OP: AMP Ch. 221

Two veteran pirates, both with bounties exceeding one hundred million berries, had stepped forward to defend Shiki's throne room. And just like that, both had been stopped cold. The three remaining defenders wore expressions that could only be described as mortified.

The first guy to go down had an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit backing him up. The second was a renowned swordsman from the West Blue with a reputation that preceded him across multiple seas. Both were legitimate powerhouses who'd earned their stripes through years of brutal combat. And the Straw Hats had shut them down like it was nothing.

Then there was the small matter of the fifty thousand-plus pirate underlings who'd been completely wiped out by a single person.

This was supposed to be a rookie crew?

The three remaining pirates exchanged glances, their faces growing grimmer by the second. They'd each considered themselves pretty damn strong, well, strong enough to join the legendary Golden Lion's fleet, at least.

But compared to this crew of barely a dozen people, they suddenly felt like amateur hour. Should they keep going with this one-on-one bullshit?

The one in the main hall clearly had Conqueror's Haki, dealing with fifty thousand fodder pirates wasn't exactly a challenge for someone like that. Fair enough, that was understandable. But this? Watching their colleagues get dismantled?

The three nodded to each other, coming to a silent agreement. They'd only known each other for a short time, sure, but they were all veteran fighters with reputations that echoed across the four seas. Even if they'd never met before today, they'd heard of each other. Their coordination might not be perfect, but it sure as hell wouldn't be embarrassing.

Gang up on them? Use numbers to their advantage?

Yeah, some might call it dishonorable. But if they kept getting picked off one by one like this, would Shiki still allow them to join his fleet? This was just one pirate crew, and if all of Shiki's defenders got shut down here, it would mean they'd traveled thousands of kilometers just to get their asses handed to them. Even if nobody remembered their names, they still had some goddamn pride left.

All three charged forward simultaneously.

That's when Alvida, Kira, and Shira moved to intercept them.

"My bounty is two hundred and eighty mill... GWAAAH!"

Before he could finish boasting, Alvida's mace crashed into his stomach. All his proud words got forced back down his throat along with what felt like several internal organs.

"What the hell?!"

The other two pirates stared in shock at their companion's body ragdolling through the air.

Taken out in a single exchange? That fast?

"Eyes on your own fight," Shira said coolly.

Where she walked, it seemed like fine snow was drifting through the air around her. But a closer look revealed the truth, those weren't snowflakes at all.

The pirate facing her immediately sensed danger.

In an instant, a pair of transparent wings burst through the back of his shirt, shredding the fabric. His eyes began to shift, compound lenses forming where human pupils should be. Within moments, he'd transformed into a human-beast hybrid that looked like a massive hornet.

"Disgusting," Shira's expression showed exactly what she thought of bugs. No woman had a good reaction to insects, and this guy was checking multiple boxes on her "things I hate" list. Bug plus man, a full stack of debuffs.

A layer of white, snow-like substance began forming beneath her feet, spreading toward the hornet-man like a creeping tide.

The hornet pirate beat his wings at high speed, creating fierce winds that howled through the corridor. The white "snow" on the ground scattered, revealing it to be thousands of tiny white mushrooms that dispersed through the air.

Through his compound eyes, his expression turned grave. "What kind of Devil Fruit is this?"

The sense of danger from his Observation Haki was getting stronger. He couldn't even get close to her, forced to rely on rapid wing beats just to keep those spores at bay.

At that moment, the man who'd been sent flying by Alvida's attack stood back up. Scales had erupted across his entire body, covering him like armor. He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! A woman like this is only worth conquering when she fights back."

"Oh, so you're a lizard," Alvida said, completely unbothered. She hefted her mace onto her shoulder. "You should be pretty durable then, right? Good. I was hoping for a workout."

The lizard-man looked at Alvida, whose eyes were filled with excitement bordering on bloodlust, and felt something was seriously wrong with this picture.

This woman was completely unhinged.

Before he could even finish that thought, the Armament Haki-coated mace was already filling his vision, growing larger and larger.

"Oh shi—"

BOOM!

Splintered wood exploded everywhere. Dust filled the air as the lizard-man's body crashed through not one, not two, but three walls before finally coming to a stop.

A fierce wind suddenly howled through the corridor.

It was Kira beating her wings rapidly. The man facing her had donned brass knuckles on both hands, each one coated in Armament Haki.

CLANG! CLANG!

Sharp talons collided with metal knuckles. The sound of steel striking steel rang out with each exchange.

"I never expected a woman to train her body to this level! I have to admit, I'm genuinely impressed!" The scarred man wearing the brass knuckles had excitement burning in his eyes as he blocked another strike.

---

"I should be able to release them now, right?" Indigo asked.

He'd been waiting for this.

Shiki considered for a moment, then gave a slow nod. "It's a reasonable choice at this point."

Indigo's lips curled upward into a manic grin.

He suddenly scurried off with odd little hopping sounds.

Putt-putt-putt...

"What the hell?"

Everyone present froze for a moment, confused by the bizarre display. But they quickly realized something was wrong.

Monstrous roars began echoing from deeper within the fortress. Dozens of them. Maybe more.

Then Indigo's excited voice carried back to them: "Yes, yes, that's it! Be good now, and I'll bring you some delicious fresh meat to play with!"

He came scurrying back with the same ridiculous putt-putt sounds.

Behind him, humanoid figures with goat-like features ran in a shambling mob. Their eyes were bloodshot, completely devoid of reason or sanity. Even from this distance, the Straw Hats could hear countless roars and inhuman growls assaulting their ears.

"What are those things?!" Chopper's eyes went wide.

Indigo spread his arms dramatically. "Ah, look at such perfect biological specimens! And their deep hatred toward all living things... it's beautiful! A pity I haven't been able to fully control them yet, but they're more than sufficient for our purposes! Go! Release your instincts!"

He spoke with the fervor of a mad scientist watching his experiment come to life.

The goatmen behind him paid him no attention. They simply charged straight at everyone present, friend and foe alike, driven by nothing but mindless aggression.

Seeing Indigo release more than twenty of these creatures at once, Shiki shook his head and quietly began floating upward.

As for Scarlet?

In that instant when everyone else was distracted by the appearance of the goatmen, he could no longer contain himself.

Taking advantage of the moment when all eyes were elsewhere, he launched a sneak attack, grabbed Robin with frightening speed, and bolted.

His movements were so fast that even those standing nearby didn't have time to react. By the time anyone realized what had happened, a pack of goatmen was already charging through the corridor.

Goliath and Usopp rushed forward to meet the threat.

Goliath's chest cavity opened with a mechanical whir, revealing multiple cannon barrels extending outward. Usopp drew his slingshot, but his ammunition had evolved far beyond simple explosive pellets. He'd been working on these, modified projectiles that he'd imbued with explosive properties through his Devil Fruit ability.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Smoke from the explosions filled the corridor, obscuring everything in a thick gray haze.

"Got them!" Usopp said, staring into the smoke.

But in the very next instant, inhuman roaring sounds seemed to echo directly inside everyone's minds.

The smoke cleared, revealing a sight that made everyone's blood run cold. The goatmen were unscathed.

More than twenty of the creatures charged out of the dissipating haze, roaring like something dragged up from hell itself. There wasn't a single mark on their bodies from the barrage of explosions. If anything, the blast seemed to have made them even more aggressive.

At that exact moment, Vivi's expression twisted. Her pupils trembled violently, like she was staring into an abyss.

"They're... they're all human?!"

Just moments ago, she'd activated her power, combining it with Observation Haki to try and predict the creatures' next moves. A standard combat technique she'd been working on perfecting. But the instant her ability kicked in, she heard something else entirely.

The goatmen's roars weren't just animal sounds. They resonated directly in her mind, bypassing her ears completely. For someone with strong willpower, that kind of mental assault would be mostly harmless, startling at first, sure, but manageable. But through the lens of the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, she heard what lay beneath those roars.

Human screams. Human agony.

They were begging for death. Begging for release from whatever hell they'd been trapped in.

"Oh? You noticed that?" Indigo sounded delighted. He pointed at one of the goatmen. "Do you remember those sheep on your ship? The ones we acquired? I used them as the base material for these magnificent creatures. Originally, I wanted to call them 'synthetic beastman sheep.'"

He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "But apparently they already have their own name and species classification, they're called goatmen. Strange, isn't it? They were clearly derived from sheep species, so why are they associated with goats? I can't quite figure out the taxonomy..."

He shook his head, then waved dismissively. "Oh, sorry, sorry. I got sidetracked with irrelevant details. Where was I? Ah yes... the goatmen created from those sheep are incredibly strong, but they completely refuse to follow orders. When they see humans, they have only one instinct: endless, insatiable hunger. But I quickly thought of a solution! If you want goatmen to be obedient, you have to make them understand. Of course, you're probably thinking: teaching knowledge to wild beasts? That's practically impossible! So how did I do it?"

He spread his arms dramatically. "Very simple! Goatmen. The key is in the name, they still have 'men' in them, don't they?"

The pathological madness in his eyes intensified, burning with fanatical pride.

"And their lineage factors show a 99.9% similarity to humans. Can you imagine? It's simply unbelievable! So if you want beasts to assimilate human characteristics, you only need to add a little something during their transformation process."

Although he trailed off without finishing the thought, everyone present wore grim expressions. They could fill in the blanks themselves.

That "little something" probably wasn't just tissue samples or cell cultures.

It was probably human beings.

"What's with those looks? You think I added humans into the process?" Indigo laughed. "How shallow! If humans were mixed into the evolution, that would be contaminating the species. That would ruin the purity of the experiment."

That horrifying suspicion dissipated slightly, and several people couldn't help but exhale in relief.

"But you weren't entirely wrong either," he continued cheerfully. "Since beasts lack intelligence, the solution is simple, make them smarter! And I know their growth potential intimately now. They can not only become more intelligent, but also much stronger! They are perfect specimens!"

He was clearly entering full monologue mode now, completely ignoring the fact that the people below were scrambling to deal with the attacking goatmen and had zero interest in his ramblings.

"You must be very curious why I'm so confident about this," he said, pacing back and forth on his elevated position. "The answer came after days of intensive research. The reason the goatmen are so violent and try to eat people on sight is because they haven't fully developed yet. They're still growing. Oh, I forgot, you're all just barbaric pirates who don't understand proper science. Let me share some educational trivia. Human fetuses are born with congenital developmental deficiencies. Under normal circumstances, a human needs to gestate in the mother's womb for twenty-one months to be considered fully developed. But unfortunately, the female body cannot sustain a twenty-one-month pregnancy. Even if it were theoretically possible, the mother would be completely exhausted and die at the moment of birth. The goatmen are exactly the same. After being born, they lack sufficient nutrition. That limited nutrition only allowed their limbs and bodies to develop strength and resilience, while their brains didn't develop at all. They're like premature infants, you see."

He smiled again. "So all that's needed is to provide them with sufficient nutrition and growth factors, and they'll evolve into something truly magnificent."

As someone with medical training, Chopper had naturally heard this theory before, though Kureha had given him a very different explanation. Unfortunately, the goatmen's attacks were far too frenzied right now. Under normal circumstances, he would've jumped up to refute Indigo's words immediately. The theory that humans are all "premature infants" seemed correct on the surface, but that comparison was made against other animals like chimpanzees, judged purely by physical development metrics. A human child only approached a chimpanzee's level of brain development after one year of life.

But if you looked at the future, at intelligence...

Chimpanzees possessed the highest intelligence in the animal kingdom, sure. But compared to humans? It was negligible. A rounding error. And that was precisely because the plasticity brought by extended growth allowed humans to develop far superior intelligence.

But he didn't have time for a debate. He was too busy trying not to get eaten.

"If that's the case," Vivi cut in, "then why are they radiating pain and anguish?! Why are they begging for death?!"

Indigo suddenly fell silent. He looked at Vivi with suspicion.

"Born with Observation Haki?" he muttered, studying her intently.

Then something seemed to click. He pointed at her. "You're Princess Vivi of Arabasta. I never realized you were someone born with natural Observation Haki abilities."

Vivi narrowed her eyes. Through her Whisper-Whisper Fruit powers, she could literally smell the stench of lies rolling off him.

He was lying. But why? What was he hiding?

Before she could press him further, a glass vial appeared in Indigo's hand, seemingly from nowhere. Had he been holding it the whole time?

"I didn't want to use this," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Then he smashed the vial directly onto the ground.

CRASH!

Green smoke erupted from the broken glass, spreading rapidly through the corridor.

The Straw Hats instinctively retreated, holding their breath.

"It's not toxic to humans," Indigo said dismissively.

But in the very next instant, all twenty-plus goatmen went berserk. Veins bulged across their entire bodies. Each creature swelled, growing larger. Their fur stood on end, each strand rigid as steel wire.

"SHIT!" Goliath swore as the creatures charged.

Facing more than twenty enraged goatmen, the four defenders were immediately thrown into chaos.

The low growls echoing in their minds made it impossible to focus properly, like someone was screaming directly into their brains. Even though Nami was a Logia user, facing monsters that looked ready to tear her apart and devour her piece by piece, she found herself running for her life. When she released electrical attacks, they only made the goatmen's bodies emit a faint burning smell.

As for injuries? Sure, they got hurt. The electricity definitely damaged them. But it didn't seem to slow them down at all, if anything, their attacks became even more ferocious.

Usopp spun around and launched an explosive punch at one charging goatman. The blast tore open its skin, exposing bone beneath. But after a single roar of pain-fueled rage, the creature came at him even harder.

A massive hand swung toward him.

Goliath moved to intercept, blocking the strike. He'd taken hits like this before. While wearing his diamond armor and under the effects of "Protection VIII," his exterior showed no damage, but his health bar definitely took a hit.

As an iron golem, he understood the mechanics all too well, this was intrinsic damage, bypassing armor entirely. The damage wasn't catastrophic. He could probably take a dozen hits without serious problems.

But that was in a game.

In reality, once your health dropped below half, your stamina declined sharply. If it fell to one quarter, that meant severe injury and being on death's door. Even if your exterior showed no wounds, you'd lose most of your strength and coordination.

After tanking that one hit, he immediately warned everyone else: "Don't block their attacks head-on! These things bypass armor!"

As for whether a Logia user would lose health if attacked directly? Nami sure as hell wasn't going to test that theory. She wasn't some battle-crazy idiot who rushed into danger for fun.

And as for unleashing a full-scale electrical attack to wipe them all out? Well, there were still teammates nearby who could get caught in the blast. It definitely wasn't because she was scared and couldn't fight at full power. Definitely not.