บท 15: Chapter 15
Chapter 15
"Shambles!"
Snow was replaced with a bamboo stick that was cut into pieces mere moments later. Now, Snow remembered why he found that man so familiar as he brandished his rapier. Snow couldn't remember his name, but he remembered the man before and that it was his alter ego or something like that. And Snow knew that he was dangerous.
"Law, this one is dangerous," Snow warned his crewmate. "Don't let your guard down. We've already seen his speed, and I think he can be even faster."
"Should we escape?" Law asked, but Snow could tell that Law didn't like the idea of running away.
"Nah," Snow said. He didn't want to back off from this challenge either. "He is just one man. And if we can't beat him, what right do we have to continue on our journey?"
He wasn't anything special. There were plenty of people like him and even more powerful on the Grandline. It was the perfect opportunity for Snow to test himself and improve his fighting skills. So, he jumped at the golden-haired prince, ready to strike him down. But Snow's umbrella passed through empty air as he disappeared before Snow's eyes.
"Ugh," Turning back, Snow saw Law with a cut on his torso.
But there was no sight of the man who attacked him. It wasn't the pain that came first. It was the feeling of the cold rapier piercing his shoulder that Snow felt. Then came the pain and blood. Turning his head behind him, Snow, for a moment, saw the creepy and disturbing smile of a madman before he disappeared with a gust of wind.
"New plan," Snow quickly got to Law. "We watch our backs."
"I don't think that will help us much," Law replied as he quickly bandaged his wound to stop the bleeding. "I didn't see him before it was too late. He is too fast for my eyes."
"Follow the feeling of the wind," Snow replied. "We need to get used to his speed. I am not leaving before I wack him with my umbrella at least once."
"You won't have a chance to do so because I will cut him in half first."
"How about a bet?" Snow asked. "The first to get him can order the loser to do anything he wants."
"Deal, be prepared to clean the toilets, captain."
Snow was right. The madman moved with the wind—or, more precisely, the wind followed his movement. So, even though he couldn't see him if he followed the feeling of the wind hitting his skin, Snow would be able to follow his movements. But it was easier said than done. Even if Snow could follow the madman's movement, he was still slower than him.
"Shambles!"
Again, they disappeared, being replaced by bamboo sticks that were minced in pieces the moment they appeared in their previous location. He was strong, so the question was, how did he not compete with the worst generation? Surely, he was stronger than some of them. Well, Snow didn't have time to ponder about this.
This time, not waiting for the madman to strike him, Snow turned one of his arms into a wing and, with a swing, sent dozens of metallic feathers flying before him. The feathers spread, hitting a wide area, and soon Snow heard them hitting something. But when he followed the sound with his eyes, he saw that his feathers were stuck in the ground or on top of bamboo trees where he wasn't aiming.
The bastard deflected them. Now, this got serious. When the gust of wind hit his chest, Snow used his wing to block his left and his umbrella to his right. The sword didn't feel as heavy as Gion's, but even then, Snow's umbrella was pushed back, leaving a long scratch on it. When Snow tried to hit the Madman, he was gone.
"Duck!"
Snow did, as asked, fall to the ground while Law's sword brushed Snow's hair. Everything was cut instantly in a radius of fifteen meters. But even though Snow looked attentively, he couldn't find the madman. On the one hand, he was happy that Law wasn't the first to land the hit; on the other hand, Snow started to think about what it would take to take him down.
"Fuck this!"
Snow had no patience left. He knew he couldn't be as fast as that madman, so he used his strength. Stabbing his umbrella into the ground as deep as he could, he lifted the ground with a mighty swing, throwing the stones and dirt in one direction. Before the dirt could settle, Snow did the same three more times.
With Law cutting everything and Snow uprooting everything, they found themselves in a clearing of their creation. Snow thought he would at least manage to hit the madman at least once. But there was no sign of him. Snow didn't think he had buried him under the dirt. And since he wasn't before him nor below him, that left only one place to look at.
Lifting his umbrella and quickly opening it, Snow managed to block a relentless attack from above. Snow felt the rapier sliding along his opened umbrella, and the sound of iron hitting iron echoed through the forest. Law noticed the attack a second after Snow did, but he wasn't too late to act. He teleported the madman below Snow's feet.
Before he could regain his senses, Snow stepped hard on the madman, putting all his strength and weight into his foot and crushing him to the ground. Closing his umbrella, Snow brought it down on the madman's head. Dust and pebbles flew into the air under the shockwave that was brought by Snow's hit. The madman's head was buried deep under the ground.
"I win," Snow said with a smile as he turned to Law.
"Only because I let you," Law replied. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been able to capture him. So, it was a draw."
"No way, I won fair and square," Snow didn't want to accept, but in the end, he could only agree. "Fine, let's bring him to his crew. I have a few questions for them."
Throwing the man on his shoulder, Snow and Law walked to the beach in the direction of their ship. Though they won, Snow wasn't very satisfied with his fight. He now felt the need to learn haki even more. His already great perception couldn't track the man, and there were even faster people around. So, Snow needed to learn observation haki somehow so he wouldn't be caught by surprise again.
…
Seeing Snow and Law returning with the madman defeated surprised the crew awaiting him. Snow didn't see a reason to fight them, so he jumped on their ship and dropped the guy for his crew to take care of him. But to Snow's surprise, they didn't rush to see after his captain. They were cautious. And quick look around the ship made Snow realize why they were cautious.
"He is completely knocked down," Snow told them, and only then they rushed to check on their captain.
"Prince Cavendish, are you alright?" The woman from before came in first, and to Snow's surprise, a horse followed behind her.
"Ugh," Cavendish groaned as he slowly rose. "Where? What? My head hurt like hell. But seeing the lovely Selina has cured all my ailments."
"Yeah, yeah," Snow stepped on Cavendish's face as he took the woman's hands into his and started flirting. "You are a big and scary guy, huh? Did you think I would let you go after you attacked us?"
"Oh, my, I am truly sorry for the inconvenience I have caused," Cavendish replied as he rolled away from Snow and did a pose by looking sideways. "But it was not me you should be blaming. I suffer from a rare disease that turns me into evil incarnate when I sleep. I can not control him, for he is Hakuba. He who cuts everything and everyone he sees."
"Split personality?" Law asked, a bit surprised by the enemy's different appearance, which caused so much trouble for them to deal with.
"I was cursed, and now I have to travel this world alone in fear that I might hurt those around me," Cavendish continued as his crew started to weep and sniffle at the sad story. "Oh, but this is just a trial fallen upon me because I was born so beautiful, smart, and skillful that the heavens had to punish my existence."
"Princess Cavendish, don't worry. We shall follow you wherever you go and find a way to cure you," The woman from before said while weeping.
"I am truly blessed by the people surrounding me."
Was he, though? He looked at Cavendish's crew, who were captivated by his speech and looks. But Snow knew better. They were just normal people who had not faced any hardships in their lives. They had no place in this sea—and definitely not with a man who could turn into a monster every time he fell asleep.
"I thank you, sirs, for stopping me before I did something I would regret," Even while bowing in thanks, he smiled at his crew, getting their attention.
Law didn't give a shit and was fessed up with the situation. He seemed to be ready to return to his ship and only waited for Snow. But Snow didn't move as he was looking around. It would be easy to turn around and forget about this situation as they waited for their log pose to set course. And yet, Snow couldn't, as he knew these people shouldn't be here.
"Heh," Snow laughed, giving his best evil smile. He walked up to Cavendish. "I am no hero, nor am I a knight in shining armor. I am a pirate. Called Gravedigger Snow. Did you think your thanks would be enough? You attacked me, and you now shall be eternally grateful to me because I spared your life."
"What?" Cavendish's eye twitched as Snow looked down on him.
"From this day one to my last one, you shall serve me," Snow replied. "Or you shall die."
"Sir Snow, there is no need for such baseless threats; I am sure I can repay for the trouble I have caused."
"Tch," Snow clicked his tongue and grabbed the woman next to Cavendish by her neck. "There are your choices. You serve me, or I kill you and your crew. A monster like you I can use, but I don't need those noble shits that know nothing but how to act prettily."
"Release her this instant, you scoundrel!" Cavendish yelled, reaching for his rapier, only not finding it as Snow had it.
"It is your fault that you came into this sea unprepared," Snow said, tightening his grip on the woman. "Weaklings like you would be killed sooner rather than later anyway. You can only blame your captain for letting you come with him."
"Heeh! HEEh!" The horse neighed and tried to ram at Snow, but Law put a sword under its neck, stopping it.
"Release them, and I will come willingly," Cavendish said finally seeing that his crew were outmatched completely.
"Don't try to follow us, or I will kill him," Snow said as he threw the woman back to the rest of the crew. "The horse can come too. It's always good to have some emergency food."
Law teleported them all to Polar Tang. Snow's crew were surprised at the new addition to the crew. At the same time, Cavendish's crew looked at them with sorrowful and hatred-filled eyes. Snow ignored them and turned to Cavendish, who fixed his golden and annoyingly silky hair and put on a black cowboy hat with a large aqua-blue colored plum.
"Who is this?" Caribou was the first to ask about the new face as he walked around Cavendish, looking up and down at him. "He looks tasty. Kehehehe."
"You shall see that you have made a grave mistake by taking me so forcefully," Cavendish said, pushing Caribou away with a disgusted expression. "To protect the people dear to me, I have let myself be captured by you. But now, the situation has changed. If you think you can keep me trapped on his small and stinky ship, you soon shall learn otherwise."
"Shut up," Snow replied, throwing Cavendish's rapier back at him. "I don't care about you. But you are called captain and prince by them, and they do seem to love you. And yet, you don't care enough if you hurt them or not."
"That was-"
"It was you who took them away from their home," Snow stabbed his finger at Cavendish's forehead. "They were captivated by your unnatural good looks and followed you. If you cared about them, you would not have let them follow you. I will give the benefit of the doubt and believe that you didn't know what you were getting in when getting into the Grand Line. But now, you should have seen enough. Done enough to have realized that those people don't belong here. I will drop you on the next island. Hopefully, by then, they will realize that they have homes and families that they can return to and will forget you."
Snow knew it wasn't his business, but he also knew that if he heard that Cavendish's crew had died after meeting another pirate crew, he would start blaming himself. He would have thought that he could have changed such an outcome. So, rather than regret it later, he did what he believed was right. Now, they will have no choice but to return home.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง