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Chapter 438: Exhilarating! Flooring the Gas, Blackbeard Rams Doflamingo
Jozu frustratingly grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and hurled it violently at the tire.
"As long as we dare to stick even half our bodies out, we'll take a bullet instantly."
They were completely pinned down here. They either had to wait for death, or be burned alive by the impending Blue Zone.
Up on the roof of the unfinished building, Yasopp methodically pressed the magazine release catch. The empty magazine fell to the concrete floor with a crisp clatter. He reached over, grabbed a fresh, fully loaded ten-round magazine, and slapped it into the bottom of the receiver with a clack. His right hand smoothly pulled the bolt back to chamber a round.
All of his movements flowed like water, without a single wasted pause. He leveled the muzzle once more.
Through the 4x Scope, the crosshairs were firmly locked onto the twenty-centimeter gap between the bus chassis and the ground. From that angle, he could clearly see Jozu and Vista's heels shifting back and forth.
"Let me see how much longer you two can prone behind that scrap metal. I'll help give those rough toes a little pedicure," Yasopp muttered softly, a cruel and thoroughly entertained smile curving his lips.
His index finger already rested on the first stage of the trigger's pull. The moment even a sliver of extra flesh appeared in the 4x Scope's view, he would open fire and shatter those bones without hesitation.
Just as his mind was highly focused, pouring all of his attention into the scope, a hard object clattered and rolled up the unfinished concrete stairs from the second floor right onto the roof edge. The object bounced twice on the rough concrete, making crisp metallic clinking sounds.
Clink, clink, clatter. Yasopp's ears instantly perked up. The vigilance born from years of walking the line between life and death made him immediately release his finger from the trigger. He snapped his head toward the source of the sound.
Resting less than half a meter from his heels was an oval-shaped iron lump, painted dark green with a textured, uneven grid pattern on its surface. The safety pin ring at the top had long been pulled. A small striker lever had already sprung off, landing a half-meter away. Deep inside the iron lump, a fuse was emitting a very faint, yet absolutely lethal, hissing burn.
It was a modern Frag Grenade—capable of blasting an adult man into meat paste in this world.
The smug smile on Yasopp's face froze instantly. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his pupils violently shrank to the size of dangerous pinpricks.
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Teach rolled several times in the mud. His right wrist was bent at a nauseating angle. In this world stripped of all supernatural powers, his pain receptors had become exceptionally sensitive.
"That damn old man... Cough, cough!" Teach spat out a mouthful of blood and mud, a wheezing gasp like a punctured bellows escaping his throat.
The ambush failed and his body hurt like hell. He could still feel the echoes of Garp's knee strike, which had nearly shattered his lower jaw. The crisp sound of splintering bone replayed endlessly in his mind.
Clutching his wrist, Teach scrambled and crawled into the man-high wheat field. He didn't dare look back. He knew that even with a broken ankle, that old madman could still crawl over on his hands and strangle him to death. The rough edges of the wheat stalks cut across his sweat-drenched face, stinging sharply.
Teach stumbled across the soft ridges of the field, his lungs burning as if a red-hot coal had been shoved inside them. He had never felt that running away could be this agonizing in his entire life.
Pushing through the seemingly endless sea of golden wheat, a pale dirt road finally appeared ahead. Parked on the edge of the dirt road was a dark green, Open-Top UAZ. The paint was peeling, revealing large patches of rust, making it look like an antique that had been abandoned in the wilderness for over a decade.
But Teach's eyes lit up brilliantly. He had seen this thing in the promotional videos at the tavern. This was a steel beast capable of carrying mortals at high speeds across the earth.
Ignoring the intense pain, Teach used his hands and feet to climb into the driver's seat. His movements were incredibly clumsy, his belly pressing tightly against the steering wheel, leaving a deep red indent.
A key with a plastic grip was sticking out of the ignition. Using his relatively intact left hand, Teach gritted his teeth and gave it a violent twist.
Screech—Screech— The engine let out a few dry, grinding noises, sounding like a dying old man coughing.
"MOVE! MOVE FOR ME, DAMN IT!" Teach frantically slapped the dashboard, sweat dripping from the tip of his nose onto the steering wheel.
VROOOM! A deep, powerful roar suddenly erupted from the front of the vehicle. The entire Jeep shuddered violently, and a plume of thick smoke blasted from the exhaust pipe. Feeling the vibrations transferring up through the seat, a manic, twisted expression gradually surfaced on Teach's face.
"Zehahahaha! Heaven hasn't forsaken me!"
Although he didn't know how to drive, under the simplified rules of the system, he instinctively stomped his foot on the pedal furthest to the right. The Jeep lurched forward violently. The back of Teach's head slammed hard into the headrest, making him see stars.
Yet, he burst into roaring laughter. This sensation of speed powered by machinery gave him back a fleeting illusion of controlling power. Compared to Haki, which required physical stamina to refine, this power—unleashed with just a tap of his toes—was much more to his liking.
The Jeep sped erratically down the dirt road, its tires kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, Teach let the howling wind mess up his greasy long hair.
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Meanwhile, in the middle of the paved highway hundreds of meters away from the dirt road, a man in a half-burnt pink feather coat was limping along.
Doflamingo looked utterly miserable. His signature sunglasses had only one frame left, hanging loosely on his ear. His once pristine blonde hair was blackened by gunpowder smoke, and his face was covered in dirt and bloodstains.
The random bombardment in the Red Zone back at Georgopol had nearly claimed his life. His proud String-String Fruit was unusable, meaning he couldn't attach strings to clouds to fly away. He could only trudge like a lowly refugee, using his mortal legs to drag himself across the scorching asphalt. A flying piece of architectural debris had gouged a chunk of meat out of his right thigh, and fresh blood soaked through his expensive trousers.
"Damn it... Who the hell designed this game..." Doflamingo gritted his teeth, letting out a muffled groan with every step.
All he wanted right now was to find a cool place to sit down, even if all he had was a bottle of mineral water.
Just then, the violent, oppressive roar of a revving engine echoed from behind him.
Doflamingo froze. He instinctively tried to turn around. But the reaction speed of his already overdrawn mortal body simply couldn't keep up with the speed of machinery. He had barely turned halfway when he saw a massive green behemoth roaring out from the dirt road, crashing directly onto the highway.
"Is that... a car?" Doflamingo's pupils shrank violently.
He saw the driver—the man with a face full of aggressive fat, laughing wildly with his mouth wide open. It was Blackbeard, Teach.
"Zehahahaha! Take a look at what I found!"
Teach cranked the steering wheel with one hand, the Jeep's tires screeching harshly against the asphalt. He had absolutely no intention of slowing down. Instead, he floored the gas pedal. In a world where power was stripped away, nothing brought him more joy than seeing these former powerhouses reveal expressions of pure terror in the face of raw steel.
"DIE! FLAMINGO!"
Like a rampaging wild bull, the Jeep charged straight toward Doflamingo.
Alarm bells rang frantically in Doflamingo's mind. If this were the past, he wouldn't even need to move; a single twitch of his finger could slice this broken vehicle into ribbons. But now, he was just a crippled mortal with a severely injured leg.
Gathering every ounce of strength he had left, he dove toward the muddy ditch by the side of the road.
Thud! A heavy, muffled sound of flesh hitting metal rang out.
The rough, solid edge of the Jeep's bumper viciously scraped against Doflamingo's side. The massive inertia directly launched the tall man into the air. Doflamingo tumbled twice in the air like a puppet with cut strings before crashing heavily into the weed-filled ditch.
Crack. The crisp sound of splintering bone was exceptionally clear by the silent highway.
"AAAARGH—!" Doflamingo let out a bloodcurdling scream, curling his entire body into a tight ball. His left calf bent at a grotesque angle, cleanly snapped by the side impact of the vehicle.
Looking through the rearview mirror at Doflamingo writhing in the ditch, Teach laughed so hard tears nearly fell from his eyes.
"So exhilarating! This is the power of steel!"
He didn't stop to finish the job. He knew that on this island, a severe injury was practically a death sentence. He needed to head to Pochinki now to plunder more resources. The Jeep continued to accelerate, leaving a dark set of skid marks on the highway.
Lying in the muddy ditch, Doflamingo nearly passed out from the pain. He watched the receding Jeep, his eyes brimming with venomous resentment and despair. To think that he, the Heavenly Yaksha, would be run down like this by a thug in a broken car.
Teach tore down the highway, riding the high. He felt like he was the absolute ruler of this island right now. Whoever dared to stand in his way, he would send them straight to the Sea Kings.
Rounding a wide curve, a straight downhill stretch of road appeared ahead. Under the blazing sun, a man stood right in the middle of the highway. The man had his back turned to the Jeep, wearing a simple white shirt. Strapped to his back was a massive, cross-shaped object. From a distance, it looked like a giant piece of wood.
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