So fast!
Watching Lao Cai close the distance in a blur, Rhea's initial pride vanished, replaced by sharp, hard focus.
This was the first time she had crossed paths with someone whose natural acceleration genuinely matched her own. Tracking the arc of Lao Cai's incoming naginata, she ducked sideways at the last microsecond, letting the blade slice through empty air as she drove her shoulder straight into his forearm.
She poured every ounce of kinetic energy behind the impact. If she connected flush with his elbow joint, she could easily fracture his arm.
CLANG!
Her shoulder struck his forearm, and the sickening sensation of slamming into solid, tempered steel rippled back through her collarbone.
Rhea's eyes widened in disbelief.
Is that some kind of Devil Fruit power? Damn it, how could anyone possess a body as hard as cast iron without even transforming?
Sensing she had failed to break his guard, Rhea tried to vault backward, but the shockwave of the impact left her entire left side temporarily numb. Lao Cai didn't let up; twisting his momentum, he brought his reinforced elbow down in a brutal arc aimed straight at the crown of her head.
Just as Rhea braced for the devastating blow, she felt her perspective violently jerk upward. Lao Cai—who had been standing eye-to-eye with her a fraction of a second prior—suddenly dropped to the level of her shins.
CRACK!
A column of molten magma had erupted directly beneath her boots, lifting her clear of the strike and intercepting Lao Cai's elbow instead of her skull.
"Nice save, Captain!"
Landing back on the deck of the tiger-headed ship, Rhea offered a quick nod of gratitude to Ornn, who had just materialized beside her. She cracked her knuckles, preparing to re-engage Lao Cai, but Ornn raised a hand to stop her.
"Stand down, Rhea. You're outmatched against him right now."
While Rhea possessed phenomenal combat talent, she hadn't yet been introduced to Haki, and her raw striking power lacked the penetration needed to bypass Lao Cai's defenses. Pushing the fight further would only lead to injury.
Stepping past her, Ornn offered a relaxed, casual smile to the young man holding the naginata.
"You must be Sai, grandson of Don Chinjao, and the current pillar of the Happo Navy."
Sai narrowed his eyes, clearly surprised that a stranger knew his lineage so clearly. He spat a bit of phlegm over the rail and grunted, "That's right."
Perhaps due to his youthful pride, Boo—Sai's younger brother—was far less composed than his canonical older self. He glared angrily at Ornn before turning to his brother. "Big brother! They know who we are and they still beat up our men! They clearly came looking for a fight. Why are you wasting time talking to them?!"
Ornn glanced calmly at Boo. "We had no intention of starting anything. Your crew threw the first insults at my crewmates. My partner merely disciplined them."
Sai knew his men well enough to guess the truth, but as a captain of the Happo Navy, he couldn't let strangers assault his crew and walk away without losing face.
After a brief pause, he offered a classic, pragmatic pirate solution.
"Your subordinate is strong, and you're clearly no ordinary captain. Besides, you're heading toward the Kano Kingdom anyway... Let's settle this like men. You and I spar.
If you beat me, I'll write off my men's injuries as a bad bet, and treat you both as honored guests of the Happo Navy. If I win, you leave thirty percent of the wealth on your ship to cover medical expenses. Deal?"
"Deal," Ornn answered without hesitation.
On one hand, Sai's challenge matched his exact goal: he needed to experience the Happo Punch and introductory Armament Haki at close quarters.
During his time on Onigashima, the gap between his own power and the elite Beast Pirates had been too wide to properly parse the subtle mechanics of Haki. Now, with his physical stats skyrocketing, he figured he could comfortably trade blows with Sai while holding back his full hybrid transformation.
"Don't hold back!" Sai grinned, his youthful face lighting up with competitive fire. "Here I come!"
With a sharp cry, Sai charged forward, his naginata slicing the evening air.
Ornn tracked the movement. Thanks to his grueling daily spars with Rhea, his visual reflexes were more than adequate to match the speed of this tier of fighters. Unclipping his heavy forge hammer from his belt, he met Sai's weapon head-on.
CLANG!
The naginata and the hammer collided, sending a blinding spray of sparks across the deck.
The moment the weapons met, Sai felt a violent shock run up his forearms, numbing his palms. A sudden, sharp spike of pressure rose in his chest, forcing a mouthful of dark blood past his lips.
"Big brother!" Boo cried out, watching Sai vomit blood from the opening exchange.
"I'm fine!" Sai spat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Even while locked in a physical struggle with Ornn, he stared across at him with burning excitement. "Have you ever practiced the Happo Punch?"
Sai assumed the internal trauma Ornn had just inflicted was the result of a specialized shockwave technique identical to his own family's martial art.
"Never heard of it," Ornn replied honestly.
He couldn't very well explain the internal math of a Heartsteel vitality proc to a pirate in the middle of a fight, so playing dumb was the safest route.
Of course, to Sai, Ornn's denial only confirmed his genius. In Sai's eyes, a combatant who could unconsciously trigger shockwave-like damage during a basic weapon clash must possess terrifying, god-given talent for martial arts.
"Never learned it? Then feel this properly!"
Sai channeled his energy, his muscles tightening. A strange, vibrating frequency traveled from the shaft of his naginata straight down into Ornn's arms.
Affected by the weird oscillation, Ornn's arms went momentarily numb, and his breathing hitched.
Gritting his teeth, Ornn threw his weight forward, breaking the lock and shoving Sai back a few paces. The moment they separated, the strange vibration vanished, and Ornn's nervous system snapped back to normal.
Is this the Happo Punch? Ornn thought, his mind racing. It feels like a low-tier version of seismic vibration combined with basic Armament Haki resonance. I wonder what the exact kinetic principle is...
Reviewing the subtle muscle contractions and footwork Sai had used just before the strike, Ornn formed a tentative hypothesis.
Seeing Sai steadying his footing and preparing for a second, more serious charge, Ornn didn't wait. Instead, he took the initiative, lunging forward with his hammer.
He wanted to test if his theoretical breakdown of the technique was correct...
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