Embodying Oneself

Rusukaina Island.

Heavy snow fell, turning the island's primeval forest silver-white. Thick layers of snow piled up on the leaves of the giant plants. Every so often, a leaf could no longer bear the weight, and the snow came cascading down with a crash, kicking up a cloud of powder.

"Mini Hollows!"

Perona's crisp, childish voice rang especially clearly through the wind and snow. She floated in midair, her pink, wavy twin-tails fluttering in the cold wind. Waving her fair little hand, she sent an army of Mini Hollows surging forth from her palm.

The Hollows, infused with Armament Haki, shrieked and charged ferociously at the giant blue-haired ape opposite them.

Boom, boom, boom!

A series of explosions rang out through the forest. Shock waves spread outward from the ape, blasting away all the snow within thirty meters.

The ground shook. Several enormous trees that would have taken three people to encircle snapped in the middle from the impact and came crashing down.

The blue-haired ape let out a mournful howl. It lowered its head and looked at the half of its body swallowed by the explosions. Its fur was scorched and curled, and faint red marks covered its skin, but a closer look revealed that even the surface layer hadn't been broken.

It staggered back seven or eight steps, each one leaving a huge footprint in the snow. At last, it "painfully" dropped to one knee, supporting itself with a fist and panting heavily. It even secretly lifted its eyelids and glanced toward a certain direction.

Within its line of sight, beside a giant radish-shaped plant, a blond man leaned against it, holding candy and feeding it to the raccoon cat perched on his shoulder.

As luck would have it, another battlefield not far away was playing out in