I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

"Sun Bear, this is my escape route-------"

Before he could finish speaking, his hair suddenly stood on end, and a sudden sense of danger made the imperial engine in his chest throb rapidly.

Sun Bear glanced at him from a distance, then slightly bent his knees, his legs transforming into a blurry afterimage as he rapidly approached Sig, who was flying backward, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

"Where do you want to go? I'll take you."

A large, fan-like hand roughly gripped Sig's face, but Sun Bear did not stop running; he continued to sprint at high speed.

At that moment, Sieg felt as if he had been hit by a high-speed train traveling at breakneck speed. The scenery on both sides of his vision rushed past him, and the wind howled past his ears.

Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom boom!

As he ran, Sig felt his back constantly hitting hard objects, but the Sun Bear kept running, grabbing him and smashing everything in its path with its back. Broken stones and trees flew through the air.

Boom! Boom boom boom!

The sun bear raced at breakneck speed, smashing through countless rocks and trees, galloping for kilometers through the forest, and swiftly wading across streams, startling countless birds into flight.

CP0, located in the distance, stared in disbelief at the scene.

In their eyes, the Sun Bear was like a speeding steel war machine, rampaging through mountains and valleys, smashing all obstacles in its path.

"Is this even human? Can a martial arts expert be this powerful?"

"Don't underestimate him... He's a naval admiral, the highest fighting force in the navy."

"Like the Four Emperors among pirates and our CP0's ace combatants, they are all among the world's top powerhouses."

CP0 Eagle explained:

"This kind of martial arts expert who is skilled in both fist and foot techniques is still lacking in destructive range."

"If it's a Logia-type powerhouse, or even some Paramecia-types like Whitebeard, then that's what you call a true human-shaped natural disaster. With just a few gestures, they can trigger earthquakes and tsunamis, practically calamities that could wipe out an entire island."

"Ordinary martial arts experts actually have less destructive power; their battlefields can be quite large. In short, hurry up and keep up—"

Two CP0 agents stealthily crept out from the shadows, running at a distance behind Higuma.

"Wait...where is he going?"

"There's a mountain ahead!"

final!

A mountain several hundred meters high rapidly approached within Rixiong's field of vision.

Rumble!

He grabbed Sig's head and slammed it hard against the mountain wall.

A deafening roar!

Sig's body was spread out in a starfish shape and slammed into the mountain wall, sinking deep into it. The entire mountain, hundreds of meters high, trembled a few times. Spiderweb-like cracks quickly appeared on the mountain wall centered on Sig, with the largest crack being over a hundred meters long and extending all the way to the top of the mountain.

Sig was seeing stars by now. His Armament Haki gloves were no longer an indestructible suit of armor, and after running all the way, he was a bloody mess.

Higuma exhaled a breath of stale air, calmly looked at Sig, and took a step back.

"Besides greater strength and faster speed."

"And then there's going a step further, honing their physical skills to the extreme."

He slightly bent his knees, gathered power in his right arm at his waist, clenched his fist tightly, breathed like a steam jet, and felt an immense pressure emanating from his body, like a volcano about to erupt.

"The Six Secret Techniques..."

"Huh?" Sig's expression changed drastically. He bulged his arm muscles and struggled to pry himself out of the mountain wall.

"Fist and Spear - Piercing the Mountain!"

Sun Bear's eyes widened, and his clenched fist, like a spear, slammed into Sieg's chest with a deafening roar.

Rumble!

The mountain split open, and Sig's figure was forcefully shoved into the mountain's belly by the surging force. The immense force caused the already cracked mountain to split open into two ravines.

Buzzing...

Sig felt a buzzing in his ears. This near-death experience and extreme sense of danger made the Emperor Engine in his body roar wildly. His vision was completely dark. He was already inside the mountain. The soil and rocks of the mountain buried most of his body. Only the sky above his head could be seen.

He was knocked straight into a mountain by this blow!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Emperor Engine throbbed wildly. He gritted his teeth, his arm muscles bulging, trying to forcefully push open the mountain walls on both sides.

Although he possessed strength comparable to a vice admiral of giants, he was currently trapped in a mountain and could not move it.

"I knew it."

From afar outside the mountain, the voice of Rixiong could be heard. He peered through the cracks down into the mountainside and looked down at Sig.

"You won't die so easily. You're just feigning weakness to maximize the power of the Emperor Engine in an extremely dangerous, near-death situation..."

Higuma shook his head and walked away step by step.

"Through years of experience, I have mastered the Emperor Engine. I divide the frequency of the Emperor Engine into several different levels, just like the gears in a car."

"Each layer is like a gear in the rubber fruit, which can increase destructive power, speed, and reaction speed several times over."

"Ordinary life-threatening dangers will plunge people into fear. The Emperor Engine awakens; this is the first level."

"An extremely dangerous situation with a slim chance of survival allows the Emperor Engine to enter the second level."

"Extreme negative emotions, near-death experience, a surge of euphoric hormones, or hypnosis—meeting any one of these conditions allows you to enter the third level. Meeting multiple conditions simultaneously allows you to go further and reach the fourth level, which represents the limits of your physical body."

He walked away step by step until he reached the foot of the mountain.

"I am clearly more knowledgeable about the application of the Emperor Engine in enhancing combat power."

"Deliberately feigning weakness to the enemy, risking death to survive, in order to make the imperial engine blast at a higher frequency and narrow the gap between us, is dangerous but effective."

"However, I've already seen through you."

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The sound of the Emperor's engine was like a war drum, extremely penetrating, and could be clearly heard even when buried tens of meters deep in the belly of a mountain.

This doesn't sound like a heartbeat at all.

Sigurd struggled; he possessed strength comparable to a giant admiral, but he couldn't break free from the mountain's hold...

Higuma had reached the foot of the mountain and stopped.

Due to the attack just now, the mountain has split open in the middle, creating a crack, and at this moment, Higuma has already reached the foot of the mountain on the right.

I stretched out my right hand and felt my heart beating silently and rapidly in my chest.

"Guess which floor I'm on this time?"

He took a deep breath, spun around, and kicked the mountainside with his right leg like a long whip.

boom!

The immense force traveled up his legs and into the mountainside, causing the entire mountain to sway and shift a meter or two to the left.

The entire mountain was trembling and shaking, with soil and rocks rolling down the peaks, and more and more cracks appearing in the middle of the mountain.

The mountain peaks on the left and right sides squeezed each other, and the gully in the middle of the mountain that had just been blasted out was forcibly squeezed out.

When the sound of the falling stones completely disappeared.

The once loud engine sound of the Emperor is now completely inaudible.

The bandit king has been sealed inside this mountain.

Higuma gazed silently at the mountain beneath his feet and continued speaking:

"Greater power, faster speed, mastered physical skills, and... life return."

"The essence of life return is to use consciousness to change the body and manipulate the body, including manipulating the heart."

At this point, he suddenly turned his head and looked around.

A series of hurried footsteps approached from the side, and Viben came running from a distance, panting heavily, his chest heaving.

She looked at the mountain that had already closed up, said nothing, and her arms transformed into the mechanical arms of an excavator, the two large buckets swinging like the wind, constantly scraping into the closed crack beneath her feet.

Ri Xiong shook his head slightly, turned back to look at the mountain, and continued:

Do you know what a sawshark is?

"This is a strange shark with a long saw at the front of its mouth, almost like it has a built-in dangerous chainsaw."

"There are also the rhinoceros's horn, the elephant's tusk, the lion's claws and teeth... In the long process of species evolution, these beasts have evolved their own weapons in their bodies. They are all beasts born to hunt and fight."

Higuma paused slightly, and his golden hair, which was draped over his shoulders, suddenly grew on its own, instantly becoming long, golden hair that reached the ground. It was as if it had a life of its own, baring its fangs and claws. But then Higuma swung his hand and cut it off with a sword, restoring it to its original length.

"Masters of life restoration, like Onigumo, can use their hair as an arm."

"Of course, there's another use," Higuma continued:

"Just like animal evolution, we continuously modify our physical bodies through consciousness, striving to become more suitable for combat, faster, and stronger...evolution!"

"At the end of this road, there's probably Charlotte Linlin's naturally steel-balloon physique."

Higuma clenched his fist.

The Life Return Paper Painting Martial Body he developed is the form that best suits his fighting style.

"This is my path."

"Armament Haki? It's just a fancy new concept, I don't need to practice it!"

In combat, he learns from Wald, the user of the Momo-Momo Fruit, and strives for greater speed and strength.

In terms of physical transformation for the return of life, it continues to evolve in the direction of Charlotte Linlin.

"And what about you?"

The sun bear asked.

No one answered, and the sound of the Emperor's engine never came again.

It was as if the man had already perished in these mountains, powerless to escape.

The only sound was the digging noise from Viben, who had transformed into a digging princess.