章節 111: Fred vs Laffitte, the beginning.

"What's happening Laffitte?

I see you too quiet and silent

I'll try to guess..." Fred said sarcastically as he drank a bit of his Invigorating Shake to recover the stamina spent after creating so many wolves. "You're too grateful to me. After all, thanks to the kidnapping of those kids I've given you an official pass to the party you always wanted to attend...

You're scared because your hypnosis will no longer work on me after using it on fake Rocco

OR...

Do you finally want to act like a real mime before our death battle?"

Through their spy cameras, Fred and the others could see that Laffitte had been extremely cooperative and active with the mob in dealing with Fred. He always expressed his point of view and even maintained and started important conversations with his opinions.

However, since before the start of the battle for survival in the garden Laffitte had been extremely absent, something that was unlike him.

"Is it really necessary for us to antagonize each other to this point?

There have been misunderstandings between us in the past, but there has never been bloodshed." Laffitte said in a conciliatory manner despite being insulted "Wouldn't it be more beneficial for both of us to try to get along?

"We could even help each other."

"Misunderstanding? Help each other?

HA!

Now that you know that your side will be completely and utterly crushed in every way possible you want to come over to my side?" Fred said more sarcastically than before after feeling deeply insulted. "And how can you say that there has never been bloodshed?

My wolves are devouring some of your subordinates right now!"

"AAAHHH!!! SHERIFF LAFFITTE!!! HELP!!! PLEASE!!!"

That's right...

Fred hadn't been wrong in his analysis. Laffitte was actually trying to change sides while the person he was trying to negotiate with was massacring his allies and even his subordinates.

Fred didn't expect much from his enemies, but he was quite shocked by the cement face of this practically expressionless mime wearing a gas mask

"AAAHHH!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!! THEY'RE KILLING US! HELP US BOSS!!"

"Ah, that…collateral damage…" Laffitte responded with a casual smile despite seeing his men being eaten alive "I'm sure you have planned well how to excuse the deaths of the four families and the police inside the mansion, but…

I'm sure that my testimony can make things easier for you and I can also help you in the future with whatever you want.

If you want you can use that strange hypnosis of yours to be sure that I'll keep your promise."

"I thought you were a mime and not a buffoon" Fred responded without abandoning his hurtful sarcasm. "I'm not going to make favourable deals with a bastard like you.

It makes me sick to think how many good people have suffered because of your fucking corruption..."

They had only been spying on him for a week and that was more than enough to realize how harmful Laffitte and the other corrupt police officers were to the environment.

Their actions, but especially their lack of action were leaving the general population in a very difficult situation.

The criminals protected by Laffitte weren't captured and if they were on some occasion, they were on the streets a few hours later. Meanwhile, if any brave civilian tried to denounce their crimes or even dare to protect himself or the others from these criminals they didn't receive the same treatment from the police, not at all…

Many humble people were completely at the mercy of mafia harassment and looting and… they had no legal or illegal mechanism to at least try to avoid this.

They only saw a few cases this week, but it was easy to imagine how widespread and systematic this situation really is.

He already knew it, but seeing and documenting it in first person upset him more than he thought.

"Come on Fred, deep down we're not so different." Laffitte said while performing his tap dance step to start his monologue. "In exchange for money, we both offer our violent services to organizations that are financed thanks to the suffering of the good people you say to love so much

The only difference is that I'm a moonlighter while you as a bounty hunter only work indirectly for the World Government, for which I also indirectly work.

For that only reason our hands are already stained with the blood of innocent people in some way.

Does really matter that my hands are a little more stained than yours? Does getting them a little more stained change anything?

"..."

"I admit, what I do and what I don't do is sometimes illegal.

But at the end of the day we all break the law from time to time... even you...

Don't lie to me, everyone who can evades taxes and all smart bounty hunters do it" Laffitte said winking behind his gas mask. He had no proof... yet... but he also had no doubt that this was happening. "After all there're too many laws, it's very difficult to follow them all, some are totally unfair and some even contradict each other.

If we police officers didn't turn a blind eye from time to time, many people wouldn't even be able to go to work."

"..."

"Many times I do immoral things as a police officer, horrible and dark things for the benefit of the nation and...

Hahaha! Sorry, the habit...

I wanted to say... my own benefit or that of my bosses, who in the end pay my fees..." Said Laffitte, trying to be as or more sarcastic than Fred ""But you're not free from guilt either, Mr. Hero

How many times have you done something questionable for your own benefit or satisfaction and excused it by saying that it was for the greater good, that there was no other alternative or some other comforting lie?

How many times have you looked the other way while something bad happened to the good people around you because doing something to prevent it could harm you and your family?

I'm sure many times! How do I know?

I used to be like you too a loooooooooong time ago…"

"..."

"I felt bad about myself for that.

I tried to erase the thoughts from my mind some times and other times I promised myself to change things and make it up to those people when I was stronger and had more power, but...

In the end I realized that the world is a cruel place, that you cannot go against the world and that just trying to do so only brings you suffering and misfortune." Laffitte said melodramatically while tap dancing. "The most practical and wise thing in this life is to join the winning side, do what can bring you the most benefit and avoid doing or thinking about things that could harm you, especially if it's in exchange for nothing.

However, you don't help others in exchange for nothing, right? Even if you don't charge them you always do it with a benefit in mind."

"..."

"We're equal Frederick Freed.

The only thing that differentiates us is that I've lived longer than you and I've already gone through that phase" Said Laffitte, still tap dancing but this time also walking slowly towards Fred "But who knows...

Maybe I'm wrong and you could put me back on the path of justice.

I would love to stay with you and that one day, in a few years I can hear or say...

I was right."

At a tap-dancing pace, Laffitte finally arrived within a few centimeters of Fred. Both looked defiantly into each other's eyes, but this time Fred was forced to raise his head.

Fred has an unnatural height, but Laffitte, with his three meters forty centimeters, is even much taller. At this moment, both literally and figuratively, Laffitte was looking him over his shoulder, as if Fred were just a kid who doesn't understand how life works.

And at that distance and in that position Laffitte repeated again

"What do you say, Fred?

Do you accept my help, offer and challenge?"

And Fred...

"Blah blah blah blah...

Are you done spewing all your stupid and disgusting cynicism?"

Without further ado, Fred unsheathed one of his swords and slashed through the air in a single movement. That quick and powerful move generated a beam of cutting energy that flew straight towards Laffitte.

SLASHH!

Laffitte expected that the competitive and arrogant Fred would first confront him verbally, refuting his arguments to defeat him intellectually and morally, but it wasn't as he expected.

Fred attacked by surprise in a way he didn't expect!

CLALNK!

However, although Fred's attack exceeded his predictions and expectations, Laffitte wasn't defenseless. He was in the middle of a battlefield and all of his senses were heightened to the maximum to evade, block or counter any attack.

As quickly as Fred drew his sword Laffitte drew his own to block the energy cut!

"I'VE COME TO CUT OFF HEADS! NO TO DEBATE!!!" Shouted Fred like a madman with a very scary face as he brandished his two swords "DADDY NEEDS A FUCKING POWERUP!!!

GIVE IT TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Laffitte had dealt with all kinds of people, but he had never seen a face and eyes so full of madness and violence as the ones looking at him right not. Fred wanted to eliminate him and the four remaining mafia families not for purely rational and/or ideological reasons. There was something else that moved him...

'He's crazier than I thought'

Only now did Laffitte understand that there was never an opportunity to negotiate to avoid a confrontation and its consequences. Under that facade of being highly intelligent and committed, Fred was a bloodthirsty being. He wanted that battle, he needed it and he would have it whether Laffitte wanted or not.

Fred had set the stage, he had invited Laffitte to come without him knowing and now he could only dance to the rhythm that Fre had set.

"I was dying to kill you too!" Shouted Laffitte, also unleashing the monster that he hid all the time under his multiple personas "Let's dance!"

After finishing his declaration of war Laffitte brandished his sword creating an energy cut at the same time and in the same direction that Fred created his.

SLASHH!

Both attacks collided with each other, generating an explosion of cuts that uniformly cut the grass a few meters in diameter from the epicentre of the collision.

CLASH!!

And before the last blade of grass could touch the ground Fred and Laffitte collided at high speed in order to cut each other directly with their weapons, thus beginning their frantic sword duel.

SLASHH! SLASHH! SLASHH!

SLASHH! SLASHH!

SLASHH! SLASHH! SLASHH! SLASHH!

SLASHH!

Fred and Laffitte were inhumanly fast!

Laffitte is not only an extremely competent Soru user. Many could learn the trick behind that technique and achieve a great momentary acceleration similar to teleportation, but that didn't make them fast all the time in all situations.

However, Laffitte was different!

With or without soru the three meter tall corrupt sheriff was extremely fast at all times and not just with his legs. His arms and even eyes were fast enough to keep up with the fast pace of a fast combat expert like Fred.

FIU! FIU!

Their bodies didn't stop moving at superhuman speeds. They didn't remain in the same position or place for even a tenth of a second. The foot-shaped destruction left by their legs on the ground was the only thing that indicated that there were two people running in that garden and not a tornado.

Their hands moved as fast or faster than their legs. It was practically impossible to see their swords for a single second. The sparks and the sound of metal collisions were the only thing that indicated that there were two people trying to cut each other and not a tornado…

A normal person was unable to follow this frantic exchange of cuts, only wind and destruction, but if he were capable he would come to the conclusion that…

Fred had the advantage over Laffitte!

CLASH!!! CLASH!!!

CLASH!!!

There wasn't a big difference in speed between the two, but Fred was using more swords than Laffitte.

There's no physical law in this world or another that determines that a person who uses two swords at the same time always defeats another who only uses one, rather it used to be quite the opposite.

In equal conditions using a single sword allows you to hit and block harder and faster even when the sword is only held in one hand due to the biomechanics of the human body. The single sword performs fewer mental and physical processes, spends less stamina, allows him to be more precise in each action, gives more balance to the body, reduces the area in which he can be attacked, gives him more range, etc.

Although it may be counterintuitive, using two swords at the same time offers more disadvantages than advantages in a real fight between trained swordsmen under normal circumstances.

Attacking with both arms at the same time greatly reduces the strength of both attacks, both arms don't usually have the same level of coordination and strength, the optimal dual sword stance reduces speed and coordination, it's extremely difficult to use and train optimally, etc...

The most useful advantage of this style is that offers the user the possibility of defending and attacking at the same time and even successively, but in general it's more effective to use a shield than a sword to obtain this extra defense.

Only an expert with innate talent and extreme training was able to counteract the disadvantages of that style and highlight its advantages against single-sword users.

And Fred was one of these chosen ones!

CLASH!!! CLASH!!!

CLASH!!!

Fred had trained his arms to be extremely strong and well balanced. He was able to perfectly coordinate his body and arms to take full advantage of his abilities at the right time without making the slightest mistake. His inhumanly developed physique partially controlled by the Seimei Kikan allowed him to perform feats inappropriate to the style he employed.

If an attack was impossible to dodge, before Laffitte's sword could cut his skin, one of his swords would prepare to block it and at the same time he would swing his other sword to damage the arm with which his enemy was holding the weapon

SLASH!

This forced Laffitte to retreat, allowing Fred to attack him with the sword he would have previously used to block

FLIU!

And after frustrating his offensive, Fred would try to force Laffitte to go on the defensive. He would be forced to block one of Fred's swords while the other traveled at full speed towards another part of his body.

SLASH! FIU!

Confronting the two-sword style with the supernatural perfection that Fred was displaying was a true nightmare for any traditional swordsman.

However, Fred is not a swordsman who uses the two-sword style.

Santōryū!

With the Seimei Kikan, his long hair and sharp accessories joined together to form a large sword Fred got a three-sword style much more powerful, functional and annoying than Zoro's!

Laffitte not only had to keep an eye on the two swords in Fred's hands, but also a third sword with a wide and confusing range and flexibility capable of attacking from any direction and at any time.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

CLANK!

Laffitte had to watch out for too many attacks at once, had few tools to defend himself and could barely attack.

Anyone could see that Fred had a clear advantage against Laffitte. It was only a matter of time before he made a mistake and be cut down by one of Fred's three swords.

Or at least that's what someone who didn't know anything about Haki would think.

CLANK!!!

That's right...

Laffitte was an Armor Haki and Observation Haki user and Fred knew it perfectly well right now.

It was more than obvious that Laffitte constantly covering his word with Amor Haki. Otherwise, Fred would have turned that sword into a cactus a long time ago. Fred's Life Life No Mi is the natural enemy of weapon users.

Fred could turn them into practically anything at any time and the only way to protect them from his power was the power he had always longed for and hadn't yet managed to obtain, the famous and acclaimed Haki.

Laffitte's armor, Haki, not only protected his sword, but also made all of his attacks and blocks more powerful and effective. Virtually irrelevant attacks became relevant after being sprayed with Haki, while powerful ones became almost deadly.

It didn't seem like that because Fred was well trained physically and tried to avoid directly blocking Laffitte's attacks using only strength but many of the attacks he perfectly blocked numbed his powerful arms, almost as if he were blocking David's gigantic strength or...

'I see...

Lerna also used armor Haki, that's why he hit so hard.'

However, Laffitte was superior to Lerna in the use of Haki. Not only did he have a more defined and powerful Armor Haki, he was also able to use the Observation Haki to an even better level.

Laffitte didn't yet have the ability to see the future, but he didn't need it to avoid being hurt by Fred's storm of well-timed attacks. Knowing when and how he would be attacked was more than enough to be able to get ahead of his enemy without Haki and take advantage defensively and even offensively.

Laffitte dodged everything that needed to be dodged with his prodigious speed, blocked powerful attacks with his sword and sometimes imbued some part of his body with Armor Haki to block a successful but not excessively powerful attack.

Laffitte would occasionally cover his body with Armor Haki to prevent Fred's sword from cutting into his skin, but it wasn't always his last resort. Many times Laffitte did it on purpose to create vulnerabilities in Fred's offense and attack even though a sword was making contact with his skin.

SLASH!!!

Without Haki was impossible for Fred to know when an attack would be effective or not on Laffite's skin, since without Haki he couldn't feel it either. This tactic cut off the pace of his next attack. Fred didn't know if the last cut had been the decisive one, if he could still continue attacking or if he needed to retreat quickly.

With this added defense, Laffitte created some opportunities to thwart his almost perfect killing attempts and occasionally force him onto the defensive.

A defensive position that Fred couldn't afford to maintain for long! Laffitte's Haki-imbued attacks were too dangerous and difficult to counter!

'Damn it...' Fred cursed as he blocked a sword blow more powerful than his even though his own had more kinetic force behind 'If I had Haki you would already be dead!!!'

SLASH!!!

Laffitte had a huge advantage over Fred in knowing how to use the true power system of this world, but that didn't give him a definitive advantage in this confrontation. Despite having armor and Observation Haki, it was increasingly difficult to create opportunities to attack Fred and defend against his countless successive attacks, which placed enormous pressure and wear and tear on the corrupt Sheriff.

'Damn monster' Laffitte cursed as he dodged, parried, and at the same time narrowly blocked several dangerous attacks. 'It should be a crime to be so strong and yet so cowardly, intelligent and twisted'

SLASH!!! SLASH!!! SLASH!!!

Laffitte couldn't afford to be injured in exchange for causing superior wounds to his enemy, since he knew perfectly well that all of Fred's blades were poisoned. Any cut, no matter how small, could mean his death, whether in the short, medium or long term...

Laffitte couldn't afford to get hurt, but Fred didn't have this disadvantage.

During their frantic confrontation, Fred was willing to risk his health to hurt Laffitte in exchange for receiving some cuts in non-lethal areas. He didn't have to fear being affected by any poison and with his control of the Seimei Kikan he could stop the bleeding from any of his wounds by stopping the circulation in that area and/or by closing them tightly.

Even so, the bleeding and his injuries were only there temporarily.

Before the match, Fred transformed several doses of his Invigorating Shake's and Wound Welder's into seed fragments and stuck them between his teeth and on the walls of his stomach. Every time he was wounded Fred only needed to untransform some of those fragments to recover his wounds and fill his body with nutrients.

With this method and some help from the Seimei Kikan to digest everything quickly Fred was able to regain his energy and heal his wounds quickly, although he didn't need to use it too often since he had energy to spare. Not all of his injuries required immediate attention and he didn't get hurt that much despite facing a Haki user.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

CLANK!

His swords made by Stephen with the highest quality steel were able to withstand the punishment of Laffitte's Haki attacks to a certain extent, as were Fred's strong and flexible arms and hair seasoned with extreme training.

Fred doesn't have a precognitive power that allows him to guess what his opponent's attacks would be. However, with his highly developed hearing he could anticipate his opponent's movements thanks to the sound emitted by his joints moments before starting the movement.

SLASH!!! SLASH!!! SLASH!!!

For these reasons, little by little Fred's advantages surpassed those of Laffitte, both visually and in reality!

Laffitte couldn't beat Fred in a stamina battle and Haki is not an infinite power. Sooner or later it would run out and when that happened Fred would disarm him and gain an absolute advantage in this fight.

If Laffitte wanted to avoid being cut, poisoned or dying of exhaustion he had no choice but to retreat momentarily to escape Fred's reach and turn off his Haki armor at certain times to avoid running out of ammunition.

But...

SLASSHHHH!!!!

Escaping Fred's grasp was quite a difficult task, especially since he learned to create energy slashes with his swords. At first Fred, just like Zoro, needed a lot of concentration, preparation and being completely static to create a simple energy slash. But just like the Marimo, after much training he could now create this very useful and powerful ranged attack with ease and speed.

He was still far from making each and every swing of his sword turn into energy slashes, especially at point-blank range so he could add a double impact to each of his attacks. But for now Fred was fast and dexterous enough to create them at will without major complications in most situations.

Fred was pleased with the progress he had made in just a few months on this popular and fantastic attack. However, what made Fred most proud was that he managed to make this generic attack his own by adapting it to his combat style.

Not only could he launch energy slashes with the swords in his hands, he was also able to generate them with the blades of his hair!

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Fred didn't have as much control over these energy slashes produced by his hair compared to those created with his arms.

He needed more preparation, the attacks were less precise and he could only achieve this feat if he concentrated the vast majority of his hair movement on a single blade.

Even so he was able to create great destruction with every movement!

In fact, the energy slashes cuts he generated with his hair-sword-whip were even more destructive, faster, and unpredictable than the ones he generated with his hands due to the supersonic whip-like motion he could perform with his hair.

SLAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

The energy slashes were a problem, but Laffitte would pay for this to be the only problem

Crack! Chouf! Plom!

The ground he was stepping on and about to step on as he walked away from Fred continually transformed to make his escape even more difficult.

Fred used his Life Life No Mi to turn the ground into roots and snakes that could trip or even trap Laffitte's feet, giant cactus spikes that could hurt him, and even trees to cut off his escape.

Laffitte had to be very careful where he stepped, but not all his problems were on the ground and the swords.

Pujjj!!!

Fred's mouth wasn't only dangerous because of his magic words and his superhuman bites. Since he obtained Life Life No Mi, his spit had also become a very dangerous ranged weapon.

PLASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

A few milliliters of his saliva imbued with the aura of the Life Life No Mi could become in an instant into hundreds of liters of extremely deadly poison or acid. A massive attack with a practically unpredictable direction that Laffitte couldn't fight against, only flee.

'Damn it! This kid can turn anything into a weapon' Laffitte cursed as he saw how the floor and especially part of his shoe melted due to the action of the few drops of acid that he hadn't successfully dodged. 'His nickname Human Weapon is no exaggeration'

However, Laffitte not only feared all these new attacks. He increasingly feared the more well-known attacks of his opponent and for which he and the rest of the gangsters had taken countermeasures.

Fred was known for using poisons and among them the most dangerous were his gases, which could intoxicate you without even realizing it just by breathing them. That's why Laffitte and the others wear gas masks and why Fred directed many of his attacks toward that item.

SLASH! SLISH! FLIP!

Some of his cuts were directed to that place, but the most dangerous thing for Laffitte weren't the cuts, but rather the loose strands of hair that tried to touch it.

Laffitte had already understood that Fred had an Akuma No Mi capable of turning non-living things into living things and he sensed very well that those few, small, practically invisible and harmless hairs were perhaps the greatest threat to his life.

The moment one of those hairs managed to touch his gas mask devoid of Haki even once it would disappear and he would be exposed to Fred's poisonous gas, which he couldn't avoid at that short distance.

However, Laffitte couldn't let those hairs touch a single piece of clothing either! He ran the serious risk of Fred turning them into the same acid he was throwing at him or something else!

'Dam it' Laffitte cursed as he aborted another of his attacks 'I've too many restrictions!

I can't let anything touch me without applying Haki first!'

The stress that Laffitte was under constantly increased as Fred displayed more dangerous and strange abilities, which seemed to have no end.

His high speed, good reflexes, great experience and Observation Haki kept him alive for now, but not for long. There were too many things happening at once and it was difficult to keep up with them all.

Escaping from Fred without being touched was becoming an almost impossible task.

"STOP FLEEING YOU FUCKING RAT!!" Fred shouted, grinning like a psychopath as he tried to reach his prey "COME TO YOUR DEATH!!!"

Fred had been waiting for this fight for months!

He was eager to have a difficult fight against a difficult enemy that could unleash a part of the latent potential in him. He wanted to feel a quick boost again, similar to the one he felt after his fight against Lerna.

SLASH!

PLASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

SLASH!

Pujjj!!!

PLASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

After experimenting and deducing, Fred concluded that he would never get his desired powerup if he won by fighting limiting himself. He simply couldn't discard the fantastics of his Akuma No Mi or refused to use smart assassination and combat tactics to have complicated fights.

He couldn't obtain a powerup by defeating a lesser enemy by giving him advantages or by voluntarily generating disadvantages for himself. Whether consciously or subconsciously his mind, will and body wouldn't exceed their limits during or after the battle.

Why? It's very simple. It was never necessary to exceed any known limit.

He couldn't fool himself! He knew perfectly well that he had the tools to defeat him even if he refused to use them.

Only an opponent capable of forcing him to give his all and surpass himself could give him his long-awaited power-up!!!

"COME HERE!!!" Shouted Fred with an even more insane face than before "DON'T YOU DARE DISAPPOINT ME!!!"

And Laffitte didn't do it...

Despite having practically everything against him, the persevering Sheriff finally found a small opening between Fred's attacks and defense and was able to launch a small but powerful energy slash.

SLAHHHHHH!!!

That small energy slash strategically passed through every obstacle heading directly towards Fred's head. More specifically towards the only part of his head that right now Fred wasn't protecting nor would have the possibility of defending in less than a tenth of a second.

His long annoying hair!

Slash!

Laffitte would have preferred to cut off his head directly, but unfortunately he hadn't found any opening that would allow him such success. But whatever the case, he couldn't help but smile slightly as he saw how his attack hit him perfectly.

After several minutes of fighting he had managed to break one of his enemy's most important weapons, or so he thought...

"NANI?"

Laffitte certainly managed to cut some of Fred's hair, but not many... something that seemed very inconceivable to him.

Clearly Mr. Fred hadn't used Haki to protect his hair. It was more than evident that he couldn't use it and that his human hair wasn't that hard.

What was happening before him made no sense and the weight of this incomprehension added more fatigue to Laffitte's mind.

"Did you know that molecularly some spider webs are ten times stronger than steel?" Fred said after shaking his head like in a shampoo commercial. "Well, now you know.

MUA HAHAHAHA!!!"

Fred had partially transformed the hair on his head into a spider web, thus increasing his strength and toughness!

There're many types of spider and spider web in the world. Some thinner, some thicker, some more sticky and some less, but in the world of One Piece there're even giant spiders capable of creating giant webs. Fred managed to see one of those specimens and that is why he could now generate cobwebs the thickness of a human hair.

Thanks to his Life Life No Mi he managed to obtain more powerful, harder and at the same time perfectly controllable hair than before, which allowed him to withstand more tension, better resist cuts and even apply more force in his hair attacks.

Fred always wanted to turn his weakest point into his strongest point and Laffitte, who's not an idiot, understood everything...

'And it's not just his hair' Laffitte thought as he analyzed his enemy from top to bottom 'I would swear I had hurt him more but...'

Laffitte not only realized that Fred's wounds had already healed, he also deduced more information by size of the cuts he had managed to cause on his clothing. He realized that despite having performed quite powerful attacks, the consequences of those attacks on his clothes were quite minor.

'It can't be...' Laffitte despaired after realizing that he wasn't the only one who had been playing this game. 'His clothes are armored just like Daz Bones' skin!?'

That's right, the clothes Fred was now wearing weren't made of normal fabric.

For months Fred had been looking for new commercial applications for his new powers and one of them was the creation of hybrid fabrics created between minerals and natural fabrics.

The possibilities were limitless! Iron Silk, Carbon Cotton, Titanium Chinchilla Skin, and of course HTX-109 Steel Spider Web!

Now Fred's clothes were made of an unnatural fabric several times stronger than steel but much lighter and more flexible.

Hurting him wasn't an easy task.

'This is bad'

After his failure and this discovery, Laffitte viewed his previous strategy of using his Haki observation to find the best time to attack and his Haki armor to deal a decisive blow to Fred with infinitely less optimism.

'This is really bad'

It's not viable to continue with this strategy against a practically armored, tireless, unpredictable, versatile and apparently immortal enemy that also doesn't stop pulling rabbits out of its hat.

'Despite the risk...

I think it's time to use my Akuma No Mi'

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