“Law, watch out for the puddles on the ground!”
“Got it, Wolf!”
Wolf’s warning came just in time.
Law noticed the puddle at his feet and twisted his body mid-motion, landing on the other side.
But the change in direction slowed him down by half a beat.
What should have been an attack he could dodge now required him to raise his blade and block head-on.
BOOM!
Law was still too young.
The heavy blow sent him flying backward.
“Gababa!
Useless warning, old man.”
“Get caught by the puddles and I’ll hit you.
Dodge the puddles and I’ll still hit you.
This beating was inevitable!”
“Not done yet!” The pirate captain roared, spinning his spiked clubs as he charged forward, his eyes locked on Law’s figure.
“ROOM!”
Law activated his Ope Ope no Mi ability.
A hemispherical space enveloped the area.
“Shambles!”
“Time to end this, Buck!” Law swapped positions with the pile of rubble behind Buck, appearing behind him in an instant and thrusting his blade forward.
The specially crafted katana Wolf had made unleashed a powerful surge of electricity, bypassing Buck’s liquefied form and dealing a heavy blow.
“WAAAAAH!” Buck howled in pain.
But then…
Law suddenly felt something wrong with his right hand.
The blade in his grip felt weightless.
…The blade was gone!
“Gababababa~ Can’t figure it out, kid?”
Buck laughed exaggeratedly, staring at Law frozen in place like a lamb waiting for slaughter.
“I’m a pirate who’s sailed the Grand Line, and you’re just a brat.
Think about it — how many times did you cut me?
Didn’t it feel too easy?”
Law’s gaze shifted to the broken edge of his blade.
It was covered in rust.
He let me cut him on purpose!
The realization sent a chill down Law’s spine.
“Finally figured it out~”
“That’s right.
I let that electrified blade hit me so I could slowly corrode it.”
“The liquid I turn into — I can control its acidity however I want.
Enough to melt a steel blade!”
“Damn it!” Law threw the broken sword away and leaped backward, trying to put distance between himself and Buck.
?!
“Since when?” Law was still in place.
Looking closely, his legs were already bound by rings of solidified liquid.
Buck watched Law’s grim expression with great satisfaction.
“I knew it.
Your ability must be exhausting.
The intervals between your ability activations keep getting longer — that just confirms my guess.
Can’t move now, can you, brat?”
“Too bad.
If you were two years older, you might actually have had a chance to kill me.”
“Gababa!
Just kidding.
Even if you were ten years older, you still couldn’t beat me!”
Buck grinned mockingly, gripping both spiked clubs and raising them high.
Meeting Law’s indignant gaze, he taunted:
“What’s with that look, brat?”
“You don’t like it?
That’s your own fault for being so stupid!”
“You didn’t actually think I’d be bored enough to give you a lecture, did you?”
“I was waiting for my liquid to trap you.
What were you waiting for?!”
“No!” Law suddenly shouted in panic, desperately pushing against Wolf, who had appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around him.
Wolf did not budge, shielding Law beneath his body.
“Looking for death?
Then you can die too, old man!” Buck put more force into his wrists, the spiked clubs descending even faster.
CLANG — BOOM!!
An invisible shockwave spread outward, kicking up dust and debris in front of the temple.
Buck’s pupils contracted.
He kept pushing with all his strength, but both spiked clubs were held firmly in place — they would not budge an inch.
He widened his eyes, trying to make out the blurry figure in the dust.
“Who?!”
“The one who’s going to kill you!”
WHOOSH —
The wind came abruptly, scattering the dust and revealing the figure standing in front of Wolf and Law.
“Kane!”
“Brother Kane!”
Kane’s demonic hand extended a thumb.
He turned his head, flashing a bold, confident grin to reassure them, then faced forward again, his eyes locked on Buck, who was drenched in sweat.
“You said you were waiting for your liquid to trap someone, and you asked what Law was waiting for.” Kane’s right wrist pushed forward, his long blade forcing the spiked clubs to tremble.
“Listen well — Law was waiting for me!”
With a thunderous crash, both spiked clubs flew into the air.
Buck was sent flying too, smacking wetly against the stone curb of a flower bed.
“Gababa~ You can’t beat me!
Your slashes are useless against me!
Gababababa!”
Buck reformed from liquid to human shape, raising his hands high in wild laughter.
Kane tilted his head and examined the disgusting creature before him.
“That last slash didn’t connect.
It really looked like Elementalization.
But that’s the only troublesome part about you.”
“Your speed is lacking.
Your strength is lacking.
Aside from turning into that disgusting liquid, you’re weak in every way.”
Maybe he could use this guy as practice to try and awaken Armament Haki.
On the other side, Buck’s mouth twitched in fury.
“Me?
Weak?
Die!”
Buck produced a massive hammer from somewhere and charged forward.
Kane met him head-on.
The clang of metal echoed across the square.
With Wolf’s help, Law freed himself from his bonds.
He observed the two locked in battle and felt somewhat relieved.
In terms of pure physical combat, Buck was no match for Kane.
The most important thing now was to find a way to actually hurt Buck.
But the electrified blade had already been destroyed, and there was no telling if Wolf could make a new one in time.
Law looked at Kane, who seemed to be holding back, and felt a surge of irritation.
He had clearly written down the enemy’s abilities on that paper — why was Kane still testing the waters?
Did he not read the intel at all?
“Kane, didn’t you read the note I left?”
“I read it.”
“Then you should know what the enemy’s abilities are.”
“Is that so?
Oh~ So you wrote down the enemy’s intel.
How thoughtful, Law.
As expected of you.”
“Thanks for the compliment…
hell no!
You said you read it!
Answer me!”
“Hohaha!” Kane clearly did not take his opponent seriously at all.
Even mid-battle, he seemed to be enjoying Law’s flustered reaction.
He played the silent type, occasionally brooding, putting on a cool, aloof persona.
But underneath, he was still very much a child.
So cute~
Alright, enough teasing the kid.
Kane answered Law’s question seriously: “I read it.
And I didn’t.”
A vein bulged on Law’s forehead.
“You’re still messing with me!”
“I’m not.
I did read it — but I didn’t finish it.”
“When would I have had time to finish it?
I got to [couldn’t contact you, the situation is urgent, so we decided to] and that’s as far as I got.”
“I was afraid that if I arrived even a moment later, I’d only be collecting your corpses!”
Well…
that actually made sense.
But if that was the case, then he must not have seen that crucial piece of information either.
“Kane, that guy is— mmph!”
Wolf clamped his hand over Law’s mouth while pressing down on his shoulder with his left hand, taking over the conversation.
“Kane, he’s a Devil Fruit user.
That ability to change his body into liquid at will — it’s the Drunk-Drunk Fruit’s power.”
“Buck can turn his body into liquid.
Ordinary attacks won’t hurt him.”
“Watch out for the light beams Buck fires from his eyes.
Anyone hit by them will be controlled by him.”
Law looked up at Wolf in disbelief, his eyes flickering with conflict.
He understood what Wolf was getting at, but he still could not accept it.
Yet Wolf had clearly made up his mind.
Law could neither force his partner to change course nor easily overturn a man’s decision.
Kane did not notice the little exchange behind him.
He heightened his guard.
At the same time, he launched a verbal assault.
“Ho~ Quite a few abilities.
Intoxicating people’s hearts and making them dance to your tune.
Elementalization giving you both offense and defense.
What a powerful ability!”
“And yet, with such a strong ability, I’ve never once heard of its user’s name.”
“Hey~ I’m talking to you, you walking stick!”
“You must be absolutely pathetic at this!”
“Judging by your age, you’ve lived all these years for nothing, haven’t you?”
Buck was furious.
No one…
No one could dismiss him like this!
Just some coward holed up in the North Blue.
Probably never even set sail.
He was a man who had sailed the Grand Line!
“Bastard!
Screw the intoxication!
I’m the Dissolving Man who can dissolve people’s hearts!
Die!”
Buck erupted with astonishing momentum, gradually clawing his way back from a losing position.
But it was an illusion.
Kane was holding back, putting on an act — that was the only reason it looked like the tide was turning.
That mind-control ability was simply too broken.
Firing light beams from his eyes — that trigger condition was way too hard to defend against.
This was fine.
Get angry!
Get furious!
Smash everything to pieces!
No matter what this idiot was thinking, as long as he did not use that hypnotic light beam, it was fine.
After all, Kane did not have Armament Haki to protect himself yet.