CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 63: THE WISDOM OF BATTLE

Although it’s not easy to recruit teammates, Su Xiao has another plan. Nami has already taken the ’Bomb Tyre Change Pill’, which is far more reliable than killing her.

Continuing to advance to the rooftop, there are only three Contractors left in the Justice Tower, and those three idiots have no idea where they’ve run off to.

Checking the mission progress, there are only 40 minutes left to complete the task. As long as Su Xiao completes the mission, those Contractors who haven’t obtained the Netherworld blueprints will fail their tasks.

Taking out a cigarette, Su Xiao leisurely leaned against an iron railing. All he needed to do now was wait.

Clang.

The sound of a cleave came from above, causing Su Xiao to pause in lighting the cigarette.

For safety’s sake, it’s better not to go, but Su Xiao was intrigued. Sparring with a swordsman from Pirate World would be very beneficial for his sword technique training.

"Let’s go have a look, then."

Putting away the cigarette, Su Xiao quickly ran up the stairs with Bubute Ni closely following.

Arriving on the twelfth floor, loud arguing could be heard, and the scene before Su Xiao made him a little stunned.

A giraffe was arguing with a wolf, but both the giraffe and wolf were standing erect and had some human features.

These were two Zoan Fruit Ability Users, Kaku and Gabra.

Not far from the two, there were two others, handcuffed together, Usopp and Zoro.

Zoro didn’t look too good. Usopp had turned into a burdensome teammate earlier. Luckily, neither of them are Devil Fruit Users, or touching the sea-stone handcuffs would render them powerless.

Zoro raised the blade in his hand and slashed at the handcuffs.

Clang.

Sparks flew high, but the handcuffs remained unscathed.

"Let’s cut off a hand. Rock-paper-scissors, loser cuts their hand."

Zoro looked at Usopp.

"No way～."

Usopp wailed, and Zoro sighed, deep in thought.

"I’ve got a plan."

"What plan?"

"Hold the ’Snow Walker’, grip it with both hands in front of your chest."

"Like this?"

Usopp held the famous sword Snow Walker with both hands, as if holding a pole.

Zoro grabbed Usopp’s belt. Usopp’s cheek twitched, "Don’t tell me you’re going to..."

"Listen up, Sniper King. Hold that pose, you’re a sword now."

Zoro held a sword in his left hand, bit another in his mouth, and gripped Usopp’s belt with his right hand, while Usopp held a sword.

"I want a lawyer, I’m going to sue you."

Usopp’s shout was panicked, his body trembling.

"Do as you please, but I’m testing the sword first."

Zoro swung the Famous Sword·Usopp, which came with sound effects every time it cleaved, making Zoro a little speechless.

"This must be a dream and a nightmare at that."

Usopp wailed.

"The sword shouldn’t talk."

Zoro charged forward a few steps, holding Usopp.

"Demon..."

"Hey, wait, are you really going to do this? You’re the demon, not me."

Usopp was shaking like a leaf, feeling like everything was going wrong for him.

"Slash!"

Zoro shouted, jumping up and swinging the sword towards Kaku.

"Ah～." The Famous Sword·Usopp’s sound effects during the cleave made Zoro somewhat exasperated.

Of course, this bizarre combination failed to strike Kaku, who easily dodged, swinging a deer hoof directly at Usopp’s bridge of the nose.

Bam, a spray of blood erupted.

Usopp’s long nose got bent, blood flowing from it.

Bang.

A gunshot suddenly rang out, causing Gabra to sidestep to dodge.

"That guy is..."

Gabra looked at Su Xiao, quickly piecing together who he was.

"Gabra, kill him. Leave these enemies to me."

Kaku shouted out. If it weren’t for Zoro holding him back, he would have already charged at Su Xiao.

"I’ll stall the enemy for you, you go."

Gabra dashed towards Zoro, inherently suspicious of any traps.

Kaku said nothing. As Gabra kept Zoro occupied, he rushed straight at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao dodged out of the room, running into an adjacent room.

The room was spacious, filled with a large assortment of gym equipment. These machines were so exaggerated that normal humans couldn’t possibly use them.

Su Xiao stood on an open space in the room, with a green carpet beneath his feet.

Realizing the fight was about to start, Bubu Wang dashed away happily, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

Kaku quickly entered the room, wielding two long knives adept at using a double-blade.

By now, Kaku had resumed a human appearance. He had just eaten a Devil Fruit and was unfamiliar with it.

In the original work, Kaku was defeated because of using his Devil Fruit abilities; eating a Devil Fruit does not instantly grant combat effectiveness—it requires time for development and practice.

"Now, here’s your chance—state your purpose, or you’ll never speak again. Based on your actions, CP9 has the right to execute you."

Kaku aimed his blades at Su Xiao.

"Kaku, you’re not cut out to be a special agent."

The Dragon Slash appeared in his hand, and the Blue Steel Shadow activated instantly. Su Xiao condensed his perception range to five meters; Kaku was proficient in Shave, moving very fast.

Kaku remained silent, having made a fatal error in a previous mission by not killing Barry. If he weren’t an agent, it wouldn’t matter, but for the agency, it’s unacceptable.

"You don’t want to state your purpose? Fine, I’ll just kill you, and your purpose will be irrelevant."

Kaku lowered his body.

"Shave."

With a swoosh sound, Kaku turned into a blur, vanishing from sight.

Left side!

Su Xiao raised the Dragon Slash, feeling the pressure travel through the hilt into his arm, through his torso to his feet, and finally into the ground.

Clang!

Blade clashed against blade, sparks flying, a screeching noise of metal friction echoing.

"You actually saw through Shave, oh, right, you learned Shave too."

Exerting force on one of his blades, Kaku swung the other one sideways towards Su Xiao’s neck.

Su Xiao raised his left arm, actually trying to catch the blade with his hand.

Clang, another crisp sound, Su Xiao’s left hand wrapped in a bracer—the Minotaur Lord’s Arm Armor of Purple Quality—provided extremely strong defense.

Catching Kaku’s blade, Su Xiao exerted force with his left hand, intending to break it.

Kaku’s expression changed; although his blade was finely crafted, it certainly couldn’t withstand such lateral force.

Kaku yanked hard at the long blade, with a scrape, releasing it from Su Xiao’s grasp.

The weapon left Su Xiao’s hands, giving Kaku an opportunity to swing at Su Xiao.

"Die."

The long blade slashed towards Su Xiao’s head; Su Xiao neither dodged nor evaded but pulled back with his left arm.

Squish.

Blood gushed from Kaku’s body, as he let out a scream, the Boundary Line deeply embedded in his flesh.

"Iron Block."

With a —zz— sound, the tightening of the Boundary Line halted, Su Xiao feeling obvious resistance.

Using the Dragon Slash, Su Xiao parried Kaku’s blade, leaping backward while clutching the Boundary Line and giving it a fierce tug.

"Ah!"

The excruciating pain caused Kaku’s eyes to turn red. He slashed the Boundary Line with his blade.

But how could the Boundary Line be so easily severed? After Kaku slashed, his heart sank halfway. Aside from the extreme pain in the wound, the Boundary Line was undamaged.

That’s when Su Xiao had a sudden thought—since Blue Steel Shadow energy could be infused into the Dragon Slash, why not infuse it into the Boundary Line?