I need to separate their captain from the main group, flashed through my mind as I spotted the towering brute with red dreadlocks charging at the head of the mob. The crowd roared behind us, driving us toward the cliffs.
"Hey, you! Scarecrow with ropes on your head!" I shouted and, locking eyes with the captain, dashed straight at them.
"Wanna get your treasure back? Come catch me!" I blurted out, improvising.
The words worked like a hook. The captain suddenly halted, eyes bulging—then the chains on his body twitched, as if yanked: the links shot toward me.
A Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user, probably, I thought as I jumped aside, just as the chain slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. I rolled away, the links whistling past my ear.
"Stop right there, brat!" the dreadlocked captain barked, spitting something dark.
"Catch me first," I shot back, legs coiling beneath me."Bane Bane no Mi: Spring Jump!"
My body compressed—and I launched forward, vaulting a ravine with an upward spring kick. But the moment I landed, a chain zipped right past my head—then cracked across my face. Pain sparked like fire.
He's using the chains for movement, I realized.
Rolling to absorb the impact, I looked up—the captain was already hovering over the ravine, chains stretched taut like spiderwebs. His shoulders heaved, eyes burning with fury.
"You won't escape from Mad Treza!" he growled.
A lunge—and a fresh whip of chain shot from his sleeve, snapping toward my chest.
"Spring Shield!" I spun my right forearm forward—my muscles coiling into a spring-like arc.
The chain struck, but instead of piercing through, it bounced off sideways, slicing the edge of a boulder. Sparks flew, granite cracked.
"So, you're a Devil Fruit user too," he smirked, straightening up.
I just flew a hundred meters and he's only noticing now? flashed through my mind.
Wait… Mad Treza? That's a pirate. How much is his bounty again?But I didn't have time to think further—the air split with a whistling ring. I barely dodged as one chain zipped past my ear and buried itself in the rock behind me, taut as a drawn bowstring.
The second one was already coming from below. I threw myself aside, rolling across the gravel. The ground trembled with the force of his strikes—he wasn't just attacking, he was herding me into a corner.
"Spring Jump!"
My legs compressed, and I launched skyward. The distance to the next ledge was tight—mid-air, I felt a chain wrap around my ankle.
"Spring Catcher!"
My right arm shot out like an arrow, grabbing a rock ledge. I yanked myself off-course with the momentum—the chain slipped off, and I landed on one knee. Still in one piece. For now.
"You're fast, but not fast enough!" Mad Treza roared, launching himself toward me like an anchor on chains.
He uses them to move, controls them at will—throws them forward, pulls himself, controls them like a web—and I'm stuck in it.
I need something else.
I rolled, deflecting another strike into the ground. Dirt in my face.
Another chain sliced a meter above my head. Then another.
"Stop dodging!" he roared.
He thinks I'm running. But I've been collecting data this whole time.
The chains are long—but not endless. He controls a max of three at once.
Each one moves in an arc—meaning they have inertia. Meaning there's a moment he's vulnerable—between throw and return.
Sabo's Side
Bellamy pulled the dreadlocked guy away, and the rest of the mob came crashing down on us.
"Time to clear the rest!" I shouted over my shoulder.
Bandits and brutes roared, raising sabers and clubs.
"Hey, Gin! I'll take these four on the right—you get the four on the left!"
"No problem," he smirked, snapping his tonfa.
I grabbed my pipe, dipped low into a half-crouch, ready for the first strike.
"Karina! Take out the one with the bow!" I called, not looking back.
"Got it," she replied, grabbing her staff.
The first bandit charged me, swinging his club from above. I lunged under his arm and spun around:
"Take that!"—pipe to the knee. He crumpled like a sack of flour.
Second one tried to flank me—I parried in time, coiled, and jabbed the pipe into his gut. Crunch—he wheezed and dropped.
"You're next," I growled at the third.
Gin was already deep into his side—leap, tonfa strike, spin—one flew into the dirt like a puppet. Another tried a sneak attack—caught a spinning jaw-shot instead.
"You haven't slowed down at all," I noted mid-fight.
"What for? They're slow," he grinned, hurling the last one aside.
"Hey—why are those two just sitting there?" Gin barked, turning abruptly.
I looked over—by a giant boulder, two massive guys sat like they were on a picnic.
They looked like twins: brick foreheads, bull-like shoulders, arms as big as my torso. One was picking his teeth with a nail, the other gnawing something.
"While their allies are getting wrecked, they're just chillin' there…" I muttered, gripping my pipe.
"Let's go. I'll take the one on the right, you take the left."
"Let's roll."
We headed straight toward them. The brutes finally noticed—one stood up and stretched like he'd just finished lunch, the other yawned.
"Hey, Ram? These two want something," the left one rumbled.
"Then break 'em, Bram," snorted the right.
They came at us like tractors—slow, but unstoppable. The ground trembled beneath them. I sprang forward, reaching Bram first. Pipe to the neck—and...
A dull thunk, like hitting armor. He didn't even flinch.
"Yeah…" I exhaled. "Not gonna be easy."
His arm swung in a wide arc—like a club, but unarmed. I ducked, rolled under him, targeted his knee—strike! He staggered slightly, then straightened right up.
"That hurt," he grumbled, then slammed his fist into the ground. The earth beneath me shook—I flew sideways.
"Sabo!" Gin called, but he was tied up with the right brute.
Karina's Side
That girl with the bow won't give me a break. Every three seconds—whish, another arrow thuds nearby. Sometimes into rock, sometimes into trees, sometimes nearly into my shoulder. Thank god I'm fast.
I dove behind a pile of stones, catching my breath.
"Why did I even listen to this half-pirate crew…" I muttered, brushing dirt off my shoulder. "Should've run while I had the chance."
But… it's too late to back out now.
And… they're helping me.
Leaving them now would be… well, wrong. Not like me.Not human.