Luffy and the others standing atop the slope were completely dumbfounded.
"So... so amazing..."
Usopp's mouth hung wide open, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.
"Those were dozens of vicious pirates... Why did they look like a bunch of rag dolls in front of Ronan?"
Nami covered her mouth as well, her eyes filled with shock:
"Is this... Ronan's strength? How could that iron spear feel lighter than a feather in his hands, yet heavier than a cannon?"
Zoro's gaze remained fixed on Ronan's every movement. His hand trembled slightly—not from fear, but excitement.
"It's not that the spear is light."
A sharp gleam flashed in Zoro's eyes. As a swordsman, he had seen through it.
"Every one of Ronan's strikes uses not the strength of his arms, but the strength of his entire body. His spine drives the force, carrying it through to the spear tip. Is this the... National Martial Arts he mentioned?"
At the center of the battlefield.
Ronan gave the shaft of his spear a violent shake, flinging the beads of blood from its tip.
He stood alone on the hillside, spear in hand, with more than twenty pirate corpses strewn beneath his feet.
He slowly raised his head. The calm in his eyes had been ignited by Fighting Spirit, and the iron spear in his hand pointed toward Jango and Buchi at the foot of the slope.
"Who's next?"
On the slope, the sea wind carried a thick bloody smell as it whistled through the narrow rock walls.
The once-boisterous cries of battle had fallen silent. All that remained were the groans of wounded pirates and the sound of waves crashing against the shore reefs.
Ronan stood alone with his spear amid a mess of corpses, like a war god guarding a pass, blocking the Black Cat Pirates' only path into the village.
Jango stood at the bottom of the slope and adjusted his heart-shaped glasses. Fine beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.
He looked at Ronan, who seemed like Shura himself, swallowed hard, and turned toward the two strangely built figures beside him—the Cat-man Brothers of the Black Cat Pirates.
"Buchi, Sam!"
Jango's voice trembled slightly, but there was no room for doubt.
"You saw it too. This kid is tough. But Captain Kuro's plan cannot fail... No matter what, we have to get past this slope! Take him down!"
At the top of the slope, Nami watched the remaining three figures below with a grave expression.
Although their numbers had dwindled drastically, their sense of oppression had only grown stronger.
"Ronan, be careful!"
Nami called out anxiously. "Those three left aren't like the fodder from before. They're all experts with high bounties!"
Usopp's hand holding the slingshot trembled slightly. The moment he heard the words "high bounties," his face turned deathly pale. "H-how high?"
Nami took a deep breath and quickly recalled the bounty posters stored in her mind.
"The leader, that bespectacled hypnotist Jango, has a bounty of nine million Belly! And the Cat-man Brothers... each of them is a ruthless fighter with a seven-million-Belly bounty!"
"Seven... seven million?!"
Usopp's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His legs went weak, and he almost dropped to his knees.
"Wouldn't that add up to more than twenty million in bounties? H-how are we supposed to win?!"
He frantically looked toward Luffy and Zoro, only to find that neither of them seemed nervous in the slightest. Instead, they wore expressions as though they were watching a show.
"Hey! Luffy, Zoro!"
Usopp shouted anxiously. "Aren't you going to help? Can Ronan really handle them by himself? Those are three experts with bounties on their heads!"
Zoro sat cross-legged on a rock, Wado Ichimonji in his arms, a calm smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Opponents at this level are nothing more than a few whetstones for Ronan now. Leave it to him. What do you think, Luffy?"
Luffy held down his Straw Hat, flashing a broad grin as excitement gleamed in his eyes.
"Hehe, Ronan looks like he's having fun! I want to watch his performance!"
At the center of the battlefield.
Ronan calmly watched the Cat-man Brothers step forward.
To someone who had awakened Observation Haki, these two pirates infamous throughout the East Blue were no longer threats. They were perfect "living training dummies."
Sam, the hunched and gaunt member of the Cat-man Brothers, slowly approached Ronan.
He moved without a sound, like a real cat, his eyes brimming with cunning and cruelty.
"Hey, kid..." Sam let out a shrill, eerie laugh and licked the Cat Claws gloves on his hands. "You seemed to enjoy all that killing just now. Looks like you've got some skill."
Before his words had even faded, Sam vanished!
Without any warning, the gravel beneath his feet shattered instantly.
Like a gray phantom, he lunged at Ronan along the ground at incredible speed!
"So fast!" Usopp cried from the top of the slope.
Yet, facing this thunderous strike, Ronan made a move no one expected.
Clang!
With a backhanded thrust, he drove the Zhangba Iron Spear that had slaughtered pirates in every direction heavily into a crack in the rock beside him. It sank several inches into the stone and hummed violently.
Empty-handed, Ronan slowly assumed the opening stance of Xing Yi Quan and calmly watched the direction in which Sam had disappeared.
"Looks like you're the speed type."
Ronan murmured, a playful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "But for someone like me, who has just awakened Observation Haki, you really are... the best sparring partner."
He had put away the iron spear because it was simply too lethal.
With the reach of the Zhangba Iron Spear, Sam probably would not even have been able to get close before being impaled.
If that happened, the fight would end too quickly. How else could Ronan use the battle mode's triple multiplier to "grind experience"?
The instant Ronan put away his spear and took his stance, a shrill tearing sound cut through the air.
Sam suddenly appeared at Ronan's left, his face twisted with murderous intent. "Die! Arrogant brat!"
The sharp Cat Claws gleamed coldly as they shot straight for Ronan's temple!
He was so fast that, to ordinary eyes, he was nothing more than an afterimage.
But within Ronan's "vision," the world looked entirely different.
Ronan's senses were amplified in an instant.
Under Observation Haki's perception, the faint red murderous intent emanating from Sam was like a beacon, illuminating his attack trajectory half a second in advance.
It was not merely visual tracking, but a prediction of "intent."
Ronan did not make any large movement. He merely tilted his head slightly, his feet rooted in place as though they had grown into the ground.
Whoosh—
The Cat Claws, capable of slicing through stone, brushed past Ronan's nose, even cutting off a lock of hair drifting over his forehead.
The difference was infinitesimal, yet it might as well have been an impassable gulf.
"What?!" Sam's pupils contracted sharply. The unreal feeling of his missed strike sent a jolt through his heart.
But he was a battle-hardened pirate, and his reaction was swift.
Using his momentum, he twisted his body through the air in a bizarre motion, swinging the Cat Claws of his other hand backward toward Ronan's throat!
"Too slow."
Ronan thought.
It was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He leaned his upper body slightly back in a perfect iron bridge, and the lethal claw swept past his chin once again.
Sam landed, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He gritted his teeth as his body erupted forward again. "A coincidence! It has to be a coincidence!"
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