Infiltrating

Leo's composed manner immediately won Rindou's favor. She had thought he was merely a pampered piece of trash who did not even dare increase his training load, but he had a clear understanding of himself, this world, and his enemies. He neither shied away from his own weakness nor avoided acknowledging the enemy's strength. Someone like that had tremendous potential.

It could be said that most people in this world lacked his clarity.

"I've more or less achieved my goal. I know what level I'm really at now."

It was as if he had ranked this world's strong people into tiers: the Four Emperors and the Three Admirals; the Four Emperor commanders and the Shichibukai; Vice Admirals and Supernovas; CP9 and those who could use Haki; Devil Fruit users; and finally, those who had just entered the Grand Line.

And within that final tier, beneath the pirate captains who had just entered the Grand Line, there were First Mates, officers, Combat Chiefs, and ordinary crewmen.

His current physical strength was probably somewhere between that of an ordinary crewman and a Combat Chief, while his combat experience was not even enough to contend with an ordinary crewman.

But that was easy to deal with. He just had to keep fighting.

Keep fighting and accumulate experience. So long as he did not die, he had enough time to raise himself to the level of a Combat Chief.

After resting for only fifteen minutes, he stood up, took off his clothes again, and walked toward the mast.

"Hey..." Rindou cried out in surprise, but she could not stop him. She could only watch as Leo stood beside the mast and called, "Barbaro, I've rested enough. Let's continue."

Not just Rindou—even the pirates who had gradually started dispersing became excited again. This kid looked like he had not taken enough of a beating.

Barbaro was seething. In his eyes, he had spared Leo, yet Leo did not know how to be grateful and even dared provoke him again. If he did not break a few of Leo's ribs this time, then his name was not Barbaro!

But this time, things were a little different from what Barbaro had expected.

This time, Leo fought freely and boldly. He closed in directly, throwing a jab straight at Barbaro's face, much like Todlin's fighting style earlier. But this time, Leo was not Todlin, and Barbaro was not Leo.

Barbaro retreated in a flash, but Leo did not imitate him with a Spiral Kick. Instead, he kept pressing in and simply started boxing.

He used what he knew against his opponent rather than clumsily imitating things he did not know.

Boxing footwork was extremely practical, flexible and fast whether closing in on an opponent or retreating to dodge.

Leo did not have a large, powerful build, so he honestly followed conventional fighting techniques as he pressed forward. His Jabs were direct and extremely fast, making them more suitable for people with smaller builds like theirs.

As for Hooks and Uppercuts, their swinging motions were too broad and left too many openings. A jab used to seize the initiative was the fastest and most conventional attack.

But Barbaro had not received systematic training. When facing Jabs, he was unwilling to raise his guard and take the hits, so he kept retreating instead.

Leo's attacks came in an unbroken stream. Most were actually feints, the kind that would not hurt even if they landed, but Barbaro thought too highly of himself and stubbornly refused to let Leo hit him even once, retreating again and again.

However, his companions were all scum and had no desire to watch him fight so pathetically. He had nearly backed up to the edge of the circle when a pirate behind him suddenly shoved him. Barbaro never expected an attack from a companion behind him. He staggered and completely lost his balance. A fist grew larger and larger before his eyes, but the expected blow never came.

Leo took two steps back instead of attacking him, waiting for him to regain his footing before beckoning to him.

Barbaro sneered, then charged forward...

The battle that followed was like a fight between two children. Barbaro knew Leo lacked experience, so after taking two punches, he grabbed Leo and brought him down. Then the two turned into little kids, fighting in an utterly messy fashion.

But this time, Leo did not back down. Instead, he began fighting Barbaro fiercely.

The two grappled and rolled on the ground, fighting in the ugliest way imaginable. Pirates rarely saw such unsightly battles; usually, one slash was fatal, two at most. Yet they watched this ugly fight with great relish, fanning the flames from the sidelines.

Leo naturally lost.

Barbaro pinned him to the ground and beat him down, but after the fight, Barbaro stood on the deck and extended a hand to Leo.

Though his gloomy face was also covered in blood, his tone was relaxed.

"Though you're weak as hell, you're an opponent worthy of respect."

Leo wiped the blood from his nose, laughed heartily, and grabbed Barbaro's hand to stand up.

"Boo!!!" The pirates were completely dissatisfied with this outcome and erupted into wild jeers. The ending was nothing like what they wanted. They absolutely did not want the two of them to develop mutual admiration and dissolve their hatred.

For pirates, only death could ease hatred.

"Hmph!" Great Bay Blade William snorted, and the pirates' clamor gradually died down. Barbaro did not have enough prestige, but Great Bay Blade William was different. He swept his gaze around the surrounding pirates, then smiled at Leo once silence had fallen. "I wonder whether you were satisfied with this battle."

"Thank you, William." Leo wiped the blood from his body with his clothes and looked up at Great Bay Blade William.

"You're welcome, you're welcome." William hurriedly waved his hands. "So, are you going back now?"

He looked at Leo somewhat nervously. Clearly, he was afraid that the Empress would hold him accountable for Leo being beaten up like this.

But... he secretly glanced at the indifferent Rindou. Since that woman had not stopped it, it should be fine... right?

"Then let's start preparing dinner."

Leo walked toward the lifeboat.

Then he lifted the layer of canvas beneath the lifeboat and pulled out a whole bundle of fishing rods.

"Tonight's dinner depends on what you can catch yourselves!" he declared, hands on his hips as he laughed heartily.

He had never planned to return to the Kuja Pirates' ship before sleeping. He wanted to spend some proper time with these pirates.

He had not only brought the pirates plenty of fishing rods, but also quite a few cooking utensils.

He wanted to see just how capable these pirates were, and more importantly, how lucky they were.

If he wanted to infiltrate them, observation was essential. And now he had made a good start, establishing a certain tacit understanding with Barbaro, the captain, and the First Mate.

Next, it was time to infiltrate them...

PS: Everyone knows I haven't been in great shape these past two days, but I'm sure none of you know why.

PS1: It started because a friend of my mother's had a batch of office chairs to get rid of, and I needed to replace mine, so it worked out perfectly. Yesterday, I went over and brought one back. This may sound a little bad, but a chair that costs over two hundred really wrecks your lower back. Yesterday and today, my back started hurting unbearably after barely sitting in it. I finally had to toss it aside, but it still hurt. My old chair was much better.

PS2: Anyway, there's no way to revise these two chapters now, so just treat it as me taking two days off. Tomorrow, I'll definitely get up early and write properly for everyone.

I humbly take my leave, thump thump thump.