Chapter 54: The Ferocious National Football Team
Detecting piracy! "Hey, hey, Luffy, what are you doing?"
Zoro had a bad feeling about this.
"Could it be..." Nami thought about escaping the cover, but running out would expose her to the enemy's gunfire.
"Could it be~." Chopper also felt something was off.
Luffy's arm retracted as Sanji charged toward them at high speed.
"Get out of the way!"
Sanji wasn't shouting this at Luffy or Zoro, but at Nami.
Watching Sanji fly toward them, the three people and one deer behind the cover showed astonishing tacit understanding. They all raised one foot.
What greeted Sanji wasn't a "human cushion," but a slipper sole (Luffy), a sandal sole (Nami), a boot sole (Zoro), and a deer hoof.
With a thud, Sanji crashed into Luffy and the others, his face landing squarely on Zoro's boot sole. Zoro's lips curled up.
"You bastard..."
Sanji shook his head, the size-42 boot print on his face especially obvious.
"It suits you."
Zoro nodded in satisfaction.
"Huh?" Sanji was confused.
"The boot print on your face."
Sanji flew into a rage and was about to fight Zoro when he noticed something was wrong.
"Why is everyone hiding here?"
Nami answered Sanji's question with action. She took off her coat and threw it out of the cover.
Bang. A gunshot rang out, and the coat was blasted to pieces. Sanji's pupils contracted.
"Ah~~!"
A scream came from far to near. A long-nosed man wearing a mask flew straight into the air—it was Usopp.
Usopp had been thrown by a giant, who wanted to help him reach the rooftop quickly.
At this moment, Usopp had his hands clasped together against his chest, a mask on his face, and he was flying straight up into the sky.
With Usopp's long nose and his body stretched taut, from a distance he looked like a javelin. If there had been a target in midair, Su Xiao suspected Usopp could have been pinned to it.
"Ah!!"
The screaming continued. Su Xiao looked at Usopp in midair with surprise and silently raised his gun barrel.
Bang!
"Ah!"
The scream turned into a cry of pain. Usopp was shot in the leg. The bullet didn't hit the center, or else Usopp's entire leg would have been blown off.
Luffy quickly stretched his arm, grabbed Usopp, and pulled him behind the cover. Chopper stepped forward to bandage Usopp's wound. The Straw Hat Pirates were all present, but they could only hide behind the cover.
Bang, bang!
Su Xiao fired two shots at the cover. Stone chips flew as Nami, who had been about to peek out, quickly ducked back.
"What do we do? We can't get through."
"Look, Robin is on the building across from us."
"Robin~!"
Luffy shouted, a smile appearing on his face. Robin wasn't abandoning them; she wanted to die in their place.
Hearing Luffy's shout, various emotions appeared in Robin's eyes: fear, joy, anxiety, worry.
"Who's on the rooftop?"
Spandam looked up at the roof in confusion. He finally heard gunfire from above.
"Bai Ye."
Lucci answered.
"What!"
Spandam's expression turned sour. He still held a grudge over what happened in Water Seven.
"Make him come down."
Lucci didn't move. He wasn't on a mission now. Although Spandam was his superior, he would ignore some commands that were too idiotic.
Seeing Lucci ignore him, Spandam muttered quietly, "Hey, Lucci, with all these outsiders here, give me some face."
Spandam also knew that without the CP9 members, he wouldn't be able to hold his current position. He had put great effort into training the CP9 members. Now, five of the eight were Devil Fruit users, and those fruits were all obtained by Spandam from the World Government.
Although Spandam sometimes acted a bit stupid, he was good at reading the situation and knew what he could and couldn't do.
"He's with the Navy now. We don't have command authority."
Hearing Lucci's answer, Spandam was a bit displeased.
"Navy, huh. I'll settle accounts with him later."
Spandam gave himself an out and turned his gaze to the Straw Hat Pirates.
Su Xiao had suppressed the entire Straw Hat Pirates. Their only long-range fighter, Usopp, was injured.
But if the Straw Hat Pirates kept hiding behind the cover, there wasn't much he could do.
Just as Su Xiao was aiming at the Straw Hat Pirates, three sneaky figures were approaching the lift bridge.
"Boss, we won't get sniped, right?"
"Nonsense. Have we ever been afraid of snipers?"
"Hey, boss, that woman from the brigade in the last derivative world almost wiped us out. She was a sniper."
"She doesn't count. She's not a sniper; she's a turret."
"But..."
"No buts. Charge through. Holy light protects us. What are you afraid of?"
Needless to say, this cheerful trio was none other than the National Football Team brothers. The three of them charged toward the lift bridge with great vigor. Now that CP9 and the Straw Hat Pirates were at a stalemate, this was the best time to enter the Judicial Tower.
Behind a building on the main island, the Revolver Man was watching the National Football Team trio. He planned to use their cover to charge across.
Not just the Revolver Man, but Crazy Nurse had the same idea. His teammates weren't with him. He had been sniped by Su Xiao a few times earlier and was now full of anger.
Besides these two, the dozen or so contractors who had been traveling with the Straw Hat Pirates were also waiting for an opportunity.
"First, take out that sniper. Once we get close, he's dead."
"Right. He almost blew my head off earlier. I have to get revenge."
These dozen or so contractors set their sights on Su Xiao on the rooftop. In their view, a sniper was useless once you got close.
The National Football Team trio charged onto the lift bridge. The bridge, which should have been raised long ago, was motionless. This was likely the work of some contractor.
The three of them made quite a bit of noise running on the wooden bridge. Su Xiao immediately shifted his aim, thinking to himself that someone actually dared to charge the bridge. Admirable courage.
Bang.
The bullet left the barrel, creating layers of air ripples in the air.
Pfft.
Blood splattered. The third brother of the National Football Team fell to the ground. A large hole was blown in his chest armor, but the bullet hadn't gone all the way through.
"Third brother, don't panic. Big brother is here to save you."
"Second brother is here too."
Golden light appeared in the hands of the two National Football Team members. They immediately healed the third brother. All three were defensive paladins with decent healing power and high stamina stats.
Although the third brother had been shot in the chest, he stood up without changing his expression and continued running forward.
Bang, bang, bang.
Su Xiao fired three shots in a row. This time, he targeted someone else. That last guy had too much defense. Now, the one hit was the big brother of the National Football Team.
"Big brother, hang in there!"
The second and third brothers' hands glowed with golden light. The big brother was covered in golden radiance, and his health instantly recovered to full.
Although the three were ferocious, they all covered their heads with both hands to prevent Su Xiao from landing a headshot.
Bang, bang. Bullets poured out wildly. Whenever one of the National Football Team trio fell, the other two would immediately heal him. The three left trails of blood on the bridge, stubbornly enduring the bullets.
On the rooftop, Su Xiao was a bit stunned. These three guys were incredibly tough. Ordinary contractors would go down after two shots at most, but these three, even after being hit four or five times, were still running around energetically.
Su Xiao pulled the trigger. Click. No bullets left. This left him speechless. What kind of bizarre contractors were these?
Noticing that Su Xiao had stopped shooting, the National Football Team trio's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
The three quickly formed a pyramid formation and roared in unison.
"We are the National Football Team! Remember that!"
With that, the National Football Team trio charged into the Judicial Tower, laughing as they ran. The third brother laughed so hard he spat out blood.