Chapter 74: Try Framing Me? I'll Wreck You!!
Reiner's light mockery made Burgess pause, speechless for a moment. Seeing the disdainful look on the blond man's face, a flush gradually crept up his own, and he roared furiously:
"You ignorant brat! State your name! Later, I'll make you pay the price for your insolence!"
"Heh, why wait? Come on."
Reiner's face held clear mockery as he beckoned Burgess with his finger. "Slapping faces is best done while hot. Hurry up."
"Bastard! How dare you look down on me! I've decided! Today, I'm going to hammer you into meat paste!"
Burgess gritted his teeth, stepped forward with his left foot, bent his legs forcefully pushing off the ground, leaned sideways gathering power in his right arm, and charged forward in a lunge.
His thick right arm bent before his chest as he delivered a powerful and heavy elbow strike.
However, before he reached Reiner, a figure shot out explosively from a corner behind Reiner, instantly closing the distance to Burgess's face.
"Who's there!?"
Ignoring the panicked Burgess, the Blue Ogre raised the round shield before its chest and, as if carrying the force of a thousand man, smashed it violently against him.
BANG!!!
Burgess, still charging forward and caught completely off guard, slammed headfirst into the round shield now coated in a layer of bright black Haki.
Like mud splattering against a wall, the flesh all over his body seemed to squeeze together. His head snapped back, several bloody teeth flying from his mouth, his pupils contracting as he nearly lost consciousness.
The Blue Ogre's arm exploded forward again, the air seeming to ripple outwards from the force.
The next instant, Burgess shot backward like an arrow loosed from its string, skimming along the ground, smashing directly through several houses before finally landing somewhere several streets away.
Watching the billowing smoke and the gaping holes smashed through several walls, Reiner remained unconcerned. The current Burgess didn't even have the strange device on his right arm; all he had was brute force and somewhat passable fighting skills.
Compared to the overwhelming physical talent of the Blue and Red Ogres, honed by a century of continuous battle, he was far too lacking.
Later on, he eats the Strong-Strong Fruit and lifts half a mountain, but... Diamond Jozu would probably say, 'You need a Devil Fruit for that? Isn't having hands enough?'
"Die!" Just then, Doc Q, face twisted ferociously, yelled at him as several powerful explosive apples flew towards Reiner from the side.
Another figure appeared abruptly. The Red Ogre intercepted the bombs, drew the greatsword from its waist, and with a powerful swing, the immense wind pressure actually blew the bombs straight back towards Doc Q and his surroundings.
"W-wait!" The panic-stricken Doc Q had no time to escape before the explosive apples on the ground emitted a blinding light.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Is that all you got? You crawl too!" Reiner scoffed, directing the Red Ogre to charge straight forward.
He wouldn't underestimate these people; each one of them was extremely insidious. Even Doc Q, who looked like he had consumption, had only coughed up some blood after taking Reiner's kick earlier.
In this world, coughing up a bit of blood hardly counted as a serious injury.
"Look here!" A loud roar sounded. Burgess, who had been sent flying earlier, charged back, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and yelled towards Doc Q in the smoke cloud:
"Hey! Sicko! You still alive!?"
Although his words were merciless, unless it was absolutely necessary, he wouldn't just abandon his teammate – after all, this was their ship's doctor.
(Of course, if it came down to a life-or-death struggle, that would be another matter entirely).
"Cough cough cough... Nonsense! Ol' me won't kick the bucket that easily... cough cough."
Doc Q struggled to his feet, looking utterly pathetic, covered in dust and grime. He stood beside Burgess, both men frowning deeply, eyes fixed on the Blue and Red Ogres.
"We are members of the Blackbeard Pirates," Burgess stated, his expression grave.
"Who on earth are you people!? We've never heard your names before!"
Heh. Reiner thought, Time for introductions again! Showtime!
He walked straight forward, putting on a serious face, and shouted: "Although we are unknown now, our big brothers Blue Ogre and Red Ogre are destined to make a great name for themselves in the New World! You better remember these two names!"
"Blue Ogre and Red Ogre, huh? Quite resounding names. Truly exaggerated power, though. Took one hit and felt like all my bones were about to break," Burgess grinned savagely.
Just then, Doc Q took down the long, staff-like object carried on his back, undid the bindings, and began unwrapping layer after layer of tightly wound cloth, saying in his hoarse voice:
"Heheh... Not dead... means fate decreed I shouldn't die today... cough cough... Everything is already decided by fate."
"Hope your bullshit reasoning about fate is true! Wiihahahaha!" Burgess laughed wildly and charged forward again.
"Still haven't learned," Reiner sneered coldly. Performance over; time to continue hammering them.
The Blue and Red Ogres rushed out from behind him, flanking Reiner, the wind from their passage whipping his golden hair wildly.
Meanwhile, far away, atop a clock tower in the town, a man wearing a black crescent-moon-shaped hat and appropriately dressed sat cross-legged on the roof.
He held the sniper rifle 'Senriku' resting on his shoulder, peering through the scoped monocle over his right eye, observing the distant battle.
"Didn't expect someone this ridiculously strong here," Van Augur raised Senriku, lining up the two sights, his expression grim.
"Although those two are trouble-making idiots... letting them die here would make explaining things to the Captain very difficult."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He pulled the trigger consecutively. The tip of the extremely long rifle barrel emitted no muzzle flash, only several bullets flying silently towards Reiner and the others at incredible speed.
The Blue Ogre's greatsword slashed down resolutely, leaving a ghastly wound across Burgess's chest, faintly revealing the bloody innards.
The Red Ogre lifted its leg in a violent whip kick. Although Burgess managed to cross his arms to block in time, the impact still produced the sickening crack of bone.
"Waaah!!" Intense pain distorted Burgess's face as he howled in agony.
Just at that moment...
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Three sparks suddenly flared in the air. One even appeared right behind Reiner! The Blue and Red Ogres respectively used their sword and shield to block the sudden bullets.
Behind Reiner, a barrier condensed from sand grains had appeared out of nowhere, coated in pitch-black Armament Haki.
Following the trajectory of the bullets, Reiner looked towards their source. With his eyesight, he could clearly see, extremely far away on the clock tower, a man sitting cross-legged on the roof, aiming a rifle at them.
'Supersonic' Van Augur, sniper of the Blackbeard Pirates. Reiner remembered from the original story that this man had accurately shot seagulls off an island invisible even through Usopp's telescope.
Two years later, he one-shotted biscuit soldiers. But eventually... got beaten senseless by Bepo's Sulong form, using bear strength.
"Tch. Forget it."
In the moment Reiner turned his head, Doc Q's sickly horse had already carried him and Burgess off, fleeing frantically. Even if they survived, they'd be half-crippled.
Reiner didn't order the Blue and Red Ogres to pursue. Instead, he grasped the sinister, pale white spear and aimed it towards the distant clock tower.
"A family needs to be complete," Reiner grinned towards the distance.
On the clock tower, Van Augur saw the smiling blond man, and instantly his hairs stood on end, a chill shooting up his spine.
"Damn it!" Before he could even escape, two spears arrived as if crossing space in the blink of an eye.
RUMBLE!!!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, the entire clock tower collapsed on the spot!
"Alright, wrap it up. Let's go find Sanji," Reiner clapped his hands, picked up the purchased items, and left the messy battleground with Frieren.
The Blackbeard Pirates weren't strong enough to worry about right now. Besides Teach himself having some strength, the others were still green.
Actually, Reiner and his crew were much the same. Among their current top four combatants, only the Blue Ogre, Red Ogre, and Frieren summons were truly formidable. The others, including Reiner himself, were really just rookies newly arrived in the Grand Line.
Yes, I'm still too weak. Can't get arrogant. As the saying goes, the road ahead is long and winding.
"Hey Reiner! Over here!" He hadn't walked far before hearing Sanji's call and headed straight over.
"You okay? Been looking for you for ages," Sanji said, carrying large and small bags of ingredients, with a black bear slung over his shoulder.
"Whoa! Got one of these too? I'm fine."
"Heard a huge commotion earlier and came over," Sanji added, gesturing towards the bear on his shoulder.
"Heard it ran out from the forest on the east coast. Took three pirates from town dying to hunt it down."
"Perfect timing to head to the Ape-man's place. We can cook it there."
"Quite thoughtful. Let's head back," Reiner took out the map, checked it, then turned with Sanji towards the direction of the Going Merry.
Passing by one street, they happened upon a crowd gathered, whispering amongst themselves.
"Hey, what happened here? Such a mess."
"This is Executioner Rosio's territory, right? Looks like it got hit by cannons."
"It was Bellamy. Hyena Bellamy did it."
"What!? Rosio has a bounty of 42 million Beri! To end up in such a sorry state..."
Listening to the passersby murmuring, Reiner and Sanji, drawn by curiosity, approached the crowd.
"Mister, excuse me."
"Whoa! You scared me!"
Reiner placed a hand on the shoulder of a young man in a yellow T-shirt, clearly startling him. However, Reiner simply took out several Beri bills from his wallet, tucked them into the young man's breast pocket, and asked softly:
"That Hyena Bellamy you mentioned, do you know where their base is?"
"Huh? Why are you asking?" The young man paused, stunned, then seemed to realize something, nodding knowingly.
"I get it! You want to join them, right? But they're a notoriously vicious pirate crew! And you look so... refined..."
The young man hesitated, feeling slightly bad talking down to someone who just gave him money, then added:
"Their base is over by the coast. They booked out the most famous 'Tropical Hotel' in Mock Town. Actually, I think they just headed back towards the hotel from here."
The young man pointed in a specific direction.
"Thanks, buddy."
Reiner turned and left with Sanji. The young man looked down at the money in his pocket, then towards their retreating backs, unable to help shouting:
"Hey! It's best not to go! Don't blame me if something happens!"
"Relax! We're not going! Thanks, buddy!"
Without turning back, the two, along with the small twin-tailed girl, walked further away, heading straight for the Going Merry.
Until they passed another street and heard a bold, rugged shout—
"The 'New Age' they talk about!! Is SHIT!!! Zehahahaha~~"
"A MAN'S DREAM!!"
"WILL NEVER END!!!"
(End of this chapter)
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