Chapter 29: Old Brother Kutu
Although Su Xiao had already pulled his strength, the metal rod still struck heavily. If Donquixote Doflamingo's physique weren't so robust, that blow would have definitely broken his nose bridge.
Just after striking Doflamingo with the rod, Su Xiao felt a tremendous force hit his lower abdomen. His body flew backward. Katakuri was too fast—so fast that by the time his instinctual perception detected the opponent's movement, the attack had already landed on Su Xiao.
Su Xiao raised his left arm horizontally, about to extend the Realm Severing Thread, when he noticed Katakuri had already leaped from his original position. Su Xiao's attack had been predicted again.
After rolling a few times in the sand, Su Xiao rose to a half-crouch. A gaze filled with resentment fixed on him—it was Doflamingo, one hand covering his mouth and nose, blood seeping through his fingers.
"My hand slipped."
Su Xiao flicked the blood off the metal rod and charged toward Katakuri. Doflamingo, with blood streaming from his nose, was furious but chose to follow.
Boom, boom, boom...
Sand flew in all directions, and waves of air pressure spread outward.
Not far away, Bubu Wang lay sprawled on some mochi. Through its thermal detection device, it had already located Cracker's position. Now it was just waiting for the right opportunity.
When the timing was right, Bubu Wang and Amu would take down Cracker as quickly as possible. The current moment was clearly not suitable—at the very least, they needed to wait until Katakuri was pinned down.
Threads shot through the air. A mass of condensed threads flew past Katakuri's ear. As he dodged the threads, he coated his hand with Armament Haki and "bare-handedly" grabbed the metal rod hurtling toward his face.
With a dull thud, Katakuri caught the metal rod. Su Xiao was stunned, and so was Doflamingo. Both knew that Devil Fruit users absolutely could not touch Seastone.
Although Katakuri wore black gloves, that material could never fully block the effects of Seastone, even with Armament Haki wrapped around it.
Su Xiao carefully observed Katakuri's right hand. It was noticeably larger than his left hand by a full size. Almost instantly, Su Xiao understood what was happening.
Katakuri had wrapped the awakened mochi generated by his fruit around his hand, thereby avoiding direct contact with the Seastone.
Katakuri's arm pulled back, intending to snatch the metal rod from Su Xiao. If he got his hands on it, Doflamingo would be in deep trouble.
Seeing this, Doflamingo's cheek twitched. Several threads coated with Armament Haki coiled toward Katakuri.
At the same time, Su Xiao actually released the metal rod and delivered a side kick toward Katakuri.
Katakuri's hand paused. Almost instantly, he too released the metal rod. The moment he let go, Cyan Steel Shadow Energy climbed onto the rod, and a cyan thread wrapped around its tail end—it was the Realm Severing Thread.
Thud!
Su Xiao's kick landed on Katakuri's thigh. He had successfully hit his enemy, but his heart instinctively sensed something was wrong.
The moment he kicked Katakuri, Su Xiao's chest went cold, followed by a familiar numbness. Something had pierced through his chest.
Katakuri was sent flying by Su Xiao's kick, his tall body crashing into the mochi. He let out a sigh, though it was unclear what he was lamenting.
Boom!
Another loud crash rang out. Simultaneously, Su Xiao received a kill notification.
[Your summoned creature has killed Charlotte Cracker.]
[Charlotte Cracker is one of the Four Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates.]
[You have gained 4000 Pirate Reputation (Due to the Hunter being Rank 3 and located in a high-rank area, regional bonus: 1800 points).]
[Due to Charlotte Cracker's special identity, you have gained 16.5% World Source (Regional bonus: 2%). Total World Source obtained: 31.3%.]
[You have obtained a Treasure Chest (Legendary).]
...
Katakuri's sigh was because he had foreseen Cracker's death. He originally had a chance to prevent it, but Su Xiao hadn't dodged the trident thrust. If Su Xiao had chosen to evade, Katakuri could have saved Cracker.
Katakuri stood up from the sand. Due to the intense pain in his body, the muscles in his thigh twitched. For three seconds, he couldn't turn into mochi.
Su Xiao also got up from the ground, gasping heavily. A two-meter-long trident was embedded in his chest. The two prongs of the trident had pierced through his thoracic cavity, and his liver was punctured.
Su Xiao pulled out the trident. The Armament Haki coating it faded, and the entire weapon turned into mochi, sliding through his fingers. That lump of mochi had nearly killed him instantly.
Checking the battle log, Su Xiao found that Katakuri's Armament Haki had added terrifying damage. On top of that, he had suffered piercing, force penetration, and critical hit judgments. If his physique weren't tough enough—already injured as he was—Su Xiao would have been one-shot by Katakuri's full-power trident strike.
Earlier, Katakuri had casually thrown a trident that instantly killed a Rank 4 contractor. That showed just how terrifying the attack power of this weapon was.
Doflamingo shook his head. Compared to the injuries Katakuri had inflicted on him, Su Xiao's earlier rod strike left a deeper impression. It was utterly agonizing. The moment the Seastone touched him, he lost all strength, and his body's defense dropped drastically.
Su Xiao locked eyes with Katakuri. With Cracker dead, Katakuri's combat power had increased by at least 30%. He no longer needed to divide his attention to monitor Cracker's situation.
"Doflamingo."
Su Xiao called out but received no response.
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
Doflamingo finally snapped back to reality. He wiped the blood from his face, his head ringing.
"When will Jack arrive?"
"Soon. Three minutes at most."
"Then hold him off for three minutes."
Would Jack come to support? Only heaven knew. The reason Su Xiao and Doflamingo said this was to put pressure on Katakuri.
Katakuri could handle Su Xiao and Doflamingo, but in his current state, he absolutely couldn't withstand a siege from Su Xiao + Doflamingo + Jack.
A red gleam flashed in Katakuri's eyes again. His gaze turned toward the sea, as if he had foreseen something else.
With a crash, a large cloud of sand kicked up. Su Xiao immediately leaped backward, holding the metal rod horizontally in front of him. He didn't even have time to drink a No. 1 Potion. Fighting Katakuri meant showing no openings whatsoever, or else it would be utter ruin.
When the sand settled, Katakuri had already vanished from his spot.
"Jack has arrived."
Doflamingo spoke. He hadn't been sure if Jack would come to support, but Katakuri's retreat basically confirmed that Jack was about to reach Dressrosa.
Was Jack of the Drought using the Donquixote Family as cannon fodder? The previous sea battle had indeed been like that, but this time was different.
During the sea battle phase, the Donquixote Family had been routed across the board. It was Jack who held off nearly half of the Big Mom Pirates' forces at sea. Otherwise, even more pirates would have invaded Dressrosa—an overwhelming tide that the Donquixote Family's pirates simply couldn't stop.
"This is our chance to keep Katakuri here."
Doflamingo's meaning was clear: pursue Katakuri, and with Jack's help, eliminate him permanently.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Su Xiao crouched on the ground, coughing repeatedly.
"If you want to chase him, you and Jack go ahead."
Just as Su Xiao finished speaking, over a dozen large ships appeared on the coastline—it was Jack of the Drought's fleet.
Doflamingo walked over to a pile of rubble and sat down on the rocks, one hand covering his forehead, his expression pained.
"This time... thank you."
Although Doflamingo had nearly been knocked unconscious by Su Xiao's rod strike, there was no denying that Su Xiao had saved his life. If he had fought Katakuri one-on-one, the current Doflamingo would likely have been a corpse.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Su Xiao tried to speak but broke into another fit of coughing. His lung damage was severe.
He took out a No. 1 Potion, using it both internally and externally. Half a minute later, his breathing became much smoother, and his face changed from flushed red to pale white.
"Next time, you deal with this guy yourself."
"..."
Doflamingo said nothing, still maintaining the pose with one hand on his forehead. From this battle, he had clearly understood the combat power of Su Xiao, this "researcher."
Su Xiao was badly injured, but his gains were also substantial. Besides obtaining a high-quality Legendary Chest, he had also earned a large amount of World Source and Pirate Reputation.
For killing Charlotte Cracker, Su Xiao had gained a full 4000 Pirate Reputation. Under normal circumstances, killing Cracker wouldn't yield so much, but Su Xiao was a Rank 3 contractor. For a Rank 3 contractor, the teleportation point should have been Punk Hazard, not Dressrosa, which was a Rank 4 area.
To protect all Rank 3 contractors and some Rank 4 contractors, Reincarnation Paradise had directly teleported Su Xiao to the central area of the sea battle. As a reward for being in a dangerous location, Su Xiao received a regional bonus.
Sitting on the sand, Su Xiao checked the Pirate Reputation rankings.
[First Place: Bai Ye (Rank 3), Pirate Reputation: 7254 points.]
[Second Place: Kutu (Rank 5), Pirate Reputation: 7180 points.]
[Third Place: Qianmeng (Rank 5), Pirate Reputation: 3625 points.]
[Fourth Place: Player (Rank 5), Pirate Reputation: 2576 points.]
[Fifth Place: Sen (Rank 5), Pirate Reputation: 2102 points.]
...
Su Xiao's Pirate Reputation ranking... had surged to first place. He had fought hard against six Rank 5 contractors—they were a team. They couldn't possibly have concentrated all their Pirate Reputation on Kutu; as a group, the benefits had to be shared equally.
In contrast, Su Xiao was alone. And having formed an alliance with the Donquixote Family, after the fierce battle with Katakuri, this cooperation had clearly stabilized—at least, they wouldn't turn on each other at any moment.
...
On a certain island covered in heavy snow, orange firelight flickered from a cave entrance.
Inside the cave, Kutu, Qianmeng, Manshi, Sen, and others sat around the campfire.
Sen sat cross-legged, a sniper cannon resting on his thighs as he meticulously cleaned it.
"So, Qianmeng used my gun to aid the enemy? The Duke of Annihilation actually ended up in the hands of a Rank 3 contractor. But judging by the fact that he surpassed the boss in Pirate Reputation, that kid using the Duke of Annihilation doesn't seem so bad."
Sen wore a green ghillie suit. His smile gave off a hearty vibe, and he reeked of gunpowder.
"Don't put it so harshly. I didn't aid the enemy. Who used that Soul Crystal (Large)?"
Qianmeng's tone was very gentle—this was his normal state.
Sen chuckled, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"Boss, even though being surpassed by a Rank 3 contractor is a bit embarrassing, you have to put yourself in his shoes. You only get 50% of the normal Pirate Reputation income. By that measure, it's actually not that shameful, huh."
Player, wearing a top hat, tried to offer comfort. Kutu's gaze shifted, and the smile on Player's face immediately vanished.
"Nothing to be ashamed of. It's just normal competition."
Crack, crack, crack...
Kutu's fist clenched, making cracking sounds.
"The public communication channel is surprisingly lively. Boss, I suggest you don't open the communication channel."
Qianmeng began to deliver the finishing blow. Their adventure group was very united, and teasing each other was common.
Kutu glared at Qianmeng. Qianmeng instantly switched personalities and glared back. Kutu felt even more frustrated and opened the communication channel.
Lizhu (Rogue): "Recruiting like-minded teammates in the Punk Hazard area. PS: Boss Bai Ye is awesome."
Tiffins (Blackfire Adventure Group): "High price offered for intelligence on the Donquixote Family pirate distribution. (Asking for the psychological shadow area of the Rank 5 big shots.)"
Ai Keke (Rogue): "Rogue, specializing in long-range fire support, seeking a rogue team. PS: That ruthless guy in first place, hang in there—you're the hope of us Rank 3s."
...
Kutu closed the communication channel, stood up, and walked toward the cave entrance.
"Boss, are you..."
Player was about to stand up, but Qianmeng waved him off.
Clearly, Kutu had locked horns with Su Xiao. Although neither would go to the other's area, they were still competing. Who would take the top spot depended on the amount of Pirate Reputation at the end of the derivative world.