Chapter 375: Chapter 375: Aokiji: Are They Coming for Me?
Chapter 375: Aokiji: Are They Coming for Me?
The gravity on Reiner suddenly disappeared. The black mist on Teach’s hands dissipated. His entire person fell backward, rolling on the ground in pain.
"Kugh, ah!"
"Pain, pain, pain, pain!"
"It hurts so much, you bastard!"
Teach’s face was pale as he wailed, clutching his chest. Blood immediately stained his hands. A dark mist immediately spread over the ferocious, bloody gash that had been cut.
From the exchange of hostages to the sudden eruption of the few, everything had happened in an instant. Some people on both sides were still stunned, but they also quickly reacted and made their move.
"Gear Fourth: Snakeman Form!"
Luffy was the first to leap out. He bit his arm and blew hard. Armament Haki coiled around him, forming dark red patterns on his body.
"Luffy! Stick to the plan!"
Sanji shouted anxiously and charged up right behind him, his right foot covered in Haki and emitting a scorching red light.
"I know!"
Luffy’s eyes focused with a resolute look. He drew back his arm, compressing it like a spring.
"Gomu Gomu no... Culverin!!"
Swish.
A fist shot out explosively, whistling through the air like a swimming snake, its target: Aokiji!
Aokiji, having entered a combat state, was emitting a cold aura from his entire body. He exhaled long puffs of white mist, and a few patches of ice had even formed on the surface of his body.
"Ice Saber!!"
As the cold air converged, two ice blades quickly condensed in his hands, which he crossed in front of him to block.
Bang!!
A violent fist struck them. The two ice blades cracked under the fist’s force and then shattered with a roar.
"Ara, ara. This power is really exaggerated."
Aokiji’s tone was flat as he jumped back. He looked at Luffy nonchalantly, but his heart couldn’t help but pound.
In the rear.
"Nami... you... how could you..."
"Don’t talk right now, Hancock. Sit down."
Nami’s face was full of worry. She supported the extremely weak Hancock and helped her sit down, then quickly turned her head and shouted:
"Chopper! Hurry up and come over here and take a look at her!"
"I know!"
Chopper ran over quickly. He looked at her injuries and at the same time, placed his hand on Hancock’s wrist to check her pulse. An extreme cold instantly traveled from his hand.
"Th-this is a serious injury."
The moment he touched her, Chopper’s eyes widened in shock. Hancock’s weakness was far beyond what it appeared on the surface. It could be said that it was a miracle she was still alive.
"Besides the external injuries, her internal organs are also failing due to being frozen for a long time. Perhaps it’s because she was subconsciously using Haki to protect herself, but her stamina and life force have long since surpassed her body’s limits."
Besides being shocked at the severity of Hancock’s injuries, Chopper also couldn’t help but marvel at her tenacious life force. He looked up at Nami with a grave expression and said:
"This isn’t an injury that can be treated simply, Nami. She must have a professional medical environment and medicine. I need to operate on her immediately. Otherwise..."
"How could this be...!"
Nami’s pupils dilated. Worry, anxiety, anger, and other emotions flickered in her eyes.
A professional medical environment and mechanical equipment might be available on the island, but never mind whether they had time to find them now, they might have already been destroyed in the previous battle.
Just as Nami made up her mind and was preparing to stand up and look...
"Nami!"
A familiar voice came from above, from far and near. Nami hurriedly turned her head to look.
"Reiner!"
A figure was jumping over from a rooftop, which reignited a trace of hope in Nami’s eyes. Reiner landed on the ground and, in two quick steps, came to Nami’s and Chopper’s side, squatting down.
"How is she?"
"What do we do, Reiner? Chopper said he needs to perform surgery, but the Merry isn’t here. There’s no environment to perform surgery right now."
Nami said urgently, anxiety in her eyes. In her extreme worry, she subconsciously clenched her fists, her eyes gradually turning red.
"It’s fine. Don’t worry yet."
Reiner put his arm around Nami, patted her on the back to comfort her, and summoned the undead Sukuna. He looked down at Chopper:
"He has fused with Law’s Op-Op Fruit ability and can create a sterile environment suitable for surgery. And there’s also Marco’s undead. He should be able to help you too."
"Really?! That’s great! The flames of regeneration can make up for the lack of external medicine, and with a sterile environment..."
Chopper let out a sigh of relief, the weight in his heart finally lifting.
"The other instruments I brought are barely enough. I can start the surgery at any time now."
"Then we’ll leave this to you first, Chopper. Take Hancock and leave here to find a place for treatment."
"Roger!"
Chopper nodded at him emphatically.
Reiner patted the back of Nami, who was secretly wiping her tears in his arms. He released her, gently ruffled her head, and said,
"You go and protect them, Nami. The surgical process can’t be disturbed. Having us here is enough."
"Okay."
Nami’s nose stung, and she sniffled hard, nodding at Reiner with red eyes.
Soon, Chopper transformed into his human form, princess-carried Hancock, and ran towards the inner part of the island. Nami quickly followed to cover him.
Reiner also turned his head, his gaze returning to the battlefield.
According to the plan, Zoro, in coordination with his undead, would be responsible for intercepting Blackbeard. The four cadres—Van Augur, Lafitte, Vasco Shot, and Catarina Devon—would be left to Usopp, Brook, Franky, and Robin.
As for the remaining Aokiji...
"Destruction Wind Leg: Beef Burst!!"
Sanji let out a low shout, leaped into the air above Aokiji, and stomped his feet rapidly in the air, creating ’pa! pa!’ sonic booms. His body dived down from above at high speed!
A layer of white, semi-transparent energy was wrapped around his scorching red leg. Sanji bent his body and spun a few times in the air, and as he came before Aokiji, he swung his leg like a battle-axe!
"Hey, hey, hey. This move is a bit dangerous."
"Ice Wall!!"
With a wave of his hand, which was emitting a cold aura, a hard ice wall condensed out of thin air in front of him.
Boom!!
The heel, carrying a scorching high temperature, struck the ice wall. The explosive power of the tremor burst out, engulfing the ice wall and Aokiji behind it!
The hard ice wall exploded with a roar, and debris scattered. Under this force, even the earth was blasted, and rocks and soil rose up.
Bang!!
Aokiji’s entire person was sent flying by the impact. His back crashed heavily through a wall and out of a house. A cloud of smoke and dust rolled up, and the house collapsed with a roar.
"...The Tremor-Tremor Fruit."
Aokiji’s body fell from the yellow stone slope. He landed on the ground, half-kneeling, raised his hand to wipe a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, and his gaze was fixed on Sanji.
Whether it was its destructive power or its range, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was second to none. In terms of pure offense, Sanji’s threat to him was not in the least bit inferior to Luffy’s.
"What an unforgettable power. This is really troublesome. This fight really isn’t going to be easy."
Aokiji stretched out his hands in front of him. He pressed his thumbs and index fingers together and flicked them, shooting out two beams of freezing impact at Luffy and Sanji!
"Ice Time Capsule!!"
The frozen impacts streaked across the ground. Wherever they passed, the earth was instantly frozen into a smooth, mirror-like, hard ice surface.
Luffy and Sanji didn’t dare to be careless, and they leaped to the side, one on the ground and one in the air.
"Where’d that guy go?!"
After dodging the attack, the two looked again, only to see Aokiji’s figure pulling back. At the same time, he waved his hand, condensing and shooting out hard ice.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!!"
A giant ice bird, lifelike, spread its wings and flew fiercely over!
"Gomu Gomu no... Spiral Snake Cannon!!"
Luffy let out a violent roar, his stretched-back arm twisting tight like a rope as he smashed it at the blue-and-white ice bird!
Bang!!
The Haki-wreathed fist and the ice bird’s sharp beak collided, and a chaotic wind pressure blasted out.
The stalemate lasted for no more than a few seconds. The high-speed rotating fist, like an impact drill, broke through the hard ice and shattered the ice bird!
"Don’t even think about running!!"
Luffy’s eyes hardened angrily. He stomped on the ground, and his entire person shot at Aokiji like a cannonball. Sanji followed closely behind.
Soon, Reiner also joined their battle.
The four of them chased and were chased. Aokiji retreated while launching moves, continuously weaving and tangling through the dense cluster of buildings.
Hey, hey, hey! Shouldn’t Teach be their main target? Why are they all coming for me?
Aokiji frowned, a little bewildered.
He could still handle Luffy and Sanji. But with Reiner added, he had absolutely no chance of winning in a frontal confrontation.
Aokiji knew this in his heart and could only do his best to stall until the others came to support him.
But...
His peripheral vision quickly scanned the other directions. Never mind if he could hold on until someone came to support him; the others were probably unable to even save themselves.
On the other side.
Using the Alco-Alco Fruit to create alcohol bubbles that floated in the air, the slightly fat Vasco Shot, his face flushed, looking somewhat drunk, sat on a bubble, holding a giant wine gourd.
"Shugoro!!" (Drunken Blazing Furnace!!)
Vasco Shot tilted his head back and took a big gulp of wine. He puffed out his cheeks and spewed a giant ball of flames at Franky below!
"Mini Coup de Vent!!"
Bang!!
Franky cupped his palms, and the iron pipe connecting them swelled a circle. A ball of powerful impact wave shot out from the muzzle!
Boom!
Even if it was a power-saving mini-version, the power of the Coup de Vent was still extremely strong.
The shockwave hit the ball of explosive flames and blasted a vacuum in it. Franky grinned and jumped through.
"Using highly flammable alcohol to enhance the power and range of the flames? This move is very dangerous... for you, that is."
Franky stuck close to the other’s front, took a deep breath, and puffed out his chest.
"Franky Fire!!"
Whoosh!!
Before Vasco Shot’s shocked eyes, a ball of explosive flames spewed fiercely from Franky’s puffed-out mouth!
Under his control, the power of this ball of flame was not great, but its coverage was very wide, covering the entire area in front. The unavoidable Vasco Shot was instantly swallowed by it.
Rat-tat-tat!!
Before Vasco Shot could be surprised by the attack’s ordinary power, Franky pulled back and, at the same time, raised his hand and flipped open his wrist. His Weapons Left spat fire, and a dense barrage of bullets shot into the flames, their target: the wine gourd in Vasco Shot’s hand.
"This is bad!"
The moment the wine gourd was shot full of holes and the liquor flowed out, Vasco Shot’s pupils instantly constricted in shock.
Boom!!!
The sound of an explosion spread with a violent impact. A pillar of fire, mixed with thick smoke, rolled up into the island’s sky.
"—Whoa! That was a SUPER powerful explosion!"
Franky raised his hand and looked on with a teasing smile.
"And now for the finale..."
Crackle—!
A golden light flashed. It quickly gathered in Franky’s cupped palms, aimed at the charred black figure that was falling from the sky.
"Damn it!"
Vasco Shot gritted his teeth and cursed. Seeing the dazzling light in Franky’s hands, his pupils constricted in shock!
"That’s...! The Pacifista’s laser?!"
"Shu Pao!" (Sake Bubble!)
Vasco Shot, with no leverage in the air, hurriedly pouted his lips and spat out a large bubble below him. He stepped on it and was about to push off.
However.
The speed of light was faster than him!
"Franky Laser Pistol!!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Swish! Franky let out a low shout, and four laser beams were fired in succession!
"What?!"
Vasco Shot cried out in alarm. One laser beam shot where he had just been, pierced the bubble, and caused an explosion. The other three laser beams followed closely, shooting towards him at high speed.
Although it was only half-upgraded and hadn’t solved the disadvantage of the initial charge time being too long, after the charge was completed, Franky could already achieve continuous, rapid-fire lasers.
Vasco Shot began to spit out bubbles again, trying to dodge the attack in the same way as before. But his movements couldn’t possibly be faster than the already-fired lasers.
Swish!
Before the sake bubble could form, the three laser beams, almost at the same time, pierced through his body!
Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!
Three explosions of exaggerated power bloomed in the air like death’s fireworks. The deafening roar echoed throughout the sky above the island.
"Well done, Franky."
Seeing this scene, Usopp, standing in the center of the street, couldn’t help but praise him excitedly.
He turned his head back and looked at the opponent before him, his eyes once again becoming serious.
At this time, the empty street was covered in colorful plants of all kinds.
From a distance, this stretch of green, permeated with the fragrance of grass and trees, seemed a bit out of place on this island of Hachinosu, which was full of ferocious pirates.
Only upon closer inspection would one discover that this so-called ’greenery’, with its hundred flowers vying for beauty, was actually covered in ferocious man-eating flowers, sharp bamboo forests, shuriken-shaped sharp flying leaves, exploding pinecones...
All kinds of weapons used by mankind in war to this day had all been turned into seeds with hidden mechanisms and appeared in the form of plants on this lawn.
[War Lawn!]
The new Usopp-style tactic used during the duel with Izo had appeared again.
"What a troublesome ability." ×2
Usopp and Van Augur thought at the same time.
After laying out the plant field, Usopp had thought that victory was in his grasp.
However, Van Augur had suddenly displayed a very tricky teleportation ability. Most of the traps had lost their effect.
This tactic, which should have been used to infinitely wear down the opponent, had, on the contrary, wasted a large number of seeds and had become a drain on himself.
However, Van Augur also felt that the current situation was very troublesome.
As the area of the field grew larger and larger, almost covering several nearby streets, the footholds available for him to teleport to also became fewer and fewer.
The reason why this island was called Hachinosu (Beehive) was precisely because of its dense buildings and complex terrain. Super long-range sniping was difficult to perform here.
As for alley fighting, the other was using dual pistols, and his rapid-fire ability already suppressed him. And now the other had seized the favorable terrain...
The two were now in a stalemate. Neither could do anything to the other.
Usopp and Van Augur both frowned, their minds racing as they thought of a way to break the stalemate.
(End of Chapter)
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