21 Top [Part 4]

|Osamu's POV:|

...

How is it possible?!

All that was left for me was to cut in half that damn brat that had caused me so many problems for once and for all.

What's more, I had also blocked his vision, so he didn't even know where he was standing at the moment, thus making him an easy target. All that I needed to do, was to strike a vital spot in his body and that annoying pest would be finally done for!

...

But why...?

-Swiiiing!!-

-Swuuuushh...!!-

-Swish!-

Why can't I damn hit him?!

No matter how much I swung my sword, and no matter how much I increased my speed, the body of the brat seemed to be becoming more and more unreachable with each attack that he dodged.

"Ahhhhhh!! Just dieeeeeee!!!"

Screaming my lungs out with a desperate tone, I increased my speed to the limit and started swinging at that brat's vital spots at a ferocious rate while ignoring completely everything that was happening around me.

However, no matter how much I tried, even with my increased speed, none of my attacks were actually connecting with the kid's body... Even when he had his eyes covered with ink.

My flexible and liquid body made my attacks with the sword several times faster and stronger than regular people, making my arm and the sword act similarly to a whip. However, even with my amazing speed, the kid was simply dodging everything so easily as if he was playing with me.

Just with what kind of monster did I just start a fight with?!

'Hmm?!'

Suddenly, I noticed the movements of the kid slow down and his posture change to one completely open and ready to take on my attack. It seemed like he planned to counter-attack somehow, even when I was still attacking him.

'You think you can really counter-attack when you are not able to see anything?!'

Feeling my anger rush up to my head, I gritted my teeth and rapidly changed the trajectory of my sword to immediately cut apart his arm the moment he tried to counterattack.

Soon, one of his fists tightened and rapidly moved in my direction, making my eyes open in delight.

'I'll make sure to teach you what it means to overestimate your own luck... Let's hear how you scream when I cut your whole hand in half!!'

-Swish!!-

Swinging my sword directly to his fist which was coming directly toward me, soon a glint of joy appeared in my eyes, and the distance between my sword and his fist became minimal.

I felt my body get filled with excitement as I imagined the bloody mess that his hand would turn into after my attack, and how the beautiful smell of iron would reach my nostrils as I watched that little runt roll on the ground with agony filling his screams.

Truly a marvelous sight!

'You dared to fight ME, the great Osamu of the untouchable body! Now pay the pri-!'

-Ka-shing!!!-

-Crack!!-

Suddenly, the sounds of something cracking reached my ears and stopped my thoughts, as my eyes hurriedly moved to look at my sword.

In just one moment, the sword I loved so much, and that was gifted to me by my father before he disappeared to look for cigarettes, shattered and exploded into hundreds of pieces. All... In just one clash of attacks...

"What?!"

Shocked by what I had seen, I couldn't help but blurt a shocked scream, as my eyes turned completely bloodshot because of the anger I was feeling at the moment.

However, before I was even able to do anything, the enormous recoil of our attacks clashing sent me flying away and made me crash into a nearby building, making me dizzy for a small moment.

-Groan...-

Standing up without any damage to my body, I rapidly looked back at the kid and prepared to lung at him immediately. However, soon I noticed the smug look on his face, despite having his eyes closed because of the ink, and felt my own blood rushing up to my head in anger.

'He breaks my dear sword... and now he dares to laugh at me?!'

For the first time in years, I was feeling like tearing to shreds someone, even if it meant dying for it!

...

|Third Person POV:|

...

Soon, the clash of both, Farid and Osamu began once again, with Farid dodging each and every one of Osamu's attacks, and Osamu not being affected in the slightest by Farid's attacks.

The people around looked with widened eyes at the terrifying clash between the two figures, that despite not being able to hurt each other were still destroying everything in their surroundings at a dangerous pace.

Farid, of course, noticed this and started dodging each of Osamu's attacks so that they wouldn't damage the surroundings that much. However, despite his efforts, actually controlling how Osamu would attack was hard even for him.

His attacks weren't making that much progress either.

'Hit... Hit, for god's sake!'

Frustration was building inside him while seeing how each of his attacks weren't making any damage. Despite him being able to dodge everything now, what was the use of it if he couldn't even damage Osamu in the first place?

'Come on, there must be something that my fist can touch... Focus!'

Tightening his closed eyes, Farid's new "vision" started focusing more and more on Osamu's figure, which, despite the complete darkness that he was seeing, seemed to be irradiating a strong aura that he could feel very well. It wasn't particularly big, but it was still outstanding compared to those of the people spectating their battle.

Seeing it, his fist rapidly moved towards that aura with the hope of finally striking a blow on Osamu's body. However, much like all the other times, it failed to connect and made Farid's eyebrows to frown.

'Come on... If he was really invincible then his bounty would be several times higher... There must be something I'm missing'

Concentrating more and more on Osamu... Farid soon started losing concentration on their battle, and as a result, his movements soon started turning sluggish and some of Osamu's attacks even started actually hitting him.

However, for Farid, each and every one of these attacks felt distant... He was currently too focused on hitting Osamu to actually care about them.

'Something... Something that I can touch...'

However, no matter how much he tried, Farid couldn't find anything to solve his problem.

No matter where he looked, there was nothing that Farid could touch or hit. Even if he tried, his fist would always bypass his objective, as if it was made out of thin air.

Farid's concentration was so actually so big at that moment, that without noticing at some point in the battle he had become a punching bag for Osamu. Furthermore, he wasn't even dodging anymore, so all of Osamu's attacks were directly landing on Farid's body in a violent way.

Of course, this only delighted Osamu to no end.

"Hahaha, what's wrong, kid? Did your spirit from a moment ago really disappear so suddenly?!"

-Bam!!-

Farid's body continued being plummeted down on the floor by Osamu's ferocious punches for a while, as Farid didn't make a move even after blood started coming from his mouth, albeit in a very small amount, and probably because his mouth had gotten injured after one of Osamu's hits.

However, even then, Farid's concentration didn't waver, and he just continued focusing without minding his badly beaten body.

'Just what is it... that I'm not seeing?'

A small thought passed through his mind as he continued failing to find anything... A thought that made him ask himself a very important question.

'Am I... lacking something?'

Farid's inner voice echoed within his mind like a drop in an enormous and silent room, making him, for the first time since the battle began, look at himself in wonder.

There, he "saw" his own aura. It was indeed bigger than the one from Osamu, however, he felt that there was something different.

'What's...?'

A small flame... Or it felt like that at least...

His mind thought of several possibilities... However, not being able to get to a clear answer, his mind focused on another completely different matter.

'If I myself can't touch him... would this flame burn him?'

Moving his hand to touch the flame and use it to burn Osamu, Farid was suddenly met with his own body blocking his access to the flame and stopping him from moving his hand any further.

'It's inside my body...?'

Frowning slightly, Farid entered into deep thought, before a sudden idea appeared in his mind.

Entering into deep thought

'If it's inside my body... Then... can I control it?'

-Bam!!-

"What's wrong with you and your stupidly sturdy body? I feel like I'm punching iron!"

Doing his best to ignore Osamu's angry voice, and the pain running through his body, Farid's completely shut down his senses, as his mind started focusing entirely on feeling the flame inside his body.

Then he felt it... However, unlike what he expected, the flame actually felt very familiar, as if he had felt it several times before across his life.

It felt invigorating... Something that would allow him to continue standing, even in the most difficult of the situations...

A feeling that he got when he was being alienated by the other orphans, and that allowed him to continue smiling and trying to regain their trust... A feeling that he got when he was attacked by surprise by the first pirate he met, back then when he was still not as strong as he was now, and that allowed him to stand up again and fight back...

Yeah, he remembered the name of it.

'Willpower...'

...

Back in the outside world, where Osamu was still beating down Farid's unmoving body, the raspy and hard breaths of Osamu soon started becoming evident after two whole minutes of punching Farid's body non-stop had passed.

It was only after that happened, that Osamu finally stopped punching Farid and took a step back to recover a bit of energy.

"Huff... Puff... Come on, was that really all? Why were you acting so smug earlier, then?" Looking down at Farid's unmoving body, Osamu cleaned the sweat on his forehead with a satisfied expression, before both of his hands reverted to their normal form and patted his clothes to shake off all the dust that had accumulated on his body.

Soon, however, looking at Farid's completely unscathed appearance, Osamu frowned as he clicked his tongue in disgust.

"This fucking monster... Well whatever, I still won in the end. His insides were probably not as sturdy as his exterior, so they probably couldn't handle the power of my powerful blows and rapidly turned into minced meat after receiving too much damage, despite him still looking fine right now"

Patting his hands for one last time, Osamu turned around and started walking away. Not without, of course, looking at all the spectators, who were now looking at him with faces filled with fear, with a vicious smile on his face.

'Now they will spread my fame, and my name will reach even more distant places! The legend of me, Osamu, the next Pirate King, has just begu-!'

"He got up!"

"I knew that one simple pirate wouldn't be enough to take down the legendary Midget bounty hunter!"

"Look, he even looks completely fine after taking on so many punches!"

Suddenly, however, the sounds of cheers reached his ears and made him widen his eyes in shock.

'Don't tell me...?!'

Turning around in a hurry, Osamu looked at the spot where he had left what he thought was the corpse of Farid before he noticed that his opponent was actually standing in front of him completely fine.

Farid's mask had completely broken apart after Osamu's rampage. Thus, for the first time since they had met, Osamu was finally seeing Farid's face, which was completely unscathed and uninjured even after receiving Osamu's punches directly.

Unable to comprehend what was happening anymore, Osamu took a step back in fright, before he asked with incredulity Farid the question that had been haunting him ever since he landed a punch on him for the first time.

"D...did my punches not damage you in the slightest...?"

Farid, who heard Osamu's question, tilted his head in confusion and furrowed his eyebrows, seemingly not understanding the question, before he pointed at his nose and made Osamu notice a small trail of blood coming out from one of his nostrils.

"What are you talking about...? You broke my nose"

...

"Hehehe..."

Out of nowhere, Osamu started chuckling in a low voice, before he exploded into laughing like a madman.

"HAHAHAHAHA, You mean to say... HAHAHAHAHA, That the attack that had killed several of my enemies before, and turned them into something beyond recognition, HAHAHAHAHA, only managed to break your NOSE and make you have small bleeding?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"I don't know what's so funny about it. It hurts like hell..."

Frowning at Osamu's maniacal laughter, Farid prepared himself and rapidly threw a punch at him without thinking it twice, making Osamu raise an eyebrow.

Seeing the fist coming on his way, Osamu scoffed and didn't even try to dodge the incoming attack, seemingly thinking that there was no way it would actually hurt him.

"What's that, haven't you learned yet why am I called Osamu of the untouchable bod-?"

However, before he was even able to finish his phrase, Farid's punch directly connected with his face, and sent him flying several miles away, all while leaving a trail of blood behind.

"Hmph, without that devil fruit you are the same as the other pirates, though a very annoying one, honestly speaking"

Scoffing with a disgusted face, Farid rapidly took off his mantle, before he placed it on top of his head to cover his exposed face, and started moving away from the crowd of people that had been spectating the battle.

"My nose hurts like hell... But it will be probably healed tomorrow or the day next after that..."

Caressing carefully his nose, Farid soon turned to look at his own fist, which for some reason seemed to be covered in a metallic luster, before a happy expression appeared on his face.

"Haki... It seems pretty useful"

...

-To be continued-

°°°

(A/N: I made my own approach on how to get Armament Haki in this chapter since in the original series they still haven't explained how Luffy trained to get it. However, for now, let's just say that the method in this chapter was the method that FARID used to get Armament Haki and that the method depends on the person... Probably... Either way, I hope it makes sense.

Now, the last time skip before Farid's infancy finishes has arrived, and with that, the cannon will finally begin, probably...

Also, for that guy that wrote a review about this series not matching its title... Well, it should match from now on, so don't worry)

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