Chapter 217

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"<Diable Jambe>!"

Sanji rolled on his spot continuously, a flame soon encircling his right leg.

This is a technique Sanji learned in Ennis Lobby Arc – which, if evaluated by canon means – should happen in a month from now on.

This showed Sanji's growth in this timeline… but does that truly matter?

Sanji kicked the ground with his other leg and flew towards the ten guards who were rushing towards him.

They were just normal guards patrolling Angel Island. So of course they weren't as strong as the guards in Shandora.

Sanji's kick fell on the face of the first guard rushing towards him, who fell back with a shriek.

The other guards tried to attack Sanji, but this time, as surprising as it may sound – Ussop fired a stone at him.

"Auk!"

The guard also fell back seeing which, Ussop smiling nervously. "S- Sanji! I got your back!"

Sanji grinned. "Thanks, Ussop!"

Kicking the ground again, he rushed towards the seven remaining guards who surrounded him and tried to attack him from all sides while some others rushed towards Ussop, stopping him from assisting Sanji any further.

Sanji easily deflected the spear that was sent surging to his face with his leg and jumped back.

'They are good… these guards.'

Sanji shook his head. It wasn't a time he could get distracted. It was his mistake to start a fight here. He should quickly finish them and make a run. He can't possibly make his crew suffer because of him…

Just then,

"Oi, Sanji!"

The familiar squeaky voice of his captain entered his ears. He turned to his left with a grin, seeing Luffy and Zoro dashing toward him, preparing to fight.

"I don't know what happened, but let's go! Yoohoo!"

People started to gather around and observe them from far, among them Honey Queen, Nami and Alice were gathered.

—

"This is bad…" Honey Queen muttered under her breath.

"Honey… you should jump in right now!" Alice mumbled in her ears, causing her to almost spit on her face.

'Hell no!' Joining them would prove that she's one of them.

While the current enemies are just ants for her, even if a Vice-leader of any “Battalions” of come, she'd be fucker. And she didn't even want to think about the sins…

Just then – her eyes went terribly wide as she suddenly felt a strong presence rushing towards this street.

Her legs lost strength as a black-haired girl appeared in the sky with flapping white wings.

"Amongst everyone who could have come…" she cursed under her breath. "It's this bitch."

"Oy, troublemakers."

Everyone on the street looked up at the sky. The Skypieans cheered while Strawhats frowned.

From the side, Nami, seeing Honey's worried expression, deduced this as one of the worst situations they had ever been in.

—

Sanji looked up, the girl wearing a casual round collared white t-shirt and short pants entered his vision.

He almost lost the heat of his Diable Jambe since heat rushed to another part of his body.

"Whoa, guys look-"

"Focus, you ero-cook!! She's an enemy!"

At Zoro's interruption, Sanji nodded with a groan.

Though it was hard for him to look away from her creamy thighs and high boots, he had to stay alert.

All the guards have been defeated by Luffy and Zoro. Other guards had already reached the spot, but from what Sanji could see – they didn't approach them since they deemed it useless because of this girl.

He knows this girl.

After Honey Queen revealed Amon's bounty to them, the crew had asked her about the others too. She went briefly on the Sins' posters, from there Sanji saw this girl, he recalled her name was Raki.

'She's beautiful… but she's an enemy. I need to prepare to dodge her attacks.' He stilled his spirit. 'Let's wait for any male reinforcements.'

While Luffy was staring at Raki, Zoro noticed Sanji's conflicting face and scoffed.

"Don't worry about her. From the looks of it," he eyed the twin sword in her waist. "She's a Swordswoman. I will take on her."

"No." Suddenly, Luffy talked. "She's strong. Stay back, both of you."

"Well, well." Breaking their chattering, Raki flew down to the ground with her hands in her pockets. "Who wants to die first?"

…

Amongst the crowd, a pair of eyes stared at the fight. Cracking her knuckles. This would be fun.

-

–

—

Looking in front of her, at the skinny guy wearing a Straw Hat, Raki raised an eyebrow.

'He's strong for a guy with such a skinny build.'

Her <Wisdom Eyes> had already seen through their power levels. Zoro and Sanji were on a pretty similar level while Luffy was a step ahead of them.

'Still weak though.' She shrugged and wondered why her brother was so interested in them.

Though, of course, she respected his decisions fully. She'd not kill them, not at all. Maybe break a limb or two? It's not like broken limbs don't heal, either.

There was a reason as to why Raki was so pissed. Today was the day when she’s supposed to leave for the Happo Navy and start learning «Hasshoken» there. But for some nobodies, her brother told her to stay back and ensure they don’t die.

She shrugged. 'It's his fault that he didn't specify what to do with them.'

Though contrary to her belief – Amon knew this would happen. He believed the Strawhats' bullshit luck that forces them to face a tough situation to help them grow would occur here again. That's the only reason he asked Raki to "Make sure they don't die".

Breaking a limb or two is fine in his book. As much as he hated it, he needed Luffy to become strong ‘somehow’ – he was that paranoid.

She then walked towards him, Luffy, who stood in front of Zoro and Sanji.

"You're their captain?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna die?"

"..."

Raki stared at him. "This is my brother's territory. Small fries like you shouldn't be causing problems here. We have a reputation to look out for."

“Now die.” Casually saying such a thing, Raki kicked the ground, vanishing from Luffy’s sharp eyes.

“...!”

Luffy was surprised at such speed. All the enemies he met until now were more or less close to his level. This speed reminded him of Kuro, but she was faster. He couldn’t compare how much faster she was since both of them were invisible to his eye, but he could guess this girl was a few steps beyond Kuro.

Luffy instinctively crossed his arms in front of him as he felt Raki’s fist rushing towards his face.

Bam!

A great shockwave left the impact point, causing the surrounding people to fall back.

Zoro and Sanji were shocked at the strength that left the girl’s fist. If her punch was this strong, why was she carrying two swords…? Did that mean this wasn’t even her full power?

“Pretty weak.”

Commenting on this, while Luffy tried his best to harden his arms’ muscles to stop hurting, Raki launched her fist back.

“We should finish this.”

Shocking Luffy, Raki’s forearm turned black with a red-hue on it. A half-transparent aura-like thing appeared around her fist as she swung her punch forward, dodging Luffy’s try to block and hitting him in the stomach.

Luffy felt the punch not only hitting his outside, but his insides too - he felt his stomach failing him as he almost puked the meat he ate a few hours ago.

The assault didn’t stop there, unfortunately. Her other fist connected with his jaws causing his body to rise in the air. She twisted her waist and kicked his face, causing one of his teeth to jump out of his mouth.

“Argh!”

Luffy was being handled like a toddler - all happening very fast for normal eyes. Though the people who could see this were shell-shocked.

Zoro, Sanji and Honey Queen realised that they’ve fucked up.

THud-

All while Monkey D. Luffy just fell on his back with his mouth open, teeth missing, and blank eyes.

This wasn’t even a fight.

“Woohoo! Let’s go, Lady Raki!!”

Ignoring the public’s cheering, Raki then turned to Zoro and Sanji.

While she started to approach Sanji, Zoro suddenly jumped in front of him. Sanji looked a little shocked, but he didn't complain.

“Think you’re forgetting someone?” He said with two swords in his hands and one in his mouth. “I need to make sure my Captain didn't lose in vain.”

Ignoring his speech, Raki raised an eyebrow at Zoro. “Nice style. Let’s see how well you can handle it.”

Raki took out her swords, moving towards Zoro who clenched his jaws holding his 3rd sword.

There are two types of sword styles. Light-style and Strong-style. Light Style is mostly used while fighting another sword user - or fighting a small target. While Strong Style is made to cut mountains, ocean, and even the sun itself. It’s basically made for destruction.

Raki has two styles. The Sky Sword Style and Twin Sword Style. Sky Sword is Strong-style while Twin-sword style is Light-style. She is not the best at both, but she is better than most people who use a sword.

Currently,

“<Sky Sword Style: Wind Cutter>”

Raki was going for a mountain breaking skill, contrary to her previous thoughts. She was quite interested in seeing what three swords can do.

Purple Haki jumped up from her swords as they went to clash with Zoro, almost creating a tornado because of the sheer pressure released by the technique.

Seeing Zoro’s eyes going wide in front of the pressure, Raki almost stopped her attack since she didn’t want to kill him - but before she could do so….

Cling!!

A thorny club with a trail of black lighting appeared in front of her, clashing with her swords!! Raki’s eyes went slightly wider, feeling the club almost overthrowing her.

She jumped back with her swords and frowned.

“Yo, another annoying one?”

She eyed the Kimono-wearing female wielding the club with a dissatisfied look on her face.

“Hi.” The other party smiled, shielding Zoro. “Don’t you think that much power is a bit too much for a newbie like him?”

Both Zoro and Raki frowned.

“I was about to stop anyway.” Raki glared at her. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I am Yamato. Mind sparring a bit?”

“...”

For some reason, Raki hated this girl. More so, that was Advanced Conqueror’s Haki, right?

'Sparring, huh.'

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Author’s Note: While writing the chap, I just realised Raki has been on the focus since chapter 202… Time to make up for it using Amon.