Chapter 69: Paramecia Fruit
Under the pitch-black night sky, lit only by the faint silver glow of the crescent moon, a desolate field near the Farm lands... Supposedly a quiet night, yet now ablaze with soaring flames!
A sea of fire, carrying the momentum of monstrous waves, surged towards Sandi. However, his expression remained unchanged, his gaze resolute as a sword. He pushed off the ground hard with both legs, shooting forward parallel to the ground straight towards the Frieren summon.
He still had a hidden card!
The Donquixote Family was never lacking in ability users!
Suddenly, the greatsword in Sandi's hand began to twist bizarrely. The cold, glinting steel blade seemed to melt like molten iron, instantly spreading out into the shape of a large cattail-leaf fan.
Holding the fan behind him, Sandi's arms bulged, veins popping out, as he swung it forcefully towards the sea of fire!
"Wind Pressure Chaos Blades!"
The next moment, a fierce wind erupted, filled with countless chaotic slashes. The billowing sea of fire was actually blasted open, creating an empty gap.
Sandi grinned savagely and plunged headfirst through the flames.
"I am a user of the Paramecia-type Twist-Twist Fruit! I can twist anything I touch into any shape I desire! Like this!"
As he spoke, the fan in his hand began to twist again, shortening and expanding into a hemispherical round shield, like holding a giant silver wok as he charged straight at Frieren.
Reiner naturally saw all this unfold. He was only slightly surprised but remained unconcerned. The summon's Observation Haki had already sensed the opponent's strength level.
He expected the opponent would have to rely on some bizarre Devil Fruit ability to try and turn the tables. Reiner had already prepared to summon the Blue and Red Ogres at any moment.
Still, this fruit seems quite similar to Diamante's Float-Float Fruit... One makes things light, the other allows arbitrary reshaping, but both maintain the object's original properties.
Looks like even keeping the Ogres as backup was somewhat unnecessary. His gaze returned to the field.
Sandi quickly burst out of the sea of fire, now merely ten-odd meters from Frieren. The hemispherical shield in his hand melted like iron again, beginning to reshape.
In the blink of an eye, it reformed back into the original greatsword. Sandi's brow furrowed as he leaped high, coating the blade in pitch-black Armament Haki, bringing the slash down from above.
Frieren's staff, at some unknown point, had already become coated in a layer of sand grains. With a casual wave, a massive sand pillar, ten meters in diameter, shot towards the sky.
"What now!?" Sandi looked shocked. The flames earlier were understandable as an ability, but why sand too!?
CLANG—!
The tip of the powerful sand pillar flowed with a dark Haki sheen. It collided heavily with Sandi's greatsword, striking sparks.
Sandi was directly blasted backward by the impact, sent flying back dozens of meters into the desolate area where the fire birds still circled, forcing him to engage with the birds again.
"His Armament Haki intensity and application level aren't bad either," Reiner commented coolly, watching the battle unfold.
He wasn't just talking about Frieren, but also Sandi. The opponent possessed decent physical stats and sword skills.
Although he hadn't developed his Paramecia fruit into anything particularly outrageous, his usage was very proficient; just now, he had transformed his greatsword into three different forms in the blink of an eye.
With his strength, he'd qualify as a capable executive even within the Donquixote Family. Why did he end up in the first half of the Grand Line?
Reiner didn't dwell on it, turning his attention back to Frieren.
A good performance for her first battle. The combat trial is pretty much done. Time to end this.
"What kind of power is this!? Why can you control both fire and sand!?"
Sandi yelled furiously, his expression grim, weapon constantly swinging to deal with the attacking fire birds.
His answer came in the form of several giant sand pythons, opening their ferocious maws to reveal black fangs, writhing wildly as they lunged to bite him.
The heavy greatsword in his hand expanded and widened. Sandi glared, unleashing a massive slash that cut one giant python in half at the waist.
He thrust his foot into the ground, activating his ability. The earth within several meters around him began to twist, and an earth wall shot upwards.
The sharp upper edge of the wall sliced through another giant sand python while blocking subsequent attacks. Suddenly...
A hole opened in the middle of the earth wall. Sandi pushed off hard, launching himself through the opening. His greatsword began to elongate and thin.
"Thorn Sword!"
CRACK!!
The thin sword lashed out like a whip, creating an explosive crack in the air. Frieren's Observation Haki had long anticipated this. A magnificent and heavy sand wall, tens of meters high, had already been erected in advance.
The surface layer of sand flowed continuously, providing strong buffering capability, while the core within was solidified, hardened, and coated with Armament Haki defense.
The thin sword plunged into it like a mud ox into the sea, getting stuck deep within the sand wall, difficult to pull out. Sandi gave a forceful tug, pulling himself towards the wall. He plunged his arm into the sand layers, and the next instant...
The sand wall, several meters thick, was affected by his ability, breaking free from Frieren's control!
The sand grains flowed, opening a round tunnel several meters long. Drawing his weapon, Sandi's eyes flashed with cold killing intent as he tried again to charge towards Frieren.
However, when it came to controlling sand, Crocodile was unmatched in the current era.
Under Frieren's control, dozens, even hundreds, of sharp spikes instantly erupted from within the tunnel walls, all without exception coated in glossy, pitch-black Armament Haki!!!
Sandi, not yet fully emerged from the hole, looked terrified. He subconsciously tried to form his weapon into a sphere, attempting to encase himself.
But before the sphere could fully form—
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
Numerous spikes pierced through him. Scarlet blood flowed out, only to be instantly absorbed, dyeing the sand spikes dark red.
"Never thought... the Straw Hat Pirates... were hiding someone this strong," Sandi murmured, his expression desolate as he looked down at his pierced body, long hair falling over his shoulders.
He lifted his head, gazing towards the small figure in the distance. With his strength, he couldn't even get close to her. Within the Family, besides the Young Master, who else could possibly contend with such an opponent?
He turned his head towards the farther distance, where Reiner sat leisurely, having just extinguished a cigarette. Sandi grinned sinisterly.
"Hehehe... Pity... When I walked out of the casino, I already used a Den Den Mushi... to send your information back to the Family."
"Once I die... and the Family loses contact with me... you will be the prime suspect."
"Knowing the Young Master's methods... he might very well come to hunt you down personally. Your Straw Hat crew's journey... will end very soon."
Reiner knew the Donquixote Family valued 'family' above all else. Based on this man's performance, his status was likely significant. Killing him meant Doflamingo absolutely wouldn't let it rest.
But...
"Whatever. By the time he arrives, the daylilies will have already gone cold," (Idiom: It'll be far too late) Reiner stood up, brushing off a few stray blades of dry grass clinging to him.
He had looked at Dressrosa's position in the New World. Even his Pell-template hawk would need over a week to fly there. Adding the Grand Line's bizarre weather, it would take half a month at minimum.
For long-distance travel, Doflamingo, flitting about in the sky, couldn't possibly be faster than his hawk. To cross such a vast distance into the first half of the Grand Line... Doflamingo wouldn't arrive for at least a month.
By the time he comes, Reiner would surely have collected Enel's template already. Raigo plus Hakoku... just feed Doflamingo a big one.
If I really can't win, I'll just run. With his current forces, stalling Doflamingo shouldn't be impossible.
Besides, Doflamingo coming here for real? The Summit War wasn't far off; the Seven Warlords would all be summoned to Headquarters beforehand to await orders.
All in all, his plan was solid!
Probably.
"Truly a person full of suspicious points. How did you end up in the first half?" Reiner walked forward curiously. "Someone with both strength and brains like this... Doflamingo wouldn't fail to utilize him, surely?"
"Heheh... That's none of your business," Sandi was already on the verge of death, speaking weakly, eyes unfocused.
He with difficulty raised his hand, took a short cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, didn't light it, and just chewed it raw.
So he's an addict. Needed one last fix before dying?
Reiner understood now; he had seen this stuff back at the casino.
Ah well, none of my business anyway. Seeing the man's state, asking him wouldn't yield answers.
After dealing with this person whose name he never even learned, Reiner collected the template and turned to leave.
He looked complexly at the pack of cigarettes in his own pocket, took it out, threw it on the ground, and ground it forcefully with his shoe.
Starting today, quit smoking!
After handling the scene with a burst of fire, Reiner and Frieren returned to the town. On the street near the Feiwen Grand Hotel, he conveniently bought another pack of cigarettes.
Quit attempt failed...
It was already late night when he returned to the hotel, but the casino was still lively. Reiner didn't go in, instead heading up one floor to the restaurant.
Not many people were there, as it was late. The scattered diners were mostly people who had played downstairs for a long time and came up for something to fill their stomachs. Zoro and the others had left the casino shortly before and were eating a late-night snack here.
"Reiner, ah! Handled it?"
"Well~~ Barely managed, I guess," Reiner said with a light chuckle, scratching his head and casually finding an empty seat.
"Reiner, look! I won lots of money tonight!" Chopper turned around, showing off his bulging blue backpack happily.
"Dare to show off to me? Isn't that all won from me?" Reiner rubbed Chopper's hat and laughed.
"Very nice. Since you're so rich now, don't ask me for pocket money anymore."
"Eh? Wait, wait!"
Chopper frantically took off his backpack, his round eyes darting around hesitantly, then said softly, "How about... I give you some?"
"Just kidding. Put your money away," Reiner couldn't help but smile.
"Speaking of which, where did Luffy go?" He scanned the room; for Luffy to be absent during mealtime was extremely rare.
They had seen him when entering the casino earlier, but Luffy had started running around everywhere. Before Reiner left, Luffy was still inside.
Round trip took just over two hours.
"Oh yeah, where's Luffy?"
"Don't know."
"Haven't seen him for quite a while."
The group looked at each other, falling silent for a moment.
"Luffy's missing!!!"
"What do we do!? Luffy will definitely cause trouble!"
"That idiot... I'll go find him," Zoro's face darkened, gritting his teeth as he stood up.
"Wait a minute, Moss Head—"
Sanji put a hand on his shoulder, pressing him back down, his expression serious as he stated coolly, "You go find him... then who finds you?"
"What did you say, Curly Brows?!"
"Exactly what it sounds like," Sanji retorted mockingly towards the furious Zoro.
"What should we do, Reiner?" Usopp looked worried. "Seeing this situation, I have a bad feeling."
The captain was gone. Of the remaining three main fighters, two looked ready to brawl, leaving Reiner as the only reliable person left.
But Reiner offered no solutions, simply picking up a piece of meat from the table and stuffing it in his mouth.
"Eat. Wait!"
"Wait?"
"Wait until some major incident happens. Luffy should appear then."
"What kind of crappy idea is that, damn it!"
BOOM!!!
Just then, a violent explosion echoed from the distance, causing the restaurant to shake slightly. Zoro and Sanji, who were about to start fighting, also paused.
The group rushed to the window, looking eastward where the sound came from. In the distance, flames soared into the sky, dyeing the night heavens red.
Zoro: "I think it's Luffy."
Sanji: "I think you're right."
(End of this chapter)
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