Chapter 149: A Chance Encounter with Kaido

Disappointment.

Overwhelming disappointment.

This was the sole emotion in Siano's heart at this moment.

Clearly, at the very beginning, he had held expectations for this battle.

Although Lucci had not yet mastered the two types of Haki, it didn't matter; Siano simply wouldn't use his either. Wasn't this exactly how Garp acted back in the Goa Kingdom?

By restricting Haki and fighting with only martial arts, fist meeting flesh, one could still reap a thoroughly satisfying and exhilarating duel.

Pity...

Lucci was simply too weak.

Even if Siano stood perfectly still and let him attack freely, Lucci couldn't break through his defense.

This man, who in memory had exuded such an oppressive presence upon his first appearance, whose style even surpassed that of some Warlords of the Sea...

Now, to him, dealing with Lucci seemed no different from dealing with Nami.

"Next, it's my turn."

Siano spoke softly:

"You've landed so many punches on me; it wouldn't be excessive if I returned just one punch to you, would it?"

"Block this punch, and you live."

"Fail to block it, and you die."

"After all..." Siano looked down at Lucci, mockery in his gaze, "the weak have no reason to live. Isn't that precisely the doctrine you adhere to?"

Before infiltrating Water 7, the innocent blood on Lucci's hands already far exceeded that of the vast majority of villains.

When this fellow was merely thirteen years old, a weak allied nation fell into crisis due to a pirate invasion; all five hundred soldiers were defeated, forcing them to urgently request aid from the World Government.

As the reinforcement, upon arriving, Lucci ignored the pirates and instead ruthlessly slaughtered all five hundred soldiers to the last man, leaving not a single survivor.

The reason was quite simple.

He simply felt that the weakness of these five hundred soldiers made them unworthy of their duties and unworthy of living in this world.

For someone like this...

As for the other CP9 agents, Siano couldn't be bothered to interfere unless they actively sought trouble.

But Lucci—he had no reason to show mercy.

The next instant.

Siano directly dispelled his "Paper Drawing Martial Body" form.

Crack!

His figure instantly expanded at a speed indistinguishable to the naked eye, his originally loose clothing suddenly bursting apart.

Amidst the sound of tearing fabric, the originally delicate and handsome youth vanished in an instant.

In his place stood an outright monster.

A body four and a half meters tall stood like a mountain peak, knotted muscles cast like steel, blue veins pulsing and weaving beneath the skin like living creatures.

Moonlight was completely obscured, shadows pressing down heavily like an iron curtain, carrying a suffocating, terrifying oppression.

Lucci tilted his head, staring blankly at the colossal shadow before him, lips trembling, face deathly pale.

Was this the creature's true form?!

Why hadn't he revealed it sooner, and why bother disguising himself as a mere youth!

If he had known all this early on... how could he possibly have underestimated the physique of such a monster!

"Oh? Grown a bit taller, have I?"

Ignoring Lucci, Siano looked down, examining his own body, the corners of his mouth splitting into a grin as his voice rumbled low.

"My weight seems to have exceeded one ton."

He slowly clenched his fist; the cracking sound of his knuckles instantly exploded like thunder, compressing the surrounding air until visible ripples formed.

"Very good, I've almost adapted. Time to prepare to receive the punch, Lucci."

With an air of finality, Siano extended his massive hand, pinching Lucci's head as if grabbing a ping-pong ball, and casually tossed him high into the sky.

Before the latter could even react, his body had already been thrown hundreds of meters into the air, after which he rapidly began to fall; in his field of vision, Siano below had already clenched his fist, lifting his head with a sinister grin.

Boom—!!!

Siano's fist suddenly blasted out.

He had no intention of using the Six Styles' ultimate techniques, nor would he employ trump cards like the Elbaf Spear.

Lucci was not worthy.

No flashy techniques, no wrapping of Haki, merely a simple, ordinary punch—an eruption of power pure to the extreme.

Even so!

The shockwave formed by the fist compressing the air still spread out like an explosion, instantly tearing apart the ground within a radius of several dozen meters; the terrifying sonic boom even shattered every pane of glass in Dock One.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"Iron Block!"

Feeling that terrifying impact force, Lucci's facial skin twitched wildly as he screamed in despair.

Simultaneously, his body rapidly completed its beast transformation, turning completely into the form of a leopard.

Although he knew the hope of blocking it was slim, with things having come to this, he could only employ every defensive means at his disposal to gamble!

Creak~

Just as the fist wind was about to engulf him, a dark green door suddenly unfolded beneath him.

"Air Door!!!"

Blueno's figure flashed out from the doorway, arms crossed, blocking in front of Lucci, likewise gritting his teeth as he activated Iron Block.

"Bruno..." Lucci's eyes widened in shock.

Boom—!!!

Amid the deafening explosion, Bruno's Iron Body failed to hold for even half a second, instantly torn apart by the shockwave like ragged cloth.

His chest immediately caved in; the sound of shattering bones was clearly audible as blood gushed from his seven orifices, his whole body flung backward like a kite with its string cut.

That dark green door fared even worse, unable to withstand the blow.

Under the violent shockwave, it shattered completely with a crisp crack like fragile glass, dissolving into specks of green light that vanished into the night sky.

The residual shockwave pierced through these green lights and slammed heavily into Lucci.

Thud!

A dull impact!

Although Bruno and his door had blocked most of the impact, the remaining terrifying force still caused his leopard-form defense to collapse instantly.

After hanging suspended in the air for a moment, his body fell powerlessly to the ground, smashing out a dense network of spiderweb-like cracks.

Dust and smoke rose in all directions.

"Bruno..."

Lucci struggled to turn his head, searching for Bruno's whereabouts, blood continuously spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Even though Bruno had blocked most of the damage from that punch for him, he had still been knocked back into human form, every bone in his body shattered, his internal organs seemingly displaced.

He soon spotted Bruno.

This colleague, who had just sacrificed himself to save him, now lay a few meters away to the north.

Having stood at the very front to bear the impact, his condition was even more miserable; his body was a blur of flesh and blood, his breath fading, clearly on the verge of death.

"Lu... Lucci..."

Bruno's gaze locked onto his; trembling violently, he raised a hand and drew a door on the ground:

"While... while I still have breath, crawl inside and escape quickly, otherwise once I die, my ability will cease to function..."

Escape?

"Cough..." Lucci spat up frothy blood, his gaze unfocused as he stared at that door.

"Escape...?"

Suddenly, he straightened his head again, looked up at the night sky, and began to laugh softly, his voice hoarse.

"A person can escape... but where should my heart and will escape to?"

Bruno was stunned.

He had never seen Lucci wear such an expression; in those eyes that were always cold and confident, there now filled self-loathing and gloom.

"I have already lost... haven't you seen it? I lost thoroughly, completely..."

Lucci's voice grew lower and lower.

He raised his right arm, looking at his trembling hands; the index finger that Siano had previously torn off by force, now lacking the stamina to maintain Life Return, began to bleed profusely once more.

"All this talk of CP9's greatest genius in eight hundred years... of the peak of martial arts... it's all a joke..."

His voice suddenly rose as he laughed madly, filled with hysterical frenzy:

"A joke!!"

He had clearly unleashed every last trick up his sleeve, yet he couldn't even inflict a single wound on his opponent!

Yet a casual, ordinary punch thrown by that opponent had plunged him into an irresistible predicament!

And regarding age, he would be thirty in a few years, while the other was only eighteen... how could such a colossal gap, like an unbridgeable chasm, not drive one to despair so profound that their Dao Heart shattered!

Thud!

A fist suddenly smashed into his face, cutting Lucci's manic laughter short.

It was Bruno, experiencing a final surge of vitality before death; forcing out his last breath, he struggled to crawl to Lucci's side, gripping his collar tightly, his voice hoarse:

"Lucci! You bastard, don't forget, your life was bought with my everything; you have no right to decide for yourself whether to live or die!"

"Being unable to defeat such a monster—isn't that only natural? Pull yourself together a little and stop treating it as an unacceptable humiliation!"

"Go quickly; as long as you live... there will still be a chance in the future!"

Lucci stared blankly at Bruno, the gloom in his eyes not yet dispersed.

"A chance?"

He let out a bitter laugh, "Such a monster... how is it possible..."

"Then become stronger again!"

Bruno coughed up a mouthful of blood violently, yet still stared fixedly at him, "Didn't you always say... that the weak have no value in survival?"

"Then what does you, giving up like this, count as?!"

Lucci's body trembled violently.

Yes...

Physical weakness is not fearsome; it is the sinking of the will that is. If even he himself admits defeat, how is he any different from those "weaklings" he had personally executed?

Gritting his teeth, he struggled to push his body up, his gaze refocusing.

"Bruno..."

"Stop talking nonsense... Go quickly!"

Step, step, step.

Siano's footsteps came from the distance.

Unhurried and slow, yet each step that landed seemed to tread upon the gaps between heartbeats, striking panic and chill into one's heart like a death knell.

He is coming...

That man, like a monster!

Bruno's face was deathly pale, his body jerking violently, yet he still summoned his last shred of strength to push the Door-Door Fruit portal before Lucci:

"If you don't go now, it'll be too late, Lucci! Hurry!"

"The reason I saved you was also to beg that, once you escape, you find a way to rescue Kaku and Kalifa from those girls' hands; among us, only you can accomplish this..."

Lucci was finally moved.

After casting one deep glance at Bruno, he spoke no more, dragging his shattered body as he struggled to crawl into the interior of the portal.

However.

Just at the instant Lucci was about to crawl through the portal—

"Urororororo~! Such a powerful aura, there's no mistake! Laozi has finally found you, you brat Siano!!!!"

A bold, wild laughter, brimming with both surprise and joy, suddenly erupted from the night sky.

Boom!!!

The next second, a massive black shadow plummeted from the heavens like a meteor, carrying terrifying impact forces as it crashed heavily between the two!

In an instant, the ground cracked and exploded, a horrific shockwave sweeping out in all directions.

Lucci and Bruno's bodies were instantly crushed into meat paste by this immense force, without even time to let out a scream.

And that emerald-green portal, due to the death of its Devil Fruit user, vanished without a trace in an instant.

Whoosh...

The dust and smoke gradually dispersed.

A man with a build as burly as a demon god slowly rose to his feet.

The newcomer had black hair cascading over his shoulders, a pair of ferocious long horns atop his head, a bare upper body covered in scars, a massive spiked club strapped to his back, and in his right hand, he held a wine gourd, currently tilting his head back to gulp down liquor with a glug-glug sound.

"Hmm?"

Siano had already been yawning; having zero interest in the bonds between CP9 agents, he had been about to deliver the final blow to Lucci.

But then...

An unexpected joy suddenly arrived!

Looking at this big guy who was currently tilting his head back, chugging down drink after drink.

"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this so-and-so..."

His originally indifferent eyes suddenly ignited, fierce battle intent burning within his pupils; he slowly stretched the corners of his mouth, his grin expanding until it finally transformed into a wild laugh:

"So you really did find me? It seems the luck of us both isn't bad!!!"

Outside the great iron gates of Dock One.

More and more Brutos had gathered here; the citizens, having just arrived, witnessed with their own eyes the scene of this demon god-like figure plummeting from the sky.

Immediately, they all froze in shock.

"Hey, did I see that right?"

"That guy, is he... Kaido?!"

Within the crowd, someone was the first to recognize the identity of that massive figure, shouting out with a trembling voice.

"Kaido, who reigns over the seas like an Emperor, commanding the Beasts Pirates?!!"

"One of the Four Emperors... How could a Four Emperor appear in a place like this?!"

Fear spread like a plague; the originally noisy waterways instantly fell into a deathly silence.

The citizens who had come to watch turned ashen pale; some even collapsed directly onto the ground, their teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"Run, run quickly!!!"

Someone screamed, and the crowd instantly exploded into chaos; everyone began urging their Brutos, frantically turning to flee backwards, making the waterways congested and disorderly, with screams rising and falling one after another.

"It's Kaido! It really is Kaido!"

"Shouldn't such a big shot be in the New World? How could he come to Water Seven?!"

"We're done for! Where are the Marines?! Where is the World Government?! Someone save us!"

Desperate cries of despair echoed out, drifting into the silent open ground.

Kaido, however, paid no heed; long accustomed to all this, he drained the wine gourd in one go, then let out a satisfied belch before lifting his head to look at the opposite side.

Bathed in the moonlight, after clearly making out Siano's features, Kaido suddenly froze, revealing an expression of confusion and bewilderment:

"Did Laozi find the wrong person again?"

He had only descended because he sensed an extremely terrifying aura of a powerful expert in the air.

Yet the result completely failed to match up!

However... in the first half of the Grand Line, there's actually such a powerful expert?

It seems worth trying to recruit him!

"What do you mean 'found the wrong person', Kaido!"

Siano clenched his fists tight, knuckles cracking audibly; hearing this, he couldn't help but stretch his mouth wide in a loud laugh, "The real person is standing right before you, yet you don't recognize me? Wasn't the name you just shouted precisely my name?"

"You are Siano?"

Kaido furrowed his brows, pulled a crumpled wanted poster from his bosom, held it before his eyes, and compared it against Siano's face.

Immediately, an expression of suspicion appeared on his face.

"This is you?"

The photograph on the wanted poster was clearly a handsome youth carrying a sword on his back.

Yet the man before him was distinctly a burly fellow with ropy muscles, someone who, no matter how one looked at him, had absolutely nothing to do with the words 'sword master'.

"It is me."

Siano nodded.

"Who are you trying to fool? How could this possibly be one person!"

Kaido crumpled the bounty poster into a ball, slammed it fiercely onto the ground, and roared with bared fangs:

"Do you take Laozi for Bai Chi? Do you think I'm so easy to deceive?!!"

"Tsk, what a hassle..."

Siano sighed helplessly, and the muscles throughout his body suddenly began to contract.

Whoosh!

Under Kaido's stunned gaze, that towering figure of over four meters transformed in the blink of an eye, reverting to the appearance of the black-haired youth on the bounty poster.

"And now?"

With hands in his pockets, Siano shrugged, looked up at Kaido, and asked, "Recognize me now?"

"..."

Kaido's eyes bulged wide; he stared at Siano for a long moment before snapping out of his shock. He picked up the bounty poster from the ground, spread it out, and this time spent a considerable while carefully comparing it back and forth.

Only then did wild ecstasy finally erupt in his eyes!

It really seems to be this kid!

In this vast ocean, after spending so much time, do you think it was easy for him!

Fortunately, he didn't make a mistake this time; he had finally found the person himself!

"Wororororo, brat..."

Kaido stretched his mouth into a reckless laugh, and just as he was about to say something—

"Roar—!!!"

A earth-shaking elephant trumpeting suddenly rang out, causing the entire ground of Dock Number One to tremble!

Kaido whipped his head around, only to see a massive mammoth charging wildly from the distance toward this side; with every step it took, the ground boomed and shook, while its thick tusks gleamed with a cold, deadly light under the moonlight.

(End of Chapter)