Somaz's Road to the Heart

The explosion kicked up waves over ten meters high, sweeping outward in every direction and making the massive Treasure toss like a fallen leaf in a storm.

"Quick! Extend the oars and row with everything you've got! Get the ship alongside them!"

With the arrow already on the string, even though Pete instinctively feared the Marines, he gritted his teeth and resolved to go through with it.

As long as they could engage in boarding combat, he believed his Reaction Fruit ability could clear away every obstacle.

"Yeah! Let these World Government lapdogs taste Captain Pete's power!"

"Maffy, be careful! Don't sink the pirate ship. I don't want to search the endless seabed for that thing!"

As the pirates grew increasingly frenzied, Somaz instead calmed down from his madness.

When he learned of Captain John's death, he had felt both delighted and worried. Fearing that someone might accidentally damage the heart, he had specifically rushed over from Mary Geoise.

If he had not needed to send his fingernails to the Marine Science Department to make a Vivre Card, delaying him slightly, he would have come to hunt down these lovely pirates long ago.

How wonderful that they had killed that beast, John!

The humiliation of that day remained vivid in his mind. Even with an Immortal Body, Somaz often felt a faint pain in his backside.

This would be the pain of his entire life!

Boom—

The Treasure slammed heavily into the lead warship, and the boarding battle officially began!

Pete leaped over the rail onto the warship's deck, a savage grin on his face as he spread his arms.

Reaction Fruit, activate!

In an instant, the charging Marines, Cipher Pol agents, Somaz, and Maffy on the deck all turned into wooden figures, frozen stiff in their poses.

"Ahahahaha!"

Pete threw back his head and laughed wildly.

No matter how many times he used it, the spectacular sight created by the Reaction Fruit filled him with pride.

This was his ability, his invincible ability!

The slaughter began!

The pirates surged forward, killing every Marine and Cipher Pol agent they encountered. Gunfire thundered, blades flashed, blood sprayed, and heads rolled.

The Marines aboard the four surrounding warships were furious at the sight!

"Vice Admiral, fire the cannons! Send these cruel pirates to the bottom of the sea!"

"No! The Celestial Dragons are still on that warship. You are not allowed to fire!"

The vice admiral's gaze was as cold as ice. In his eyes, there were no subordinates being butchered by pirates—only the safety of the Celestial Dragons.

He bent his knees, gathered strength, and shot into the air. His toes kicked hard against the atmosphere as he crossed the sky with Geppo, charging straight toward Somaz and Maffy.

He had to stand before the Celestial Dragons and protect them!

However, the moment the vice admiral reached the air above the warship, his thoughts suddenly stalled. Maintaining his stepping posture, his body was dragged down by gravity and smashed heavily onto the deck.

"Within my domain, I am... a god!"

Pete swung his blade and directly chopped off the vice admiral's head.

The frustration of failing to find treasure for so many days was released all at once. It felt incomparably satisfying!

Holding his blood-dripping saber, Pete strode toward Somaz and Maffy, who wore long military uniforms.

Once he reached them, he raised his blade and brought it down, severing two heads.

Thus, every World Government member aboard this warship was—"wiped out"!

Grrr—

Just as Pete was looking imposing and showing off, his stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

As if it were a signal, the pirates' stomachs began growling too, filling the air with rumbling.

Embarrassed, Pete wiped the blood staining his blade clean, released his Devil Fruit ability, and raised a hand to give orders.

"Quick, find the warship's mess hall! Bring me all the food and water!"

"Roar!"

The pirates howled excitedly and rushed chaotically toward the cabin doors, looting every bit of food they saw.

Yet they failed to notice that two headless "corpses" in long military uniforms had stood up.

Somaz and Maffy picked up their heads from the deck and placed them back onto their shoulders, then twisted their necks, producing bursts of crackling bone-popping sounds.

The crackling was incredibly faint amid the pirates' noise, yet Pete caught it clearly.

Pete hurriedly turned around and saw the two people he had supposedly killed standing alive before him. There was not a single wound on their bodies, and not even a trace of blood had stained their clothes.

It was as if nothing had happened!

"Impossible, you were clearly already..."

"Already dead?"

Somaz raised a hand to straighten his sunglasses, baring his teeth in an eerie, inscrutable grin.

"Thorn Hunt!"

With Somaz's furious roar, several thorny vines covered in vicious spikes burst from the deck out of thin air. They grew swiftly like slithering snakes, winding toward Pete.

Pete's face changed drastically in fright. He quickly leaped back to evade them while activating the Reaction Fruit again.

In an instant, the vicious thorns pursuing him froze in midair and stopped moving.

Looking at the rigid vines frozen inches before him, Pete felt his heart pound violently as fear of the unknown gradually spread through him.

"What kind of monster is this?!"

Though he had experienced the God Valley Incident, he had spent the entire time thinking about how to betray John and had not noticed the existence of the Immortal Body at all.

Hunger, thirst, and this encounter with the unknown pushed the taut string in Pete's mind to its limit, on the verge of snapping.

Pete did not dare approach them. He drew the flintlock pistol from his waist and repeatedly pulled the trigger, firing bullets coated in Armament Haki.

The bullets slipped through gaps in the vines and struck Somaz and Maffy, tearing fist-sized holes through their bodies.

"Ahahaha! Now you should be dea—"

Before Pete could finish his smug words, he watched helplessly as their shattered bodies gradually restored themselves. Within only a few breaths, they were completely unharmed again.

"H-How can this be?!"

"Damn it! What kind of monsters has the World Government raised?!"

Pete was scared out of his wits. He backed away several steps, then fled toward the ship's cabin as though running for his life.

His stamina was nearly depleted. He could not maintain the Reaction Fruit ability much longer and had to find food and water to replenish himself first.

As Pete went deeper into the cabin and the distance widened, Somaz and Maffy, who had left the Reaction Fruit's range, began moving again.

"Not a bad ability. No wonder he could kill that bastard John. I'll put a Seastone collar on him and keep him beside me as a slave!"

Somaz held no fear toward the unknown Devil Fruit. He felt only excitement at the prospect of gaining such a rare slave.

The pirate who had killed John becoming his slave—didn't that indirectly mean John had become his slave?

The thrill of revenge flushed Somaz's face red, and his entire body began trembling uncontrollably.

"Don't act recklessly."

Seeing Somaz nearly lose his mind, Maffy spoke up with a grim expression.

"Since it's a Devil Fruit ability, we can resist it with Armament Haki. Otherwise, if we get frozen again and shoved into the sea, we'll be in trouble."