One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

After a long period of observation, Kaido calculated that while Tempaz's ability was exerted on the target, he would not be able to maintain his incredibly fast speed.

So he used the vest as bait to distract him and pounce on him.

Kaido concentrated a large amount of armament color and armament color on the shaft of the mace. The entire mace was covered with purple lightning. He swept it over with great momentum, ready to decide the outcome with this move.

At the critical moment, Tempaz stretched out his arms and brought the tips of the two needles together in one go.

At this moment, something strange happened.

Where the two needles intersected, circles of ripples formed, spreading out in all directions, and the sound of the hour hand turning echoed in the air.

In an instant, Kaido's hand movements paused unconsciously, and when he came to his senses, his chest seemed to be hit by a heavy hammer. He flew out in the air, rolled on the ground for a while, and finally crashed into the broken wall.

“Damn it…what just happened?!”

Kaido coughed up a large mouthful of blood, and when he looked down, he saw a deep bloody scratch on his stomach. The pain was excruciating. If it weren't for his extraordinary physique, he would have been ripped open long ago.

He covered his wound and stood up with difficulty. He didn't expect that the attack he had been concentrating for a long time would fail. He was shocked and angry.

Tampaz propped the long needle on the ground, holding his heart with his left hand, bent over and gasped, his face paler than before, a lot of sweat soaking his skin, and said with great effort: "This is the first time I use it in actual combat... It turns out that there is such a big loss..."

It was just three brief seconds, and time completely stopped at that moment.

Tempaz's Clock-Clock Fruit is an ability to control the flow of time. When the long needle touches the enemy, it can speed up the opponent's time, while the short needle can make time go backwards. At the same time, it can also change its own speed at will. As the name suggests, it is an ability that can even devour time.

The only flaw is that you can't gain time and speed up at the same time. Of course, there are only a few people in the ocean who can see this.

After mastering the proper use of his abilities, Tempaz discovered one more thing: when the tips of the long needle and the short needle come into contact, time will stop flowing all over the world with him as the center, but he can still move freely in the stopped time.

Since time stopping requires full concentration, each time Tempaz uses it, he loses several years of his life. He will never use this move unless it is absolutely necessary.

"You actually discovered my weakness in such a short time. Please forgive my rudeness just now..."

Tempaz slowly stood up, bowed to Kaido, and licked the sweat that flowed to the corners of his mouth. "We both have little physical strength left. Let's make a final contest. It took us a little too long this time."

"You're kidding..."

Kaido cursed under his breath. He used his Observation Haki to observe that although Tempaz's aura was much weaker than before, it was still much stronger than his own. It was more than enough for him to fight with Linlin again.

Fortunately, since he did not succeed in launching that attack, he still retained a lot of domineering energy in his body. If he released it all in one breath, perhaps he would still have a chance of winning.

The prerequisite is that Tampaz must be made to mistakenly believe that his physical strength is too depleted and he is temporarily unable to use his domineering power. When he reveals a flaw again, he can be struck by surprise.

"Is it possible? I can only pray that I don't die before then..."

Kaido muttered something, tore off a piece of his shirt to bandage the wound, grabbed the iron rod beside him and ran towards Tempaz again.

“Oh my! Where’s your fighting spirit from just now? Don’t let me down!”

With wild laughter, Lingling kept speeding up, slashing at Herjog with each blow, pressing him step by step, not giving him a chance to breathe. Herjog could only wield the meteor hammer to barely parry, his body constantly retreating backwards. Every time the long sword collided with him, his arm would feel numb, and the meteor hammer in his hand almost slipped out of his hand.

Suddenly, he came up with a plan and swung one end of the meteor hammer forward. Lingling saw the metal hammer coming straight at her and felt a little strange. She thought the other party wanted to make a desperate move, so she chopped it head-on with a knife to cut it in two. Unexpectedly, the metal hammer turned in mid-air, and the iron chain connected to it was wrapped around the blade several times. Herjog took advantage of the situation and grabbed the other end of the hammer head, pulling it straight with a "clang clang" sound.

"Little tricks!"

Lingling sneered, and covered the knife with a layer of Armament Haki. Just as she was about to break it, the metal hammer at the front suddenly left the chain and shot out like an arrow. Lingling felt her center of gravity was unstable, and she was knocked back. Just as she was about to remove the metal hammer from her body, the surface of the sphere suddenly shone with light, and the spikes on it trembled violently.

With a loud "bang", the metal hammer suddenly exploded from the inside, and countless spikes shot out. Some of them hit the aunt and became pieces, while the other parts shot into the ruins and disappeared without a trace.

"Damn you, angry-faced bastard! You're totally different from the simple-minded you appear to be!"

Lingling shook off the iron filings stuck on her clothes. She was very angry about being tricked. When she was about to jump up, she suddenly saw the remaining end of the meteor hammer spinning in the air at high speed, whistling in the wind and flying over her. It exploded violently, and the spikes poured down like a rain of flowers. Lingling was not afraid at all. She swung her long sword tightly, deflecting all the incoming spikes. At this moment, accompanied by a gust of wind, a huge stone covered with sharp spikes came towards her. Lingling didn't even look at it, and casually punched it to pieces, saying with a smile: "That's it?"

Herjog walked towards her from a distance with his hands empty and without saying a word, which surprised Lingling. She teased, "Enough of your tricks, are you planning to face me head-on?"

"Yes, the winner will be decided soon." Herjog still had an angry look on his face, but his tone seemed somewhat calm.

"Well, well, well! That's not wrong. I will finish you off in one go and won't let you suffer even a little bit!"

Lingling made a hand gesture, and Zeus, who was standing by, immediately understood and moved behind him, surrounding him.

"Okay, it's because of this moment that I wanted to play with you!"

She licked her lips and uttered a low, suppressed voice: "LIFE OR..."

"Right now! The iron needle cage!"

As Herjog put his hands together, the spikes that had fallen into the ruins spread upwards wildly. Lingling had just finished reciting half of the soul spell when several spikes were suddenly poured into her mouth, making her unable to speak any more.

When she tried to struggle, dozens of spikes came at her, crisscrossing her. Before long, Lingling was firmly fixed in the dense mess of spikes.

"Mom! I'm coming to save you!"

Before Zeus flew far, Herjog snapped his fingers, and countless spikes broke out of the ground and wrapped Zeus in them, wrapping him tightly without leaving any gaps. Faint words like "let me out" could be heard from inside.

"Well......!"

Lingling tried to struggle a few times, but found that she could not move at all, not even her fingers. No matter how hard she tried, the spikes remained motionless, without even the slightest crack.

“Don’t waste your energy.”

Herjog walked straight up to her and said coldly, "These are the needles I prepared especially for you. They are the hardest needles, equivalent to seastone that can only be produced in a certain country. I have no way to hurt you, and I don't want to get involved in Mr. Tempaz's fight, so you should stay here until they decide the winner."

Lingling's eyes seemed to be spitting fire, but she couldn't speak because her mouth was blocked by needles, so she could only stare at him fiercely.

"Back then, I thought I was the strongest in the country. I was arrogant and had a worse temper than I do now. I didn't take anyone seriously and all I wanted was to serve my country."

Herjog didn't care about Lingling's gaze at all, and continued to talk to himself, "So when I first met Mr. Tempaz, I was very dissatisfied with him. I wondered why His Majesty would let such an outsider guard the country, so I challenged him on the spot..."

Lingling was a little absent-minded as she listened to his words, and her expression gradually calmed down. Needless to say, she guessed what the result would be.

Sure enough, Herjog continued, “All my attacks were dodged by Mr. Tempaz one by one. Before I could react, his short needle lightly touched my forehead, and I instantly turned into a baby.

"From then on, I realized how insignificant I was before. So, Mr. Tempaz became the person I respected the most. When he spoke, even if I was very angry, I would calm down immediately. It's a pity that he is a bounty hunter and will leave our country one day."

He stared at Lingling intently and said word by word: "Therefore, I am satisfied as long as I quietly pay attention to everything he does! As for you pirates, it is absolutely impossible to defeat Mr. Tempaz. He is much more terrifying than you think!"

Lingling's eyes became somewhat ambiguous, as if she was attracted by his words.

Herjog turned around slowly and said without looking back: "Enough of the small talk, just take a good look at how that brat named Kaido was killed by Mr. Tempaz."

Suddenly, a pillar of scorching fire rose up, engulfing the group of spikes and burning them all without leaving a trace.

"Well, well, well! You two are really the same in that you love to talk!"

Herjog was startled and looked back hastily. In the firelight, Lingling gradually walked out. Her hat was burned in pieces, revealing her beautiful pink curly hair. Her clothes were a little damaged, but fortunately no sensitive parts were exposed, and there was no trace of burn marks on her skin. She held a long knife in her right hand, and her left hand was on her waist. She still had that fearless smile on her face.

Beside her, a blazing fireball slowly descended, and its ferocious face looked around, as if it was not burning enough.

“You…you…when…?!”

When he suddenly found that Lingling had escaped, Heerqiog took a few steps back, his face full of shock and anger, and even his voice became more stuttering.

"When you turned into a thorn ball and knocked me into the ground, I had already arranged for Prometheus to hide and wait underground. With the help of the smoke and dust, you just didn't notice it."

Lingling lifted her curly hair and raised the corner of her mouth slightly, "I just want to hear what else you want to say, and I just acted out a play with you. Speaking of which, Prometheus's fire really can restrain those broken needles of yours."

"Damn woman! I will never forgive you!"

Herjog roared, turned into a thorn ball, and spun from top to bottom, speeding away like a wheel. Lingling waved her left hand, and Prometheus spewed out a ball of fire, flying straight forward.

The high-speed spinning thorn ball flashed to the side, easily avoiding the fireball, and then slammed into Lingling's body. This attack was so powerful that she couldn't help but retreat a distance.

"This distance can fix you again..."

Before Herjog could finish his words, Lingling grabbed him in her hand, lifted him up in the air, spun him a dozen times, and threw him far away.

The man was shaken dizzy and regained his human form, his body still flying straight backwards. He calmed himself down and was about to find a foothold when a thunder suddenly sounded from behind him.

"Mom! Energy is fully charged!"

Zeus soared into the sky from the melted spikes and turned into a violent thundercloud that covered half the sky. Suddenly, there were lightning and thunder, and strong winds. Nearby buildings were blown away.

Herjog felt a chill in his heart, and in an instant he understood why Prometheus' fireball missed the target.

"Thunder!"

Following Lingling's order, a golden beam of light descended from the sky, like a dancing lightning snake, hitting Herjog squarely. The man let out a heart-wrenching scream, and tiny cracks appeared on the surface of his armor and continued to extend.

A huge air wave spread out in all directions with the light column as the center, and the waves around the island began to rise and fall.

The lightning gradually dissipated and the sky returned to its original brightness.

The armor broke into pieces of varying sizes and fell to the ground, revealing Herjog's cactus-like hairstyle. He rolled his eyes, smoke billowing from his body, and fell forward.

While he still had a faint consciousness, a complicated conversation echoed in his mind.

"Mr. Tempaz, please accept me as your apprentice. I don't really want to be the army commander anymore!"

"Well... our approval or rejection will depend on your answer."

"Yes! I was born into a poor family, and I became a soldier to help more people like me! But since King Pecunia came to the throne, the exploitative policies he adopted have made me doubt that everything I have done is wrong! But I have received a strict education, and I am not allowed to make suggestions to the royal family! Please give me some advice!"

"Is that so... It's indeed a very troublesome position. However, I believe that rules are not immutable. As time goes by, maybe in one year, ten years, or a hundred years, the rules will change drastically. But if someone stands up in the middle, maybe the rules will change even faster!"

"You want me to change the rules myself?"

"That's not necessarily the case. Just follow your own pace. When I have time, I will personally supervise you. But if you dare to waste a moment, I will let you experience the taste of drinking milk again."

"Ah! I understand!"

"...Although His Majesty King Pecunia has not issued an order, we still have to do a good job of evacuating the citizens. If Brother Herjog is willing to help us at that time, I will consider taking you as my apprentice."

"Yes! Thank you very much! ... Mr. Tempaz... No! Mr. Tempaz! Well, I have one more thing to ask!"

"Please tell me what you want. We will do our best to help you wherever we can."

"I... I have never properly visited other islands except for leading troops on expeditions. After defeating those pirates, can you take me around the world?"

"Anyway, I'm a bounty hunter with no fixed abode. If there's a chance, I can take you with me."

—Mr. Tempaz, it seems that my tiny dream is impossible to realize...

Two clear tears slid down the corners of Herjog's eyes, his consciousness gradually blurred, and he slowly lost consciousness.