Chapter 831: Chapter 511: The One Who Bears Sin
The black light descended, making the sky inexplicably dark for a moment.
Bode looked up. Facing the rapidly falling black light, he also thrust out his fist, and as he clenched it hard, a mass of violet-black lightning coiled around it.
That is...
Sage’s brows twisted, just in time to see Bode blast out a punch.
Bang!!
The shockwave spread from Bode’s fist, whipping up a gust of wind that bent the wild grass around them and blew at the hair tips of Hawkins and the other two.
"Supreme King, huh..."
Hawkins’ brows furrowed tightly. "So he’s actually a man with the aptitude."
"And he can Coiling it too," Urouge said. "He really is a powerful guy."
The airwave dissipated, and the black light Sage had thrown out vanished without a trace at this moment. Bode, still holding his punching posture below, smiled and said:
"When it comes to fists and kicks, I know a little as well."
"Oh?"
Sage grew interested. "So you’re not just a guy who spouts useless crap? Conqueror’s Haki... that’s a decent amount of Haki too. Never heard of your name though."
His Haki didn’t depend on whether he was in his normal state or Transformation; the total amount was there either way. Transformation only let him use Haki with a stronger body. The shock he was throwing out now, while not at full strength yet, would still punch straight through the center of the island in one blow.
But now it had actually been stopped by someone.
"I don’t like being famous. I prefer to work quietly."
Bode said, "Practicing some fists and kicks is also so that people will have the patience to listen to me speak. Look... aren’t you listening carefully right now?"
A vein clearly bulged on Sage’s temple.
"You really know how to piss people the fuck off!"
Zzzzz!
He raised his arm again. Black-and-red Thunderbolt crackled along half his forearm. His body, stalled in midair, burst out another airwave as he sprung upward and blasted out a Haki Shock big enough to cover the entire island.
"You’re really impressive. Your Haki is powerful. As expected of a Four Emperors."
Bode let out a word of admiration, the fist he had extended suddenly tensing. His wide sleeve seemed to be completely filled by muscle in that instant.
"But my will to make people listen carefully to me will never lose to anyone’s!"
Bang!
His fist swung out, smashing forth with a sonic boom and a shockwave. As that fist punched out, it was wrapped in a familiar, tornado-like form of wind.
Powerful Haki formed a barrier, colliding with Sage’s shock. With a boom, the ground shuddered along with it. The grass split and flew apart, and clumps of dirt vibrated up into the air and hung there.
Right after that came a loud detonation. The colliding Haki flashed out an eye-searing light and surged outward in all directions.
Sage dropped from the sky to the ground, staring at the serene-faced Monk opposite him and frowning. "Zephyr?"
"Exactly."
Bode put one hand up in a vertical ten, chuckling lightly. "Twenty-three years ago, I was captured by Admiral Zephyr, and it was then that I learned that ’Black Arm’ style of fighting..."
He opened his hand, smiling as he faced Sage. "After I was captured, I understood one thing: my strength still wasn’t enough. Only if your strength is enough will others listen to you, recognize your ideas, and agree with my ideal of world peace and a world where people have no desire."
"Pirates are the ones with the greatest desire on the sea. Because they’re not satisfied, they go out to sea. Because they’re not satisfied, they destroy the hard-won order. Some people don’t understand how precious peace is. Only after experiencing war will they know. But once war is triggered, it’s not something that can be stopped so easily."
"So I devoted myself to erasing the chaos of the sea."
Behind him, the residents and Pirates advanced mixed together, each with a contented smile on their face.
One subordinate smiled and said, "What Bode says is really good. Now that I have no desire, I don’t think about anything. I no longer have such a deep craving for money. Being able to eat my fill is enough; having a place to live is enough. I don’t need to obtain anything more."
"Yeah, I’ve never felt this good before. My body and mind feel freed, incredibly comfortable. You should join us too, Sage. All that fighting and killing, robbery and construction work—it’s all meaningless. When you’re dead, there’s nothing left anyway, so you might as well think seriously about the meaning of life."
"That’s right, Sage, join us. None of us were hypnotized, and we’re not under any kind of bewitchment. It’s just that once desire fades away, we become peaceful."
"Yeah, let’s all peacefully enjoy life together, Sage. I think all the things you’re doing aren’t really any—"
Bang!
The last Pirate who was speaking suddenly jerked his head, which burst into a cloud of blood mist as he toppled straight to the ground.
Bang bang bang!
The remaining Pirates were all struck as if by some heavy blow. Their heads seemed to be smashed by something weighty, exploding into blood mist one after another as they fell.
Sage’s eyes glowed with a dim crimson light, his voice icy. "You call me Captain. You call me Governor!"
Saturn’s Fierce Eye—Sage didn’t know if that was a Devil Fruit or something else, but he could use Supreme King and emitted Haki as a substitute. Against these small fry, it was still the same: whoever he glared at, died.
"Those were your subordinates."
Bode asked in puzzlement, "Doing this—won’t it chill people’s hearts?"
"Since when did I ever need to passively take care of my subordinates’ feelings? As Captain, my authority is absolute."
Sage stepped forward. "Besides, if it weren’t for you, none of this shit would’ve happened. Shouldn’t we be looking for the cause in you?"
Hum!
A torrent of Supreme King surged forward, crashing over those residents and Pirates. Only, this Supreme King wasn’t strong enough to knock them out; instead, it instilled an intense, primal terror in them.
It was like they were facing a natural enemy.
The only natural enemy of mankind is death itself...
"Get lost."
The group of people who had been walking over with warm, placid smiles all changed color, panicking as they fled in all directions.
"I thought you weren’t afraid of death. Looks like your ability can’t cross the boundary of life and death either." Sage laughed.
"Fearing death is a human instinct. I erase desire, I don’t make people indifferent to life and death."
Bode wasn’t annoyed; he only said, "Besides, I just wanted you to see that they can coexist in harmony."
He glanced back at the people running away and sighed, "Looks like this harmonious scene can’t shake you. You need a stronger wake-up call before you’ll understand how beautiful peace is."
Bode turned his head back and took up a boxer’s stance. "Let me be the one to educate you, then."
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Sage’s mouth split into a grin, the crimson in his eyes flaring. "To be honest, ever since I became a Pirate, you’re the first one who’s tried to preach at me. You’ve pissed me off so much it’s funny!"
Bang!
The moment the words fell, he stepped forward, stomping out a surge of air. His body shot out like an arrow loosed from the string, reaching Bode in a blur.
A fist wrapped in black-and-red lightning smashed straight at his face.
But right then, Bode skipped back in short steps, and a textbook right straight punched up, meeting Sage’s fist head-on. With a bang, another shockwave blasted out.
The instant they touched, Sage’s fist froze, pressed against Bode’s, as he sneered, "You think you’re fit to test strength with me?"
Boom!
A louder impact rang out as Sage’s arm suddenly tensed, knocking Bode’s fist aside. His arm swept down, grazing past Bode’s arm; his fist at that moment turned into fingers, rapidly tapping from the wrist up to the elbow, then just as quickly curled back into a fist and crashed into Bode’s face.
With that punch, Bode’s body was about to be blasted backward, but at that moment Sage’s arm slid down, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him forward. His other fist slammed into Bode’s abdomen, lifting his legs from the ground and sending him flying upward.
The gap created in that instant of lift let Sage surge in close. His hands blurred into afterimages, raining blows all over Bode’s body.
The impact of the punches kept Bode’s body hanging there in midair, trembling with each strike.
"Ora ora ora ora!!"
A textbook North Star Hundred Split Fist!
A real, solid one hundred blows; when the last punch drove in, Bode flew backward like a rag doll.
Only he didn’t fly far—about ten meters or so—before his body suddenly stiffened in midair and forcibly dropped straight down, landing upright on the ground.
"This really is..."
Bode stretched out his palm in front of himself and smiled. "Impressive!"
Bang bang bang!
Like a series of explosions, cracks burst open all over his body, spraying blood. In moments he became a man of blood, swaying, about to topple at any second.
Yet Sage was still frowning. He looked Bode over carefully and said in puzzlement, "This body of yours..."
"Is actually not weak. Back in the day, I was a black market boxer, known as the ’meat grinder of the ring.’ It’s just that, to a Four Emperors, this body is far too fragile."
The tottering Bode was suddenly wreathed in a seven-colored halo, as if gluing his body back together, forcibly bracing the ruined frame, like adding a layer of Exoskeleton.
"I don’t have any real means of regeneration. Against an attack from a Four Emperors, it’s impossible not to be injured. But... that’s not the point. The point is: are you satisfied?"
He smiled. "Does attacking others make you feel fulfilled?"
"Humans..."
He looked around, opening his blood-smeared mouth. "Are always like this. The ears want to hear praise, or screams."
"The eyes want to see what they deem beauty and treasure."
"The nose wants to smell fragrance and stench alike."
"The tongue wants to taste the world’s delicacies, or strange flavors."
"The body wants to touch environments that are more comfortable, more indulgent."
"And the mind desires even more: fame, wealth, status, lust—there’s nothing it doesn’t want. Driven by desire, people commit all kinds of acts in this world."
"That’s why there is war, why there are battles between Navy and Pirate, why there is Buster Call, why the seas are in chaos... all born of desire. But once these things are done, once those desires are satisfied, emptiness follows. To seek greater desires, to fill that emptiness, they go even further, and that’s how greater tragedies are born."
"Just like how you couldn’t kill me this time, so next time you’ll throw an even stronger punch."
The seven-colored halo spread outward from his skin, twisting like tentacles.
"I don’t like this world, but someone has to change it. That someone... could be me."
Bode said slowly, "As long as I absorb their desires, people won’t create tragedies anymore. Everyone will live together in peace."
Sage stared at those now-tangible tentacles and said in a low voice, "What the hell are you?"
Something about that feeling was wrong—more disgusting, even, than what Saturn had given him.
"My name is Bode..."
Bode showed a smile like a sainted mother. "I am the one who bears all sin."
He reached a hand out toward Sage. "Come. Together with me, experience this peaceful world."
