The battle in the patriarch's residence of the noble manor had come to an end.
A powerful shockwave of Conqueror's Haki blasted through the area, stunning everyone present in a single strike—winning Iggy the opportunity to take revenge.
Unfortunately, Lucci and Iggy were similar in strength and both had incredibly strong willpower. Lucci barely withstood the impact and remained conscious.
Seeing that Iggy was about to succeed, Lucci quickly focused his energy and fired a Shigan (Finger Pistol) from a distance, stopping Iggy from finishing off the master.
Faced with such a powerful enemy, Lucci decided not to underestimate him again. He instantly activated his Devil Fruit ability—transforming into his leopard hybrid form.
Knowing Iggy had little stamina left, Lucci cautiously approached him, intending to eliminate him completely.
> "Not good... I'm out of energy."
Lucci had guessed correctly. Iggy, having fought through a brutal one-against-eight breakout battle, was completely exhausted.
If he couldn't kill the enemy, he couldn't regain his strength. At this point, his stamina was no better than that of an average Marine.
Being familiar with the One Piece series, Iggy knew that Lucci's speed in his transformed state far surpassed his own in this condition.
Forget killing the Celestial Dragon patriarch—even escaping the manor now seems impossible.
> "In that case… I'll just have to bet everything."
Clutching his pierced right arm with his left hand, Iggy looked at the bloody wound—and suddenly smiled.
His right arm was no longer usable. Without hesitation, he used life return on his shoulder.
His body began to change.
The blood around the wound began to coagulate. His entire right arm shriveled, then contracted, until even the bones disintegrated into ash, blowing away in the wind.
Iggy had actually used Life Return (Seimei Kikan) to dissolve his useless right arm and convert it into usable energy.
> "You're actually hurting yourself to regain strength?!"
Lucci stared in disbelief as Iggy's aura flared again. He recalled his comrade Kumadori's Life Return ability and suddenly understood.
Realizing what had happened, Lucci—usually calm and composed—couldn't help but gasp.
He'd once become infamous for slaughtering a hundred soldiers without emotion. Yet he couldn't match the cruelty Iggy inflicted on himself.
The boy before him, consumed by revenge—both in will and power—looked more like a monster than he did.
> "You're too dangerous. I have to finish you off now!"
Lucci stopped hesitating. Using Soru with all four limbs, he surged forward like lightning.
Mid-charge, the leopard-man launched a barrage of punches. With the strength and speed granted by his Zoan transformation, his attacks reached terrifying levels.
> "Shigan: Spot Rain!!"
Using his running momentum, Lucci's fists became a storm of yellow-and-black blurs, launching thousands of precise finger strikes like a downpour.
Iggy, having just completed his Life Return transformation, knew this renewed energy wouldn't last long.
He couldn't afford a prolonged battle.
As the punch storm closed in, Iggy stomped the ground and launched himself into the air, narrowly escaping the attack range.
> "Trying to run!?"
Lucci had anticipated this. Retracting his arms, he let the barrage dissipate and whipped his tail at the airborne target.
> "Inch-By-Inch!"
The long, yellow tail cracked through the air like a whip. But Iggy, now furious, coated his palm with Armament Haki.
With a swift chop, his blackened palm sliced straight through the leopard's tail, severing it with a sharp crack.
> "Haki?!"
Blood sprayed from the stump. Lucci recoiled in pain, flipping backward instinctively to avoid Iggy's follow-up.
But unexpectedly, while cutting the tail, Iggy had used Geppo (Moonwalk) to launch himself straight through the manor window.
> "Damn it! He still escaped!"
Lucci rushed to the window, looking out over the vast forest—but Iggy was gone without a trace.
Turning back to the unconscious Celestial Dragon and his downed CP9 teammates, Lucci let out a heavy sigh.
> "CP9… I'll come back and finish this."
Meanwhile, Iggy dashed through the forest like the wind, his heart still pounding from that narrow escape.
Though he'd succeeded in killing the Thorn family, he hadn't taken down the true mastermind behind everything.
Running through the forest where his mother was buried, a feeling of frustration rose in his chest.
This mission to infiltrate the Holy Land had too many flaws—both in planning and execution.
He had once thought the Thorn family was behind his mother's assassination six years ago.
> "But in the end… it was all orchestrated by that old bastard!"
The true culprit had been the treacherous Draco's patriarch, hiding in the shadows all along.
As Thorn lay dying, he abandoned his identity and revealed the truth—pleading for Iggy to avenge him by targeting the real enemy.
It shifted Iggy's entire revenge plan. Now he had to refocus, to avoid wasting more time and energy on the wrong target.
> "That sly old fox…"
Thanks to the deaths of countless subordinates, the patriarch had bought himself time—time to set a trap.
Without Iggy knowing, the patriarch had summoned CP9 to guard the Holy Land in secret.
By the time Iggy arrived, the enemy was fully prepared. Even with all his strength, escaping from CP9's encirclement was nearly impossible.
Remembering how each CP9 member played their part, with clearly coordinated roles, Iggy felt a lingering chill.
"I need allies."
The strength of one man could only go so far. Iggy clenched his jaw and made a silent decision—it was time to build his own force.
He ran to the cliffside of the Holy Land, greeted by the vast, open view—eerily similar to what he saw six years ago.
But now, everything was different.
"Mother… I'll come back to see you again."
Iggy took one final look at the forest behind him, took a deep breath—and leapt into the sea below.
---
Man, that's tuff.
Send Powerstones.
___
https://www.patreon.com/Zphyr_
Join my P@treon to read Advanced Chapters.