Seeing his intention, she stepped back before he could reach his target and assumed the Fool's stance.
Facing him and pointing the tip of her sword at his ankles, Sasha sharply said, "What part of 'quarter speed' didn't you understand?"
In response to her question, he began to move and, laughing, said, "This is less than quarter speed! Can't you keep up?"
Laughing, Rans suddenly found himself in the air in front of her, attempting to strike down at her with his heel.
However, the Fool's stance got its name not because it wasn't threatening, but because it turned anyone who dared to attack it into a "fool."
Seeing Rans caught in her trap, Sasha delivered an upward strike that was impossible to avoid.
As they moved so slowly, any observer could easily see the blade rising and understood that Rans had lost this match.
But unexpectedly, as the blade approached his extended leg, his body behaved like a piece of paper in the wind. The force of her strike flipped Rans into a stationary backward somersault, and as his hand completed the circle, he suddenly returned to human proportions and shouted, "Wind Scythe!"
Using his hand for the attack, the strike was weak due to their reduced speed, but completely catching Sasha off guard, it hit her right in the chest.
Staggering a bit and looking at her crumpled shirt, Sasha glanced at Rans, who had just landed, and mockingly said, "Seriously, Paper Art?"
Laughing, Rans boastfully replied, "What? Paper Art is cool! I just beat you with it! Ha-ha-ha!Bill had never seen this technique before, which was well-known as a way to counteract blades and cannonballs, but it was generally underrated compared to the other Six Powers.
Bill looked away as Rans continued joking, while Sasha clearly couldn't reach him, and he noticed a flock of News Coo carrier birds.
The birds flew closer to the ship, and as Bill tossed one of his last coins, he thought that they really needed to catch a pirate soon.
The Coo expertly caught the coin and dropped the latest issue of the South Blue Times, with the headline:
[Kid Pirates set course for the Grand Line!]
The Kid Pirates, known as the "Island Butchers," were spotted entering the mouth of Reverse Mountain and successfully crossing Twin Cape. Reports vary regarding which route this notorious crew has taken, but one secret source reported that the pirate gang fought their way through a blockade by the Sailors at the Kingdom of Briss to reach their destination. However, this action has not been confirmed by the South Blue's Sailor Headquarters.
Bill thought it was likely these pirates really did break through the blockade because the newspaper contained five new wanted posters, including the captain of the Kid Pirates, whose bounty now stood at a staggering 45 million Beli, dead or alive.
45 million Beli wasn't that large of a bounty compared to the pirates of the Grand Line he'd seen, but it was astounding for a criminal from the Blue Sea.
Despite this, Bill's only thought was that they were unlucky not to have crossed paths with them.
Although his physical strength and combat skills hadn't grown over the past two years, Bill wondered what it would take to defeat him now that he had fully mastered the Iron Body technique.
His body was now tougher than a piece of iron, and he could heal almost any wounds, except the most critical ones. He still had a hammer on his belt, but as he looked at his hand and activated his joints, bone spikes protruded outward, making his fists even more deadly. Then, following a sudden impulse, Bill continued to activate the bones from his joints to his elbows, forming a spiky exoskeleton of iron-hard ivory.
"Hmm," was all he thought, looking at this decidedly inhuman appearance, before retracting the bones back into his body.
Looking back at the main deck, he saw Sasha delivering strikes again and again with her wooden sword while Rans used Paper Art to dodge by a hair's breadth.
This went on for quite some time until Fia came out to call everyone for lunch. Ricky had been on night watch the previous night, but he still joined the small group as they ate under the sun.
Reaching for his plate, the blond said casually, "I'm surprised we haven't run into pirates yet. Rans, you said this place was full of them."
Stuffing a salted egg into his mouth, the cowboy replied, "Yeah, they're all over the place. Fia and I rarely spent more than a week without encountering them."
They had been traveling for a bit over three weeks now, so despite a nod, Fia added, "It's probably because we're sticking to the trade routes." With that, she crumbled some biscuits and added them to her Sea King stew.
There were various types of Sea Kings, but Bill liked the ones that tasted like beef, and Fia considered them the best for stew.
As the group continued to eat and chat, Sasha suddenly stood up and looked into the distance.
Turning his head, Bill noticed a small figure on the horizon and began adjusting his vision for distance.