Chapter 271
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Amon seeing Imu run towards him, immediately attempted to teleport away.
However, he stopped himself from doing so as the future flashed in his eyes by itself.
He was a bit surprised seeing his Future Sight working again, but that must mean whatever Imu was doing to stop him from using Future Sight needed the man to give most of his attention to it. Certainly, no matter how strong he was, he couldn't keep doing so against an opponent like Amon.
In the automatic Future Sight: Amon dodged Imu's incoming attack by teleporting away, and was immediately struck by spears conjured from Conqueror's Haki on the spot he teleported to.
That meant Imu's own «Future Sight» could predict where he would teleport to.
So Amon stopped his teleportation midway, giving Imu the chance to land his attack.
His haki coated fist went towards Amon's chest, where Amon formed a green barrier.
Imu's fist slammed into the barrier which shattered into pieces, then the fist hit Amon's chest, throwing him into one of the ruined buildings.
Imu ran at where Amon landed, just as Amon stood up while wiping his lips.
"I told you," Imu walked gracefully and stopped metres away from Amon. "I broke free from a barrier created especially to keep me locked. Your Barrier-Barrier fruit isn't strong enough to make even that weakened barrier." Imu spoke as he looked at Amon's eyes. "I am not the type to say this: But you still have time. You can clearly see the difference between us. Your defeat is absolutely certain. So just give up and join me, Amon-"
"Shut up."
Amon interrupted Imu's dialogue, just as his body multiplied with a spark of lightning and seconds later dozens of Amons surrounded Imu in a huge circle.
More-More Fruit couldn't boost defence, if it could Amon might just have been able to make such barriers. But since it can't, he would use his other techniques.
'He's strong.' Amon thought. 'That single blow shattered my ribs. Without my Phoenix powers, I wouldn't even be able to stand right now.'
At that realisation, Amon didn't waste a millisecond and all his clones opened their jaws wide like a dragon and all fired a breath of plasma, boosted 100 times by the More-More fruit, at Imu.
Imu watched the beams come towards him as his body shone softly, coated under both armament and an armour conjured from Conqueror's Haki.
From the looks of it, Imu had either reached a level where his Haki didn't even have any colour, or it was because he is not from this world at all.
Whatever it was, it was strong because—even under dozens of plasma beams that were hotter than the surface of the sun—Imu stood in his spot, scratchless.
The sky island, however, was far from unharmed. Being a large chunk of clouds, it simply melted into vapour under the heat.
Amon leapt higher in the sky, away from the vapour, and Imu followed in a burst of black lightning, shockingly matching Amon's speed.
From where they stood seconds later, the sky wasn't blue even though it was daytime. Instead, the sky was a blanket of darkness filled with millions and zillions of twinkling stars.
Amon floated using his logia body, but Imu floated by standing on a small platform conjured from his Conqueror's Haki.
"Can't fly?" Amon asked as he looked down on the colourless construct. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't even have realised there was something under Imu's feet. "That's interesting."
"I could travel, fly, teleport, at the speed of light in my prime," Imu said with an expressionless face. "Now, this is what I am left with."
Amon hummed. "I see, but what is the secret behind your speed?" Amon asked. "I am more than surprised you can keep up with my Lightning Speed."
Now that Luffy was dead, his speed wasn't being restricted anymore after all.
Imu's lips stretched as he chuckled. "Well, Conqueror's Coating is basically lightning too. Although it's mostly Spiritual, it gives a boost to speed to anyone who can use it, but only I, a person who's been training it for centuries, can reach this speed."
"I see. Interesting." Amon spoke no more and rushed at Imu again.
He saw countless futures where he tried to attack, but all backfired. After all, not only Imu was stronger physically, he was stronger Haki-wise too. He could match, and even surpass Amon's Observation Haki to a certain point. Because of that, his own Future Sight clashed with Amon's.
Before Amon could see another future, he was in front of Imu and so he had to attack.
His forearm enlarged along with his knuckles, which was now almost as big as a human being. With a shout, he punched Imu.
Amon's elbow blasted and exploded, boosting his lightning speed punch, but Imu simply slapped Amon's arm with the back of his hand.
His speed was matching Amon's, but his strength… was beyond his.
Amon felt as if his hand was crushed under the tires of a truck, it was painful too. Letting it heal under his Phoenix powers, he attacked with his other hand.
"Sad," Imu whispered before he slapped Amon's other hand too, and then slipped closer to him. "I don't think you deserve a third chance."
Imu-sama drew his arm backwards before throwing it at Amon's guts.
But before the punch could land, gold scales, shaped like square metal, wrapped around Amon's body before green feathers covered all the scales immediately. His hair turned blonde, with the back of his hair having a green tint to them. That was not all, as a transparent Psychic Shield made from electromagnetic fields formed all around Amon's skin like a cloak, and above that, in front of Amon's abdomen a bunch of small square green barriers formed too.
Imu's punch crushed all the Green Barriers like glass, and even the physics Psychic Cloak cracked after withstanding the blow for a moment. However, the gold armour hidden under the green feather, took on the last bit of impact effortlessly.
"Oh." Imu drew back his hand. "The Quetzalcoatl Fruit. Such an annoying one. I remember the ancient user of this, that woman. Heh. Would she be proud to see her descendant steal the fruit from his sister? Or would she be angry?"
Amon ignored all his words. He recently found this fruit on an island similar to Little Garden. He didn't tell Raki, because she'll start begging him for this fruit even though she already had a Dragon Zoan, so he ate it himself. With this, not only was his defence stronger, his Wisdom Eyes could contribute in this battle too.
But that was beyond the point right now.
A green elongated tail, belonging to Amon, snapped and wrapped around Imu's body, binding his arms along.
Imu seemed surprised. Just like Amon, he was also watching the Future constantly. However, because of that, the future has become entirely uncertain at this point. When two people use future sight, nothing is predictable.
But Amon didn't only have Observation Haki now, he also had Wisdom Eyes.
With his golden eyes to help him direct his movements, Amon swiftly grabbed Imu by the throat with his hand and blasted a beam of superheated plasma, enhanced by his other fruits.
Mere seconds later, he had to stop firing the beam seeing Imu's hand reach out for his own throat.
He was forced to make distance, as a coughing Imu stood in front of him.
Imu rubbed his throat which was very red from the heat, even though he applied a coating of armament on top.
"You rascal."
Imu growled, hurt for the first time, as he clenched his fist.
"How dare you touch my throat?"
Green light started to circle around his fist, as he rushed towards Amon.
The future was uncertain, meaning Imu couldn't know his teleportation spot anymore. So Amon decided to dodge the incoming attack by teleporting away.
However, Amon couldn't execute his plans as invisible ropes conjured from haki wrapped around his body, while a square box materialised around him, imprisoning him immediately.
Imu's hand shattered the box construct as it rushed into Amon's chest.
Amon made barriers upon barriers, but this time it didn't shatter—it got erased from existence upon it came into contact with the green light.
Amon's eyes widened in alarm just as Imu's hand passed through his Psychic Shield that was clad just above his skin. Imu's hand didn't care for Amon's armament coating, nor did it care for his Zoan defence. It passed through his chest, his flesh, as if Amon wasn't a solid matter, and came through the other side with a big bloody hole in Amon's chest.
"What-"
Blood leapt out of Amon's lips, as Imu stared down at him from his taller posture.
He took out his hands from within Amon's chest, and stood arrogantly.
"I myself have a Devil Fruit, you see. I don't like using it, as it's dangerous to myself if I'm not too careful. Playing with matter is destructive after all." Imu spoke. "You just experienced it yourself, first hand. My Atom-Atom Fruit's [Antimatter] technique."
That's how he made that prosthetic brain for Kizaru, too. By manipulating the Atom of both Kizaru's brain and the brain made by Vegapunk, he merged them together easily.
"No defence in the world can stand against this technique. Only Haki can defend against it, but your Haki barely poses a resistance against mine." Imu said.
Amon watched the large hole on his torso with wide eyes before his body lips formed a chuckle.
"Imu-sama." Amon raised his head, just as white flames ignited in the hole on his chest, filling it with new flesh. "Have you forgotten something?"
"I have not." Imu raised his arm again, this time in a karate-chop fashion. "You annoying pest."
He swiped his hand at Amon's neck but… Amon flickered away from his spot.
Imu's eyes gleamed with shock as his hand passed through empty air.
...He not only missed his attack, but he also couldn't follow Amon's movements with his Observation either. But he hadn't teleported... He had simply moved to the side, as the attack had simply brushed past Amon's shoulders.
"Have you ever wandered…" Amon spoke, smiling from his spot. "What if you increase lightning speed by a 100 fold?"
"...What?"
"«More-More: One Hundred Times»"
Amon's speed was beyond anyone, even Imu, as he grabbed the man by his waist dashed up from the last layer of atmosphere of the planet.
But the 100x lightning speed was a bluff. Doing that might as well create a wormhole which will collapse the universe. Amon doubted it, since there is a Will of the Universe and stuff, but he didn't want to take any risk. Heck, he didn't even know if the fruit could even allow him to move at true light speed, as it would need unlimited energy to make an object with mass move like that. Did a fruit, that was most likely made by humans, have such powers?
Either way, instead of 100x Lightning Speed, Amon only went for 2.5x Lightning Speed. Which was very close to the true light speed.
Only mere seconds later, the planet was thousands of miles below Amon and Imu as Amon punched Imu in the face to throw him off.
Imu rolled on the empty space. By then, Imu had formed an invisible armour of haki to not let the space destroy his body. Imu composed himself in the empty air as he glared at Amon.
"Oh wow, you can breathe in here?" Amon said. "Then again, you're not human are you? Despite your looks."
Imu didn't answer and rushed at Amon again, but Amon dodged him easily.
"Unfortunately my attacks are too weak to affect you," Amon said in a sad tone. "I guess I gotta try something… else."
Amon spread his palm and chanted "Room" just as a blue sphere, a complete circle, formed around that spot.
"I am not affected by direct Devil Fruit techniques. The OP-OP no Mi wouldn't work." Imu spoke, rubbing his neck. "You can run, but you can't escape from me, Amon."
He can just bind Amon using his Haki Conjures. Amon might dodge once, twice, and even a hundred times. But he would get one chance in a thousand. That'd be his end.
'But he's foolish if he thinks I'd allow that.' Amon chuckled before he lowered his eyes at Imu's chest, starting to focus all his will on that spot.
"«Gravity: Singularity Creation»"
Using his Gravity Fruit, he made a singular point of gravity on Imu's chest as the alien's body went stiff. The point he focused gravity on started to twist and shrink and Imu's chest started to look distorted.
That alone cost more energy for Amon than this entire fight had done. But Amon was a being of energy, he could go on for a few dozen times spamming this.
But that wasn't enough to make a Singularity Point. The previous user of the Gravity Fruit hadn't used it enough to awaken it, after all.
So...
"«More-More: Hundred times»"
At Amon's words, there was a twist in space and time at the point where he had placed the gravity. The angular point started to shrink more and more, and soon it went… blank. It simply went blank, as if someone had turned off the light of that singular spot.
It looked like a small hole in space, a small hole that started to suck Imu's body inside.
It had become a Black Hole.
Imu's eyes went wide as he immediately tried to use his Haki to force close the Black Hole.
"No use." Amon spoke even as Imu's body started to shrink inside. "It's not a 'direct' technique of my devil fruit. The black hole is the 'side effect' of turning the mass of a singular point of your body into 'zero'."
Imu yelled, but his voice couldn't be heard.
"I don't want to take a risk, who knows what'll happen if you're completely sucked into that hole. Maybe you'd reform the connection with that Root thingy or whatever?" Amon spoke as he started to focus gravity on Imu's other body parts. "So one by one, limb by limb, I am going to tear you apart."
Imu yelled more, but even his voice was being sucked into that hole of emptiness. More and more holes started to pop up around his body. Two on his two arms, two on his two legs, and another on his abdomen.
The black holes twisted and started to eat up Imu like a hungry shark. It took mere 10 seconds before most of his entire body was eaten up, only parts and parts of his body remained. But his head was intact.
Amon was focusing his OP-OP no Mi to not let the Blackholes go on an outburst, if not they would have torn Imu apart the moment the first one was made.
"You rascal!"
Imu yelled, but Amon could only see his lips moving.
"You idio-"
Amon formed a black hole in Imu's skull, as space twisted before his head distorted into brain matter, bones, eyes and teeth, circling around the hole and going towards the centre to enter it.
With a snap of his finger, which took all his energy, he closed the Black Holes immediately.
He watched Imu's body parts that weren't torn or eaten by the black holes float around the vacuum of space. He watched it for a millisecond before he opened a portal to the door dimension to yeet all the remaining of the former self-proclaimed 'Sole Ruler of the World' into the place where time was frozen. He didn't want his devil fruit to reincarnate in this space, after all.
The portal closed in silence as Amon stood alone, looking down while standing above the planet that was from this moment under his ruling, under his feet.
But this…
"This is just the first step towards my Absolute win, isn't it?"
A broader, stronger world waited for him beyond this point after all.
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Author's Note: 😌 We are at the edge of the climax.