Where Did I End Up?

For some reason, Nami suddenly remembered the countless late nights she had spent drawing nautical charts under her desk lamp. It had been on the hateful Arlong's turf, and the work had been assigned by Arlong, and yet... drawing maps was something she was good at and loved. Once she became completely absorbed in it, she would forget even her hatred for Arlong.

The deeper she sank into that state, the more active and excited her mind became. She felt as though she could do anything, solve any problem.

Could you enter that kind of flow while fighting, too?

Nami didn't know, but she saw Ruidio suddenly throw a powerful punch at empty air, and the Black Cat Captain ran straight into his fist as though he had offered himself up.

Bang!!

Even from dozens of meters away, she could almost hear Kuro's breastbone shatter.

Ruidio leaped after Kuro and stomped him out of the air with a boom, driving him into the ground and leaving a human-shaped crater.

"..."

Ruidio raised his bloodstained fist and suddenly asked, "Before you used that faster move, when you lowered your arms and head, what were you thinking about? Were you thinking about how to draw the most power from your leg muscles?"

"..."

Kuro's face and body were covered in blood, his original features almost unrecognizable. Blood kept welling from his mouth as he mumbled, "Nothing. Idiot..."

"Thanks."

Ruidio brought his fist down.

[Mastered: Silent Step (glimpse)]

Chapter 21: ★★★

[Name: Kuro]

[Overall strength: ★★]

[Mastered: Silent Step (mastered), Cat Hand Swordsmanship (proficient), running (proficient), swimming (beginner)]

Kuro, whom the system had rated two stars just like Ruidio, had his head punched into the ground by Ruidio, until it could no longer be seen.

Only a strong smell of blood rose from the pit...

"..."

Ruidio let out a breath and looked at the system notification for [Silent Step (glimpse)]. It confirmed that, at least in broad terms, the techniques he had observed, analyzed, and learned during the fight weren't wrong.

That was good.

["Defeat Kuro" quest completed]

[Quest reward: 610 essence]

Ruidio turned to look at the hypnotist nearby, whose handcuffs were fastened to a tree trunk, preventing him from leaving.

Jango was utterly dumbfounded. Someone had actually killed Captain Kuro, who was as terrifying as a ghost, in a head-on fight...

When his eyes met the boy's, Jango's heart jumped. He saw the boy move his feet, and in an instant, his entire body vanished from sight.

He learned Captain Kuro's Silent Step?!

Jango went rigid with fear, but the next second, he heard a crash beside him. The boy had suddenly appeared and slammed into the large tree, snapping it in two.

"..."

Ruidio's body was already covered in cuts from Kuro's Cat Claws. The collision tore open every wound, sending blood spurting everywhere like a leaking water balloon.

He rubbed his leg and grimaced. "It really does work only half the time... Guess that 'glimpse' rating wasn't for nothing."

Jango stared at him blankly.

Ruidio smiled faintly, took the ring-shaped throwing knife from the inner pocket of Jango's coat, and placed it in his hand. Jango made his living with this weapon and hypnotic tool, but now that it was in his hand, he was horrified and tried to throw it away as quickly as possible.

But an icy blade came to rest against his neck. He instantly went rigid, not daring to move.

Ruidio went over to the grass and retrieved the two weapons he had thrown away earlier. He drew Malevolent Shrine, patted Jango on the shoulder, and asked curiously, "How did you learn that Hypnosis of yours? Is there a method?"

Jango turned pale. "A method... I don't know! At first, I was just copying magicians onstage, swinging a pocket watch and trying to put other people to sleep... Then, then suddenly it worked... I really don't know why I can do it!"

He just kept trying?

It seemed Hypnosis depended entirely on talent.

If he remembered correctly, Lafitte from Blackbeard's crew could use Hypnosis too...

Ruidio said playfully, "Come on, hypnotize me. Let me experience what it feels like."

"Is it over?"

Kaya's parents walked back, uncertain and alarmed. As for Miss Kaya, she had been ordered to return to her home in Syrup Village farther south, with the butler Merry accompanying her.

They followed the orange-haired girl toward the place where the boy had fought Kuro. They saw Kuro lying motionless in a human-shaped crater, whether dead or alive unknown.

And Ruidio...

"Aaaaah!!!"

Beside a broken tree, Ruidio stood facing the hypnotist. He suddenly let out a ferocious roar, and the muscles all over his body swelled several sizes, tearing his already slashed shirt completely to shreds.

"Ruidio!" Before Nami could recover from her shock, she saw Ruidio, his eyes red and looking as though he had gone mad, swing an arm as thick as a tree trunk and slap Jango, who had lost all desire to live, flying with a hand like a giant fan.

The impact of that slap sounded like a thunderclap striking the ground.

Jango spun through the air, blood spinning with him. In the end, he landed like a ragged sack right beside Kuro's pit, twitched twice, and stopped moving.

Kaya's parents backed away in fright.

Nami waited a while. Only when she saw the excessive swelling in Ruidio's engorged muscles gradually subside, and the crazed look vanish from his eyes, leaving them bright and alert as usual, did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong with you?!" She went over and gave him a chop with the edge of her hand.

"Hypnosis," Ruidio said with a smile. "Aren't you curious?"

The hypnotic command Jango had been forced to give him just now was to let him unleash all his brute strength, no matter how unwilling his brain was.

For a long time, he had pondered why he couldn't fully unleash his brute strength. Then, today, he had copied Kuro's Silent Step, which resembled Shave from the Six Powers. On top of that was the unprecedented, exhilarating experience brought on by Jango's Hypnosis...

It was as though Ruidio's governing and conception vessels had been opened, and his mind suddenly clicked!

He had never felt anything like it. The muscles throughout his body seemed to obey him better. Now, when he clenched his fist, the force that usually took at least a second or two to build up could be fully summoned in a fraction of a second, almost with a single thought.

And it could be even stronger!

In just one second, the brute force gathered in this punch could deliver a full, undiminished five tons of explosive power, far surpassing what he had been capable of before.

Ruidio was puzzled. "It's obviously so simple. Why couldn't I figure it out before, no matter what I did?"

[Name: Ruidio]

[Overall strength: ★★★]

[Mastered: running (mastered), swimming (proficient), Basic Physical Techniques (beginner), Playful Cloud Staff Technique (beginner), Shimotsuki Swordsmanship (glimpse), Silent Step (glimpse)]

[Employed: Nami (approximately 28 days remaining)]

Three stars!

That was more like it. Buggy was two stars, Kuro was two stars, and even that hypnotist Jango was two stars. It was simply outrageous.

Ruidio was certain that even if the man he had been an hour ago stood before him now, this punch would leave him unable to get up for a good while.

I'm not the same person I was yesterday!

"..." Nami looked at all his injuries and said helplessly, "What are we going to do with those two bodies?"

"Simple." Ruidio strode over, raised his foot, and stomped down hard.

With a tremendous boom, the entire ring of ground around the crater where Kuro and Jango lay was actually lifted up by his stomp.

Ruidio grabbed the enormous slab of earth, with Kuro's and Jango's bodies still lying on it, and hoisted it high with one hand. Then he casually flipped it over and slammed it face down into the ground, bodies and all, with a bang!

Kaya's parents, who were slowly walking over, stared in astonishment. They had been far away before and hadn't been able to see the fight clearly, but even a fool could understand this striking display of power before their eyes, and they were deeply shaken. After the young hero displayed his strength, he remained fixed in place, as though giving his audience time to admire him...

"Coming?" Nami went over and patted him.

The muscles all over Ruidio's body trembled, and he grimaced in pain. The side effects of overloading himself with the explosive power forcibly squeezed out through Hypnosis might have come late, but they had arrived all the same...

"If you don't mind, please come and rest at our home for a few days."

Kaya's parents extended the invitation. "We really don't know how to repay you both for saving our lives. At least let us treat your wounds first..."

Ruidio ached all over, so the four of them traveled slowly toward Kaya's home to the south. Along the way, Nami supported him at the back and joked, "Still want to see who can run faster?"

"Sure," Ruidio said, though he continued to let Nami support him.

Nami laughed inwardly but complained aloud, "You're way too heavy. Are you denser than a normal person?"

"Heh..."

Ruidio smiled, then suddenly asked, "Nami, do you have a dream?"

Nami froze, her breathing faltering for a moment. She turned her head away and sighed. "You're injured, so stop thinking about all that nonsense. Just focus on recovering."

Chapter 22: Where Did I End Up?

The next day, in Syrup Village, beneath a tree on the outskirts—

"After I say 'one, two, Jango,' you'll completely unleash your body's strength."

Jango held the ring-shaped throwing knife in his bound hands as a hypnotic tool, but his face showed that he had lost all desire to live. With a blade against his neck, he could only carry out the hypnosis as ordered, without missing a word.

"There's no need to worry about harming your body. You can do it... One, two, Jango!"

"Can I move now?"

Under the tree, Kaya sat hugging her knees and quietly watched the pocket watch swinging back and forth before her for ten minutes. At last, she couldn't help asking.

Ruidio grabbed the pocket watch. "If it wasn't working, why did you stare at it for so long?"

His arms and chest were wrapped in bandages, and after being treated and resting for a night, they were no longer seeping blood. He hadn't eaten a Zoan Devil Fruit, but he had trained his body, after all, and it was beyond that of an ordinary person. By now, he was actually fine for the most part.

Kaya smiled. "You looked like you were really hoping it would work, so I couldn't help playing along."

Ruidio recalled how he had felt before and after Jango hypnotized him yesterday.

Why, exactly?

Why had Jango gesturing with a prop and saying a couple of perfectly ordinary things really sent him into a trance and made him follow the hypnotic command?

What kind of power was this Hypnosis?

In the skill list the system had identified for Jango, there was clearly [Hypnosis (proficient)]. Ruidio was certain there had to be something to it.

It was hard not to be curious about a supernatural power that could be used without a Devil Fruit.