Wire's freshly bloodied trident reappears as one of the launched weapons and an idea gleams in the corner of my eye. When the pirate snaps the filament back to pull in his weapon I clamp down on it's neck and allow myself to be reeled in as well.
Killer, for reasons known only to him, severs the connection but this only works in my favor. Eustass's second limb reaches to clamp over me but with my new unattached weapon in hand I simply vault over the appendage. Kid's techniques may hit hard but they'll never land if I have time to see them coming.
My boot barely makes contact with the surface of the ship before Heat moves in and tries engaging me in close combat. 'Huh.' I think after dodging under what was almost a kick to the side of my head. 'Didn't take him for a hand-to-hand guy.' Using Wire's trident like a staff I pelt Heat under his chin and then use the opening to sweep his legs.
I twirl the trident around, intent on trying to incapacitate the officer with a downward stab but Eustass rushing me himself aborts that plan before it can even begin. The pirate captain, seeing the ineffectiveness of his previous strategy, has opted to change to the 'up close and personal' approach. Most of the mass he was using to make his previous constructs has been abandoned and all that remain is two deadly 'gloves' that he clearly wants to pulverize my face with.
I'm forced on the defensive, blocking his strikes with Wire's weapon and backpedaling all the while. A stray thought wonders why he doesn't just use his Fruit to try and take the trident away from me but I discard it as unimportant. I don't know what metal this thing's made of. Maybe the answer's as simple as it just isn't naturally magnetic.
Eustass throws one last wild punch forward and I smirk at the sloppiness of this one compared to the others. [Kami-e] slides me cleanly around it and I bring the tail end of the trident straight into Kid's nose.
175 Damage!
A satisfying crunch rings in my ears as his head snaps back and a few items fall loose from his 'gloves' due to the broken concentration. I try to move in for a followup but the rapid thumping of footsteps from behind sends me fleeing.
"Goddamnit!" I curse as I hop away from the whirling scythe. "Would you stop interrupti-"
That was the moment when things went bad.
Because it was in that moment, myself mid-dodge and mid-complaint, that the cannonball exploded across my back. -443 HP!
I think I screamed. To be honest it's a bit hard to tell. From my perspective time seemed to have almost 'jumped'. Like a scratched record skipping a note or a movie a scene. I was in the air talking one moment... and the next I was trying to push myself off the ground as the obliterated remains of my jacket and shirt spilled over my shoulders. There's a new pop-up telling me my second [Adrenalin Rush] has expired but I barely register it through the white hot haze flaring in my skull.
-25 HP!
A sharp kick to my midsection -from whom exactly I'm not sure-, sends me rolling across the deck and into the legs of Wire. The tall man reaches down, extricates the trident I genuinely didn't know I was still holding from my grip, and then spits to the side in disgust. The weapon comes plunging downward and the mental 'DANGER' alarms scream loud enough to instantly bring clarity rushing back. My hands catch two of the three spikes inches from my chest and the classic 'his strength vs. mine' struggle begins. He's got gravity on his side…as well as not being half-dead'. Though on my end I've got the numbers in STR, not to mention…"[Adrenalin Rush]!"
[Adrenalin Rush] Activated!
STR (149 +70%) → (253.3)
Alert! Daily Limit Reached!
Wire seems confused at my sudden outburst and silently mouths the words back to me. Confusion turns to surprise as I throw his weapon aside and hop back to my feet. Surprise becomes pained bewilderment as my fist sinks into his stomach. And finally pained bewilderment shifts into utter disbelief as my other arm vanishes into the [Inventory], returns with a common sword you can buy at any market, and then runs him through with it.
Skill Lv. Up! Bladed Weapon Mastery Lv. (13/150) → (14/150) -Your ability to expertly wield swords, knives, spears, or any other sharpened tools. +1,525 Exp!
Ding!
You have reached Lv. 45!
You have 40 points to spend.
"WIRE!" Killer screams with the first emotion I've ever heard from behind the mask. He blitzes forward like a man possessed and I wisely choose to retreat to the sky. I push off with [Geppo] and one of my legs screams at the effort. An imbalanced version of the [Skill] fires off that sends me careening to the rightand off the boat- rather than straight up. I whip my eyes down to determine what went wrong and see that the back of my left leg is basically trashed. 'From the cannonball... I'm so hopped up on adrenalin I didn't even notice.' [HP Regen] will fix the problem given time but it's safe to say that -for the next couple minutes at least- I'm down to one leg for anything more than just walking.
Which is a problem. My [Skill] Lv. in [Geppo] isn't high enough to really do anything on one leg. I'm limited to tiny puffs that aren't good for much more than hovering in place.
My right leg shoots off several small wisps to keep me aloft as I try to come up with a plan. 'Can't go back down. I'll get slaughtered on one leg. Can't stay up here. I'm too easy a targe-'
Heat puffs his chest even larger than before and unleashes a literal inferno off the Victoria Punk'sstarboard side at me. I ignore how excruciating a max powered [Geppo] will no doubt feel and try to move to safety. Only this time the ability doesn't come out imbalanced, it straight up fails and my mind is flooded by the feelings of leg muscles shrieking at me for trying to push them.
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