Free Web NovelChapter 43: Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Currently, the only crewmates on Rorschach’s ship with real combat ability were Reiju and Karina. Nami could only count as half.
But against these newbie-village opponents, they could still put up a good fight.
"They all look too weak. Only that bald guy interests me a little," Reiju said, pointing at Daz, who was half-kneeling on the ground.
In reality, even if all of them attacked together, none would be a match for Reiju. But she wanted to test the dodging power of her newly trained Observation Haki, so she picked the most interesting opponent.
"Then I’ll take the okama. He looks like a physical fighter too — perfect for testing my recent training results," Nami said.
"Ah, you two already picked the strong-looking ones. Guess I’m stuck with this guy," Karina said helplessly as she looked at the frail-looking Mr. 3, Galdino.
Still, the Wax-Wax Fruit’s ability was pretty good. It had properties similar to a Logia, plus high malleability and the characteristics of wax. It could be developed in many creative ways and was arguably stronger than Katakuri’s Mochi-Mochi Fruit. Whether it was the stickiness when melted or the hardness when solidified, there was huge potential.
In the original story, it was even used to block Magellan’s poison in Impel Down. Unfortunately, it was given to the wrong person.
If a strong fighter had developed it, it could have reached much higher levels.
Tricky abilities like this were safest in the hands of weaklings — it prevented the seas from gaining more powerhouses.
"Damn it, they’re underestimating us by sending women," Galdino said resentfully.
"Shut up. These women aren’t simple," Daz said gravely. The moment the girls entered a serious fighting stance, their auras had completely changed.
"Mikita, are you interested in the remaining woman?" Rorschach asked, pointing at the leftover Miss Doublefinger, Sadi.
Mikita, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately straightened up and shook her head frantically.
"Sigh, I’ve been training your fruit development these past few days. Why are you still so timid?"
"Captain Rorschach, don’t say that! I was only a mid-level agent before. The gap between me and the top executives isn’t something that can be closed in a couple of days," Mikita said, already half giving up as she hid behind Rorschach, eyes closed, tightly gripping his clothes.
"Sigh, still such a coward. This won’t do. When we get back to the ship, I’ll have to ’educate’ you properly!"
"Alright, let go first. If you don’t, I’ll throw you up there to fight her," Rorschach said helplessly. He was clearly a bit exasperated with Mikita’s behavior, but his words scared her enough to release her grip. She definitely didn’t want to be thrown into battle.
The other three had already engaged their opponents.
Reiju wasn’t attacking directly. She kept using Observation Haki to dodge Daz’s strikes — a great way to farm experience.
Nami and Bon Clay were locked in a fierce fight. Nami had trained her physical techniques the most during this period.
She didn’t want to fall too far behind Karina, so she had been training desperately. With Rorschach’s careful guidance, her progress had been astonishingly fast.
Bon Clay’s physical skills were decent, but his speed was far inferior to Nami’s. He could only defend and counter, but he couldn’t even touch the hem of Nami’s skirt. He was stuck taking hits passively.
On Karina’s side, it was a complete one-sided beatdown. The Barrier-Barrier Fruit was simply too broken. With Galdino’s current fruit development, he couldn’t even scratch her.
She even used her ability to create a sealed space and trapped him inside. No matter how much he pounded, he couldn’t break the defense.
In the end, he turned into liquid wax to search for air, but the space had less and less oxygen, and he eventually passed out.
Seeing that the remaining two weren’t under much pressure, Rorschach stopped paying attention.
With a flash, he appeared behind Sadi. Looking at her curvaceous figure, he unconsciously reached out to test the weight.
At that moment, Sadi felt a blur in front of her eyes. The man had vanished from her sight, and then she felt something strange on her chest.
She looked down, screamed in panic, and jumped away.
"You...!" Sadi stared in horror at Rorschach, who had somehow gotten behind her.
So fast! He got behind me in an instant — we’re not even on the same level.
Sadi smiled bitterly, her eyes full of dread.
But Rorschach simply gave her a thumbs-up.
"Pretty impressive. Unfortunately, you don’t quite match my tastes, and there’s no spot for you on my ship. Consider that little touch just now as payment for sparing your life."
With that, he unleashed Conqueror’s Haki straight at Sadi’s head. This time she couldn’t hold on and collapsed immediately.
"Hehe, what an interesting man. Do you really like that kind of thing so much?" Robin said from the second floor, watching the dramatic scene with amusement.
But the next second, she drew the fire onto herself.
With a burst of Shave, Rorschach appeared beside Robin, sat down without hesitation, and wrapped an arm around her.
"That’s right. If a man doesn’t enjoy that kind of thing, what’s the difference between him and a salted fish?" Rorschach declared righteously, showing no shame whatsoever.
"Hmm, what an interesting man. I hope you really can defeat Crocodile," Robin said. She wasn’t surprised by Rorschach’s sudden appearance beside her. She remained calm with her usual mysterious smile and repeated her earlier words.
Then she gently slipped out of his embrace, turning into flower petals that scattered in the air before reforming into her human form elsewhere. Rorschach didn’t stop her.
"Oh~ So this is what they mean by ’blackening makes you ten times stronger, whitening makes you one-third weaker’?" Rorschach said with some surprise as he watched Robin’s ability.
Her development was already quite advanced, and she hadn’t even needed to cross her arms in the classic pose.
In the anime, Robin always had to make the hand gesture to use her Flower-Flower Fruit. Only in her first appearance did she use it without the pose to maintain an air of mystery.
Did the hand gesture increase the power? Meaning she might eventually be able to use her ability without it?
Rorschach glanced meaningfully at Karina. Her fruit activation had the same requirement.
That "Common Fingers" hand sign — even Bartolomeo could only use one hand with it to create a barrier around his fist.
If developed to awakening, maybe the hand sign wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
While Rorschach was thinking about Karina’s future fruit development direction, his Observation Haki detected a lifeform moving rapidly toward them.
"Reiju, Nami — the main boss is about to show up~" Rorschach immediately warned the two below.
"Don’t say such carefree things! Can’t you see I’m working hard here? This okama’s strength isn’t weak either!" Nami shouted back angrily without turning around.
"Hehe~ Do you need my help, Nami?" Karina asked with a grin from not far away.
"No!" Nami replied instantly.
On the other side, Reiju opened her eyes after hearing Rorschach’s words. She had been fighting with her eyes closed the entire time.
The more Daz attacked, the more alarmed he became. The woman in front of him was dodging all his strikes with her eyes closed — and doing it perfectly. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
He was already covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The pressure Reiju put on him was enormous.
But once Reiju opened her eyes, he was done for.
"Shave."
"Poison Palm!"
Reiju used Shave to instantly appear in front of Daz. Her palm, covered in purple poison, slapped straight toward his heart.
At the same time, a wave of sand burst through the second-floor doors of Rain Dinners and rushed toward Reiju, forming a human shape as it charged.
"Crescent Moon Sand Dune."
But the attack had already been sensed by Reiju’s Observation Haki.
She did a back jump followed by several backflips to dodge, then leaped powerfully and landed in Rorschach’s arms on the second floor, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Captain Rorschach, I was almost hit just now, and you really just sat there?" Reiju said in an extremely seductive voice, lightly tapping her lips with her finger.
Nami and Karina stopped fighting Bon Clay the moment Crocodile appeared and quickly retreated to Vivi’s side.
"Crocodile..." Vivi said with a grave expression, clenching her fists as she looked at the man who had appeared in the hall.
"Hey, is Mr. 1 still alive?" Crocodile asked with a serious face, looking at Rorschach on the second floor without turning his head.
"Cough... barely. But I think I’ve been poisoned," Daz said, clutching his chest as he coughed up blood with difficulty.
"Tch, useless. Mr. 2, take him downstairs. I’ll handle the rest," Crocodile said as he loosened his collar, looking domineering.
Bon Clay, though covered in bruises, was still full of energy.
"Got it, Boss! Daz-chan Nigiru da yo~~~"
Bon Clay danced over in his strange ballet steps, picked up Daz, and immediately ran off. He didn’t forget to take Sadi with him on the way out.
As for Mr. 3 Galdino, Bon Clay had never gotten along with him anyway, so he left him behind.
"So you’re the one who released that Conqueror’s Haki just now! East Blue’s Dual Blade swordsman!" Crocodile said with a grave face, but his tone was extremely arrogant.
"Hehe, Crocodile, I think highly of you. Want to come work under me?" Rorschach said in an appreciative tone.
"What a joke. You’re just a rookie who recently entered the Grand Line. You think learning to release Conqueror’s Haki makes you invincible?" Crocodile’s veins bulged on his forehead. Rorschach’s words had clearly enraged him.
He had been famous for a long time, while the other party was just a bounty hunter who had recently set sail. How dare he talk so big?
"Desert Sword!"
His arm turned into a sharp sand blade and shot straight toward Rorschach. This was only a probing attack.
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