Underground corridor.
Urgent footsteps echoed.
"Almost there." Roy walked at the front, his nose twitching constantly.
"Two more turns and we'll reach the exit. It should lead to the back area of the arena."
Moria followed half a step behind him.
"What about the three people Lin Nuo wanted to find?" His voice was low.
Roy did not slow down. "Here's the plan. Once we get above ground, you cover Glen and the children while they retreat to the docks."
"I'll find Lin Nuo and explain the situation to him."
Before he could finish—
A deafening crash came from overhead!
Immediately afterward, a huge section of the ceiling collapsed!
"Stop!" Roy grabbed Moria.
Dust filled the air...
Revealing a motionless body embedded in the rubble.
Roy narrowed his eyes, stepped forward, and brushed the debris aside with his toe.
It was Karim, the second-in-command.
Roy crouched and reached out to check him. "He's fine."
"This guy's already dead."
But when he looked up—
He saw several pairs of eyes glaring down at them from the hole in the ceiling.
At their head stood a tall, thin man whose arms had completely transformed into writhing ropes.
Two fully armed captains stood behind him.
"I was wondering why I smelled rats." Wade's gaze was icy.
"So it was you vermin, sneaking into our Base while things were lively upstairs?"
Roy slowly straightened, the muscles in his arms beginning to swell.
"Glen." Without turning around, Roy said, "Take the children and leave by another route."
Glen gritted his teeth and nodded. "Understood!"
"Move! We're going back! Hurry!"
"Trying to run?!" Wade flung his rope-like arms toward the crowd.
But Roy's arms fully transformed into beast limbs in an instant. His claw blades sprang out, and he grabbed Wade's incoming rope arm!
The ropes scraped against his beast claws, throwing off sparks!
"I said—you're fighting me!"
His eyes reddened, and the muscles around his neck began to writhe.
"Take the long way around!"
Hearing this, the Resistance Group members hurriedly pushed the nearest children back the way they had come.
Wade's face turned livid.
"Brat, you think eating a Devil Fruit means you can act tough in front of me?!"
Roy's muscles contracted, and his beastly legs kicked off the ground.
Just as he was about to attack—
"Wait."
Moria's voice rang out.
At some point, he had stepped beside Roy, a small knife still in his right hand.
Roy froze. "You should've gone with Glen. You don't need to worry about me!"
"Don't misunderstand." Moria cut him off. "I just want to test my Devil Fruit abilities."
He glanced at the torch on the wall.
"Besides, this environment is very favorable for me."
Moria tilted his head, pressed his lips to Roy's ear, and rapidly whispered a few words.
Roy's eyes widened slightly.
A few seconds later, he nodded, a vicious curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
"Fine!"
When Wade saw the two whispering, rage surged to his head.
"You dare look down on us?!"
The ropes from both his arms erupted in full force, spreading out like a fishing net as they tried to wrap around the two of them!
At the same time, the two captains aimed their guns at Moria and pulled the triggers!
Roy crossed his claws and tore through Wade's rope net, ripping open a gap.
As for Moria, before the guns could aim at him, the shadow beneath his feet had already risen!
The shadow transformed into a black barrier, blocking the shots in front of him.
The battle truly erupted at that moment.
Roy completely abandoned defense, trading injury for injury as he focused solely on the two captains.
His fighting style was wild, bringing the ferocity of the Hellhound to its fullest.
Before long.
The two gun-wielding captains had both been torn open by Roy's claws and collapsed to the ground.
Only Wade remained in the corridor, panting heavily.
"You... you..."
Wade's eyes were bloodshot. He growled as he transformed his limbs and body entirely into ropes!
Then, from every angle above, below, left, and right, the ropes shot at the two of them without leaving a single blind spot!
Roy crossed his arms in front of himself.
Amid a barrage of impacts, he was forced back again and again.
One step, two steps, ten steps...
Roy seemed to be defending passively, but the direction of his retreat always led toward the end of the corridor.
Toward the hole Karim had smashed open, where the sky could be seen.
Wade immersed himself in the thrill, his attacks growing denser and denser.
"What's wrong?! Where's that arrogance from before?!"
"Die, dog! Get down on the ground!!"
Howling, he pursued Roy and forced him all the way beneath the hole.
Sunlight spilled through the opening, casting a bright patch of light on the ground.
Wade stopped attacking and looked at Roy, a victor's savage grin spreading across his face.
"Don't worry. I'll hang you up together with that white-haired lunatic—"
His voice abruptly stopped.
Because Wade suddenly felt something... gripping his ankle.
He slowly lowered his head.
He discovered that his shadow had been stretched incredibly long, extending all the way into the torchlit section of the corridor.
And within that dimness, Moria was crouching on the ground, his left hand pressing down on the ankle of Wade's shadow.
His right hand held the small knife, its blade pressed against where the shadow connected to the ground.
"You..." Wade's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"My shadow... how..."
Moria raised his head.
A smile mixed with madness and accomplishment appeared on his pale face.
"Roy! Now!!"
Boom!!!
A solid, devastating blow!
Wade's body bent backward as Roy rammed him off the ground, sending him flying!
And the direction he flew was precisely toward the sun-filled hole.
Wade tumbled through the air.
He saw his own shadow—stretching longer and longer, like a black umbilical cord.
One end was connected to his foot, while the other was held by that pale boy.
Then he saw Moria's knife in his right hand slash downward!
His shadow, at the ankle—
Was cleanly... cut off.
"Goodbye."
The next second, Wade's body was completely exposed to the noon sunlight.
"No... no...!!"
Sunlight shone over him.
Wade's skin began to smoke, carbonize, and peel away. His muscles melted, and his bones crumbled.
After only a few breaths.
He turned into a wisp of green smoke in midair...
Beneath the hole, Moria released his hand.
The severed piece of Wade's shadow struggled and twisted on the ground a few times before fading away.
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