"Although I don't know what you're really trying to do…"
"But let tell you this… everything you're doing is aningless!"
"The gap in power between you and is sothing that can't be bridged with petty tricks."
"I don't think there's any need to continue this battle. Why don't you co back to Mary Geoise with …"
"I might even arrange a decent position for you—far better than being so pirate like you are now!"
As he looked at the suprely confident Brook before him, ghostly, sinister flas flickered vividly in Saint Abyss's eyes.
Having suddenly gained the Ghost-type Pokémon attribute, he was bathing in a power he had never experienced before. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how Brook could possibly threaten him.
That said, he had to admit—
He had never felt this good before!
So much so that he was even considering whether he should capture Brook and keep him around as so kind of assistant.
Soone who could endlessly produce delicious bones and make him stronger in the process—That temptation was simply irresistible~
"Yohohoho~"
"Then I must thank you for your kind appreciation. Unfortunately…"
"I don't think I'll ever leave the Straw Hat Pirates in this lifeti!"
"On the contrary… you should be more worried about your own situation."
Ghostly Brook replied calmly.
And when he finished that last sentence, he suddenly lifted his head, his eyes blooming with an eerie dark-purple glow.
That was… the radiance of Ghost-type energy.
Brook continued with a grin,"Being happy too early never leads to a good ending, you know~!"
"Shadow… Force!!!"
Whoosh—
Icy netherfire erupted instantly from Brook's body, engulfing the entire area and completely obscuring Saint Abyss's vision.
"What tricks are you pulling now?!"
"You ungrateful bastard!!!"
Hearing Brook still taunting him, Saint Abyss flew into a rage and violently swung the massive scythe in his hands.
Jet-black Armant Haki coated the blade, dyeing it pitch-black and making it sharper than steel.
With every swing, furious wind blades tore out from the scythe, plunging into the raging ghostly flas ahead.
In the end, countless slashing gales rged into a storm even larger than Brook's Soul Flas formation, roaring as it devoured every last wisp of fire.
In the blink of an eye, the soul flas within the storm were shredded into countless points of light, vanishing into the air like stars at dawn.
But in the next second, Saint Abyss—previously so arrogant—visibly froze.
Because when the storm dissipated, Brook… was gone as well!
Staring at the empty battlefield, an ominous feeling surged through Saint Abyss's heart.
He imdiately intensified his Observation Haki, trying to locate Brook's position.
But in that very instant, from within the skeletal shadow behind him, a massive skull-shaped ghost suddenly erged, its eyes flickering with eerie violet light.
"Were you looking for , Celestial Dragon?"
Brook's cold voice echoed as he rose from Saint Abyss's shadow.
At the sa ti, his arm erupted with massive amounts of Ghost-type soul fire, rapidly forming a soul-forged sword identical in shape to his cane sword—the Soul Reaper Blade—which stabbed straight toward Saint Abyss's head.
Pshhk…
With a heavy, solid sound, the several-ter-long blade plunged directly into Saint Abyss's brain, piercing straight out through the center of his forehead.
A shrill scream instantly echoed across the entire island of Elegia.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Saint Abyss let out a miserable howl, as if subjected to an unimaginably cruel torture.
Before Brook could even withdraw the Soul Reaper Blade, Saint Abyss stomped the ground and surged forward several steps, forcibly breaking free of the attack.
He then spun around, clutching his head, his expression so miserable it looked as if he were about to cry, staring at Brook in disbelief.
Shadow Force—Power: 120. One of the strongest Ghost-type moves.
Its effect allowed the user to dive into the enemy's shadow for a surprise attack, completely ignoring any form of defense.
Displacent, high damage, and built-in defense penetration…
Aside from its heavy stamina and energy consumption, the move was nearly flawless.
This was a powerful Ghost-type technique Red had specifically fard for Brook.
And precisely because he knew how much Red and the others had done for him, Brook wanted even more to prove—
Their efforts had not been in vain!!!
He had already beco a blade—
A blade that could clear the path and cut down all obstacles for the Straw Hat Pirates!!!
"Damn you! What did you do to ?!"
On the other side, Saint Abyss—having clutched his head in pain for a long while—finally seed to recover.
He snapped his head up and roared furiously at Brook.
"Yohohoho~"
"Isn't this exactly the… insignificant little trick you ntioned earlier?"
Brook flicked the Soul Reaper Blade, raised his skull, and t Saint Abyss's gaze, answering in a flippant tone.
"Vile insect!"
Saint Abyss bellowed again in rage.
"I'll make sure you die without a burial!!!"
Rumble, rumble—
The massive skeletal body charged once more across the death-filled land, kicking up clouds of dust.
The gigantic scythe in his hands rose high, poised to cleave Brook apart.
But just as the scythe was about to fall, Brook's voice reached Saint Abyss's ears again.
"Do you really think… ordinary attacks still work on now?"
"Yohohoho~"
Brook chuckled softly, his voice low.
In the next mont, his figure vanished once more.
Shadow Force consud a great deal of energy, but for a Brook who was now fully spiritized, it was far from unusable.
However, repeatedly using the sa move made it easy for an enemy to find a pattern.
So this ti, after using Shadow Force, Brook did not attack with it again.Instead, he unleashed another move Red had specially prepared for him—
"Shadow Thief!!!"
Shhk—
Appearing and disappearing in an instant, Brook swept past Saint Abyss's body in his soul form before the scythe could fall.
At the sa ti, a strange, trembling sphere of light suddenly appeared in Brook's palm.
Saint Abyss, whose body Brook had just passed through, visibly paused—then froze in place.
If anyone had been standing in front of him at that mont, they would have seen the utter disbelief plastered across his face.
"What… was that just now?!"
For the first ti, fear appeared in the heart of this arrogant mber of the God's Knights.
He imdiately turned around—only to see Brook pinch the strange halo between two fingers and swallow it whole.
Brook then looked at Saint Abyss with an eerie gaze.
In a tone that was calm yet spine-chilling, he softly said:
"Now… it's my turn."
Your turn!?What do you an, your turn?!
Faced once again with Brook's maddening habit of leaving things unsaid, Saint Abyss instinctively cursed inwardly.
Yet at the sa ti, a terrifying suspicion began to surface in his mind.
Could it be that what Brook had just swallowed… was his own soul?!
The thought made Saint Abyss shudder violently.
He was always the one eating others' bones—who would've thought that one day…
He'd encounter soone who ate souls instead?!
Brook, however, clearly had no intention of giving him ti to react. His entire soul once more transford into blazing flas and vanished from sight.
Seeing this, Saint Abyss's already pale skeletal face turned even whiter.
In truth, his guess wasn't wrong.
What Brook had just swallowed was indeed his soul energy.
But his fear was sowhat unnecessary.
That soul energy hadn't been permanently stripped away—it was rely temporarily stored within Brook.
After all, the Yomi-Yomi Fruit only allowed Brook to communicate with the underworld; it didn't make him the underworld itself.
The reason Saint Abyss felt such terror was entirely by Brook's design.
Shadow Thief, much like Shadow Force, allowed the user to dive into an enemy's shadow to attack.
However, compared to Shadow Force's imnse power boost and defense penetration, Shadow Thief dealt far less damage.
In exchange…
It granted a unique effect.
[Steals the target's soul energy, temporarily absorbing it to amplify the user's own soul power.]
That was the move's description.
Soul energy had many applications—it enhanced control over the body, sharpened perception, and resisted spiritual pressure and intimidation…
It was an extrely versatile power.
Thus, after successfully stealing it, Brook gained a comprehensive boost across the board.
Unfortunately…
This move could only be used once on the sa target.
After that, further uses would only deal minor damage and could no longer steal soul energy.
Otherwise, Brook could've drained Saint Abyss dry with Shadow Thief alone.
But that was fine.
The stronger the enemy, the richer the soul energy he could steal.
Now, after his Pokémon-ization, Brook's strength had risen yet again.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
Imitating Saint Abyss from earlier, Brook made a greedy swallowing motion and murmured:
"The banquet… is about to begin~"
"Enjoy yourself, Celestial Dragon."
"Y-You… don't co any closer!!!"
As Brook approached once more, Saint Abyss completely lost the will to keep fighting.
He stumbled backward again and again, his grip on the scythe trembling uncontrollably.
But at this point, there was no way Brook would heed his words.
Soul flas erupted from his body once again.
The sa thod.The sa scene.
When the sweeping flas vanished, Brook's figure predictably disappeared from Saint Abyss's sight once more.
"Where are you?!"
Like a startled deer, Saint Abyss's massive skeletal body leapt violently, as if trying to flee from his own shadow.
But at that very mont, a fierce gust of wind suddenly appeared above his head.
This ti, Brook hadn't used any Pokémon move at all—instead, he simply leapt high into the air.
Unfortunately, Saint Abyss, already caught in a panic response, failed to notice this entirely.
By the ti Brook's attack had fully ford, it was already too late for him to react!
"Shadow Bone · Soul Reaper Blade · Goblet Waltz · Chain Assault!!!"
Shshshsh—
Midair.
As Brook descended, massive amounts of Ghost-type energy surged from his body, rapidly wrapping around the long sword ford of soul fire.
In an instant, a white skeletal core appeared within the previously intangible blade, making the Soul Reaper Blade even sharper and sturdier.
Clang!!!
The bone blade wrapped in soul fire crashed down, striking Saint Abyss squarely in the center of his forehead.
In the next mont, Brook's body seed frozen in midair.
His blade, however, moved like a torrential downpour—piercing again and again, all strikes focused on a single point atop Saint Abyss's skull.
Crack… crack—
In re monts, a clear fracture appeared on the bones of Saint Abyss—bones that had been reinforced countless tis by the Hungry Skeleton Fruit.
For the first ti ever, his prideful skeletal body had been shattered head-on!
To Saint Abyss, this was an unimaginable blow.
Before the fear could fully flood his mind, the intense pain forced another agonized scream from his throat.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Lacking flesh did not an lacking pain.
In Hungry Skeleton form, Saint Abyss's bones were his entire being.
Just like an Island-Island Fruit user who beca an island, every attack on his bones was an attack on him.
Yet Brook seed to relish the mont, his blade stabbing relentlessly without the slightest pause.
Shadow Bone—A physical attack move even weaker than Shadow Thief.
But when paired with Brook's swordsmanship…
It beca sothing entirely unbelievable.
Brook's sword style might not boast overwhelming raw power—far inferior to Zoro's or many great swordsn of the sea.
But there was one thing beyond doubt—
Brook's sword was unimaginably fast!!!
It was precisely because of this that Red had chosen Shadow Bone for him.
Because Shadow Bone's additional effect was—
A chance to lower the opponent's defense!
Red and Brook had tested this move before.
The proc rate wasn't low, and the defense reduction was significant.
Combined with Brook's lightning-fast swordplay…
It could shatter an enemy's defenses in monts, allowing him to pour on damage without restraint!
Whoosh—
Seeing the massive scythe swing toward him, Brook chose not to linger. Using the recoil from the Soul Reaper Blade, he leapt back into the air and withdrew from the attack.
At this point, the Saint Abyss before him had been reduced to a pitiful foe—Partially stripped of soul energy, slowed in body, defense crushed nearly to zero by continuous Shadow Bone strikes, and suffering double damage.
"So that's why I said…"
"You shouldn't have been happy so early…"
Brook's hollow voice echoed once more across the land of death.
(End of Chapter)
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