It's My Turn (True Fragrant Ball Ticket)

"Bastard, you're dead."

Beside them, Zoshu stroked a long tuft of nostril hair and sneered at Norse. "One touch from Ain's power will send you back twelve years. Another touch, heh heh—and you're only eighteen."

"That's fine. I'll just stay eighteen forever." Norse calmly exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

"I'm here, and you still have the leisure to joke around?"

Unbeknownst to him, the blueberry-haired girl Ain had already arrived in front of Norse. She placed a hand directly on his chest. "With this palm, I'll send you back to how you looked at six."

A pink mass of power in Ain's hand seemed to be absorbed by a sponge, vanishing completely into Norse's body. There was no pain, nor any other adverse reaction.

"Hey... touching someone's chest at your age—does that feel interesting? But so what if you touched me? I'm still exactly the same." Norse looked at Ain arrogantly.

Ain's face immediately flushed crimson with embarrassment. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and find somewhere to hide, yet she was utterly bewildered.

What was going on?

Had she seen a ghost today?

Or had her power suddenly stopped working?

"Y-you... why haven't you changed? Don't tell me you looked like this when you were six?" Ain stared wide-eyed in confusion.

"Ah?!!"

The Marine trainees around them cried out as well. Their mouths hung so wide open that they looked as though their jaws had dislocated.

"How is that possible?"

"No way!"

Binz and Zoshu in particular knew Ain's Devil Fruit power best, yet they had never expected it to have absolutely no effect on Norse.

There were perhaps three possibilities: first, Ain's power had malfunctioned; second, there was something strange about Norse's body; third, this guy might be some ancient monster who was far older than eighteen!

"Ain, don't listen to him. Don't you still have two chances? Even if he's an ancient monster, if you send him back thirty-six years at once, his body will definitely show obvious changes!" Binz, the user of the Flourish-Flourish Fruit, suddenly spoke up from the side.

"Mm!"

Ain came back to her senses and nodded at Binz. Her companions trusted her so much—how could she doubt herself at a time like this? How could she let the teacher beside her down?

"No, absolutely not."

Ain firmed up her resolve again, raised both hands, and released two streams of pink power.

"Hey, do you have to touch me there again?"

Norse was speechless. Ain used both hands at once, reaching straight for his chest. It was damn awkward.

"Seeking death... that little girl is challenging the limits of my patience?"

Aboard the Kuja Pirates' ship, Hancock was incomparably furious when she saw Ain grab Norse's chest again. Her heart felt terribly unsettled as imperial wrath erupted from her. "Hmph! Shall I go and trample her beneath my feet?"

"Ah???"

Sonia immediately panicked and hurriedly said, "Sister, calm down. Maybe that guy is too short, and that area on Norse just happened to be at hand level for her. She probably didn't mean it."

"Right, right, and besides, Norse would never like a girl who's so flat."

Gorud also reminded her, "Besides, Norse told us to stay on the ship and not go anywhere. We don't need to worry about him either."

On the other side, aboard the Marine warship.

"Hahaha! The three moves I gave you are over. Now it's my turn!"

Norse burst into unrestrained laughter.

He extended his right hand forward. Even as Ain, who was already questioning her entire life, kept backing away to widen the distance between them, an irresistible force of suction still tightly pulled her body in.

In the next moment, Ain lost her footing and was dragged through the air toward Norse, her tender neck tightly gripped in his hand.

"See? I told you, how could Norse possibly like a girl who's so flat?" Sonia immediately became excited aboard the Kuja ship when she saw Norse seize that girl by the throat.

It was so thrilling.

"I-I naturally always believed in Norse." Hancock blushed at the sight, feeling much better inside. At the same time, she subconsciously puffed out her ample chest, making it clear that she was well-developed and could never possibly be flat.

"Bastard, let Ain go!"

Aboard the Marine warship, Norse's attack thoroughly enraged the other two who had been waiting to fight.

"Sure!"

Norse casually tossed the blueberry-haired Ain aside, then looked toward Binz of the Flourish-Flourish Fruit and Zoshu of the Longarm Tribe.

"Bastard, don't you know how to treat a girl gently?" Binz cursed angrily.

Dressed in a multicolored outfit, he began to sway his body and broke into an awkward dance right there on the deck.

"What an interesting guy, right down to his soul. But I won't be like you." Norse gave Binz a faint glance.

He knew the Flourish-Flourish Fruit required this kind of operation: rapidly moving one's body to generate vibrations, allowing the user to control countless plants.

Sure enough, in the very next moment.

Several plant seeds suddenly fell from Binz's body and began growing wildly at a rate visible to the naked eye.

All of this happened within mere seconds.

Binz was already surrounded by thorny vines, blooming with violet flowers.

"These are mutated violets. The vines have thorns, and the thorns carry a paralytic toxin. Even a juvenile Sea King would be affected if it were pricked." Binz was extremely proud at that moment.

Thinking that his opponent had offered to let him make three moves, he grew even more confident.

All he needed to do was bind his opponent's body with these vines. Their thorn tips would pierce the flesh, allowing the paralytic toxin to spread rapidly.

"Go, Vine Cage!"

Binz continuously twisted his entire body, moving like a boneless man. He danced from the right side of the deck to the left, then from the left to the rear. In short, his body moved in every possible way, as comfortably and extravagantly as he pleased.

With that bizarre yet necessary maneuver, hundreds of mutated violet vines began slithering through the air like vicious venomous snakes, rapidly devouring their way toward Norse.

"Devour me? Then I'll use Life Return!"

Norse remained where he was as another layer of warm light radiated from his body. The only difference from before was that two holy halos had appeared above his head, making him look like an enhanced version of his angelic attire.

Once this ability was activated, the light around Norse could rapidly absorb the vitality of nearby plants to replenish his stamina, though the actual returns were nowhere near as great as they seemed.

At that moment, none of the Marines on the deck had time to be shocked by Norse's methods. Why did they always seem so holy and unbelievable?

"Hey, am I seeing things? The vines were sucked dry!"

"What kind of power is that? Does it come with an invincible domain?"

"Impossible! There isn't even any dangerous aura coming from that power. How could it make Binz's vines lose all their vitality in an instant?"

"Another Devil Fruit ability? It seems this guy has an incredible talent for developing Devil Fruit powers."

Even Zephyr, watching from the side, could not help admiring Norse's methods. He muttered, "Heh... There shouldn't be any doubt now that Aokiji was completely crushed."

A few minutes later.

Binz's stamina had nearly been drained dry, and his body was almost paralyzed from all that dancing. Yet his vine attacks had never entered the one-meter range around Norse. Instead, all the vitality within the vines had been absorbed.

They shriveled up on the spot or turned to ash!

"Is it over?"

Norse looked at Binz, who was lying on the deck drenched in sweat and convulsing all over, then said apologetically, "Hahaha... I'm really sorry. I thought you were very strong, so I accidentally activated two halos to protect myself."

"Hmph, if you're a man, fight me barehanded!" Seeing that Binz had also failed, Zoshu gritted his teeth and charged at Norse.

He was extremely fast and powerfully built, his fist coated in hardened Armament Haki. In the blink of an eye, he threw a wind-ripping punch straight at Norse's forehead.

"Your punching power is decent, but your speed is far too slow."

Norse's Observation Haki was not particularly strong, but against these guys, it was already overwhelmingly powerful. At the very least, his Observation Haki could sense the universe.

Thus, Norse easily dodged his opponent's attack.

Zoshu had also mastered Observation Haki, but he was ultimately no match for Norse. By the time his three moves were up, he had not even touched Norse's clothes.

"Then you can lie down too!"

Norse finally used Phantom Sun-Chasing, his body entering a semi-light state. At that moment, his movement speed became incredibly fast, and in a flash, he appeared behind Zoshu.

"Boom!"

Before the hulking Zoshu could react, Norse sent him flying more than ten meters with a single punch.

Everything had happened in an instant, and only Zephyr, standing nearby, had seen it clearly.

"Clap, clap..."

Zephyr clapped his hands.

He strode forward with an imposing air, completely unafraid of Norse. "Then next, it should be you and me, right?"

P.S. The trial run has begun. I've already activated my shameless ticket-begging mode.

Thank you, esteemed readers, for voting to support me. This book really, really has too few recommendation votes.