next instant, Garp's expression froze. A slab of gold abruptly rose behind Chaos, shielding his entire head. The claws scraped against it, showering sparks and even leaving a scratch.

But no blood appeared.

Thud!

Garp's body bent like a shrimp. His face quickly turned red, then purple, and his eyes rolled back as blood gushed from his mouth. Chaos's backward kick had sunk deep into Garp's abdomen. The tremendous force sent him flying like a cannonball, blasting apart a large patch of earth.

Chaos raised a hand toward the ground. All the golden needles buried in the earth shot skyward, quickly joining together to form five Golden Longswords once more. They traced five elegant arcs through the air as they shot toward Garp.

"Ah!!!"

A miserable, agonized howl erupted from Garp's mouth. He dodged the first four in a panic, but the last one pinned him firmly to the ground.

Scalding blood soaked the earth. Garp's face, caked with grime and blood, was filled with terror at the thought of dying.

The four Golden Longswords embedded in the ground rose and hovered above him. Chaos didn't even give Garp a chance to beg for mercy. He gently lowered his right hand, and the four swords plunged down, mangling Garp's entire chest.

"Hah..."

As Garp's life slowly ebbed away, Chaos let out a heavy breath.

That fight had taken a lot out of him!

He was injured, too, though not seriously.

Suddenly, he sensed danger. Without thinking, Chaos raised his right arm in front of him. A sweeping kick came with a sharp whoosh, and it felt like a heavy truck had slammed into him. The tremendous force sent his arm crashing into his face. His nose felt broken.

He flew through the air and hit the ground, rolling several times. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Chaos scrambled to his feet. A figure had appeared where he'd been standing, its right leg still raised in a kicking stance.

The man was lean, wearing a black-and-white striped coat. His face was full of amusement and disdain.

"Nice reflexes!"

The one who had attacked Chaos was none other than Zebra Killer Barnkes, who had made a bet with Reaper Tesys.

His bounty was eighty-one million—far higher than Lion King Gappa's!

"That looks like Zebra Killer Barnkes, the pirate with an eighty-one-million bounty. Why did he suddenly attack Gild Tesoro?"

Pirates in the distance cried out in surprise. They clearly recognized Barnkes.

His bounty was even higher than Lion King Gappa's.

"The show isn't over yet. Gild Tesoro just fought Lion King, so he must have used up a lot of stamina."

"Zebra Killer and Lion King aren't even in the same league. Gild Tesoro's in trouble."

"Gild Tesoro's as good as dead."

None of the pirates thought Chaos stood a chance. The difference in strength was obvious, and he must have exhausted a lot of stamina fighting Lion King.

Put simply, before he killed Lion King, who had ever heard of Chaos?

Now that he'd killed Lion King, the name Gild Tesoro had only just made its debut—and was about to be snuffed out.

"Gild Tesoro. That's a pretty arrogant name!"

"I bet the other three—Reaper and the others—that you could kill me. I don't believe it!"

Zebra Killer folded his arms and tilted his head toward the rooftops in the distance, where the three spectators—Reaper Tesys, Blood Thorn Pradanite, and Camel Tepieru—were watching.

Chaos's expression darkened. His black eyes were icy as he stared at Zebra Killer.

The Golden Longswords embedded in Gappa's body floated into the air, their blades stained red and dripping with blood. They hovered beside Chaos, all pointed at Zebra Killer.

"So your ability is controlling metal."

Faced with five blood-soaked Golden Longswords, Zebra Killer didn't panic.

Instead, he began analyzing Chaos's ability.

From the start of the fight until now, Chaos hadn't transformed his body into gold. He'd only controlled the Golden Longswords made from his Golden Inner Armor. That was misleading.

At least, many pirates now thought he had some kind of metal-controlling ability!

It was hard to connect that to the Gold-Gold Fruit unless a pirate had heard of the Gold-Gold Fruit or knew what it could do!

Devil Fruit abilities came in all shapes and sizes. There were all kinds of bizarre powers!

And this was Demon Valley Town, where plenty of pirates had traveled far and wide. On more remote islands, people might not even know what Devil Fruits—or the great treasures of the sea—were.

Even so, the pirates watching were only a small minority.

The true big shots in Demon Valley Town had no interest in watching a low-level fight like this.

After hearing the pirates around him speculate, Chaos gave a cold snort and played along. "As expected of a pirate with an eighty-one-million bounty. You saw through my ability at a glance."

Chaos pulled open his shirt, revealing the Golden Inner Armor beneath. With a thought, the armor lifted off his body and floated in the air, quickly splitting into ten new Golden Longswords. Together with the five bloodstained ones, they all pointed at Zebra Killer.

The atmosphere grew oppressive!

A gust of wind swept through Chaos's upright hair. The fifteen swords shot forward like bullets, moving so fast they seemed to tear the air apart.

But Zebra Killer remained utterly calm.

As the first Golden Longsword approached, Zebra Killer took a step to the left, as if he'd seen it coming. He continued dodging, leaning aside or stepping away, and avoided all fourteen remaining swords one by one.

It was dreamlike, almost unbelievable!

He dodged with such ease, moving just the right amount at just the right time.

Chaos narrowed his eyes, guessing at one possibility.

Eighty-one million and fifty-three million really weren't the same. Every extra ten million made a difference.

Chaos called his technique Gate of Babylon: turning into Golden Longswords, golden needles, or any of the other eighteen kinds of weapons, then firing them at his enemies like bullets. He grouped all those moves under the name Gate of Babylon.

After all, he'd learned them from Gilgamesh, the Golden King.

This kind of evasion could be said to have rendered Gate of Babylon half as effective.

Even the most powerful move was useless if it couldn't hit its target!!