72 Chapter 72: Finding Safety

"Umm, are you sure, Captain? I don't doubt you can easily take care of this beast, but that's only when you're in full health, or at least not on death's door like you are right now." Said Trenza hesitantly while backing into a tree, blocking their escape path, causing Trenza to curse internally.

"Well, you don't have to listen to me, Trenza; I can just get rid of the jaguar after it's finished devouring your corpse, as I'm sure your small body won't be enough to satisfy him." Remarked Diddy mockingly, causing Trenza to stop hesitating and throw him on the ground before her.

"ARRGHHH! Fuck, you couldn't be any gentler!? I'm almost dead!" Exclaimed Diddy angrily as he felt his condition worsen, something that anyone would find hard to believe given his current state.

"The jaguar is right in front of us; I don't have time to be nicer. just hurry up and get rid of it!" Yelled Trenza slightly apologetically while pointing towards the jaguar, which was only a few feet away from Diddy.

Clicking my tongue, I ignored Trenza and looked up towards the jaguar, which was currently standing over me; the beast then looked down at me as it opened its jaws, allowing me to see its sharp teeth, which were more than capable of ripping through flesh. Though, maybe to Trenza, it was scary, but to me, this jaguar looked like your everyday house cat; even the wolves I've fought against in Karate Island were more frightening than this, not to mention much stronger.

With its maw wide open, it looked into my eyes, and when it did that, I squinted, doing the same thing I did against that Sea King that was trying to eat Trenza; although it was tough to perceive, I felt some invisible power, which felt slightly similar to the mysterious power Lindbergh and Mini used, emit from my body, causing the previously confident jaguar to be consumed with fear as it instantly closed its mouth and backed away while whimpering.

"Leave unless you wish to become my dinner." Said Diddy while staring dagger at the Jaguar, prompting it to lower its head in submission before turning around and fleeing while constantly whimpering in fear.

Watching the jaguar run off into the distance, I turned back and looked at Trenza, only to see her standing there like a fool as she looked in the direction where the jaguar ran off.

"Tch, are you just going to mindlessly stand there or what, Trenza? It's not like that jaguar is the only beast in the forest; we don't got all day." Stated Diddy while eyeing Trenza, snapping her out of her trance as she approached Diddy and picked him up one more.

"T-That was the same thing you did when facing the Sea King; at that time, I was too annoyed with you to care, but how did you do that?" Asked Trenza in astonishment as she struggled to carry Diddy for more than a minute without being forced to stop and catch her breath, her poor stamina coming back to bite her in the ass in the same spot Diddy did.

"I don't exactly know; all I know is if I focus intently on a person or living being in general, I can cause them to lose any desire to fight me. Though I've only tried this against weaklings that never stood a chance in defeating me in combat, I have a feeling it won't work on strong opponents, especially Freyja or Sebas." Replied Diddy while grunting in pain from being hoisted onto Trenza's shoulder, his face returning right in front of her butt.

"You don't know? How can you have a power you don't know about? That seems very weird to me." Questioned Trenza while leaning against a tree, the same tree the jaguar initially jumped from as she caught her breath before continuing deeper into the forest.

"For the record, this power of mine only awakened during my battle with Sebas, and secondly, it's not my main focus right now, though after fighting against Lindbergh and Mini, I've got an inkling of how to utilize it better." Said Diddy as he gently slapped her in the face with his tail, causing her face to constantly twitch in annoyance.

"Lindbergh and Mini? Are those the people that you fought against, the ones that nearly killed you?" Asked Trenza with a raised eyebrow as she navigated through the forest, passing various wildlife while searching for a temporary residence.

"Yes and No; Mini was the vice-admiral Sebas mentioned and the person you saw flying in the air; he's pretty strong, but not strong enough to leave me like this. On the other hand, Lindbergh was the one I fought against; he's the same species as me, a Cat Mink, and is very powerful." Replied Diddy calmly with his eyes closed as he rested to the best of his abilities while lying on Trenza's shoulder.

"Lindbergh? I'm pretty sure I've heard that name somewhere before; wait, isn't that the name of one of the Revolutionary Army commanders?" Said Trenza with furrowed brows and a thoughtful expression, causing her lack of focus to nearly trip.

"Yes, that's the same person; he's a rather powerful opponent, and if it weren't because I forcefully stopped my heart, It would be impossible for me to have fooled his senses." Remarked Diddy with a feral grin though he was forced to stop as Trenza suddenly came to a halt, causing his face to smack into her butt.

I very much wanted to bite her ass again for suddenly coming to a halt, but considering I could hear the sound of a river, I held back; besides, a river is quite a good find, while Freyja's senses may not be as powerful as mine I know she's capable of following my scent, especially since I've been constantly leaking blood despite my efforts to slow down my heart.

"Should we go over the river? It's got a rather strong current, but it's not too deep, so we should be fine." Asked Trenza, slowly approaching the river while careful of her step lest she accidentally fall into it.

"Don't care, as long as we find a cave or something; however, we should take a quick bath to rinse off our scent; it'll help prevent Freyja from finding me, well, for some time." Mentioned Diddy calmly, to which Trenza reluctantly agreed after noticing her white blouse was now red.

Just as I said, Trenza entered the river with me and started cleaning herself, or really just washing off excess dirt and blood; I, on the other hand, wasn't able to do much, so other than wrapping my tail around a rock to keep me from drifting away, I just floated in place and allowing the river to do its thing.

'I would burn some of my wounds shut, but that'll mess up when my body starts healing on its own; it's better just to let my body do its thing, but the risk comes with Freyja finding me too early, and that'll be bad. Eh, I'll take the risk.' Pondered Diddy as he looked at the night sky while replaying the fight against Lindbergh in his mind.

After a few minutes, Trenza finally finished as she grabbed me and exited the river, though just as she did, I used my tail and ripped her blouse off before tossing it into the water, followed by blasting it with a lightning bolt, burning it to ashes despite it being in the water.

"W-What the fuck, Captain! That was my favorite fucking blouse! I swear, you better have a good reason, or I'm leaving you here to die!" Yelled Trenza angrily as it took all the self-control she had not to drown Diddy in the river.

"Your blouse was too deeply tainted with my blood; a simple rinse wasn't going to disperse my scent; keeping it on would only reveal our tracks." Said Diddy while eyeing her bra, making sure it wasn't stained with his blood; otherwise, he'd do the same thing.

"Okay, but you didn't have to burn it to ashes! I could've just removed it and hidden it by the river; now I'll have to get a new blouse!" Stated Trenza angrily; Diddy's words successfully pacified her somewhat.

"Hmm, didn't think about that, though it doesn't really matter; either way works." Remarked Diddy with a thoughtful expression before shaking his head and closing his eyes, his words only fueling Trenza's anger.

"Ugh! I would've left you to die if it weren't because I've already helped you so much! Fucking, Captain!" Said Trenza angrily as she continued walking deeper into the forest, figuring it would be a waste to leave Diddy alone after coming this far.

For the next hour, Trenza continued hauling me while walking through the forest, and it wasn't until shortly after we finally stumbled across a cave on the side of a hill.

"Well, it's not that clean or nice, but at least it doesn't smell that bad; most importantly, I can finally take a break!" Said Trenza with a large smile as she set Diddy on the ground, gently this time, and shortly after she did that, she collapsed on the ground beside him while panting in exhaustion.

"I-I'm t-tired; I-I'm g-going t-to sleep." Added Trenza as she wordlessly drifted into a slumber.

Seeing Trenza sleeping, I very much wanted to smack her awake, but I held myself back; I could tell she was utterly exhausted, and besides, awakening her wouldn't do much other than her being angry with me.

"Haa, whatever; I need to sleep as well; hopefully, by then, I'll have healed enough to hunt cause that battle made me hungry." Muttered Diddy as he shook his head and closed his eyes; not even a minute later, he was fast asleep.

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 171: Friendly Banter / Start of V6) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 52: Improvements) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 82: Freyja & Diddy's Battles) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]