Chapter 130: Expelling Pain
What?!
Sonic looked back.
Muscle Man's back was embedded in the wall, his head hanging motionless.
Like some strange piece of modern art.
"Turns out he's just a piece of trash who only looks good in terms of Aura."
Sonic looked away disdainfully.
He looked back at the entrance of the passage.
Lowering his body until he was almost crawling, he gripped his katana in a reverse hold.
His twisted smile grew even more exaggerated.
In the next instant, his figure suddenly vanished!
Turning into a faint afterimage, he sliced through the air!
His ghostly movement technique charged toward the intruder!
Boom—!!
Another piece of modern art appeared on the wall.
Embedded right next to Muscle Man.
"Pfft! How is this possible...!" Sonic's eyes widened in disbelief. "He could actually react to my speed?!!"
"Ha..." Beside him, Muscle Man suddenly let out a long breath.
As if trying to drain all the air from his body.
A large cloud of steam and hot air was exhaled.
Pressing his hands against the wall, he pushed himself out of the indentation.
The fabric of the Martial Arts Uniform on his back was torn apart by the strangely bulging back muscles.
Rage made his demonic face even more hideous!
Muscle Man was furious!!!
Sonic also detached from the wall and landed on the ground.
His twisted smile was gone, replaced by a solemn, heavy expression.
Speed was his pride and his bottom line; he would never allow anyone to surpass him!
At the entrance of the passage.
Three figures, each at least over 1.9 meters tall, and a young lolita floating in mid-air.
Aokiji lowered his fist.
"I held back on those two just now. You guys handle them as you see fit. Mizuki, come and help me."
Superalloy Darkshine wanted to make up for the darkness he had failed to discover and stop in the past.
Tatsumaki's thoughts were simpler: she needed to vent the anger she felt after being messed with by Aokiji through violence!
Her orange ponytail swaying, Mizuki followed Aokiji toward the interior of the market.
Her attitude was particularly proactive.
"Senior Aokiji, what do you need me to do!"
Ice shards spread with every step, and the unconscious Underworld criminals were frozen one after another in blocks of ice.
Aokiji pointed them out to Mizuki.
"Stack all these frozen guys together."
"Okay!"
Mizuki began her task cheerfully.
The two punches Aokiji had casually thrown earlier had made her very excited.
A man like a bloodthirsty demon, and an afterimage attack that was impossible to see or react to.
Senior Aokiji solved both with a single punch each!
Such a sense of pure power and the aesthetic beauty of his movements—it was amazing!
"Can I reach this level in the future?"
Mizuki thought to herself while carrying several ice sculptures.
Within the perception of Observation Haki, several weak presences were scattered throughout.
These were exactly Aokiji's targets.
People who had become commodities for human trafficking or living storage for organs... a scrawny man curled up in a narrow iron cage.
He was desperately trying to pry the cage open.
A little girl, kept in another cage and displayed at the very front, cheered him on in a childish voice.
"Go daddy, go daddy..."
Blood seeped from the man's palms.
The veins bulging in his neck looked like they were about to burst.
Yet, he tried his best to keep his voice calm and gentle.
"Don't worry, Daddy will definitely get you out of here... Damn it, aaaaaah—!"
After the roar that exhausted his final strength ended.
The cage still showed no sign of changing.
Damn it! Damn it!!
The man slammed his fist against the cage, his eyes, nearly bloodshot from staring, fixed on the "merchant" lying unconscious on the ground.
He and his daughter had done nothing wrong!
They were just caught up in a Monster attack.
They had encountered a group of people in professional medical attire and, mistakenly believing they were rescue workers from the Hero Association or the government, were tricked and abducted here!
He had once angrily questioned them, asking if they weren't afraid of being discovered by heroes or the government?!
But he only received a sneering reply.
"You're already just two numbers on the list of victims from the Monster attack. Who's going to save people who are already dead?"
The man didn't know why these guys had all collapsed.
But he still didn't dare to hope for someone to save them.
Near his daughter, a middle-aged man was lying unconscious on the ground.
That was the "customer" who had already negotiated the price for his daughter.
He absolutely had to escape with his daughter before these people woke up!!
His fist struck the iron cage hard, splattering blood, but the man seemed completely unable to feel the pain, frantically throwing punches within the narrow space.
Besides him, many others who had become commodities for sale were also struggling desperately.
Trying to shake the cages or chains that imprisoned them.
Each one carried a longing for freedom and a deep hatred for their enemies.
"Daddy..." Tears welled up in the little girl's eyes.
"Be good, be good. Count, didn't Daddy teach you how to count? Close your eyes, and by the time you count to a hundred, Daddy will have you out of here."
"Mhm... mhm..." The little girl nodded while sobbing.
Even though she couldn't count to a hundred yet, she obediently closed her eyes.
"1, 2, 3, 4..."
A low, childish voice that sounded like both a chant and a prayer.
It rang out in sync with the sound of people striking steel with their flesh and blood in pursuit of freedom.
The man's hands were a bloody mess.
His deep obsession turned into a kind of catalyst.
Driving his flesh and blood to twist and wriggle strangely.
"...26, 27... 27, 28! 29, 30..."
"Daddy, what comes after 30? I haven't learned it yet..."
"It's 31."
Aokiji answered softly.
Screech, crack—
The cage was torn open.
The man stared blankly as the flesh that had been faintly wriggling strangely calmed down.
The woman in the cage next to him was the first to cry out tremulously:
"A hero is here, a hero is here!! Lord Aokiji has come to save us..."
As she spoke, she collapsed and sobbed.
Aokiji lifted the little girl out of the cage, and Red Energy popped out.
Then he destroyed the other cages.
"Daddy!"
The little girl rushed into the man's arms.
Holding his regained treasure, the man sobbed his thanks.
A broad hand rested on the man's shoulder.
Red Energy overflowed, and it was as if those pains had never existed.
Some sat on the ground, clinging to Aokiji's legs while weeping and recounting their experiences.
Some were dazed and still couldn't believe it, reaching out to touch Aokiji to confirm he wasn't an illusion.
Some were excited and grief-stricken, pointing at the unconscious figures on the ground and intermittently identifying their crimes.
Surrounded by the crowd.
Aokiji reached out and touched everyone, popping out their pain one by one.
The Red Bubble above grew larger and larger.
"Your pain will go to the ones who inflicted it upon you."