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"Sorry, it seems I must leave ahead of you." Gan Fall looked at Li Ziming. "Would you like to come along?"
"I'd love to." Li Ziming took Gan Fall's hand and climbed onto Pierre with him.
"Hey, wait a minute, you two!" Nami tried to stop them, but the two headstrong men completely ignored her and flew straight off the Going Merry.
"I told you to wait! You heartless jerks! We still have two injured people here!" Nami shouted angrily.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine!" Li Ziming's voice drifted back from afar, making Nami stamp her feet.
"Are you sure your body can handle this?" Gan Fall had brought Li Ziming along, but he still wasn't sure how much fighting strength the young man had left.
"Don't worry. I'm fine." Li Ziming finally realized that physical combat techniques, along with the Haki that required them, might be useful to him, but they definitely weren't something he could focus on right now. After all, no matter how hard he trained, he couldn't possibly match the natives who had been through countless life-or-death battles in such a short time. He had Zephyr's notes, but notes were only notes, and his physical condition was another serious limitation. His original ideas for improving his strength were good, but they were a long-term plan. Right now, developing his Devil Fruit ability was his top priority. Of course, that didn't mean he would abandon the powers he already had. Devil Fruit abilities weren't all-powerful, after all, as his current situation proved.
"Young man, can you find Wyper? With your Mantra?" Gan Fall asked from Pierre's back.
"Sorry, but why should I look for that guy?" Li Ziming frowned. "Besides, my Observation Haki has a very limited range. I might not be able to find him."
"Is that so?" Gan Fall frowned. "You're right. Having Mantra on Enel's level would be practically impossible. In that case, Pierre, we're counting on you!"
"Pierre!" Pierre let out a cry, then shot off in a particular direction.
"This bird can track people, too?" Li Ziming asked curiously.
"That's right. Although Pierre is a bird, eating the Horse-Horse Fruit enhanced his sense of smell. It isn't quite as good as a dog's, but he can manage some basic tracking." Gan Fall patted Pierre. "I'm fortunate to have him."
"All right, old man. Is showing off your love for a bird really that much fun?" Li Ziming quipped. "Anyway, where's this Wyper guy?"
"No idea. I'm not Pierre." Gan Fall looked at Li Ziming as though he were an idiot.
Li Ziming merely shrugged. He actually just wanted to test whether his Observation Haki was still in its original state, and exactly how much it had changed. Ever since first encountering that fellow inside his body, he had suspected that the Observation Haki he had experienced then might have been the legendary Voice of All Things. Yet after tricking that fellow, although he had retained his Observation Haki, its power had fallen far short of what it had been.
After several hours of flying, the two arrived at some ruins. Li Ziming immediately spotted the legendary battle demon Wyper, along with Zoro. There was also a priest, while Chopper lay on the ground covered in wounds.
"Chopper!" Li Ziming jumped straight off Pierre and used Geppo to reach Chopper's side.
"Ming! Did your training work out?" Zoro knew he had gone off to train. Seeing him return, he assumed he must have made some progress.
"More or less." Li Ziming himself wasn't sure whether his training counted as a success. "That guy—you want to take him?" He looked at the priest with hostility in his eyes.
"Don't worry. I'll make him pay for what he did to the little guy!" Zoro's eyes were like those of a savage beast.
"Oh, so the three of you are joining forces? Now that sounds a little more interesting." Ohm adjusted his sunglasses. "Allow me to grant you salvation."
"What a joke. I'm here to take Enel's head!" Wyper raised his bazooka.
"It seems talking is out of the question." Gan Fall raised his lance.
"Then we might as well get started." Zoro drew his swords.
At that moment, the Sky Lord suddenly appeared.
"Looks like everyone has their own business to settle, and nobody's backing down." Zoro looked at the others, his eyes burning with the desire to fight.
"Hmph. Save it until you've survived." Wyper looked at the others disdainfully.
"Give it your best, Zoro. If you lose, I'll collect your corpse." Li Ziming darted aside, leaving the battlefield entirely to the men already itching for a fight. "I'd better check Chopper's injuries first. These wounds are serious, though that fur of his probably saved him."
"Tch, those guys really don't care where they fight." Carrying Chopper, Li Ziming moved far away from their battlefield. "Is that... Nami?" He stared in surprise as an incredibly fast Waver charged toward the fighting men. Apart from Nami, there seemed to be another girl aboard.
"At that speed..." Li Ziming felt helpless. He had wanted to rescue them, but Nami's Waver was absurdly fast. It vanished from sight in an instant.
"Zoro!" Li Ziming could only place his hopes in Zoro, who was still fighting, and hope he would notice them. He didn't dare expect him to stop the Waver. "Watch out! Nami and a kid are on that Waver!"
"Aisa?" Wyper cried out as well, startled that Aisa was here.
"Kill them!" At that moment, several goats showed a spectacular lack of judgment, charging toward Nami and Aisa's Waver with loud cries. Naturally, Wyper and Zoro knocked them out, while Nami only just managed to stop the Waver.
"Aisa!" Wyper had already aimed his bazooka at Nami. "Why are you here? You, Blue Sea woman! Let Aisa go!"
"Hey, are you blind? Nami isn't holding that girl hostage!" Zoro pointed his sword at Wyper.
Wyper ignored him and fired a rocket straight at the Waver. With that weapon's power, both people aboard would undoubtedly be blown to pieces!
"Damn it, you'd even attack your own people!" Zoro rushed toward the Waver, trying to rescue the two girls.
"What are you doing here?" At the last possible moment, Gan Fall rode Pierre over and pulled the Waver out of the way.
"Wyper's a demon!" Aisa burst into frightened tears.
"It's not the first time he's been ruthless. As a person, I don't much like him, but as a warrior, he's outstanding." Li Ziming walked over.
"You, Blue Sea man! Do you want to join the fight, too?" Wyper aimed his bazooka at Li Ziming.
"Zoro, the priest is yours. I suddenly feel like teaching this guy a lesson." Li Ziming looked at Wyper.
"Just don't die." Zoro turned back to face the priest Ohm.
"Not before you do," Li Ziming replied irritably.
"Hey, be careful! There's a giant snake in this forest! We only came here because it was chasing us!" Nami warned loudly.
"A giant snake?" Everyone wore a strange expression, then looked at the Sky Lord.
Nami found their stares rather odd. She looked behind her and smacked a fist into her palm. "Right, that's the snake!" Then her expression changed. "A snake!!!"
"Get out of the way!" Li Ziming charged over using Geppo.
But he was clearly too late. The Sky Lord swallowed Nami and Aisa, along with Gan Fall and Pierre, in a single gulp.
"Idiots!" Li Ziming rushed toward the Sky Lord's chin—or perhaps its throat?
"Big Explosion!" The Sky Lord's chin was instantly torn bloody, but the wound was actually little more than a shallow injury to the surface. At the same time, Wyper fired a rocket into the Sky Lord's body. Its hide was so thick, however, that the damage was negligible. Perhaps the only thing their attacks accomplished was thoroughly enraging it.
Meanwhile, Ohm took advantage of their distraction to launch a sneak attack on Zoro and Wyper, who were closest to him.
"You can barely protect yourselves, yet you still have time to worry about others?" Ohm looked disdainfully at the two fallen men.
"Zoro." Li Ziming's eyes burned with rage. "You bastard." He was about to charge at Ohm when a hand suddenly caught him.
"I'm not down yet." Though Zoro was covered in wounds, the hand holding his sword didn't tremble in the slightest. "Besides, didn't you say that guy was your opponent?"
"I don't intend to waste much time on you, Blue Sea man." Wyper stood up as well.
"Honestly, you can't save anyone. Allow me to give you despair instead." Ohm snapped his fingers. "Poly, use that move."
At the command, Poly began racing around them. Before long, every person or creature still standing was enclosed in something resembling an enormous cage.
"Welcome to the White Thorn Death Game."
P.S. To everyone following the updates, do you still have any free appreciation tickets or Qidian Coins? The countdown for the 515 red-envelope rankings is underway, so I'm here to ask for votes. Please send more support and appreciation tickets—let's make one final push!
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