World-Cutting Slash / Kizaru Arrives

It was as if a gigantic tornado lay across the sea, roaring straight toward the two and a half pirate ships. It tore through everything in its path, plowing a vast trench more than ten meters across and hundreds of meters long into the sea before seawater rushed back in and slowly closed it.

If Hawkeye can slash like that, why can't I blast like that?

Ruidio turned in the air, unconcerned with whether everyone in the Krieg Pirates was dead. With only a dozen or so seconds left in Satoru Gojo mode, he hurried onward toward the Goa Kingdom.

Ruidio was no professional navigator, after all, and his sense of direction was poor on the boundless sea. In those remaining seconds, he failed to reach the Goa Kingdom and wasn't even sure what waters he had ended up in.

When the transformation ended, he had no choice but to throw the Black Cat Pirates' former ship onto the sea with a boom as he fell through the air.

"But it should be pretty close by now, right?"

Ruidio scratched his head, a little unsure, and returned to the cabin.

I'll make do and sail it for now. I can worry about it tomorrow!

The next day, however, just as he was trying to sail to the nearest island to ask for directions, the Mission Scroll integrated into the System Radar module, which had been running continuously for three days, suddenly brought up an interface.

[Precise search complete! 1 task unclaimed...]

Chapter 43: World-Cutting Slash

[Ten days ago, an old man named Deka o Vensu stole a coffin belonging to a former member of the Holy Knights. After World Government intelligence agents uncovered a lead, they dispatched Marine Admiral Kizaru, the most mobile of their admirals, to handle the matter personally...]

The ship drifted with the waves as Ruidio opened the Mission Scroll to check the search results.

After the brief overview, an extremely simple map appeared on the scroll:

A cross represented the Red Line and the Grand Line that divided the planet, and from its intersection, a golden point of light was moving straight toward a small island depicted in the northwest corner.

What the hell kind of speed is that?

Ruidio grumbled inwardly. Kizaru really did slack off most of the time. Whenever he could take a warship, he never traveled under his own power.

On the little island Kizaru was flying straight toward, there was also a golden exclamation mark representing the task requester the scroll had located.

[Task requirement: Rescue Bepo, the kidnapped bear mink.]

[Requester: Trafalgar o Law]

[Distance: Extremely far (teleportation available)]

[Estimated difficulty: ★★★]

[Estimated time left to accept: 40 minutes]

Only forty minutes left?

Did that mean the bear he had to save would die in forty minutes, or that Kizaru would finish the job and leave in forty minutes at most?

Either way, Ruidio didn't have much time left.

"Good thing the results came in today. My Satoru Gojo transformations have refreshed."

Ruidio swept his hand over the floating Mission Scroll, turning it into light and integrating it into the list in the system's task module.

At the edge of the horizon, the morning sun was just rising.

Ruidio stretched on the fairly spacious deck, swinging his arms and stretching his legs. He zipped back and forth, reviewing the footwork for silent Soru to get his body going.

He would leave the ship here. Otherwise, he wouldn't even have a place to land when he returned.

Ruidio rolled his neck and struck his fist against his palm.

Teleport!

The scene before Ruidio's eyes changed. The vast East Blue of early morning became a snow-covered mountain path at night. A bitter wind howled in his ears, sharp as a knife, wailing like ghosts and wolves.

First, find the task requester. Law, right?

"Huh?"

Ruidio looked down. Why is my lower half walking off on its own? I haven't gotten aboard yet!

His upper body fell backward, crunching into the snow.

"Whew..."

Several meters away, behind a tree buried deep in snow, the tension in Trafalgar o Law's expression eased a little.

His companion Bepo had been abducted for no apparent reason, and he had come alone to this island for the meeting, on constant guard against an enemy ambush. Just as his nerves were stretched tautest, he suddenly heard someone's feet crunching into the snow behind him.

Almost instinctively, Law used the Op-Op Fruit's power, imbuing his sword with its spatial ability and cutting the sudden attacker in half at the waist. At the same time, he moved himself behind the tree...

Only then did he lean out and take a look.

It was dark, and the wind and snow were fierce. He could just make out that the man had initially been standing back-to-back with him. After the Op-Op Fruit cut him in half, his lower body kept walking while his upper body fell naturally.

But before falling backward, the man seemed to have glanced his way.

Hmm?

Law suddenly grew wary. He was just raising a finger to use the Op-Op Fruit's power when a heavy blow struck his back, snapping the tree he was hiding behind. With a crash, he and the broken tree were kicked more than ten meters away, plowing a black furrow through the snow on the mountain path.

Sure enough, the man's lower body was standing by the broken stump, its legs tapping lightly from side to side as if warming up...

Warming up?

Law thought, This is bad. The Op-Op Fruit created a spherical space like an invisible operating room, and its user was the chief surgeon who controlled everything inside. Law lifted a finger, moving himself to another position in the "operating room."

Boom!

The instant he left, the man's lower body jumped to that spot and stomped, cracking the ground.

What the hell kind of speed is that?!

Without an upper body, he can still produce that monstrous strength with a kick? How is he generating the force?! Does that even follow the physics of human muscles and bones?!

Cold sweat broke out all over Law. His back throbbed with pain, and he gritted his teeth and tried to get up, only for a cold blade to press against his neck. The hair on his body stood on end.

"Don't move, all right?"

Ruidio casually propped himself up on the snow with one hand while holding the Seastone Great Grade Sword Demon Subduer against Law's neck with the other. "I'll count to three. Put my lower half back on. Otherwise, you can figure out how to put your own head back on."

He sounds serious!

"One..."

Law was already trying!

"Two..."

But why won't the Op-Op Fruit's power work?!!

Weak all over, Law shouted desperately, "I can't use my power! You can put your body back together yourself and it'll be fine!!!"

His shout was so loud that snow came pattering down from the treetops.

With a crunch, crunch, the lower body walked toward them through the darkness.

"Oh, I know."

Ruidio smiled and slapped the ground, launching his upper body into the air. His lower body moved back and forth, left and right, aligning its severed surface perfectly with the upper body as it came down.

"You did that to mess with me, didn't you?!" Law roared, baring his sharp teeth. He picked up his fallen felt hat, dusted it off, and climbed to his feet.

Now he could use his power again, and the inexplicable weakness from before was gone. Was it all because of that sword?

[Task accepted]

That system notification had appeared when his lower body kicked Law away.

Ruidio twisted his waist and lifted his legs. They really had joined perfectly, restoring him without a seam.

Devil Fruit powers were rather interesting.

"Who exactly are you?"

Law brushed the snow off his clothes and gripped his long sword. "You appeared out of nowhere. I thought you were with my enemies," he said warily.

Where's his sword? Law stared at Ruidio's empty hands in suspicion.

"A bear got kidnapped. I'm here to help rescue him."

Ruidio glanced at the system task interface. The map on the Mission Scroll was still available to view, and Law, the task requester, Bepo, the task objective, and Kizaru, whom Ruidio had specifically requested, were all displayed on it.

Law was startled. "You know Bepo?"

"He's right there."

Ruidio couldn't be bothered to explain. Law could fill in the blanks himself. He pointed diagonally ahead, into the wind and snow. That was the center of the island, where a towering vertical silhouette was faintly visible in the dim night.

Law peered hard at it. "Is that... a tower?"

"Who cares what it is? It's almost time. Let's hurry."

On the minimap, Kizaru's golden light was already close, moving at tremendous speed.

Ruidio grabbed Law beside him and raced off.

An explosive movement technique like Soru couldn't be used for long-distance running; it would ruin the muscles in his legs. But there was no problem using high-speed Soru intermittently during a long run.

[Name: Trafalgar o Law]

[Overall strength: ★★★]

[Mastered: Op-Op Fruit (proficient), Basic Swordsmanship (skilled), Basic Physical Techniques (skilled), Swimming (beginner)]

You're three stars too?

Judging by how that kick felt, it doesn't seem like it. The Op-Op Fruit must have boosted your score quite a bit, right?

And so Ruidio carried Law swiftly through the howling wind and snow, "flashing" forward again and again. Before long, they reached the foot of the tower in the darkness.

[Mastered: Soru of the Six Powers (skilled)]

"Whoa, is this Garling Tower?"

Ruidio looked up at it, rubbing his hands and breathing warm air onto them twice. There was no time to hesitate. He would charge straight up! He crouched and pushed off, his legs like springs, leaping twenty meters into the air and grabbing the stone tower's uneven outer wall.

In the darkness, Ruidio clung to the stone tower and climbed rapidly, section by section, as if he were flying!

"If it were me in my previous life, I couldn't have climbed even a meter."

Thinking this, Ruidio kept his hands moving. Looking up, he could already see the top of the hundred-meter tower: a square stone room, with a wooden panel faintly visible underneath that could be used to enter...

The view before his eyes suddenly blurred, and he was inside the stone room.

Snowflakes drifted through the air. Law stood beside him, holding his sword, and said flatly, "Don't mention it."

Chapter 44: Kizaru Arrives

You brat, you could have moved us up here, and you still watched me climb for all that time?

Ruidio fixed him with a death stare.