Chapter 164: The Fighting Champion Who Starts Fleeing Within Three Seconds Of Meeting
Water Wheel Island.
This name is still as straightforward as ever in giving a general idea of what kind of place it is. Dozens of large waterways branching out from the deep mountains at the center of the island divide the entire island into fragmented block-like terrains. Islanders travel on the waterways, and the rows of waterwheels lining both banks of the waterways are the origin of the island’s name.
This is a picturesque, peaceful, and leisurely good place.
Ever since being included in Whitebeard’s sphere of influence, the islanders who were originally plagued by pirates and underground forces experienced the true meaning of tranquility for the first time. The islanders here can be said to be unquestionable worshippers of Whitebeard, even viewing joining the Whitebeard Pirates as the greatest honor.
“What a nice place!”
“Your Highness, there’s no need for you to come personally.”
“Farrug, it’s not that I’m looking down on you. Although your strength is much greater than before, you’re still no match for that fighting champion! If you want to compete with that guy, you need to train harder, or eating a Devil Fruit is also a good choice. If you don’t like the brain-intensive Paramecia ones, a Zoan Devil Fruit can effectively boost your combat power.”
“No, I’ll pass on the Devil Fruit! Surfing and ocean swimming are among my few hobbies.”
Farrug shook his head vigorously.
There are plenty of people like this!
Devil Fruits, as treasures of the sea, are not something everyone is obsessed with for their power. The cost of not being able to swim has led many to choose rejection, even if a Devil Fruit is delivered right to them—either they collect it or sell it off. Farrug is just such a guy.
A Devil Fruit might bring him even greater power.
But he is even less willing to accept the corresponding cost.
“But is that fighting champion really as amazing as you say, Your Highness?” Farrug’s face showed some doubt. “I haven’t heard much about his name. If he were really that strong, he should have become famous in this New World long ago, right?”
“This shows that our champion mister is very cunning, and he’s not a pirate, just a fighter…… The New World is the pirates’ New World. The eyes of the Pirate Emperors are fixed on the Supernovas each year, constantly gathering new pirates. Fighters like him hopping around in arenas and fighting pits aren’t even on the radar of the Pirate Emperors.”
The small boat traveled upstream in the waterway, heading toward the town at the center of the island.
The not-so-large boat carried three passengers: Elus, Fran, and Farrug. The warship was too massive to enter the island’s waterways, so it had to stay at the port with the main force. Elus brought the maid and subordinate lightly equipped to capture this prey.
“I see! A fighter, huh? Back at my home in South Blue, I fought in the arena too!”
“Eh? You’ve been in an arena?”
“It wasn’t a very famous arena, just a boxing ring organized by underground forces in the kingdom. Its influence only reached a few nearby kingdoms, but that’s where I earned my first big sum of money in life through matches— a full five million Beli…… I wanted to use that money to save my teacher’s dojo……”
“And then?”
The story suddenly stopped. Elus impatiently slapped the table.
“Teacher had a terminal illness. All the money was spent without curing him. After teacher died, the dojo went bankrupt. I can’t teach students, and my reputation isn’t as good as teacher’s…… But I can make the strangling technique teacher taught me famous throughout the world, so I came to the Grand Line, only to get crushed in the New World. What happened after that…… you already know.”
“Alright! That’s boring!” Elus rolled his eyes boredly.
“Huh? If it’s boring, Your Highness, don’t ask! Talking about this stuff is embarrassing.” Farrug couldn’t help roaring.
“Shut up. Keep making noise and I’ll throw you off the boat to swim the rest of the way.”
Fran gave him a cold glance.
Her crimson eyes were so cold that they made Farrug’s bones faintly chill. He didn’t mind swimming the whole way, but being thrown off the boat by a little maid…… that would be lame! Even knowing the maid in front of him could crush him effortlessly, his pride still didn’t want that to happen.
So,
“Ahem, Your Highness, I never asked before, but this is Whitebeard’s territory. Is it okay for us to barge in without even saying hello?” Farrug’s voice was three degrees quieter than before.
“……Should be no problem, right?”
“Huh? You really…… didn’t say hello to Whitebeard?” Farrug’s eyes widened.
“……I figured we’d grab our champion mister and leave. No need to make it that troublesome, right? Move fast, and afterwards it’s at most a verbal spat. Yeah! No problem, as long as everything goes according to plan, there won’t be any issues.”
Farrug fell silent.
Well,
Barging into Whitebeard’s territory without a single greeting—tigers don’t care if a few monkeys show up on their turf, but when another tiger intrudes, they’ll react immediately to kill or drive out the invader.
Hopefully they can leave before the Whitebeard Pirates arrive at Water Wheel Island.
Otherwise,
With so few of them, facing the fully equipped Whitebeard Pirates wouldn’t go well. Even if His Highness Elus could hold off Whitebeard that monster, he himself had no confidence in withstanding the ferocious monsters under Whitebeard’s flag. Add Fran, and it might still be tough.
“Your Highness, we’re here.”
Fran got off the boat first. The maid’s long skirt swayed slightly in the wind, her crimson long hair eye-catching like burning flames.
She stood on the dock, like a blooming crimson peony.
But this wasn’t one of those chaotic big cities full of all sorts. Water Wheel Island, picturesque from another perspective, was a genuine rural place. No big cities, just a few small towns on the island. The entire island’s population, including infants in swaddling clothes, was less than 40,000.
“Wow! I had some mental preparation on the road, but…… it’s been so long since I saw such authentic countryside.” Farrug, off the boat, exclaimed repeatedly.
“Isn’t Black Thorn Flower Island considered countryside?”
Elus stepped on the grayish ground, admiring the rural pastoral scenery before him while chatting idly with Farrug.
“Of course not. That dump Black Thorn Flower Island is just a primitive village. Your Highness, don’t underestimate rural places. Without enough fields, it can’t be called countryside.” Farrug looked deadly serious, not like he was joking.
“Hey, what kind of twisted logic is that? By your logic, what are fishing villages?”
“Fishing villages are fishing villages!”
“……Fine! Whatever you like. Now the task is to find our champion mister. With streets this small…… not hard to find at all!” If they were still on the boat, Elus wouldn’t mind bullshitting more with Farrug for fun, but now they were off the boat.
Of course, the mission was time-limited.
Moreover, the mission target was in plain sight.
Fighting Champion—Jess Burgess, was standing next to a ramen cart not far from the dock, holding a bowl bigger than his head and eating ramen.
“Fighting mask, purple hair and beard…… champion’s belt…… Your Highness, this guy?” Farrug pulled out a Navy wanted poster for Jess Burgess from several years ago, compared it to the photo, and felt it was about ninety percent match.
“Didn’t expect to run into him this soon…… My luck is indeed good! Looks like we can wrap up the operation before Whitebeard arrives.”
At this moment,
The ramen-eating champion mister also lifted his head.
He clearly noticed Elus and his group on the dock, and then—
“Smack!”
The big bowl smashed on the ground, shattering to pieces.
Burgess shot off in the direction opposite the dock like a rabbit with an arrow in its butt. The decisiveness and agility of his escape even made Elus praise it inwardly. Burgess’s reaction speed was frighteningly fast.
Perhaps,
He recognized me…… Elus mused thoughtfully.
Even if he wasn’t as popular on newspapers as White Horse, Elus often appeared in the news. Except for those completely uninterested in news, anyone who’s read the newspaper shouldn’t forget impressions of Elus so easily.
“I’ll chase.”
Farrug shouted and darted out like an arrow off the string.
He didn’t doubt Elus’s judgment that he wasn’t a match for the fighting champion, but that didn’t stop him from challenging this fighting champion. If he waited for His Highness Elus or Miss Fran to act, he probably wouldn’t get a chance to test the fighting champion’s true strength personally.
As for delaying too long and the Whitebeard Pirates showing up,
Well!
That’s for His Highness to worry about. He could think about it when idle, but now…… his mind was all on Burgess, anticipating the battle with this fighting champion.
Burgess and Farrug raced one after the other through the town. Splashing sounds of falling into water rang out successively. Burgess didn’t flee deeper into the island but chose to cross the waterway in front of him, seemingly planning to bypass Elus and head to the sea.
“Your Highness, what do we do?”
Fran watched the two contending in the water and asked softly.
“Since Farrug wants to try, let him try first.”
Elus had talked about quick battles earlier, but now he remained unhurried.
“That increases the chance of running into the Whitebeard Pirates. According to intelligence, Water Wheel Island is exactly the next stop for the Whitebeard Pirates who are on the move. And Jess Burgess coming to this rural place like Water Wheel Island at this time—maybe it’s related to the Whitebeard Pirates. Touching Jess Burgess might anger Whitebeard.”
Fran frowned as she spoke.
She looked around, unable to figure out why Burgess would come to this rural place without arenas, and not for a short stay—from intelligence, he’d been here over a week.
Could this be Burgess’s hometown?
Or really connected to the Whitebeard Pirates.
If the former, no big issue, but if the latter…… that could be trouble!
“The fighting champion has nothing to do with Whitebeard. Of course, us barging into his turf without greeting and fighting would definitely anger Whitebeard, but…… ever since the last fight with Kaido, he hasn’t fought anyone. My hands have been itching lately.”
“……You’re doing this on purpose?”
“Haha! I really forgot.”
Fran stared at Elus for five or six seconds, then helplessly turned away. “If you say so!”
The master and servant bickered on the dock.
But the fighting champion mister was fleeing for his life. He spread his Observation Haki to the max, running through the fields at his lifetime fastest speed, swimming in the water…… His mind was filled with fear and unease, his brain like mush, unable to comprehend why the Black Prince was here.
But though his brain hadn’t figured it out, his body’s intuition had already sent warning signals.
Thus,
He fled without hesitation.
Choosing to run when unsure why the Black Prince was here, and then the Black Prince’s subordinate chasing closely proved his intuition correct—the Black Prince was after him. Just…… damn it, when did he ever provoke this monster?
“Damn it, damn it!”
“Damn beast!”
“I’ve never provoked the Black Prince! Why?!!”
Confusion, incomprehension, indignation, despair, unwillingness…… a jumble of emotions nearly made him break down screaming.
Fortunately, the fighting champion wasn’t just for show. The mindset honed from deadly fights against different enemies in arenas let him suppress the sudden chaos in his heart. Observation Haki detected no sign of the Black Prince catching up—seemingly only one pursuer tailing him……
This discovery eased him a bit.
His mind gradually cleared. Once thinking ability returned, he immediately pondered what to do next.
Even though the Black Prince wasn’t in his Observation Haki’s sensing range now, he couldn’t ignore the ‘hound’ following behind. As long as that hound was there, the Black Prince could catch up anytime.
“Take out the guy behind first? Or flee to the seaside……”
He didn’t dare look back, afraid of wasting escape time.
With Observation Haki, he got more intel than a glance back. From the feedback, the pursuer was strong, but not beyond his level. Given time, he could deal with this annoying hound-like tracker.
But if he couldn’t finish the pursuer quickly and got delayed, the Black Prince arriving would mean his failure.
As for fleeing to the seaside first, that was to dive into the sea to evade the Devil Fruit ability user Black Prince’s pursuit, while waiting for the Whitebeard Pirates. But he wasn’t sure if he could hold out until they arrived.
Strictly speaking, neither choice was great.
But in such a hasty, wretched situation, expecting more options wasn’t realistic.
“What to do? Which one? Which avoids the worst outcome…… Damn it! How to choose?” Veins throbbed near Burgess’s temples. Forced to pick between two equally risky choices was infuriating to the point of anger!
