Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Asura Demon Statue
"Pfft!"
Success!
A brilliant light flashed in his twin pupils. Thanks to the system’s awakening, he had perfectly fused the bronze material acquired from Rob Lucci—the Leopard Form of the Cat-Cat Fruit. Never had Chu Yi anticipated that just a single awakening with bronze-level material could yield such a tremendous improvement after his fourth awakening!
Do not underestimate the Leopard Form of the Cat-Cat Fruit simply because it is bronze-level. As Chu Yi had learned upon first gaining his system, bronze-level materials are not necessarily useless, and diamond-level materials are not always as practical, nor truly suited to oneself.
Take the Visualization Fruit, for example—wasn’t it platinum-level awakening material? Yet, even now, Chu Yi still could not discern what effects that platinum material possessed. Aside from a drastic increase in his physical attributes, he felt that using the platinum awakening material was by far the least beneficial awakening he had ever undergone.
In contrast, after completing four awakenings with the Leopard Form of the Cat-Cat Fruit’s bronze material, Chu Yi felt the experience was nothing short of perfect!
What is the most striking impression a leopard leaves?
Speed!
Thus, upon completing four awakenings with the Leopard Form material, besides the usual surge in physical attributes, Chu Yi found the first transformation after the perfect fusion was an explosive leap in his speed!
It was no exaggeration: now, even using only his normal movement speed in his Asura form, after four awakenings, Chu Yi possessed a speed akin to what he once achieved with “Shave” in Asura form!
And if he used “Shave” again?
His speed would erupt tenfold. Using that “leopard-like” velocity, Chu Yi could easily toy with any ordinary Rear Admiral-level fighter!
Even Chu Yi himself hadn’t foreseen such a sudden breakthrough, let alone Aokiji.
Feeling Chu Yi’s claws fiercely raking across his back, Aokiji was momentarily startled. Then, a faint smile crept across his lips.
“You really are an interesting brat. Since your companions can’t escape, I’ll play with you a little longer.”
As Aokiji spoke, a stream of icy breath escaped his mouth, swiftly condensing in his hand to form an ice blade.
“Swish!”
A cold gleam flashed!
He paid no mind to Chu Yi’s claws piercing his back, for Aokiji had already evaded the attack by elementalizing himself with his Logia Devil Fruit.
And as the chilling blade appeared, Aokiji casually swung it down, and a bloody gash appeared across Chu Yi’s chest.
The wound, slick with blood, bore a faint layer of frost that stemmed the flow.
But the gash, so deep the bone was visible, was no mere threat!
Were it not for Chu Yi’s enhanced physical strength after four awakenings, the ice blade in Aokiji’s palm would have sliced him clean in half!
Yet despite the horrific wound on his chest, Chu Yi showed not the slightest hint of fear. Instead, he viciously lashed out with another claw at Aokiji’s elementalized back!
What gave Chu Yi the confidence to launch such ferocious attacks?
The answer lay in the terrifying regenerative power he gained after four awakenings with the Leopard Form material!
The Cat-Cat Fruit’s Leopard Form was an animal-type Devil Fruit, and the awakened traits of animal fruits included monstrous recovery and resilience!
Combined with Chu Yi’s own fruit base—the Human-Human Fruit’s Asura Form, also an animal-type—the benefits from awakening both fruits were multiplied exponentially!
Just a moment ago, hadn’t Aokiji’s ice blade left a savage wound across Chu Yi’s chest?
The next instant!
The frost-laden flesh began to knit itself back together, the bleeding halted, and Chu Yi’s chest wound scabbed over in the blink of an eye. By the time he struck again with his claws, his injuries had already healed!
Such frightening regenerative ability—of all the animal-type Devil Fruit users Aokiji had encountered in his battle-hardened career, none had ever possessed it.
Yet, even with all this, it was not enough for Chu Yi to stall Aokiji for a full ten minutes!
Once again, Aokiji used elementalization to evade Chu Yi’s attacks, and soon noticed that the previously aggressive Chu Yi had switched to a hit-and-run tactic.
Chu Yi was using his astonishing stamina, combined with the explosive speed of “Shave,” to stall for time!
He was buying time for Tiger and, more importantly, for his own awakening material collection mission!
A single thought was enough for Aokiji to see through Chu Yi’s intentions. Taking a deep breath, he wielded his ice blade, paired it with “Shave” from the Navy’s Six Powers, and began to assault Chu Yi with pure martial technique!
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
In the blink of an eye, Aokiji’s ice blade slashed down ten times.
Even with his “leopard-like” speed and the boost from “Shave,” Chu Yi dodged only three of Aokiji’s strikes using “Paper Arts”—the Navy’s Six Powers evasion technique.
And before Chu Yi’s wounds could heal through his monstrous recovery, Aokiji swiftly brought down the ice blade again!
The attacks grew faster, the frequency higher.
In an instant, phantasmal images of ice blades filled the space before Aokiji, as if Chu Yi were about to be completely engulfed. Chu Yi’s speed from “Shave,” combined with “Paper Arts” evasion, made dodging desperately difficult—especially as his wounds multiplied. Despite his four awakenings and incredible recovery, after just a minute under Aokiji’s relentless assault, Chu Yi had once more become a blood-soaked warrior, riddled with wounds!
Yet even with Chu Yi so severely injured, Aokiji could not suppress his astonishment!
What was happening?
Why did that brat’s evasive speed increase as my attack frequency rose?
It was as if he was rapidly improving in battle—even his previously unskilled “Paper Arts” had become more and more proficient!
Damn brat, is he using me as a sparring partner?
Then let him see the price for using me as practice!
The ice blade vanished from his palm. Unwilling to let Chu Yi grow stronger through battle, Aokiji stowed his blade and suddenly erupted with ghost-like speed, seizing Chu Yi’s shoulder in an instant!
“Frozen Moment!”
“Boom!”
The moment he grabbed Chu Yi’s shoulder, the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit exploded forth!
A deep blue glow enveloped Aokiji, the chill emanating from his body swiftly invaded Chu Yi, freezing him into an ice sculpture in moments!
Cold...
Cold that penetrated the soul!
Chu Yi’s body shuddered uncontrollably. Even as he tried to replicate the method he’d used to break “Frozen Moment” before—controlling every muscle to unleash the vibrating force of Tang Grass Tile Shock Fist, combined with the “Almighty Push” after restoring his stamina—he struggled to resist the icy chill spreading from Aokiji.
But as he gritted his teeth and endured, Chu Yi felt as though even his soul might freeze, let alone his body.
If only Aokiji hadn’t grabbed me!
Regretting that he’d underestimated Aokiji’s explosive speed after his own fourfold awakening, Chu Yi forced himself to endure as his shoulder was frozen into an ice sculpture. Frost spread inexorably, and soon Chu Yi would be completely frozen as before.
Yet as Chu Yi’s body slowly iced over, the chill from Aokiji began to freeze his head, threatening to seal the demonic Asura Eye at his brow...
Suddenly!
“Boom!”
Even Chu Yi himself didn’t know what happened!
An overwhelming murderous intent surged from the Asura Eye, and in Aokiji’s pupils—shocked for the first time ever in Chu Yi’s presence—Chu Yi saw an Asura Demon Statue slowly materialize behind him, opening its eyes, their violent purple gaze fixed upon Aokiji, who held his shoulder!
“That Asura Demon Statue...”
“Could it be the power of the Visualization Fruit?”