Chapter 461: The Cutest in the World
The sudden entrance of [Mr. Unchained] Biscuit Oliva was a completely different
kind of shock.
Simple, direct, pure muscle, and raw POWER!
With the greatest muscle mass on earth, he had literally ripped a military-grade
steel bulkhead door wide open with his bare hands, genuinely embodying the title
of [The Freest Man on Earth].
No matter how thick or sturdy the door in his way was, it couldn't stand up to
his freedom!
"Hm~~ So you're Guevara?"
Oliva raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, this is our first time meeting
face-to-face. Your face... it's a really nice one."
It wasn't a sarcastic remark; it was a genuine, heartfelt assessment.
A person's lived experiences, willpower, and inner philosophy inevitably carve
themselves into their physical features—this was especially true for warriors.
"——Whether it's little Ren or this Mr. Guevara here, both of you carry
distinguished faces."
Oliva drawled slowly, "You don't put on airs, you don't bully the weak, but
conversely, you aren't plagued by petty arrogance either."
"The scale of your personal magnanimity and raw strength are faithfully
reflected right there in your expressions."
"Just looking at you, it's obvious you aren't the kind of men who let yourselves
get pushed around."
Oliva's obsidian eyes rolled as he shifted his gaze to Ren.
"Little Ren, you look a lot more weather-beaten than when we first met. There
are quite a few new scars on your hands, and I imagine your body's covered in
them too."
"Even if you're still actively evolving, your martial arts have long since
transcended mere physical sports and firmly crossed into the upper echelon of
combat."
Then, Oliva turned back to Guevara.
"And you, Mr. Guevara."
"Even if your domain is small in scale, you're still a young man who has managed
to sit upon the throne of a nation."
"First-class character, first-class intellect, first-class leadership—"
Oliva's gaze darkened slightly.
"Fate has showered you with these gifts, but they come hand-in-hand with a
massive flaw... and it's one I share."
Hearing that, the surrounding gang members blinked in confusion, but both Ren
and Guevara caught the hidden meaning instantly, each putting their hands on
their hips with knowing smiles.
"Indeed."
"That's right—"
Exchanging an amused glance, the two of them spoke in unison with a helpless
shrug: "—Brawling."
"The three of us are getting on in years, but when it comes to fighting, we're
still just as stubborn and sore-losing as ever."
Ren narrowed his eyes in fond reminiscence, the swirling ink-wash landscapes of
his memory flickering around him.
"From dojos to underground rings, then onto grand arenas... after taking the
full loop, we ended right back on the streets, until eventually, nothing else
mattered—"
"..."
Guevara drifted back in thought as well. "Growing from a child into a youth,
passing through adolescence, stepping into young adulthood, and finally becoming
a man—"
"We've all managed to hold onto that one definitive piece of childish immaturity
we should've outgrown somewhere along the way: the absolute conviction that
fighting means winning."
"——"
Oliva offered a gentle, knowing summary. "Once you reach adulthood, candy loses
its appeal. You don't want to play with yo-yos anymore, hide-and-seek gets old,
tops lose their spin, and collecting cards stops mattering—"
"Even so, there's one single thing that refuses to stop: fighting!"
"6—Above is the common thread we all share."
"..."
Guevara caught the subtext in Oliva's words. "Then tell me, what is the decisive
difference between us?"
"Very simple."
Oliva's expression softened into warmth. "Where I've got you beat is who I fight
for."
"Is that so? I can't say I agree."
Guevara furrowed his brow slightly in retort. "A fight doesn't need to be fought
for someone else's sake."
"If you need to rely on an external person or a specific cause to motivate you
to fight—that sounds more like a weakness to me. That's always been my stance."
"Which brings me to this—"
Turning his head to shoot Ren a sideways glance, Guevara looped back to the
question Ren had posed earlier.
"Mr. Oliva, if someone else were to look at you, what kind of fight do they see?
Have you ever thought about that?"
Oliva's mouth curled upward into a faint, deeply earnest smile. "If you fight
me, both of you are going to lose, you know—"
"Because those troublesome questions you're racking your brains over? I found
the answer to those a long, long~~ time ago. I don't even need to think about
it."
Oliva leaned forward slightly, his expression melting into pure, intoxicated
adoration as he raised a hand with a flourish.
"Who am I fighting for? Why, for my lovely girlfriend, of course♡~!"
"What kind of fight do I want people to see? Naturally, it's so my lovely
girlfriend can watch me looking utterly, breathtakingly cool, and fall even
deeper in love with me."
"..."
Everyone: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Everyone: "—????"
With the sole exception of Ren, who already knew what was coming, everyone
else—including Guevara—froze solid on the spot, utterly incapable of processing
Oliva's words.
The man holding the title of Earth's greatest muscle mass...
The Mr. Unchained whose bicep circumference rivaled a grown woman's waistline...
...Just said what now?
The answer arrived immediately, because Oliva was already drowning in his own
wave of emotional bliss.
He wrung his hands, a look of ineffable, blinding euphoria taking over his
features. "My girlfriend is just—she's so—so incredibly cute! She's the cutest
girl in the entire world!"
"..."
"..."
"Ha."
Guevara remained frozen, a bewildered chuckle slipping past his lips before he
could stop it.
"And here I thought the great Mr. Unchained was about to drop some grand,
profound philosophy. Turns out it's just a woman."
"Showing off to impress a girl you're infatuated with... is that it?"
With a smooth glide, Guevara shifted his weight forward, his footsteps fluid and
ghost-like as he glided toward Oliva, curling his right hand into a tight fist.
Whether Oliva was being serious or messing with them, his answer had struck a
deeply annoying nerve in Guevara, making him want to plant a hard right cross
across Oliva's smug jaw regardless.
Right as the distance closed and violence seemed inevitable—Whish!
Ren moved with blinding acceleration, cutting in front of Guevara to stand
between him and Oliva, turning his back to the pirate leader.
"Hold on—"
Ren tilted his head upward, locking eyes with Oliva. "First of all, I need to
correct Mr. Oliva on one point."
"Your muscles might hold the title of world's number one—not many people would
dispute that."
"But claiming your girlfriend is the cutest in the world? That's a bridge too
far. How can you say something so objectively incorrect? I cannot accept that."
Oliva stared down at Ren, his tone souring slightly. "Oh? So little Ren, are you
saying—?"
Guevara stopped in his tracks, folding his arms to watch the show.
He figured Ren probably knew Oliva's girlfriend personally and intended to
expose her as ordinary to burst Oliva's starry-eyed bubble.
To Guevara's utter bewilderment, however, Ren pivoted entirely and doubled down.
"I'm saying my girlfriend is also ridiculously cute. Like, mind-bogglingly,
absurdly cute."
Guevara: "————?"
Oliva: "————?"
"..."
"..."
Both of them: "————??"
The two combatants blinked in unison. Then, Ren continued, chatting about
personal aesthetics with the casual, bubbly enthusiasm of a high schooler
gossiping with his buddies.
"The styling of her hair, those razor-sharp abs and the way her waistline
cuts—it's all just peak cuteness!"
"Her gun-toting, tactical sports style is top-tier, and her eyes are
gorgeous—stunningly, unfairly gorgeous. In my books, she's the absolute number
one in the world."
Ren got more and more animated by the second, flashing a wide, goofy grin. "And
personality-wise? Best match in existence. No debate needed—"
"..."
With those words spoken, Oliva—who had been moments away from blowing a
gasket—instantly deflated, all his irritation vanishing into thin air.
"Ah, I see. Indeed, I suppose I was just letting my happiness run away with me,
messing up the phrasing."
"Our beloved ones... to each of us, they are simply the cutest in the world."
Oliva offered a polite, gentlemanly bow of apology.
Guevara, on the other hand, pinched the bridge of his nose with a helpless,
amused sigh. "Hey, don't look at me, I don't even have a special someone yet..."
"..."
Then, Ren's demeanor snapped.
He exhaled a puff of hot air, his entire aura shifting on a dime. The [Satsui no
Hado] flared around him with feral malice, his face dropping into a dark,
menacing scowl.
"You two... what kind of pathetic tangent are you going off on about 'who you
fight for' and 'what your fights look like'—the second one of which I literally
asked first, only for you to steal my thunder."
"Furthermore, you're currently standing right here in the Three Wolves
District—my turf."
"You're giving me entirely too many reasons to pick a fight. I can't hold back
anymore..."
Ren pivoted slightly, squaring his shoulders to face both Guevara and Oliva at
the same time. He didn't drop into a physical stance, but his invisible pressure
condensed into a tangible weight as he fired off twin shockwaves of kinetic
force.
[RYU: HASHOGEKI (PALM BLAST)]!
Wham-wham!
Almost simultaneously, twin invisible impact waves rippled through the air,
striking Guevara and Oliva square in the cheeks, drawing twin streams of fresh
blood from their noses.
Instantly, the two "beasts" reacted in kind, each whipping a heavy hand forward
to slap back at Ren's chest and face.
KABOOM—!
The resulting concussive pop didn't sound like flesh meeting flesh; it sounded
like a military missile launching at full burn!
Zing—~~~!!!!
Ren's eyelids and lips warped under the concussive shock, his entire body
blasting backward as he rocketed through the air in a horizontal slide.
He crashed spine-first into the distant brick wall, shattering the masonry
instantly under the kinetic impact.
Crash-shatter—!
Flying bricks and pulverized stone rained down in a blinding cloud of dust,
burying Ren completely beneath a mountain of rubble.
"..."
Guevara and Oliva each reached up, wiping beneath their noses to confirm they
hadn't actually been made to bleed, looking slightly dazed by the sudden
escalation.
"Another one of those invisible strikes?"
"Ren... he's really gotten to the point where he can pull off tricks like
that..."
☆☆☆
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