Like the souls in the town, a lot of faint blue light rose from the woman's body. She glanced at Kong Tai one last time, her lips moved, and a gentle voice came out.
"Thank you!"
The voice did not reach the outside world but directly echoed in Kong Tai's soul. It was low, magnetic, and yet sounded as if it had not spoken for a long time, filled with an indelible hoarseness.
Kong Tai nodded, his left hand swept across his waist, raised his wine gourd, took a drink, and then chuckled, "No need to thank me. This guy wanted to kill me, and I just killed him back. If you really want to thank someone, thank this guy for his overestimation of himself!"
The woman looked deeply at Kong Tai, her gaze swept past him, she glanced down at the town below without lingering, then turned to look at Cartlis's body floating beside her, her eyes revealing hatred once more.
As if impatient, the blue light on her body rose even faster. At this moment, she was like a burning lamp, rapidly consumed, her soul also rapidly dissipating. Then the blue light followed the wind, sprinkling over heaven and earth, and the woman disappeared completely.
"She must have wanted to chase him, to the Yellow Springs, to get revenge!"
Kong Tai murmured softly, looking at the spot where the woman had disappeared.
Then, as if sensing something, he reached into his pocket with his right hand and pulled out two miniature fruits. Looking at the two Devil Fruits entwined with special patterns in his palm, the corners of his mouth curved upwards, and a joyful smile appeared on his face.
These two fruits could completely create two top-tier powerhouses.
However, their team was already full of Devil Fruit users.
"Sigh!"
"If A Hua and the other two hadn't eaten Devil Fruits so early, it would have been great."
Kong Tai sighed about this matter again.
He withdrew his hand and put the fruits back into his pants pocket.
Actually, it wasn't just a pocket. This was a dimensional bag he had created by compressing space specifically to store various fruits, forming something akin to a pocket dimension.
The entrance was inside his pants pocket.
Otherwise, if he encountered a fruit he wanted, he couldn't possibly carry a backpack every time, right?
He was just too lazy.
That's why they say that "laziness" is the driving force behind all technological progress!
Technological progress was meant to give humans more time to contemplate the world, life, and everything.
Hmm...
Nonsense, just babbling.
Don't mind it.
...
The Time-Time Fruit was one thing; in the hands of a good person, it was a very powerful fruit, but if it fell into the hands of an evil person, it would become a world-destroying fruit.
It was unimaginable what it would be like for an evil person to possess this fruit and walk among ordinary people; he would become a walking disaster.
Therefore, he had no intention of letting this fruit appear in this world again.
But the Mountain King Fruit, such an all-around fruit, would be too much of a shame if no one in his crew ate it!
Unfortunately, he couldn't possibly eat it himself, at least not until he figured out what the energy within Devil Fruits truly was and why they feared water. He would never eat it.
This thing was completely useless to him, and it would only give him an unnecessary weakness. He wasn't a fool to eat it.
He hadn't even fully understood his own spatial abilities yet.
Looking at the old man floating before his eyes.
Gazing into the old man's eyes, he could sense the lingering fear in the old man's pupils.
It seemed that his black hole energy had indeed terrified the guy so much that the fear remained even after his death.
However, for someone who was the embodiment of evil through and through, he felt no pity or sympathy, even if this guy was an old man, even if he was already dead. In his gaze towards the old man, there was an unyielding disgust.
This was brought about by the woman's memories, and even more so because this guy was the most evil person he had encountered since he set sail.
He extended his right hand, palm facing forward, and grabbed towards Cartlis's corpse.
The surrounding space suddenly contracted rapidly inward, centered on Cartlis.
*Buzz—!*
The space vibrated, kicking up a whirlwind.
His eyes narrowed, and Kong Tai, with his hand in a claw, clenched it forcefully.
Amidst the buzzing sound, the whirlwind was also drawn towards Cartlis, along with the surrounding blood, and the faint blue light from around.
It was as if within that blue light, countless souls, carrying immense hatred, were rushing towards Cartlis's dead body without Kong Tai needing to control them.
*Crack crack crack!!*
This was the sound of bones breaking, but with the addition of the blue light, it sounded even more like the gnawing of all things.
Kong Tai watched the blue light, watching it gradually disappear. He slightly eased his right hand until the blue light vanished, and the cracking sound of bones from Cartlis's body ceased. Only then did he... grip it to the end.
*Buzz—!*
The space distorted, and centered on the sphere formed by Cartlis's body, space rapidly collapsed inward. A black hole reappeared, but within Kong Tai's domain. Since Kong Tai hadn't used his full power, no extraneous aura was emitted, and the outside world did not perceive any danger, nor did the world stop him.
Looking at the black hole, Kong Tai did not explore it further. With a thought, the black hole vanished amidst the spatial distortion, leaving behind a spherical mass of dust enveloped in white mist.
Humans were truly strange, even his black hole energy couldn't completely obliterate them, leaving behind dust and water molecules.
Strange.
He didn't know what this thing was before; he did it just because it was fun and looked cool.
Now that he knew the energy of the black hole completely surpassed the energy of this world, he was surprised that even after human death, things could still remain.
He shook his head; if he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't think about it.
He turned around, retracting his spatial domain. The white mist and dust drifted away with the wind.
The speed at which they drifted was like a person's life.
Coming together as two entities.
Leaving the same way.
With a single step, Kong Tai's figure disappeared from the spot, reappearing beside Kuzan.
He glanced at Kuzan, not greeting him or saying anything, but walked past him towards Gu Yina and the others.
Robin had already told Kuzan everything he wanted to say.
So, it was just a matter of acknowledging Kuzan.
He admired this guy, partly for Robin's sake, and partly due to his impression of Kuzan from watching anime in his previous life.
This was a "good Marine" who had his own thoughts and his own sense of justice.
Although Kuzan was one of the main forces sent to ambush them by Cartlis, his initial lack of full effort when facing Gu Yina indicated that this mission was likely a mandatory one from the World Government, and he himself probably didn't want to be here.
He shook his head slightly, no longer dwelling on these matters.
This guy would probably have a lot of explaining to do to the World Government when he returned.
After all, Cartlis was dead, CP0 was dead, and only the Navy remained.
That was enough to give him a headache.
"Hahaha!!"
Thinking of this, his steps became even lighter.