Thump... Thump…
The vibrant heart, which is encased within the transparent Nen sphere, pulsed rhythmically in Law's left hand. Its beating also intensified, growing faster with each passing second.
"That's right. You're afraid."
Law took a look at the heart that was separated from Cook's body in his left hand. Judging from the beating frequency, Cook was indeed afraid.
"This... is this your Nen Ability?"
Cook's face twisted in a grotesque mix of rage and terror. The inexplicable and eerie display shook him to his core. Moreover, with his heart in Law's hand, he didn't dare to act rashly.
The situation was reversed at this mont.
"To be honest, I'm as surprised as you are." Law took a deep breath, glanced at the lively heart, and said, "You are not bleeding, and you don't look like you are in pain. It seems like you got off easy."
Just when Law's sight shifted for a mont, Cook's pupils slowly contracted, and the mont his pupils dilated again, he lunged toward Law with feral desperation.
"And that's why I can't accept it."
Law seed to have anticipate this and firmly squeezed the heart with his left hand, his fingers digging into the heart through the mbrane of the transparent sphere.
The force Law used was enough to crush the heart, but the heart only deford without rupturing.
"Aarrggh!"
Cook, who was pouncing towards him, suddenly convulsed violently and a look of pain appeared on his face. Law calmly sidestepped, allowing Cook to pass over him and crash heavily to the ground.
Law walked a few steps forward with his back to the fallen Cook, then slowly turned around and looked at Cook, who was lying on the ground. At this ti, he is curled up like a shrimp due to the severe pain.
After a mont of silence, Law sighed softly and said self-deprecatingly, "To rcilessly strip a man of his heart, yet deny him an imdiate death. It is cruelty disguised as rcy."
As the words left his mouth, Law loosened his grip slightly and stopped squeezing Cook's heart.
At the sa ti, Cook's tense body slowly relaxed, because as Law loosened his hand, the intense pain quickly faded away.
'I can't understand it. I totally can't understand it!'
'What kind of ability is this?'
'Why did I lose?'
Cook raised his head slightly, and looked up at Law with an incomprehensible gaze. His voice trembled with rage and despair as he roared: "I can't lose to you! I can't lose to a brat like you!"
Law did not say anything, but just squeezed the heart with force again, causing Cook to scream in agony once more as he suffered the inhuman pain.
'This is what it feels like to control the life and death of others...'
Law had a complicated expression as he casually tossed aside Cook's severed hand. Then, as white light surged, a black and white book appeared out of thin air in his right hand.
The book was thick, with a black hardcover about four centiters deep. It is almost entirely black, except for so white patterns and text on the cover.
In the rectangular black fra is a picture of Jesus being crucified, with two words written in normal English below:
[God Hand]
'I suppose this is part of the ability too.'
Law squeezed Cook's heart in his left hand tightly while checking this weird black book with his right hand.
The depiction of Jesus on the cross resembled a cutout paper figure pasted onto the black cover, and the two words beneath it were also white, creating a jarring contrast.
If this was a completely white book, perhaps Law could accept the picture of Jesus on the cross, and also the two words.
White is the color that suits Jesus, but the main color of this book is black, which creates a sense of conflict.
The book is only four centiters thick, which is not very big, as if it was designed to fit Law's hand.
Bang!
Law moved his right hand slightly and opened the first page of the book. The page was white with only one word written on it: Cook.
At this mont, Cook's life and death is just a matter of thought for Law.
Law glanced at Cook, who was writhing on the ground in agony, and retreated ten ters. Then, he pressed the heart on his left hand into the first page of the book.
The heart gradually sank into the page, vanishing entirely as Law's hand settled flat against the paper.
Watching this surreal scene unfold, Law's expression rippled with emotion. He slowly raised his left hand, and saw a picture of a blood-red heart on the once-blank page of the book.
"This is the God Hand." Law glanced at the still alive Cook and whispered to himself.
At the sa ti, the pain Cook suffered faded away, and his tense body gradually relaxed. At this mont, the ground under Cook was already wet with sweat.
Cook was utterly defeated.
"Do you want to know why you lost?"
Law raised his left index finger and placed it on the heart image on the page.
Cook looked at Law with a look of despair. Tortured by the inhuman pain, he no longer had any strength to speak.
"I won't tell you."
With those words, a killing intent surged forth. Then, Law's index finger drew a line across the heart pattern without hesitation.
In the end, there was no escaping death.
"Urgh…"
Cook's body suddenly shook, and a large amount of blood ca out of his mouth. At the sa ti, his severed wrist also began to spurt blood uncontrollably.
"I…"
The color in Cook's eyes gradually dimd, his mouth moved slightly, and his gaze towards Law finally froze into extre resentnt.
At the sa ti, the page with Cook's na on it turned from pure white to pure black, and both the na and the heart image were swallowed by the darkness.
Looking at Cook's resentful eyes after his death, Law slowly closed his eyes, and the book in his right hand disintegrated into particles of light and disappeared.
"This day ca far too soon, but I have to do this to protect Machi and the others. In the future... I will definitely et more people like this guy."
Law sighed softly and was about to go check on Machi, Uvogin and Nobunaga when he saw a wisp of black smoke began to rise from Cook's corpse.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this, Law's Aura covered his body again and he beca vigilant. However, he saw the black smoke-like unidentified object scurrying towards him like a small snake.
Though he felt no imdiate danger, Law believed the wisp of black smoke has ill intentions, as it was possibly a final gambit from Cook.
Reacting swiftly, Law conjured another transparent sphere with his right hand again and slapped it towards the black smoke.
However, the black smoke easily passed through the transparent sphere and directly entered Law's body under his astonished gaze.
Law's heart skipped a beat and he frantically checked his body for abnormalities. However, he found nothing wrong with his body.
At the sa ti, the white smoke text reappeared in his mindscape.
[Nen detected. Absorption recomnded.]
Law was surprised and thought of the Hand of Ominous Signs. He imdiately realized that the wisp of black smoke likely the manifestation of Cook's Post-Mortem Nen.
'So even in death, your resentnt lingers, turning your Nen into a curse aid at ?'
Law silently commanded the system to absorb the Nen, then looked coldly at Cook, who died with his eyes wide open, and said, "It's a pity that your resentnt that has beco stronger after your death will only bring benefits."
After absorbing the Post-Mortem Nen, the white smoke text in his mindscape quickly listed the updated data of his Nen's awakening rates.
Enhancent: Awakening Rate 2%
Emission: Awakening Rate 4%
Transmutation: Awakening Rate 2.1%
Manipulation: Awakening Rate 2.1%
Conjuration: Awakening Rate 4%
Specialization: Awakening Rate 5%
'2% overall improvent...'
Law was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that absorbing Cook's resentnt could bring such a substantial boost.
'If killing Nen User can increase strength, then after killing enough people, wouldn't it be possible to reach 100% in all categories quickly?'
However, when he thought of this, Law shook his head, threw the idea out of his mind, and hurried to see how Machi and the others were doing.
...
Author Note:
[God Hand]
Good and evil are intertwined, and life or death decided in a single thought.
Hint 1: Creatures whose body parts are stripped by this ability do not die, bleed, or feel pain. They remain physiologically connected to the stripped parts.
Hint 2: Thoughts cannot be stolen, so brains cannot be stripped.
Hint 3: The book contains 100 pages where the stripped parts are placed. When the ability takes effect on the target, it will occupy a page of the book on its own. If the target dies, the white page will turn black and beco unusable.
Hint 4: When all 100 pages turn black, sothing 'extrely horrible' will occur.
Tip 5: To be revealed later.
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