Chapter 198: A Heart of Warmth, Bai Cangshu Awakens (4k, seeking subscriptions)

Sizzle~

In the pure white Consciousness Space, three powerful consciousnesses collided, beginning to exert intense pressure, to the point that the Spirit Bodies of all three began to destabilize.

Roland had the most inherent advantage; not only was he a true Title-level Reincarnator who had crossed two Power Ladders, but he also possessed the powers of 【Virtue·Morning Star of Hope】 and 【God Hand】.

The 【Causality】 of his own victory was naturally advantageous from the start.

Yet at this moment, he was shackled by the Navy soldier gritting his teeth behind him. The Marine Kori should have been in a state similar to those thirty-three thousand spirits, possessing some power, but compared to the three, he was unremarkable.

Yet it was precisely this insignificant fellow whose presence grew increasingly intense. He had no intention of accepting the hope of passing on, resolutely clinging to Roland, hoping that Bai Cangshu would win so that he could fulfill his promise to the little girl.

This thought could not be hidden during such a pure contest of consciousness.

Even Gojo Satoru wore an expression of surprise at this moment.

"You guy... really are..."

Gojo Satoru was, to his core, also an Outlier. From the depths of his soul, he accepted the premise that he was a natural powerhouse, and he had little empathy for ordinary people.

Ever since the Star Plasma Vessel incident, when he first awakened, in that state of complete mastery over his power and self, he asked Xia Youjie if they should kill all the other humans present; from this, one could know that Gojo Satoru was a Superhuman who truly possessed the mentality of 【Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am Honored】.

He merely glanced at Kori, then ceased to pay attention, beginning to earnestly diffuse his own existence and consciousness completely.

Amidst the intense struggle between the three, Bai Cangshu's Spirit Body grew increasingly solid. The greatest advantage he occupied was that he was the natural owner of this body.

The so-called 【Heart Throne】 had always been his place of return.

Merely by touching the 【Heart Throne】, he was already able to perceive the situation outside his body: that extremely violent spirit, that terrifying monster strength capable of destroying a town with a single blow, and, that surging rage.

The three Spirit Bodies refused to give way, all crowding before the 【Heart Throne】. Roland suddenly sighed, and then the faces on his lower body all opened their eyes.

Gojo Satoru realized something was wrong, and before he could react, black mist enveloped the three Spirit Bodies, and they vanished together into the Heart Throne.

Kori's hands went empty. As he fell downward, he saw a distorted figure appear on the previously empty 【Heart Throne】, vaguely visible as the shape of a giant hand.

On the ruined Skuld Island, Garp turned his head and saw the man he had beaten into the ground rising bit by bit from beneath the surface.

On the man's broken body, ugly granulation tissue grew continuously, and soon the body was restored to its original state.

Not only that, the dissipating black mist became dense once again.

And from the man's body, a strong white light began to radiate.

"Vice Admiral Garp, if you were facing a choice right now."

"One is to forget the tragedy of Skuld Island and leave here with all the Navy."

"The other is for the tragedy of Alabasta to happen once more."

"How would you choose?"

He wore a calm smile on his face, an expression that appeared somewhat discordant on him at this moment, because his short black hair stood slightly upward, some kind of intense power seemed to be rising within his body every moment, and his eyes were also trembling constantly, unstable.

Crack.

Garp turned around. The sound of the surrounding ground shattering rang out continuously, and seawater began to backflow, merging with the blood of those faces. At the same time, a large number of tumors had now completely shattered, and a large number of islanders previously transformed by Roland broke out of their shells, turning into monsters like demons of the Youjie and beginning to stir.

Garp's eyelids drooped. Standing over two meters eight, he easily looked down at Bai Cangshu.

"How would this old man choose?"

He seemed to have heard some joke and burst into loud laughter.

"Hahaha, this old man would of course choose to beat you flying!"

Garp would not be bound by such a simple moral dilemma; if not for the word 【Justice】, very few things in this world could bind his hands and feet.

Garp started his Footwork, and a tyrannical aura radiated from his body once again. That Haoshoku Haki, as if it were going to melt everything, began to affect the surroundings in a lightning-like manner in an instant.

Whether it was the demons of the Youjie or the several powerhouses who had been eroded and transformed into monsters, all were suffering from the impact of the intense Haoshoku Haki at this moment.

Bai Cangshu—no, it should be said, Roland—was currently forcibly suppressing the tearing of the two Outlier souls within his body. To achieve his goal, he had already stopped at nothing; he did not even care if he was still himself, so long as he could forcibly obtain the ability to control the body.

Even if he were to truly merge with the other two souls in the end and lose his self, and he was no longer Roland, he still wanted to use that 【Dragon-Slaying Sword】 to strike a blow at the so-called 【God of the Abyss】.

That was the compensation due to Guts, who had been teased to death by fate and the world; that was the compensation due to himself, who had given everything and died in the end!

Roland's heart was so firm that the two Outlier souls, lacking self-awareness and empathy as humans, were simultaneously suppressed by the power of 【God Hand】 and unable to break free.

Roland watched Garp walk toward him. He raised his hand, and intense Qi condensed in an instant. Through that special left arm, the Qi seemed to be extremely strengthened in an instant.

The dazzling golden Qi condensed to the extreme; it did not diffuse, but instead solidified to the thickness of a finger.

Dodon Ray!

Whine!

The Qi Gong Wave broke through the air. Garp's body naturally took a step to the side, letting the laser-like Qi Gong Wave shoot past him. To him, such an attack was meaningless.

The corners of Roland's mouth curled unnaturally; he likely wanted to smile, but the wills of Gojo Satoru and Bai Cangshu would not allow it.

Garp's expression changed, and he suddenly forcibly changed his direction, throwing a punch at Roland from a distance.

The air shattered completely once again, and the power of Haoshoku Haki Entanglement erupted in advance.

The Qi Gong Wave was distorted, and then the two forces collided directly, causing a massive explosion.

Garp had just foreseen that if he did not block this blow, this Qi Gong Wave would pierce through a Navy warship ten nautical miles away, causing a ship of Marines to die in the explosion, and continue to penetrate, eventually falling into the distant Great Golden Emperor fleet, causing terrible casualties.

Roland drifted backward in the air like a Crane spreading its wings. His movements were not as natural as when Bai Cangshu used them himself, but they were much more natural than when those spirits controlled this body. He utilized Garp's concern for his subordinates to detonate Garp's blow in advance and drift backward.

He pointed one hand toward the center of the shattered island. As a Reincarnator whose Spirit had crossed two Power Ladders, he knew very well that a seed of a Cursed Spirit had been buried underground by a certain Reincarnator, and as Garp shattered the island, it began to reveal itself.

This seed had absorbed the despair of those mutated people who had long been eroded by him on this island, as well as the despair of those islanders who had been under Enel's cruel rule for two years; it was destined to be a formidable Cursed Spirit.

Therefore, he granted this Cursed Spirit a 【Hope】, a possibility of giving birth to an extremely strong Cursed Spirit.

Sshhh!

In the sky, Enel suddenly tilted his head. He could not see the Cursed Spirit, but he clearly felt that the lightning in the atmosphere was boiling.

Is there someone else controlling lightning?!

Roland retreated continuously, watching that mass of distorted Cursed Energy begin to condense and take shape in the form of black lightning.

Because of the fear of Enel, the fear of lightning, accompanied by distorted despair, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit born from this finally let out its first roar in this world.

It is just a pity that most existences in this world cannot perform Observation on such things.

Even Garp only felt that something was abnormal.

Sizzle!

Garp moved as if by Instant Movement, yet a large patch of scorched black suddenly appeared on the ground.

Luo Lan released a Cursed Spirit, preparing to have this Cursed Spirit—which he could not control, but which was quite troublesome for the Plot Characters of this world—stall for time, while he himself went to retrieve his own 【Special Structure·Golden Township】.

Sizzle!

Blue-white lightning lit up, and a massive electric net enveloped Luo Lan; Enel held a golden staff, floating in the air, still preventing Luo Lan from leaving with a persistence Luo Lan could not comprehend.

"Yehahaha, evil spirit, did you think I would let you leave?!"

Luo Lan looked at Enel in confusion.

"That King should have only asked you to guard me until I died or escaped; now that the agreement has clearly been fulfilled, why are you still doing this?"

"Go chase after your Infinite land, Enel."

Luo Lan held the power of 【Hope】 in his hand; he was even willing to give Enel a portion of 【Hope】 so that he could find the boundless land more smoothly.

But Enel turned into a thunderbolt to avoid the white light, his entire body crackling with lightning, and electric ions popping all around him.

"Who do you think I am?"

"I am... God."

"God, naturally, should punish evil spirits!"

"Yehahaha!"

The smile on Luo Lan's face dissipated bit by bit; these people, one after another, rejected his hope and repeatedly obstructed him, which caused the malice Luo Lan had been forcibly suppressing in his heart to resurface little by little.

Beneath Bai Cangshu's body, faces also began to appear; the Demon body of Luo Lan's 【God Hand】 had been completely shattered, and at this moment, he could not truly reopen the 【Eclipse】, but that power of the Youjie was still returning to his Soul.

It was just that such alienation would still be obstructed by the King's Left Arm.

In Luo Lan's left hand, a light flashed, and the pitch-black Dragon-Slaying Sword was gripped by his single hand.

The King's Left Arm gripped this Dragon-Slaying Sword that would absorb Haki, and in an instant, pitch-black lightning tore through the air; even from dozens of nautical miles away, one could feel a terrifying aura rising.

Luo Lan suddenly slashed a sword down toward Bai Cangshu's body.

Puchi!

Fresh blood gushed out, a large amount of black Qi began to emanate, Bai Cangshu's body began to be completely entangled by black mist, and a powerful will began to descend upon Bai Cangshu's body.

At this instant, whether it was Bai Cangshu himself or Gojo Satoru, both felt an oppressive, despairing aura appear, firmly suppressing their souls.

Luo Lan seemed not to know what had happened; he only thought that he must complete that sword swing, no matter what the cost was.

Even if it meant sacrificing this world, or letting the Lord of the Abyss truly descend here, as long as... he could swing that sword...

"Garp, Enel, welcome the despair that belongs to this world."

Luo Lan raised his right hand, the illusory white light dim and lackluster, and the suppressed Scarlet Sin began to reveal itself.

【The Morning Star dims, hope is lightless, the world turns to embrace the dead silence of light named despair】

【Attention: Do you wish to use the Great Sin Sequence (unsublimated) as a base to devour the Virtue Sequence (Sublimation ii·Hope Morning Star)?】

At this moment, Bai Cangshu's pupils had also turned a scarlet hue; Luo Lan did not have any hesitation and was about to confirm, but his right hand drooped down bit by bit.

The corners of his mouth began to curl up bit by bit, revealing his signature cruel smile.

"Hey hey, Luo Lan, don't go pointing fingers at my body as you please!"

Boom!

Pitch-black Conqueror's Haki soared into the sky; in the Consciousness Space, Gojo Satoru fell from the 【Heart Throne】, staring blankly at the man now sitting on the throne—that man wearing a Navy uniform with an ordinary face was sitting on the throne, gritting his teeth as he tore apart the consciousness that Luo Lan had connected to another fellow.

Presumably, he himself had been torn off like this just a moment ago.

Moreover, the other party's Spirit Body was illusory and was gradually dissolving on the throne.

At this moment, through the 【Heart Throne】, Bai Cangshu finally experienced Kori's feelings; he felt as if he had become Kori, walking through an entire life in a mere instant.

An ordinary family, growing up bathed in love, and therefore wanting to warm others with love; having a little talent, but only able to secretly grieve when facing the endless stream of Monsters on the sea, he ultimately chose to abandon the Marine Headquarters and return to his hometown branch to be an ordinary "Captain Kori."

He gave up many grand dreams, keeping only a tiny bit of greed, hoping to become a hero-like figure on the sea of his hometown who could purge the East Blue into the safest sea area.

He did many things, some successful, some failed, and sometimes in the tavern, he would even mock himself that he would probably live a mediocre life.

But one day, he raided into that dangerous island, his body convulsed from being electrocuted by lightning across the sea, and a little fellow dragged him from the beach to the woods, escaping the pursuit of the Sky Islanders.

In the end, disregarding his own weakness and the power of that Thunder God, he once again made a bold promise.

"Cindy, as the Captain of the G51 Branch task force, I grant you the status of a temporary task force member."

"Member Cindy, I will return to call for reinforcements and wait for an opportunity to completely save this island from the evil god, and you, you must protect yourself before I arrive, um... and help others as much as you can, understand?!"

"Yes, sir! Captain Kori!"

The little girl waved her hand, almost hitting her own forehead until it was bright red; the longing and hope flowing in her eyes made Kori's heart feel very warm, making him no longer fear that Thunder God, and making him not want to become a Buddha and reincarnate right now.

He wanted to feel that kind of... warmth wandering in his heart once again.

Bai Cangshu stroked his own heart; for the first time, that heart beat with such vivid power.

"Ha, you two really are... naive fellows."

Bai Cangshu felt the impact of waves of killing intent; his nerves ached as if they were snapping, but he still laughed cruelly.

Bai Cangshu raised his right hand high, once again actively activating the bloodline Tese ability 【Yin Spirit Possession】.

"Gojo Satoru, you shouldn't want to see this kind of guy win either, come, lend me your power, let us... end all of this!"

In the Consciousness Space, Gojo Satoru felt the intense suction appearing from the 【Heart Throne】, knowing that the other party wanted to use his power to suppress that Luo Lan together; he curled his lips, raised his hand, and swiped away the Yin Spirits that were involuntarily flying toward the 【Heart Throne】 in response to 【Yin Spirit Possession】.

"Yo, if I end up possessing you, don't go regretting it."

(End of this chapter)