Chapter 169: Battling Blueno
Locking its direction?
Blueno's face paled at once. The composure he had carried into the room vanished.
He did not want to believe it. Everything he had trained for, everything he relied on, told him this should not be possible. The Doa Doa no Mi had always allowed him to open doors wherever he pleased, whether on walls, bodies, or even empty air.
And yet, the door would not move.
Reality had already given him its answer.
Blueno reacted immediately. He opened another invisible door in a different direction, intending to escape through that one instead.
Before he could slip away, Axel's hand seized the edge of the door again and forcefully dragged him out of that strange space.
Axel smiled.
The sunlight spilling through the window made his red eyes gleam like rubies. To Blueno, however, that glitter looked less like beauty and more like something sinister reaching for his life.
Shave!
Blueno vanished from the spot, rushing past Tom and crossing the room in an instant. He appeared in Axel's blind spot and immediately opened another door in midair.
But Axel moved after him and arrived first.
He used the same technique, Shave, yet his speed was several times faster. In a flash, he appeared right in front of Blueno and blocked his escape again.
Then he grabbed Blueno, dragged him out, and threw him onto the floor.
"I already told you," Axel said. "Since you came in, don't even think about leaving."
Blueno did not give up.
His sneak attack had failed. A direct fight was clearly disadvantageous. But escape should still have been possible. He had the Doa Doa no Mi. He could open a door anywhere.
That was precisely why he had dared to come alone and test Axel's abilities. No matter how strong the other party was, Blueno believed he could retreat whenever he wished.
He had not expected to run into someone this troublesome.
This time, Blueno chose Tom.
He could open a door anywhere, even on another person's body. If he used Tom as a point of escape, Axel would have to hesitate. At the very least, Tom could become an obstacle.
Blueno's figure flashed before Tom.
Tom swung a punch at once, but Blueno shifted just enough to avoid it. At the same time, he opened a door on Tom's fist and tried to dive inside.
He was still a step too slow.
Axel caught up from behind and grabbed him by the collar.
Blueno tried to tear free by ripping through his own clothing, only to find that the fabric refused to tear. No matter how much strength he used, the cloth held firm.
A trace of shock crossed his eyes.
What was going on with this material?
His strength could punch through steel plate, yet he could not tear a piece of clothing?
Another absurdity had happened around this child.
Even while restrained, Blueno forced himself to stay calm. He turned his body and prepared to open a door on Axel himself. If he could not escape through the surroundings, he would escape through the target.
But the moment his Devil Fruit power touched Axel, it scattered.
The expected door did not appear.
"How is this possible?!" Blueno snapped, finally unable to suppress his panic.
Had Axel hidden Seastone on his hands?
Axel answered almost patiently, like a teacher explaining a simple lesson.
"Your doors create movement through space. Even if it's point-to-point movement, it still involves displacement. Displacement has both magnitude and direction. Since it has direction, I can control it."
Blueno did not understand.
In his current state, he could barely process the words at all. Even under normal circumstances, he would probably have understood only one thing.
Axel's ability was bizarre.
Blueno's expression turned grim. He abandoned the idea of escape.
If he could not run, then he would fight.
Never give up.
That was one of the first lessons drilled into CP9. Those who gave up had long since died in the elimination process.
"Finger Pistol!"
Blueno gathered power into his hand again.
This time, he did not use a single finger. He clenched his entire fist. If one finger suffered reflected damage, then he would concentrate his strength into his whole hand.
Axel did not dodge.
His small body met Blueno's massive fist head-on.
The punch landed with a heavy thud.
Even Tom, standing behind them, felt his heart tense at the sound. For a moment, he wondered if Axel had been too confident.
Then he saw the slight curve at the corner of Axel's mouth.
Whether it was a sneer, mockery, or simple amusement, Tom could not tell. But he was certain of one thing.
The kid was fine.
Axel looked up at Blueno, completely unharmed.
"That's it?" he asked. "I still have questions for you."
Blueno's arm trembled uncontrollably under the force of Reflection.
He stared at Axel in disbelief.
Even Lucci could not take a full-force punch like that without injury.
Could this child be stronger than Lucci?
The thought appeared for only a second before Blueno crushed it.
Impossible.
Lucci was the strongest in CP9's history. There was no way a child could surpass him.
That kind of thing simply could not exist.
Yet no matter how he tried to convince himself, Blueno's confidence had already begun to crack.
This child's ability was too strange.
When he attacked, it felt as though he was striking himself.
When he tried to escape, even space could be locked.
When he tried to open a door on Axel's body, his ability failed outright.
Seeing Blueno remain silent, Axel released his collar and pressed a hand down on his arm.
It was only a light touch, but Blueno felt as though several tons of weight had fallen onto him. His knees slammed against the floor.
"Besides CP9, who else is involved in this investigation?" Axel asked. "Who is your superior? What are the mission parameters?"
Axel increased the pressure slightly.
Inside Blueno's body, his blood surged violently, pounding against his heart until it felt like it might burst. His chest tightened, and his breathing grew rough.
"I... I don't know."
"You don't know?" Axel's voice lowered. "If you refuse to answer, I'll kill you. I'd rather not do that, so cooperate."
"Iron Body!"
Blueno hardened his body at once.
Axel clearly felt his control over Blueno's internal systems weaken, blocked by the strength of the man's body.
"Iron Body, huh?"
Axel's eyes sharpened.
"Aaagh!"
Blueno's scream tore through the room.
Axel had only pinched Blueno's arm, yet the force was transferred directly to his knee. The bone twisted at a horrible angle, as though an invisible hand had kneaded it out of shape.
"I'll ask one more time," Axel said. "Talk."
Tom shuddered.
He did not approve of this. Not from the heart.
But he also understood that this was necessary.
So he said nothing. He simply stood to the side in silence.
"I... I don't know," Blueno forced out again.
The answer had not changed.
Seeing that Blueno could endure even that kind of pain, Axel knew further questioning would be useless.
He raised his hand and struck the back of Blueno's neck.
Blueno's body went limp and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
.....
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