Perfect Fusion Still Couldn't Buy Immortality

"That man hadn't come for the fruit. He'd come to confirm whether you were dead."

Benns's voice scattered in the wind.

Shanks lifted his foot, stepped on his shoulder, and pressed him back onto the rocky ground.

"Beckman, take him back. Don't let him bite through anything else."

"What about the Clearance Ship?"

"The Red-Haired Pirates will put to sea and intercept it. If we can keep the ship, keep it. If not, send it to the bottom of the sea."

Su Hang braced himself against the cannon carriage and stood up, his lungs tight from the gunpowder smoke.

"That signal with five trails of fire means there's someone on board with higher authority. When you get close, don't just watch the naval guns."

Shanks picked up the fruit basket.

"Sounds like you aren't planning to come with us."

"My fusion rate is only three percent, and both my arms were just dislocated. If I boarded, I'd only be there to scrub your deck."

"You're actually willing to admit you can't do it?"

"Can't do it for now is a long way from never being able to do it."

Luffy hugged the remaining basket of meat and followed behind them.

"Su Hang, are you scared?"

"There's nothing shameful about being afraid of death. What's shameful is not knowing how you'll die."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Confirm something."

The system interface was still stuck at three percent, yet the words Perfect Fusion offered no further explanation.

The Devil Fruit's rejection had been eliminated, but whether that also meant the weakness to seawater had been eliminated was something Su Hang had no intention of testing in a real battle.

After coming down the mountain, Shanks gathered the crew to move the gunpowder, while Beckman tied Benns onto a stretcher.

Su Hang walked into the ruins of the tavern and dragged out two hemp ropes from the storage room.

Makino was bandaging Lia's arm. When she saw the ropes, she walked over.

"You're going to tie up Benns?"

"I'm testing an ability."

"With ropes?"

"Devil Fruit users fear seawater. I need to know how long I can hold out."

Luffy poked his head in through the doorway.

"You're going into the sea?"

"Shallow water. The rope will be tied to the shore. I'll stand in the water, and if something goes wrong, you pull me back."

"I'm coming too."

"No."

"Why?"

"If you come, you'll just jump into the water."

"I can swim!"

Makino took the hemp rope and inspected its knots.

"Luffy can only swim a short distance. If he encounters waves, he'll start flailing around. We can't let him save you."

"You hear that?"

"Then I'll stand on shore and pull the rope."

"Red-Hair is heading out to sea. Stay at the tavern and help Makino clean up."

Luffy hugged the doorframe.

"I can pull the rope and clean up."

"You can't even drag me, so what rope are you going to pull?"

"I dragged you out of the water barrel earlier!"

"There was a floor beside the water barrel. At the shore, there's only sand."

Makino stuffed the end of the rope back into Su Hang's hand.

"Wait until Shanks comes back before you try it."

"The Clearance Ship could reach shore at any moment. There's no time to wait."

"You only ate the fruit last night. Today, you've already been shot, blasted by gunpowder, and dislocated both shoulders. Now you want to go into the sea?"

"That's why I'll only go in up to my waist."

"Is the stake sturdy?"

"It's the one by the harbor that used to tie fishing boats."

"And the rope?"

"A thick rope from the warehouse. It wasn't burned by the fire."

Makino still did not step aside.

"Su Hang, think this through. If something goes wrong in the water, the system can't save you."

"That's exactly what I'm going to confirm—whether it can."

Luffy chased after him for two steps.

"I'm coming with you."

Su Hang shoved a basket of wood scraps into his arms.

"Sort out the pieces that can burn first. We'll need them tonight. Miss even one, and you don't eat."

"You're using food to threaten people again!"

"If it works, it works."

Cannon fire came from the northern sea.

Shanks's ship had already left the harbor, its white wake charging toward the Clearance Ship.

Su Hang followed the southern shore out of the village and chose a gently sloping stretch of shallows.

An old wooden stake, half a man's height, stood by the shore. Its surface was covered in salt frost, but its base was still wedged in the cracks between the rocks.

He kicked it twice. The stake did not budge.

The hemp rope went around his waist and abdomen, passed beneath his armpits, and was finally tied into a double knot.

The other end wrapped around the stake three times, with the remaining length pressed into a crack in the rocks.

"The stake takes the force, the rock crack provides another barrier, and the knot can still tighten. Three layers of insurance."

The system did not respond.

Su Hang took off his shoes and stepped into the seawater with his right foot first.

Some of his strength vanished, but he could still stand steadily.

"Contact with the sole of my foot. The module interface is normal, and the stretching ability can still activate."

His arm stretched half a meter toward the shore, and his five fingers grabbed a reef stone.

He continued forward.

The seawater rose over his knees. His legs began to weaken, and the speed at which his arms retracted slowed by more than half.

Watery afterimages appeared around the edges of the system interface.

[Seawater suppression detected.]

[Nika Core activity declining.]

"Perfect Fusion, explain the rule exemption."

[Perfect Fusion is used to eliminate module rejection.]

[It cannot alter the existing rules of the current world.]

"So seawater still works."

Su Hang stopped where he was and firmly committed that limitation to memory.

A wave slapped against his waist.

In an instant, the strength drained from his chest and abdomen. His leg bones could no longer support his body, and he pitched forward.

The hemp rope tightened, leaving two red welts beneath his armpits.

"Waist-deep is the limit."

Su Hang tried to raise a hand. His arm merely drifted in the water; it could neither stretch nor seize the reef stone less than half a foot away.

The system text began to blur apart.

[Seawater suppression continues to intensify.]

[Module activation failed.]

"The interface can be affected too. If the enemy learns this, they'll have another method besides Seastone."

The seawater receded, and the rope around his waist held his body in place.

Su Hang barely scraped toward shore on his tiptoes, but the next wave shoved in from the side.

Beneath the surface, a current coiled around his legs and dragged him away from the shoreline.

The hemp rope instantly went taut.

Several chunks of rotten wood fell from the top of the stake.

Su Hang looked up, bit down on the rope, and moved his hands back along it.

"Don't break."

The stake tilted half an inch toward the sea.

Its root had long been hollowed out by saltwater. The hard outer shell had endured the first two tugs, but inside, there was only blackened wood pulp left.

The third wave surged in.

Crack.

The stake snapped at the root, slid over the sand with the hemp rope, and plunged into the sea.

"This is what you called three layers of insurance?"

Su Hang reached for the reef stone by the shore. His fingertips touched the slick surface, but his five fingers could not close.

The rip current continued dragging his legs.

The shallows rapidly retreated from view. The water rose from his waist to his chest, then swallowed his shoulders.

The lingering gunpowder pain in his lungs was driven back by the icy water.

Su Hang hooked the knot beneath his chin, trying to use the stake's buoyancy to keep himself afloat.

The rotten wood absorbed water and flipped over, pressing his face beneath the waves.

Salty seawater flooded his mouth and nose.

His legs no longer responded, and his arms could only make faint movements.

[Warning: Host's stamina is rapidly declining.]

[Warning: Nika Core is entering a dormant state.]

"Undo the fusion."

[Unable to execute.]

"Shut down the module."

[The current module has been forcibly shut down by seawater.]

"Then make me float."

The system text broke into blurry motes of light, offering no new answer.

Su Hang exhaled his last breath and was dragged toward deeper water by the undercurrent.

The windmill on shore grew smaller and smaller. The broken stake rolled twice in the waves, and the rope finally sank beneath the surface.

Outside the tavern, Luffy threw down the wood scraps and ran toward the southern shore while Makino tended to the wounded.

"Su Hang, are you done testing yet?"

No one answered.

Only two shoes remained on the beach. Half of the broken stake was wedged between reef stones, while the wet rope stretched straight into the sea.

Luffy grabbed the rope and dragged it back.

There was no one at its end, only wood chips rotted apart by seawater.

"Su Hang!"

A hand briefly surfaced in the distant waves before sinking again.

The system prompt flashed repeatedly beneath the sea.

[The host has not obtained rule exemption.]

[The host has not obtained rule exemption.]

Luffy sprinted along the shore and shouted toward the mountain path.

"Su Hang sank! I'm going into the sea to save him!"