"Bang!"
"Get out of here, quickly! Otherwise, none of you will get away... Hm... Laki... you-"
Before Wyper could finish, Laki struck the back of his head with her gun's grip. He collapsed, unable to believe it.
"Quick, take Wyper back for treatment. Don't worry, leave everything here to me. It'll be all right."
Laki entrusted Wyper to her people and spoke to them with confidence, then stood alone in front of Luo Chen.
"We understand. You... take care of yourself. Let's go."
The warriors fell silent. A moment later, they decided to take all their wounded people back, leaving Laki alone and telling her to take care.
"Your people have all left, leaving you here alone. So how do you intend to deal with me?"
Luo Chen asked, somewhat curious. He had merely watched quietly from the sidelines as they made their decision, with no intention of intervening. That remained true even when the others left and Laki alone stood in front of him.
"Phew! You don't need to worry about what I intend to do. You're Luo Chen, the fifth priest under Enel, aren't you? You're the one who wounded my companions so badly?"
Laki took a deep breath and raised her head to look Luo Chen in the eye.
"What if I am? What if I'm not? What, do you intend to avenge your companions?"
Luo Chen asked mockingly, his words full of disdain for her strength.
"Of course I'll avenge them. I'll kill you."
"Uh, hahaha! That's hilarious. A whole group of men couldn't defeat me, let alone a woman like you."
As if he had heard something hilarious, Luo Chen burst out laughing and mocked her.
"Damn you, don't look down on me..."
"Click!"
Laki seemed to grow angry at his mockery, even though he was the priest Luo Chen, the man who had defeated all the Shandia and sent them back empty-handed.
Laki pulled the trigger without hesitation. White smoke rose from the muzzle, and with a bang, a bullet sped toward Luo Chen.
Yet no matter how weak he was, she still could not defeat him with an attack. The moment Laki pulled the trigger, Luo Chen reacted. A blood-colored current gathered around two of his fingers, and he used them like a sword to deflect the bullet.
"Bang!"
The deflected bullet struck a tree trunk beside him, leaving a hole the size of a baby's fist.
"Not bad. It seems I underestimated your resolve. I admit you're more like a true warrior than your companions before you. In that case, I won't go easy on you because you're a woman anymore, Warrior Laki."
Seeing Laki pull the trigger on him without hesitation, Luo Chen had witnessed her resolve and courage, qualities some of her companions before her had lacked.
"Come on. I don't need your sympathy, least of all an enemy's pity."
Laki raised her gun and aimed it at Luo Chen as she spoke.
"Fine. In that case, I'll..."
Just as she thought Luo Chen was about to kill her, she suddenly heard him say,
"...let you leave this place!"
"What?!!!"
Laki had prepared to sacrifice herself, hoping to hold him off a little longer for her companions, but she had never expected this outcome.
"You... you're just going to let me go like that and allow us to leave safely?"
Laki still found it hard to believe. A moment later, she spoke again to confirm it.
"What else? I never intended to kill all of you in the first place. I only came here to stop you because it was my assignment. Since you've all given up on going after Enel for revenge, why would I keep you here? Besides, Enel never said whether I should finish you all off."
Luo Chen sat down cross-legged without regard for appearances and offered an explanation.
"No, I just didn't expect a priest like you to let us go. It's hard to imagine you serving that devil."
Laki lowered her gun as she spoke to him.
"Uh, hahahaha! This time, I'm letting you go of my own accord, but I won't do it again. If we meet on the battlefield next time, I'll kill you. I won't show mercy again. Do you understand?"
Perhaps it was because he had met a beautiful woman, or perhaps because he had someone he could confide in, but Luo Chen spoke at length with Laki, something he had never done before.
"Yes, I understand! The next time we meet, we won't need to hold back anymore."
She nodded in agreement and spoke to him again, still stubbornly unwilling to concede.
"Hahaha! I hope so. Now, it's time for you to leave too. Go after your companions!"
Luo Chen found her refusal to concede amusing, then opened his mouth to send her on her way.
"All right, I'll leave now. So... goodbye."
Laki actually stumbled over her words a little as she bid him farewell.
"Goodbye? Perhaps it would be better for you if we didn't meet again. The next time we meet, it'll be a fight to the death. You take care of yourself too."
Luo Chen stood up and looked her in the eyes as he spoke in a solemn tone. Then he turned away, waving to her as he left.
"I'll remember you, Priest Luo Chen."
Laki looked at him intently, a trace of a different emotion flashing in her eyes as she spoke to his retreating figure.
Then Laki rode her waver, powered by a Jet Wind Dial, across the sea of clouds and left the Sacred Land Upper Yard.
I never expected to tell you so much. Is it because this is the first time I've met a story character I can confide in, or... Phew! Never mind. The mission is complete, so I should leave too and return to the temple to resume my duties.
Luo Chen turned and watched her departing figure as he thought to himself. A moment later, he shook his head and turned toward the temple, preparing to head there.
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, Luo Chen clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of congealed blood.
"Phew! I didn't expect the price of awakening Observation Haki to be so high. Fortunately, the damage to my body isn't too bad."
Luo Chen looked at the congealed blood on the ground and smiled bitterly. A fist-sized hole had been made in his chest, but the wound was healing rapidly. More serious was the damage his internal organs had suffered in the impact just now.
Because of his Mythical Zoan Fruit ability, his body would continue to recover and eventually heal completely. So Luo Chen paid little attention to his injuries.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
After a while, Luo Chen's body had recovered somewhat, and his stamina had also returned a little. He used his ability again, and a pair of blood-red flesh wings slowly beat behind him, lifting him gradually into the air. He steadily picked up speed as he flew toward Enel at the temple.
Inside the temple above Sky Island, Enel sat upright on his throne as though resting. Below him, several priests sat cross-legged on cushions with their eyes closed, saying nothing.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, Enel opened his eyes and looked outside in the direction from which Luo Chen was flying. He laughed.
"Hahaha! You're finally here. You've kept us waiting a long time."
"What is it, Lord Enel? Did you sense something?"
The four priests below also opened their eyes and asked him. Although they had mastered Observation Haki, it was not yet at the level it would reach four years later, much less as expansive as Enel's, which could cover all of Sky Island. They did not know what had happened, so they asked Enel.
"He's back. The fifth priest, Luo Chen."
Enel explained to them.
"Is it him? Has he already completed the task you assigned him?"
Below, the bald priest Ohm asked upon hearing this.
"That's right. Luo Chen has completed the task I gave him. But he's in a bit of a sorry state right now. You'll see when he gets back."
Sensing Luo Chen's presence, Enel spoke mysteriously.
"A sorry state? Were those Shandia warriors really that difficult to deal with?"
Hearing that Luo Chen had been left in such a state fighting those warriors, Ohm and the others spoke in disbelief.