Chapter 258: Fake
On the 2nd floor, Oden runs around but can''t find Orochi. So he goes up but still can''t find any trace of Orochi. Oden goes to the upper floors to find Orochi and finally finds him on the 5th floor.
Well, at least that''s what he thought because the one there isn''t Orochi but someone else, an old woman, Kurozumi Higurashi. The old woman has Clone Clone Fruit that allows her to change her appearance into someone else.
"Nikyokyokyo, are you looking for Lord Orochi, Oden? Too bad, he isn''t here," says Higurashi.
"Higurashi!? Damn, where is Orochi?" asks Oden angrily.
"Who knows? Maybe he is busy destroying Kuri now, nikyokyokyo,"ughs Higurashi sinisterly.
Oden widens his eyes hearing that because that means Orochi is attacking Kuri now. It makes Oden angry and he rushes to attack Higurashi while shouting angrily. He jumps and then swings his swords at Higurashi.
*CLANG*
But Oden''s swords suddenly hits a greenish transparent barrier.
"Semimaru!?" says Oden in surprise when he sees an old man sitting on the back.
"Nikyokyokyo, you won''t have any chance, Oden. Do it, Semimaru!" orders Higurashi.
Suddenly, the barrier transforms into a big ball that entraps Oden inside it. The 2 Kurozumis n to make Oden unable to move by trapping him inside a barrier.
"Let me go, you two!" shouts Oden as he tries to attack the barrier using his sword, but no scratch is formed.
"Nikyokyokyo, it''s futile, Oden, you will just stay there and wait for everything you''ve fought for to get destroyed," says Higurashi.
"Damn! I won''t forgive you," says Oden angrily.
*BOOM*
Suddenly, an explosion happens at Oden''s location and engulfs him. But when the dust disappears, the barrier & Oden can be seen to be fine.
"What happen?" asks Higurashi in confusion.
"Mr. Oden, please calm down. You can get out of this predicament easily if you are calm. Your judgment has be dull because you don''t think calmly," says D who is standing near the stairs from below with her secretary suit.
D is holding a riffle which she used to shoot an explosive bullet just now. She wanted to test the barrier''s toughness, but it was a lot tougher than she thought. The explosive bullet couldn''t even scratch it even though it has high destructive power.
"D-chan! Why are you here?" asks Oden.
"Vice-Captain ordered me to see what you''re up to when he saw you ran here. I never thought that you would get caught by enemies," says D.
"Haha, sorry about this. Wait! It''s not the time to do this, Kuri is in danger! Orochi is attacking Kuri," says Oden.
"Please rest assured. We have left some troops there in case the enemiese there. So there shouldn''t be any problem," says D.
"Ah, that''s right," says Oden as he remembers that they have left a lot of men to protect Kuri.
"Nikyokyokyo, do you think that will be enough? Lord Orochi has brought many men to attack your territory. There are more than 5,000 people in our troop there. I doubt you have more men stationed there," says Higurashi.
"5,000?! Damn, we only have 200 men there," says Oden while gritting his teeth.
Higurashi & Semimaruugh, while Oden has a grim expression.
"NIKYOKYOKYO, THAT''S IT, ODEN. FALL INTO DESPAIR!" says Higurashi sinisterly.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
Suddenly, a few explosions happen again and now they engulf Higurashi. D has had enough of this useless conversation and decides to end it. So she shoots the one who caused it, the old woman Higurashi.
After the explosion subsides, Higurashi''s body can be seen lying on the floor. She is unconscious now after taking a few rounds of explosions. She isn''t abatant, after all, so she is weak, and these explosions are enough to defeat her.
"Sigh, this old hag has gotten into my nerves. She should''ve just shut the hell up," says D very pissedly.
"De-D-chan?" asks Oden unsurely. It is his first time seeing D behave like this. She always has this image of being a calm and professional person, so this is very unexpected.
Well, D wasn''t like this before she joined the Clowns. But her crewmates'' behaviors made her be like this. They couldn''t be handled with kindness every time and she needed to be strict & even merciless on many asions.
D learned all of these from Mantis who is feared by anyone in the crew including Buggy. Now D can make everyone in the crew behave correctly by herself, except for the executives. The executives are still too much for her, but there is Mantis to handle them, so it''s fine.
Still, her method to make the crew obedient by being harsh gets embedded in her heart. Now she will be like this every time she is pissed. She often tries to hold it but there is a limit to her patience and it makes her burst like now.
"Motherfucker just can''t shut her damn mouth," says D with a very pissed face.
"De-D-chan, aren''t you getting angry too fast?" asks Oden while still inside the barrier ball.
"Huh?" asks D intimidatingly.
"N-No, it''s okay," says Oden scaredly.
"Phew, now it''s just that geezer, right?" asks D while looking at Semimaru.
The geezer gets nervous, but he still keeps his calm face. He suddenly ys his lute and the barrier that traps Oden suddenly rolls toward D.
"Argh, I''m spinning!" yells Oden as he rolls along with the barrier ball.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
D shoots explosive bullets at the barrier ball but still can''t stop it. "Tch, so troublesome."
Says D as he runs down the stairs to the lower floor. Semimaru stops the barrier ball right in front of the stairs leading down. He can''t see the lower floor so he can''t control the barrier ball to chase D.
To defeat Semimaru, D needs toe up again. So she will need to go through the stairs again. He just needs to prevent that from happening so he uses the barrier ball to block the entrance.
Semimaru then changes the barrier''s shape from a ball to a square to fit the entrance. D won''t be able to pass through it so she needs to take a detour for other entrances located far away. Of course, Oden is still inside the barrier, dizzy from the roll before.
Semimaru is just about to get up to check on Higurashi, but suddenly, *BOOM BOOM BOOM*. The floor below and around him suddenly explode and copse. The explosions aren''t big but the floor is still copsing and he is engulfed in it.
Those explosions also make the surrounding area copse including the entrance where Oden is. They also destroyed the lower floor, the 4th floor. Oden, Higurashi, & Semimaru then fall to the 3rd floor together.
The barrier that traps Oden disappears as the explosions happen. So now Oden needs to protect himself without the barrier. But it''s easy for Oden to do it. He just needs to cover his body with A-Haki.
The rubbles from the 4th & 5th floors fall & gather on the 3rd floor. After some moments, someonees out from the rubbles, it''s Oden. Something like this won''t injure him too much even if he doesn''t use Haki.
"*Cough cough*, what happened? Why do the floors suddenly copse?" asks Oden while looking up at the big holes.
"It seems you are fine, huh?" asks D as she approaches Oden from afar.
"Huh? D-chan, was this your doing?" asks Oden.
"Yes, I put explosives below the location where that old man sits. Although it seems I overdid it a little," says D.
D suddenly throws some grenades into the rubbles and creates big explosions again. Oden runs while yelling at her to stop.
"Hmm, now they''ve died for sure," says D while looking at 2 charred corpses.
"Uh, are they Higurashi & Semimaru?" asks Oden.
"Yes, they haven''t died, so I needed to kill them because Captain gave a direct order to kill these 2 if we met them. Their abilities are too troublesome. Now, Lord Oden, what''s your next move?" asks D.
Oden thinks for a while before answering, "I will return to Kuri."
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