Steam Robot Completes Double Kill

Chapter 23: The Steam Robot Completes a Double Kill

"Apologize to you? You're just a tin can, I won't listen to you! Watch me dismantle you!"

Queen still didn't take the robot's threat seriously. Due to its physique, Blitz moved somewhat comically in its overloaded state, its bulky form not appearing very threatening.

Facing the charging robot, Queen bent his knees, gathered some strength, and leaped into the air. He held his swords above his head and swung them down towards Blitz's neck.

"The design actually left such a weak spot. What's there to say about such an obvious design flaw!"

Compared to Blitz's heavy body, its neck was indeed much thinner. However, Blitz's response was simple. A bit of steam escaped from its body as its neck retracted, disappearing into its metal collar.

Clang!

The blades struck Blitz's body, only chipping off some paint. Blitz's core was unharmed, but Queen's hands were left numb from the impact.

In the original timeline, both Judge and Queen were formidable once they grew up. They weren't top-tier monsters in the New World, but they were considered high-level combatants. However, at this moment, they hadn't reached that point yet.

Both their technical skills and combat abilities were still in their nascent stages.

Bear had contributed significantly to Blitz's creation. Without equipment like stamping machines, the Paw-Paw Fruit became the most useful tool, making compression and purification incredibly convenient.

The main body of Blitz was made from a special alloy, achieving a desirable balance of hardness, strength, ductility, and toughness, while also possessing strong corrosion resistance.

Facing Blitz, made entirely of special metal, even a swordsman who had mastered the ability to cut through steel wouldn't gain much advantage.

Someone who couldn't even cut steel would be completely helpless against it.

"Metal, harder than flesh and blood."

Bang!

Blitz's charged-up fist slammed into Queen's stomach, sending him flying high into the sky. He performed an elegant freefall before landing in a nearby stream.

At this point, Blitz's objective was still to teach them a lesson and make them apologize, so the force of its punches wasn't too great. Before long, Queen emerged from the stream, bent over and dripping wet.

"Hahaha, Queen, you look so pathetic. Is this the strong body you always brag about? I don't think much of it."

"What are you laughing at? Aren't you going to help?"

"Why should I help you with something you started yourself?"

Judge acted as if he had no intention of getting involved. At this moment, Judge seemed to have forgotten that he had echoed Queen's narcissistic boasts about his abilities earlier.

Humans might have seen through Judge's perfunctory attitude, but Blitz was different. Still growing, Blitz had already classified Judge and Queen as the same kind of people.

Whoosh!

While Judge was still mocking Queen's predicament, a mechanical claw swooped down towards him.

"Hey, hey, hey! How do you even identify your enemies! It has nothing to do with me!"

This explanation was clearly useless. Blitz rotated its upper body and flung Judge towards Queen, causing the latter, who had just climbed out of the stream, to fall back in.

If Queen had eaten a Devil Fruit by now, he would have likely sunk to the bottom after being dunked in and out of the water like this.

"You bastard, I'm not like that weakling Queen. Let me show you what I've got!"

Judge pulled out something resembling a gun barrel and attached it to the front of his flintlock. After a simple aim, he fired it towards Blitz.

Blitz's mechanical claw, still extended, caught what Judge fired in mid-air. However, Judge wore a triumphant smile. The arrowhead suddenly exploded, and a powerful electric current surged along Blitz's arm and into its body.

"Just freeze there! You stupid tin can!"

It was an electric gun Judge was researching. He intended to use the strong current to short-circuit and paralyze Blitz. With a burst of intense light, Blitz's movements gradually slowed down.

"See, Queen? This is the correct way to do it. You idiot, fighting a robot hand-to-hand? I don't know what you were thinking. Sorry, little kitty, we'll help you fix your robot later, okay?"

It wasn't that Judge felt any sense of responsibility; rather, he was curious about the robot's internal structure and wanted to see what was inside Blitz. However, from Kate's eyes, Judge saw a look of pity.

"Meow thinks you'd best run now."

Kate, along with Oran, had witnessed the birth of Blitz. She knew that after overloading, Blitz would enter a brief period of stiffness where its movements would become slow.

Even though Blitz was currently surrounded by electricity, appearing as if it had short-circuited, it had nothing to do with Judge's attack. The current was actually coming from Blitz's internal energy core.

Judge's electric gun head had failed to stop Blitz; instead, it had activated its combat mode.

The next moment, Blitz went berserk, swinging its electrified fists at an even faster speed towards the two of them.

"Judge! You idiot! Look what you've done!"

"Didn't you start this, you bastard! What right do you have to lecture me!"

Zzzzt!

The electricity surrounding Blitz began to leak out as it got closer to them. Having witnessed Blitz's troublesome nature, they abandoned direct confrontation and began dodging Blitz's attacks. However, the flying mechanical claws and leaking electricity left them groaning in pain.

"Queen! Hurry up and apologize to it! Make this iron guy stop!!"

"No way! Where would that leave my pride!"

"If you don't apologize now, you'd better think about where our lives will be!"

Under the midday sun, Blitz chased the two figures before it, relentlessly punishing them.

Although Queen eventually relented after a period of resistance, it seemed too late. Blitz's objective had shifted from making them apologize to simply teaching them a lesson.

"Oran, Blitz is having a bit of a problem. He's beating up two people who came off a ship called MADS because...

Do you want me to stop Blitz?"

Kate called Oran on his Den Den Mushi, describing the situation and asking for instructions.

In her judgment, these two weren't exactly evil yet, so there was no need to kill them outright. However, their condescending tone towards Oran earlier had annoyed her greatly, so she hadn't interfered with Blitz's actions.

After all, Blitz hadn't activated his annihilation mode yet, so no lives would be lost.

"MADS? Seems like your subordinates. Anything you want to say?"

Oran didn't answer Kate immediately. Instead, he looked at the tall man in front of him, a man whose head was as large as his body.