(Oh, I made a mistake yesterday: Shanks couldn't have punched his palm! Thanks to reader ~Dragon Ming~ for pointing it out. But nobody called out the "6.0" bit I left in on purpose. That really hurts. Nothing's more awkward than putting on a one-man show.)
Was Loa all right now?
Of course not.
When he woke, the first thing he saw was Lucky Roux's big, greasy face.
True, the Red Hair Pirates had let mountain bandits push them around in the East Blue, laughing it all off. But when a fight broke out, this ever-smiling fat man was ruthless enough to blow someone's head off without hesitation.
A smile from a man like that was hardly comforting. It scared Loa out of his skin.
He literally jumped!
He sprang more than a meter into the air, flipped backward, and kicked Lucky Roux hard enough to send him flying before he could react.
Loa: "Holy shit!"
Lucky Roux: "Holy shit!"
They cursed at the same time, each badly startled by the other.
The moment Loa landed, piercing pain tore through him. Every muscle and bone in his body seemed to groan under the strain.
Thud!
No sooner had his feet touched the ground than the pain sent him sprawling facedown.
Lucky Roux, meanwhile, kept rolling across the ground, his round belly giving him plenty of bounce. He only stopped when Benn Beckman planted a foot on him.
Cigarette in his mouth, Beckman gave Loa an impatient look. "Hey, kid. Is that how you treat someone who saved your life?"
"Saved my life?" Loa repeated blankly. He strained to turn his head and look behind him.
"Damn... Did the explosion make that crater?"
From where he lay, he could see that Ian Island's hills had become a basin. The enormous crater