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"..." Tesoro's smile froze.
"Hm??"
A wave of intense danger washed over him, a chill that shot from the soles of his feet up his spine and into his brain. The hair on his arms stood on end.
"Hey, busybody," a low voice growled from behind him. "What do you think you're doing to my woman?"
A hand reached out, grabbed Tesoro's head, and slammed it toward the ground.
"Golden Body!"
Tesoro reacted instantly, his entire body turning to gold. He pressed his hands to the ground, unleashing his assimilation ability, trying to turn the man behind him to gold as well.
But the pressure on his head didn't lessen. It was like a mountain, an irresistible force.
A powerful Haki was resisting the assimilation.
CRASH!
Tesoro's head slammed into the golden ground, embedding itself in the metal.
But his golden arms held him up.
He struggled to lift his head, the dent in his golden forehead slowly smoothing out.
"It's useless," he rasped. "My golden body can't be hurt..."
"Hehehe... you want to save your woman? How about a deal? That singer of yours, Uta... how much to send her to Gran Tesoro? A billion? Five billion? You agree, and I'll let Reiju go. She's already turned to gold by now, hasn't she? Hahaha... under the influence of my awakened ability, she'll never be human again without my permission!"
"So," Jin said, a slow understanding dawning on him, "your target was Uta."
"That's right," Tesoro said, his voice filled with a mad passion. "A voice like hers... it's too perfect. Only the perfect Gran Tesoro is a worthy stage for her. It would be the perfect combination!"
Jin let out a soft chuckle. "You're going after her? You've got guts. Do you even know who she is?"
"Who?"
"She's the daughter of one of the Four Emperors—the Red-Haired Pirates!"
Tesoro's eyes widened in disbelief.
"And another thing," Jin said, his voice turning cold. "Were you just threatening me, Golden Boy?"
"Hm?"
Before Tesoro could react, Jin slammed his head into the ground again.
"You said your golden body can't be broken?"
He lifted him up and slammed him down again.
"I'd like to test that."
He slammed Tesoro's head into the golden ground. Again. And again. The impacts rang out like the tolling of a giant bell.
The golden ground began to crater.
Tesoro's face began to dent. At first, he could use his Haki to harden the gold, but as his Haki was depleted, and with the constant, jarring impacts, his brain felt like it was being rattled in his skull. His thoughts, his very consciousness, were being battered.
He struggled, trying to break free, but a powerful force was pressing down on him, a barrier that pinned him to the ground, making him easier to control.
Again and again, the blows rained down.
Tesoro's golden face was becoming flatter and flatter.
Finally, with a loud crack, the gold on his face began to fracture. The force of the impacts was too great. It was starting to break apart.
And not just his face. The golden ground was also reverting to its normal state. The effect of his awakened ability was fading.
With one final, massive impact, the golden ground shattered, and Tesoro's entire head was driven into the earth.
"GAAAAAH!" he screamed, the pain in his head like a hammer blow.
When Jin pulled him out, he was no longer golden, just a bloody, broken man.
"Your face isn't as hard as you said it was, Tesoro," Jin sneered.
A monster!
This monster!
Terror seized Tesoro. "I... I was wrong," he choked out, his face a bloody mess.
"I was wrong, King Jin! Let me go! I can pay! I have a lot of money..."
"Tesoro," Jin said, his voice flat, "do you really think money can buy everything?"
"Can't it?" Tesoro shot back.
"When I was a kid, I loved to sing. But my family was poor, so my friends shunned me. Later we got even poorer. My mother hated my singing, so I ran away. I stole money to eat!!"
"With that stolen money, I made friends."
"One day, I lost big at a casino and got sold to slave traders. The guys I thought were my friends bolted immediately. I got beaten half to death but managed to escape."
"I hate all nobles and rich people."
"I'm going to become the richest man alive and make them all kneel before me. The look of despair on guests' faces when they lose everything at my casino—that's the greatest show in the world."
"One day, I'll make even the Celestial Dragons bow to this power. People without money achieve nothing. They're only fit to be ruled."
"There's nothing money can't buy. Without money, you can't do anything."
"..."
"And now," Jin said, his voice devoid of emotion, "what's the difference between you and the rich people you used to hate? You don't hate the rich. You just hate that you weren't one of them."
Tesoro grit his teeth against the pain. "So what? How much do you want? I have plenty!"
"Have you ever considered," Jin said, "that once you're dead... all your money, all your possessions... will be mine? Your money is now my money. Thank you for building Gran Tesoro for me. I'll keep the name, in memory of you."
"Huh??"
Tesoro froze, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
A flicker in Jin's eyes—a fragment of a moment yet to come.
Observation Haki. Future Sight.
He slammed Tesoro's head toward the ground.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them changed. Countless threads shot up, weaving together into a raging white wave.
"Billow White Thread!"
The awakened ability of the Paramecia String-String Fruit.
But this time, it wasn't an attack. The white threads coiled around Tesoro, trying to pull him away.
Tesoro's Gold-Gold Fruit had come from Doflamingo's auction house. By the time he found out who had stolen it, the fruit had already been eaten. And since Tesoro was already a powerful fighter, Doflamingo had put his grudge aside and become his business partner.
Having already lost so much, Doflamingo wasn't about to let Jin kill Tesoro.
Tesoro, sensing the rescue, used the last of his strength to turn his body to gold.
In the same instant, Doflamingo appeared behind Jin, his hands spread wide.
"16 Holy Assassin's Bullets: God Execution!"
Having already been beaten once, Doflamingo knew how terrifying Jin was. He was going all out from the start.
Sixteen massive white threads, coated in a high density of Armament Haki, shot up from the ground, lancing toward Jin at incredible speed.
Blood sprayed through the air.
The Haki-coated threads found their mark.
"Gwah...!"
Tesoro coughed up a mouthful of blood, his golden body pierced through with sixteen bloody holes.
Doflamingo was speechless. He couldn't understand. It had all happened in a flash. How was it possible?
He didn't know that Jin had seen it coming. He was prepared.
A flicker of lightning.
"Offwhite!"
Doflamingo immediately retreated, several massive threads rising from the ground to form a shield in front of him.
But Jin was already where he was retreating to. A lightning kick, a blinding flash of thunder.
A thunderclap exploded against Doflamingo's stomach. He was sent flying backward like a shrimp, coughing up blood.
Jin landed, kicked the rescuing Snack away, and, under the cover of the lightning flash, opened his Munch-Munch Space and swallowed the critically injured Tesoro.
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