Chapitre 140: Chapter 139: Pandemonium (6)
Within the chaotic sea of Wano, Rosinante was facing off against the last remaining Tobiroppo, Pinochle.
At a point-blank range from each other, they performed highly advanced martial arts and exchanged numerous blows hand-by-hand and foot-by-foot.
CLANG.
Every time their attacks met, their Haki too clashed. The battle of Armament Haki seemed to be a tie, as indicated by the metallic noises.
And then, from Pinochle's sheer strength, Rosinante was pushed back by a couple of steps. Immediately after, Pinochle aimed his finger at Rosinnate.
"Tobu Shigan." / "Kami-E!"
Rosinante's torso became unnaturally thin by sight as a sharp blast of air went through the space where Rosinante's body sat just a second ago.
Then, Rosinante, kicking his foot off the ship deck, dashed at Pinochle.
"Tekkai."
Rosinante's fist landed on Pinochle's armoured chest, generating a loud metallic noise. Backflipping, Rosinante then threw a kick.
"Rankyaku!" / "Kami-E."
This time, it was Pinochle whose body became thin enough for Rosinante's sharp airwave to miss him and cut through the wooden deck of the ship.
Afterward, Pinochle jumped at the airborne Rosinante and aimed his two fists at the latter.
'He knows that too?'
Rosinante, cold-eyed, reciprocated Pinochle's movement back at him.
""Rokuogan!""
The shock waves arose from their knuckles and countered each other. Rosinante and Pinochle were blasted back in opposite directions from the impact.
Managing to land on the deck, Rosinante glared at Pinochle who seemed to have gotten serious, unlike his usual lazy-looking self.
"I've already asked before, but again, who are you."
"...It's been a while since I met a Rokushiki master capable of going on par with me."
Pinochle finally spoke after a long silence, in a hoarse and dry voice.
"As for who I am..."
He raised his hand and stared at its palm.
"...A pirate and nothing more. That's all you need to know."
He then clenched his hand, and correspondingly, his body began to shift in front of Rosinante's eyes.
The scales, ones that belong to snakes, appeared on the Pinochle's skin, one that covered up the entirety of visible skin. Then, the size of his body became doubled—how standing at a height that was approximately four times taller than Rosinante.
"Seimei Kikan: Muscle Compression."
Then, Rosinante's eyes widened as Pinochle's body abruptly shrank. In an instant, what stood in front of Rosinante was a man of approximately the same size.
Rosinante grimaced, knowing that the concentrated strength within Pinochle was at least several folds greater than what he'd been facing up until now.
"I cannot manage this form for a long time, so... let's end this quick."
Rosinante's senses have warned him that a doom was approaching. Quickly, he raised, his guard,
"TEKKAI!!"
and just then, he then found a hard fist landing on his arms.
BOOOM!
Rosinante was blasted into the air. Pinochle crouched down before propelling himself to where Rosinante stood.
Rosinante, quickly regaining his senses, kicked his feet off the air to dodge the incoming kick from Pinochle, just barely.
"Tch...!"
Ignoring the gust of air that was generated by Pinochle's strike, Rosinante managed to position himself behind Pinochle and blasted a Shigan. However, much to his surprise, Shigan simply 'sled' past Pinochle's skin, harmlessly.
"...Isn't it common sense for a snake's skin to be slippery?"
Rosinante ducked at the next moment to avoid a punch above his head. Raising his hand, he pushed Pinochle's arm out of the range before rotating his body to send a roundhouse kick at Pinochle's cheek.
However, before he could do so, Pinochle already had his other fist in contact with Rosinante's abdomen.
BOOOM!
Rosinante was once again blasted through the sky. Using Geppo, Pinochle shot at Rosinante and sent forth a quick series of punches and kicks that were so fast that they appeared to be blurry.
Rosinante operated his Observation Haki to evade and block as much as he could, but one managed to slip through his guard and land on his left leg. His balance instantly broke, and rotating at a high speed, Rosinante was now being flown downward, right at the water.
"Huff... huff..."
'...Devil fruit, huh.'
Managing to stop himself from reaching water, Rosinante stoically looked up to see Pinochle flying at him at a high speed.
'My devil fruit... Calm Calm fruit.'
It has been 4 years since their break-free from Marine and World Government. Within 4 years, many things happened, and Rosinante's desire for strength was greater than ever.
"How to be stronger?"
It was Sengoku whom Rosinante asked for help.
"Now that you mention it, I didn't spend much time with my son, did I."
Rokushiki. Haki. Physical training. And finally,
"...Devil fruit, you ask."
Smoker once talked about it before.
"It may be simple at first glance, but it holds more potential than you think. Sound is a type of energy made by vibrations. Thus, the true ability of your fruit is theoretically to dampen said vibrations. In that sense... I suppose that your ability may potentially be the counter of Whitebeard's Tremor Tremor fruit."
"Devil fruits are valuable assets. Their strengths, no matter what type of fruit it may be, depend on their users' capability and creativity."
"There are far more that you can do, Rosinante. More than the simple silencing effects that you've been using."
Rosinante practiced his fruit ability over the years but was unable to gain much understanding of what Smoker said. It was as if there was a wall ahead of him, preventing him from reaching the next step.
But now, for some reason, Rosinante felt as if he could use it.
Awakening occurs when a Devil Fruit user's mind and body catch up to their powers.
His heart beat fast as his eyes focused on Pinochle who was now right above, pointing two knuckles at him.
Time seemed to slow down, and Rosinante instinctively reached his hand out at Pinochle.
A clicking sound was heard—as if a key had unlocked something.
"...Silent."
A spherical dome appeared around Pinochle. And then,
...nothing happened. Nothing came out of the knuckles that Pinochle outstretched at Rosinante.
'What?!'
Pinochle's mouth seemed to be trying to speak such a word, however, nothing came out.
"Rokuogan. It is the secret seventh technique of Rokushiki. The essence of this technique is to muster up all the strength from your body and fire it as a kinetic energy that travels through the air."
Rosinante instead spoke, in front of the seemingly dazed Pinochle.
"The energy transmits through the vibrations and collisions of particles. If the vibrations can be dampened... I can neutralize an attack like Rokuogan without a problem."
It was the awakening of Calm Calm fruit. Being a Paramecia-type, the awakening of this fruit involved... the expansion of the ability providable by this fruit.
Specifically, the notion of 'calm' has become real in a physical sense. What was lacking in the past was the 'cause' of Rosinante's sound muting 'effect'. Through the awakening, the cause has become defined.
Pinochle attempted to move his body but to no avail. He then realized that the air surrounding him was rigid and hard—as if it was solid. He also realized, that he hadn't breathed for some time.
"..."
Pinochle seemed to be roaring, gathering all his Haki to break through this barrier of air. However, Rosinante wasn't idiotic enough to give Pinochle time to achieve his goal.
"Huff... huff..."
From sheer concentration, Rosinante was beyond the point of exhaustion. After all, halting the vibration meant continuously dampening out the incoming energy from the surrounding of the spherical dome; it was draining his stamina way too fast.
"Let's... put... an end to... this..."
What Rosinante did at the next moment was simple. He simply lowered his hand from where the trapped Pinochle hovered to the sea below, and the spherical dome that contained Pinochle shot downward, straight into the water.
The water splashed as Pinochle disappeared into the wild sea. Because it was done in silence, no one noticed Rosinante's victory.
And at last, all Tobiroppos have been taken care of.
Raising his head, Rosinante looked at the center of the battlefield. In particular, his eyes landed on the enormous, monster-like man whose size was visible from far back: Jack the 'Famine'.
Currently, it was Bastille who faced such a man.
__________
"Fooooooooooooooood."
"..."
Jack, showcasing a surprising strength enough to propel his huge and heavy body high up in the sky, was abnormal in Bastille's eyes.
Heeding to Queen's order with nothing but a desire for more food, yet possessing an intellectual ability to combat in creative means... Bastille wondered what kind of person Jack truly was, as Jack's small eyes on his huge face blankly stared at Bastille.
And then, up in the sky, Jack's body enlarged and morphed. He opened his mouth and revealed numerous sharp teeth. A fin grew out of his back. His arms disappeared, and his legs became a crescent-shaped tail.
"Daradara... here we go again-dara."
Fish Fish fruit, model: Megalodon. In the full glory of his Zoan form, Jack dropped at Bastille—just as how Euchre did before.
Without any hesitation, Bastille jumped at the descending megalodon. Of course, this wasn't the first time that Jack utilized this strategy. Bastille tried dodging, but it was to no avail,
'Because of that thing.'
Bastille sighted a pair of jet boosters that were attached on the left and right of the megalodon's fins.
Jack whom he was facing, was capable of flight.
Then, just before Bastille's sword was swung, Jack's agape mouth suddenly heated up, revealing a red glow of concentrated fire.
"Just who, no, what are you-dara?!"
As Bastille shouted, his Haki-imbued zanbato cut through the intense blast of fire and struck the megalodon's head.
A metallic noise, Bastille heard. However, there was no indication of Jack using Haki.
Filled in confusion, Bastille frowned.
From afar, Hina was facing Queen.
"...What is that thing."
Upon witnessing Jack's feat, Hina, while meeting her metal tonfa with Queen's metal-made arm, growled.
"Muhahaha!"
Queen's eyes beyond his sunglasses were filled with pride. Pushing Hina back with his strength, he loudly exclaimed,
"What you are currently witnessing... is one of my greatest creations! Jack... he is the one and only successful subject of 'Project Kaidou!'"
Fish Fish fruit. Cybernetic enhancements. Everything on Jack was done for the purpose of mimicking Kaidou, the strongest individual whom Queen met in his lifetime.
"What I did was simple."
In Queen's mind popped up the image of Gecko Moria, the pirate who once fought Kaidou in the past.
"Get the strongest body that I can find, and give it a soul! Unfortunately, Moria took the body of Shimotsuki Ryuma, but thankfully, there was an alternative."
Queen's grin widened.
"That Kozuki Oden...! Who knew his body would persist through the boiling pot even after his death?!"
"Kozuki Oden, as in..."
HIna's face darkened.
"Muhahaha!!"
CLANG!
Hina leaped to evade a laser beam that came out of Queen's mouth and slammed her tonfa atop his head. Queen simply laughed as his hair stood up and shot at Hina, which Hina evaded by letting go of the tonfa and quickly dropping down below Queen.
Immediately after, a large metal ring emerged from the deck, around Queen. Instantly closing in, it attempted to bind Queen around, but Queen grabbed its left and right with his hands and began to push it out with his full strength.
"Instead of attacking me, you should be asking, what about the 'soul' part then?"
The veins popped out of Queen's thick arms, as they struggled against the pushing force of metal ring.
Hina didn't say anything. Instead, upon her will, another metal ring appeared on sight and combined with the metal ring that Queen was pushing against.
"Muhahaha, don't be surprised!!! The answer to that part is—!!!"
"Tch!"
Realizing that the metal ring's force has become stronger, Queen jumped to move out of its range. Landing in front of Hina who quickly backed off, Queen stated.
"—Devil fruit!!!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone