Chapter 167

I immediately ran towards Im, wanting to kill him as quickly as possible and get out of this hell.

"You fool! How dare you take my meal!"

I quickly jumped to the right, dodging spikes coming out from the ground. I punched towards Im, sending a wave of Busoshoku Haki towards him. But it got blocked by an invisible force. He sent more spikes flying towards me, but I just blocked them with my body. They didn't leave a scratch.

I looked to my right, seeing a fist coming towards my head. I quickly swayed my head backward and grabbed his arm. I kicked his legs with all my power making him fall down. But before he hit the ground, I threw him over my shoulder into the ground, creating a giant crater.

"Crunch." That was the sound of me breaking his arm. But I didn't leave it by just breaking it. I used all my powers and detached his arm from his shoulder.

"You foolish mortal!"

A new arm suddenly grew back, and he managed to punch me in the face before I could react, sending me flying. I quickly stabilized myself in the air and landed on the wall. I immediately jumped off of it towards Im. He took out his sword and sent out a slash.

"You bastard!"

Before I knew it, I had a deep gash in my back.

"Big brother, your back!"

"It's just a small cut, don't worry about it."

"Using your own body to protect someone, how foolish!"

Im sent another slash towards us.

<Haoshoku Haki>

An invisible barrier appeared around us that blocked the attack.

"Impossible! How did you reach that level of Haoshoku Haki! That should be impossible for a lowly mortal like you to do!"

"Who says that I'm a mortal? Mastering this little technique was easy for me. So maybe I am the God here."

A pressure suddenly descended upon us, but I used my Haoshoku Haki to block it. However, his Haoshoku Haki is much stronger than I imagined, and he started pushing my barrier back.

'It seems like I'll have to go for plan B.'

I whistled as loudly as I could. A coupled of seconds later, the roof of the castle disappeared into a monster's mouth.

"RROAARR!"

Tens of thousands of monsters could be seen in the air and on the ground. I grabbed my little brother and jumped out of the castle.

"Kill him!"

"RRROAAARR!!!"

All the monsters pounced towards him, wanting to eat him. These are the strongest creatures here that I managed to tame. I doubt that they will be able to beat him, but he should at least be hurt. I landed on a mountain and watched the show with my little brother.

---

10 minutes later, the last man standing was Im. He had wounds all over his body but didn't look too hurt. But before he could find Ken, he got a knee in the face, sending him flying through multiple monster corpses.

Im quickly stood up to block a punch. The collision sent the giant monster corpses around them flying. Haoshoku Haki was flying of the two of them like crazy. Neither seemed to have the upper hand. Ken pulled his fist back and immediately punched towards Im again. This time Im met Ken's fist head on with his sword.

The clash destroyed everything around them, turning it into dust, but even so, no one seemed to have the upper hand.

'So plan B was useless. Time to go back to plan A. Beating the shit out of him with my fists.'

Ken grabbed Im's sword with his left hand and immediately kicked his right hand, holding the sword, making Im's hold loosen. Ken grabbed the sword out of his hand and jumped back. But when he gripped the handle, he immediately let the sword go. He spotted something crawling into his hand, but before he could stop it, it had already disappeared.

"Hahaha! I've got you now! That thing will make its way over to your heart and kill you from the within. You won't be able to kill something that is inside of you. Hahahaha!"

Ken hardened his left index finger with Haki and poked it into his right arm with zero hesitation. The weird worm like thing that entered through his hand got pushed out and fell on the ground. Ken immediately stomped on it, turning it into green goo.

"That only applies to weaklings. And I'm clearly not one of them. Anyway, it seems like I won't be able to use this sword, but neither will you!"

Ken whipped the sword into the air with his foot. He kicked against the sword grip, sending it flying far away from them, spinning like a shuriken. Ken stopped Im from going after his sword so, no one has an advantage now.

<Haoshoku Haki>

"Haoshoku Haki!"

Both of them used their Haoshoku Haki to try and pressure each other. The castle that they were in got blown off the map, and there is no monster corps in sight.

"Why would you go so far for someone who is already dead? It doesn't matter if you beat me or not; he will stay here and burn in hell for eternity."

"Then I'll stay here and protect him for eternity."

"What a foolish answer. And what about your crew then? What will they think when their Captain leaves them behind for some other person they've never even seen?"

"My friends aren't like your subordinates. They don't follow my orders because they are scared of me; it's because they respect me and trust in me. They will understand why I'm doing this and will probably do their best to find a way to get us out of here or join us. But those 5 old guys only listen to you because you are stronger. If you were to suddenly become weaker than them, they would immediately kill you."

"That's true, but I don't believe in ruling with anything other than strength. That respect and trust you're talking about are temporary, but POWER is eternal!"

Im's Haoshoku Haki suddenly started pushing Ken's back.

"I wouldn't expect a power hungry loner to understand anyway! The power of friendship is the strongest power out there!" (Besides plot armor, obviously.)

Ken's Haoshoku Haki suddenly became much stronger and started pressuring Im.

"That power of friendship you're talking about, I had it once. But when I faced an opponent that I couldn't beat with this power of friendship, someone who didn't have that power completely annihilated that enemy. It was at that moment that I realized that all friends do is hold me back. The only ones who make it at the top and stay there are the ones that use their powers for themselves!"

"I guess we will know which one is more powerful after one of us dies. So be ready to go to your grave regretting having left your friends and chasing after weak power."

"I'll happily prove you wrong."

They immediately ran towards each other.

"KEN!"

"IM!"

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[Btw, this is just Ken's imagination. The Im right here isn't the real Im. So he could be either stronger or weaker than the real one. And his past or view on the world and power could be completely different.]

Anime Quotes:

"I'm not regretting it. I just don't know what to do. What is power? I thought that if I had power, I could reach out and help others."

- Shirota Mahiru (Servamp)

"In the hands of an incompetent, power brings nothing but ruins. This could only be the works of imbeciles."

- Meruem (Hunter x Hunter)

"The power of one man doesn't amount to much. However little strength I'm capable of… I'll do everything humanly possible to protect the people I love. And in turn they'll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for each other."

- Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)