บท 18: Snake
"You do know the moment we step inside the Upper Yard, Enel will detect us right?" Imai questioned.
"I understand, but considering Enel thinks of himself as God. Then I'm sure he'll send all his minions at us before he comes to us." Nico replied.
"I see, using his ego against him, huh? That's what I like about you the most, you use your brain."
Nico felt her cheeks redden and turned away from Imai. "T-thank you, let's focus on heading towards the Upper Yard where Conis is."
Imai smiled and continued to follow behind Nico. She looked around the forest and noticed a small snake on the ground. She glanced at the little snake and Nico as a mischievous grin formed on her face.
'A little fun wouldn't hurt.'
She picked up the snake and silently crept towards Nico. Once she was close enough, the prank began.
"SURPRISE!"
"WHAT?"
Imai placed the little snake on Nico's revealing shoulder. Nico, who did not know what Imai just placed on her, freaked out, and swatted the little snake away. Imai watched as the little snake hit the tree and blood splattered on the tree.
"AHAHAHA!"
"Imai!"
Nico playfully punched Imai's shoulder and angrily scolded her.
"What if that snake bit me huh?" Nico asked as she continued to punch Imai. "What if I die from a single bite of that snake? What're you going to do?"
"Calm down, calm down!" Imai said as she laughed. "If you keep punching me, I might really die!"
"You deserve it!"
"The little snake wouldn't have done anything to you anyway! It was so small that a bite wouldn't even have left a mark. Plus, it's nice to have some fun."
Nico stopped punching her and sighed. The prank Imai pulled on her definitely helped her loosen some tension. All of the intense tension in the past few days had made her shoulders stiff. She felt more relaxed now.
"Hmph! If you do it one more time, I definitely will kill you."
"Yes, yes. You can always try to kill me, I don't mind."
"Then I'll take this chance!" an unknown voice yelled from behind the trees as several unknown figures also appeared.
Imai stared at the figures. "Wow, you guys are wearing ice skates in a forest. The Upper Yard sure is weird unless I'm just not normal. Perhaps this is normal? I have been in seclusion for a few years. Nico, is wearing ice skates in a forest normal?"
"Now is not the time to be worrying about that right now!" Nico exclaimed. "We're under attack right now."
Imai counted twelve people before saying, "Protect me! I'm lazy and don't want to fight."
"What?!"
Imai forcefully pushed her blade onto the ground and laid her back against the blade. She was in a comfortable position to rest.
"Protect me."
Nico looked at Imai in disbelief, but there was no time to argue with her since the attackers were close.
"Treinta Fleur, Strangle!"
Multiple pairs of limbs appeared from the ground and held the attackers before throwing them away. But some were quick to recover.
"Target the other girl! She isn't moving!" one of them said.
Imai looked up and saw the attacker coming at her with a sword ready to pierce her. She then stared at Nico's back and waited for her to do something about it. Right before she could get pierced, a hand appeared from the ground, and smacked the attacker away causing him to be knocked unconscious.
"Her Haki is improving." Imai muttered before taking a look at the beret that fell from the attacker's head. "White Berets…these guys on ice skates are called the White Berets. What a boring name."
Imai threw the hat away and watched the fight between Nico and the White Berets. Nico was switching in between her devil fruit abilities and close range combat that she learned from Imai. She was also using her Observation Haki well and dodged all the attacks that were directed at her. Currently, Nico denied all truthfulness of the quote "strength in numbers."
The White Berets stood no chance against her. As Imai kept watching, she noticed what Nico was doing to them was a bit cruel. She purposely didn't knock them out and baited them into attacking her even though there was no use. Nico was using a mental tactic against them. After all, when nothing works against your opponent, it definitely would take a toll on one's mind.
Every attacker that went after Imai had it worse. Nico would directly hit them in their private area and once they recovered, she would do it again.
It was Imai's turn to look at Nico in disbelief.
'What are you? A sadist?'
She prayed she wasn't turning Nico into a battle maniac.
Soon enough, the battle between Nico and the White Berets had ended.
Imai clapped. "That's another thing I like about you, you're very strong."
"Shut up, why didn't you help out at all?"
Imai looked around at all the unconscious attackers.
"There wasn't a need for me to help, you took care of them all. You needed this battle anyway to improve your Observation Haki during battles. But you're a genius, already learning to subconsciously use it."
"Well…sure."
Nico couldn't argue with Imai. It wasn't as if the White Berets were particularly strong anyway, this was more of a training session than an actual battle. She felt as if her Haki had improved. Plus, she knew that if a stronger opponent had appeared, Imai would've taken over.
Imai stood up and patted away the dirt that was on her pants.
"Let's get going before someone else discovers us." Imai said. "Lead the way."
Once again, Imai followed behind Nico.
Secretly, Imai smiled to herself. She hasn't traveled with someone she has a genuine friendship with for a long time. So having someone as company definitely made her happier.
Her thoughts traveled to the tall girl with white hair that fought with a mace. Despite meeting her at a young age, she was one of the strongest people she met. Yamato was her name and she was also Imai's first true friend.
Imai glanced at the sky and imagined one of the clouds to be Yamato.
'I wonder what you're up to right now.'
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