Chapter 21: Victor’s Gratitude (1)

Alvida's mace had once sent Fukurou flying. Sure, he had been weakened by his aura getting drained by Nojiko but Alvida still expected similar results the moment her mace struck Fukurou right over his temple yet Alvida felt her hand shake for a second while the enemy didn't budge one bit.

"Tekkai, Chapa," Fukurou muttered and his hand curled into a fist and struck Alvida against her face with a blinding speed only to have his fist slip past her cheek as she frowned and rotated before striking him with her mace once again for no response at all.

Both Fukurou and Alvida pulled back after seeing no results from their attacks. One somehow defended against the spiked mace while the other could not be hit in any manner.

'What was that sensation?' Alvida narrowed her eyes, 'It's like I just hit an iron wall...'

"Sube Sube no Mi, Chapapa, is really one of a kind, huh?" Fukurou muttered and it made Alvida cautious even more. The enemy knew about her, rather extensively, yet she knew nothing about the enemy himself. While she would have remained unhinged due to her devil fruit's ability that makes her practically invulnerable to physical attacks of any kind including swords and bullets, Brody's act of throwing her into the sea without touching her and Smoker's Moku Moku's Ability that could smother her smooth skin made it plenty clear that she wasn't without a weakness!

"What did you do?" Alvida questioned while keeping her mace at a ready stance and Fukurou, for all intents and purposes, truly had a big mouth. Every question till now hadn't gone unanswered and the answer to this one, too, made way through his zip-like mouth.

"CP9 members train for a young age to master their body entirely and learn the Martial Art Style Rokushiki! I can harden the muscles underneath my skin at any time and even block bullets, essentially having an Iron Body, Chapapa."

"Tekkai, huh," Alvida continued, "And? What else is there to your skills?"

---

Carmen and Nojiko looked at the tall and eccentric figure in a black suit and holding a khakkhara with one of his hands positioned in the front and palm stretched open. His right eye remained closed the whole time as he introduced himself once the strange 'attack' failed.

"Pleasure to meet you, Vinsmoke Reiju," the man's overflowing light pink mane practically touched the ground where one could see the green flip-flops he wore despite the formal suit. One of the most notable features about this man was his pale white, chalkish skin that made the liner around his eyes even more prominent.

Reiju's boots whirred into action and she began to float only for the figure to hurriedly take out a box-shaped mechanism from within his pockets and press a pink button on top of it as the pump from Reiju's boot died out and she returned to the ground with a stunned expression.

"What... did you do?" She looked at the agent as he shook his head, "I don't understand what it is either but the Germa Kingdom provided us with a device that could weaken you. How dishonorable, Yoiiii... but, a Raid Suit can keep up with the people on top. Now that you are powerless, you should peacefully surrender and return to your kingdom, Princess Vinsmoke."

"I don't understand, what's going on?" Carmen frowned with her trustee iron pan ready in her hand as Reiju scoffed, "Most likely a temporary measure. Since my Raid Suit, despite its advanced technology, is bio-mechanical in nature, those who know its inner workings can surely create a disrupting signal to remove Raid Suit's enhancements."

"Huh, they did say something like this," the enemy responded but Reiju didn't lose her composure and instead winked at him, "Won't you give me that box?"

"Yoiii! Yoi!" Striking his khakkhara on the ground as the metal loops jingled sonorously, the agent couldn't help but glare at Reiju, "Kumadori is not Kumadori if not loyal, Yoiii! Vinsmoke Reiju, surrender!"

"I might just surrender," Reiju sighed before pressing her index finger against her lips while leaning forward seductively to blow a kiss at Kumadori only for a tendril of dark pink poisonous miasma to shoot out of her lips and directly cover Kumadori.

"Pink Hornet," Reiju whispered as Carmen and Reiju gasped in surprise, "Devil Fruit Power?!"

"No," standing straight and losing all her charming disposition, Reiju couldn't help but look at Kumadori with a strange expression, "Something's not right."

Suddenly, the entire miasma was absorbed into Kumadori's body whose skin grew patches of pink shade yet the next second, his skin reverted to hir original chalkish feature while his light pink mane grew darker in the shade as he grinned while storing away the box , "Yoii, A millennium in the sea. A millennium in the mountains. Inhaling the wind, swallowing the mist, I lived as a hermit and completed my training, and lo! I mastered this Life Return technique— Seimei Kikan. In nature, from the hair on one's head, from one's vital organs to the tips of one's toes, even to the end of one's 'short hair', there is not a single spot that cannot be controlled with one's consciousness!!!"

A large tuft of Kumadori's mane suddenly tore out from the ground and caught Carmen in its hold as the man extended his hand and demanded, "Surrender!"

'A... Bio Feedback, or something similar. He could even redirect all the poison into his hair—' Reiju's eyes widened as she realized something the moment she heard a shrill scream from behind. Turning in a hurry, Reiju saw Carmen's skin growing dark pink patches that soon extended to terrible rashes and her violet pupil finally revealed a hint of panic.

"Your guard is down, and no samurai will leave this chance, yoiii!" Reiju hurriedly moved back, dodging the incoming blunt end of the khakkhara before speeding towards Carmen as the hair latched onto her limbs and stretched out completely, making Carmen scream as her body was being tugged in four different directions!

"So? Will you surrender? Yoiii! Don't you move!" Kumadori glared at Nojiko with his single open eye as she was about to touch his hair, too, "Kumadori is aware of Aura Aura no Mi! Make any suspicious movements and your friend— Yoiii!" He kept things ominously ambiguous as Reiju turned to look at Kumadori.

"Let me extract the venom from her. She will die this way and you won't have any hostage!"

"No! If death is her escape then so be it, Yoii! How can a sage defy nature?"

Gritting her teeth, she looked back at Carmen and then turned to look at Kumadori.

The situation fell into a stalemate with Carmen trying to hold her pained grunts but a few whimpers would still leak as Kumadori made sure to let his hold tighten.

'Not every situation is fun in being a pirate...' Nami's voice echoed in Nojiko's mind but didn't she know that already? Wasn't Arlong a pirate, too, and she was taken a hostage at the time, too. It could really be a helpless situation when the 'easiest' answer is to agree with the unreasonable demands of the enemy.

"I—" Reiju bit her lips.

"Wait!" Nojiko interjected and looked at Reiju, "Don't go back to your dull choices!" While the pink-haired woman and man were certainly surprised by the outburst, they didn't expect Nojiko to further clench her fists and shout out loud, "No one in my crew will ever be forced to do anything!" She didn't know how to describe the sensation coursing through her veins when she declared her wishes. Have an adventure? She did want that. But who wants to adventure alone? The last few days had become increasingly memorable for Nojiko and she did not want anything... anyone to change that.

So it flowed through her veins.

The aura that she had been 'eating' constantly... Nojiko finally felt it within her, too. Unlike what she expected, it wasn't 'digested'. It was stored. And that would make it simpler to understand that the limits of this storage were limits to her power and even if her body did unconsciously use this energy to recover, it was largely unused. Waiting to be called.

Aura... Glint.

A burst of aura distorted the surroundings around Nojiko as she was soon covered in a flash of light too bright to see directly, causing not only Kumadori but also Reiju to go stunned but while one of them was shocked, the other was happy and shot at towards the ally not far from her even if she couldn't see him!

"Shit!" Kumadori cursed with both of his eyes covered by his hand while the other one stabbed his Khakkhara in Nojiko's direction with a growl, "Shigan!"

As the blinding light faded, Carmen found herself in Reiju's arms while the poison and the soft sensation over her lips altogether faded, too. But her eyes widened like Reiju's as she looked in Nojiko's direction to see a gaping wound between her left shoulder and upper chest.

With tears leaking from his left eye, Kumadori sighed, "I missed... sorry, I intended to give you a quick and painless death."

Nojiko couldn't feel anything for a second. She still felt all that 'energy' wanting to escape as all of it 'burning' and 'shining' in response was the most natural action the aura took once dispersed from her body but as she gently touched her left side drenched with blood, her mind finally registered everything as she fell on her knees and crumbled down.

"N-Nojiko!" Carmen shouted as Reiju glared at Kumadori who had a somber expression, too.

In the middle of the tension, a quiet voice buzzed, "I- I'm actually fine... you know. I've got a devil fruit... uh, just focus on fully defeating him..."

"Yoiii?" Kumadori blinked in surprise but Carmen's butt suddenly kissed the ground while Reiju's figure flashed in front of him and her feet embedded into his stomach squarely, "Go to hell!"

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Kumadori's figure shot back as all of his mane dug into the ground was rooted out alongside him while the man crashed into trees and dragged across the rocky cliff.

"Carmen... take care of Nojiko until she can get back on her feet..." Reiju whispered with a vein popping over her forehead, "No one hurts a crewmate in front of a medic."

---

"Oi, what's with the sneak attack? Don't you know, I want my back to remain perfectly clean! Ah... but I don't get any scars, hehe!" Brody chuckled while helping up a nervous Nami as they looked at the figure standing on the branch of a tree not face from them.

The somewhat dark-skinned man had a diagonal scar running over his left eye with two long, tendril-like mustaches and a pointed goatee. Instead of an actual suit, he had an unbuttoned black training shirt, white in the middle, worn as an open jacket with a tie around his bare chest and a red sash over the waistband of his black trousers. His hair was tugged back and tied into braids resembling a thick scorpion tail.

"Brody Hanma, for the crime of your existence, you must die today!" The man proclaimed with a vicious grin while Brody blinked, "Who are you? You barely look like a challenge... say, have you seen someone super strong around here? I can still feel it..." looking around, Brody sniffed a little, "It feels all around the island... fun, that is."

"Shut the hell up! Just someone with 2060 Doriki cannot hope to match against me!"

This... got Brody's attention as Nami chuckled nervously after seeing his expression and slowly pulled back.

"Doriki? Sounds delicious!" Brody grinned, "But... what is it?"

---

"A common armed soldier after completing the training regime of Marine outside the headquarters has 10 Doriki, Chapapapa! Do you understand now? Doriki is a measurement of strength used in my organization and only I can measure it," Fukurou explained calmly while Alvida sat not far from him and nodded, "Oh, I see. So? When you said you have a Doriki of 800, you meant that you are as strong as 80 soldiers combined?"

"No, Doriki over 500 is classified as superhuman strength. Each level of Doriki after that level is very hard to achieve and this only considers pure physical strength. If my Rokushiki Martial Arts is included, I could easily be above 2000 Doriki. That is the benefit of a technique."

"I see, so, you said I'm around 700 Doriki?" Alvida questioned.

"Yes, Chapa. But as you can see, martial arts are largely useless against you and you can beat most of your enemies. So, your comprehensive strength is higher."

"Wait, my Captain slapped you. Did you measure his strength?"

"2060 Doriki, chapapa!" Fukurou revealed as Alvida's gaze shone, "That's awesome, right?"

"Not enough... Our temporary leader has a Doriki above 2100 and when his devil fruit is used alongside Rokushiki then his comprehensive evaluation may be above 4000, chapa."

"Heh, so he did find a challenge," Alvida smiled, "Good for him!"

She then looked at Fukurou, "I'm bored..."

"Chapapa..."

The duo sat there in silence... unable to hit each other and unable to move, too, since the opponent would catch up eventually. Besides, Fukurou had been smacked enough times to not want to move... His mission, after all, was to keep Iron Mace Alvida busy.

---

"That slap..." Brody looked at the figure who had introduced himself as Jabra and then further introduced the concept of Doriki, "Was just a love tap."

Rotating his left arm and taking his jacket off, Brody smiled and tossed it over to Nami, "Hey, protect it well... I like this jacket a lot."

"Oh— Watch out—" Nami issued a sharp yell as Jabra appeared behind Brody with a vicious smile as his leg kicked in a massive but swift arc right across Brody's neck.

"You're done!" Jabra laughed. Yet, as his leg struck, he felt as if he had kicked an iron board with Brody's slightly shorter red hair swaying with a soft gust passing across him.

Dumbstruck, as she saw the tree adjacent to Brody cut off by an 'invisible' blade that Nami now realized happened to be a sharp wind pressure, the grey marine jacket finally reached her extended hand.

"That is... Tekkai!" Jabra's eyes widened while Brody turned around with a confused expression, "Dude... did World Government really name clenching of muscles something as cool as that? Hmm, Tekkai... huh, sounds nice. Oh... and what do you call this?"

Brody began to jump slightly on his toes as if skipping.

"How many times was it? 5? Ah, no... 10? Hmm, what about 20 skips at once then?" Brody disappeared from Jabra's field of vision completely.

"I'm here. So? What do you call skipping? Please be something cool~!" Jabra looked back in surprise and found nobody. But then... with horror gripping his heart, he looked up, finding Brody not even 'jumping' in the air. His kicks against the air were so quick, so precise that he barely looked like moving.

Nami's lips were parted in shock, too.

"Soru... and Geppo..." Jabra whispered, "It's like that man's Kamisori..."

"Kamisori?" Brody's grin broadened, "I like it! Hey, Jabra, right? Show me some more cool stuff! Like this kick? What do you call this?" Brody suddenly kicked sideways with a somewhat different visible 'slash' distorting the air and leaving a deep gash into the ground.

Jabra's lower jaw fell down, "That's Rankyaku!"

"Wait, that's only the name for kicks... I can do that pretty much from every body part. Let's call it... umm... too hard to think. Hey, anything else? Don't you guys know something even cooler?"

Brody looked at Jabra who fell to his knees

"Please, let me live! I have a mother who was critically injured by my father and I have to live to pay for her medical expenses!"

***

Alternate Title: Sube Sube no Mi, Rokushiki: A Couple of Frenemies.

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