Chapter 6
Everyone stood on the deck of The Seeker, looking toward Renard for his final commands before they got to work saving the country. His gaze swept over everyone, though he gave Rachnera an extra thankful smile for choosing to use her human legs to blend in slightly better. She still had her unique looks with six eyes and her armored arms, but she stood out far less with the spider half of her body temporarily gone.
“Everyone know their roles for the first half of this operation?” He asked.
Rachnera spoke for the group, “Make our way to Katorea, get Vivi to Koza safely, and make Koza and the leadership of the rebels listen to the truth of events. Hunt down and remove all Baroque Works members among the rebels. Do everything we can to keep them from leaving Katorea.”
Renard grinned, “Perfect. While you all do that, I'll take care of a secondary objective here in Nanohana.”
Vivi, knowing Renard was their strongest fighter, couldn't help asking, “What will you be doing?”
He shrugged, “I plan to gather information and see if I can't hunt down any of the Officer Agents early. As long as things go according to plan, you all shouldn't see any combat, so it should be fine for me to do this.”
That was a straight-up lie. His one and only goal was to find Portgas D. Ace and save the idiot's life. He didn't think he could stop the Summit War. If he understood things correctly, the Marines had been preparing for a strike against Whitebeard, the oldest and weakest of the Yonko, for quite some time. Ace being captured by Blackbeard just provided them the bait they needed to draw in the old man. Frankly, any of Whitebeard's sons would have done the job of luring him to Marineford for the trap.
Renard wanted to change ALL of that. He couldn't stop the war, but he could make the Marines suffer horribly for being arrogant enough to start it. That would be his first strike against the power base of the World Nobles.
“Alright, everyone. Let's save Vivi's country!”
Everyone, bar Libra, cheered and thrust their hands in the air.
Renard watched the girls all leave together. Their first stop would be a local clothing store to get clothing appropriate for the desert. Then it was off to Katorea. He watched them until they vanished into a shop before he left the ship. As he stepped off the gangplank, he activated his Byakugan and began scanning for his target.
Nanohana was a rather large port town, or city, with a lot of people going about their days, so it took him a couple of hours to find his target. He was not surprised to find that his target was at a restaurant with his face planted into a plate of spaghetti. How Ace inherited Garp's narcolepsy was beyond him, but it was funny as hell.
Once he was standing outside of the restaurant, he de-bonded with his clone body and sent it back to the ship, where it would wait in the captain's cabin for his return. He couldn't leave it for too long since it wasn't able to eat or drink on it's own. Hopefully, his little chat with Ace would only take a few hours or less.
He calmly walked into the restaurant and looked around. Everyone was staring at Ace in fear, wondering how he had died. Renard snorted to himself and sat down next to the 'corpse', causing people to gasp. He calmly reached over and slapped Ace playfully on his bare back, “Oi, Ace! Wake up!”
Ace jerked and sat up. He looked around with mild confusion before immediately returning to his meal while the locals shouted in shock. It took a few chews before Ace noticed Renard sitting next to him. He stared at Renard with a strand of spaghetti hanging from his lips before asking, “Who're you?”
“I'm a friend of Luffy's, the name's Renard.” He held his hand out for Ace to shake it.
A smile slowly spread on Ace's face at the mention of his idiotic little brother, while his wariness of a stranger lowered. He grabbed Renard's hand while asking, “You know Luffy? How is my idiot, little brother?”
That was when Renard acted. He instantly transformed into his Klyntar form and sank into Ace's body, where he bonded with him to a minor degree, just enough that Ace's Devil Fruit would extend to himself as well. It was a good thing he did, too, as the next instant Ace was a bonfire. He'd transformed his entire body into fire in an attempt to burn Renard out. Ace might not have known exactly what had happened, but he had sharp instincts and the skill to follow them. Hence, Renard had waited until introducing himself and using Luffy's name to lower Ace's defenses. Someone as skilled as Ace might've sensed his intent even while sleeping and acted on instinct to protect himself.
'I'm just going to wait until you calm down, then we'll talk. I'm not here to harm you.'
Ace scowled, flames still flicking on his arms, shoulders, and head, “Get out of me so I can kick your ass for using my brother like that!”
'Sorry about that, but I really did meet Luffy in East Blue.'
“I don't care you bastard! GET OUT!”
Ace's flames roared again as he once more tried to burn Renard out. Renard just went silent and used the opportunity he had at hand to study just how a Logia type Devil Fruit worked. At this point, he had officially seen all three types of Devil Fruit in action. For obvious reasons, Logias were by far the most complex of the three. They were the only ones to actually transform the entire body into something elemental.
Even the most powerful of Zoan's were only transforming a living being into another form of living being. But Logia's? Ace could literally turn his entire body, even his BRAIN, into fire and suffer no negative effects from it. He didn't care what anyone else might say; that was MAGIC. Vegapunk and others could all talk about Lineage Factors and other such things all they wanted. Renard had been inside of Libra, and he knew magic; Devil Fruits were MAGIC.
It also explained their curse. A big principle in magic is giving something to get something. The most basic of which was giving up mana to enact a certain effect, or spellcasting. In this case, the fruit forces the eater to give up all of their strength when subjected to the power of the ocean. In exchange, they get the power of the fruit. It was also why he couldn't create custom Devil Fruits, yet. Despite everything he had at his disposal, Magic wasn't one of them.
The kicker was that the usage of Devil Fruit powers wasn't purely magic. It was some strange hybrid of biological change and magic he didn't quite understand. Even Principle of Life wasn't helping because it was the magic he didn't understand, and it was leaving even his Divine Skill confused. He probably needed a magical version of Principle of Life to fully understand how a Devil Fruit functioned.
Sure, Principal of Life could tell him how to make magical beings from scratch. That didn't mean he could make them know specific spells.
He paused in his thoughts and checked what Ace was up to. Apparently, he'd taken them out into the desert and was trying his hardest to burn Renard out. Obviously, it wasn't working, and Ace was left panting from the exertion. Ace scowled fiercely as he asked, “What the hell do you want?!”
'Believe it or not, I want to help you and Whitebeard out.'
Ace stiffened at the mention of Whitebeard, “Speak quickly and plainly, or I swear I will do whatever it takes to end you.”
'Fine. First, a show of good faith. Sabo is alive.'
Ace exploded, literally, in rage, “I am going to MURDER YOU for bringing him into this!”
Renard ignored Ace's anger and spoke calmly, 'That day, the day he stupidly sailed near the ship of a World Noble and got shot with a cannon?' Ace paused in his rage, wondering how the bastard knew that, 'He didn't die. He was injured, pretty badly, but he survived because he was rescued by some people from the Revolutionary Army that had been nearby.'
“Oh yeah? If he's alive, why hasn't he ever contacted us?!”
'Okay, I know this is going to sound stupid, but I swear it's true. Amnesia.'
Ace scoffed, “Come on. That's bullshit, and you know it!”
'I know, I know. It's lame as hell, but I swear it's true. I'm sure someone like Whitebeard knows how to get in touch with someone from the Revolutionary Army. Just have him ask about someone with Sabo's description, and I guarantee you will find him alive and well.'
“Not good enough. What else you got?”
'Fine. You're hunting Blackbeard, right? Marshall D. Teach?'
“Yeah?”
'Don't. And before you shout! Listen! Do you have ANY idea what Devil Fruit he killed Thatch over?'
“How do you know all of this?!”
'Not important, now answer my question.'
“No, I don't.”
'I figured. You know, you got the perfect Devil Fruit to match your hot-headed personality.'
“Fuck you!”
'Nah, I'd rather do that with one of the babes on my crew. Now shut up and listen.'
“Wait, your crew has women?”
'… My crew is all women.'
“Lucky sonuva...”
'Heh. Get gud scrub. Anyway! Back to the main topic. Blackbeard has the Yami Yami no Mi.'
“Never heard of it.”
'Shut up and LISTEN! Jeez. The Yami Yami no Mi is considered to be one of the most evil Devil Fruits. It's a Logia that grants the user power over Darkness.'
“Ohhhhh scary. Who's afraid of the dark? I'm FIRE.”
'Oh my god, just shut up and let me finish, will you?'
“Fine, fine, tell me all about this spooky darkness.”
'Fuck off. The darkness isn't the scary part, you child! The scary part is that the Yami Yami no Mi can CANCEL OUT other Devil Fruit powers with just a touch. Combine that with the fact that his Darkness matches, if not counters, your fire, and you will be on the losing side of every exchange.'
“Are you trying to say I can't beat him?!”
'In a one-on-one with all things being equal? I'd give you even odds. Add in the people he's recruited so far, and that drops significantly. And I only give you those odds because I've now told you about his Devil Fruit. If you'd gone in blind? I'd give you less than a twenty percent chance of winning. Besides, I've got something better you could be spending your time on.'
“Oh? And what's that?” The sarcasm in Ace's voice was thick.
'How about healing Whitebeard and making him perfectly healthy?'
Ace froze. When he spoke after a short pause, his voice was deadly serious, “Explain.”
'My power isn't just getting inside of people's bodies. Here, let me demonstrate. Give yourself a tiny cut, something that won't cause you trouble but would take a day or two to heal.'
Ace scoffed, “I'm not going to cut myself, no matter how small a cut!”
'Jeez, quit being such a pansy and give yourself a little cut so I can show you my healing ability.'
Ace scowled and whipped out the knife from his waist, “Pansy?!” He slashed the palm of his left hand deeply, letting blood flow freely, “Who are you calling a PANSY?!”
'… I'm sorry. I meant idiot. Alright, now watch that gash closely.'
Renard moved some of his biomass out of Ace's body at his left wrist. He wasn't worried about Ace trying to burn him because he was still bonded to the man and had access to his power. He moved some of his biomass out and surrounded, but didn't cover, the deep gash so he could collect the blood being lost and return it to Ace. Under Ace's disbelieving gaze, he visibly healed the deep gash, letting Ace witness the entire process of it closing.
After a few seconds, he peeled off Ace's hand and sank back into his body. Ace's hand was perfectly healed without even a minor scar to show from the wound. Ace stared at it for a moment before he sighed, “Okay, so you do have some healing ability.”
'I do. I've been healing your body since I got in here.'
“What are you talking about? I wasn't hurt!”
'Yeah, you were. All that bullshit Garp put you through as a child left minor damage throughout most of your body. Hell, most of your bones had old hairline fractures that had healed. They might not have been bothering you now, but as you got older, they could have caused some serious issues. I can now say, with certainty, that you are in perfect health.'
He didn't mention the things he was doing to enhance Ace's body similarly to howhe'd enhanced his clone body. Let Ace realize he was stronger and more durable on his own, later.
Ace grumbled an annoyed-sounding, “Thanks.”
They sat in silence for a little while before Ace finally asked, “Now what?”
'Well, now you decide. Which is more important? Hunting down Blackbeard and likely losing to him and his crew, thereby wasting your life, or worse, ending up in Impel Down until you die of old age. OR! You agree to take me to Whitebeard so I can heal him, return some of his strength, and make his life better. Then the pair of you can decide how to punish Blackbeard together. I suppose the real question is, which matters more, your stubborn pride, or the love you have for your pops?'
“Oh, that's not fair!”
'Life isn't fair. Oh! And don't forget Whitebeard probably has contacts with the Revolutionary Army, so you can find out about Sabo.'
“Fuck! Fine! I'll take you to Whitebeard and give up on chasing Teach. FOR NOW!"
'Cool. Now, there's no rush, and I do have something I need to do here in Arabasta before we can leave.'
“Seriously? All this making me choose, and now it's hurry up and wait?!”
'Well. Sorry. But I promised the princess of Arabasta that I would help stop Crocodile from destroying her country. I'm a man of my word. Right now, she should be talking to the leader of the rebel army.'
“Do you need any help?”
'No, but it's nice of you to offer. I want to see if I can handle the Sand Croc on my own. Besides, I think Luffy should be showing up here sometime in the next few days if he left East Blue around the same time I did. Stick around Nanohana until I finish my business, and you should be able to spend some time with him.'
Ace smiled softly at the thought of spending time with his idiot younger brother, “Fine. Now, get out so I can punch you properly.”
'Uh, not yet. First, let's head back to Nanohana, and I'll show you where my ship is so you can find it later.'
Ace smirked even as he began walking, “You just don't want me to hit you.”
'Who ever WANTS to get hit? But fine, I probably deserve it.'
“Probably?”
Renard didn't answer that; instead, he went with, 'Just in case you didn't catch it the first time, given the whole entering your body thing, my name is Renard.'
“Ah, right. I'll try to remember it.”
-----Line Break-----
Ace looked around The Seeker, “Not a bad ship. Bit small for the second half of the Grand Line, though.”
'Yeah, I plan to get a new one built at Water 7.'
“Good plan. Now, get out of my body so I can punch you.”
Renard would have rolled his eyes if he could have. Instead, he commented, 'Yeah, yeah. Just wait here for a sec. I'll come out of the lower deck in a moment.'
“The hell do you mean...” Ace trailed off as Renard ejected out of his body as a puddle of black goo and slipped through a crack in the deck to go fetch his clone body.
It only took a moment for him to find it, and once he did, he did something he'd never done before, he began to fully bond with it. Every time he'd bonded with anyone, up to that point, he'd only done a basic, shallow bond. A full bond took around forty-eight hours to complete and took a long time to undo as well. He hadn't been willing to do it until he'd had his conversation with Ace. He was willing to do it now because he knew it would take quite a while to reach Whitebeard. Arabasta, after all, was only about a quarter of the way through the first half of the Grand Line.
Now nice and comfy in his clone body, he climbed out onto the main deck where Ace was waiting with a wide smirk. Renard walked up to him without fear. He felt he might kind-of-sorta-maybe deserve a good punch for the stunt he pulled. He stopped in front of Ace and held his arms out to the side, “Alright, get it...”
Ace's fist smashed into the side of Renard's face mid-sentence and sent him spinning through the air until he collapsed to the deck with a groan.
Ace cracked his knuckles and let out a satisfied sigh, “Ah, that's better. Go do your thing, save the country or whatever, I'm going to go get some food and wait for Luffy to show up.”
Ace turned and walked back down the gangplank while Renard pushed himself up off the floor with his jaw throbbing. Even with Thick Skin and the reinforcements he'd put into the clone body, that hit hard hurt like hell. He might've blacked out for a second there. He shook his head and focused on the message in front of his eyes.
[Feat Achieved! Saved Ace from a Pitiful Death! +1 Random Diamond Gacha Roll.]
He massaged his jaw while thinking, 'Roll it.'
[ROLLING!]
[Master Hand-to-Hand Combat, Epic Skill, Your skills and talent in martial arts are on the level of legends, you are a true prodigy. You can quickly master most forms of martial arts, and your basic comprehension of unarmed combat is incredible. Your hands and feet are actual weapons that wouldn't lose out to swords and spears.]
He looked at the result of the roll and blinked in surprise. He was now better at fighting with his bare hands than he was at fighting with a sword. He dismissed the window and wondered how this might change his plans, and realized it didn't really change them at all. He'd already had good fist fighting skill with Muay Thai, but this made him a prodigy in all martial... arts...
He looked down at his feet while grinning madly. He kicked the ship deck ten times in a fraction of a second, sending his body forward at a speed the average human eye couldn't hope to track. As he came to a stop, he stumbled a bit, briefly losing his balance but catching himself before he could fall. He'd already been trying to teach himself the Rokushiki on the way to Arabasta. His main focus had been on Soru and Geppo, both excellent skills for maneuvering during a fight. But now? Now he could master all six moves and the secret seventh one in no time at all!
The best part is something he agreed with a lot of people about: the Rokushiki were a primer to learning Haki.
He spent the rest of the day, and a portion of the night, working on mastering Soru and Geppo to perfection. The girls weren't due back until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. If they hadn't arrived by evening, he'd make his way to Katorea and see what was going on.
-----Line Break-----
Renard sat on the deck of his ship shortly after returning from eating breakfast in Nanohana. In the last twelve hours, he'd become something of a celebrity due to how much he was eating and the massive tips he left in pure gold. Just because he hadn't given the bag of infinite money to Nami yet, it didn't mean he wasn't draining it on a daily basis into his pocket dimension.
He watched the rest of his crew walking up the gangplank onto the ship. Going by how happy Vivi looked, things must have gone pretty well. He smiled back at her while saying, “I take it from that smile that things went well?”
Vivi nodded, “It took some convincing, but yes, Koza finally believed me when Rachnera and Libra hunted down a few members of Baroque Works hidden among the rebels. It led to a bit of a fight when the Baroque Works people realized they were in danger, but the casualties were small, and they were all taken care of with no one dying. After a good look through everyone who remained, no more agents were found.”
He nodded at that, “Good!” He peered around, “Where's Karoo?”
Vivi smiled even more brightly than before, “I sent Karoo to my father with a letter written by Koza and me to prove the Rebels didn't plan to attack the Capitol in exchange for a meeting to discuss what to do now that Crocodile has been proven to be the culprit behind everything.”
Renard grinned broadly, “Good! Things went well on my end, too. We'll be having someone else join us for a while, after we finish saving Arabasta.”
Vivi nodded while the others looked on. She asked, “Next, we see about ambushing the remaining agents at the Spiders Cafe, right?”
“Right, but there's not many of them left. According to Robin, there's Mr. 1, Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 4, and Miss Merry Christmas. We've taken out every other Officer Agent.” He pointed down at the brig where all three of them currently resided, “After we ambush and subdue them, I'll head to Rainbase and take Crocodile down.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. He finished, “Good. Make your preparations, we'll leave in an hour.”
-----Line Break-----
Crocodile, deep under his casino Rain Dinners in Rainbase, slammed the receiver of his Den Den Mushi down with a loud growl. He'd just tried calling Mr. 2 once again and gotten the same thing as before. His men had no idea what had happened to the man. One moment, he'd been on his ship heading to Little Garden to find out what happened to Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek. The next moment, he'd vanished into a fog and hadn't been heard from since.
His face was marred by a deep scowl as he spoke to the only other person in the room, “Someone is working against me. I've lost three pairs of agents and Mr. 2 all in the last two weeks or less. With the disappearance of the Unluckies, communication has become more difficult.” His gaze slowly slithered over to the other occupant of the room, “Do you know anything about this, Miss All Sunday?”
Robin, long used to Crocodile's paranoia, answered him with as little emotion in her tone as she could manage, “I've told you all I know about this.”
Crocodile took a long drag on his cigar before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, “Ah, yes, this group of bounty hunters that the Princess is sailing with. Remind me why you didn't take them down while they were at Whiskey Peak.”
Robin let out a put-upon sigh, “Because I would have lost the fight. Just one of them took down both Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine by himself. Even I would have struggled to take the pair of them down. If I had tried to fight, there's a good chance I would have been captured. Neither of us wishes for that.”
Crocodile put on a smile, it creeped Robin out, “True, we would both suffer losses if you were captured.” He frowned, “Still, I do not like it. We only have your description to go by, and there's been no reports of any sightings matching them.” His cold eyes returned to Robin, “Begin the operation. Have the remaining agents meet here at once.”
Robin tilted her head curiously, “Here? Not Spiders Cafe like usual?”
Crocodile narrowed his eyes at her, “That's right. It's time to let them in on the full plan.”
Robin maintained a calm facade as she nodded and made her way out of the room to do her job. It looked like Renard's plans were going to run into a bit of trouble. Well, if he failed to deliver as promised, she still had a chance with Crocodile's plan.
-----Line Break-----
Renard grinned as he continuously kicked the air using Geppo to push the lifeboat from The Seeker through the air while Libra kept it floating with her Gravity Magic. Thanks to their teamwork, they were flying through the air at a pretty impressive speed. It took hardly any time at all to leave Nanohana behind, fly over the Sandora River, fly past Elumalu, and make their way into the hilly terrain where the Spiders Cafe resided.
It took a bit of effort, but they eventually found the cafe that sat in the middle of nowhere. Libra gently lowered the boat to the ground, and everyone got out. Renard considered their options for getting close without being spotted. None of them were stealth experts. Then he smacked himself upside the head, earning him some questioning looks.
He shrugged and explained, “I was trying to think of who might be better at sneaking, but then remembered I could just take a literal look with my eyes even from here.”
Everyone else with visible eyes rolled them. He also realized Nami would probably be pretty good at stealth, being an ex-thief and all. Man, he was off his game! He quickly activated his Byakugan and looked through the walls of the Spiders Cafe. What he saw made him frown, “There's no one there.”
He kept his eyes active and walked closer to the cafe while keeping an eye out in case Miss Doublefinger was close by and had just stepped out for some reason. Yet even when he was standing at the cafe door and could see a full kilometer in every direction, there was no sign of anyone. However, he did see what might have been fresh tracks in the sand that were nearly faded away.
He waved the others over while calling out, “The coast is clear. There's no one even close to this place.”
When the others arrived, he pointed out the nearly gone tracks, “Vivi, which direction are those tracks going in?”
Vivi looked at the tracks, then the direction, while biting her lip, then shouted, “That's directly toward Rainbase! We're too late!”
“Everyone! Back to the boat, we might still be able to intercept them!”
Everyone followed Renard's command and ran back to the boat. Libra got them back in the air while Renard began kicking firmly to propel them as fast as he could. On the journey to Spiders Cafe, he kept the pace slow enough that he could heal the minor damage his legs suffered in between each use of Geppo without straining himself. It had greatly improved the strength of his legs, but not to the point that he could use Geppo to run across the entire country of Arabasta without suffering the consequences.
He pushed himself to the limit, even going so far as to use a tentacle to retrieve food from his Klyntar pocket and feed it to himself to keep himself from getting hungry and to provide food and energy for the constant healing he needed to perform. Klyntar healing was good, but it wasn't as good as real regeneration.
The main saving grace was that the bonding was still in progress, so the body would continue to grow stronger as the bond neared completion.
He grunted as his legs began to burn and the damage from overusing Geppo without proper training began to kick in. Mastering it meant he could use it perfectly, not that it no longer had a bodily cost. He grit his teeth and kept pushing even as his legs began to feel like they were on fire.
Nami looked at him with clear concern, “Are you alright?”
He nodded, “I'll be fine. Just not quite ready to use Geppo quite this much.”
She placed her hand over one of his, where he was holding the aft of the boat, “We should catch up soon, the tracks in the sand are becoming a lot clearer. They're definitely heading for Rainbase, according to Vivi.”
He nodded and kept pushing.
“THERE!”
Vivi's shout brought him out of the focused haze he'd slipped into. His eyes turned white when he activated his Byakugan and took a look. He could see them. They were in a carriage being pulled by large lizards at an astonishing speed. They were already more than halfway between Spiders Cafe and Rainbase.
Without needing to be told, Libra began lowering them while Renard continued to propel them at the same high speed. They were going faster than their quarry, so they would catch up to and pass them before much longer without him having to push harder. In the interim, he focused on shoving food in his mouth to fuel his body and heal while he had the chance.
As they passed the carriage, Renard peered inside and was surprised to see a fifth person, a familiar one. Apparently, Miss Valentine had returned. That was a bit of a surprise. Well, it wouldn't make too much of a difference. He'd completely beaten her in a single shot before and ignored her Devil Fruit because it was completely useless in high-level fights. Who would think Garp would care about an extra ten thousand kilos in a punch? The man used entire battleships as punching bags and destroyed them. Those things weighed way more than ten thousand kilos.
Maybe it might be more useful if it were awakened, but it wasn't like someone could just choose to awaken their Devil Fruit at will. But hey, if she wanted to appear again and add a few million more in bounty cash to his pockets he wasn't going to complain!
As soon as they passed the carriage, Libra began dropping them until they cut off the lizards and brought them to a stop. Libra set the boat down, and Renard let out a sigh of relief. His legs still burned from the effort, but he hadn't torn any muscles too badly.
The door to the carriage opened, and people began to disembark from it. The first was a man roughly seven feet tall with a shaved head and swarthy skin wearing loose pants and a long black jacket trimmed in gold, Mr. 1 or Daz Bonez. He was followed by a rather beautiful woman, only about a head shorter than him who had curly dark blue hair that almost looked like an afro, pale delicate looking skin, while wearing a long sleeved cropped jacket, a bikini top with a spider wed-like pattern across her abdomen and low rider pants with platform sandals on her feet, Miss Doublefinger, or Zala.
Following them was another pair. The first was a massive man, even taller than Daz Bonez, with blonde bowl cut hair, and a face only a mother could love. He wore a hideous green outfit and carried a massive baseball bat on his back, Mr. 4, or Babe. Following behind him was a five-foot-tall old woman with poofy red hair wearing a white shirt with a Christmas tree-like tie and a basket on her back, Miss Merry Christmas, or Drophy.
Between Babe and Drophy stood a very strange-looking dog, Lassoo. Lassoo was a gun that 'ate' the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Dachshund. The dog had a perpetually runny nose, and every time it sneezed, it would fire explosive baseballs. The dog was a cornerstone of Babe and Drophy's work. Losing Lassoo would cripple their power pretty heavily.
The last person out of the carriage was someone they were already familiar with, Miss Valentine, or Mikita, still wearing her lemon-themed clothing. On seeing their group, Miss Valentine scowled and gripped her parasol tighter, “That's them! They're the ones who defeated me, and Mr. 5 then kidnapped Mr. 5!”
Renard stepped to the front of his group and kept his eyes on Daz Bonez. Frankly, he and Zala were the two most dangerous fighters out of the five present. There was definitely a large gap between them, which was reflected in their bounties. Daz Bonez was worth a whopping seventy-five million, while Zala was only worth a middling thirty-five million. Not terrible, but not the highest bounty he'd ever collected either.
“Alright, everyone, take your targets.” He slowly drew Yubashiri from his waist and pointed it at Daz Bones, “I've got Mr. 1.”
Daz Bonez remained impassive and unafraid to be challenged by a swordsman. He was a living sword thanks to the Supa Supa no Mi.
Rachnera gestured to Drophy, Babe, and Lassoo, “I'll take those three.”
“Mimikyu!”
“My apologies.” She smiled at Mimikyu as the Pokémon hopped onto her shoulder, “We will take those two and their pet.”
Libra stared blandly at Zala while pointing at her. Everyone understood. That also left Vivi and Nami to deal with Miss Valentine.
With everyone's battles picked, Renard tilted his head to the side, suggesting they move away from the others. Daz Bonez nodded in agreement, and the two walked away. The other fighting pairs got the message and began to spread out as well until everyone had enough space to fight freely.
-----Line Break-----
Libra came to a stop when Zala, Miss Doublefinger, decided they'd walked far enough. Zala cocked her hip far to the side and held up a long, whitish pipe that she took a gentle puff from. After exhaling, she asked softly, “Are you sure you want to do this? You don't seem like much of a fighter to me.”
Libra let out a sigh but nodded. Zala shrugged her shoulders and tapped the tobacco coals out using her palm, “Very well. I'll do my best to make sure your death is as painless as possible.”
Libra and Zala both raised their hands at the same time. Zala's index finger suddenly and violently extended into a sharp point aimed directly at Libra's heart. At the same moment, Libra flicked her index finger down and drastically increased the effect of gravity all around Zala.
The result was instantaneous. Zala was violently crushed into the sands of the desert with enough force to cause an explosion of sand and make the ground shake. Libra ended the spell after a few seconds to see the results. She was mildly surprised when she heard Zala groaning and saw her trying to get back to her feet.
Libra flicked down two fingers and slammed double the gravity down on Zala as she had used in her last attack. More sand exploded into the air, and the ground shook even more violently from the impact. When she released it, there was no sound, and she couldn't see Zala as she'd been buried by falling sand. Libra flicked one finger up and reversed gravity. The action instantly un-buried and unconscious Zala.
Libra nodded in satisfaction at a job well done.
-----Line Break-----
Rachnera, with Mimikyu on her shoulder, led the trio of Mr. 4, Miss Merry Christmas, and Lassoo off to a nice, wide-open area. Thanks to Nico Robin, she was fully aware of what the trio were capable of and already had a plan for how to deal with them.
Miss Merry Christmas slapped her back as she glared at Rachnera from behind her glasses, “We're going to kill you, you idiot, you idio, you id! Mr. 4! Batters up!”
Mr. 4 let out a slow laugh that would instantly have anyone questioning his intelligence. He drew his bat from his back with one hand and lifted the other to his mouth, “Laaaaaaassoooooooo.”
The gun-dog barked and trotted over to a different area where it could fire from.
Rachnera let them prepare, then looked at Mimikyu, “Go play with the puppy, Mimikyu.”
Mimikyu hopped off her shoulder with a cheerful, “Kyu!”
Rachnera turned back to the pair she was facing and reverted to her normal form. She'd resorted to her human form in the boat during their travels out of sheer necessity. Her normal form wouldn't have left room for anyone else and weighed significantly more than just her human legs. She was even more glad she'd eaten that gift from Renard.
She grinned playfully at how slowly Mr. 4's eyes were opening in shock. It gave her plenty of time to enact the first half of her plan. With the skill of someone who'd had years of practice, she produced a thick rope of sticky silk and shot it out in such a way that it wrapped fully around the majority of Mr. 4's head, leaving only the tip of his nose free so he could breathe.
Mr. 4 just stood there, unable to comprehend or react to what had happened. Miss Merry Christmas began shouting at him, “Rip off the rope, you id! Rip it! Rip it!”
Unfortunately for both of them, the rope Rachnera had used was thick enough to even block out Miss Merry Chistmas's annoying voice. She switched her gaze to Rachnera and glared at her, “You haven't won yet!” Her body began shifting and taking on the features of a mole, “I ate the Mogu Mogu no Mi, making me a mole woman!”
She jumped into the air, intending to dive into the soft sandy ground and begin digging. Unfortunately, she never got the chance as she suddenly found herself wrapped in a complete cocoon of spider silk that left her no room to even wiggle. Thankfully, for everyone, Rachnera had made sure to cover Miss Merry Christmas's mouth.
With her targets in hand, thanks to Mr. 4 just casually standing still and awaiting orders, she turned to see how Mimikyu was doing. Not that she doubted the little guy, and, true to her expectations, Mimikyu was doing well.
-----Line Break-----
Mimikyu hopped off of Rachnera's shoulder and bounced her way over to where Lassoo was standing and ready to fire. The gun-dog looked at the bouncing puppet with mild curiosity, but as Mimikyu got closer, its instincts kicked in, and it felt fear bordering on existential dread. Its instincts were screaming that there was something very, very wrong with the THING coming toward it. Its first reaction to fear? ATTACK!
It quickly barked and fired one of its baseball bombs directly at the terrifying thing coming toward it. To Lassoo's horror, something came out from beneath the cloth it was wearing as a bad disguise. Whatever it was, it was wrong, unnatural, EVIL! It stared as the black, shadowy, wrong-smelling thing grabbed the bomb and threw it away casually.
Lassoo fired more and more, but the thing kept catching and throwing them far away, where they harmlessly exploded when the timers ran out. Lassoo shrank back as the wrong thing kept coming toward him. But then it vanished! He could no longer see, hear, or smell it. Lassoo felt safe. The wrong thing was gone.
The next moment, Lassoo knew regret. It should have run when it had the chance because the wrong thing was right behind it. The black wrong thing from beneath slammed into Lassoo's back and sent it flying to the side, where it hit a sand dune with quite a bit of force. Lassoo struggled to its feet, its long canon body making it a little awkward. Before it managed to stand, the wrong thing was there.
Lassoo's last sight before darkness claimed it was of the wrong thing's wooden tail descending on it.
Mimikyu looked up from her work and watched Rachnera finish off Miss Merry Christmas. She hopped toward Rachnera, fully expecting some well-deserved head pats. Hopefully, Trainer Renard would give her some head pats, too! He gave the BEST ones!
-----Line Break-----
Miss Valentine laughed loudly while looking down on Nami and Vivi from up in the air, where her Parasol was enough to drastically slow the fall of her one kilogram body weight. She hovered over her opponents until she had a good position, then she rapidly increased her weight until she was falling at maximum speed, “Ten thousand kilo press!”
Nami and Vivi both leaped to the side just before Miss Valentine slammed into the ground with all ten thousand kilos of her current weight. While they scrambled to their feet, Miss Valentine calmly dusted off her skirt, then glared at them, “I'm glad I get to fight you too, specifically you, Princess.”
She said the word 'Princess' with so much scorn that it was almost acidic. She continued, “I can make up for my failure to kill you back on Whiskey Peak. You will not survive this encounter!”
She dropped her weight to one kilo and jumped into the air with her parasol open to catch even the gentlest of breezes. She'd long used this tactic before she'd met Mr. 5 and used his explosions to gain altitude. She was slightly out of practice, but it was coming back quickly!
As she went into the air, Nami looked over at Vivi, “If I can keep her on the ground, can you take her down?”
During their journey to Arabasta, they'd repeatedly gone over their enemies and their abilities to form multiple plans to defeat them in the fastest manner possible. They had plans for everyone they expected to come in contact with. Even if the plan was as simple as running away if they ran into Crocodile himself.
They had NOT expected to run into Miss Valentine again. Given how vicious Crocodile was with people who'd failed him, they expected she would have run away and thanked her lucky stars to be alive. The fact that Crocodile gave her a second chance spoke to just how disturbed he was by their actions and his losses thus far.
Still, Nami was intelligent, and even without half a dozen specific plans, she'd come up with a pretty simple one just from seeing Miss Valentine's monotonous routine for attacking. She just did the same thing over and over again!
Vivi nodded with as much confidence as she could muster, “Yes!”
She spun her Peacock String Slashers, long ropes of razor-sharp disks that ended in one with a sharp point. Nami focused on Miss Valentine in the air while feeling the breeze blow across her own skin and feed information to her. Her lips curled into a smirk as she felt a subtle shift in the air.
“Ten thousand kilo press!”
Vivi swiftly moved away from the area Miss Valentine was dropping toward. Nami, though, waited while slowly lifting her hand. Just before Miss Valentine collided with the ground, Nami acted. Her hand shot forward with her index and middle fingers pointed at Miss Valentine's parasol. The air at the tip of her fingers violently swirled and compressed in an instant before it was fired out in the shape of a dagger.
Nami, with some help from Libra, had spent at least four to five hours every day since Renard had given her the book on wind magic, working on learning how to use it. She was still very much a novice, but even so, she'd managed to get two spells down, and what she just fired was the first and most basic attack spell in the book, the Wind Dagger.
Nami jumped to avoid the majority of the impact from Miss Valentine, but was still caught in it and sent tumbling away in the sand. Vivi, fully trusting Nami, dashed toward Miss Valentine while twirling her slashers. As she closed in and the dust cleared, she could see Miss Valentine trying, and failing, to get back up into the air due to the massive gash in her parasol.
Vivi didn't hold back and struck with all the force she could muster. Though she didn't strike with the intent to kill. Instead, she struck with the flat of her slasher, slamming it hard into Miss Valentine's stomach. Miss Valentine curled over the slasher like a shrimp, then collapsed to the ground unconscious from shock.
Vivi ignored the downed woman and quickly ran over to where Nami had ended up. She found Nami, lightly bruised, and scraping sand off her tongue. The sight brought a small smile to Vivi's face. They'd done it, together!
-----Line Break-----
Renard stood across from Daz Bonez with Yubashiri at the ready. He'd never tried it before, but given his level of swordsmanship, he should be capable of cutting steel. Adept might not sound like much, but it specifically said it put him on the level of a veteran swordsman. In the world of One Piece, swordsmen weren't even considered competent until they controlled whether or not their blade cut, let alone veterans.
He gripped Yubashiri in both hands and held it vertical while he studied Daz Bonez. On the other hand, Daz Bonez almost looked bored, “As a swordsman, you will not be able to beat me.”
Renard chuckled, “You think because you ate the Supa Supa no Mi that you're completely immune to swords?”
Daz Bonez showed no surprise at Renard's knowledge and simply nodded, “Naturally.”
“I believe I shall educate you on just what swordsmen are capable of.”
Daz Bonez didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he lifted his hands, and with a metallic clang, the inside edges of all of his fingers turned into blade edges. Renard leaned slightly forward, then pushed off the ground hard enough to cause sand to explode into the air behind him. He flew past Daz Bonez faster than the man could react while slashing with Yubashiri. A loud clang and the sound of scraping metal were all that Renard's attack earned him when he appeared a short distance behind Daz Bonez.
Daz sighed and slowly turned, “As I said. A swordsman cannot beat me.”
Daz blitzed toward Renard and lashed out with his hands. Renard quickly and accurately began blocking each of Daz's attacks. The ground behind Renard kept splitting with every attack that he blocked. He couldn't tell if that was Daz's skill as a living sword, or a power of the Supa Supa no Mi. Not that it mattered too much, as each of those slashes looked pretty dangerous.
The clanging of metal rang out for nearly a minute before Renard managed to sneak in a kick that sent Daz stumbling back. Daz looked at him with a bit of disappointment, “A swordsman who kicks?”
Renard shrugged his shoulders, “Believe it or not, but I'm better at hand-to-hand combat.”
Daz narrowed his eyes, “Are you implying you're holding back?”
Renard shrugged, “Well, if I plan to learn and grow, I need to hold back instead of instantly obliterating you.” Renard's grin grew as Daz's eyes narrowed, “To me, you're not a sword Bonez, you're a whetstone.”
Daz went still at Renard's comment. Slowly, he began to act, his usual stoic calm slowly transforming. He grit his teeth. His eyes widened slightly as he glared. Daz Bonez, was angry.
Renard, on the other hand, took a slow, deep breath. He relaxed his body and focused all of his attention on his blade and his connection to it. Yubashiri was light, fast, meant for swift strikes, not heavy blows. It was a wonderful sword, but the more he got to know it, the more he knew it was never meant for Zoro. Zoro's swordsmanship was all about power, about hitting harder and hitting it until it was dead. That was not Yubashiri's style at all.
He took one final deep breath and slowly let it out before he fully focused on Daz once again. He'd been on the lookout for a sneak attack, but that really wasn't Daz's style, even if he was angry. Seeing Renard focused on him, Daz took a stance and transformed his legs, arms, and hands into blades. Both men moved at the same time.
They passed each other like ghosts and came to a stop where their opponent had started. Renard coughed while four deep gashes opened up on his right side just above his hip. Bonez stood with his arm out and Renard's blood dripping from his left hand's fingers, “You were right. I was your whetstone.”
Blood exploded from Daz's chest as a long, deep gash opened up from his left hip to his right shoulder. He collapsed to his knees on the ground while Renard flicked his sword to fling Daz's blood off into the sand. He slowly sheathed Yubashiri before he addressed the man, “You're the first person to truly cause me harm. Be proud of that.”
Daz let out a wet chuckle and collapsed face-first into the sand.
Renard immediately got to work healing the deep wounds by covering them in some of his biomass. In fact, his biomass came out and coated most of his body, only neglecting his head, and began transforming into a new outfit. His feet now sported thick modern boots. His pants were black colored jeans with white stitching. His shirt became a T-shirt sporting a white Punisher-style skull. Around his waist, his belt transformed into a wider one with various pouches and a spot just for Yubashiri to rest easily on his left hip. Over all of his clothing, he wore a lightweight black long coat with white fur trim at the neck and wrists.
He turned to examine the battlefield and saw his people standing victorious over the sprawled bodies of their enemies. His lips curled into a massive grin as he stood proudly, “Well done, all of you!”
After they secured all of their bounties, giving one or two a little first aid to keep them alive, Renard looked at his gains from all of their hard work.
[Feat Achieved! Captured Zala (Miss Doublefinger)! +1 Random Silver Gacha Ticket.]
[Feat Achieved! Captured Babe (Mr. 4)! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
[Feat Achieved! Captured Drophy (Miss Merry Christmas)! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
[Feat Achieved! Captured Lassoo! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
[Feat Achieved! Captured Daz Bonez (Mr. 1)! +1 Random Gold Gacha Ticket.]
He looked over the gains and, yeah, they seemed about right. Though Miss Valentine was missing... then again, he already got a reward for defeating her once, right? So, no double dipping. That made sense.
He put the tickets aside for just a moment to address his crew, “Alright. With this, we've officially taken down all of the Officer Agents. Head back to the ship and put the Devil Fruit users in a Buggy Barrel just like we did to Mr. 3 when I woke him up. Once they're all secure, take them to Alubarna.”
Nami asked in a worried tone, “What about you?”
Renard grinned, “I'm going Croc hunting. Once I have him, I'll meet you all in Alubarna. You all be safe and make sure no one escapes. Once this is over, we'll take their bounties and have one hell of a party!”
That got some cheers, though his crew wasn't nearly as excitable as Luffy's was. They still looked excited at the prospect of a good party, though! He turned and began running in the direction of Rainbase.
'Roll all the Bronze tickets.'
[ROLLING!]
[Wilderness Survival, Uncommon Skill, You are very skilled at surviving in the wilderness, whether that is making temporary shelter out of materials you can find, identifying safe sources of food, knowing how to track animals, how to secure your stuff, and generally everything needed to know to survive in the wilderness effectively.]
[Chompers, Common Trait, You've got a big ol' pair of chompers on you. Your teeth are spectacularly durable and strong. You are even able to take bites out of rocks and chew them without any damage to your teeth. In addition, you will never have to worry about dental health ever again. If your teeth break, they will regrow like one might regrow fingernails.]
[Glock, Trash Item, A gun, the old reliable Glock 19, simple, easy to use, easy to handle, and will work for most situations where you will simply need a basic handgun. You get a magazine for it every 24 hours.]
He stared at the results for a moment before he snorted. In a modern world, a Glock 19 might be common enough to be called trash, but in a world like One Piece, where the vast majority of weapons only fire a single shot? It was definitely NOT trash tier. As for the trait and skill, mildly useful.
'Roll the silver ticket.'
[ROLLING!]
[Ceaseless Discharge, Trash Trait, "Not the one you are thinking of." Your cum refills almost instantly, and the volume of your ejaculations is substantially increased.]
Renard tripped and fell face-first into the sand. His body flailed as he rolled to a stop on his back and stared up into the early evening sky, “What. The. Absolute. FUCK?! Burn that trait! Burn it with fire! Jesus, what kind of sick fucks put that one in the gacha?”
He shuddered and climbed to his feet while dusting sand off himself. Noteably, he didn't move and muttered to himself, “Just in case. Roll the gold ticket.”
[ROLLING!]
[Wire, Rare Ability, Allows you to create and control metal wires. Once a wire has separated from your body, you no longer have control over it. You can also reinforce your wires with energy to make them more durable.]
“Well, that's not horrible, at least. Kind of like a weaker version of Doflamingo's Ito Ito no Mi.”
He looked over his character sheet, which only contained his name and gacha gains. Unfortunately, thanks to his various trash rolls, he was still in need of one more ability to get to ten so he could equip a fifth skill. When he got to his items, he paused and pulled out a familiar cell phone. After calling the number, he gave the general description of a Devil Fruit once more. Maybe he'd get lucky and get something better than the Chicken Devil Fruit?
After putting the phone away, he went back to examining his list of rolls. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything else that might help him in his upcoming fight against the sand Logia. Too bad a blackened blade didn't have active Armament Haki flowing through it, then he might've considered using Shusui instead of Yubashiri.
Or perhaps not. He wanted to truly bond with Yubashiri, and swapping willy-nilly to any old sword just because it was more convenient would be detrimental to that bond. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath while gently gripping Yubashiri's handle with his left hand. He calmly breathed for a few minutes, just letting his body relax and his mind wander.
He exhaled one final time before he opened his eyes. Determination shone in his gaze while he stared into the distance. The next moment, he was gone from that spot. He settled into a speed he could maintain with ease that was faster than even the fastest sprinter on Earth. Sand bloomed behind him with every step, leaving a long cloud of it floating in the air after he passed.
The sun had just begun to set when he arrived at the edge of Rainbase. He didn't stop running while weaving his way through the city. Once he got close enough to Rain Dinners, he activated his Byakugan and peered clear through the building and down into the underground, or rather, underwater, section of his base.
There, he could see Crocodile and Robin both sitting at a long table, alone. He wondered if the officer agents he'd captured were late yet or not. Well, he had his plan, and he was going to go through with it. He charged into the casino and used Soru to blitz past all the guards unnoticed. He grinned broadly when he came across a familiar sign that pointed in two directions. The left way led to the VIP room, and the right was labeled as being for pirates.
He went right.
After running through the hallway for a while, he came to a stop and waited for the trap to register that he was standing there. When the trap door opened, he had to do his best not to laugh all the way down. Yes, this was part of his plan and a particularly fun one if he were honest.
He watched the ground approaching and waited until just before he would have landed to kick the air and use Geppo to stop his fall. He gently landed on his feet and looked through the bars of the prison he found himself in. Outside of the prison, both Crocodile and Robin were looking at him in shock.
Crocodile recovered just a second after Robin. He glared at Renard while jumping to his feet and stomping toward the cage, “Who are you?!”
Robin spoke up, “He's the bounty hunter who defeated Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.”
Crocodile's eyes widened slightly, “You said he worked with a group. Check outside! Find the others and set the billions on them!”
Robin stood and quickly left the room to do as commanded. Crocodile focused on Renard, “I won't ask again. Who are you?”
Renard smiled brightly and casually placed a now gloved hand on one of the Seastone bars that made up one wall of the prison, “I'm Renard. I've been hired by Princess Nefertari Vivi to capture you.”
Crocodile tilted his head back and laughed his annoying laugh. Renard let him have it. It was one of the last times the man would have a reason to laugh for a long while. Once he finished his laugh, Crocodile stared at Renard with no fear at all, “And how, exactly, do you plan to do so from in there? These bars are made from purified Seastone, even harder than steel.”
“Yes, it's very nice. I think I'll take it.”
Crocodile stared at Renard for a moment before he began laughing again. Laughter that didn't last as Renard's biomass near instantly spread to cover the entire array of bars. It even moved between the Seastone and the concrete it was set in to cleanly separate the Seastone as a single piece. The next instant, he retracted his biomass and stored every last bit of Seastone inside of his Klyntar pocket.
Credit where credit was due, Crocodile didn't let his shock at Renard's action stop him from immediately attacking. He lashed out with his right hand, leaving a crescent-shaped trail of sand behind as he swiped at Renard's head, “Barjan!”
Renard's Master Hand-to-Hand Combat skill immediately kicked in. He raised his right arm while coating it in seawater to intercept Crocodile's swipe at his head. There was a loud thud as their arms met, causing Crocodile's eyes to widen in shock once more. His eyes flick to Renard's arm and widen even further when he sees that it's wet!
His gaze whips back to Renard, “What are you?! No Devil Fruit power can touch Seastone!”
Renard gave Crocodile a cocky grin, “Wouldn't you like to know?”
Renard's right hand shot out with a basic hook aimed for Crocodile's face, his fist already wet. In fact, his entire body was wet as he slowly leaked some of the tens of thousands of gallons of stored seawater within his Klyntar pocket space.
There was a loud clang thanks to Crocodile reacting and blocking Renard's punch with his hook. The two began to rapidly exchange attacks and blocks. Neither gained an edge right away, but it quickly became clear that Renard was far superior to Crocodile in hand-to-hand fighting. The situation was made worse by Renard already knowing and effectively using one of Crocodile's weaknesses against him.
Renard waited for just the right moment before he introduced his legs into the fight. His knee rose fast, prompting Crocodile to try to elementalize to get away from the attack, but the knee was a feint. The rest of Renard's leg extended into a vicious kick that slammed hard into Crocodile's waist and sent him flying across the room to slam into one of the glass windows showing the water outside and the Bananawani's swimming in it.
Lucky for the Sand Croc, the windows were very sturdy and didn't crack from the force of his impact. He slid off the window and landed on his feet while staring hatefully at Renard. As he straightened, he ran his hand over his hair, trying to put the disheveled strands back into place. He let out a breath and then addressed Renard, “I admit, you're stronger than I expected, but you don't honestly believe you can win just because you figured out one weakness, do you?”
Renard lifted his hands into a boxing stance while slowly closing them into fists hard enough that they loudly cracked and popped, “Oh Croc, I haven't even BEGUN to really fight you yet!”
The next instant, he used Soru to appear directly in front of Crocodile with his arm already in motion. Even as Crocodile began to react with impressive speed, it was too late. Renard's water-soaked finger slammed into Crocodile's left shoulder and pierced it with the ease of a bullet, “Shigan!”
Even as Crocodile's right hand continued to move up to attack, it still wasn't fast enough as the biomass that made up Renard's glove instantly speared forward and clean through Crocodile's body. Just as Crocodile's hand was less than an inch from grabbing Renard's face and draining him of all moisture, Renard retreated with another Soru that ripped the spear-like protrusion from Crocodile's shoulder.
Crocodile stumbled forward before catching himself. Blood poured from the finger-wide hole that went clear through his shoulder. Renard stared at Crocodile while slowly shrinking his lengthened finger back to normal, “I could have just as easily aimed for your heart.”
Crocodile's eyes widened at the truth of Renard's words. Without a doubt, he would be dead if Renard had aimed for his heart. The wound to his shoulder was small, insignificant really. But the same hole through his heart? No matter how tough he was, that would kill him just as it would any other man. He scowled and felt something he hadn't felt since he'd gotten his ass kicked by Whitebeard so long ago, fear.
Renard was not overwhelmingly stronger than him, like Whitebeard was. Even so, Renard was a better fighter with greater speed. A dangerous and deadly combination.
If only Crocodile knew that Renard was still holding back. He very easily could have detonated an explosion inside Crocodile's shoulder and likely blown his arm clean off. He hadn't simply because that much traumatic damage and blood loss might kill the man. His goal was to capture, not kill.
Though it looked like it was time to stop playing, Crocodile whipped his hand into the air and launched five large, solid, crescent-shaped blades of sand directly at Renard as a distraction while he tried to escape by dashing toward the stairs that led to the casino above.
It wouldn't do to let Crocodile get anywhere near the desert. That was why Renard had chosen the underwater base to confront the man. It was an area where Crocodile's most deadly and dangerous abilities simply couldn't be used without him risking his own life.
Renard just... let go. Of what? Of the thousands of gallons of water he'd stored within himself. Water exploded out of his body at thousands of gallons a second. The water went everywhere all at once. It destroyed Crocodile's attack by soaking it. It soaked Crocodile from head to foot, making him completely incapable of transforming into sand. In short, it was unstoppable.
Inches of water covered the floor after just one second. The next second, the water was almost a foot deep and drastically slowing Crocodile's attempt to flee. The third second, it was up to mid-thigh, and Renard covered his head with biomass. Four seconds, and it reached waist-deep, draining all strength from Crocodile. Five seconds, and Crocodile collapsed, sinking into the chest-high water and starting to drown. Six seconds, and Renard stopped the flood with it just over the top of his head, nearly seven feet deep.
He looked through the water to where Crocodile was lying on the floor, still conscious and trying to claw his way to the surface to get more air. Renard wasn't too surprised that Crocodile wasn't out of it yet. Luffy had, on occasion, spent minutes underwater not breathing and still came back fairly easily once he was removed from it. So, while Crocodile was down, he was very much not out.
Time to fix that.
He kept an eye on the struggling Crocodile while he got to work. His first step was to get out of the water, so he walked up the staircase Crocodile had been heading for. Once free of the water, he held his left hand out, palm up, and slowly ejected the very top of one of the prison bars made of Seastone. He then withdrew his All-Purpose Tool and requested a large chisel. It took a few very hard strikes, but he eventually managed to chip off a small piece from the top of the bar.
He collected the small piece of Seastone and stored everything else back away before heading into the water once more. He wasn't too surprised to see Crocodile still weakly struggling to get out of the water. The man was tough as hell, no doubt about that. He calmly walked over to the struggling man and casually jammed the small piece of Seastone into the open wound he'd put in the man's shoulder.
Crocodile opened his mouth to scream, but only ended up letting out precious air. Renard wasn't done, though. With the Seastone in place, he proceeded to retrieve three pairs of cuffs. He used the first pair to lock Crocodile's arms behind his back. The second pair was used to cuff his legs together. The third pair locked around the chains of the first two and bent Crocodile backwards into a very uncomfortable position.
Only once Crocodile was locked up completely and all his strength taken away by the shard of Seastone in his shoulder, did he lift the man up and drag him out of the water. Crocodile gasped deeply for air, but was far too weak to even hope to struggle.
[Feat Achieved! Captured Crocodile (Mr. 0)! +1 Random Golden Gacha Ticket.]
He looked up at the top of the stairs, where Robin was looking down at him in abject shock. He smirked at her while thinking, 'Roll the ticket.'
[ROLLING!]
[Reinforcement, Rare Ability, Fate - Allows you to reinforce the structure and increase the quality of the object you are touching or yourself. The more energy you pour into a reinforcement, the stronger it is, but the harder it is to maintain.]
He looked at the reward for just a moment before he instantly placed it in his new fifth slot. The last ability he got, Wire, was kind of cool, but Reinforcement fit his fighting style significantly better. It was a pretty good ability for a rare.
Renard finished walking up the steps and stood next to Robin, “You ready to receive your reward?”
Crocodile groaned as everything suddenly made sense. Renard had known too much, but if Robin had betrayed him and spilled everything she knew? If he ever got the chance, he would make her pay for what she'd cost him.
Robin nodded to Renard, “I am.”
Together, they walked up the stairs and into the casino. Their next stop? Meeting the others at Alubarna and putting the final finishing touch on saving the country.
AN
11.4k words
Huh, legit line breaks? That's new to me!
Also, HI! I finished this chapter yesterday, but it was around midnight, and I wasn't able to proofread it so I'm only posting it now. A lot happened in this chapter, and while Renard got lots of rolls, none of them were exactly impressive. And that one... Well, let's just say that if he knew the truth of that roll, he'd be PISSED. I know I was.
Why, you ask? Because to the left of Ceaseless Discharge was Voracity, one of the traits that would cancel his Gluttony Curse. And to the right? Desert Weaponry, which was an ability like Croc's Logia, just without the Logia and moisture-draining aspects. Could you imagine the look on Croc's face if Renard started throwing sand blades back at him?
Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! The next chapter will finish the Alabasta arc and have the crew heading off to their next island with Ace tagging along to lead them to Whitebeard. That's going to be a lot of fun!