Chapter 497: Chapter 497: Pirate King: Golden City (14)

"How is that possible..."

Tesoro stared blankly ahead, the coldness almost solidifying.

After hearing this news, he could no longer shed tears.

Extreme sorrow turned his tears into blood from his heart.

"Stella..."

At the top of the dim golden tower,

Watching Tesoro, whose body crackled with black-red lightning and who was almost completely consumed by darkness, Orin rubbed his chin.

This...

Seems like he went a bit too far???

This near-collapse, frenzied killing intent was bordering on madness. Even Orin, his face streaked with blood and tears, found it hard to keep watching.

A lovestruck idiot...

Orin shook his head and sighed.

On the other side, Crocodile was a completely different story—she could hardly believe her eyes.

"Crack—"

The expensive cigar she had taken from Golden City was unconsciously bitten in half, veins bulging on her face.

"How is that possible!!!"

"That greedy bastard actually also has... Conqueror’s Haki Infusion?!"

Has this thing become common now?

Orin and Mihawk having it was one thing, even a lowlife thug like Doflamingo whom she looked down on had it, and now even that "greedy bastard" who only ever thought about making money had it too.

Among Orin’s direct subordinates, was she the only one left without it?

No, there was also Sammi from the red-light district who didn’t have it.

"Damn it!!! Am I really destined to only keep company with women?!"

Her rage was accompanied by surging sandstorms, stirring up violent gusts that made Mihawk’s hat brim tremble.

He lifted his head, then turned to look at Orin with some resignation.

"So, is there anything you need us to do?"

Unexpectedly, Orin waved his hand.

"No... the next act won’t require us to step in personally.

Just watch~"

...

"You people..."

Tesoro’s face was gloomy, blood tears streaming down his face. The coldness and despairing killing intent in his heart was practically overflowing.

But the Straw Hat crew believed Tesoro was simply furious from being tricked in return.

Nami hoisted her Clima-Tact and laughed.

"Huh? Are you angry?"

"This is the Gran Tesoro, the world’s largest casino. The one who gets deceived is the loser—wasn’t that what you always said?"

Even Luffy stood up, shook off the remaining seawater, and slammed his fists together.

"Alright!!!"

"Next, I’m definitely going to send you flying!!!"

The Straw Hat crew regrouped once more, exchanging smiles as they prepared to fight side by side.

Within this warm atmosphere full of bonds, only Carina sensed something wrong.

She stared at Tesoro’s face—already icy, even despairing—and involuntarily took several steps back.

"No... something’s not right..."

"I’ve never seen him like this before..."

Tesoro slowly raised his head, his blood-tear-filled eyes locking onto the Straw Hat crew who had killed Stella and were now standing together in harmony.

"What is hope,"

Scenes from the past surged through his mind.

"And what is despair."

Stella’s radiant smile seemed to gradually dissolve into smoke and clouds.

"Tesoro, your singing voice is really nice~"

"No need, shouldn’t we use the gold for something more important right now?"

"Alright then, just this one gold necklace~ It looks so nice..."

"I’m pregnant, it’s our baby~"

"Tesoro, with pure gold, we can be together forever~"

All of these scenes shattered at this moment.

"Stella!!!"

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

A pain no less than Luffy losing his brother surged through Tesoro’s heart.

The ring on his ring finger began to emit a dazzling golden light.

"That is... the power of pure gold?"

Orin couldn’t help but frown. He hadn’t expected the Gold-Gold Fruit and pure gold to interact like this.

The Gran Tesoro, which had grown dim after being drenched in seawater, now shone brilliantly with gold.

A vast golden sea surged forth, spreading in all directions. Tesoro, suffering to the extreme, stood within this ocean of gold.

Even as the raging golden waves enveloped everything, Tesoro had already lost everything.

At last, he understood what the most important thing to him truly was.

"Do you think you’ve already won?!"

"Straw Hat brat!!!"

"Try it yourself—what it feels like to lose what you cherish most!!!"

The dark-gold sea of gold converged, forming an enormous golden giant. Black-red lightning shrouded its body.

The mountain-like pressure made everyone’s expressions change drastically.

"It doesn’t matter anymore. Even if the world is destroyed, I don’t care!!!"

Tesoro raised the giant golden fist, strands of black-red lightning wrapping around it, even showing the faint outline of entanglement.

Luffy leapt into the air, blowing his fist up to match the giant’s size.

"You’re always delusional about controlling everything with money, but only freedom is truly the most beautiful!!!"

"You bastard, can’t you see the beauty in this world?!"

He roared ferociously as he punched toward the golden giant.

"Beauty???"

"Crack crack crack crack—"

A blinding light flared. Tesoro clenched his fist, black-red lightning tightly entwined around it, and punched straight toward Luffy’s Elephant Gun.

"What right do you have to say something like that!!!"

The fists collided.

In just a single exchange, terrifying power crashed into Luffy’s fist, his expression changing drastically.

"Bang—bang—bang bang bang—"

Smashing through countless buildings, Luffy spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes clearing for a brief moment.

How is this possible... this kind of power...

Standing atop the golden tower, Orin watched the golden giant wrapped in black-red lightning pin Luffy to the ground and pummel him, analyzing the situation with interest.

"Well... although Luffy isn’t doing too well and seems to be getting beaten nonstop, the effect has still been achieved. That Tesoro seems to have awakened pretty thoroughly."

But Crocodile didn’t care about romantic entanglements. Standing beside Orin, she was more concerned about the power Tesoro was using now.

"That golden light just now—could it also be the ability of the Gold-Gold Fruit?"

"No... it seems to be the power of pure gold. That stuff has a marvelous effect on cells and the body. This might be related to ability awakening?"

Is even a timeline a line? Is pure gold also gold?

"You’ve never experienced my pain, so stop talking to me about freedom and beauty!!!"

Black-gold light burst from the golden giant’s eyes, locking onto Luffy, who had been knocked into the air.

And at this moment, Luffy had been sent flying toward the direction of the golden tower.

At the same time, a pregnant woman clutching a black box and holding her belly appeared by a window.

She turned her head, somewhat dazed as she looked outside.

Dark-golden light surged toward her.

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