Gunshots echoed across the abandoned dock.
The bullets streaked through the air like miniature meteors, flying straight toward 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 up, illuminating the entire dock in minute detail.
The bloated attacker widened his eyes.
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's head, and tightened his five fingers.
The attacker let out a miserable scream.
Lin Nuo was about to question him.
But besides the attacker's cries, countless other sounds suddenly flooded into his mind.
Lin Nuo realized that the Voice of All Things had activated and hurriedly focused on listening.
Hurry... you hide first...
Big brother... I'm scared...
Shh—don't make a sound!
What followed were low growls and footsteps, like vicious hounds closing in on prey.
"Scum, let him go!!!"
A figure shot out from the shadows at the side like a cannonball!
The firelight revealed his outline: a youth around seventeen or eighteen, not very tall but lean and sturdy.
The strange thing 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 mist rose from his entire arm.
Beast transformation. A Zoan Devil Fruit user.
The thought flashed through Lin Nuo's mind as he tossed the attacker aside with his right hand.
At the same time, he crossed his arms before his chest and blocked the full-force punch of that beast claw.
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 low voice.
The youth staggered to steady himself, baring 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 pushed off the ground and charged again, his claws tearing across each other as his assault became even fiercer than before.
The flames behind Lin Nuo burned brighter and brighter, while he handled the entire fight with ease.
The more the youth fought, the more alarmed he became.
His attacks had clearly landed, yet it felt as though they had not hit at all.
While the two were locked in heated combat, Moria quietly moved nearby.
He stared at the bloated attacker whom Lin Nuo had thrown aside, and his eyes lit up.
"Perfect chance! Let me finish him off!"
He spun his large harpoon 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.
He grew taller and broader, his skin becoming completely covered in fur.
Most terrifying of all, flesh wriggled at his neck as two more heads emerged!
All three pairs of eyes burned with furious flames.
"Hellhound."
Moria had only rushed halfway over when he saw the transformation. His scalp tingled, and he hurriedly stopped before retreating rapidly.
Cerberus's six eyes locked onto Moria as it dug its limbs into the ground, preparing to pounce.
"Oh, how scary..."
Lin Nuo murmured.
The flames behind him went out, and he shot forward, instantly intercepting Cerberus directly from the front!
His arms, along with his Black Wing, completely transformed into surging azure flames.
"Immortal Thistle!"
The flames spun and gathered, forming a circular shield in front of Lin Nuo.
Cerberus lunged at full force at that very moment.
Bang!
The powerful recoil surged back through it, leaving all three heads dazed at once. Its limbs went weak, and its enormous body staggered backward.
The fire shield scattered and coiled around Cerberus's necks, strangling them tightly.
No matter how they bit or shook themselves, they could not extinguish the flames.
Once Lin Nuo confirmed that he had a firm hold, he leaped into the air, dragging Cerberus skyward with him.
Then he flipped in midair and used the force of his descent to smash Cerberus violently into the ground.
After completing the move, he adjusted his posture in midair, pulling his right leg back and aiming his toes downward.
"Phoenix Seal."
Azure flames compressed at his toes, condensing into a sphere of light.
With a downward kick, the sphere dropped and struck precisely between Cerberus's chest and abdomen!
Boom—
After the explosion, every nearby barrel and crate shattered from the impact!
Blue light illuminated half the dock district as brightly as day, only slowly fading several seconds later.
The flames receded, and Lin Nuo landed lightly.
"That should calm you down now."
Ahead of him, Cerberus'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 across his face.
The youth coughed up a mouthful of bloody spit, and his first words were, "Take... take everyone... and run... hurry..."
"I'm not leaving!" the fat man cried.
"You..."
Just then, dense footsteps sounded from behind the surrounding obstacles.
Small figures crawled out through all kinds of gaps.
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 their little hands and sobbing softly.
The youth wanted to speak, but his injuries were aggravated, making him cough up blood again.
Lin Nuo walked over.
The youth could not move, so he could only glare fiercely 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 those words, the youth shuddered. "You were blocking us here, so why couldn't I attack you?!"
He gritted his teeth. "And just now, you sent a distress signal to your accomplices, didn't you? Don't think I didn't see it!"
Lin Nuo thought for a moment.
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 port.
Combined with the voices he had heard through the Voice of All Things, and the youth's desperate efforts to protect these children...
"You wouldn't happen to be getting hunted down, would you?" Lin Nuo asked again after thinking it over.
"Those fireworks just now were your signal to regroup?"
The youth pursed his lips but did not deny it.
"The fireball I threw out earlier was only meant to find my separated companions. They've seen my abilities before."
Lin Nuo continued at an unhurried pace. "If I really had accomplices waiting nearby, they would have come already after seeing the signal."
"And if I really had come to stop you, would I still be standing here chatting with you now?"
"These children, and the two of you—every single one of you should have been tied up by now, shouldn't you?"
The youth froze.
After getting beaten up, his mind had finally emerged from its state of stress.
The other party had not tried to kill him, nor had he touched the children.
If he were a gang member, why would he bother saying so much?
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 before adding the question he cared about most:
"And where did you get this Hellhound Fruit?"
In his memory, that fruit should have been in the hands of the Celestial Dragons before eventually ending up with Shanks's older brother, Shamrock.
How had this guy eaten it?
The youth remained silent for several seconds.
Moria, standing beside them, grew impatient and raised his harpoon as he moved forward—only for Lin Nuo to stop him with a raised hand.
"I know you're doing a good thing."
Lin Nuo looked at the youth. "Going this far to save these children is admirable."
"But in trying 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 everything clearly to us?"
"In-innocent bystanders?" The youth's eyes widened.
"I nearly killed you?!"
He looked at the completely uninjured Lin Nuo, then at his own miserable state, nearly failing to catch his breath.
But on careful thought... it did seem... like he had attacked first.
The other party had not even fought back at the beginning.
The youth's face visibly flushed red.
He lowered his head and only spoke after a long while in a muffled voice.
"My name is Roy. I'm the person in charge of the Resistance Group on this island. We specialize in rescuing children who are about to be offered to the Celestial Dragons by the gangs."
His voice was low, but the surrounding children 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, we met several people."
Roy raised his head, and there was a little more light in his eyes. "After they joined us, intelligence gathering and our operations went much more smoothly."
"These children are the first group we've rescued recently. We were supposed to move them to a safe Base tonight, but we were discovered and could only hide here."
He glanced at the gun in the fat man's hand. "That signal gun is the emergency assembly tool we agreed on."
"When I saw the flames you sent up, I thought you were with the gangs and had come to stop us while calling for reinforcements, so I attacked you."
Lin Nuo nodded. "I roughly understand now."
"Then what about your Devil Fruit abilities?"
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 in silence.
"I was originally just an ordinary dockworker."
Roy finally took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice.
"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's his name?"
Roy rubbed his still-aching chest.
"Ivankov..."
Before you continue