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Chapter 367: Willie vs Moss (2)

  Boom… boom…

  A thunderous roar echoed across the ruined isnd.

  A fierce ssh of bzing fme, carrying rolling waves of heat, shot forward—

  Colliding with the incoming lion-shaped ssh.

  A gust of wind tore outward, carrying searing heat that made the air stiflingly hot.

  “Awakened Mode—”

  Stepping on thin air,

  Moss retreated into the distance. His momentum was breathtaking as he let out a low shout:

  “Human-Beast Form: Griffin!”

  Before everyone’s eyes, his body changed at a pace visible to the naked eye.

  He swelled in size; his face took on a vaguely avian cast with a sharp beak—yet rows of savage teeth remained. Both arms and legs morphed into steely talons, and a pair of huge, snow-white wings unfurled behind him. Electric arcs flickered across his entire form, and around him curled a strange swirl of ash-gray fming clouds, giving him an exceptionally ferocious appearance.

  “Willie-sama, we don’t have much time—so I’ll go all out!”

  His piercing gaze locked onto Willie. Moss’s voice grew raspy and intimidating.

  Blessed with notable talent, he had devoted these past years to tireless training—fully awakening the Bird-Bird Fruit, Ancient Zoan: Phorusrhacos Form. That was precisely why he remained a member of the “Eight Vajras” without being overtaken by newcomers. Indeed, at just thirty-five, he was in his prime with ample room to grow. By no means was he old.

  “Forgive me… Flying-Bde Iron Cw!”

  He struck first, attacking with decisiveness. In his awakened state, speed, power, and reaction time were all pushed beyond imagination. His steel-like right talon sliced the air, shing out from a distance. Several cw-shaped sshes carved forward with tremendous speed, bearing down on Willie.

  Cng… cng…

  Willie reacted swiftly, knocking each of those incoming strikes away, fending them all off. At the same time, his entire body glowed as a pair of pure-white angelic wings emerged behind him. Combined with another bck pair of wings, they formed a striking contrast—while the fmes behind his head burned white-hot. With his impossibly handsome features and otherworldly aura, he exuded a sense of sanctity and mystique, like a heavenly angel out of legend, impossible to ignore.

  “Holy Light Ssh!”

  In that moment, Willie’s bearing grew sharp, compelling respect.

  His ornate sword, wreathed in a holy radiance, sshed fiercely at Griffin Moss before him.

  Swish—

  A massive arc of holy light cut through the air. Moss, moving with near-spectral speed, avoided it by the narrowest margin. He streaked around from all directions in a blur, leaving his trajectory impossible to track.

  Whoosh!

  Suddenly, his fierce form charged forward again—electricity crackled around deadly talons infused with notable Armament Haki, cold light reflecting off them. He lunged in a lightning thrust.

  Cng!!

  Willie, hair standing on end, could do nothing but hastily raise his sword in defense. Though he blocked that lethal blow, its immense force sent him flying back.

  “So fast…” His eyes widened in shock. At sixteen, he was still younger and less battle-hardened than his older siblings.

  “Instant Step…”

  Without pause, Moss pressed the attack.

  Refusing to relent, he lunged again, using the ultimate technique Eir had devised from the Navy’s “Shave.” His speed verged on terrifying—close to matching that of the old Iron Cw Hark—and scarcely believable.

  “Holy Light Shield!!”

  In a heartbeat, Willie’s gaze sharpened.

  A spherical barrier of brilliant light surrounded him.

  Boom… boom…

  Deafening crashes rang out.

  The shield shuddered but did not break. No matter how Moss zipped around with startling speed—his movement so quick it defied even Observation Haki—he could not pierce that holy barrier.

  “Tsk, tsk, what incredible speed and power…” Thunder Camity Oka excimed. “Moss has grown even stronger!”

  “Mamamama, he truly is quite gifted. A pity we never got our hands on a more powerful Devil Fruit for him—otherwise, he might be on an even higher level,” Linlin said with a smile. Moss was arguably the most talented from the former Sheep's House. Achieving an awakened Ancient Zoan form at a retively young age was proof of that, pcing him on par with the “Master of Many Faces,” Sally—and thus highly valued by Eir.

  “Willie can’t compare to Thor or Dal, and he’s still too young,” said Sally, the shapeshifting witch, quietly observing the battlefield. She sighed, pying idly with her hands. “Thanks to his Lunarian bloodline, he might not be defeated easily, but beating Moss? Not a chance.”

  Still, even though her child wasn’t one of those inhuman prodigies like Thor or Dal, Sally didn’t seem disappointed. Not every Kukulkan heir could be a monstrous genius. Willie had only just turned sixteen and had plenty of room to grow. Even if he could never surpass the likes of Thor or Dal, she was confident that, with consistent effort and training, he could eventually surpass herself, stand toe-to-toe with Marine Admirals, and never become a liability to the Kukulkan family.

  “Max Wheel: Lion King Cannon!!!”

  At that point, electricity crackled around Moss, his fur bristling upright. His aura surged, both fists pressed together and flooding with formidable Haki, gathering terrifying energy that made onlookers’ hearts pound.

  “Roar—!”

  A massive lion-shaped wave of force distorted the air. Moving at a speed too fast for the eye to see, it crashed into Willie’s holy shield.

  BOOM!!!

  The barrier shook violently, splintering with shocking cracks.

  Crack… crack…

  At st, the shield shattered under the relentless onsught, dissolving into a shower of light. The fearsome lion-shaped bst smmed into Willie—eyes wide in arm—hurling him into the distance.

  CRASH…

  The earth quaked, rubble flew, and dust plumed skyward. Willie smmed into the wreckage. But the very next instant, he sprang up again, entirely unscathed.

  “It’s no use, Uncle Moss…” Looking somewhat disheveled but otherwise unfazed, Willie patted the dust off his clothes, speaking calmly. “Your attacks might be powerful, but they still can’t truly injure me.”

  By virtue of his Lunarian heritage and the added regeneration from his Mythical Zoan Angel form, he could, for all intents and purposes, ignore damage.

  “Hmm, that Angel form’s healing powers stacked with the Lunarian race’s natural resilience… That’s tricky,” Moss rasped through his pointed beak and serrated teeth. Wisps of ashen fme-clouds swirled around him as he raised his lethal talons. He gave a fierce ugh. “However, Willie-sama, if you don’t find the resolve to give it everything you’ve got, you won’t be wounding me either!”

  “I do have that resolve… After all, I’m a member of the Kukulkan family. But I’m no hotheaded fool,” Willie replied, smiling. From a young age, he’d known he was different from his monstrous siblings like Thor, Sul, Dal—or even younger ones like Medusa, Eden, Frey. That knowledge, and the encouragement from his parents—Eir and Sally—pushed him to train twice as hard to catch up. Although years of discipline still hadn’t brought him to Thor or Dal’s level, Eir and Sally had always banced their demands with genuine affection, never burdening him with too much pressure. As a result, he retained a tranquil disposition, free of excess obsession or malice. He wouldn’t be so easily provoked.

  “Arrow of Holy Light!”

  In the next moment, Willie soared aloft, using Observation Haki to lock onto Griffin Moss below. His eyes gleamed with sudden intensity, while the holy fmes behind his head fred white-hot.

  Whooo… whooo…

  In an instant, the sky above was filled with brilliant beams of sacred light, taking the form of countless arrows. Radiant and solemn, yet wreathed in purifying fme, they rained down upon Griffin Moss like a storm of destruction, eliciting wide-eyed shock from onlookers.

  Boom… BOOM…

  Bleam

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