Chapter 1318 - 29: Kudu Bro

Chapter 1318: Chapter 29: Kudu Bro

Although Su Xiao had already pulled back, the rod still smashed down heavily. If it weren’t for Doflamingo’s strong constitution, this blow would definitely have broken his nose bridge.

Just after whacking Doflamingo, Su Xiao felt a tremendous force hit his midsection, sending his body flying backward. Katakuri was so fast that by the time Su Xiao’s intuition sensed his movements, the attack had already landed.

Su Xiao raised his left arm horizontally, just about to deploy the Boundary Line, when he saw that Katakuri had already leapt away from his position. Su Xiao’s attack had been anticipated again.

After rolling a few times in the sandy ground, Su Xiao got up and half-squatted on the ground. Doflamingo, who was covering his mouth and nose with one hand, glared at Su Xiao, blood seeping through his fingers.

"Slipped my hand."

Su Xiao lightly flicked the blood off the metal rod and charged at Katakuri at high speed. Doflamingo, nose bleeding profusely and in a rage, chose to follow.

Boom, boom, boom...

Clouds of yellow sand erupted, and waves of air spread out.

Not far away, Bubu Wang lay on the nougat, having already identified Cracker’s position with a thermal sensing device. It was now just waiting for the right opportunity.

When the moment is right, Bubu Wang and A Mu would dispose of Cracker as quickly as possible. Now was clearly not the time; they had to wait until Katakuri was held up.

Threads shot out, a bundle of converging threads flew past Katakuri’s ear. As he dodged the threads, his hand enveloped with Armament Haki, he reached unarmed to grab the metal rod aiming for his face.

With a muffled thud, Katakuri caught the metal rod, leaving Su Xiao stunned, and Doflamingo equally surprised. They both knew that Devil Fruit Ability Users couldn’t touch Seastone.

Even though Katakuri wore black gloves, they couldn’t fully shield against the effects of Seastone, not even with Armament Haki wrapped around them.

Su Xiao scrutinized Katakuri’s right hand, realizing instantly that it was larger than the left one. It was almost immediate; Su Xiao figured out why.

Katakuri had wrapped mochi, generated after his Devil Fruit Awakening, around his hand to avoid direct contact with the Seastone.

Katakuri tugged at the rod, intending to snatch the metal rod from Su Xiao. If he got it, Doflamingo would be in deep trouble.

Seeing this, Doflamingo twitched his cheek, and a few threads, wrapped in Armament Haki, entwined towards Katakuri.

At the same moment, Su Xiao unexpectedly released the metal rod and delivered a side kick towards Katakuri.

Katakuri’s hand paused, and almost instantly he let go of the metal rod. As he released it, Blue Steel Shadow Energy climbed onto the rod, and a thin blue line coiled around the rod’s end — the Boundary Line.

Dong!

Su Xiao’s kick landed on Katakuri’s thigh, successfully hitting the enemy, yet he instinctively felt something was wrong.

Just after the kick, Su Xiao felt a chill in his chest, followed by a familiar numbness, something had pierced through his chest.

Katakuri was kicked away by Su Xiao, his large body plunging into the mochi. He sighed, but what he was lamenting was unclear.

Boom!

Another loud explosion sounded, and at the same time, Su Xiao received a kill notification.

[Your summon has killed Charlotte Cracker.]

[Charlotte Cracker is one of the Sweet Commanders of the BIG MOM Pirate Group.]

[You’ve gained 4000 Pirate Reputation points (with a regional bonus of 1800 points for the Hunter being in a higher tier region).]

[Due to Charlotte Cracker’s special status, you’ve gained 16.5% of the World Source (regional bonus 2%), now totaling 31.3% of the World Source.]

[You’ve obtained a Treasure Chest (Legendary).]

...

Katakuri sighed because he foresaw Cracker’s death. He originally had a chance to prevent it; however, Su Xiao did not dodge Katakuri’s thrust with the trident. Had Su Xiao chosen to evade, Katakuri would have had the chance to save Cracker.

Katakuri stood up from the sand, his thigh muscles twitching with intense pain inside his body, and for 3 seconds he couldn’t transform into mochi.

Su Xiao also stood up from the ground, panting heavily. A two-plus meter long trident was impaled in his chest, with two prongs piercing through his chest cavity and his liver punctured.

Su Xiao pulled out the trident, the Armament Haki wrapped around it faded away, and the entire trident turned into mochi, slipping from his fingertips. This lump of mochi nearly finished him off.

Checking the combat log, Su Xiao found that Katakuri’s Armament Haki was infused with tremendous damage; not only that, he also endured penetration, through-power, and critical hit assessments. Had it not been for his sturdy physique, Su Xiao, already severely injured, would have been instantly killed by Katakuri’s full-force trident thrust.

Earlier, Katakuri casually threw a trident, instantly killing a Fourth-tier Contractor, which demonstrated the terrifying attack power of this thing.

Doflamingo shook his head; compared to the injury inflicted by Katakuri, Su Xiao’s previous rod strike left a deeper impression, as it was a pain that pierced through. When Seastone contacted him, he immediately weakened, and his body defense significantly decreased.

Su Xiao and Katakuri locked eyes. With Cracker dead, Katakuri’s combat strength was at least 30% higher, as he no longer needed to be distracted by Cracker’s situation.

"Doflamingo."

Su Xiao called out, but there was no response.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

Doflamingo finally snapped out of it, wiped the blood off his face, his mind buzzing.

"When will Jack arrive?"

"Soon, in no more than three minutes."

"Then let’s hold him off for three minutes."

Will Jack really come to support? Only heaven knows. Su Xiao and Doflamingo said this to create pressure on Katakuri.

Even though Katakuri can withstand both Su Xiao and Doflamingo, in his current state, he definitely can’t handle Su Xiao + Doflamingo + Jack’s siege.

Katakuri’s eyes flashed red again, his gaze turning toward the sea, as if predicting something once more.

With a clatter, a large swathe of sand soared, and Su Xiao immediately leapt back, the metal rod held horizontally in front of him. He now didn’t even have the time to drink the No.1 Elixir. When battling Katakuri, you can’t show a single flaw, or it would be disastrous.

When the sand settled, Katakuri had already vanished from his spot.

"Jack’s here."

Doflamingo said. He couldn’t be sure if Jack would come to support, but Katakuri retreating basically meant Jack was about to arrive at Dressrosa.

Drought·Jack using the Donquixote Family as cannon fodder? It was indeed like that in the previous naval battle, but not this time.

During the naval battle phase, the Donquixote Family suffered a complete defeat. It was Jack who held off nearly half of the Big Mom Pirates’ forces at sea; otherwise, the pirates attacking Dressrosa would have been even more overwhelming, and the Donquixote Family pirates wouldn’t have stood a chance.

"This is the chance to leave Katakuri behind."

Doflamingo’s intention was clear: pursue Katakuri and work with Jack to permanently eliminate him.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Su Xiao squatted on the ground, repeatedly emitting dry coughs.

"If you’re going to pursue, you and Jack go."

Just as Su Xiao finished speaking, a dozen large ships appeared on the coastline—Drought·Jack’s fleet.

Doflamingo walked to a piece of broken stone and sat on the pile of rocks, covering his forehead with one hand, a look of pain on his face.

"This time... thank you."

Even though Doflamingo was almost knocked out by a single blow from Su Xiao, it couldn’t be denied that Su Xiao saved his life. If he had faced Katakuri alone, Doflamingo would very likely already be a corpse.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Just as Su Xiao wanted to speak, he coughed dryly again. His lungs were seriously injured.

He took out the No.1 Elixir, using it both internally and externally. Half a minute later, Su Xiao’s breathing improved significantly, with his face going from flushed to pale.

"Next time, you deal with this guy yourself."

"..."

Doflamingo didn’t reply, still maintaining the one-hand-on-forehead pose. From this battle, he had already realized the combat strength of this ’researcher’ named Su Xiao.

Su Xiao was seriously injured too, but his gains were significant. He obtained a high-quality legendary treasure box, and also gained a large amount of World Source and Pirate Reputation.

By killing Charlotte Cracker, Su Xiao gained a total of 4,000 points in Pirate Reputation. Under normal circumstances, killing Cracker would not get so much Reputation, but Su Xiao is a Third-tier Contractor. Based on tier positioning, his transmission location should have been Punk Hazard, not Dressrosa, as Dressrosa is a Fourth-tier area.

To protect all Third-tier Contractors, and some Fourth-tier Contractors too, Reincarnation Paradise directly transmitted Su Xiao to the center of the naval battle area. As a reward for being in such a dangerous place, Su Xiao received a regional bonus reward.

Sitting on the beach, Su Xiao checked the Pirate Reputation leaderboard.

[First Place: Bai Ye (Third-tier), Pirate Reputation 7254 points.]

[Second Place: Kudu (Fifth-tier), Pirate Reputation 7180 points.]

[Third Place: Shallow Dream (Fifth-tier), Pirate Reputation 3625 points.]

[Fourth Place: Performer (Fifth-tier), Pirate Reputation 2576 points.]

[Fifth Place: Forest (Fifth-tier), Pirate Reputation 2102 points.]

...

Su Xiao’s Pirate Reputation ranking... surged to first place, fiercely duked it out against six Fifth-tier contractors. Those six were a team, and they couldn’t possibly centralize all Pirate Reputation on Kudu; they shared the benefits evenly as a whole.

In contrast, Su Xiao was alone and had collaborated with the Donquixote Family. After the fierce battle with Katakuri, this cooperation was clearly much more stable, at least not likely to backstab at any moment.

...

On a certain snowy island, a cave entrance emitted orange-colored campfire light.

Inside the cave, Kudu, Shallow Dream, Man Shi, and Forest sat around the campfire.

Forest sat cross-legged, a sniper cannon placed on his lap, which he was carefully cleaning.

"So, Shallow Dream used my gun to aid the enemy? The Duke of Extinction ended up in the hands of a Third-tier contractor, but considering he managed to surpass the boss in Pirate Reputation, it seems it’s not bad for that kid to use the Duke of Extinction."

Forest, wearing a green ghillie suit, had a hearty laugh that gave off a vibrant, powder-keg-like feeling.

"Don’t put it so harshly, I didn’t really aid the enemy. Who used that large Soul Crystal anyway?"

Shallow Dream’s tone was gentle; this was the normal state of Shallow Dream.

Forest laughed, lightening the awkward atmosphere.

"Boss, although being surpassed by a Third-tier contractor is embarrassing, you should change your perspective; you only get 50% of the normal Pirate Reputation. Considering that, it’s actually not embarrassing, eh?"

The performer, wearing a top hat, tried to comfort, but the smile vanished from his face as soon as Kudu’s gaze turned to him.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, just normal competition."

Ka ka ka...

Kudu’s fists clenched with a cracking sound.

"The public communication platform is surprisingly lively. BOSS, I advise you not to open the communication platform."

Shallow Dream continued with strategic jabs; their adventure group is very united, and teasing each other was a common occurrence.

Kudu glared at Shallow Dream, who instantly switched personalities, staring back at Kudu. Kudu felt even more frustrated as he opened the communication platform.

Lichee (Loner): "Recruiting like-minded teammates in the Punk Hazard area. P.S.: Bai Ye is amazing."

Tiffany (Black Fire Adventure Group): "Buying intelligence on the distribution of the Donquixote Family Pirates at a high price. (Inquiring about the psychological impact on the Fifth-tiers.)"

Ah Coco (Loner): "Loner, specializing in long-range fire support, seeking a loner team. P.S.: Brother Ruthless in first place, hang in there; you’re the hope of us Third-tiers."

...

Kudu closed the communication platform and stood up to leave the cave.

"Boss, where are you going?"

The performer just wanted to stand up when Shallow Dream gestured at him.

Clearly, Kudu was set on clashing with Su Xiao. Although neither would go to the other’s area, they were in competition. Who would take the first place? It would depend on the Pirate Reputation amount when the Derivative World ended.