Seeing Lindbergh back away as I kicked off their air, propelling myself toward, I clicked my tongue in annoyance while evading the numerous projectiles he shot at me; now that I wasn't carrying four people, it was considerably easier to dodge. Still, I had to be careful; I was only even able to do this because Freyja had used her succubus abilities on me, and I don't know how or when it'll run out.
'I just hope my strength starts to dwindle away slowly; otherwise, I'm going to be in even more trouble than I already am.' Thought Diddy with a slight frown as he blocked a continuous stream of liquid nitrogen with his bo-staff.
"Heh, what's this Lindbergh? What happened to fighting like a Mink and showing honor?" Questioned Diddy as he dashed toward Lindbergh while brandishing his bo-staff, though Lindbergh's clunky-looking jetpack was surprisingly agile, allowing him to outspeed Diddy.
"I see no point fighting with the honor of a Mink if my enemy won't do the same; you're fleeing like a coward, yet such a thing wasn't ever surprising. You may be a Mink, but you're also a pirate; when has a pirate ever been honorable or trustworthy?" Replied Lindbergh solemnly as he speedily flew through the air while constantly shooting at Diddy, keeping him just out of reach, which forced him to stay on the defensive.
"Hehe, touché; I'm not that honorable, having lived my younger days in a deadly forest; if I were honorable, I would've long since been killed and eaten. However, I will say I'm decently trustworthy; if I say I'm going to do something, I'll do it." Stated Diddy with a brazen grin as he continuously evaded or blocked Lindbergh's attack, and despite his annoyance, he was quite satisfied with this outcome.
'It's irritating how he keeps me just out of my effective attacking range; at this distance, even though I could attack him, he'll have plenty of time to react. It's annoying, but it's fine; I just need to stall him, not defeat him, and for Mini, well, I intended to kill him today, but I'll let him live for now.' Thought Diddy with a slight frown as he chased after Lindbergh despite his attempts being for naught, wanting to keep his attention locked onto him while his crew sailed away.
'Captain, we've gotten some distance away from Centaurea. Will you be returning, or have you still not finished dealing with Lindbergh and Mini?' Asked Sebas, his voice suddenly appearing in Diddy's mind, though unlike last time, it didn't interfere with his battle.
'Good, and no, I haven't finished dealing with Lindbergh, though I'll get rid of him in a minute.' Replied Diddy as he tilted his head to the side, barely managing to dodge the pressurized stream of liquid nitrogen.
'Should we stop and wait for you then, Captain?' Said Sebas lightly as he looked at the deck below him, watching Trenza tend to Grand, Scar, and Freyja, all of whom were seriously injured, with Grand being in the best shape despite the four large bloody gashes on his chest.
'No, continue sailing; I'll catch up with you all soon.' Said Diddy before forcefully cutting off the connection between him and Sebas, allowing him to thoroughly focus on the situation at hand.
This fight, or I should say, this cat and mouse chase, hasn't been occurring for long, only a few minutes, but even so, with how I am currently, it's feeling like hours; however, what got me curious, was that I still didn't sense Mini's presence.
'I know we left him in the dust, but he should've gotten close enough to where we could at least discern his presence.' Thought Diddy with a slight frown, though after sporting a thoughtful expression for some time, he suddenly smirked.
'Heh, I can try that; not a bad idea.' Mused Diddy with a clever smirk as he dodged another volley of bullet-sized projectiles.
"We've been fighting for some time, Lindbergh, but where's your side-kick, Mini? He should've arrived here by now unless he decided to turn around and do something he deemed more important." Remarked Diddy with an innuendo, his words causing Lindbergh to squint his eyes, though not like anyone could see with his goggles on.
"Vice-admiral Mini was never on my side; we merely made an unspoken agreement to deal with you before fighting each other. Also, I know what you're suggesting, so there's no need to be so cryptic; it won't work, though, as I'll simply kill you before that happens." Stated Lindbergh with a slight frown as he gently shook his head before suddenly becoming more aggressive, pushing Diddy into a corner, and his diminishing strength wasn't helping him either.
"Hehe, if you know what I'm suggesting, then you should hurry up and chase after him; I've got no doubt you can kill me, but how long will that take you? I'm not going to go down easily, so by the time you've managed to finally kill me, Mini may have very well killed your entire army. I'm sure that'll be a massive setback to whatever you intended to do in Centaurea." Replied Diddy with a devilish smirk as he did something surprising and suddenly propelled himself away from Lindbergh, momentarily catching him off guard.
"Haha, now I wonder: how long will it take you to kill me if I decide to flee for the remainder of my life? 10 minutes? 15? 20? Hehe, I'm afraid by then, Mini will have already claimed victory over your army." Said Diddy with a chaotic laugh as he dashed away from Lindbergh, who broke out of his stupor and chased after him, much to his anger.
"Are you really doing something so cowardly!? Aren't you a Mink!" Yelled Lindbergh angrily as he chased after Diddy, and although he was faster than him, catching someone who was trying their hardest to flee from you while also not carrying four people was quite difficult.
"Don't forget I'm a pirate as well, Lindbergh! We're not honorable or trustworthy! So which will it be, Lindbergh? Is it my death, or is it your army and assigned task? Which is more important?" Questioned Diddy with a grin as he fled from Lindbergh, dodging the bullet-sized projectiles and making sharp turns whenever he got close, allowing him to just narrowly escape his grasp.
Although I said all this as if I had the upper hand, Freyja's ability was beginning to wear off, and I could feel my body start to weaken rapidly. If Lindbergh decided to continue chasing after me, he wouldn't need to wait long before I fainted again, allowing him to easily kill me while also managing to stop Mini from causing any serious damage to his army. However, unluckily for him, having spent multiple years being forced to hide my lust from Freyja, I've gotten quite good at acting when the time arises, so to Lindbergh, I looked to be in perfectly good health, at least, I looked like I was still had plenty of stamina remaining.
Eventually, it seemed my gamble had paid off as Lindbergh suddenly stopped chasing me, causing me to also stop at a distance and eye him, smirking when I spotted his irritated expression.
"Tch, you've won, Chaos Kong; my army and task are more important than sacrificing them to kill you. Just know if we ever meet again, things will be different." Said Lindbergh angrily as he glared at Diddy before turning around and flying back towards Centaurea, leaving Diddy all alone.
"Hehe, the g-gamble w-was a s-success." Muttered Diddy weakly, his strong facade vanishing as he started heavily gasping for air.
I watched him leave for a few seconds before I, myself, also turned around and used geppo as I propelled further out to sea, though as the seconds passed, my declining strength only made it more difficult; just when I thought I was about to pass out in the middle of the ocean, I spotted my ship in the distance.
Seeing my ship renowned me with vigor and using the remaining strength I had left, I swiftly propelled myself towards it, though as I got closer, my vision got progressively blurry, my hearing weaker, and smells became fainter by the second, which were all indications that I was about to faint once more.
Locking my feet together, I powerfully kicked off the air behind me, causing me to break through the sound barrier as I launched myself towards the ship, just in time before darkness and silence consumed me.
'Hehe, that was fun.' Mused Diddy with a grin, his last thought before he fell into a deep slumber as his body neared the ship at incredible speeds.
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"Father, I think you can take it easy now; we're quite far away from Centaurea; I can't even see its silhouette anymore. Besides, we still need to wait for Captain; he wasn't in good shape, and considering how much blood he lost, he may have fainted in the middle of the s-" Said Trenza as he approached Sebas, who was standing on the upper deck in a weird stance, after having just finished tending to Freyja, Scar, and Grand; thorough before she could finish speaking, something suddenly crashed into ship's deck, frightening her.
"Ahh! Cannon fire!?" Yelled Trenza as she searched for any ships, though when she noticed no boats in the vicinity, she looked at the large dent on the ship's deck in confusion.
"No, it was Captain; he's unconscious but alive. Could you be a dear and tend to him, Trenza? Your Father is quite exhausted; manipulating the wind to push the boat was quite mentally draining." Said Sebas with relief, allowing the exhaustion to finally set in as he exited from his stance and sat at the helm, wiping the sweat off his face with a handkerchief.
"Captain!?" Exclaimed Trenza with widened eyes as she ran down the stairs, swiftly approaching the dent, only to see an unconscious, wounded, and exhausted Diddy lying on one wooden plank that managed to survive the crash.
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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, [https://discord.gg/TGc9yymDJP]
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Elven Legacy (Chapter 181: Problems Arise) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 62: Talis's Present!) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 99: Seven Routes) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]