"W-What do you mean by that little one? How could an old man like me not help a child on the verge of death? I wouldn't be able to look my grandchildren in the e-" Said the Old man with a harmless smile though Diddy rudely interrupted him.
Hearing this old man lie before my face was beyond irritating, and I would've killed him this instant if it wasn't because I required information about this island or, more specifically, this world. So holding back my desire to kill him, I swiftly stretched my tail until it was tightly wrapped around his neck, suffocating him, before lifting him a few inches into the air.
"I'll give you one last chance to speak the truth before I decide to kill you; where are we, and what island are we on?" Asked Diddy while unintentionally baring his fangs, causing the suffocating old man, who was trying to escape Diddy's grip, to be filled with fear and regret.
"I-I c-can't b-breathe!" Said the squirming old man while struggling to gasp for breath.
Seeing him pathetically squirm around for air, I ignored his pleas for help and waited until he was on his last breath before releasing my grip, causing him to drop to the ground while gasping for breath.
"You're not going to make me ask again, are you? I won't be kind enough to allow you to live next time." Said Diddy as he arrived near the old man and put his foot atop his chest while applying pressure.
"W-We're in M-Martial City, on K-Karate Island, w-which is located in t-the South B-Blue." Replied the old man in between his bouts of coughing while reeling in pain from Diddy's foot on his chest.
'Karate Island? South Blue? I've never heard of Karate Island, but this world most likely isn't Earth, so that would only make sense; the South Blue, on the other hand, I don't know what that exactly is, but an island could only be located in a body of water, so I'm assuming it's either a lake or an ocean.' Thought Diddy with a pondering expression as he turned around, allowing the Oldman to stand back up.
With my back toward the Oldman, I was deep in thought, but it was forcefully interrupted as the Oldman attempted to attack me from behind, and although I didn't see the Oldman as a threat, even in my weakened state, my senses were constantly on alert simply because I'm in a weakened state; granted even if they weren't, it's not like his sneak attack would've worked.
Slightly tilting my body to the left, I eyed the fist that had just punched where my head was previously while deciding to kill the Oldman, yet I stopped myself as he seemed to be using a technique, and it looked too interesting. So with a raised eyebrow, I turned around and looked at the Oldman, who was in a stance, while more curious about his technique than why he wished to kill me.
"I knew I should've let a filthy animal like you die in that forest!" Stated the Oldman angrily as he punched Diddy while his heart powerfully pulsed in sync with his attacks.
While nimbly evading the Oldman's fists by a hair's breadth, I used this opportunity to analyze his technique, and as time went on, I began to discern the key components of his technique.
'This technique seems to focus on brute force and destructive power, which is something I'm very fond of; it also seems to cause the Oldman's heart to pulse explosively in time with the impact of his punches, allowing him to surpass his bodily limits as a result of the massive flow of adrenaline, which enables him to hit much harder than the maximum force his body would normally exert.' Pondered Diddy as he entirely deduced the martial art the Oldman used in a matter of minutes.
"Alright, I've seen enough; I must thank you for giving me such a unique technique; unlike your old self, I'll be able to use it to its full potential." Stated Diddy calmly as he evaded a punch to the face and disappeared from his spot, only to reappear standing behind the Oldman, who had suddenly stopped moving.
'Against those massive beasts, my nails were pretty useless, but against humans, or human-sized opponents, they're very useful.' Thought Diddy with a vicious smirk as he viewed his nails from his right hand, which were stained in blood.
Looking at the Oldman, I saw him profusely bleeding from his neck while attempting to stop it, but it was useless, and in a matter of seconds, all of his struggles began to die down until his life dissipated from his very body.
I didn't know what to exactly do with his corpse, but I decided just to leave it be; I had no intention of staying in this shack he called a house, not when there was probably a much better place to stay after I killed the owners.
"Well, now I've got to find another person to acquire information from." Muttered Diddy with a sigh as he entered the house, only to exit it from the front, not even bothering to ransack the place.
Now that I was outside, the first thing I noticed, besides the numerous people all wearing gi's with different colored karate belts, was that the old man's house wasn't even in the slums, which made no sense as his house was practically on the verge of collapsing.
'I'm no realtor, but wouldn't this bring down nearby property value?' Thought Diddy as he looked at the Oldman's shack and the house directly beside it, which seemed quite nice.
Anyways, it wasn't something I really cared about, so I didn't dwell on it for long and started walking down the road, which was filled with nothing but humans; not a single person looked like me. Because of that, I seemed to stand out, and it wasn't in a good way, as most people had looks of disgust, though surprisingly, I didn't notice anyone fearful of me, which is very weird as even the most docile of beasts would become terrified of me.
However, their looks didn't bother me one bit, especially since all of them were a bunch of weaklings who I could kill with a simple flick of my tail, and while I happened to come across a few strong people, it was merely when I compared them to everyone else; they were still weak before me.
While walking through the city, I noticed this place seemed to have a lot of dojos, though considering this place is called Karate Island, that makes sense; each dojo was teaching their students different martial arts, some were useless, while a few rare ones seemed quite interesting. However, while walking, I felt my stomach rumble as I got slight hunger pains; looking around, I spotted a few street vendors and a restaurant in the distance, and I was tempted to go and steal all their food; I held my desire back, as I didn't want to cause any chaos until I acquired more information, not to mention I'm still sore all over.
'Ho, I'm being followed by four people; three males and one female. This is good; I can use them to acquire more information.' Thought Diddy with a feral smirk as he turned down a deserted alley while four people followed him from behind.
"Hmm, where did that monster go? Didn't it turn down this alley?" Asked the short man wearing a gi with an orange belt around his waist while looking around in confusion.
"That thing definitely walked down here; it might just be hiding; since it's a monster, it might've noticed we were following it." Replied the buff man, who was also wearing an orange belt.
"So what if it's hiding, we were right behind it, so it's definitely nearby. We just have to find it!" Stated the tall man, wearing a yellow belt, while eyeing the two men.
"Then hurry up and find it; when you do bring it to me, I'm sure if I bring him to a merchant, I'll be able to sell it as a slave." Ordered the woman with spiky blue hair in a commanding tone while wearing a green belt.
"Yes, Senior sister!" Stated the three men simultaneously as they ran forward and started searching for Diddy amongst the various objects littered about, but before they could get far, their bodies suddenly came to a halt, then shortly later, collapsed as blood poured from their necks, scaring the woman.
After I killed the three men, I swiftly appeared before the woman, closing her mouth just as she was about to scream or make a loud noise; when she regained her bearings, she attempted to fight me off, but that, of course, wouldn't work. With a smirk, I slammed my foot on her knee, completely breaking her leg and bending it the wrong way, causing her eyes to widen as she began to cry while letting out muffled whimpers of agony.
"Now then, I can either break your other limbs, or you could answer my questions, and depending on how I feel, I might let you live." Said Diddy with a deranged smile while eyeing the terrified woman, who had no idea her death was all but guaranteed.
Seeing her quickly nod in agreement, I released her hand, not really worried about her screaming for help, because even if she did, no one in the vicinity could help her as there was no one strong enough to stop me.
___
___
"I-I told you everything I know, s-so c-can I live?" Asked the woman with teary eyes and full of fear.
"No, but I will allow you to escape; death is a good way to escape reality; it worked for me after all." Replied Diddy with a smirk, his words filling the woman with terror, but before she could do anything, large quantities of blood started pouring from a gash on her neck.
Looking at the women's corpse, I took her clothes off and wore them; though they didn't fit, they should be good enough to blend in somewhat.
'Pirates, Marines, World Government, Revolutionists? This world is completely fucked up. Hahaha, I couldn't have wished for something better; a chaos-filled world, a perfect place for me to thrive in!' Thought Diddy with an excited smile as he exited the alley and entered the city, disappearing amongst the dense crowd.
___
Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, https://discord.gg/eXBcr9DH
___
___
Elven Legacy (Chapter 135: Who Won? You Decide!) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 13: Status Panel) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 21: History of Freyja & Diddy) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]