Did Hawkeye's Persona Collapse? The Drawbacks of His Abilities?

BOOM!!!

At this moment, Hawkeye was blasted directly into the sea by Natsuya.

Seeing this, Nami was dumbfounded.

Lord Natsuya had actually defeated Hawkeye, the world's greatest swordsman!?

This was simply too incredible!!

In fact, it wasn't just Nami; anyone else who knew Hawkeye would likely be just as shocked if they were here.

The gap in strength between Hawkeye and Natsuya simply appeared too vast.

One was a mere criminal with a bounty of one hundred million Beli, while the other stood at the pinnacle of the world, known as the world's greatest swordsman!

If the two were to fight, no one would have believed that Natsuya could win.

Yet, Natsuya had won, and Hawkeye, the world's greatest swordsman, had been crushed by him and sent plummeting into the ocean!

Such a situation was, of course, nothing short of incredible.

However, from Natsuya's perspective, this outcome was not strange at all.

The only areas where Hawkeye surpassed him were his two types of Haki and his superb swordsmanship.

But against Observation Haki, Natsuya had the Mirror of Heart Door to counter it.

As for Armament Haki and superior swordsmanship, he had neutralized both with sheer, overwhelming power.

Given this, it was naturally no surprise that Natsuya had defeated him.

Of course, stating it like this might leave many without a clear concept of Natsuya's current strength.

But if one were to calculate it carefully, it would become clear.

First, Natsuya's base physical fitness was already more than ten times that of an ordinary person.

Then, the Eight Inner Gates provided him with various enhancements.

The Gate of Opening allowed him to utilize this strength—already over ten times that of an ordinary person—at one hundred percent capacity.

The Gate of Rest kept him tireless, allowing for sustained output.

The Gate of Life stimulated his potential, and with the addition of massive vital energy, his strength surged to dozens of times that of a normal person.

Then came the Gate of Hurt, which traded physical damage for even greater power.

In that state, Natsuya's strength likely reached over a hundred times that of an ordinary person!

And this power was then further amplified by the Monkey-Monkey Fruit!

With all these layers of amplification, Natsuya's strength had reached an incredible level!

Possessing such power, it was only natural that he could accomplish incredible feats.

Of course, there was still a difference between defeating someone and killing them.

Natsuya could defeat Hawkeye, but whether he could kill him was another matter entirely.

Therefore, Natsuya intended to test it out.

But clearly, Hawkeye did not give Natsuya that chance.

After falling into the sea, he did not surface for a long time.

The smile on Natsuya's face suddenly froze.

Nami, inside the Different Dimension, also blinked in confusion.

Hawkeye was not a Devil Fruit user, so it was impossible for him to be unable to get back up after falling into the sea.

And based on the situation just moments ago, he had not been knocked unconscious by Natsuya.

So the only explanation was that Hawkeye had intentionally submerged himself.

He had escaped!?

Natsuya's expression darkened.

He had been careless.

Who could have imagined that Hawkeye would take the opportunity to flee!?

Of course.

Perhaps it was also because Natsuya had a preconceived notion of Hawkeye's character.

In the original story, Hawkeye was aloof, arrogant, and elegant!

Who would have thought that the world's greatest swordsman would actually run away!?

"Momoo, go check if he's down there!"

Coming back to his senses, Natsuya hurriedly ordered Momoo in the distance.

He was certainly not willing to let Hawkeye go just like that.

Come to think of it, the fact that he could defeat Hawkeye this time was partly due to the advantage of the battlefield.

Here, Hawkeye had little footing, whereas Natsuya could use Shave and fly.

If they were to encounter Hawkeye on land again in the future, it would be troublesome.

Upon hearing Natsuya's words, Momoo didn't hesitate and immediately swam into the depths of the sea.

Momoo had originally been terrified of Hawkeye, but since Natsuya had just defeated him, it naturally gained some courage.

But the next moment, a grand green light suddenly flashed beneath the sea, and Momoo surfaced with a pale, greenish complexion.

Natsuya's brows furrowed instantly.

Through the Mirror of Heart Door, he saw what Momoo had seen and heard.

That guy Hawkeye had truly escaped!

Momoo had dived into the depths, only to catch a glimpse of a small figure moving away.

At that moment, Hawkeye seemed to have sensed Momoo's presence; he suddenly swung Yoru, unleashing a terrifying slash underwater!

Consequently, Momoo was so frightened that it scrambled back to the surface.

Natsuya's brow furrowed, but his expression suddenly shifted.

"Let's go."

Ignoring Hawkeye, Natsuya summoned Nami, then had Momoo pull their pirate ship and quickly leave the area.

After quite a while, once they were far from the battlefield, Natsuya finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"What's wrong, Lord Natsuya?"

"Why aren't we continuing to hunt down that Hawkeye!?"

At this point, Nami could no longer suppress her confusion and asked.

After discovering that Natsuya had defeated Hawkeye, Nami's mindset had shifted immediately following her initial shock.

In her view, since Natsuya could defeat Hawkeye, they no longer needed to fear him; they could even attempt to kill him!

One had to remember that as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Hawkeye's bounty was not low at all.

Thinking of this, Nami's eyes turned into the shape of Beli.

But what she hadn't expected was that after Natsuya sent Momoo to search, he simply gave up.

According to her understanding, Natsuya wasn't the type to leave a job unfinished.

What was going on!?

At this moment, Nami finally couldn't help but ask.

Hearing this, Natsuya revealed a bitter smile.

He didn't answer Nami's question, but instead immediately deactivated the Eight Inner Gates.

And this was precisely the reason he had given up on chasing Hawkeye.

Because the time limit for the Eight Inner Gates had been reached!

More accurately, it was the time limit that Natsuya could withstand the Eight Inner Gates.

He had already been injured previously, and activating the Eight Inner Gates again—especially the Gate of Hurt—naturally added injury to injury.

Initially, thanks to the amplification of the Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Natsuya had been able to maintain it.

But as time passed, he naturally couldn't hold on any longer, which was why he had hurriedly taken Nami and Momoo to evacuate the scene.

At this moment, after deactivating the Eight Inner Gates, Natsuya's monkey face suddenly turned pale.

Waves of dizziness assaulted his head.

Fortunately, Natsuya was still maintaining the Monkey-Monkey Fruit transformation; otherwise, he would have truly fallen unconscious just like last time.

Thinking of this, Natsuya couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

He knew that his current Monkey-Monkey Fruit ability was being maintained by the power of the Door-Door Fruit.

If he were to pass out, the ability would automatically retract, and he would be in big trouble!

At that point, the Monkey-Monkey Fruit ability, having lost the restraint of the Door-Door Fruit, would very likely conflict with it, turning him into a human bomb!

Realizing this, Natsuya was also given a fright.

Clearly, this was the drawback of opening the Mirror of Heart Door to embed Devil Fruit abilities.

Natsuya suddenly felt a sense of relief.

In fact, he had already developed this method of embedding Devil Fruit abilities into his own body when he faced Garp.

It was just that when he fought Garp before, the gap between them was simply too vast.

He estimated that even if he had mastered the Monkey-Monkey Fruit ability, he wouldn't have been able to defeat that legendary veteran who had reached the Realm of Gods.

Therefore, last time, Natsuya had never relied on the power of the Door-Door Fruit to activate the power of the Monkey-Monkey Fruit.

Because if he were knocked unconscious, he really would have self-destructed!

As for now, he no longer had that worry.

Although his head felt a bit dizzy, Natsuya was pleasantly surprised to discover that his body was gradually improving while the Monkey-Monkey Fruit's ability was activated.

Hmm, this was probably the reason why Zoan-type fruit users were all so durable.

This kind of recovery ability was no joke.

Realizing this, Natsuya simply decided not to deactivate the state, maintaining his monkey form to let the ability repair his body.

Come to think of it, his situation of sustaining further injuries due to using the Eight Inner Gates was quite troublesome, but with the Monkey-Monkey ability helping out now, he should be able to fully recover before long.

Thinking of this, Natsuya immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

But immediately after, Natsuya's expression suddenly changed.

A pair of copper bell-like eyes snapped toward the stern of the pirate ship.

"Who's there!!"

Nami was instantly startled.

What, there's someone!?