Celestial Dragon? Wild Monkey!

"Where did this mountain monkey crawl out from? He looks like a damn animal."

With his hands in his pockets, John raised his chin and looked at Somaz with contempt.

Anyone who did not know better would have thought John was the Celestial Dragon and Somaz the commoner being hunted.

"You lowly life-form that never fully evolved—how do you even have the nerve to stay alive?"

"..."

Somaz was stunned, his body trembling uncontrollably with rage.

How dare he! How dare this lowly pirate from the lower world say such things?!

How could he be so disrespectful toward a great Celestial Dragon?!

"John, you..."

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up soon."

Seeing even Rocks slow down in shock, John impatiently waved him onward.

"Okay!" Rocks nodded and suddenly sped up, darting past Somaz.

Somaz ignored him completely. His eyes held only the arrogant purple-haired man standing there with his hands in his pockets.

The hatred had been perfectly drawn in!

"I know you. Captain John, right? The Magnetism Man who ate the Paramecia-type Magnet-Magnet Fruit."

Somaz raised a hand to push his sunglasses back up from the tip of his nose. Breathing heavily, he spoke with suppressed madness.

"I'll put a Seastone collar around your neck and make your bloodline serve as slaves for generation after generation..."

Sizzle—

Before Somaz could finish his threat, purple currents burst from John's body and rapidly spread outward from him.

Then, the ground trembled!

Countless iron elements separated from the soil, turning into densely packed black specks that floated in midair.

With a thought from John, the countless black specks suddenly converged on Somaz.

"Thorn Wall!"

Even with his immortal body, Somaz's instincts were screaming at him that he absolutely could not take this attack head-on.

He had to block it!

Thick thorny vines burst from the ground beneath Somaz's feet, intertwining into an upside-down bowl that covered and protected him.

The next instant, the iron-element sandstorm arrived, becoming billions of all-pervasive marching ants that burrowed through the gaps between the thorns.

"Dammit, what is this?!"

A sense of danger surged through Somaz. He immediately dismissed "Thorn Wall!" and leaped, intending to jump out of the iron-element encirclement.

He had already seen through John's intention. John wanted to imprison him!

An immortal body was not afraid of being killed. What it feared most was imprisonment!

Just as Somaz leaped into the air, the iron-element sandstorm suddenly formed a giant hand and accurately seized his right ankle.

Then, like gangrene clinging to bone, the iron elements rapidly spread upward from his ankle. In the blink of an eye, they covered Somaz's entire body, leaving only his head exposed.

Thud—

Somaz crashed heavily to the ground. The iron elements covering him fused together, forming an iron maiden coffin.

Somaz struggled with all his strength to break free, only to discover that the coffin had been coated in Armament Haki. With his strength, he could not tear it apart at all.

"What a ridiculous wild monkey."

John stepped forward and, under Somaz's horrified gaze, undid his belt, then...

Sizzle—

A warm stream splashed across Somaz's face, flowing into his nostrils with each breath and down his airway into his stomach.

A faint scent of rum spread through his sense of smell and taste.

So did humiliation and fury...

This was worse than killing him!

Yet Somaz did not dare curse aloud. Otherwise, the liquid still pouring down would enter his mouth.

After a while, John let out a long breath, gave himself a shake, and fastened his belt.

"Sorry. I've been feeling a little troubled these past few days, so I drank a bit too much."

As he spoke, John lowered his eyes to Somaz, meeting that bloodshot, rage-filled stare.

"But for a wild monkey that hasn't fully evolved to taste such fine nectar is an enormous honor for you."

"Ptui! I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you! Your family, your friends, everything you have!"

Somaz roared hysterically, yet he somehow seemed helpless—almost pitiful.

In the face of the threat, John smiled faintly. With a curl of his finger, he controlled the iron coffin lying on the ground and made it stand upright.

"I know that with my current Conqueror's Haki, I can't break through your immortal body. That's what gave you the courage to keep barking even while trapped."

"But..."

John's smile suddenly turned sinister.

"I have ten million ways to make you suffer more alive than dead!"

As he spoke, John raised his right hand. Electricity flickered at his fingertips as he drew in the iron elements from the earth.

Before long, iron elements had adhered to and wrapped around his entire right arm, forming an iron drill covered in spiral barbs.

At the same time, an opening appeared in the iron coffin, exposing Somaz's rear.

Somaz felt the restraints around his backside suddenly loosen. Looking at the savage iron drill in John's hand, how could he not know what John intended to do?

"No! Don't! I was wrong! Please..."

"Relax. Don't be nervous."

John soothed him softly as he walked behind Somaz. The iron drill began spinning madly with a buzz.

That buzzing sounded like a devil's whisper in Somaz's ears, filling him with unimaginable terror.

"No! Please, don't... Aah!!!!"

Time became incomparably long in that moment. Though the pain was milder than having his head cut off, it became unbearably piercing.

Somaz's personality, thoughts, and everything else shattered into dregs along with the drill's buzzing.

After an unknown amount of time, the buzzing stopped, and John walked around to stand before Somaz.

The arrogant, crazed Celestial Dragon and member of God's Knights now had hollow eyes and a face as lifeless as death.

He was still alive, but he was already dead.

"At your age, and that's all the psychological resilience you have?"

John curled his lip disdainfully, brought his five fingers together like a blade, and violently pierced through the iron coffin into Somaz's chest.

Then, he pulled out a mechanical metal heart.

This was Somaz's lifeline. It seemed that destroying the mechanical heart would kill him.

But Somaz, whose personality had already been shattered, did not react at all to having his heart taken. He was merely a mindless, walking corpse.

"I'll contact you again. Take care of yourself."

John dismissed the iron coffin, waved at Somaz as he collapsed limply to the ground without its support, and flashed off in pursuit of Rocks.

While traveling, John looked down at the mechanical heart in his palm, his thoughts racing.

In the future, Saint Saturn had half his body blown apart by the Straw Hat crew, yet he had remained perfectly alive.

In that case, did every immortal body that had formed a "Deep Sea Contract" with Imu differ from the others?

And Harald, who had been subjected to "Black Reversal Domination" after forming the contract, had been killed by his own son Loki—not because of a mechanical heart.

"In other words, mechanical hearts are something Somaz, or only a very small number of people, possess."

Understanding dawned on John, followed by a helpless sigh.

"Of course, these guys are all quite strong. They possess Armament Haki and Observation Haki, allowing them to resist my Observation Haki and magnetic perception."

"Otherwise, if someone had such an obvious weakness as a mechanical heart, I could detect it directly with my Fruit ability alone."