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Chapter 44: Start the Party

After dealing with the weird animals, Lucas led the group to where the people living here are.

He already knows their location with his Observation Haki so there was no problem with getting lost.

Although, the Daft Green trees might be a problem to the zoan types due to their sensitivity to smell…

Daft Green is a tree that repels animals due to them hating the smell. It’s also poisonous to humans if exposed for a long time showing green spots on their bodies.

Lucas thought for a bit and decided to let everyone scatter and see if they can find any IQ plants.

IQ is a plant that stimulates the brain and prompts creatures to evolve accordingly with their environment. This is the reason why the animals here are extremely strong and strange.

It’s also the only plant that can cure the poison from the Daft Green.

Shiki already hoarded all the IQs on the island but he was bound to miss one or two. Some might even have recently grown somewhere.

The reason for Shiki gathering so much IQ is naturally due to its properties and also to create SIQ. A drug extracted from IQ. Once injected into the animals, it is possible to evolve their battle instinct. If taken in large doses, it can invoke their atrocious nature.

Shiki is planning to use this to weaponize the strange animals and release them on the ground as he watched them kill the people...this was Shiki’s plan.

Right now, he was about to hold a demonstration and release it here on Dawn island where there was also a royalty residing.

Shiki planned to threaten the world government with this move.

Yet for some reason, there were intruders that flew to this island. Still, Shiki wasn’t too worried. How can a handful of people possibly do anything to him?

In a gathering hall in his base, Shiki stood in front of dozens of pirate captains and announced.

“Before we begin with releasing the beasts in East Blue, let’s have a small taste of it first. There is one village on this island, they shall be the first to experience it! Jihahahahaha!”

“Yeaah!”

“Shiki-sama is the best!”

“Gahahaha! Do it!”

The pirate captains cheered and waited for a good show.

At this time, Lucas along with Hina and Sabo arrived at the village.

“What’s with those trees surrounding the village?”

Sabo asked.

“Don’t breathe too much of it. It’s poisonous.”

“...”

Sabo was about to touch it to study it but the moment he heard Lucas, he instantly distanced himself.

Say something like that earlier!

Lucas ignored his glare and simply went forward. The others also followed while holding their breaths.

Soon, they saw a few old and young people with feathers on their arms.

Just like the animals here, the people living here have also evolved to a certain extent.

Now I’m kinda curious what will happen if I eat one of those IQ things…

Lucas wondered if he will also evolve...what will he turn into though? It would be weird if he really became a bird…

Well, there’s probably not gonna be much effect. Otherwise, Shiki would eat those stuff as well and not use it to make a drug instead.

“Everyone, please gather around.”

“???”

The villagers were confused as to why there were suddenly new people that appeared but seeing as they didn’t seem to bear any malice towards them, they cautiously walked closer.

They were also quite curious as well.

Once everyone is gathered, Lucas nudged Hina on the side.

“...What?”

“You explain. Anyway, this is Hina’s job.”

“...”

Hina tried her best not to give Lucas a punch. Eventually, she sighed and did as she was told, making Lucas nod satisfied.

Un, I just realized that I’m the one who keeps doing everything. Hina should do her part.

Lucas watched as Hina started to explain the situation when suddenly, they heard a loud roar.

Lucas frowned and stretched his Observation Haki once more.

“...That bastard Shiki, he’s removed the Daft Green trees, making those vicious animals start attacking this place!”

“What!?”

Hearing what Lucas said, Sabo was angered!

He started to dash towards the animals to restrain as much as he can.

Lucas looked at Kalifa and ordered her to help out as well.

“Kalifa, help him out.”

“Understood, Lucas-sama.”

“...Quit it with the Lucas-sama thing…”

Lucas head hurt every time he heard how Kalifa addresses him.

It sounded like he forced her to submission or something...well...it’s not exactly wrong but…

Lucas shook his head and no longer bothered thinking about such things.

Still, it seems that just Sabo and Kalifa weren’t enough. Some still managed to get through. A huge mantis moving extremely fast zipped through and was about to attack one of the villagers.

Lucas saw that Hina was nearby so he didn’t need to make a move.

As expected, Hina only raised her arm and let the mantis hit her. But instead of being cut, her arm bent around the mantis and created a black ring restraining its movements.

Every time Lucas sees her use her ability, it never ceases to amaze Lucas.

Just imagine. If you hug a Cage Woman...you probably won’t be able to get out. Heck, she might even create something like an Iron Maiden with the spikes and all…

Also, if you insert your...ahh, nevermind. Just thinking about it is scary. It’s better to stay away from this woman…

From Shiki’s headquarters, Shiki was watching everything with a grim look.

“Who the hell are these brats!?”

Shiki hasn’t gotten in touch for a while regarding the news on the surface but the other pirate captains in the hall had recognized the people on the screen.

“That...that person seems to be the new Shichibukai, Guardian Wing Lucas…”

“I recognize the girl. She’s a Marine Captain. Black Cage Hina.”

“Hm? Is that...Rob Lucci? What’s CP9 doing here?”

“Ah! That...that guy with the tophat! That’s the Revolutionary Army Leader’s right-hand man! Sabo!”

Hearing them, Shiki frowned.

It wasn’t just him that was confused, everyone else was also stupefied.

A pirate, marine, world government, and revolutionary army...Can there even be a group as diverse as this!?

And from they could see, everyone seemed to be following that pirate...the new shichibukai, Lucas!

Shiki stood up and flew outside.

He can no longer tolerate this...it was time he dealt with them himself!

It only took a moment for him to find Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra who were separated from the group.

Lucci looked up and saw Shiki flying. He grinned and started to transform.

“Golden Lion Shiki...time to face justice.”

“Hmph! Justice? Only the strong deserve to have a say in justice! You? You are still too weak!”

This is a dog eat dog world. Only the strong survive and the weak become prey for the strong!

Lucci shot a Rankyaku towards Shiki as he continued to charge himself.

“Zanpa!”

Shiki also similarly waved his foot sword and released a wind blade of his own that cut down Lucci’s Rankyaku like paper. The wind blade didn’t dissipate and continued towards Lucci.

With Soru and Geppo, Lucci managed to dodge and still maintain his charging stance at Shiki.

“Shigan!”

Shiki’s body tilted to the side to dodge the attack. At the same time, he extended his hand and swung it downwards.

The moment he did that, a huge boulder appeared from behind him and crashed down at Lucci!

Lucci was surprised by the boulder that came out of nowhere and crashed down to the ground.

Kaku and Jabra moved as well and attacked Shiki from both sides without caring for Lucci’s wellbeing. They only thought that they should make use of the slight opening that Shiki showed just now.

However, that opening was something Shiki intentionally showed to lure in the two.

He clasped both of his hands and two earth walls appeared from the sides, flattening Kaku and Jabra.

Then, he spread his arms again.

“Shishi Odoshi...Chimaki!”

Earth walls started to emerge from all sides which formed into lion heads that roared as they approached Lucci and the others on the ground.

Lucci’s face went pale and he tried to quickly move with Soru and jump to the skies but Shiki was still faster than him.

The next second, the lion walls pounced on them and devoured them in the earth.

The earth continued to twist and formed a spiral tower in the middle. There, you can see Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra buried deep in the pillar, unable to move!

Shiki looked at their state and snorted.

Suddenly, he heard a calm voice speak from behind.

“You sure did quite a number to my crew.”

“Your crew?”

“Yeah. Sabo, can you get them out there?”

“Well...fine…”

Actually, Sabo wanted them to rot there but since Lucas had requested it, and provided that he was Luffy’s friend and someone Betty liked, Sabo still gave him face and released Lucci and the rest.

“Dragon Claw!”

He stuck his index and middle finger together as well as his ring and little finger to create what looked like a dragon’s claw.

With a jab on the rock pillar, the earth crumbled and released the others trapped inside.

“You think that’s amazing? It’s no use, I control everything on this island!”

Lucas sighed and picked on his nose, completely unimpressed.

“You know, I seem to keep running on to guys who think of themselves as Gods. Honestly, it’s getting annoying.”

“Jihahahaha! What else do you call someone who can control the life and death of everyone beneath him!?”

“A selfish prick.”

Lucas no longer spoke and shot forward at a near-impossible speed.

Using a combination of Soru and his wing’s propulsion, he reappeared in front of Shiki in a mere fraction of a second.

When he reappeared, he was already in his 1st Degree - Heatman mode and steam started to sizzle on his fist that was centimeters away from Shiki’s face!

“Boosted Heat!”

So far, Lucas has only managed to learn Soru out of the six techniques in the Rokushiki so he wasn’t able to utilize Tekkai or other techniques in his attacks yet.

However, since he has finally trained his body physically, he can now utilize physical attacks as well instead of always attacking from a distance.

*Boom*

“Gah-!?”

His fist seemed to explode as soon as it made contact with Shiki’s face.

Shiki flew away while spinning in midair.

When Shiki finally managed to stabilize himself, Lucas was already in front of him again.

“Boosted Heat...Barrage!”

*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*

With every punch, Shiki was blown away and Lucas would reappear again in front of him, punching him to another direction continuously.

“ENOUGH! SHISHI ODOSHI! GOSHO CHIMAKI!!!”

Huge earthen lions roared into life on all sides as they attempt to devour Lucas.

This was at an even bigger scale than the one he used to deal with Lucci and the others. Lucas had to admit that it was a bit troublesome to deal with it...but not impossible.

Lucas saw Sabo head towards the south side, Lucci towards the east side, Kaku and Jabra on the west side...which means, Lucas only needed to deal with the north side.

“DRAGON BREATH!”

“ROKU OU GUN!”

“KILIMANJARO!”

“OOKAMI HAJIKI!”

“HYDRO BLAST!”

*BOOM!!!*BOOM!!!*BOOM!!!*BOOM!!!*

Four explosions rang out as the earth lions exploded into pieces.

By the time the dust settled, they found that Shiki had long left the place.

“...He fled, huh?”

“Damn that bastard! I’m gonna tear him to pieces!”

Jabra growled, still angry for being humiliated like that earlier.

Lucci breathed out to sort out his emotions as he reverted back to normal. Then, he looked back at Lucas.

“What now?”

“No rush. He’s definitely back at his headquarters, regrouping.”

“So we attack?”

Sabo also asked.

“Of course. That’s what we’re here for after all. But first…”

Lucas remembered a scene in the movie and can’t help but grin.

Shiki had returned back to the hall where the pirate captains are with his tail between his legs.

The pirate captains naturally saw his sorry state but none of them dared to speak when they saw Shiki’s deadly expression right now.

Finally, one of them braved himself and spoke for the rest.

“That...Shiki-sama, let us gather our men. With hundreds of us, they are bound to lose!”

“Yeah! Let’s kill them all!”

“Right! If we deal with that revolutionary guy, then not only will we be able to threaten the world government, the revolutionary army will also have to bow down to us!”

“Do it! Let’s kill those bastards!”

Shiki heard their cheers and suggestions then smiled.

Right...if we managed to finish them off, we will also make the revolutionary army submit to us! Not just the world government, but also the revolutionary army!

Shiki seemed to have forgotten his recent defeat and started laughing as well.

Then, Doctor Indigo suddenly started gesturing exaggeratedly.

“???”

“Shiki-sama! What if we release some beasts down to the island below as well? That should divert their attention!”

“So you can talk!?”

“...”

Doesn’t this guy not get used to this…?

Though every pirate captain was thinking so, no one really spoke and just kept quiet.

“Jihahahaha! That’s a good idea! Go! Release the evolved animals on East Blue! Let the world now that I, Golden Lion Shiki, am not fooling around!”

Indigo nodded and was about to leave when the doors were smashed open.

“Who!?”

Everyone turned to look at the door and saw seven figures standing side by side wearing formal black suits.

From the left, Kaku was wearing a black cap and a black vest suit. Beside him, Lucci was wearing a black top hat, white shirt and a black tie as well as a black jacket on his shoulders with furs on the side. He also still has his pidgeon wearing a similar outfit. Next to him was Kalifa, wearing a black OL suit with fishnet stockings.

From the right, Jabra wore a black tuxedo and coat, looking like some kind of yakuza boss with that look of his. Next was Sabo, wearing a white frilly shirt and a black overcoat with his top hat and goggles. To his left was Hina wearing a black dress and a black fur coat.

In between Kalifa and Hina was Lucas, wearing a black suit and tie as well as a large captain’s jacket on his shoulders.

Lucas grinned and stared at Shiki.

“Well? Shall we get the party started?”