One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

Seeing that red mist was emitting from Nova's blood, his whole body gradually melted into a pool of blood, as if he had been waiting for this moment. Azrael raised his right hand and spread out his five fingers. As a cut full of fangs slowly appeared on his palm, the pool of blood on the ground seemed to be attracted by something irresistibly, and turned into a long blood line that flowed rapidly towards the cut.

When there was no trace of red left on the grass, Azrael stood up with one hand on his knee. A scarlet tongue swung out from the mouth in the palm of his hand, greedily licking the blood stains around it clean, as if it were a living creature with life consciousness. After a burst of joyful and excited hissing, it slowly closed from the middle, and the strange blood light attached to the entire right arm gradually faded away.

At the same time, Azrael's face, which was as pale as paper, showed some color for the first time in a long time, and became slightly redder. His long red hair twisted and wriggled like blood vessels, which looked indescribably strange even in the daytime.

"Huh... I'm a little uncomfortable taking in a lot of blood in one go. I look like a weak guy."

Azrael stretched out his arms to relax his tired muscles, and closed his eyes slightly with an intoxicated look on his face. "Anyway, I haven't felt so comfortable for a long time. My brain is clearer than ever before. I guess the fight will be more exciting soon, right?"

When he mentioned the word "fighting", his gaze slowly turned to the slaves huddled in the corner. His eyes, which were mostly white and less black, flashed with a dangerous and cruel light, like a cheetah peeping in the darkness, staring closely at its prey. It was chilling, and made those people's already trembling bodies tremble even more violently.

If the prey was stared at with such eyes, it would surely flee in panic. However, no one on the scene showed any signs of escaping or resisting. They still squatted there like puppet sculptures. After a twitch, their faces returned to their original emptiness and numbness, as if they had accepted their fate of being at the mercy of others in the future.

"I don't sense any strange aura nearby, so it shouldn't be a trap set by someone to lure me in. But it's better to end it early just in case."

Azrael spoke slowly while walking towards them at a hurried pace. Whenever he saw the prey he had been longing for appear in front of him, his every move would inadvertently become anxious, and the desire to take his life would become stronger and stronger. If he chose to try to talk to him at this time, it would definitely be a very bad thing.

Therefore, during the hunting competition, even the celestial dragons, who were famous for their arrogance, were unwilling to become such fools. They naturally valued their own safety more than the prizes that would most likely not fall on them.

A gust of wind blew by, and the white sea of ​​flowers was blown up and down. The wind was mixed with bursts of low sobs, the sound was so sad that people could not help but cry, but Azrael only felt particularly enjoyable when listening to it, and it aroused the beast in his heart. He stretched out his tongue and licked the dark red corner of his lips: "Hehe, only if the order is the most unbearable for you, will I feel particularly happy... I might as well start with you first."

Before he could finish his sentence, Azrael quickened his pace and came to the child with the largest size and the most scars. He looked down at the childish face covered with tears and bruises. Instead of feeling any sympathy, Azrael smiled maliciously: "I don't know how you managed to avoid my detection before, but your luck has ended now."

The child seemed to understand what he said. He raised his head tremblingly. There was only fear in his tear-blurred eyes. His dry lips trembled constantly. How could he speak?

"Very good, very good. It's the kind of desperate expression that one gets when they are on the verge of death! It will always make you excited no matter how many times you see it!"

Azrael, whose face gradually became hideous and distorted, raised the giant sickle in his hand high up. A beam of sunlight shone through the gap in the clouds and fell directly on the tip of the bloody sickle, reflecting a scarlet cold light, like a dazzling column of blood, which made people tremble with fear.

"What does the blood of the Bakannia taste like? I can't wait to taste it myself!" With a crazy laugh, Azrael swung the scythe violently. The blade cut through the air, tearing out a sharp red light, and slashed at the child's neck.

Seeing that the child was about to be beheaded in the blink of an eye, the red light suddenly stopped when it was about to touch his flesh, and the whole giant sickle fell straight to the ground with a crisp "bang" sound as if it had lost its force point.

Along with it was Azrael's intermittent voice, full of fear and confusion.

"Hey...what's going on...can't you use any strength at all...?"

The young man managed to utter a few words before his tongue became numb and he could no longer make any sound.

He tried desperately to raise his right hand, but his entire right arm seemed to have lost consciousness, completely cut off from the body, and drooped limply, and his fingers could not move at all. He staggered back a few steps, and the strength of his knees suddenly disappeared without a trace. He fell straight to the ground, crushing a large area of ​​green grass and white flowers, and he could no longer feel anything in his body.

The slaves at the foot of the mountain began to emit a light blue light all over their bodies. Their bodies began to become transparent visibly, and in the stunned look of Azrael, they turned into tiny particles of light and dissipated into nothingness.

——Fakes?! Are they all projections created by Den Den Mushi? No! Ordinary projections can't make such realistic expressions! Most likely, it's some kind of fruit ability that I don't know about!

Azrael, whose brain was barely clear, wanted to speak out a series of questions and guesses, but in the end, he could only barely make a barely audible scream from his throat. Little by little, the muscles in his body became as stiff as stone and he was unable to move at all. Only his eyes were wide open, staring at the empty space where no trace of the space was left. It was obvious that he could not accept the fact before him for a while.

However, no matter how bizarre the phenomenon was, he couldn't help but believe it, because what happened next was beyond the scope of his understanding.

“The capture was successful and everything was within budget.”

Suddenly, an indifferent and hoarse voice sounded in the air, constantly echoing between the surrounding mountain walls, making the already deep valley even more mysterious.

Azrael was extremely shocked when he suddenly heard the voice. If he had not completely lost the feeling in his limbs, he would have jumped up by now.

He could never have imagined that the prey he had killed not long ago was still alive and well.

"You must find it incredible that there is such a thing as resurrection from the dead in this world, right?"

As these words slowly fell, the outline of a figure gradually emerged from the air. His body was wrapped in bandages, and his head looked twice the size of an ordinary person's. It was none other than CP8 Nova who had been melted away without leaving anything behind.

"Anything that sounds strange at first is often easy to explain."

Just like Azrael's previous style, Nova spoke slowly and walked up to the young man in the blink of an eye, looking down at the man lying on the ground, his originally empty eyes replaced with a pair of bright colors, making it hard to believe that these eyes were embedded in such a weird face. "For example, if I hadn't prepared sufficient equipment in advance and replaced it with a stand that was almost identical to my own features, I would not have let you touch my shoulder at that time."

At this point, his eyes seemed to reveal a trace of nostalgia, as if he was thinking of someone, but that emotion quickly disappeared, and he said coldly: "In other words, what you just took was a liquid similar to blood that I used to fill the dummy to make it look more realistic."

Before he could finish his words, Azrael's head seemed to be struck by lightning. His pupils trembled unconsciously and cold sweat dripped down his forehead and seeped into the soil beneath him.

As if sensing his restless heart, Nova maintained his speaking rhythm and continued, "I have injected a special nerve paralysis toxin into the fake blood, so your muscles will be paralyzed for five hours. You can only watch helplessly as others slaughter you... Compared to these, I care more about another thing."

As he spoke, he untied the bandages wrapped around his arm, and pulled off his black gloves, revealing a right hand that was smooth and flawless. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, no one would have thought that such a beautiful hand existed on such a gaunt body.

"You just said 'no matter how many times', which means that you really enjoy killing people and don't feel any guilt at all..."

Nova stepped forward, stretched out his exposed right hand and roughly lifted Azrael's forehead, staring at him with burning eyes, and said word by word, "Just because of a whim, so many innocent people died because of you... What do you think of human life?!"

With a roar, he changed his right hand into a fist and smashed it hard on Azrael's face. Blood splattered all over, and Azrael's face, which could barely be considered handsome, collapsed in an instant. The sound of his broken nose could be clearly heard.

Anyone who saw him like this would feel a little compassion, but instead of stopping his hand, Nova increased his strength, punching him in the face one after another. Every punch was filled with anger deep in his bones, as if he wanted to vent all the anger and resentment in his heart.

Azrael also seemed to be very tough. Apart from a muffled groan from the first punch, he didn't make any sound afterwards. He just let the opponent's fists rain down on his face, as if he was a doll and had no reaction at all.

"Huh...huh..."

Nova seemed to be tired from the fight, his breathing became a little rapid, his fists were stained with blood that did not belong to him, drops fell on the lawn to form shocking red spots. His eyes full of hatred were still staring at the man who was beaten to the ground by him, and he did not feel happy at all. Instead, the raging anger in his heart burned more vigorously than before, as if he wanted to burn everything including himself.

Azrael's face had swollen to the color of liver, and his original appearance was completely unrecognizable. A trickle of blood flowed down his nose bridge, which was broken into several pieces. He looked no different from a dead person.

But for some reason, he still maintained a twisted, confident smile on his face, and his eyes full of playfulness were staring at the man in front of him, as if saying, "Since you hate me so much, and since I have completely lost the ability to resist, why are you so reluctant to kill me?"

Nova seemed to see through his thoughts. He picked up half of the bandage and wiped the blood that splashed on his hands. He said slowly: "How could I let you die so easily? I want you to experience all the pain that the people you killed have experienced. Then when you feel you can neither live nor die, I will tear you into pieces."

When he finished speaking, his voice was already pausing word by word, his tone was filled with hatred and hatred, and also with a bit of indescribable sadness, and his mind seemed to recall the unforgettable painful memories again...

Azrael seemed to be unmoved by his words. He lay half dead on the grass without moving at all. He looked no different from the dead dogs that could be found on the roadside.

"I don't have much time left..."

Nova turned his head and looked at the sky dyed red by the rising light column. He narrowed his eyes and revealed a thoughtful look. He didn't think about it anymore. He quickly walked behind Azrael. His right hand was covered with a layer of light green light. He grabbed his right leg like lightning and said coldly, "Don't worry. Before the effect of the drug ends, no matter what kind of injury you suffer, you won't feel any pain!"

"Then I have to thank you very much."

A chilling and piercing sound like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue suddenly sounded from below, causing Nova's body to tremble violently. Without any time to think, he flew backwards.

Almost at the same time, a beam of red light shot up from the bottom, as fast and sharp as a meteor chasing the moon. The speed was so fast that it could not be seen with the naked eye. Even if Nova tried his best, he could not avoid it completely.

laugh--

Accompanied by the sound of cloth being torn, Nova rolled over and barely maintained his body shape in the sea of ​​flowers, covering his abdomen and gasping for breath. Blood seeped out from between his fingers and slowly soaked the entire bandage. The pain from the scratches stimulated his nerves from time to time.

However, he had no time to care about all these at this moment. He just raised a pair of doubtful eyes and watched Azrael stand up from the lawn as if nothing had happened, waving the giant sickle that had fallen back into his hand at some point and walking towards him step by step. He was completely different from the dying look before, and the shock in his heart was beyond words.

"Your plan is almost perfect. Even I was almost fooled by it. It's a pity that there are two fatal flaws."

Azrael extended his right index finger. His bruised face was covered with a faint red glow. It recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was impossible to tell that he had ever been injured. He said leisurely with a confident tone, "First, using blood to poison is a wise move, but you don't seem to understand my ability thoroughly. As long as you are willing to spend more time, I can replace your body with brand new blood."

"Damn it... I don't even know when you will return to normal..." There was a bitter smile in Nova's eyes. Perhaps because of excessive blood loss, his voice was a little breathless.

"Second."

Azrael seemed not to hear what he said. He raised his right middle finger and smiled maliciously. He said word by word, "Your mind is full of revenge and you will do stupid things that you normally wouldn't even think about!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

Azrael was surprised by the other party's unnaturally calm voice. Nova grabbed the bandages on his body and tore them off. The bandages turned into fragments and fell to the ground, revealing a tall figure.

"Thanks for your help last time on Beehive Island, I was disguised as Jabba... No, the Knight of God Miles Azrael!"