At the same time, the Dragon-Elephant Six sprang into action.
After Rayleigh's training, all six had gained solid mastery over both Armament and Observation Haki. They had also worked tirelessly on the Six Powers, and with their current strength, they were far from insignificant fighters, even in the New World.
Facing Wyper's band of young Shandians, all six vanished almost simultaneously.
"Soru!"
In an instant, they disappeared from the Shandians' sight.
By the time the warriors reacted, a foot was already right in front of each of them.
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
A series of heavy impacts echoed through the forest.
The charging Shandians were kicked back even faster than they had rushed in. They crashed to the ground one after another, coughing up blood and losing the strength to keep fighting.
Wyper caught the scene from the corner of his eye, and his expression darkened again.
He hadn't just underestimated these people.
He had underestimated them by a mile.
'Whoosh!'
Daz Bonez charged forward, sending another slash flashing toward Wyper.
Wyper's face tightened as he dodged immediately. Using the momentum of his Waver, he leaped onto a giant tree.
"Trying to run?"
Daz Bonez sneered. His right arm transformed into a blade and sliced clean through the trunk.
'Craaack!'
The massive tree collapsed.
Wyper jumped free before it hit the ground, his expression growing darker as he looked around.
His entire squad was already being overwhelmed by Rojen's group.
His heart sank.
He couldn't understand where these Blue Sea people had come from, or why they were so unbelievably strong.
The battle hadn't even lasted a minute.
His men had already lost almost all their fighting ability, and that was with only about half of the enemy making a move.
"You're not getting away."
Daz Bonez sprinted across the ground, closing the distance with a cold smile.
"Damn it!"
Wyper stopped retreating. He raised his bazooka and fired an Impact Dial point-blank.
'Boom!'
A tremendous shockwave blasted toward Daz Bonez.
Instead of dodging, Daz laughed. He crossed his bladed arms, twisting them together.
The powerful impact was shredded apart with ease.
In the blink of an eye, he was already right in front of Wyper.
His bladed arm came down in a vicious slash.
'Slash!'
Wyper's feet moved rapidly as his Waver burst forward, barely escaping the attack.
The next instant, the furious Wyper fired another Impact Dial from point-blank range.
'Boom!'
A muffled explosion erupted.
Daz Bonez's eyes narrowed.
His entire body suddenly spun like a whirlwind, sharp blades extending from every part of him.
'Clang!'
Even the air currents were sliced apart by the spinning blades.
Then the spinning Daz drifted straight toward Wyper.
'Shhk!'
Wyper failed to dodge in time.
A deep cut ripped across his abdomen, bringing a cold sweat to his forehead.
He immediately jumped back to escape the fight.
"Huff... Huff..."
His breathing grew heavy, his face as grim as it had ever been.
These people...
They were simply far stronger than the Shandians.
"Daz is pretty slow. Still hasn't finished?"
"Cut him some slack. He's only a trainee. We were probably worse back then."
"Hey! Hurry it up, Daz! Or your housework's getting doubled!"
The Dragon-Elephant Six chatted casually beneath the trees.
Daz Bonez's face darkened.
He glared at Wyper with even sharper intensity.
"Sorry, but I need to finish this quickly. Extra chores are the last thing I want."
"...You're only a trainee?" Wyper asked in a trembling voice instead of attacking.
The tall, lion-like warrior's lips shook.
To him, Daz Bonez was already terrifying enough. The ability to turn his body into blades was unbelievable.
Yet someone like that was only a trainee aboard this pirate crew?
Then just how powerful were the ones who hadn't even fought yet?
"I'll do it. You're taking too long, Daz."
A voice suddenly sounded right in front of Wyper.
Without him noticing when or how, a smiling face appeared before him.
Wyper's entire body stiffened.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
He hadn't seen the man move at all.
One instant he had been on the ground; the next, he was standing right in front of him.
"Armament!"
Jet-black Haki coated the man's right fist as he threw a punch.
It was so fast that Wyper didn't even have time to dodge.
'Thud!'
"Ugh..."
A wave of unbearable pain hit him, and before he could make another sound, Wyper lost consciousness.
"Bring him down."
One moment Dragon-Elephant Three was standing on the branch; the next, he was already back on the ground.
"You..."
Daz Bonez clenched his fists and shot Dragon-Elephant Three an annoyed glare, but caught the unconscious Wyper before he hit the ground and jumped down from the tree.
The battle ended with ease, and the defeated Shandians were casually tied up and left on the ground.
"So what do we do with them?" Jason asked.
"Killing them would attract too much attention. We're only visiting Skypiea as tourists, so there's no need to get involved in unnecessary trouble," Rojen answered with a smile.
Judging by the look on his face, though, no one believed a word of it.
"So what then? Just leave them here?" Chaporos called out. "These guys woke me up, ruined my nap, and acted so arrogant. We can't just let them off."
To everyone's surprise, that sentiment perfectly matched what they were all thinking.
Several people quietly nodded.
Rojen rubbed his forehead. The kid always seemed to find a way to stir up trouble.
Just then, Trens looked up into the surrounding trees.
Branches rustled as another group of Shandian warriors appeared, looking much like Wyper's team, and quickly surrounded them.
"So the grown-ups came after the kids?" Jason cracked his knuckles with a sneer.
These newcomers were clearly older than Wyper's group, their presence was steadier, fiercer, and far more battle-hardened.
The last to arrive was a woman.
The moment she appeared, she quickly scanned the scene. When she saw Wyper, Kamakiri, and the others lying defeated in the middle of Rojen's group, her expression changed instantly.
"Wyper... Kamakiri... They lost already?"
Her eyes filled with shock, and her fear of Rojen's crew deepened.
She had left the village only moments after Wyper. Yet in that tiny window of time, Skypiea's strongest young warriors had already been completely defeated.
"Damn it... I told them they were too reckless."
This is bad.
If both sides had been evenly matched, there might still have been room to negotiate. But now...
The Shandians were at a complete disadvantage.
(End Of This Chapter)
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