Chapter 166: Elbow Strike, Elbow Strike, Or Elbow Strike!
Water Wheel Island.
“Not running anymore?” Farrug, who had chased all the way, looked at Burgess who had suddenly stopped by a waterway, and asked puzzledly.
This place was actually not far from the seaside. Faintly, he could smell the salty sea breeze that hadn’t been soaked by the vegetation. Moving a bit further, he could almost escape into the sea. After chasing such a long distance, if he still couldn’t see the other’s intention, he would truly be a fool.
The Sea is a forbidden zone for Ability Users.
Especially the depths of seawater. It doesn’t need to be too deep; as long as it can block the pursuit of Ability Users, for many non-Ability Users, it is a very useful escape route.
“Taking you to threaten the Black Prince gives a higher chance of survival.” Burgess said it casually, but his mood was extremely heavy. If he could escape, he definitely wouldn’t stay to play tricks with Farrug. It was just that Observation Haki had already detected the Black Prince approaching at extreme speed.
He respectively estimated the distance between himself and the beach, and himself and the Black Prince, and added their movement speeds for calculation… His brain was quite useful. Don’t look at him earning a living with muscle, but his brain was really agile.
At the very least, he could mentally calculate such a simple equation.
The calculated result was that under the current situation, continuing to flee would likely mean the Black Prince catches up before he reaches the beach.
So,
Instead of waiting to be attacked by the Black Prince, it was better to compete with the pursuer behind him. If he could quickly take down the pursuer behind… maybe he could use this opportunity to blackmail the Black Prince and hold out until the arrival of the Whitebeard Pirates.
He was not a Member of the Whitebeard Pirates.
But since he had come to Whitebeard’s Territory, plus some private reasons, he naturally knew some things about the Whitebeard Pirates. Whitebeard’s Territory had its own rules. Pirates or other Lawbreakers were not allowed to cause trouble here. Anyone who dared to make trouble in Whitebeard’s Territory would attract the suppression and crackdown from the Captains of the Whitebeard Pirates.
As for whether they could suppress the Black Prince… Burgess was uncertain.
But right now, he had no more choices.
“……Hmm, you are indeed stronger than me.” Farrug also sensed Elus approaching at extreme speed. He turned his brain a little and immediately understood the reason why the Fighting Champion Mister had changed his mind. From this front-and-back reaction speed, one could glimpse the Gap between the two in Observation Haki.
Burgess’s Observation Haki, not to mention anything else, was already superior to Farrug’s in terms of sensing range.
“New World, truly full of Monsters everywhere!”
There was not a trace of disappointment in Farrug’s eyes, only unstoppable excitement.
A Fighting Champion whose name he had never heard of, with a mere 20 million Beli Bounty, already had such Strength… It seemed that to make his family’s Strangling Technique famous in the Four Seas, he would need even more diligent training. And right now was an excellent training opportunity.
“Fluctuation·Elbow Strike.”
The Attack arrived in front of him in the next instant.
The right elbow of the one wearing steel armor heavily thrust toward Farrug’s chest. Farrug shuddered, his arms covered in Armament Haki crossed and blocked in front of his chest, blocking Burgess’s elbow strike… Of course, it couldn’t be that simple.
There were deliberately crafted holes in the iron armor on Burgess’s right arm.
Using this special Structure, the impact force of the elbow strike transformed into a visible air ripple Shockwave. Farrug flew out like a kite with its string cut, thrown under the sweep of the storm. And this… was just the beginning.
The Fighting Champion Mister, who had decided to take down Farrug before the Black Prince arrived, showed no mercy and unleashed his most ferocious Attacks with full power, like a storm of continuous strikes constantly landing on Farrug’s Body.
Spiral·Elbow Strike.
Unbreakable·Elbow Strike.
……
All the Attack moves without exception were elbow strikes, and all of them were so fierce that they made one spit blood—really spit blood. Farrug had already vomited several mouthfuls of Fresh Blood. It was just that the black Clothes weren’t very noticeable, but the bloodstains at the corner of his mouth that he hadn’t wiped away were very conspicuous.
The Gap in Strength was so obvious.
Farrug now already had Vice Admiral level Combat Power. However, the Navy Vice Admiral level was actually divided quite vaguely. Even excluding outlier Combat Power like Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Strength Gap among Navy Vice Admirals was still huge.
Veteran Vice Admirals with strong Strength could spar with the pillars of Yonko Crews.
Bottom-tier Vice Admirals would be defeated by mid-level leaders of Yonko Crews.
Burgess was at least one of the future big leaders of the Blackbeard Pirates. Although he was beaten by Sabo, this guy immediately stowed away on the Revolutionary Army’s Warship, infiltrated the Revolutionary Army’s headquarters Base, and finally called the Blackbeard Pirates to rob the Revolutionary Army’s major camp in the New World, and conveniently exposed it…
No matter how you look at it, he was a Fierce Person with tenacious Willpower!
In comparison, Farrug relied on the power of the Hogyoku to elevate to his current Realm, and more importantly, it hadn’t been long since he obtained that miraculous power. He lacked the Accumulation of time. If given more time to temper, he might not end up in this miserable state.
Of course, saying “if” at this time was useless.
Farrug was no match for Burgess right now; that was an ironclad fact.
“One last shot, lie down for me!”
Burgess raised his elbow and charged at Farrug who hadn’t landed yet, colliding with Farrug’s chest like a Sea Train at full throttle. “Fluctuation·Elbow Strike.”
“Pfft!”
Another mouthful of blood sprayed out.
However,
“What?”
Burgess felt the huge pressure on his neck, his breathing affected.
He was strangled by Farrug.
“Hey! Don’t treat me like a sandbag! Champion.”
Farrug’s teeth were blood red. He clung tightly to Burgess’s back, his arms like a giant python tightly strangling Burgess’s neck, his legs like a giant snake pressing down on Burgess’s arms. This was… Great Serpent Strangle.
“Using the same move a second time, you’re too underestimate people! Now, taste the bitter fruit of your arrogance!”
While using words to disrupt Burgess’s Attention, he continuously tightened his arms and legs, trying to make Burgess lose the ability to resist.
“My mistake, shouldn’t have used the same move twice.”
“Also, your Agility and flexibility are very good, it’s just… your Strength is too small. With this little Strength, it’s not easy to strangle me.”
Burgess didn’t fall. He stood on the rural path full of deep pits, immovable like a tower cast from molten iron. No matter how hard Farrug tightened his arms and legs, he couldn’t make Burgess fall into respiratory distress.
“Saw through my Attack, then used the moment of my Attack to climb onto my back like a snake… Very impressive Strangling Technique. Among the experts in Strangling Technique I’ve encountered on the fighting stage, few can compare to you.”
His speaking voice was a bit off-key, showing that Farrug’s Attack wasn’t meaningless.
Just,
Relying on this little damage to defeat Burgess seemed impossible.
“Get down here!”
Burgess’s Body suddenly shook violently.
Vast power surged from Burgess’s shoulders and back, like a mountain flood pouring down from the mountaintop, crushing Farrug’s resistance with overwhelming force. The whole person was shaken flying out, and not only the person flew out—several of his Bones were also broken.
“No time to play with you, accept your fate!”
Burgess reached out to grab Farrug’s neck.
Just,
Before his palm touched Farrug’s neck, he suddenly retracted his arm sharply. Wearing steel armor and covered in Armament Haki, his right arm horizontally blocked in front of his chest, like an indestructible great shield protecting his Body.
As he retracted his hand, he had already lifted his head, facing the blinding sunlight toward the Sky. Wings entwined with illusory golden-red flames spread in the backlight, fluttering skirt corners like the wings of a flapping goose, but the layered skirt folds concealed all mystery. Only the sole of the black round-toed small leather shoe kept enlarging in his vision.
Then he heard a “bang.”
Burgess, who had been as immovable as an iron tower, flew out—just like Farrug whom he had sent flying before. Burgess was ruthlessly kicked flying by the diving kick from above, skimming low over the grass for thirty or forty meters before stopping.
“Cough cough! Thank you, Miss Fran.”
Farrug, forcing himself to sit up, coughed up blood while thanking Fran who had saved him.
“His Highness told me to come faster, saying you were about to be beaten to death.” Fran gave Farrug a cold glance, her scarlet eyes as if saying that if not for His Highness’s order, she wouldn’t care whether Farrug lived or died.
Unlike the other Aides-de-camp who grew up together.
Farrug was just a Captive who defected midway. In the Maid Miss’s view, whether such a guy lived or died was irrelevant.
“Cough cough!”
Farrug spat out a few more mouthfuls of blood.
He wiped his mouth with his hand, a helpless smile on his face. Well! This treatment… wasn’t strange! Much better than the early days when she wouldn’t even bother speaking to him.
“Miss Fran, please be careful. That guy’s Attacks are very fierce. His best technique is elbow strikes. When he hit me, it felt like being hit head-on by a Sea Train…” Farrug gritted his teeth enduring the stabbing pain in his chest, summarizing as much intelligence as he could from earlier.
“……He can’t break my Defense.”
Fran said softly.
Under Farrug’s bewildered gaze, Fran, not intending to explain more, turned her sight to Burgess ahead, who had climbed up and resumed his stance.
“……Damn it.”
Burgess spat a mouthful of saliva.
From the corner of his eye, he could see the clear round-toed small leather shoe footprint on his right arm’s armor. Armor forged from hundred-refined steel, plus his Armament Haki trained to an extremely high level—the combined Defense… still left this clear footprint.
Perhaps with the added momentum from diving down.
But the power to withstand that recoil was enough to prove that the seemingly soft and weak Maid in front of him was no pushover. If he remembered correctly, this Maid… was standing by the Black Prince’s side before?
Recalling that blurry image seen briefly, confirming Fran’s identity, his mood soured even more.
This interruption ruined the Plan to capture Farrug that was within reach—truly hateful!
Earlier, Farrug’s counterattack had disrupted his mind, briefly relaxing his Observation Haki monitoring. Plus, this Maid seemed to know the trick to concealing her presence, so he only noticed her when she attacked from right above his head.
Moreover,
He had also figured it out.
The Black Prince was toying with him!
Even the Maid by his side had arrived, but his own presence hadn’t appeared yet… Only one explanation: the Black Prince was playing with him, just like those nasty nobles who enjoy hunting games—clearly able to shoot down the Prey with one arrow at any time, yet always holding back, Enjoying the pleasure called hunting.
However,
Even figuring this out was useless. On the contrary, Burgess had to thank the Black Prince’s playfulness; otherwise, he might not have lasted this long and would already be the Black Prince’s prisoner. But… how much longer could he drag it out? He had no confidence in his heart.
He knew nothing about when the Whitebeard Pirates would come.
All he could do was delay time as much as possible and seek a way out in desperation.
“I heard your elbow strikes are very powerful? Can you let me see them?”
Fran suddenly spoke.
“……No problem, Miss!”
Burgess forced a stiff smile.
Looking at the Maid standing on the dirt mound, gesturing with her hand that he could make a move, Burgess’s mood was heavy. He would rather she acted more serious, more solemn, instead of being this composed and calm, making him uneasy.
If this were in the fighting arena and an opponent dared to act so cocky in front of him, he would definitely make them know the price of showing off with his iron elbow.
But now Fran’s shoe print was left on his armor!
That heavy power, and those not-so-clear illusory Wings… He tried to control the panic in his heart, raised his elbow again, took a deep breath, cleared all stray thoughts from his Mind, and then unleashed his strongest strike with a roar.
“Unsinkable Warship·Elbow Strike.”
The Shockwave scraped off a layer of the ground like a bulldozer. Burgess stood right in front of Fran, still maintaining the posture of raising his elbow for Attack—but
His elbow strike was blocked.
A slender palm entwined with golden-red illusory flames caught Burgess’s elbow, not letting him advance even a single step.
