Chapter 26 A Blowout Victory?
"ONE SWORD STYLE: SHUNJI KAKU" I yelled in annoyance as I completely disappeared from the world, showing off my now over 400 Dexterity and my new and improved eleven-step Soru. Appearing twenty meters away, I turned to see if this attack did damage, hoping I managed to out-speed his bootleg 'elementlization'. Turning my head I dodged a claw stab as I came to a mildly worrying conclusion, I'm not fast enough to out-speed his reaction time.
Jumping back from a clawed jab, as my Haki warned me of another traveling towards my temple I can't help but lament on how absouley annoying fighting somebody with this ability is. Forced to leave close-range combat I flashed backward into a flip and pulled out one of my pistols. Shooting two bullets that pass right through his body. 'I could use my seastone dagger….. But that isn't how I want this part of my story to end. That's so cheap!'
'This doesn't make any sense!' I thought in anger as I dipped another clawed jab and sent a slash with my Jian sword that also fazed through him. 'This has to be copyright, a fucking Kamui Fruit. Good thing I was such a nerd, I know how to beat it. Either outlast him or completely out speed him' Finishing the thought I dip and slip past a flurry of stabs and swipes.
"You know…. You probably have one of the strongest fruits in the world" I said between ragged breaths, small cuts mark my form but not one attack really landed during our thirty-minute exchange. Showing my incredible mastery over Observation Haki. Comparatively, my opponent doesn't have a scratch on him but he's marked with exhaustion, an obvious tell of what his fruit costs him to become a 'ghost'. He seemed interested in the conversation as he stopped his assault to look at me with a calculating look.
"And you have the best reaction speed I've ever seen, almost like you can see everything at once. Very freaky and annoying….. But I'll bite, I ate the Horo Horo No Mi, I'm a ghostly human" He said, causing me to do a spit-take in surprise. 'What the hell kind of ass pull is this, Personas fruit is a special Paramecia?….. She never used it like that, well I guess that explains why our ambush failed….' I thought in annoyance as I remembered the shit show Drake, Monet, and I walked into.
FLASHBACK ONE HOUR AGO....MINION ISLAND
We finally landed on the shore of Minion Island just before the break of dawn, so I decided it would be best to just walk into their camp. Seeing as how it was right next to us, right next to their ship we parked 100 meters away from.
"Alright, looks like we're going in sneaky. Mori, you're in charge of everyone left behind, protect the ship." I ordered, causing him to nod in the affirmative. Sending a look to everyone being left behind I give a slight smile before turning towards the two following me into battle.
"You two know your roles?" I asked.
"Yes Captain" They answered the same but with different amounts of confidence, Drake showed no worry while Monet was a ball of nervousness.
"None of them can hurt you girl…. Just believe in yourself" I said with a smile as I patted her head, her nervousness changed to annoyance quickly as she slapped my hand away.
"Don't pat my head!" She whispered as we walked closer to their camp. Unknowingly a weird ghost-like thing with fat lips heard it all and hurried over to the camp.
"I'm going ahead in case of an ambush, Drake stay with Monet until you can start your fight with the Vice" I advised as I disappeared in a flash of Soru from Drake's nod.
What came next was.... Well, an unideal scenario, dipping past bullets and stray knives for about 5 minutes until a 20-meter ball of fire separated me from the annoyances I took off towards the Captain in anger. Easily catching up to him I slice his head from his shoulders in one quick cut.
{STAB-HEART!}
My Haki screamed as I flashed backward in surprise and mild fear. 'What the hell…. I know I felt resistance'
FLASHBACK END
"Soooo…. I answered yours, you gonna answer mine?" Riser asked, obviously referring to my uncanny ability to dodge his blows.
"Haki, Observation to be exact" I answered with a smirk knowing this North Blue pirate will just be more confused. Surprisingly to me, he gained a look of understanding and mild fear as he changed his judgment of me and began to attack without stopping.
Dipping past his clawed strike I begin to change my flow of combat, if his fruit is anything like I think it is, his hand has to be 'real' to attack me. Quickly I parry his strike, soon we enter a flurry of strikes. Metal clangs as I end up being 'disarmed', using his other claw he stabbed me in the shoulder. Things looked bad until 'Shigure' appeared in my grasp.
I twist my blade upwards and take his hand. Not taking any more chances I grabbed the hand and disappeared in a flash of Soru. Dropping the hand into my inventory just in case.'
"DAMMIT! Ha..ha..ha" Riser said in pain as he grabbed his stump with his other Claw equipped hand. "I bet you thought it would be that easy huh….. Ghostly return" He said condescendingly as he put his palm forward like he was calling for something. Thirty seconds later nothing seemed to happen as he broke out in a cold sweat.
"It's ok man, we all struggle to perform sometimes," I said with a smirk as I held my destroyed shoulder in mild pain. 'Ha, called it. Talk about a seventh sense'
"I'm going to kill you.... Slowly….." He said with rising anger, looking up at me he was greeted by my confused gaze.
"Are you sure?..... You're bleeding out and I'm faster than you….. You're fucked" I said changing my confused look to one of confidence as I disappeared in a slash of Soru, my shoulder injury forgotten. 'I've had worse afterall'
"Appearing in front of him I begin to unleash a flurry of slashes that all pass through him but all knocking his stamina just an inch lower. He tried to counter-attack but It was easily parried as I gave him no room to stop the bleeding from his stump.
But he refused to go down and finally used an ability I recognized, he summoned a gaggle of ghosts.
"Hold him off!" Koro yelled to his minions as I had to make a quick retreat, quickly noticing he was trying to stop his bleeding. I decided to use a weapon I haven't used in real combat. As my hand flies under my coat I can see the fear in his eyes as he stared down the barrels of my pistols. Without fanfare, I fired.... And missed 'Yeah….. Probably should've practiced' I thought with embarrassment. But it did force him to get distracted as I charged past his ghosts and forced him into another flurry of blows.
After an impressive 20 minutes of nonstop combat, my sword finally found purchase. A stab, straight through his neck. Sighing in relief as he slid off the edge of my blade and dropped to the ground.
LVL 47 KORO RISER KILLED
+150,000 XP AND +300 GACHA COINS
SKILLS LVL UP
(INTERMEDIATE) OBSERVATION HAKI LVL 1-(2)/75-USING YOUR WILLPOWER YOU CAN OPEN A SIXTH SENSE TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU, SENSING ATTACKS AND EVEN GAINING AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR THREAT LEVEL OR INTENT. *ABLE TO SENSE DANGER AND STRENGTH LEVEL OF ENEMIES PASSIVELY WITHIN YOUR RANGE
CURRENT RANGE:35-(37) METERS.
(INTERMEDIATE) SWORDSMANSHIP LVL 15/50- THE WAY OF THE BLADE, MANY HAVE WALKED THIS PATH BUT FEW HAVE SUCCEEDED.
CURRENT MASTERY:57% DAMAGE BOOST, 57% DEXTERITY BOOST
'Well damn... I feel like I was way too prepared for this. That or my level of Observation Haki is more broken than I first thought. Anticlimactic for sure'I finished the thought with a sigh as I cleanly sliced his head and put it in my inventory.
'Now whose fight should I watch first? Drakes or Monets…' I thought as I turned to where I left Monet…. Only to see six corpses surrounded by snow with multiple icicles stabbed into them. 'Holy hell... I made a monster. Definitely need to get her a mask, give her the Haku treatment' I thought with a chuckle as I smiled at the girl. Not a hair out of place as she sat on a log and watched Drake's battle. I join her quickly as I turned toward Drake's side of the battlefield
QUEST COMPLETED
HOW TO KILL A GHOUL
OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE GHOST-HAND PIRATES
REWARDS:1,000,000XP,300 GACHA COINS,150 STAT POINTS, (PERFECT) RARE SKILL ORB
LVL UP X2.... 20 SKILL POINTS ADDED
'Well that answers that….. Damn wished I could've seen some action. But damn…. 300 Coins feels like a slap in the face or maybe I'm just spoiled. But hell, I'll definitely take another perfect Rare skill orb, last time I got Observation Haki from one.' I thought with excitement as I dropped it into my inventory.
'And I leveled up twice, feels like it's been forever. But damn I'm getting close to 1 million exp a level' I thought with a sigh as I pulled up my status.
LVL 17 (300,000/855,000XP)
TITLE: FRIEND OF THE BEARD-(boosts learning speed on skills by 15%)
NAME: FATE D. KAL
STR-198
END-337
WILL-269
INT-93
DEX-410
STAT POINTS: 390
GACHA COINS:10,300
BERRIE COUNTER:1,102,658,000
'Seeing my strength being my lowest physical attribute is super annoying…. Makes me want to dump my absolutely dumb amount of stat points into it... Yeah let's just go find the guys before I do something stupid'
POV CHANGE X DRAKE
After sending my fireball blast to separate the Captain from the fodder it was only a few seconds before I spotted my target.
"Monet I'm going in, make sure to play passive against your opponents, figure out their patterns and tells, then attack with overwhelming force!" I said with Vigor as I completely transformed. Looking back to her nod I blast off towards the only one among the trash that looks like he could be a challenge.
Seeing my charge the bastard quickly raised his katana to parry my clawed stab. Deciding to test his speed I began to Soru around him in a pattern, only appearing 'viable' for a split second after each jump.
He seemed spooked over how fast I could move before taking his chance and slashing where he thought I would be. 'The wrong choice' I thought to myself as I ducked under his horizontal slash and slammed my foot into his stomach causing him to be sent flying into a tree. 'Perfect, now all our fights are separated. Don't want the crew to get caught in my new technique' I thought as I decided to go all in and see if I can end this quickly.
Jumping up and hiding behind a tree trunk I grabbed my wrist with my off hand and began conjuring my flames. Focusing first on rotation then containment and finally power. 'It's ready, gotta make sure I get out of the blast radius though' I thought as I flashed directly in front of the swordsman. He seemed to be preparing for me as he began to slash at me vertically. Deciding to risk it, I sidestepped the sword and slammed the condensed ball of fire right into his stomach.
*BOOM*
And like a bomb went off the technique exploded with furry, sending him spiraling backward through several trees, but there was a problem. 'Damn, the ball didn't travel with him, it only pushed him back with the explosion. Making the whole point of trying to incinerate him pointless. It's still not completed' I thought with a sigh as I blasted off toward the direction he flew in.
'Though when it is, it'll definitely be scary' I finished the thought with a sweat drop as I observed the destruction his body caused. What was once a lush forest now had a perfect trail through it. About 70 meters long where uprooted trees and debris were all around, and at the end was a boulder with my enemy smashed into it.
"Hey man, you still alive?" I asked awkwardly, noticing he hasn't even twitched since I got here. I waited about thirty seconds before the guy coughed up blood and fell forward.
"Well damn….. now what should I do… we've never taken a pirate alive besides that one Captain" I thought annoyed about whether to just tie him up or kill him after all the bastard is a pirate.
"Just tie him up, no reason to get your hands dirty." I heard a voice speak from the side as Corazon appeared on the tree above me. 'What the hell, I didn't even hear him!' I thought in surprise and a bead of sweat fell from my beak.
"No reason to act all defensive? Didn't Captain tell you I ate the Calm Calm fruit? I got bored back at the ship and wanted to watch and I gotta say that was impressive." The newest member of our crew said with a smile. 'So another Devil fruit user huh? I've talked with him a lot but I never got a judge on his skill but with a fruit like that he's gotta be around my level' I assessed quickly.
"No he didn't, that's an impressive ability but it has me wondering about something..."
"Ask away Vice-Captain" he answered quickly as he dropped down to stand next to me. Deciding we might as well head towards Monet's fight I waved him over to talk as we walked. Almost forgetting the tied-up pirate I quickly walked back and picked him up.
"You see Kal usually does things a certain way, when he recruits people it usually goes by changing their view of the world, then a debate on why joining him is the best, and then a bribe" I explaind with a chuckle.
"A bribe?" He asked, confused.
"Huh… so that was your fruit to begin with. Well if you didn't already know everyone on the crew except you got their fruits from the Captain. You are the only outlier so it leads me to wonder how he got you to join" I explained my curiosity on the subject.
"Well….. I'd love to tell you but it's kind of personal" Corazon answered vaguely as he lit one of his cigarettes
(A/N. 'Current Crew' Aux has been updated as of this Chapter)