Meanwhile, Kuro, who had just gotten back up, felt the urge to lie right back down.
Yes, this was it!
This was how he had passed out last time. Back then, he had wondered whether something was wrong with his body.
After waking up, he had checked himself over thoroughly, though he hadn't found anything in the end.
Still, he had planned to find a doctor to examine him once this plan succeeded.
He hadn't expected that the man before him had been behind all of it.
At that moment, Kuro instantly made up his mind.
Run!
The person before him was frighteningly strong, absolutely beyond his ability to fight.
Just as Kuro was considering how to escape, a voice came from behind him.
"Klahadore, I never imagined you were a pirate, or that you'd hurt Merry so badly. I was completely wrong about you!"
That voice...
A flash of delight crossed Kuro's eyes. It seemed even heaven wanted him to escape this calamity!
Using Silent Step, Kuro immediately raced toward Kaya behind him.
His hope of escape lay in her hands!
Given the relationship between Kaya and Usopp, if he used Kaya as a hostage, they would certainly hesitate to act. That would give him a chance to escape.
"Where is he? Where did he go?"
Everyone present looked bewildered when Kuro disappeared.
But Usopp shouted at Kaya, "Kaya, run!"
The instant he saw Kaya appear, he had realized things had gone wrong.
Although he couldn't make out Kuro's movements either, he had a feeling Kaya was in danger.
"I seriously..."
Standing nearby, Xia Chen was at a loss for words. Seriously, everything still fell to him in the end.
He really had to be both mom and dad!
Still, it was understandable. After all, Kuro's Silent Step could rival Soru in speed, so it was normal that Luffy and the others couldn't react at their current level. (People online say Oda mentioned in an SBS that Silent Step and Soru are equally fast. Please forgive me if that's incorrect!)
So...
Xia Chen vanished from his spot, appeared before Kaya the next second, and slapped Kuro.
Even if its speed could rival Soru, that still depended on the user's strength.
A weaker person would certainly be slower when using the same technique.
Wasn't the gap between ordinary CP9 members and Lucci like heaven and earth?
And the gap in strength between him and Kuro was even greater than that, so even though Kuro had been closer to Kaya and had moved sooner...
It hadn't done him a damn bit of good!
"Luffy, keep an eye on your opponent!"
"Oh, okay!" Hearing this, Luffy hurried over to Kuro and started fighting him.
Some time later~
Due to the gap in raw strength, Zoro's battle with the Nyaban Brothers ended before long.
Luffy, on the other hand, was having a somewhat difficult fight.
Kuro's Silent Step gave him no end of trouble, but as the battle progressed, he gradually began to keep up.
That was what made Luffy terrifying. He grew far too quickly in battle, and the harder the fight, the greater his improvement.
Just like when he later fought Teacher Kaido, every swing of the club brought a huge leap in Luffy's strength.
From Ryuo at the beginning to Conqueror's Coating midway through, and finally Devil Fruit Awakening.
His strength really did leap several levels!
Although much of that was thanks to Teacher Kaido's excellent instruction, Luffy's own talent still had something to do with it.
Seeing that he still couldn't defeat Luffy after so long, Kuro grew furious.
Then Kuro let his hands hang down, and his entire body began swaying like a walking zombie.
"Shakushi!"
As Kuro's words fell, his figure instantly vanished.
Then he began attacking his surroundings indiscriminately.
Luffy's body, the surrounding rock walls, the ground, and the pirates lying on it all became targets of his attacks.
Until...
"Bam!"
With the sound of a fist striking a face, Kuro went flying backward yet again.
Only this time, unlike before, he never got back up.
Xia Chen genuinely couldn't take it anymore. He had only held off on finishing Kuro earlier because he wanted to leave him as an EXP pack for Luffy.
But you really don't know how to play along, do you?!
Kuro had provoked him again and again, and this time he had actually attacked him. Letting it slide any longer would have been inexcusable.
So Xia Chen decisively put a little strength into it and rewarded him with a punch.
The result, unsurprisingly, was that Kuro immediately passed out cold. The fact that he hadn't kicked the bucket already meant Xia Chen had gone easy on him.
With that, Kuro's plan to attack the village was officially foiled!
Syrup Village once again spent a peaceful day, just like any other.
The following day, inside Syrup Village's tavern.
"What kind of broke losers were those Black Cat Pirates? They didn't even have a single Beli!"
"Hah... ptooey... What a disgrace to pirates!"
Nami spoke through gritted teeth as she ate an orange.
Hearing this beside her, Xia Chen merely smiled faintly.
It'd be a miracle if you found anything! Wouldn't that mean I wasn't a professional?
Luffy and Zoro, sitting nearby, ignored Nami too. One was busy eating meat, while the other was busy drinking!
"Creak!"
The tavern door opened, and Kaya walked in, smiling when she saw Xia Chen and the others.
"So you're here!"
"Do you have time to come with me? I have a gift I'd like to give you!"
"A gift?!!"
Half an hour later~
"Wow!!! (☆▽☆)"
Luffy and Nami looked like a pair of country bumpkins, stars in their eyes.
"This is a light sailing ship!"
"Are you really giving us this ship?" Luffy asked Kaya again excitedly.
"Yes, please do accept it!"
"So cool! What an awesome ship!"
Luffy couldn't stop praising it.
"Ahh~ H-help me!"
A panicked scream from afar drew everyone's attention.
They saw Usopp holding a ball-oh, no, rather, a ball with a Usopp stuck beneath it-rolling down the slope toward them.
"Is he doing acrobatics?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"Never mind what he's doing. Stop him first, or he'll crash into the ship!" Xia Chen said calmly.
They couldn't let Usopp damage their brand-new ship.
Then Xia Chen and Zoro each planted a kick in Usopp's face, helping him stop.
"Th-thanks!"
"Oh, no problem!"
Afterward, Usopp talked with Kaya for a while. Once they finished, Usopp turned his gaze toward Xia Chen and the others aboard the ship.
"Hey, if we meet at sea someday, I won't go easy on you!"
"Huh? What are you still talking about over there? Hurry up and get aboard!" Xia Chen asked.
Luffy added from beside him, "Aren't we already crewmates?"
Hearing this, Usopp instantly froze. Tears spilled out before he knew it.
"Y-you guys..."
After a long while, he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and shouted:
"I'm... the captain, right?"
"Not a chance, you bastard!"
Everyone, I'll just briefly touch on the Treasure Island storyline, then move straight into the next arc.