When People Are Killed, They Die

Armament Haki attacks had no effect. Even if he shattered her head, her body could still move.

But when Nereus switched to attacks infused with Conqueror's Haki, the situation changed.

The Manmaya family's Celestial Dragon did not continue moving freely after losing her head as she had before. Instead, she collapsed straight to the ground.

Yet Nereus could sense that the headless corpse before him was still alive, though its self-healing had become much slower.

The Manmaya family's Celestial Dragon had completed her regeneration in just three seconds before. This time, a full thirty seconds passed before her missing head began to regrow.

And the regeneration was no longer instantaneous. It proceeded slowly.

"There's no problem. Conqueror's Haki can suppress this ability's regeneration. In theory, the stronger the Conqueror's Haki, the greater the suppression, and the slower her regeneration should be.

"This level still isn't enough. I'll increase it and try again."

That was what Nereus thought. He did not continue attacking, instead waiting for her to finish regenerating.

"You bastard... are you treating me like a toy?!"

Although her regenerative ability had not been broken, its speed had clearly slowed compared to the initial attacks.

Moreover, she could distinctly sense that the quality of the Haki contained in his attacks was gradually increasing.

Over the long passage of time, the Celestial Dragons had developed an arrogance rooted deep in their bones. The Holy Knights were no exception; they were the proudest among the Celestial Dragons.

They simply had not become as stupid as those low-intelligence fools because their brains had not yet rotted away.

After being toyed with like this, unwillingness and fury had already filled her heart. But if emotions could change everything, the Celestial Dragons would have been the first group to perish from this world.

"Didn't I say before that these were merely some simple tests?"

"You..."

Boom!

Another powerful straight punch slammed out. This attack was far stronger than the previous ones. The Manmaya family's Celestial Dragon had her upper body blasted apart, and even the ground behind her was gouged into a trench.

"That's right. Sufficiently powerful Conqueror's Haki can suppress the speed of this regeneration, but that isn't enough to truly kill these people. Could it be... that Haki alone would need to reach Joy Boy's level?

"The regenerative abilities possessed by different Celestial Dragons should also differ. A control experiment cannot use just this one person."

Nereus still remembered the Haki Joy Boy had sealed within the knot tied to the robot Emeth in the original timeline.

Even after hundreds of years, that preserved Haki could still frighten Imu, who was far away in Mary Geoise, into falling to his knees and shouting from Egghead.

Though Joy Boy had failed in the end, there was no doubt that he had left Imu with an unforgettable memory.

And when Joy Boy's Haki had been released, it had directly destroyed the Five Elders' teleportation ability.

According to Nereus's own speculation, the source of those abilities was Imu. Since Joy Boy's Haki could destroy that mysterious teleportation, it should theoretically be able to completely break this immortal body as well.

After all, someone had once said, "When people are killed, they die." Celestial Dragons were no different. Being unable to kill them only meant the method had not yet been found. As long as the method was right, the goal could naturally be achieved.

Otherwise, the Celestial Dragons would have nothing to fear.

Nereus's attack had slowed her regeneration to a crawl. She would not be getting involved in matters on God Valley anytime soon.

After gaining a rough understanding of the regeneration possessed by these Celestial Dragons, Nereus stopped wasting time on her and headed into the nearby forest.

After he had blocked that Celestial Dragon earlier, some people had fled in this direction.

It would not be easy to safely get these people off God Valley. Marine warships and Pirate vessels surrounded the island. If Nereus personally escorted them aboard a ship, there would basically be no issue.

But he still had things to do and had no time for that. Letting these people hide on the island for now was not a good option either.

However, at that moment, Nereus keenly sensed that something seemed to be flying away from here at high speed through the sky.

"If you don't want to die here, follow me."

After calling out to the people on the island, Nereus headed in another direction.

The natives of God Valley and the slaves who had been transported here looked at one another, seemingly unsure what to do. But in the end, they followed him.

In this environment, he seemed to be their only lifeline.

Meanwhile, in the forests of God Valley.

A bald youth with a large build but an immature expression was continuously swinging his palms.

Whenever the paw pads in his palms touched someone, that person vanished into thin air.

Taking advantage of the massive chaos from earlier, Kuma and Ivankov had successfully stolen the Devil Fruits prepared by the Celestial Dragons. Although a minor mishap had resulted in them eating only one Devil Fruit, they now had hope of escape.

At that moment, Kuma, who had eaten the Paw-Paw Fruit, was sending these people away one after another.

"Thank you so much!"

"We were already waiting to die. It's all thanks to you."

"Alright, stop thanking me. Hurry up."

Pop... Pop... Pop...

The Paw-Paw Fruit's ability activated. With Kuma's help, people were sent away one after another. In God Valley's desperate situation, laughter seemed to bloom soundlessly.

Countless despairing people regained hope.

Rustle...

"Oh no! We've been discovered! Kuma! Hurry up!"

A sound came from the woods nearby, causing the crowd that had just relaxed to tense up once more. The relatively orderly line began to descend into chaos.

"Don't panic. I'm not with the Marines or the Celestial Dragons. Can you help send a few more people away?"

Nereus's voice spread across the area, carrying a faint trace of Haki that steadied the panicked crowd.

Behind Nereus trailed quite a few people in scattered groups, all ordinary people he had rescued along the way.

"Alright, no problem. Please wait a moment. I'll send everyone away!"

Seeing that the newcomer was not an enemy, Kuma also let out a breath of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, brought on by repeatedly using his ability and by his tension, then decisively agreed.

Saving one more person whenever he could—that was all Kuma was thinking about at that moment.

"Lord... Lord Nereus!! You're Lord Nereus, right?! I'm... forget it, you definitely don't know my name, but it's still wonderful to meet you..."

At that moment, a Fish-Man suddenly squeezed out from the crowd beside Kuma. He was the shark Fish-Man who had previously told Kuma about Nereus's reputation.

At the sight of Nereus, he seemed to be at a loss for words, stepping out from the crowd in excitement.

"It's me. Don't worry. You're safe now. I'll take you home."

"Yes!!"