Pine

Pine is a Dalki whose spike growth and energy-absorption ability make him one of Jack's principal enforcers. He first appears as a three-spike Dalki assisting an escape from a laboratory and later leads enhanced Dalki against the Penswi–Mermerial–Amra alliance, where Russ defeats him using power Pine cannot absorb. The human beast-tournament contestant called Pine in Chapter 1077 is a separate person. (Chapters 1463–1464, 1906–1917, and 2203–2262)

Biography

From laboratory escapee to Jack's enforcer

Pine first appears with three back spikes and accompanies Malik, a Jim clone, and Truedream during their escape from a laboratory. He kills a four-spike Dalki, demonstrating strength beyond what his visible spike count alone suggests. By the later celestial conflict he operates alongside H for Jack's side and helps fight Tumoon; Pine attributes the destruction of the corpse to H, so that effect is not Pine's power. (Chapters 1463–1464, 1906, and 1917)

Jack gives Pine an ability and uses the power to remove transferred abilities as leverage over him. Pine becomes one of the enhanced Dalki whom ordinary Dalki follow, while he and H remain subordinate to Jack. By the alliance war Pine has seven back spikes and an additional head spike and leads five-spike fighters against the allied city, confident because earlier suppression missions had ended easily. (Chapters 2203–2208 and 2220–2239)

Defeat by an unabsorbable power

Pine absorbs water, telekinetic force, Qi, and reflected energy, then recycles the accumulated power into blasts and physical enhancement. The alliance's attacks therefore strengthen the enemy they are trying to stop. Layla's black sword changes the contest: its energy cuts Pine and cannot be taken through his palms. Russ copies Pine's own ability, reflects his power, and ultimately assumes the Black Swordsman's form to wield the sword at full effect. (Chapters 2228–2239)

Pine calls for allies to feed him more energy and continues fighting through deep wounds, but the sword nullifies power at contact and repeatedly cuts his enhanced body. Russ finally beheads him. Later characters explicitly confirm Pine's death, and Pine's ability is subsequently reproduced through Russ's god-slayer wrist device; that later use belongs to Russ and the device, not to a surviving Pine or a clone. (Chapters 2240, 2262, and 2491)

Appearance and personality

Pine is a large male Dalki. In his early three-spike state, small head scales give him a pineapple-like appearance; later his head rises like a mountain and he carries seven back spikes plus a prominent top spike. He is confident in repeated victories, loyal to the Dalki power hierarchy, and willing to use allied attacks as fuel. Jack's ability-removal threat materially constrains that loyalty, so obedience is not evidence of uncomplicated personal devotion. (Chapters 1463–1464, 2203–2208, and 2239–2241)

Powers and abilities

Dalki physiology and spike progression

Pine possesses the strength, speed, resilience, and battle-driven growth of a Dalki. He can kill a four-spike Dalki while displaying three spikes, later reaches seven back spikes and a head spike, and grows more dangerous when injury pushes his body further. The corpus does not give a complete timeline for every added spike or state whether the head spike should be counted with the seven on his back. (Chapters 1463–1464, 2208, and 2228–2240)

Energy absorption and redistribution

Jack grants Pine an ability that absorbs different forms of energy through the palms. Demonstrated inputs include ordinary abilities and Qi. Pine can emit the stored power as pure-energy blasts, use recoil for movement, or circulate it through his body to strengthen muscles, defence, and physical attacks. The internal enhancement wears off without further energy, which is why he orders allied users to keep attacking him; his already powerful Dalki body remains after the borrowed reserve falls. (Chapters 2208, 2228–2239)

The palms are a decisive activation condition. Attacks that land before Pine raises his hands can injure him, and energy he cannot absorb bypasses the defence. The black sword's god-slayer power cuts him, dissipates force at contact, and makes his absorption ineffective, while Russ's copied version can redirect Pine's own output. Accumulated energy improves endurance but does not heal decapitation, and Pine has no access after death. (Chapters 2228–2240)

Relationships

• Jack: Jack grants Pine his ability and retains the means to remove it. Pine becomes a principal enforcer because the new power elevates him within Dalki society, but that same dependency helps Jack compel obedience. (Chapters 2203–2208 and 2241)
• H: Pine and H are Jack's leading enhanced Dalki and fight on the same side. Pine explicitly credits H with disintegrating Tumoon's corpse, preserving the boundary between their abilities. (Chapters 1917, 2203, and 2241)
• Russ: Russ copies Pine's ability and learns its limitations under pressure. By combining a copied Black Swordsman form with the black sword's incompatible energy, he beheads Pine. (Chapters 2235–2240)
• Layla: Layla first demonstrates that the black sword can injure Pine through his absorption. Her collapse creates the circumstances in which Russ takes up the weapon and finishes the fight. (Chapters 2228–2240)

Items

Pine has no configured inventory item with a generated article.