Chapter 219: Straw Hat Pirates Vs Original Cp9
“Damn it! Where is this place?”
The lost green-haired swordsman was very angry. He was clearly chasing after Luffy, but after just a few steps, Luffy disappeared somewhere, and Sanji, Robin, and the others were completely nowhere to be found. It seemed like he was the only one left wandering in this labyrinth-like abandoned village.
This place······
Zoro stared at the three-story abandoned house in front of him, feeling it was somewhat familiar. “Am I······ going in circles?”
Zoro’s face grew even more grim as he realized a certain terrifying situation.
“Wait!!”
Suddenly,
A shout from afar stopped his preparation to slash through all the buildings in front of him to clear a path. He looked toward the source of the voice and saw a man jumping over from the distance like a gazelle.
“Usopp?”
Seeing that man appear in front of him, Zoro widened his eyes in surprise. That long nose was so······ ah! Different! Usopp’s was cylindrical, this one was quadrangular.
“I’m not your companion.”
Kaku was also somewhat speechless.
He had seen photos of Usopp and knew he was a guy with a similar nose. Jabura, Kalifa, and Fukurou had all joked with him about it.
He shook his head vigorously, shaking off the messy thoughts in his mind, and focused all his attention on Zoro.
“Pirate Hunter—Roronoa Zoro, stop running around. If you can defeat me here, I’ll point you to the road leading to your companions.”
Kaku was genuinely scared.
Zoro’s sense of direction completely exceeded his imagination. One second he was heading east, the next he appeared in the south. It was almost······ making him suspect if Zoro had also gained the Door-Door Fruit ability, just like His Highness.
Chasing Zoro around here had exhausted him completely, really scaring him. Forget waiting for Zoro to come find him; now that he had finally found Zoro, he might as well deliver himself to the door.
“You’ll be so kind-hearted?”
Zoro slowly drew his sword, questioning the truth of what Kaku said.
It wasn’t because he was scared of you······ Of course, he didn’t say that out loud. Saying it would be too embarrassing. Kaku also drew his dual blades. “Whether you believe it or not, this is your best choice right now. Otherwise······ you can try continuing to go in circles here, but I won’t just watch. If you dare turn your back to me, I will definitely make a move.”
Zoro’s breath hitched upon hearing this. His poor sense of direction······ he was actually aware of it himself. If Kaku weren’t here, he could just slash a path open.
But now······ it seemed like a fight was unavoidable.
“Tempest Kick!”
Kaku launched the first attack.
He had clearly drawn his dual blades, but he moved his feet first. That slash capable of cutting through rock and steel rebar was blocked by Zoro, but it was still a bit hasty. The sharp edge of the participating slash left a shallow mark on his forearm.
“Despicable guy.” Zoro gripped Sandai Kitetsu and Yuki tightly in his hands, holding the dual blades in a posture like rhinoceros horns,
This was—
“Two Sword Style · Rhinoceros Back.”
Zoro’s counterattack arrived.
The battle between the two swordsmen erupted and quickly entered an extremely intense white-hot state at an astonishing speed. During these days without Wado Ichimonji, Zoro had trained tirelessly day and night, constantly recalling that earth-shattering great battle he saw in Loguetown.
He continuously drew nourishment from the battle between Elus and the Golden Lion, growing at an even faster speed. Facing Kaku, who had also made significant progress, he was not at a disadvantage at all.
You have to know,
The current Kaku hadn’t wasted time dawdling in Water 7 like before. Under Elus’s command, he had plenty of opponents to spar with, honing his swordsmanship.
Compared to when he was lurking in Water 7, the current Kaku wouldn’t claim he could beat his past two selves, but if he could have a one-on-one with his past self, the current him would definitely win completely.
“Four Sword Style · Reverse Scales.”
Kaku attacked with dual blades and both feet simultaneously, sword qi slashes and Tempest Kick slashes pummeling toward Zoro opposite him like a storm.
“Two Sword Style · Hawk Wave!”
It’s just sword qi!
As if no one else can do it. Zoro swung his blades in rapid succession, wave-like shockwaves endlessly meeting Kaku’s attacks.
The sword qi slashes collided in the air. Not only was the ground beneath their feet cracked and deformed, but several surrounding abandoned buildings were also blasted down by the stray sword qi slashes. Zoro, temporarily a two sword style swordsman, and Kaku, who called himself a four sword style swordsman, began a slaughter between swordsmen.
————
“This village has been abandoned for no more than fifty years. The disappearance of the oasis forced the villagers to leave their homeland and migrate elsewhere.”
Robin walked through the middle of the abandoned village, touching these age-old buildings, feeling the history that once existed.
Suddenly, she stopped.
She turned her head to look at the alley mouth diagonally ahead and smiled lightly. “Since you’re here, please come out!”
“Tch! Flower-Flower Fruit ability user? It’s indeed a great ability for scouting intelligence!” Kalifa, holding a leather whip, walked out.
“You are······”
Robin’s brow furrowed slightly.
Whether it was that ball-like fat guy she saw outside the village before, or this cold and beautiful woman in front of her now, both gave her a strange sense of familiarity and danger.
It seemed like she had encountered these people somewhere before?
“The famous Devil Child Nico Robin, I didn’t expect you to join such an obscure little pirate crew.” Kalifa eyed Robin coldly.
If it were before, discovering this big fish Nico Robin and capturing her to send back would definitely earn a hefty reward, but now she was no longer part of the World Government. His Highness Elus’s orders were the most important.
“World Government people? No, you should be the Black Prince’s subordinates. Who exactly are you?”
Robin furrowed her brows tightly.
She had played cat-and-mouse with World Government agents for so many years that she could smell the stench of those jackals with her eyes closed.
“What a sharp nose!”
Kalifa raised her eyebrows in considerable surprise.
“Correct, we were agents under the World Government before, but now······ we belong to His Highness Elus. But don’t let your guard down just yet. Even if we won’t hand you over to the World Government, teaching you a lesson is still no problem.”
Kalifa didn’t conceal her identity.
“World Government agents······ The Black Prince has some guts. Is he preparing to oppose the World Government?”
“What? Could the Devil Child possibly go snitch to the World Government?”
Kalifa wasn’t worried at all about Robin talking nonsense. Nico Robin was practically the World Government’s archenemy; she didn’t believe Nico Robin would betray their matters to the World Government.
“I wouldn’t do something that harms others without benefiting myself, but this is some very delightful news! I didn’t expect the Black Prince to truly be going against the World Government······ I’m too happy for that!”
An elegant smile appeared on Robin’s face.
“Enough talk, Nico Robin. Let me see just how powerful the Flower-Flower Fruit is!” The whip cracked loudly in the air, and Kalifa charged forward like a berserker.
“Thorn Whip.”
The long whip covered in thorny spikes swept toward Robin like a storm, smashing the roadside ruins and debris along the way into pieces.
The destructive power was unimaginable—what kind of miserable result it would cause if such an attack landed on a human body, especially a beauty like Robin······
“Two Wheel Blossoms, Clutch.”
Robin showed no panic and calmly countered.
Two arms sprouted from Kalifa’s body, choking her neck. But almost instantly, Kalifa, who had reinforced her body with Iron Body, wasn’t defeated by this move. However, because Iron Body made her body hard to move, the Thorn Whip attack was forced to interrupt.
“I see, so this is the Flower-Flower Fruit ability? It seems not only great for scouting, but combat ability is equally excellent······ But that’s what makes it interesting!”
Kalifa’s fighting spirit was ignited.
Her body suddenly exerted force, shattering the flower-like fragile arms that grew from her back. Kalifa used Shave to charge at Robin once again.
A battle between two beauties fully ignited.
————
“Nami-san? Where are you? Nami-san!!!”
The affectionate calls echoed through the abandoned village.
Sanji stood on the rooftop looking around, searching for any suspicious clues, but unfortunately found nothing. This dead village had no such conspicuous traces; the enemies weren’t stupid enough to let their main base be discovered so easily.
“Damn it! Do I have to search slowly?”
Sanji clenched his fist, very unwillingly jumping down from the rooftop.
At this moment, he couldn’t help but think how great it would be if he could master Observation Haki. However, as a child, he had only heard of this mystical power. The Jermma Kingdom focused on the research and development of science and technology, not caring much about Haki as a power system.
In the Jermma Kingdom’s view, Haki, being a power that varied from person to person, was filled with too much uncertainty, far less reliable than researching modification humans and clones, which could be mass-produced as weapons.
Moreover, Sanji had left his homeland too early, so he only had a superficial understanding of many things, just hearsay, with no real knowledge.
His feet stepping on the yellow sand-covered road, Sanji sprinted wildly searching for Nami’s whereabouts while annoyed at his own weakness. If, if he were stronger, Nami-san wouldn’t······
“Tempest Kick.”
A slash from above grazed past Sanji’s side and hit the ground, carving out a long, deep gully.
If Sanji hadn’t reacted fast enough with nimble legs and feet, that strike just now could have taken off one of his arms. For a chef, hands were treasures that needed extra care.
“Sneaky bastard, get out here.”
Sanji looked up at the abandoned building to the side.
“Yo, kid, you dodged pretty fast!” Jabura, full of malice, stood at the edge of the abandoned building’s rooftop, leaning down to look at Sanji. “Your journey ends here. I won’t let you take another step forward!”
“The Black Prince’s subordinate?”
“What a rude guy! His Highness doesn’t really like that unpleasant nickname.”
“Does a sneak attacker have any right to say that? But······ from what you just said, it seems I’ve found the right place.” Sanji’s gaze looked ahead; perhaps Nami-san was in some place not far ahead.
“Correct, your companions are ahead, but unfortunately, you won’t be able to go to them. Falling here will be your final outcome······ Finger Pistol · Moonlight Ten Finger Pistol.”
As Jabura was speaking! He very dishonorably launched a sudden attack again. His hands with slightly bent ten fingers formed a palm prayer position, swooping down from high in the air, using the falling speed to enhance the Finger Pistol’s power, instantly arriving above Sanji’s head.
“Anti-Meat Shoot!”
Sanji sidestepped with a leg shift, flying up a kick to hit Jabura’s hand back, deflecting that thrust capable of piercing gold and stone toward the nearby stone wall. The stone wall built from large rock blocks had withstood the erosion of years of wind and sand, but couldn’t withstand Jabura’s Moonlight Ten Finger Pistol thrust.
A large hole was opened in the rock wall.
“That was close!” Sanji exhaled, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. When he kicked Jabura’s hand back, it felt as hard as steel. If he hadn’t put all his strength into it, he almost couldn’t move it.
“Annoying guy, jumping around, just as detestable as that bastard Kaku.”
Jabura casually walked out from the ruins.
As the only member among CP9 who could use Iron Body while moving freely, Jabura unlike the others, couldn’t just stand there like a target taking hits after using Iron Body. He was an all-in-one attack and defense lone wolf!
That idiot Fukurou had also learned from him and developed a derivative Iron Body technique, but in his view, it was simply a failed product. Fukurou was just cleverly using inertia to move the body while using Iron Body to enhance destructive power, completely different from his Iron Body derivative technique.
He accelerated blood flow to speed up muscle movement, thereby combining the defensive Iron Body with other Rokushiki into an attack-defense integrated combat technique.
“Iron Body · Wolf Charge!”
Jabura Iron Bodied his hands again, using Shave to close in on Sanji, launching another strong assault.
“Damn it! So strong!”
Sanji kept retreating. He tried countering with kicks, but facing the attack-defense integrated Jabura, the damage from his kicks was truly limited. Instead, during his dodges, he was touched several times by Jabura’s attacks. Though not serious injuries, half his face was dyed red with blood, looking extremely frightening.
“Iron Body · Heavy Step Wolf.”
“Damn it, waist meat.”
Sanji tried to sweep Jabura’s waist to break his body balance.
However, this attempt failed again. Instead, he himself was sent flying by Jabura’s Heavy Step Wolf, spitting out a mouthful of blood, with a burning pain in his chest.
War fires,
Were ignited in various places throughout this abandoned village.
