Ronan reached out with his right hand and gripped the icy shaft of the spear.
"Up!"
He barked low, powering through with one arm.
That iron spear—well over a hundred kg in weight—rose steadily in his grasp.
The heavy, sinking pull in his hand filled him with a long-lost sense of solidity.
In both his past life and this one, this was the first weapon he could truly call a heavy weapon—no more brittle, snapping wooden sticks.
"Good spear," Ronan praised.
Then he stepped back, waist and stance merging as one. His spine rolled like a great dragon, force surging through his arm and pouring straight into the spear.
"Beng!"
His wrist snapped—like a black dragon bursting from the sea, the spearhead shuddered violently, and a crisp crack rang out, sharp as thunder!
It was a sonic pop—air compressed and blasted apart by the spear's high-speed tremor.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Ronan flowed into motion.
In his hands, the long spear seemed weightless—shaking, hooking, thrusting, stabbing, lifting…!
Just a few simple movements, yet they kicked up a gale.
Inside the cramped smithy, dust swirled violently, whipped up by the spear's wind.
The heavy iron tore through the air with a menacing wuu-wuu howl, like a tiger growling deep in its throat.
"S-So… so awesome!" Luffy's eyes had already turned into sparkling stars. His mouth hung open. "That's so cool, Ronan! I wanna play with that too!"
Zoro's pupils tightened slightly—but he wasn't staring at the weapon.
He was watching Ronan's presence as he moved.
That seamless unity of man and spear, that explosive force hidden in every strike, made the fighting instinct in Zoro's blood roar awake.
"So this is your real strength?" Zoro's hand drifted unconsciously to his sword hilt, his eyes burning. "Ronan—after we deal with the Black Cat Pirates, we're sparring. Properly."
Ronan settled the spear and slung it behind his back. He looked at Zoro and gave him a knowing smile.
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
In his head, his little算盘 clicked away merrily.
Zoro would become the world's greatest swordsman. A top-tier sparring partner walking right into his lap—paired with the system's combat multiplier—was basically a mobile treasure chest of experience. He'd be a fool not to farm it.
"That thing's so heavy…" Usopp swallowed hard, staring at the thick shaft, his face turning green. "Forget the spearhead—if that shaft hits you even once, your bones are gonna snap…"
Nami watched Ronan swing a hundred-kg spear like it was a toothpick and couldn't help muttering, "You guys are all freaks… but fine. I guess that five thousand berri was worth it."
…
The Coastal Slope
This was the only route into Syrup Village.
Steep rock walls on both sides. A narrow dirt slope rising up the middle.
A perfect choke point—easy to defend, hard to assault.
Morning sunlight was bright.
Usopp was bent over with his butt in the air, sweating buckets as he dumped barrel after barrel of oil down the incline.
The yellow-brown grease slid down the slope, gleaming slickly in the sun.
"Hehehe…" Usopp wiped his forehead, admiring his handiwork with pride. "Ronan, don't underestimate this! This is my masterpiece—Super Slippery Hell!"
"As soon as they charge up, they'll slip and crash flat on their backs! Then we take them out in one go!"
With the Zhangba iron spear on his back, Ronan stood at the top of the slope, looking down. He shook his head helplessly.
"Usopp, this only buys a little time."
He didn't sugarcoat it.
"For real pirates—especially desperate ones—this kind of trick just makes things annoying."
"They can lay down bodies to make a path, or just destroy the ground."
"W-what? Use bodies as a path?" Usopp clearly hadn't grasped how ruthless pirates could be. His face went white.
"But—"
Ronan's tone shifted. His gaze narrowed as a ship bearing a black cat emblem came into clearer view on the horizon.
"As an appetizer, it'll make them miserable. That's enough."
"They're here."
Zoro, who had been silently watching the sea, spoke at last. He tied on his dark green bandana, and his eyes turned cold as ice.
Luffy lowered his straw hat and stepped to the front, sea wind tugging at his red vest.
Ronan drove the iron spear into the earth with a heavy thud.
His blood began to accelerate, building momentum. The [Perseverance] system felt like it was already coiling to spring.
"Now that the spear's in my hands…"
Ronan stared at the approaching ship, the corner of his mouth lifting with a warrior's fever.
"Today, I'll use the Black Cat Pirates… to christen my Xingyi Thirteen Spear."
…
The morning wind slid along the cliff walls, moaning low.
Sunlight tore through the thin mist and glittered across the sea, but it couldn't warm the slope that was about to be stained red.
A massive pirate ship—like a black beast—slowly lowered its sails and pressed toward the shore with suffocating pressure.
Its prow, shaped like a huge black cat, looked especially vicious in the shadow.
With a crash, the gangplank dropped.
A slender, eerie figure stepped down first.
He wore a deep-blue top hat. Over his nose sat a bizarre pair of heart-shaped glasses. Lightning-bolt whiskers framed his chin.
He walked with a strange, moonwalk-like glide—keeping that ridiculous yet unsettling rhythm even on the rocky sand.
Jango, hypnotist and vice-captain of the Black Cat Pirates.
Behind him, pirates poured down the plank like a tide—faces twisted, curved swords and axes waving, greedy eyes fixed on the quiet village up the slope.
Jango glanced at the sky, thinking of Captain Kuro's cruelty, and shivered.
"We need to get in fast… If Captain Kuro gets impatient, we'll all die."
He snapped his arm out, pointing at Ronan's group blocking the slope.
"Men! Flatten those roadblocks and march into the village! That rich young lady is waiting for us to harvest!"
"OOOAAAH—!!"
Dozens of pirates howled like beasts.
Bloodlust and greed burned in their eyes, red and violent. Like starving wolves unleashed, they raised their weapons and charged up the narrow incline.
Shouts exploded. Dirt and pebbles flew.
Ronan stood at the top, watching the swarm below like ants, expression calm.
Behind him, Usopp was sweating through his palms, eyes locked on their feet.
"Come on… come on… a little closer…"
The moment the first dozen pirates hit the middle section—the patch that looked merely damp—
"Skrrt—!"
Something went wrong.
The once-firm dirt suddenly turned slick as ice.
The lead pirate's foot shot out from under him. He lost balance instantly and slammed down hard, limbs flailing.
"Ow—!"
"Damn it! What is this?!"
But that was only the beginning.
The pirates behind couldn't stop in time. Like falling dominoes, they crashed straight into the bodies already down.
Bam! Bam! Clang!
Weapons hit the ground. Bones collided. Curses and panicked shouts tangled together.
Dozens of pirates rolled into a heap on the grease-smeared slope—like meat boiling in a pot—thrashing and yelping, unable to stand no matter how they scrambled.
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