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moments earlier,
after hiding behind the piles of boxes, Rei began to assess his situation. he saw the environment he was in, how the ships moved due to the wave and remembering what weapons those pirates were using,
in an instant he found the solution. first make the battlefield in his favor, that was a very basic thing to do in combat, when Rei saw the boxes he knew that the pirates would split into two groups in order to encircled him, the problem is those pile of boxes were close to the portside of the ships railing, as one side were facing the middle of the deck and has huge access to it however the other side were making the small alley to pass with only maximum 2 people to walk side by side.
his plan was simple, using kawarimi no jutsu to the railing side, wiped out the pirates passing through the small alley there, encircle the boxes the other way around to attack the rest of the pirates right from their back.
Rei has no remorse to attack his enemies from behind, he is a 'ninja', what can he do about it other than utilize it to the maximum.
and so it began, when the first pirates showed up while pointing his gun Rei already making handseals for kawarimi no jutsu.
"die! you freaak!" the pirate shoots his gun toward 'Rei' and followed by the rest of his mates.
'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'
gunfire roared non stop as the pirates sees with glee that 'Rei' was getting shot helplessly, the powerful bullet blast through his head, body, torso, wrecking his clothes making it beehive. they still didn't noticed how 'Rei' was not even bleeding or making any sound. and suddenly,
'POOF!'
the 'Corpse' turns to be a wooden plank! with some smoke left giving the witnesses a thunderstruck expressions!
one pirate in the alleyway was so scared out of his wits, he took one step back with disbelief and bumped to someone behind him,
"wha....what, happened?" the pirate whispered.
"shit happened..."
unexpectedly someone answered him from behind, the uneasy pirate slowly turned his had back, and he became even more terrified as he saw those grinning smile of Rei!
"Heeee...."
'Slaaaat'
Rei swung his Chōkuto upwards aiming toward his enemy's shoulder, it split from the upper body easily just like hot knife through butter, the Chōkuto was so unexpectedly sharp as Rei used it for the first time. not to mention he hasn't even use his chakra yet!
"AAAAH! NO MY HAND!"
the pirate scream made the other turns towards him only to see a blurred figure striking their mates on the other side of the boxes!
"Kuuuh*..."
"Gyaaaaah! NOO!"
"HEEEELP! PLEASE STOP!"
screams full of agony could be heard from there, the flustered pirates from the deck side encircled the boxes as fast as they could, and when they see what happened, they were stunned out of their wits, as blood and limbs of their mates were splattered all over the alleyway. yet there was no sign of Rei! he vanished like a smoke leaving blood and dust on his wake!
just right as they starts to search once more, scream and panicked voice could be heard once more, this time from the deck side at the very end of their group!
Rei swing his sword, punch and kicked the enemies to the floor, but no matter how much blood and agony he caused, his expression doesn't change, just like wolf thrown into pack of the sheeps, excited with his new power Rei turns to a madman in the middle of toddlers!
it was so easy like rooting out the grass from the ground, but that doesn't mean the pirates didn't fought back, in fact many of them retaliate!
one of the pirates swung his great saber aiming towards Rei's head, Rei first reaction was to block the oncoming saber with his chōkuto, who would have though the saber to smoothly cut it through, not only the sword split the saber, it even slashed it user into two as well!
"zoro need to beaten and bleed in order to cut the steel, and i did it just like that?" Rei thought simply.
he was feeling excited, what Rei didn't know was due to his current inability to control the chakra well, sometimes it seeped through his hand and into Chōkuto, making it sharper and durable. also Rei's Chōkuto was kusanagi sword, it has great chakra conductivity among other sword in Naruto World.
"ENOUGH!"
'Baaaaam!'
a fist with a size of cannon ball struck Rei! stopping his rampage in the middle of the ship, Rei blocked it with his left hand as his right arm slashed through another victim.
"DEPUTY CAPTAIN!!!"
several pirates whose still standing saw Smog stopping Rei on his rampage! feeling hopeful they cheered as if they already won!
both of them jumps back, and assessing their opponent closely.
"what are you, i never seen something like you around here before!" said Smog while wearing some kind of steel glove on his hand.
"something?" Rei rolls his eyes feeling disgruntled with the way Smog address him.
"yeah..." Smog raising his chin tried to points at Rei's horns.
"ah this? well it just the way i look?" Rei carrres one his horn which felt smooth to the touch.
Smog opens his fighting stance while brandishing his fists,
"what do you want here?" he said full of hatred.
Rei tilted his head and answered,
"i told you before, you guys took something from the townfolks, so here i am to retrieve it, well, you guys were in the way sooo..."
his voice trailed off as he charges toward Smog, with excited expression Rei swings his sword towards Smog face!
'Clank!'
Smog blocked it with his left hand! Rei was stupefied! he thought he could slash through Smog steel glove easily just like he did earlier with the saber.
"keep dreaming...." Smog return the attack with a punch, Rei saw it and blocked the punch with his left hand making them even.
"i thought i could slashed through it? why it isn't working?" he thought.
Smog felt his hand gone numb after blocking Rei sword strike, he couldn't believe there was someone with greater strength than him around here!
while Rei still quite confused, this time Smog charges toward him, he swing his fist aiming towards Rei's head, Rei dodge towards his opponent rightside, however...
'Baaam!'
Smog right knee was there! Rei was forced to take few step back due to the inertia.
cracking his neck, Smog walk slowly towards Rei,
"you are strong, but you still lacking in combat experience.."
Smog was right, no matter if Rei has combat ability of chūnin, it was still someone else's and not his own, no matter how real he felt becoming Hiruma in his memories he still lacking something important.
"muscle memory huh..." Rei mumbled while taking a deep breath.
Rei and Smog began to exchange moves over and over again, however Smog always has the upper hand even though he was weaker than Rei in overal strength and agility,
Smog relied on his rich combat experience to deal with Rei, and Rei still need to adjust his act together to deal with Smog.
Rei saw an opening on Smog right feet! aiming at his feet, Rei tried to swing his sword!
'Wooosh!'
but Rei missed his chance! as he quickly turn his head up, he saw Smog sole just right in front of his face! crossing his arms as fast as he could, Rei still got stomped away!
'Baaaam!'
"HORAAAY! DEPUTY CAPTAIN!" the pirates cheered loudly.
it turns out Smog was deliberately leading Rei to attack his right feet, as he succeeded in doing so, he spins his body and gave Rei a heavy spinning kick!
Rei stood up, as he felt numbing feeling on his hand due to the stomp earlier.
"interesting." there was a rough voice coming from the upper deck.
"CA, CAPTAIN BOSS....!"
the pirates shouted toward the upper deck, Smog and Rei also saw whose voice it was. Rei saw an overwight man with tattoo all over his face resting his chin with hand on top of the upper deck railing overseeing the battle below.
"Boss?" Rei mumbled, he knew at glance the man from the 3 million Bellies wanted poster. just like his poster, the man has fierce look on his face.
"whats this? go on, continue..." Boss grined showing his yellowy teeth.
when none of Rei and Smog moves, Boss clicked his tongue, losing his interest and returned back to his cabin.
"don't kill him Smog, a fine speciment, he'll fetch a good price when sold..." remind Boss, and Smog has the same opinion as him.
"aye boss....." Smog answered coldly. he adjusted the handgloves slightly.
'Woooosh!'
"not good!"
'Slaaaash! Crumble!'
perceiving the danger, Rei evades hastily! as he saw the pile of boxes behind him crumble due to Smog Charge! Smog turns around against Rei. and Rei was surprised! right now there were 3 steel claws protruding from the back of each his opponent hands! similar to a certain angry wolfman on the other series he knew of!
"wolverine, huh?" remarked Rei.
"you know me?" Smog was quite stunned as he heard Rei's remarks.
not expecting Smog to answers, Rei snide with another remarks.
"i know someone with those claw."
Smog, "so, it wasn't me?"
Rei retaliate back while brandishing his Chōkuto once again. he charged towards Smog as fast as he could!
'Clank!'
'Clink!'
'Clank!'
firesparks flies everywhere as well as the sound of steel hitting each other, several times Rei got close encounter with death as Smog tried to strike his vital spot!
"hey! your boss wants me alive!" Rei exclaimed as he blocked Smog strike towards his neck once again.
"don't worry, we can reattach it." Smog answered,
"i don't think neck can be attached back right!"
"then don't die!"
'Baaaam!'
Rei stomped his foot towards Smog chests which he block with crossing his hand. Rei regained the distance and both of them began to adjust their breath during the stand off.
"this can't goes on, who is he? i thought i could do just fine in this world, and now...I'm struggled against this 'unknown' man? how can i fare against the stronger one?"
Rei thought while finding a way to defeat his opponent once more,
"earlier i can cut through the steel blade and sometimes another sword, why can't i cut through his steel gloves now? i use the same sword, kusanagi....wait, wait a minute, kusanagi sword!"
Smog condition was actualy didn't fare better as well, but he tried to hide it as he knew, this time his opponent actualy improved tremendously within the battle, one time or another Rei sword almost hit its mark! thanks to his experience he could still somehow avoid getting slashed.
Smog thought, "who is this, i don't know there is someone unknown in East Blue as strong and weird as him!"
suddenly the atmosphere around Rei changed significantly, the pirates didn't notice but Smog increase his vigilance to another level! he raised his left hand and put the right hand beside his waist.
Smog saw Rei's blade were slightly glowing, the sun was high and it could be its reflection, but Smog knew it was not it!
Rei smirked as he raised the Chōkuto above his head.
'SLAAAASH!'
Rei swung his sword downward without moving from his standing spot, Smog danger senses were warning him like crazy as he dodge by ducking away to his left!
'CRAAAAAAASH!'
the sound of broken woods roused the rest of pirates as they saw in horror when the ships main mast began to slants!
'BOOOOOOM!'
and just like that, the huge ship mast were chopped down like a tree!
Smog tried to get up, however what greeted him this time was Rei sharp sword swinging from below!
'Craash!'
he tried to dodge the attack but Rei managed to cut through his left glove! almost cutting his left hand in two
Smog rolls away tried to gain some distance, how could Rei didn't use this opportunity? he charged once again!
'Slaaash!'
"GAAAAAAH!" Smog screamed in horror as he saw Rei finaly choped off his left arm in two.
watching their deputy captain precarious situation, the pirates began to broke in cold sweat!
with a smirk Rei took Smog's limb from the floor, he scrutinized the claw with great interest, not caring about Smog at all!
and Smog knew it was game over for him, no matter how big their experience discrepancy really are, when the strength gap was too big, it was all futile!
"what's your name?" smog gritted his teeth as he staring straight to Rei as if he wanted to engraved Rei's appearance on his brain.
Rei throw back the hand towards Smog as he was hit with realization,
"ah! sory i haven't introduce myself properly..."
Rei vanished from the spot and appeared right in front of Smog's face, he swing his fist as hard as he could!
"the name's Rei..." he finished his sentence.
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