[79] Random Encounter (1)

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Chapter 79: Random Encounter (1)

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In the heart of the Boin Archipelago forest, there existed a magical grove where the trees were unlike any other. Their branches were made of sturdy wood, their leaves a vibrant green, just like normal, yet their fruits were a sweet, savory, and magical delight.

The boughs were laden with cakes, pastries, and chocolates of every kind, and their delicious scent perfumed the air. The magic continued even at the few spring lakes one could find, where the water ran yellow and its depth was infused with the savory flavor of ramen noodles.

In hindsight, this was a place where wonder and reality collided, indulgence met nature, and the forest whispered with the joy of discovery. This may just have been the idea of heaven in a lot of people's heads.

However, in truth, the Boin Archipelago was far from that.

– Dhiingg!

– Boom-Boom!

– Sha-Sha-Sha!

– Ting-Tang-Ting!

The parrying sound of Hashirama's punches, Nami's explosions, Mikita's wind blades, and lastly, Vivi's nunchucks' blows against the large beetles' black armor sounded out through one part of the entire archipelago.

Robin stood protected in between them, sitting on top of Karoo, as the four were circling around her, and she looked a little embarrassed. Karoo had gotten used to large clashes by now, and after being chased by Sea Kings for two months, her mentality was quite strong now. So she managed to keep Robin in the center, safe from any stray enemies by moving to the side.

Hashirama hadn't allowed Robin to fight. The technique that allowed her to transform into a battle machine was a double-edged sword, so there was no need to use it here.

The ones who were the least effective against the beetles were Nami and Mikita, and it wasn't only because they were weaker than Hashirama and Vivi. While the latter two were pure monsters, with movements fast and explosive, the former two also had a disadvantage against the beetles.

The beetles' scales were too hard for them to be cut by mere wind blades. At the same time, it was aerodynamic in shape and its scales were a very smooth surface – so Nami's explosions just brushed on top of it, slipping past easily.

So against the twelve beetles that had attacked the crew, it was mostly Vivi and Hashirama who took care of them. Their direct blunt attacks cracked the shell of the beetles easily, crushing their brain and killing them in moments.

In just under three minutes, the beetles were dealt with. As the last corpse fell to the ground, Mikita dropped to her feet, and the group gathered around Robin, who was still sitting on top of Karoo. Robin handed over paper towels to the sweaty fighters, as she asked the captain what the next course of action would be.

"So what's the plan, Hashirama?"

"If I remember right, this island has a number of bandits on it. They're basically the people who got stuck here and never got to leave due to these beetles."

Hashirama shifted his head to the side, not accepting the paper towel since he wasn't really sweating, and said, "Ah-huh."

"Are they not bad people if that's the case, then?"

"If they're bandits because they're stuck, maybe we can help them…"

Mikita, Nami, and Vivi spoke, the last two speaking like the naive little girls that they were.

Hashirama chuckled dryly. "No way. The island is full of food, and even if they can’t leave, they can live their life off in this place. They can stay safe from the wild beasts if they form a strong enough group. There's no reason to loot others of their stuff."

"That’s true. If they're stuck with no way to leave, there's nothing that new groups would have on them that they can use. Money and jewels aren’t useful here, unless they're stealing weapons and things of that sort. In any case, should we still help them?" Nami asked.

Hashirama made a thoughtful expression. "Ehh... We'll see after meeting them. If I judge them to be good enough, I might help them escape. Otherwise, not."

"That makes sense," Vivi said.

"Come on, let’s start moving forward. We can’t be stuck in the starting area for too long," Hashirama said. He then started to guide his group through the trees, his chakra actively spreading from his feet, touching all the trees nearby, and scanning them.

*  *  *

The Chinjao Clan originated from West Blue, specifically from the Kingdom of Kano. Filled with people who ate dogs for breakfast, it was truly a strange country. The Chinjao Clan were pirates, but they were also the military power of their country, working for the ruler. They used their title, the Happo Navy, to keep their homeland safe.

For a few decades now, the Happo Navy had mostly stayed in their country, not leaving for the sea, after their current leader, Don Chinjao, lost a large portion of his power in a clash with Marine Hero Garp. Don Chinjao's children were not nearly as strong as him, mostly because he never got to properly train them. He focused on his own strength and his crew members. But after retiring from piracy and having grandchildren, he focused on training them harshly.

Don Chinjao had three children, and unfortunately, only two of them were males, with the other being a female. In this world of pirates and marines, the biology of humans was still male-dominant, with females rarely rising in hierarchy. For Don, who had seen Big Mom in the past, he knew no normal woman would be able to grow strong in this world. He had a natural prejudice against female members of his family, not in the sense that he was abusive, but he made the women do their work while the men attained strength. In the heap of all that, he forgot to care for his granddaughter and her dreams of becoming a pirate, not a cook on the ship, but one of the fighters.

While the two brothers, Sai and Boo, worked hard and trained under Don Chinjao, the sister, Beidou, would often watch them from afar, peek at their training, and over time learn the skills secretly. She was a fearful force among the women of the Chinjao Family, but this only lasted until the family head, Don Chinjao, found out.

"...You are grounded," he said.

Despite sparring with her and seeing that she could use Hasshoken, the secret martial arts of the Chinjao Clan that Don claimed could rival Sengoku's shockwaves, Don Chinjao didn't allow her to fight. He grounded her, and it was purely the negative emotions that took over her that made her flee home. It had been two years since then, and Beidou now had a decent crew. This was far better than her family, and admittedly, this was her new family.

So it hurt seeing so many of them dead. The Boin Archipelago basically had no information on itself, because any pirate that entered this place could never leave, and therefore, there was no one who had shared the existence and dangers of this island.

So the Crux Pirates, led by Beidou, were not prepared for the dangers on the island. Four out of the 14 crew members had died due to the dangerous plants. The beasts were easy to defeat as Hasshoken didn't care for defensive powers and hurt them under their skin, but the plant monsters were problematic. Since they didn't know how the plants worked, they didn't know how to fight against them.

It had been two weeks since they arrived, and Beidou had ordered everyone not to eat anything from the trees. They couldn't tell if the delicious-looking food was poisonous or hypnotic because of the presence of plant monsters.

“You said don’t eat. If we had, this situation wouldn’t be happening…” complained a crew member.

“Oi, newbie, are you seriously blaming the captain right now? You punk! Be ready for when I break free from these shackles, I will kill you before killing the enemies!” shouted another crew member.

“Calm down, you lot!” Beidou grumbled, telling them to shut up. In truth, the newbie had a point. Due to not eating for two weeks, since they didn't bring much of their rations from their ship, their bodies were weakened. Despite being much stronger than normal humans, they still needed nutrients.

Their weakened state allowed a group of weak pirates, who had become bandits on the island, to round up on them and easily defeat them. Now, they were tied to trees, and their bags and the few things they had brought with them were being looted by the bandits.

The bandits were a group of more than a dozen, as they were scrambling and checking out the Crux's weapons. Beidou was tired and hungry, but her eyes were still sharp as she stared at the weapon that the bandit leader was examining.

“Damn. This one’s dope, hehe. I wonder how much it will sell for.”

The Blackcliff Slasher. It was a longsword wrought from the rare ore called blackcliff. Weighty as a boulder, it had enough brute force to carve its way through a mountain. The blade was forged from a combination of blackcliff crystal and a crimson ore. It was pitch-black like a pool of ink, with seemingly red flames leaping from within. [1]

The black glee around the long sword wasn’t only due to the blackcliff stone, it was also thanks to Haki. It was a black-blade, the heirloom of the Chinjao Clan that she stole when she fled her home.

It was a Named Blade, though Beidou didn't know its ranking. It had special effects when she used her Hasshoken along with it to attack, though she recalled that its full power could only be revealed through the use of Conqueror’s Haki.

"Tch… bastards," Beidou muttered.

Beidou cursed under her breath. To be honest, she wasn't that worried. These guys were still humans, so chances were they wouldn't let Beidou and her crew die of hunger. And when they fed them, they would be dealt with in no time. She just needed one bite of meat to take care of them.

However, her plan didn't age well. There was a rustling of leaves in a nearby bush, and the bandits snapped their heads at that spot right away.

The bush moved further, revealing the mane of a lion. The group panicked as the creature walked into their sight, and its huge size threw everyone off guard.

The Boin Archipelago, shaped like a flower, had dozens of islands in the form of its petals. Each of the petals had a ruler animal, and this lion was the ruler here.

"...Boss, it has its eyes on the captives. Let's back off…" One of the bandits told his boss, while they were all frozen in place. The boss stiffly nodded and then started backing off. The Lion didn't move its head from Beidou and her group, who were tied, as the bandits smoothly fled from the space, along with their weapons and loot.

"Ah, shit."

"Grrr…"

The lion stepped closer to the group, who started shaking in their spots, while Beidou grew more nervous. She didn't care if she died, but it hurt her emotionally seeing her crew so scared. They didn't deserve this, to die so early and young.

The lion turned its head back and forth, locking on a target. It soon locked on Beidou. She was a little relieved that she was going first; it was better than seeing her people getting eaten first. The lion lowered its mouth at Beidou's form, and she stared right at its eyes as it opened its maw.

It was slow until now, very relaxed since the hunt was already chained up. However, once it opened its mouth, the speed of its movement increased. The maw closed at an unbelievable speed, and it came right at Beidou's face.

– Thooosh!

Suddenly, the lion's face exploded as vines grew out of its mouth, blasting its head from within.

"Ohhh, it worked."

A new voice entered the area, and the shocked Crux Crew snapped their heads at them.

Leading a group of four girls, a young man was riding a massive duck as he held weird seed-like orbs in his hand.

"This Pop Green stuff is really good. One seed into the lion's mouth, and the vines immediately expanded inside. Oh-"

The young man paused, blinking as his eyes focused on the Crux. Namely, he was looking at Beidou.

"You look familiar… you're missing an eye patch though."

"You know them?"

The woman beside the young man, with black hair slicked up while she wore sunglasses on her head, said. Her eyes then narrowed down on the group, and she hummed.

"I didn't recognize the ship and flag earlier, but seeing her face made me remember. I know her. That's Beidou, the captain of the Crux Pirates. Though they are more popular by their nicknames… the Mid Mom Pirates."

"Huh?"

The Crux crew lowered their heads in embarrassment, while the young man looked shocked and speechless.

"Mid Mom- what?"

He was stunned at the stupid name.

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[1] Just google the name, Backcliff Slasher, and you will find the image of the sword.