Malphegor
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HGBW: Ch. 04
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 00:24:01 +0000 UTC"An explosion?"
"What's going on?"
"Could it be that the Marine is breaking their promise?"
"Or is the Donquixote Family planning a double-cross?"
The explosion from two explosive tags, along with the blazing flames, jolted awake the numerous pirates inside the building who were dreaming of trading the Op-Op Fruit and then washing their hands clean to start anew.
"Grab your weapons and go check it out."
Barrels' expression turned dark as he reflexively closed the box containing the Devil Fruit.
Clang.
The pirates who had been gathered around the dining table, devouring meat and guzzling alcohol, immediately put down their food and drinks, picked up their rifles and drew their long swords, and swarmed toward the door.
But just as they were about to rush out, two kunai sliced through the wind and snow, embedding themselves diagonally into the floor at the doorway.
Sizzle.
The explosive tags attached to the kunai burned out completely the moment they landed.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, a surge of scorching flames engulfed the pirates closest to the door and sent those further back flying.
"A... kid?"
Standing at the very back, Barrels remained unscathed by the explosion.
Narrowing his eyes, he peered through the fire and smoke and saw a lone figure standing outside the door.
Judging by the figure's outline and height, he recognized that it was nothing more than a young kid who hadn't even fully grown up yet.
This realization only fueled his anger.
Since when did a snot-nosed brat dare to attack his stronghold?
"Shoot!"
Fuming with rage, he held the box in one hand and raised his pistol with the other, frantically pulling the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets, charged with immense kinetic energy, tore through the fire and smoke, hitting Tanaka's body.
But that wasn't all.
Some pirates, who had been injured but not killed by the explosion, got back up, raised their rifles and cannons with vicious grins, and unleashed a barrage of gunfire at Tanaka outside the door.
Bullets.
Cannonballs.
Both rained down, turning him into nothing but ash.
"Die!"
"Whoever you are and whatever your goal is, just die already!"
Barrels screamed and cursed in fury until his magazine was empty.
And he wasn't the only one.
The other pirates, wounded and battered from the explosion, did the same.
However, just as their magazines emptied and every single bullet and cannonball was fired, a shadow suddenly shot up from the ground behind Barrels, as if a fish leaping out of water.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Tanaka had left an ordinary clone at the door while using Earth Release to stealthily tunnel underground and position himself behind Barrels.
The moment he emerged from the ground, he spread his arms wide, releasing chakra from the tenketsu all over his body, forming a massive Eight Trigrams symbol that enveloped Barrels within its formation.
Then—
His hands moved like a blur, leaving countless afterimages. With his index and middle fingers pressed together like daggers, he thrust forward repeatedly like a violent storm of petals, aiming for sixty-four vital points across Barrels' body.
Each point, if struck, would sever the flow of chakra.
Though Barrels was not from the world of Naruto and had no chakra, the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms wasn't solely for severing chakra flow—each of the sixty-four points targeted were critical human body pressure points.
Every strike of Tanaka's fingers sent chakra surging into Barrels' body, directly impacting his internal organs.
A normal ninja, after taking a full set of these strikes, would either succumb to severe internal injuries on the spot or have their chakra completely sealed, collapsing to the ground like a discarded rug.
Even someone like Naruto would be unable to get up for half a day after taking a full hit—only able to recover by unleashing the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"Ahhhh!"
Barrels had no Nine-Tails chakra, no Haki, and wasn't a Logia Devil Fruit user.
Caught off guard and struck with all sixty-four palms, he could only scream in agony, blood seeping from his nose and mouth as his knees buckled, bringing him to the ground.
Even the box, which he had always kept close, slipped from his grasp at that moment.
Snap!
With lightning reflexes, Tanaka snatched the box before it could hit the ground.
Learning from past mistakes.
Having watched One Piece, he knew that Ivanov lost his chance to obtain the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon simply because of hesitation.
The painful example of someone who could have become an Azure Dragon but instead turned into the King of Okama made him not dare to waste even a single moment.
He feared ending up like other villains who, on the brink of success, just had to show off, only to trigger a complete reversal of fate.
Moreover, the Caged Bird on his forehead left him with no desire for unnecessary chatter.
Rip—
He quickly opened the box, grabbed the Op-Op Fruit, and without hesitation, took a bite.
The crushed fruit, with its indescribably awful taste, spread through his mouth.
The taste was horrible.
But compared to being a slave for the main house because of the Caged Bird, this was nothing.
Suppressing his nausea, he forced himself to swallow the disgusting fruit down.
While it was true that one only needed a single bite of a Devil Fruit to gain its powers, he still shoved the remaining pieces into his mouth after the first bite, just to be safe.
---
"Fucker!"
"Damn it!"
"That was worth a lot of berries!"
"Arghhh! He just ate 5 billion berries in one bite!"
Hearing Barrels' scream, the pirates who had been glaring at the doorway like blades immediately turned their heads, just in time to witness Tanaka swallowing the Devil Fruit in one bite.
This scene shattered their world, their eyes bulging like those of an enraged bull, veins popping with fury and madness.
"The taste... is awful!"
Having finished the Op-Op Fruit, Tanaka finally relaxed slightly. Facing the murderous glares from the pirates surrounding him, he remained calm and let out a faint chuckle.
This single remark pushed the already enraged pirates over the edge, stripping them of all reason.
"Kill him!"
"I'll grind your bones to dust!"
"5 billion Berries, gone!"
All the remaining pirates, eyes bloodshot like rabid beasts, no longer cared whether their guns had bullets or not—they just charged at him in a frenzy.
"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!"
Seeing this, Tanaka calmly began to spin his body. Chakra surged through his tenketsu like flowing water, forming a rapidly spinning azure chakra sphere that shredded the wooden floor beneath him and sent Barrels, who was still kneeling and coughing blood from the earlier Sixty-Four Palms, flying away.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Of course, it wasn't just Barrels. Every pirate who charged at Tanaka with weapons in hand was also swept away by the chakra sphere, flung into the air.
The Revolving Heaven, although known as an absolute defense, was by no means lacking in offensive power.
Having endured a full set of Sixty-Four Palms and then another blow from the Revolving Heaven, Barrels was barely clinging to life, unconscious, now just a pirate-shaped rug on the floor.
The other pirates were left writhing in pain on the ground, some plastered against the walls like paintings, while others were embedded deep within the walls themselves.
This single move also snapped the remaining pirates—who had lost their minds over the 5 billion berries loss but hadn't fainted—out of their frenzy and madness.
Though still furious beyond measure, the pain from their injuries, the overwhelming difference in strength, and the fact that their weapons had been blown away by the Revolving Heaven left them momentarily too afraid to approach. All they could do was surround Tanaka and hurl insults at him from a distance.
