Boom--
Rocks's body was sent flying more than a thousand meters before finally crashing to the ground like a missile and exploding!
His consciousness remained perfectly clear.
"Ares actually mastered Observation Kill. When did this happen?!"
"What else can he do?!"
Rocks's heart sank into an icy abyss. He had actually been blasted away by Ares, leaving his expression terribly grim.
He felt like he was about to go insane!
He slowly rose from the ground, his eyes gradually turning crimson as his fists clenched with a creaking sound.
A sharp pain coursed through his body. For Rocks, it was a sensation he had not felt in a long time. It stimulated his nerve cells and instead helped him calm down.
Rocks reached out and touched the places Ares had struck around his waist, abdomen, and chest. Ares's punches were fierce and powerful, carrying the weight of a thousand jun.
Taking several punches had been genuinely painful, especially since he was a Logia-Dark Fruit ability user.
The pain his body felt was multiplied.
"I made a huge mistake. From the very beginning, I never took Ares seriously. I thought his strength was nowhere near enough to threaten me, and I was still thinking only of the threat he would pose to me in the future."
"I thought it would take him several more years before he could pose even the slightest threat to me. I was wrong."
"His growth cannot be judged by my subjective assumptions."
"I can't be careless."
Rocks emerged from the smoke and dust as if he had become an entirely different person. He appeared more composed and restrained, as though he had reined in seven or eight-tenths of his ferocity.
His eyes seemed like dark abysses that no one could see through.
From Rocks's perspective, Ares