Daren rubbed the stubble on his chin, eyeing the bear paw-shaped red light with interest.
He had to admit—it actually looked kind of cute.
But looks could be deceiving. Daren knew this wasn't some harmless cushion of light.
The years of accumulated pain and exhaustion he carried weren't a joke. Even if he set aside the countless brutal battles, the sheer fatigue from relentless, hellish training alone would be unbearable for most people.
Touch it just a little, and you'd probably drop to your knees on the spot.
What's more, this wasn't just compressed air from a standard "Ursus Shock"—it was concentrated conceptual energy.
If it were the former, he could just release it somewhere remote, like an uninhabited island or sea.
Kuma paused in thought, then rumbled in his low voice:
"My ability can't make this vanish into thin air. Someone else has to take it on."
Daren frowned.
"And if no one does?"
Kuma scratched his head, smiling gently.
"Then I'll take it myself."
"If no one bears the fatigue and pain soon enough, it'll just end up returning to my body."
That had always been his way.
He couldn't stand to see poor civilians suffering from illness and pain, so he would volunteer to take it on himself.
Sure, they could've used "scapegoats"—like capturing some truly vile pirates and making them bear the pain and fatigue as punishment.
But back then, he and Dragon were mostly helping people in impoverished countries or slums, where pirates weren't always available for the task.
So in the end, to prevent this expelled pain and fatigue from hurting innocent people, Kuma always quietly took it on himself.
While they were speaking, the dark red orb of light had already started drifting—slowly, but unmistakably—toward Kuma.
"Hahaha, it's fine! Let me take it for you, Daren!"
Dragon broke in with a hearty laugh.
He radiated a boisterous sense of camaraderie, his smile strangely infectious.
Daren raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"You sure about that? I get the feeling this isn't something most people could handle, Dragon."
Dragon laughed it off.
"Are you underestimating me? Don't forget, I earned the title of 'monster' before you did!"
A glint flickered in his eyes.
If he helped Daren absorb all this pain and fatigue, he'd be owed a favor. And when the time came to ask for some Belly, Daren couldn't exactly turn him down, right?
Dragon had it all figured out.
Once, he had scoffed at money.
Wealth was a corrupting force, and as the future Fleet Admiral, Monkey D. Dragon had no need for it!
But after half a year of scraping by in poverty, not knowing where his next meal would come from... he couldn't take it anymore.
The thought made his grin stretch even wider. With righteous bravado, he stepped forward.
"A little internal damage and pain? With the bond we share, how could I not take this for you?!"
Raising both arms in a heroic pose...
He thrust them straight into the dark red, nearly black bear paw-shaped orb.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Dragon's smile froze.
His whole body twitched violently, face twisting in agony, trembling as if hit by a devastating shock.
Then—
With a loud thud.
He dropped to his knees.
Kuma: …
Daren: …
Dragon: …
The air suddenly turned deathly still.
"Ahem… I'm just… not used to it."
Dragon's face flushed red as he pushed himself up with shaky hands on his knees. His legs were trembling like crazy.
But even as he spoke, his gaze locked on the glowing orb with disbelief.
He could swear—for a moment there, he actually saw his late grandmother!
Daren—no, what had been expelled from him, the "pain" and "fatigue"—was downright terrifying!
Dragon had taken on the pain Kuma extracted from sick civilians before, but this was nothing like that. Not even close.
It was a whole different magnitude.
If he had to put a number on it, the agony and exhaustion drawn out of Daren were a hundred, maybe even a thousand times worse than what you'd get from a terminally ill patient!
Without experiencing it firsthand, Dragon wouldn't have believed the human body could even handle such torment.
With that thought, both he and Kuma found themselves staring at the Vice Admiral in front of them in stunned silence.
What the hell was this guy's body made of?
And then came an even more disturbing question that sent a chill down their spines—
Just how many times had Daren been through life-or-death battles, skirting the edge of collapse, surviving against all odds?
A monster… this was a real monster.
Their eyes suddenly filled with genuine awe and admiration as they looked at him.
Compared to Dragon himself, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan—all natural-born powerhouses—Daren, who clawed his way up through brutal training and relentless battles, enduring unthinkable pain and hardship, was the real deal.
Right then, Dragon finally understood why Daren's strength had grown at such an insane rate.
The guy was basically gambling with his life every time he trained or fought!
This lunatic...
Kuma and Dragon both gulped hard.
Their gazes drifted back to the dark red, nearly black orb of light, bitter expressions on their faces as they instinctively took a step back.
Even after Dragon's full-on "kneeling" attempt to absorb it, the thing had only shrunk by about one-fifth.
The remaining four-fifths… if they had to take that on, they'd either die or be stuck in bed for half a month.
"Uh… Daren…"
Dragon hesitated, stammering.
"Alright, alright, I'll handle it."
Daren shot him an annoyed look, then pulled out a freshly issued Den Den Mushi and dialed Stussy's number.
"This is Daren. I need ten… huh?"
Dragon frantically waved his hands and blinked at him.
Daren raised an eyebrow and went on,
"…make that thirty—no, a hundred criminals or pirates who've got it coming."
"Yeah, hurry. Three minutes."
He hung up right after.
The Pleasure District was Stussy's turf. With her pull, rounding up a hundred poor suckers on this island in under three minutes shouldn't be an issue.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / PinkSnake