章 10: Chapter 10: Sneak Attack
In the quiet room, Bardock sat cross-legged, recalling the battle between Hawkeye and Shanks, playing each scene over and over in his mind. After that day, Bardock had revisited the memory countless times; many of the scenes were as vivid as movie frames, deeply etched into his memory.
The battle that day, aside from the final move Divine Departure, could be roughly divided into three stages:
The first stage was purely a duel of swordsmanship. Each had their unique style—one's strikes were heavy and powerful, while the other's were fast and cunning. They were evenly matched.
The second stage involved physical strength. Their sword strikes became faster and more forceful, and they were still evenly balanced.
In the third stage, they went all out, using everything at their disposal—technique, body, Haki, flying slashes—whatever they could muster. Yet even then, they were still neck and neck.
Shanks ultimately used Divine Departure because he felt there was no point in continuing; it would have just become a battle of attrition. Hawkeye likely had the same thought, for after receiving the Divine Departure, he stopped as well.
Bardock had the clearest recollection of the first stage. He missed a lot of the second—it was too fast for his mind to keep up. As for the third, he could barely make sense of it. There was so much dust and noise that all he could do was watch the chaos.
Although Bardock saw the Divine Departure, he couldn't understand it. But for him, the most useful part was the swordsmanship in the first stage. Imitating the masters is the first step toward becoming one.
"Speed, precision, stability. From now on, I'll practice Hawkeye's swordsmanship with my right hand, and Red-Haired's swordsmanship with my left. How wonderful!"
"Occasionally, I'll put myself in their shoes mentally, analyzing why they reacted the way they did. My understanding of combat has improved immensely."
"I should also learn some staff techniques from Master Kaido and combine the three to form my own style. I'll call it the 'Ruyi Staff Technique.' It would be a shame for the Monkey King not to know how to wield a staff."
"I'd better stop thinking about this, or I won't be able to control myself. Time to take action!"
Bardock rushed out of the room and started training.
In addition to physical exercises, Bardock incorporated swordsmanship drills. His movements were derived from Hawkeye's and Shanks' techniques—essentially the fundamentals of swordsmanship, but performed with the precision and finesse of the two masters, requiring Bardock to carefully study the finer details.
…
Late at night, the tavern was still lively.
Bardock wasn't there to drink; he was there to scout out a target. If he didn't find some money soon, he'd be left with nothing but cold air to drink!
His target was a small fry with a bounty of only 5 million berries—Iron Hook Hawk. His bounty was even lower than that of Higuma, the bandit king. Hawk was the battle captain of the One-Eyed Pirate Crew, known for his ruthlessness.
Bardock could have gone after pirates with higher bounties, but they were always surrounded by a gang of minions, making it difficult to keep things low-key. Even Hawk had two crew members with him.
Sabaody was notorious for its abundance of pirates, marines, and bounty hunters. Any loud commotion would draw a crowd, and then staying low profile would become impossible.
It wasn't time to make a name for himself yet, Bardock decided. Even when claiming the bounty later, he planned to use a different identity.
He hadn't even made a move yet, and Bardock was already thinking about how he'd claim the bounty. Fighting this weakling didn't put any pressure on him.
"Ah, fantastic! Boys, follow me; let's head to the second half of the party at the festival!" Hawk shouted as he led the way outside.
"OH YEAH!" The two underlings followed behind, yelling joyfully. After all, booze and women were the whole point of going out to sea!
Trailing them, Bardock constantly scanned his surroundings, confirming that there were no other competitors. Seeing the coast was clear, he didn't hesitate.
He put on a hat, mask, and sunglasses. If you're wondering why he's wearing sunglasses at night, it's because his Fiery Eyes gave him night vision. Bardock pulled out his weapon—a metal baseball bat—and quietly followed.
Many pirates are mindless idiots, and the ones ahead were no exception. They were drunk, with zero sense of vigilance. Bardock was already right behind them, and they hadn't even noticed. It was pure luck that they'd survived this long.
A swing to the left, then a swing to the right—two clean hits to the back of the heads of the underlings. The two dropped instantly.
At that moment, Hawk showed his combat skills as a captain. Instead of immediately turning to check, he dove forward, attempting to roll away from any potential attack.
Would Bardock let him succeed?
Of course not. Before Hawk could complete his roll, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. The world spun, and then he lost consciousness.
"Piece of cake." Bardock clapped his hands, pulled out some pre-prepared ropes, tied up all three, and stuffed them into three large bubbles, leaving only their heads sticking out.
"Off we go!" Bardock walked ahead, leading the rope, with the three pirate-filled bubbles floating behind him as he headed straight for the marine base.
Luckily, it was already late at night; otherwise, he would have attracted a lot of attention. With a few steps, Bardock switched from his human form to his Monkey King form, then used his Size Changing ability to maintain his height at 90 centimeters.
Isn't it strange? Even though his height and body size changed drastically, his hat, sunglasses, mask, and clothes still fit perfectly.
Bardock recalled how a senior traveler once made Zoro famous at Sabaody. Now, he would do the same for Chopper. To think that Chopper's initial bounty was only 50 berries—how insulting!
The marine base on Sabaody's Island 66 had a unique feature: they allowed bounty exchanges even late at night. However, bounties over 50 million berries required the signature of the base commander, who definitely wasn't staying up all night just to sign off.
Bardock received his 5 million berries. Only Iron Hook Hawk had a bounty; the two underlings earned nothing but words of encouragement.
But that didn't matter. Bardock had left behind the name Tony Tony Chopper, calling himself a bounty hunter covered in fur, nicknamed Chop-Beard.
The One Piece world is notoriously bad with recognizing faces. People rely on distinctive traits to identify others. A hat, height, a body covered in fur, and the name Chopper were all he needed. After all, didn't a raccoon pass for Chopper in the original series after the time skip?
…
Another late night. Bardock walked out of the marine base with the pirate bounty, slowly disappearing into the distance.
"That 'Sneak Attack' Chopper again—he always comes late at night."
"Yeah, this is the fourth time this month. From a 5 million bounty pirate to now a 12 million one, every time he comes out unscathed, not even his clothes are torn."
"Unscathed is right. He doesn't even fight head-on. How do you think he got the nickname 'Sneak Attack'? I've heard that every pirate he takes down never even sees him coming before they're knocked out."
"The colonel said he's still pretty strong though…"
Bardock couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, nor did he care. "Sorry, Chopper. I didn't expect the marines to interrogate the pirates. I clearly called myself Chop-Beard, but they still gave you the nickname Sneak Attack. How lame."
He imagined a bunch of pirates and bounty hunters charging at an innocent, cotton candy-eating Chopper, yelling, "Prepare to die, Sneak Attack Chopper!" Bardock let out a sad chuckle, his mouth twitching into a hee-hee-hee laugh.
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