I didn't stand idly while waiting for Wilson to reach me as I raised my leg to send a flying slash in his direction. Wilson, however, was many things, but a sitting duck he was not. Just as the flying slash was about to contact his body, he vanished, leaving nothing but a dissected after image behind.
Feeling my senses flare, I turned around and punched only for my fist to meet Wilson's own as he appeared behind my back after disappearing.
That's right, Wilson just used soru. It seems that as I was training myself in using the marine's six powers, this damned gorilla with strangely refined tastes was observing my training and copying it on his own. However, what frustrated me was that even though I was better than him in using kami-e and leg-based powers, he was also better than me in using both the tekkai and shigan techniques.
We continued to push each other using our fists for several seconds with no clear winner, and then we both jumped backwards while preparing for the next engagement.
As I charged in Wilson's direction, he just smiled smugly and sent a flying slash in my direction.
"you fucking copy gorilla is copying others all you can do?!." I said as I continued to charge in his direction. However, unlike Wilson, who dodged my rankyaku slash using soru, I opted to tank it instead.
I backhanded the slash with my left prosthetic hand as it came close enough for me to reach, and after a half-second of struggle, I sent it flying to the side, cutting everything in its path.
That, however, proved to be a mistake as a half-second was all the time Wilson needed to close the distance between us with a swift application of the soru technique. As he appeared in front of me, fist reared and ready to be unleashed. I only had time to lower my stance, cross my arms across my head and chest, and activate tekkai as I was sent flying backwards.
"how about that for copying people, you puny little shit?!." he said smugly while watching me as I rebalanced myself while mid-air and stopped my momentum using geppo.
Hearing that, I used geppo to float above his head and look down on him with a disdain-filled smile since he could only use geppo to do a triple jump in the air before falling to the ground.
Looking at this scene and understanding my meaning. Wilson gnashed his teeth in frustration at the reminder, morphed back into his complete gorilla form, and sent a hail of compressed air bullets in my direction with all four of his arms using the shigan technique.
I used a mixture of geppo and soru to fly in a zigzag pattern to close the distance between us since I couldn't do the same with shigan while dodging his compressed air bullets. Once I was close enough above his head, I flipped myself in the air and sent an axe kick aiming for the top of Wilson's head, which he received by crossing his arms above his head.
A small crater formed under Wilson's feet, along with a big Shockwave, with us as the centre, Sending all kinds of sticks, rocks, and leaves flying in all directions.
We continued to push each other for a good second until his defence gave in as the force of my kick finally overwhelmed the strength of arms thanks to the centrifugal power it had accumulated and a more advantageous position.
My foot landed on the top of his head, Bending his torso forward, sending him crashing into the ground head first and deepening the crater beneath him in the process.
My victory, however, was short-lived as one of his arms snaked its way into my ankle and slammed me into the ground, causing both of us to crash into the crater together at the same time.
It didn't take long for the both of us to try standing up and facing each other once more, but it seemed we had both chosen the exact second to do so as we just stood there staring at each other.
The stalemate, however, was broken quickly as I cracked first and threw my head backwards and laughed at the top of my lungs, only to be joined by Wilson, who did the same. And so we both headed back to the campfire and resumed and relaxation session, not needing to communicate any words to understand each other.
"So how about it Wilson, are you really ready to leave this island behind and join me in exploring the sea?" I asked as I poured the both of us a cup of whisky and reached for my guitar to start playing it softly.
"humph, why ask a question you already know the answers to? You humans are truly strange creatures." He snorted while sipping at his whisky.
"hah, that we are, but that's not why I asked, just wanted to make sure you really know what you're getting yourself into. You could die for you know?, heck even I could die, there are all kinds of monsters out there that could make the both of us seem like nothing more than children." I said gravely while making eye contact to emphasize my point.
"and that's exactly why I want to go, this island is too small and boring for me now that I know what's out there, so you either take me with you or I find a way to leave this island myself," he said as he broke eye contact and turned his head to gaze at the sea longingly.
'that's right, this guy is also a battle maniac just like me, isn't he' I thought as I also turned to gaze at the sea for several seconds of silent thought.
"it's not like I don't want to take you with me, it's the opposite in fact I was just making sure, anyway it's getting quite dark so let's call it a day for now and start our preparation to set sail in two weeks time or so," I said while yawning as I stood up and made my way towards my tent, only hearing a grunt of confirmation coming from Wilson's direction.