Chapter 294: A Failed Plan

In just a minute or two, the women in the room had already finished dressing, though everyone's expression was somewhat unpleasant, with a hint of irritation faintly visible.

Clearly, whether male or female, no one is happy to be disturbed at such a time.

"Alright, since these Pirates want to die, let's just take action! Let's wipe all these bastards out!"

Nami clenched her small fists and spoke indignantly.

"Heh, I originally wanted to let these guys train for a while longer, but now it seems that being beaten into stone powder by me is the best end for these Pirates!"

Hancock's gaze was icy, and her body was filled with killing intent.

"They've actually come to our doorstep... It seems it's time for me to stretch my limbs as well!"

Even Robin, who had been coasting and hadn't moved much, revealed a dark expression this time; her aura fluctuated slowly, and there were faint signs of her hands turning into diamond.

One must know that in the previous few battles, Robin hadn't really made a move, and having both the Flower-Flower Fruit and the Diamond Fruit, which complemented each other, this Devil Child was actually the most difficult one to deal with among them all.

Except for certain Logia Devil Fruit Ability users, even the Four Emperors would find it hard to have any power to resist when faced with diamond arms suddenly growing out of their own bodies.

It was precisely because the ability was too bugged and the combat experience wasn't good, making it difficult to gain combat experience, that Robin hadn't joined the battles until now.

In the silent palace, a red light suddenly flashed; it was the brilliance of Shanks's full head of red hair shimmering under the moonlight.

"So quiet... I didn't expect there to be so few people..."

Muttering to himself, Shanks looked up at the center of the palace he was about to reach, reaching out to gently stroke the mirror.

"That's about it; let's release everyone right here in the central plaza!"

"Otherwise, if the mirror gets broken... I don't want to deal with that bunch of women alone!"

The mirror in his hand shimmered faintly, and a moment later, the pattern on the mirror surface turned into a vortex, and a massive arm slowly stretched out from within.

Just then, however, a diamond arm suddenly grew from the spot where Shanks's arm had been severed, smashing onto the mirror with a *crack*, shattering the entire mirror into pieces.

An angry scream rang out; the moment the mirror shattered, the massive arm was instantly shredded into two by sharp spatial fragments. With a *thud*, the giant muscular arm, dripping with blood, fell to the ground. Its abundant vitality made the detached arm struggle desperately, and the dragon scale tattoo on it twisted as if it had come to life.

"What's going on... How could this happen?!!"

Shanks's expression changed drastically, not only because he had been discovered by the enemy, but also because his Observation Haki for predicting the future had no reaction at all—it was precisely because of that Observation Haki that Shanks had been able to move through the palace complex with ease without being detected by anyone, yet this time, his Haki gave him no feedback whatsoever.

"Could it be... the Observation Killer ability?!!"

Almost in the next second, Shanks reacted, and the doors to the bedchamber at the center of the palace complex were instantly pushed open, and a group of women walked out.

"Sure enough... there was absolutely no omen; it is indeed the Observation Killer ability..."

Shanks only felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Observation Killer, a power derived from Haoshoku Haki, had always been possessed by Shanks alone across the entire sea; this time, he had finally met a second person who possessed this ability.

It was a pity that the first time they met, they gave him a harsh lesson, directly severing one of the Beast Pirates Kaido's arms...

Not only that, Shanks was also very clear that so-called Observation Killer was not some omnipotent thing—at the end of the day, the power of Haki itself had no concept of restraint; as long as one's Observation Haki was sufficiently profound, one could still counter the Observation Killer of Haoshoku Haki.

The only reason he couldn't predict the future or even use his Observation Haki was that the opponent's Haoshoku Haki, whether in quality or technique, was powerful to an almost unbelievable degree, completely crushing his own! Shanks's gaze swept over the women who had walked out; most were acquaintances, and the few extra ones like Sugar, Marianne, and Robin only earned a glance before he shifted his focus.

Among these new, unfamiliar women, there were naturally some with impressive strength, but there was definitely no one whose Haki could crush his own.

"So... it must be that guy, then!"

Shanks looked toward the depths of the palace with a serious expression. Following the sound of *da-da-da* footsteps, a rather handsome young man in his twenties with black hair walked out of the palace.

The black-haired youth was naturally Uchiha Feiyu. He looked up at the red-haired man standing on the roof and revealed a cold smile at the corner of his mouth: "Red-Haired Shanks, hmm, that should have been the Mirror-Mirror Fruit ability just now! If I'm not mistaken, your three Four Emperors Pirate crews are likely all hiding in that mirror space."

"Tsk tsk tsk, how dangerous; your scheme almost succeeded. If the elites of three Pirate crews had appeared at the same time, it really would have been a very troublesome matter!"

Shanks sighed and shrugged slightly:

"I don't feel like you find it troublesome at all, nor do I see where the danger is... The truly dangerous people should be us!"

"That guy Kaido is known for his Undying Body; other than the scar left by Brother Oden, he has never had any other wounds on his body. Yet this time, he had an arm slashed off so easily. I get the feeling that my every move has never escaped your control!"

Uchiha Feiyu's expression was calm as he said faintly: "It's not a feeling. Ever since you came out of the mirror, your every move has indeed not escaped my control!"

"Ha... just as expected..."

Shanks sighed, the bitter smile on his face deepening, but after taking a deep breath, he cast all of that to the back of his mind, and his original bitter smile turned into a hearty one.

"Forget it, never mind all that... If the plan has failed, then we can only use the most primitive method of a Pirate!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the famous blade Gryphon in Shanks's hand had already traced an arc, and an overwhelming Flying Slash slashed directly toward the people in the plaza!

As for Shanks himself, he pushed off with his feet and flew backward—fighting was impossible; with so many powerhouses, there was no way Shanks could win, so he could only exercise the unique strength of a Pirate and simply slip away!

But just as his feet left the ground, two giant diamond arms grew directly from the floor, gripping his legs. At the same time, one diamond arm after another grew on Shanks's body, locking every joint from head to toe. Shanks's expression changed, and the Haki within his body erupted instantly, trying to repel the Devil Fruit Ability, but it had no effect.

That was only natural; the blooming ability of the Flower-Flower Fruit, while looking very perverse, was not actually a physical transformation. It merely summoned flower-like limbs and organs within the line of sight and did not belong to the type of Devil Fruit Ability that affected another person's body, so naturally, it would not be negated by Haki.

Originally, while this ability was very difficult to deal with, it was limited by Robin's own physical strength and had no effect on powerhouses—it was like using thin hemp rope to bind a rhinoceros or an elephant; the opponent could easily snap it, and the summoned limbs shared the user's senses, which would instead cause pain interference for the user.

It wasn't until Robin obtained the Diamond Fruit that her ability truly made leaps and bounds; it was equivalent to the original hemp rope being transformed into an incredibly tough alloy cable, capable of binding even a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

And as it happened, Red-Haired Shanks was not a Pirate known for brute force. Although as one of the Four Emperors his strength was definitely not weak, it only barely reached the passing standard for a top-tier powerhouse. Faced with the diamond arms jammed into his joints, Shanks was unable to break free in the short term.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave, Mr. Shanks!"

With a black-hearted smile on her lips, Robin slowly twisted her arms. As the arms growing on his body began to exert force, Shanks could feel his joints faintly groaning.

But the next moment, flowing Armament Haki erupted crazily from the directions where the human body couldn't exert force, and accompanied by a slight *crack* sound, some tiny cracks appeared on those diamond arms.

"Ugh... such hard arms... It's a good thing Haki can't be covered on them, otherwise, I'm afraid even I wouldn't be able to break free!"

With Haki and his own physical strength exerting force again, amidst a series of *crack* sounds and countless diamond fragments, Shanks finally shook off the suppression of those diamond arms, though his expression was not very good.

Because Shanks was already surrounded by a group of women. Just to break free from those arms, Shanks had spent several seconds and a large amount of Haki. If these women had taken action just now, I'm afraid this man with the most Haki on the sea would have become a dead man.

Even now, Shanks hadn't thought of a way to counter the Flower-Flower Fruit. As long as the opponent attacked again, he could only rely on Haki to shatter those diamond arms. Not to mention the massive consumption of Haki, the mere few seconds of being unable to resist were enough for the opponent to kick him around like a ball.

"It seems there's no escaping this..."

Shanks sighed, then pulled himself together: "However, wanting my head probably won't be such an easy task!"

"None of you compete with me; this guy's head is mine!"

Hancock, this old rival of Shanks, was the first to stand out, but then she heard a mocking voice:

"Hancock, you brat, you don't intend to duel Shanks one-on-one, do you! Without my help, you can't beat him either!"

"Nami, you dead girl..."

"Alright, stop bickering here! Nami, Hancock, the two of you, attack together!"

Uchiha Feiyu's voice slowly rang out; although the volume was not loud, both Hancock and Nami immediately restrained themselves and turned to look seriously at Shanks.

Shanks narrowed his eyes—this was the reason why he and his group had to use decapitation tactics; as long as Uchiha Feiyu existed, these powerful women with distinct personalities could be twisted into a single rope.

However, now was not the time to think about such things; in the very next second, Nami casually waved the lightning that had been electromagnetically constrained into the shape of a sword, and it struck straight toward Shanks.

"Wild Thunder Cutter!"

On the other side, Hancock also did not hesitate, pulling back a ray of pink light:

"Captive Arrow!"

"Divine Departure!!"

The intense battle unfolded almost in an instant; the surrounding palaces were pulverized during the fight, and the women watching from the sidelines retreated again and again, pulling back several hundred meters before they could avoid the aftermath.

"Tsk, if this keeps up, I'm afraid the palaces will be finished."

"I'll go and move these buildings a bit further away!"

Kongque, holding a whip, said this, and just as she was about to act, she heard Uchiha Feiyu say: "Don't waste your effort; the others from the Four Emperors' Pirate crew have also come out. I'm afraid these palaces won't be saved today."

Although the mirror passage had just shattered and even severed one of Kaido's arms, this place did not just have that one mirror as a passage; as mentioned before, the mirrors taken as spoils were not just one, it was just that that particular mirror was closest to the center of the palace complex.

After Kaido's arm was severed, the group of Pirates naturally understood that Shanks had definitely been discovered by Uchiha Feiyu.

Although these people were Pirates, they knew the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold," not to mention that the group from the Red Hair Pirates was also inside the mirror space; naturally, they could not let the Red Hair be ganged up on, so they found a new passage at the first opportunity and ran out.

At the outermost edge of the palace complex, a vortex-like image flashed across a huge floor-to-ceiling mirror, and a moment later, Benn Beckman was the first to walk out.

"Alright, it's relatively safe outside now, everyone come out!"

As Benn Beckman's voice fell, a group of Pirates walked out of the mirror one after another, and bringing up the rear was none other than the one-armed Kaido.

This strongest creature in sea, land, and air, although he had lost an arm, had already stopped bleeding in such a short time, and the wound had even begun to scab over.

The powerful Ghost Race combined with a top-tier Mythical Zoan fruit—the terror of his constitution was displayed to the fullest in Kaido, and it was no wonder he was called the Undying Body.

However, the Undying Body was, after all, just an exaggeration; even if the wound showed signs of healing, the severed arm could not be regrown, and in the short term, this Four Emperor's strength was weakened by at least twenty percent.

But even so, this Four Emperor's eyes still burned like flames, and the pain of the wound only stimulated his desire for revenge and destruction.

(End of this chapter)