Bab 126: 126. No Chance of Winning
Enel suddenly says, "Let me fight that diamond head."
Cricket gets a tickmark hearing how Enel calls him, "Oi, who'd you call a diamond head, you drum-man?"
"You want to challenge Cricket?" asks Buggy to Enel.
"That's right. He is your strongest member, right? If he can defeat me, then I will join your crew. But if I can defeat him, then tell me how you could touch my body," says Enel.
Buggy grins hearing that, but his clueless crewmates are getting confused now.
"He is the one who I've told you before," says Buggy.
"Ah!" says everyone in realization.
"So he is that Enel guy," says Palu.
"Heh, at least he looks strong," says Mantis.
"How is it, Cricket?" asks Buggy.
"Sure, let's do it," says Cricket while grinning.
Enel smirks hearing that because he is sure he can defeat Cricket. But Buggy's next words make him frown and rather angry.
"Cricket, don't overdo it. I want a living crew, not a dead one," says Buggy as he walks to a distance with the others.
"Aye aye," replies Cricket.
"Tch, you should've told him to not die," says Enel pissedly.
The Clowns ignore him and just smirk hearing that. They know Cricket's strength and know that he won't lose to Enel. He isn't the 2nd strongest for nothing. His dedication to being strong is very high like Buggy.
Cricket & Enel get into their position and are ready for the duel. They stare at each other with eyes full of confidence. But Cricket is more relaxed than Enel who is still rather wary of his opponent.
Enel doesn't know whether Cricket can touch his body like Buggy or not. But he needs to assume that Cricket is capable of that and he needs to be careful. Still, he is sure that he is stronger than Cricket, so it won't be a problem even if Cricket can touch him.
Buggy then starts the duel and both fighters make their move. Enel shoots a lightning bolt toward Cricket as an opening. Cricket dodges to the side and rushes at Enel.
"Ho, lightning power. That sure is good power. But it is still very weak," says Palu.
"Lightning, huh? Maybe he can help me in my research about electricity," says Ruff.
Cricket dodges more lightning bolts from Enel. He is fast even though he is big & tall. Speed was his weakness in the past, so Cricket trained it seriously, and now he is fast & agile.
Enel clicks his tongue and shoots a big lightning attack toward Cricket who has gotten very close to him. With 2 meters distance, Cricket knows he can't dodge. So Cricket sends a punch to counter the lightning attack.
*WHEEZE* *BOOM*
Cricket's punch creates a vibration in the air and caused a ripple. He uses Hasshoken on his punch and it is also coated with colorless armament haki. The lightning hit it and scattered everywhere because it can't pass through the Hasshoken.
"WHAT?!" says Enel in surprise.
The effect of Hasshoken doesn't just block the lightning. It keeps going to the front and destroys the lightning. Then it reaches Enel's body and hits him very hard, flinging him a few meters back.
Cricket didn't just train in Karate, but also Hasshoken in the last 6 months. He is the best Hasshoken user in the crew now. Even Buggy's Hasshoken isn't as good as him.
Well, Buggy didn't focus on Hasshoken, after all. He focuses more on his devil fruit and swordsmanship. Cricket doesn't have devil fruit, so he needs to focus on his martial arts and physical power.
Buggy has told Cricket to be as strong as possible, physically. He knows that Cricket has very high potential because he is Norland's descendant. If Cricket trained very seriously, he should be able to be like Garp in the future, that's Buggy's plan.
Enel gets up again and looks at Cricket with wide eyes. He isn't surprised that Cricket's attack can touch him. He is surprised that Cricket is a lot stronger than he thought.
'Damn, how can they be this strong? And that technique, it's very dangerous. My body is hurt, even to my inside organs. Will I lose again?' ponders Enel in his mind.
Enel's confidence dropped after one attack from Cricket. He has lost to Buggy and now Cricket has surpassed his expectation. So it makes him lose his confidence to win this fight. His mentality is still weak.
"What's wrong? Have you given up already?" asks Cricket while smirking.
Enel grits his teeth and he transforms his body into lightning. Then he flashes at Cricket while creating a big lightning fist. He arrived in front of Cricket and send his lightning fist to punch Cricket's body.
Cricket is still smirking and he grabs the lightning fist with his left hand. He pulls Enel's hand and sends a strong normal punch coated with colorless armament at Enel's face.
*BAM*
Enel's face caved in and blood spurted from his nose. He is sent flying back a lot further than before and crashes into trees. Some trees are destroyed before Enel stops and falls to the ground unconsciously.
"He still has a long way to go. But he sure has some potential," says Cricket while looking at his left palm that has some char on it.
Cricket doesn't play around like Buggy and defeats Enel fast. None of the Clowns are surprised by this, but Bani & Diane are very surprised. This battle has finished and Cricket won. So now, they have a new crew member.
"Manba, take care of him and make it fast. We have a party to do," says Buggy.
"Aye aye, Captain," says Manba before approaching Enel.
Meanwhile, in God Palace, the high-rank officials are holding a meeting. They've gotten the news of Half-Wings defeat from the Gatekeepers in the lower level after the Clowns took the Half-Wings to lower levels.
*BAM* Soconut hit the table in anger.
"I've told them to not return just for a few days, but they didn't listen. They're too full of themselves," says Soconut in frustration.
"Where do you think they are now?" asks a minister.
"What else? They must've died. There's no such thing as mercy in pirate war," says Soconut.
"Forget about the Half-Wings. We need to think of what we'll do after this. Without them blocking the Blue Sea Pirates, the threat to Birka will increase. We need to find a replacement for their crew's job," says Surian.
"How if we take the other Sky Pirates to work under us like the Half-Wings?" suggests a woman minister.
"That's a good idea, but also not that good at the same time. The Half-Wings crew is the strongest in our area, while the others are just so-so. Most of them also don't have a high number, so they won't be able to defeat some big Blue Sea Pirate crews," says Sapple.
"Can't we just combine them and make them work together?" asks another minister.
"Hmph, do you think pirates like them will work together with other crews? They'll even fight with their crewmates over trivial things, not to mention with other crews. They aren't soldiers who will listen to orders," says Soconut.
"Soconut is right. That idea won't work because our subjects are pirates. That's why I think we need to stop relying on pirates and start doing it ourselves. We will make a special unit for this job. How about it?" asks Surian.
"Do we have enough men?" asks a minister.
"No, that's why we need to recruit more men now. But I think this is the best solution because this division will be right under us," says Surian.
The ministers discuss it and they agree with it.
"How about those Blue Sea Pirates?" asks a middle-aged woman minister.
Surian gets serious and says, "We can only watch them and hope that they won't create another problem. Because when that happens, none of us will be able to stop it."
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