Kazu extended a hand, signaling for Carlmand to come at him.
"Then I won't hold back."
As soon as he finished speaking, Carlmand charged forward, throwing a punch straight at Kazu's chest.
Kazu smiled, making no attempt to dodge. Carlmand's fist passed straight through his body, easily evaded through elementalization.
"Not bad. You've got some spirit."
Taking advantage of Carlmand's momentary shock, Kazu kicked him square in the face. Carlmand went flying into the sea, throwing up a splash over ten meters high.
Zero points!
A few seconds later, Carlmand clambered back onto shore in a sorry state, his expression much more serious.
"I never thought I'd run into a Logia Devil Fruit user here in the East Blue. That really took me by surprise."
Kazu hadn't expected Carlmand to know so much. He said, "Now that you know the gap between us, why don't you hurry up and surrender?"
"As it happens, my ship needs a navigator. I think you'd do nicely."
"Don't speak too soon!"
Carlmand said nothing more. Channeling strength into his legs, he charged again, noticeably faster than the first time. It looked like he was getting serious too.
"This is..."
Once Carlmand drew close to Kazu, a layer of black Haki coated his right fist. His punch came whistling in within the blink of an eye. He intended to catch Kazu off guard.
"I really did underestimate you."
Kazu wasted no time coating his own fist with Armament Haki, meeting him in a clash between real men.
Boom!!!
Unsurprisingly, Carlmand was still the one sent flying.
Kazu surpassed Carlmand in both physique and Haki.
Moreover, Carlmand only knew how to coat himself with Armament Haki, not any of its other advanced applications. It was perfectly normal for Kazu to send him flying with one punch.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow~"
The first thing Carlmand did after getting up was blow on his fist.
He had been unbeatable back home, yet he had encountered such a powerful opponent just days after setting sail. It seemed he still wasn't strong enough.
Seeing that Carlmand still had no intention of giving up, Kazu stopped holding back. Using the Space-Space Fruit's ability, he pummeled Carlmand with punches as though they cost nothing.
Carlmand couldn't handle Kazu's attacks at all. The Space-Space Fruit's ability was far more than simple speed.
It directly swapped positions, and Kazu could appear in any direction around him to attack, leaving no trace at all and making it impossible to guard against.
To Kazu, the essence of the Space-Space Fruit lay in its concealment. Spatial swapping gave him even greater mobility than the Glint-Glint Fruit and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
His other purely spatial attacks were also difficult to detect and impossible to guard against.
"Stop, stop hitting me."
"I'll join your crew."
Helpless, Carlmand could only raise his hands in surrender.
He had proposed the duel, and he was also the one getting beaten. Carlmand truly wanted to cry but had no tears.
The outside world is too dangerous. I want to go home!
"Hahaha, that's more like it."
"My name is Her Kazi. That's the name of your captain from now on, my navigator!"
Kazu reached out and pulled Carlmand up, making a show of brushing the dirt off him.
As though he hadn't been the one to give Carlmand that thrashing.
Carlmand rubbed his aching face, inwardly cursing Kazu at length.
This bastard deliberately went for my handsome face. Doesn't he know I make my living off my looks?
"My name is Delips Carmand. I'm from Nuka Town in the East Blue."
"My dream is to travel around the world myself and draw a world map with my own hands."
Kazu took out the map he had just bought and checked it, discovering that Nuka Town wasn't far from here.
"Carlmand, you only just set sail too, didn't you?"
Kazu looked at the map, then at the little boat Carlmand had arrived in.
"Yeah, and I ran into a monster like you right off the bat."
"Damn it, the old man clearly told me that with my current skills, I was already among the strongest in the East Blue."
Carlmand was thoroughly dejected. After spending so many years as the strongest person back home, he had become a small fry the moment he stepped outside. Anyone would have felt bad.
"The old man?"
"A relative of yours?"
Kazu was quite interested in this old man he mentioned. He seemed knowledgeable, aware of where someone at Carlmand's level stood in the East Blue.
He really was among that small handful of the strongest. After all, he had decent physical combat skills and knew Haki. That already put him at the level of a local overlord in the East Blue.
As long as he didn't run into experts like Kazu, Garp, or Hawk Eyes, who had come to the East Blue on a solo cruise while chasing someone, he wouldn't have ended up so miserable.
Carlmand's whole body hurt badly, so he simply sat on the ground and said, "That's right. The old man is my father. He was a pirate when he was young, and he even went to the New World."
"He taught me my physical combat skills and Haki. He said that if I wanted to fulfill my dream, I needed strength to back it up."
Kazu nodded. No wonder.
A father who had ventured through the New World teaching his own son-that explained it.
Presumably, he had grown old and returned to the East Blue to live in seclusion.
Most people like that had pursued their dreams in their youth, only choosing to retire to the Four Blues after succeeding or suffering setbacks.
Those who became pirates for slaughter and money, however, wouldn't retire into seclusion. They would keep burning, killing, and plundering.
"Your father was right. Out on the sea, strength is the only thing you can rely on to get what you're after."
"Danger lurks everywhere at sea. Don't pin your hopes on other people's kindness. Make them so afraid that they don't dare lift a hand to stop us. That's the real sea."
Carlmand agreed wholeheartedly with Kazu's words. Otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted his father's training.
"Let's go. There's medicine for bruises and injuries aboard the ship. I'll put some on you, and you'll be fine in a few days."
"All right. I'll be in your care from now on, Captain Kazu."
"Hahaha, that sounds great. I love hearing it. Say it a few more times!!"
Carlmand: ...
Kazu used the Space-Space Fruit's ability to pull Carlmand's little boat ashore, leaving it by the shore to await whoever might be fated to find it.
Anyone who needed it could take it. That was better than leaving it in the water forever. Who knew when its rope might come loose and let it drift out to sea, where it would eventually sink.
Kazu and Carlmand boarded the ship and set sail. As an apology, Kazu cooked a feast, opening the door to a whole new world for Carlmand.
"Captain, I never imagined your cooking would taste this good!!!"
Carlmand wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. He had always eaten his father's cooking before, and although it was pretty good, it paled in comparison to Kazu's culinary skills.
He felt that even the meals he occasionally ate at restaurants weren't as good as his captain's cooking.
He was staying aboard this ship. Nobody was going to drive him off.
A captain who cooked delicious food, was powerful, owned a big ship, and was filthy rich-what kind of heavenly dream start was this?
During their earlier chat, he had heard the captain say that he planned to go to Water 7 and get a bigger, sturdier, more luxurious ship.
He felt that gaining a few dozen pounds on the journey to fulfill his dream would be no problem at all.