Chapter 27: Siege
Fragments of rock fell as Su Xiao stepped out from the broken opening in the boulder. His mouth was filled with the taste of rust—the flavor of blood.
Although Su Xiao was unsure whether the Azure Steel Shadow energy could harm Katakuri, judging from their previous exchanges, Katakuri had been unconsciously dodging Dragon-Slaying Flash, even twisting his mochi-transformed legs into a U-shape to avoid the blade’s edge.
Katakuri could foresee the future, and what he had foreseen, Su Xiao did not yet know.
Of course, Katakuri’s evasive actions toward Dragon-Slaying Flash could also be a trap he had set. If the Azure Steel Shadow proved ineffective against Katakuri, Su Xiao would likely be severely wounded by Katakuri, or even lose his life if he let his guard down.
Fighting Katakuri always carried the risk of being killed at any moment. This guy’s overall strength was too formidable, with no obvious weaknesses.
A booming sound came from nearby—Doflamingo and Katakuri were clashing. Doflamingo had been searching for Cracker within the mochi, intending to eliminate him and remove a future threat.
The severely injured Cracker was one of Katakuri’s weaknesses, a fact all three on the battlefield understood. Katakuri appeared fierce, but in reality, he was restrained by Cracker’s critical condition.
Both Su Xiao and Doflamingo had noticed this, so neither would engage Katakuri head-on. Instead, they prioritized taking out Cracker. As for whether this was underhanded, no one cared—not even Katakuri.
In battle, there were no rules or lower limits. Groin kicks or eye pokes were practical moves, let alone targeting an injured enemy.
Su Xiao glanced at the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, he sheathed it and pulled a metal rod about 1.2 meters long from his storage space.
The rod was pitch black and weighed several dozen kilograms. It wasn’t purely metallic; it contained some rare ore.
This ore was called Seastone. For the Marines, Seastone wasn’t a scarce resource, but for pirates, it was extremely valuable, priced higher than gold or gems.
This metal rod, mixed with Seastone, wasn’t a piece of equipment. In other words, it hadn’t been certified by Reincarnation Paradise.
Earlier, when Su Xiao helped the World Government manufacture alchemy bombs, the research institute had a large stockpile of Seastone. Originally, it was meant for creating weapons for the “Pacifistas,” but Seastone was too hard for mass production.
Su Xiao naturally took the opportunity to acquire some Seastone. The project leader, Dr. Vegapunk, turned a blind eye. On a personal level, Su Xiao’s relationship with Dr. Vegapunk was far deeper than the World Government’s. At the time, both were under semi-house arrest.
This Seastone metal rod was forged for Su Xiao by Dr. Vegapunk. It was a high-tech item from the One Piece world. It couldn’t extend or retract; its only ability was hardness—so hard that even Dr. Vegapunk couldn’t modify it further.
Thus, it was only a semi-finished product. When Su Xiao last left the One Piece world, he had the chance to certify it, but the certification fee was too high, and its uses were limited.
Uncertified items wouldn’t be destroyed by Reincarnation Paradise but would be stored. When Su Xiao returned to the One Piece world, he could retrieve the items stored there.
In short, this metal rod was a special item usable only in the One Piece world. Su Xiao owned it but couldn’t take it out of that world.
The Seastone rod was similar in length to Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao planned to use it as a long blade. As for asking Dr. Vegapunk to forge a Seastone longsword, that was nearly impossible.
Back then, Kizaru was watching them both. Forging a metal rod could be explained as self-defense, but forging a blade was a different matter. The World Government knew Su Xiao was skilled with long blades, so Kizaru would definitely stop him. A relatively harmless metal rod was already Kizaru’s limit of tolerance.
Su Xiao lightly swung the Seastone rod. With this, even if the Azure Steel Shadow energy proved ineffective against Katakuri, Su Xiao wouldn’t be caught off guard and injured or killed. This item wasn’t made specifically for Katakuri; Su Xiao had prepared it as a precaution against Logia-type Devil Fruit users in the One Piece world. Today, it came in handy.
Most Logia-type Devil Fruits allowed elemental transformation, and some Paramecia or Zoan types could even pseudo-elementalize. To defeat such enemies, special methods were needed.
Some pirates believed that Armament Haki, seawater, and Seastone could all counter Devil Fruit users. In reality, this concept was wrong.
Armament Haki’s main function was to capture the user’s true body and attack it. In other words, with Armament Haki, one could injure or even kill elementalized Devil Fruit users.
Seawater, on the other hand, drained the user’s strength and prevented them from actively using their abilities, though the abilities themselves remained.
As for Seastone, it was different from the other two. It was the ultimate bane of Devil Fruit users—the greatest counter, bar none.
Once a Devil Fruit user came into contact with Seastone, they would quickly lose strength, their abilities would be temporarily “sealed,” and their elemental body would revert to flesh and blood.
Azure Steel Shadow energy surged along the metal rod. Su Xiao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and charged straight at Katakuri.
Seeing this, Doflamingo, who was locked in combat with Katakuri, frowned. According to his plan, one of them should go after Cracker to divert Katakuri’s attention.
Had Su Xiao given up on killing Cracker? Not at all. Bubu Wang and Amu had both arrived and were lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity.
Su Xiao rushed straight at Katakuri. The punch he had taken earlier nearly cracked his left lung, and his breathing still ached.
“Spider Web Line.”
Doflamingo extended both hands forward, white threads weaving into a spider web that blocked him. Katakuri punched the web.
With a thunderous crash, Doflamingo’s feet sank into the mochi-covered ground. He had turned the sand and soil beneath him into threads, but now, the threads he had created were all wrapped in mochi.
Doflamingo couldn’t use the threads generated by his awakened fruit ability in battle, but the threads he formed were also interfering with Katakuri’s mochi. Large patches of threads and mochi mixed together, leaving Katakuri unable to control the mochi and Doflamingo unable to control the threads.
Just as Katakuri punched the spider web, Su Xiao arrived.
Su Xiao closed in behind Katakuri, the metal rod whistling through the air as it swung toward the back of Katakuri’s head.
A red gleam flashed in Katakuri’s eyes. He immediately ducked to dodge.
Whoosh—the metal rod barely grazed the top of Katakuri’s head. In truth, this strike was never meant to hit.
Doflamingo naturally wouldn’t miss such an opportunity. He kicked Katakuri in the abdomen.
Bang—Katakuri was knocked back a few steps. Su Xiao’s second swing of the metal rod missed again. Clearly, Katakuri would rather take an Armament Haki-infused attack than touch Seastone.