Chapter 127

"Roar—"

A ten-meter-long five-clawed black-gold dragon dove from his palm toward the sea surface, blasting the seawater within a radius of several hundred meters skyward; a few seconds later, countless raindrops, fish, and shrimp rained down.

Sima Di did not use telekinesis to block it; instead, he joyfully spread his hands to welcome the rain.

It worked!

Conqueror's Haki really can replace internal force and directly execute martial arts moves!

The people of this world are all too foolish—

to think they only use Conqueror's Haki simply for "defense" or "amplification"?

They never developed many Conqueror's Haki techniques at all.

Now......

Sima Di has arrived with a head full of knowledge!

"Tch! As expected of Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, the consumption is huge—one palm used up nearly a tenth of my Conqueror's Haki."

"But the power is beyond reproach; not to mention long-range attack, the destructive force far exceeds the standard of advanced Conqueror's Haki."

While summarizing his experience,

the Den Den Mushi in his arms rang; he picked it up and saw it was from Crocus.

"Kid Di, was what you just used a Devil Fruit ability or......"

Good grief!

He had just improvised a test on his side, and Crocus actually detected it in real time over there?

Plus his bounty of 824 million Berries and the title of Ghost Ship Doctor—this guy is definitely no simple matter!

"Mm, it's a technique driven by Conqueror's Haki." Sima Di admitted directly: "Come over, I'll teach you and show you."

Was it because of Dragon Voice that Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms succeeded?

Or can Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms truly be driven by Conqueror's Haki?

That also needs to be verified.

But such a cool technique as Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms—Sima Di certainly wouldn't teach the whole thing to Crocus.

So......

When Crocus rushed over in a frenzy, Sima Di taught him the move "Dragon Appears in the Field."

Because it was transmitted directly through "telepathy," under Crocus's seasoned experience, he quickly mastered this "simple and brute-force" move.

Then he realized something was off!

"Kid Di, how is this a defensive move? It's nothing like the dragon you blasted out earlier!" Crocus said, frowning.

"Such a cool move—of course only I can use it!" Sima Di didn't hide it at all.

Hearing this, the corner of Crocus's eye twitched, but he didn't press further.

"Alright then, you use that move to attack me, and I'll use this move to defend and we'll test it." Crocus proposed.

"No problem!"

Sima Di smiled.

You asked for this yourself!

Sima Di immediately circulated Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, secretly gathering force and stacking all his Conqueror's Haki on top—Old man, this time I'll at least get a measure of your true strength!

"Shock the Hundred Miles!!!"

"Roar))))———"

This move has nothing special to it—it's just pure overwhelming power!

A dragon's head several times Sima Di's height materialized, and as it blasted toward Crocus, the ground along its path flew apart—the terror of its power was plain to the eye!

"Kid Di! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Crocus hurriedly circulated his Conqueror's Haki as well, slamming both palms in front of him to forge a coiling five-clawed black-gold dragon, firmly shielding it within his palms.

"Dragon Appears in the Field!"

The only defensive move among the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, and one that can be converted at any moment into other moves to attack the enemy—but Crocus only knows this one move, so he can purely only defend.

Sima Di's five-clawed black-gold dragon slammed into the defense Crocus had constructed; the dragon's body stretched a hundred meters yet still hadn't fully emerged from within his palms.

"Roar—"

"Roar—"

The two five-clawed black-gold dragons tangled and tore into each other; the shockwave directly shredded the ground below, nearby buildings swayed and then collapsed with a rumble, and the destruction rapidly spread into the distance!

"Not good!" Crocus roared: "Retract it, quick!"

Sima Di also realized something was wrong, and hurriedly shifted his palm force to send the five-clawed black-gold dragon blasting into the sky.

But it was still too late.

An area of several thousand meters had already become ruins; countless buildings were caught up and collapsed, burying nearly ten thousand people underneath, with countless dead and wounded.

Crocus's face darkened as he swept a glance around, about to set off to rescue survivors as much as possible.

An invisible wave that made his heart palpitate spread out; before Crocus could turn his head, everything around them began to "rewind."

The collapsed buildings returned to their original state,

the cracked ground returned to smoothness,

the wiped-out citizens were revived!

It was as if......

time had reversed!

Crocus stared at Sima Di in shock; although the latter now looked utterly "spent," it still couldn't conceal how earth-shatteringly outrageous what he had just done was......

"Just now...... you reversed time?" Crocus said in disbelief.

"Hah—"Sima Di let out a long breath: "At most three seconds, and this is the first time I've used this ability; the consumption almost overwhelmed me!"

Under normal circumstances, Sima Di would not be in such a wretched state.

But he had just used Dragon Tongue and exhausted all his Haki.

Using another ability with such high consumption would indeed be hard to withstand.

"You... your Devil Fruit ability is truly unheard of!" Crocus exclaimed.

Even though he had followed Luo Jie and seen great sights, he had never witnessed such a comprehensive Devil Fruit ability—as if there was nothing he couldn't do, yet no weakness at all.

"Let's go first,"Sima Di said: "The commotion just now will surely spark discussion; I don't want to be treated like a gorilla on display."

Crocus nodded.

With telekinesis, the two shot skyward, avoiding the crowd rushing in upon hearing the news.

In the air,

Sima Di looked at the cloud with a huge gap torn in it, the one he had blasted out when he deflected his palm force just now.

Even so...

he still failed to force Crocus to reveal his true depths.

"Old man Crocus, you are not simple!"Sima Di said sideways: "You've only just learned 'Dragon Appears in the Field,' yet you could defend against my full-force palm strike; you've hidden your skills deeply!"

"After all, I am old; this world belongs to you young people. I won't meddle too much; let the young people have more opportunities to train."Crocus explained, a rare occurrence.

"Makes sense!"Sima Di agreed: "That's what I think too, so I always arrange suitable opponents for them to train against."

He and Crocus were two sides of the same coin; both were slackers.

The difference was,

Crocus slacked off simply out of laziness.

Sima Di slacked off to grow stronger by checking in at famous scenes.

"Little Di, then this technique... do you plan to teach it to others?"Crocus asked.

The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms?

"Of course not!"Sima Di shook his head directly.

Such a cool technique can only be known by him!

Not that...

Crocus nodded, saying: "As expected, you've also discovered... this technique requires projecting Haki to cultivate, and if your Haki isn't thick enough, it's impossible to use at all; it requires at least the level of Advanced Haki."

Hmm...

Sima Di really hadn't noticed that!

But Sima Di certainly wouldn't slap his own face; instead, he even picked up the thread of the conversation—

"I will create several more techniques with less demanding cultivation conditions; by then, I'll tailor one for each of them."