Chapter 403: Sealing Haki?

"Tss—"

"So this is the power of the Ancient Weapon?"

"Gulp! It's absolutely terrifying…"

"Unbelievable!"

High in the sky, inside a strange green space, stood several figures of various appearances.

At the forefront were none other than El, Frey, and Ares—who logically should not have been able to evade that earlier cataclysmic attack on the island—together with Dal, Eden, Uthan, and Barry, who had all been waiting here.

Looking down upon the black abyss below—where God Valley had been, along with the navy warships and pirate ships in the nearby seas—everything had vanished. Above, in the sky, a hulking dark shape was now revealed in full, futuristic in design and supremely intimidating.

Uthan, Barry, Eden, and the others

couldn't help gaping, scarcely able to believe their eyes. Eden, Frey, and Ares—those children of the Kukulkan family who had secretly come here—felt a profound shock, cold sweat running down their backs, as though someone had doused them with icy water from head to toe.

They had always considered themselves strong, prideful at times, but now that pride evaporated. If they hadn't encountered their father, El—if they had blindly charged in—had the World Government unleashed this weapon, they'd likely have had no chance to escape.

"Now isn't the time to be stunned. In a moment, don't rush out… Eden, open a door!"

Gazing at the giant object in the sky, El's eyes glinted grimly.

"Yes, Dad!" Eden snapped back to awareness.

Using her copied Door-Door Fruit ability, she lightly pulled open a small door in the air:

"Transfer!"

Through that aperture leading to a spacious zone, Dal pointed with a finger and activated his Transfer Fruit power to send his father El out—this time out of range of that hulking war machine—clearly taking no chances to avoid any accidents.

…

"Roar—!"

In the next instant, a bestial cry rang out.

El appeared far off, his face twisted with ferocity and scaled armor covering him. Before one's eyes, he morphed into a half-human, half-beast form. His killing intent was palpable, his gaze cold and riveted on the giant object in the clouds that was just starting to depart:

"Since you came, no going back… I've waited a long time for this day!!"

"What!? How can this be?"

"Damn it, he's still alive!"

"Quickly, fire again—annihilate him!!!"

Inside Uranus, the Ancient Weapon, a few elderly Celestial Dragons in bubble helmets—faces heavily wrinkled, hair completely white, near the end of their lifespans—were aghast, shouting in disarray.

"Berserk Haki—Release!"

In a flash, the flames behind El's head flared out. Within the glint of electricity, El's hair stood on end, both fists clenching. Lightning crackled around his entire body, as though lifting some internal limit. Suddenly, he unleashed a colossal outpouring of Haki—black-red lightning lashing in thick arcs around him. His muscles flexed, veins bulging, his aura climbing ever higher.

"Conqueror—Heaven—!!!"

He pressed his fists together, gathering a ferocious energy before blasting it forward in one unstoppable strike, laden with unimaginable Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.

"Boom—boom—"

A savage blast of Haki turned into a savage shockwave. It ripped through the very air, warping space. Even the seemingly invulnerable Uranus quaked, lurched, and wailed under that inconceivable power…

"Crack… crack…"

That titanic object, once impossibly sturdy, fractured piece by piece. The Ancient Weapon Uranus—deemed a "national treasure" by the World Government—was thus dismantled and utterly destroyed, shattering into countless fragments that plummeted into the void below. Meanwhile, those Celestial Dragons inside had already been pulverized into bloody mist, leaving no remains behind.

"Huff, huff…"

"Rumble… rumble…"

Thunder rolled across the skies, and the wind howled.

The sea boiled, massive waves surging outward in unstoppable cascades. The heavens themselves seemed to split apart, a spectacle beyond words.

"This… is Uranus destroyed!"

"And the sky tore open even without a Conqueror's Haki clash with another user!"

"That was Dad's full-powered attack?"

"Unbelievable—"

Within the hidden Door-Door Fruit space,

Uthan, Barry, Eden, Frey, Ares, and the others all stared wide-eyed, stunned to the core.

"All these years, as Father's strength grew, he never just buried himself in mindless training with diminishing returns—exerting effort for minimal gains…"

Third child Dal, equally overwhelmed,

face flushed with awe as he looked upon that majestic silhouette standing tall:

"…Instead, he traveled far and wide, steadily researching martial arts from every corner of the world—like some esoteric techniques—amassing diverse knowledge. Combining them with his mastery of Life Return, he perfected a method to store up Haki within his body over time!"

"That unique technique can even seal away stored Haki in his body… at a critical moment, he can unleash it all at once!"

"Furthermore, the strength and quality of the stored Haki depends on the user's prowess and constitution!"

"What!?

"Storing Haki?"

"Huh? You can seal Haki??"

Uthan, Barry, Eden, and the rest gaped in astonishment, scarcely able to believe it.

"Of course. I heard there's an ancient giant robot from centuries ago abandoned by the World Government, on an island we occupy. Within that robot is an incredibly powerful reservoir of Haki—said to be left by Joy Boy!"

As the second son of the Kukulkan family,

having inherited both Lunarian and Three-Eyed Tribe blood, born with future-sight-level Observation Haki—ever intelligent and gifted—Dal was highly valued by El. Having traveled often with his father, he knew far more than his siblings.

"So incredible?"

Sixth child Eden's eyes glowed with excitement, her voice eager:

"Then I want to learn too—Dad would definitely teach me!!!"

"That technique… even I haven't mastered it yet, and you want to learn?"

Dal looked helplessly at his sister, who often found it hard to motivate herself for daily training. She wanted to master Life Return at its apex?

"Why do you think you can't, but I definitely can't?"

Eden glared back, feeling he underestimated her.

"It's not that I'm looking down on you. That technique first requires taking Life Return to its pinnacle, so you can perfectly control any part of your body…"

"So far, besides Dad, only Mom barely manages it—and also Auntie Gerd, who can cheat using the Soul-Soul Fruit."

"As far as I know, you only barely got a handle on the basics of Life Return, right?"

Indeed, Eden possessed the Copy-Copy Fruit, but copying another's Fruit didn't mean she could hold on to the Soul-Soul Fruit power for long…

"Huh?"