The Unlikely Alliance
"Can I ask why you know how to use the six styles of the Navy?" Kara asked, staring intently at the old vagrant, Pin.
"You're wrong about something, girl. The six styles are not just from the Navy. The Cipher Pol uses them too. And since you're going to die anyway, I'll tell you. I am the former instructor of Cipher Pol 9," Pin said arrogantly as he readied himself to fight again.
"So you were sent by the idiotic nobles to kill me?" Kara asked, annoyed.
"No. I already told you, I just came to find the beauty. A great lord fell in love with her wanted poster, so he plans to make her his wife," Pin said, mocking them both. "Killing you is just a pleasure given to me," he said with a smile.
"Queen, let's make a temporary alliance. I feel like several ships are surrounding the island," Kara said quickly.
"Fine. This queen will allow you to form an alliance," Hancock said, trying to act arrogantly. But she was also scared, as it seemed a noble had set his sights on her, and she knew it would be hard to escape without Kara's help, especially since the man named Pin seemed stronger and didn't even appear to be using all of his power.
"Seems like you've rested enough. Let's continue," Asel said, changing his weapon to a long-range rifle that he had on his back.
"Tsk." Kara got into a guard stance, expecting the shot.
But Asel didn't shoot. Instead, Pin ran toward Kara, appearing in front of her and launching a punch at her chest.
Kara dodged the punch, but suddenly, she felt a shot aimed at her head, so she moved again to avoid it. What surprised her most was that she hadn't even heard the shot.
"Aah," she heard a scream behind her and turned to see Hancock with a wound on her hand. It seemed the bullet meant for Kara's head had also aimed at Hancock, and she had only managed to block it with her hand.
"You get distracted easily," Pin said, pointing a finger at Kara's heart.
"Shigan."
Kara quickly jumped backward to reposition herself, and when she landed on the ground, she realized there was an explosive trap. It exploded as soon as it touched the ground.
Then, everyone saw the flames of the explosion turn into cubes and quickly disappear.
"Sigh. Seems like I have to get more serious or I'll be killed," Kara said as she glanced at Hancock to see if she was okay.
"I told you, you get distracted too easily," Pin said again, appearing in front of Kara.
"Rokuogan," Pin said, placing both fists in front of Kara to use an attack that creates a shockwave. But suddenly, Kara disappeared, while the ground she had been standing on was destroyed as if it had been struck by a powerful blow, even lifting part of the earth.
"Now, who's the one getting distracted?" Kara said, appearing behind Pin and launching a punch at his head.
But suddenly, she stopped and jumped several times backward using Moonwalk to avoid triggering any traps. In the places she jumped, a silent bullet flew through them.
Hancock was fighting Asel, but even while fighting her, he was able to shoot in Kara's direction. It seemed that since he had to capture Hancock, he was holding back against her.
This made Hancock even more furious, and she kicked with all her strength, forcing Asel to defend himself using his rifle as cover. The rifle turned to stone as it broke from the impact.
"Well done, Queen," Kara said with a smile as she lunged at Pin, who was already charging toward her.
Then, Pin positioned his hand like a spear, aiming for Kara's face, moving at such high speed that Kara nearly lost sight of him. She tilted her head to avoid his hand and threw a punch with Crash Magic at Pin's chest, but he dodged, bending his body like paper.
Then, the Crash Magic continued its path, destroying all the ground and trees in its way, as well as activating many explosive traps.
Pin, still bent like paper, threw a strange kick, but Kara disappeared again like before and appeared behind him.
This time, Pin had time to defend against Kara's punch, but it was more powerful than he expected and sent him flying backward, destroying several trees in his path.
Kara noticed that while Pin touched several traps, they didn't activate.
She also realized that the men who had shot at her before were walking through the trap-filled forest with ease. So she ran toward Pin, dodging some traps, while others exploded, destroying parts of her clothing.
When she reached the spot where Pin had fallen, there were also other men turned to stone, thanks to Hancock.
"Seems like you're pretty fast," Pin said, as for the second time, he lost sight of Kara due to her speed.
"Well, unlike my father, who uses his power to throw punches and send you to the moon, I use it in my feet to move. And it works well with Soru and Geppo," Kara said, distracting Pin a little.
"I don't know who your father is. And I don't care," Pin said, getting angry after taking a blow and beginning to transform his body.
His body started growing bigger and more muscular, while a horn began to grow out of his nose, which kept growing until it became two.
Pin had transformed into a hybrid form of a rhinoceros.
"I don't like fighting like this because it makes me slower. But my skin becomes impenetrable, and with Tekkai, I'm indestructible," Pin said, looking at Kara with disdain.
"Now that we've shared our powers, can we be considered friends?" Kara said sarcastically.
Pin didn't say anything and quickly lunged at Kara, with the ground beneath him leaving powerful footprints, showing the strength of this transformation.
Then Kara leaped backward and ran in the direction where Hancock was fighting Asel, with the massive rhinoceros chasing her.
"Running won't help you. I trained my whole life to have the stamina to run for days," Pin said, watching Kara flee.
Meanwhile, Hancock kept kicking Asel, but he easily dodged while looking in the direction where Kara had gone. He then raised a pistol and fired five times in that direction.
Meanwhile, Hancock, during her attack, stepped on another mine, which sent her flying backward a few meters. When she landed, she activated another mine, sending her flying again. Luckily, she could use Haki to defend against the damage, but she wasn't that skilled yet, so some parts of her body had several injuries.
Knowing the ground was full of traps, the second time she was thrown into the air, she grabbed a branch from a tree and hung from it. But Asel shot in her direction, causing her to let go to dodge the bullet and activating another bomb.
The bomb didn't send her flying, as when it exploded, it launched a net that easily trapped her.
"Looks like the job's done," Asel said, watching Hancock struggle to free herself.
"I got here in time," Kara said, appearing and showing a bullet wound on her shoulder. She seemed to have dodged four of the five shots Asel had fired earlier.
Kara suddenly appeared next to Hancock, who was struggling to free herself, and easily broke the ropes. Then, she handed her something.
As Asel watched with surprise, the object she handed her was an accessory that worked to stop the explosions of the traps.
"Looks like you figured it out," Asel said, watching Kara. Then he saw Pin, now in his rhinoceros form, approaching.
In reality, the island had always been full of traps. It was just that Asel had activated them when he arrived and then launched fake traps to make the two think he had just set them up and distracted them.
"Queen, shall we change for a bit?" Kara said softly. "You just have to stop the disgusting one for a few seconds," she said quickly.
"Fine," Hancock said, accepting. "Merro metro merrow," she said, pointing at Pin, who, now in his rhinoceros form, was a bit slower. He jumped to the side, but his hand turned to stone.
However, it wasn't enough, as he simply used his strength to close his hand, and the stone around it broke, showing a completely healthy hand.
"My skin's tough," he said, mocking them.
Thanks for Reading
Dear readers,
Thank you for joining me on this literary journey. If you enjoy my novel and would like to continue reading, I invite you to support my work through Patreon. Your contribution will allow me to keep creating and sharing more exciting chapters.
I hope to have your support and continue providing unforgettable stories!
patreon.com/c/YoDarki