The open slope connected to the rocky shore. Though the pirates couldn't see any fighting with their own eyes, they could hear the unending clash of battle carried on the wind.
Buggy's feet pounded the ground as he used Shave to keep close to Kuro's figure. The two traded offense and defense, sometimes switching who had the upper hand.
However, this was his first time fighting while using Shave, and his movements were far less practiced than Kuro's. He was often a beat slower than his opponent—in other words, his attacks rarely hit.
Kuro attacked with his Cat Claws, while Buggy used his passive splitting ability or the force of Finger Pistol to block him. When Buggy attacked, Kuro would also spin his hands, using the blades on his Cat Claws gloves to deflect the blows.
Most of the time, though, Buggy was the one on the offensive. His Devil Fruit ability meant he didn't fear the slashes of the Cat Claws, so he didn't have to worry about getting hurt when he attacked. But there was an obvious drawback: while moving at high speed, his separated body parts were still affected by things outside of Shave, such as air resistance and inertia, which made him feel slightly stiff.
Kuro, though he had no idea what he was attacking, had already mastered the Cat Claws. He could thrust, slash, defend, and deflect force with ease. The moment he sensed danger, he would switch to defense. Yet even so, Buggy had him firmly on the back foot.
Buggy was observing Kuro's Scoop. The technique was different from Shave. It was fast, but could only reach the most basic level of Shave.
At the same time, it had advantages that Shave couldn't match. While using this footwork, Kuro could keep changing direction as he advanced. Once he started, as long as he didn't stop or get interrupted, he could use Scoop to wreak havoc without any pattern for an hour or even a whole day, provided he had enough stamina.
Shave couldn't do anything like that. Every charge required him to stomp the ground more than a dozen times to build up explosive power, though it seemed to use less stamina than Scoop.
Rather than end the battle with Kuro outright, Buggy was keeping the fight at a stalemate to hone his skills and gain experience in high-speed combat. And if he could learn the essence of Scoop during the fight, perhaps he could develop Shave into something more agile and versatile.
"Look!" one of the Black Cat Pirates shouted. "I think I just saw Captain Buggy! That's him! He's fighting Captain Kuro!"
"Hey, you little punk, did you just call the enemy 'Captain'?"
"Don't say that, big guy... If it weren't for Captain Buggy, we might've been killed here."
"That's right! Captain Buggy is our savior!"
"In that case, let's cheer him on!"
The Black Cat Pirates chattered among themselves. Then, as if they'd all made up their minds, they shouted in unison, "Captain Buggy, hurry up and beat that guy!"
Shuma, standing off to the side, scratched his head. "These upright ingredients are so weird. Why are they cheering for Buggy? Oh, well..."
He blindly raised his right hand along with them and shouted excitedly, "Go, Buggy!!!"
Cabaji glanced over the cheering pirates and rubbed the sheath of his sword. "These guys have already gotten their strength back? Looks like I didn't hit them hard enough."
The pirates immediately felt a chill down their spines.
Usopp, standing on the slope, quickly turned his head from side to side. His keen eyesight let him catch glimpses of the fighters' movements. Unlike the pirates, who had no idea what was happening, he could see the situation in front of him much more clearly.
"The glasses-wearing bastard and Uncle Buggy are evenly matched..." he muttered. Then he put his hands on his hips and laughed smugly. "Kaya, see that? The guy fighting and those people down there are all my friends! Hahaha! They went on an adventure with me to Goldfish Feces Island back then, so they should count among my eighty million subordinates..."
As he spoke, the wound Kuro had slashed across his arm throbbed from all the movement. He clutched his arm and collapsed weakly to the ground. "Ugh... I'm dying! I have a disease that means I can't see blood. I'm about to die... 'Proud Usopp' is going to die in battle!"
Kaya supported Usopp's arm. "Stop fooling around. You only have a few superficial wounds. You're not going to die, Usopp."
She furrowed her brow and thought for a moment. Then she opened her palm, where a strange green bubble appeared, and pressed it into Usopp's arm.
Usopp gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath. The pain in his arm slowly faded, replaced by a tingling sensation.
"This strange power..." He couldn't help thinking back to what had happened a little over an hour ago.
"Captain Usopp! Captain Usopp!"
Usopp, battered and bruised all over, wearily opened his eyes. His blurred vision was filled with streaks of light. After a while, he made out several familiar faces in front of him.
"Tamanegi, Piment... and Ninjin. What are you doing here...? Uh... Kaya, you..."
"Captain Usopp, we didn't find you at our usual spot, so we thought you'd gone to see Miss Kaya. Then we went to look for you at the villa on the hilltop, and we ran into Miss Kaya..."
Tamanegi shook his head hurriedly and said anxiously, "Captain Usopp, now's not the time to talk about that! We have to get you to the village clinic right away!"
As he spoke, the boys moved to lift Usopp up.
"Don't!" Usopp did his best to hold them back. Looking at Kaya, who had covered her mouth and was blinking back tears, he said, "Kaya, listen to me. Klahadore—the pirate Kuro—is the one who hurt me like this... He's a dangerous pirate. He's after your fortune."
"Stop talking, Usopp. We're taking you to the clinic right away!" Kaya wiped her tears and tried to help him up.
"Kaya!!"
Usopp shouted, then suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said weakly, "Let me finish... There's a group of powerful pirates on the east coast. Captain Buggy used to serve on the same ship as my Pops. We can ask them for help. If I plead with him, he'll definitely help me!"
"But... they may be setting sail soon. If we don't hurry, this village will run red with blood. Do you understand?" Usopp looked firmly at the people in front of him. "Don't worry about me... Don't sacrifice the whole village for my sake!!!"
After that, he passed out from his severe injuries. When he woke up, the pain in his body had inexplicably eased.
The feeling of hovering between life and death had been like a dream... Usopp patted his head as if he'd returned from another world.
"I... I don't know either. After I drank the doctor's special medicine yesterday, I felt much better, and it seems like I can control this..." Tiny bubbles appeared in Kaya's palm. "Power..."
Usopp stared at her in shock, then broke into an exaggerated grin. "Kaya, you seem to have become amazing... Hahaha! How could a friend of mine, Usopp, be an ordinary person? You must've been blessed by a god!"
"Blessed by a god?"
"That's right, blessed by a god." Usopp proudly raised his head. "When I was six, I went to a strange sea. The people there were different from us. They had a mysterious power that let them make bubbles as big as hills with their hands. Then they used those bubbles to build houses on the surface of the sea that people could live in."
"Really?"
Usopp confidently thumped his chest. "Of course! I'm Captain Usopp!"
Kaya managed to force a faint smile, but it couldn't hide her worry. As she watched the wind whip across the slope and rocky shore, she silently prayed, Uncle Red Nose, you have to win...
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