Misunderstanding, Hellhound vs. Phoenix

Gunshots echoed across the abandoned docks.

The bullets streaked bright trails like tiny meteors, flying straight at Lin Nuo's chest.

They struck him squarely in the chest, bursting into sparks.

When the flames faded, Lin Nuo was completely unharmed, without even a mark left behind.

The effect of this ammunition... why was it so similar to the fireworks I saw over the sea earlier?

Could this person have fired them?

Behind him, flames surged upward, illuminating every inch of the dock.

The bloated attacker's eyes widened.

The next second, Lin Nuo vanished from his sight.

When he reappeared, he was already standing in front of him.

"You just now..." Lin Nuo reached out with his left hand, grabbed the man by the top of the head, and tightened his fingers.

The attacker let out a miserable scream.

Lin Nuo was about to question him.

But amid the attacker's wails, countless other sounds suddenly flooded his mind.

Lin Nuo realized that the Voice of All Things had activated and hurriedly focused on listening.

Hurry... you all hide first...

Big brother... I'm scared...

Shh—don't make a sound!

What followed were low growls and footsteps, like vicious dogs hunting their prey.

"Scum, let him go!!!"

A figure shot out from the shadows to the side like a cannonball!

The firelight revealed his outline: a youth of seventeen or eighteen, short but lean and sturdy.

What was strange was his right arm. From shoulder to fingertips, it was no longer a human limb.

His skin was covered in short, coarse fur, his nails had become hooked claws, and steam rose from the entire arm.

Beast transformation. A Zoan Fruit user.

The thought flashed through Lin Nuo's mind as his right hand tossed the attacker aside.

At the same time, he crossed his arms before his chest and blocked the beast claw's full-force punch.

The shockwave from their clash spread outward, making the surrounding barrels hum.

Lin Nuo did not budge, but the beast-transformed youth's expression changed.

"Who are you?" Lin Nuo exerted force with both arms, knocking the youth back two steps as he asked in a deep voice.

The youth staggered back into balance and bared his teeth. "I don't have time to waste on you!"

His left arm began to swell, and both arms transformed into beast claws.

The youth kicked off the ground and charged again, his claws tearing through the air in crossing strikes, fiercer than before.

The flames behind Lin Nuo burned ever more brightly, while he handled the entire exchange with ease.

The more they fought, the more alarmed the youth became.

His attacks had clearly landed, yet it felt as though they had not hit at all.

As the two battled fiercely, Moria quietly moved beside them.

He stared at the bloated attacker Lin Nuo had thrown aside, and his eyes lit up.

"What a chance! Time to finish him off!"

He spun his massive harpoon in his hand and aimed at the attacker's back.

"Stop—!!!"

The youth caught sight of this from the corner of his eye, and his eyes instantly turned red as his body began to swell violently.

His figure grew taller and broader, his skin becoming completely covered in fur.

Most horrifying of all, flesh wriggled at his neck, and two more heads emerged!

All six eyes burned with furious rage.

"Hellhound."

Moria had only rushed halfway over when he saw the transformation. His scalp went numb, and he hastily stopped and retreated.

The Hellhound's six eyes locked onto Moria. Its limbs clawed at the ground as it prepared to pounce.

"Oh, how scary..."

Lin Nuo murmured.

The flames behind him extinguished, and he shot forward, instantly intercepting the Hellhound head-on!

His arms, along with his black wings, completely transformed into surging azure flames.

"Immortal Thistle!"

The flames spun and gathered, forming a circular shield before Lin Nuo.

The Hellhound happened to launch its full-force pounce at that moment.

Bang!

The powerful rebound blasted back into it, leaving all three heads dazed at once. Its limbs gave way, and its massive body staggered backward.

The fire shield dispersed and curled up along the Hellhound's necks, tightly strangling them.

No matter how they bit and thrashed, they could not extinguish the flames.

Once Lin Nuo made sure he had them firmly restrained, he leaped up and dragged the Hellhound into the sky.

Then he rolled through the air and used the force of his descent to slam the Hellhound viciously into the ground.

After completing the move, he adjusted his posture in midair, drew back his right leg, and aimed his toes downward.

"Phoenix Seal."

Azure flames compressed at his toes, condensing into a sphere of light.

With a downward axe kick, the sphere fell and struck precisely between the Hellhound's chest and abdomen!

Boom—

After the explosion, every nearby barrel and cargo crate was shattered by the blast!

Blue light illuminated half the dock district as brightly as day, only slowly fading several seconds later.

As the flames receded, Lin Nuo landed lightly.

"That should calm you down."

Ahead of him, the Hellhound's body had vanished, reverting to the youth.

"Big Brother Roy!!!"

The bloated attacker scrambled over to the youth's side, frantically checking his injuries with tears and snot smeared all over his face.

The youth coughed up a mouthful of bloody phlegm. His first words were, "Take... take the people... and run... hurry..."

"I'm not leaving!" the fat man cried.

"You..."

Just then, dense footsteps rose from behind the obstacles around them.

Small figures crawled out from every sort of crack and gap.

There were boys and girls, ranging from five or six to twelve or thirteen years old.

Ignoring the youth's words, they crowded around him, tugging at his clothes with tiny hands and quietly sobbing.

The youth tried to speak, but the movement tugged at his injuries, making him cough up blood again.

Lin Nuo walked over.

The youth could not move, so he could only glare at Lin Nuo with bloodshot eyes.

"I've been on this island for less than half an hour." Lin Nuo crouched before him, his tone calm.

"Why did you attack me?"

At that, the youth shuddered. "You were here blocking us. Why shouldn't I attack you?!"

He gritted his teeth. "And just now, you sent a signal for help to your accomplices, didn't you? Don't think I didn't see it!"

Lin Nuo thought about it.

Oh—the ball of fire he had thrown into the sky when he landed.

And the two fire rounds the fat man had fired earlier, along with the fireworks he had seen at sea before entering the harbor.

Combined with the voices he had heard through the Voice of All Things, and the youth's desperate protection of these children...

"You wouldn't happen to be getting chased down, would you?" After thinking it over, Lin Nuo asked again.

"Those fireworks earlier were your rendezvous signal?"

The youth pursed his lips and did not deny it.

"The flame I threw out earlier was only to find my separated companions. They've seen my ability before."

Lin Nuo continued at an unhurried pace. "If I really had accomplices lying in wait nearby, they would have come by now after seeing that signal."

"And if I were really here to stop you, would I still be standing here chatting with you?"

"These children, and the two of you—every last one of you would have been tied up already, wouldn't you?"

The youth froze.

After taking such a beating, his mind had finally emerged from its state of panic.

The other side had not tried to kill him, nor had he touched any of the children.

If they were gang members, why would they waste so many words?

Could it really have been a misunderstanding...

The hostility on the youth's face faded, replaced by confusion.

"Then explain it to me properly." Lin Nuo remained crouched.

"What's going on with these children? Who are you, and why did you attack me?"

He paused, then added the question that concerned him most:

"And where did you get this Hellhound Fruit?"

As far as he remembered, this Fruit should have been in the hands of the Celestial Dragons, before eventually passing to Shanks's older brother, Shamrock.

How had this guy eaten it?

The youth was silent for several seconds.

Moria beside him grew impatient and raised his harpoon to step forward—but Lin Nuo stopped him with one raised hand.

"I know you're doing a good thing."

Lin Nuo looked at the youth. "You went this far to save these children. That's admirable."

"But in order to save people, you nearly killed two innocent bystanders. Don't you feel guilty about that?"

"Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"Shouldn't you explain the entire situation to us clearly?"

"In-innocent bystanders?" The youth's eyes went wide.

"I nearly killed you?!"

He looked at the unscathed Lin Nuo, then at his own miserable state, and nearly failed to catch his breath.

But thinking about it carefully... it did seem like... he had attacked first.

The other side had not even fought back at the beginning.

The youth's face visibly reddened.

He lowered his head, and only after a long while did he speak in a muffled voice:

"My name is Roy. I'm the person in charge of the island's Resistance Group. We specialize in rescuing children who are about to be offered to the Celestial Dragons by the gangs."

His voice was low, but the children around him all quieted down and leaned against him.

"Because we had too few people and no intelligence, our rescue operations had always failed before."

"Until recently, when we met several people."

Roy raised his head, a little light appearing in his eyes. "After they joined us, intelligence gathering and operations went much more smoothly."

"These children are the first group we rescued recently. We were supposed to move them to a safe location tonight, but we were discovered and could only hide here."

He glanced at the gun in the fat man's hand. "That signal gun was the emergency assembly tool we had agreed on."

"When I saw the flames you sent up, I thought you were with the gangs, trying to stop us while calling for reinforcements. That's why I attacked you."

Lin Nuo nodded. "I more or less understand."

"What about your Fruit ability?"

Roy hesitated.

Moria narrowed his eyes beside him, raising his harpoon a little higher.

This time, Lin Nuo did not stop Moria. He merely watched Roy quietly.

"I was originally just an ordinary dockworker."

Roy finally took a deep breath and spoke softly.

"Among the people who joined us recently, there was a strange young man. He said he admired me, so he gave me this Fruit."

"A young man?"

"What was his name?"

Roy rubbed his still-aching chest.

"Ivankov..."