Watching from the top of the slope, Luffy and the others were completely stunned.
"Th-that's… insane…"
Usopp's mouth hung open, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.
"That's dozens of vicious pirates… why do they look like a bunch of rag dolls in front of Ronan?"
Nami covered her mouth as well, her eyes full of shock.
"So this is… Ronan's real strength? That iron spear looks lighter than a feather in his hands, yet heavier than a cannon when it strikes."
Zoro's gaze was locked onto Ronan's every movement. His hand trembled slightly—not from fear, but excitement.
"It's not that the spear is light,"
Zoro said, eyes flashing. As a swordsman, he could see the truth.
"Every strike he makes isn't using arm strength—it's his entire body. Power rising from the spine, carried straight through to the spear tip. This is what he meant by… martial arts?"
At the center of the battlefield—
Ronan snapped his spear, shaking off the blood clinging to the tip.
Alone, spear in hand, he stood halfway down the slope. More than twenty pirate corpses lay scattered at his feet.
He slowly lifted his head. The calm in his eyes had been ignited by battle intent, and the iron spear in his hand pointed distantly toward Jango and Buchi at the bottom of the slope.
"Next," Ronan said evenly.
"Who's coming?"
The sea wind howled along the slope, thick with the stench of blood as it threaded through the narrow rock walls.
The once-deafening shouts had vanished. All that remained were the groans of the wounded and the steady crash of waves against the shore.
Ronan alone, spear in hand, stood amid scattered bodies like a gate-guarding war god, blocking the Black Cat Pirates' only path into the village.
At the bottom of the slope, Jango pushed up his heart-shaped glasses, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Staring at Ronan—who looked like an Asura incarnate—he swallowed hard and turned toward the two oddly shaped figures beside him: the Black Cat Pirates' Cat Brothers.
"Buchi. Sham!"
Jango's voice trembled, but his command was firm.
"You saw it yourselves—this kid's a tough one. But Captain Kuro's plan cannot fail. No matter what, we must get past this slope. Take him down!"
At the top of the slope, Nami stared grimly at the three remaining enemies below.
Their numbers were few now, yet the pressure they gave off was even heavier.
"Ronan, be careful!"
she shouted, tension in her voice.
"These three aren't like the trash before—every one of them has a high bounty!"
Nearby, Usopp's hand shook as he held his slingshot. The moment he heard high bounty, his face went deathly pale.
"H-how… how much?"
Nami took a breath, rifling through the bounty data in her mind.
"That hypnotist with the glasses—Jango—nine million Beli. And the Cat Brothers… each one is a ruthless seven million."
"Se-seven million?!"
Usopp's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His legs went weak, and he almost collapsed.
"That's over twenty million combined! How is this even winnable?!"
Panicking, he looked to Luffy and Zoro—only to find them completely relaxed, watching like spectators.
"H-hey! Luffy! Zoro!"
Usopp shouted urgently.
"You're not going to help?! Can Ronan really handle this alone? Those are three bounty-level monsters!"
Zoro sat cross-legged on a rock, Wado Ichimonji resting across his lap. A faint, confident smile curved his lips.
"Opponents like this are just sharpening stones for Ronan at this point. Leave it to him. What do you think, Luffy?"
Luffy pressed down on his straw hat, flashing a huge grin, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"Heehee—Ronan looks like he's having a blast! I wanna watch his show!"
...
Back on the battlefield.
Ronan calmly watched the Cat Brothers step forward. To someone who had awakened Observation Haki, these two infamous East Blue pirates were no longer threats—only perfect living training dummies.
Among them, Sham—the hunched, gaunt one—slowly walked toward Ronan.
He moved without a sound, like a real cat. His eyes glinted with cunning and cruelty.
"Hey, kid…"
Sham let out a sharp, eerie laugh, licking the claws on his gloves.
"Looked like you were enjoying yourself just now. Guess you really do have some skill."
Before the words even finished—
Sham vanished.
Without warning, the gravel beneath his feet exploded outward.
His entire body became a gray blur, skimming low across the ground as he lunged straight for Ronan at terrifying speed.
"So fast!" Usopp cried out from the top of the slope.
Yet in the face of this lightning attack, Ronan did something no one expected.
Clang!
With a reverse motion, he drove the iron spear into a crack in the rock beside him. The spear sank three inches into stone, buzzing violently.
Empty-handed, Ronan calmly assumed the opening stance of Xingyi Quan, his expression serene as he watched the direction Sham had disappeared toward.
"A speed-type, huh…"
he murmured, a playful curve touching his lips.
"Perfect. For someone who just awakened Observation Haki, you're the best sparring partner I could ask for."
He had put the spear away for a reason.
That weapon was simply too lethal. Within the reach of a zhang-eight spear, Sham wouldn't even get close before being skewered.
And if the fight ended too quickly, how could Ronan take advantage of the triple cultivation multiplier from combat mode to farm experience?
The instant Ronan settled into place, a shrill tearing sound ripped through the air.
Sham's figure abruptly appeared at Ronan's left, his face twisted with killing intent.
"Die, you arrogant brat!"
The sharp cat claws flashed, slashing straight for Ronan's temple.
It was so fast that, to an ordinary person, it would have looked like nothing more than a shadow.
But in Ronan's "vision," the world was completely different.
His senses expanded in an instant.
Through Observation Haki, the faint red killing intent radiating from Sham burned like a beacon, illuminating the attack trajectory half a second in advance.
This wasn't just seeing—it was foreseeing intent.
Ronan didn't move much at all. He merely tilted his head slightly, feet rooted to the ground.
Slash—
The claws that could slice stone skimmed past Ronan's nose, even severing a strand of hair from his forehead.
A hair's breadth—yet an unbridgeable gap.
"What?!"
Sham's pupils shrank. The unreal feeling of a clean miss sent a jolt through his mind.
But he was a seasoned pirate, reacting instantly.
Using his momentum, his body twisted unnaturally in midair, the other claw slashing back toward Ronan's throat.
"Too slow,"
Ronan thought calmly.
As if he had eyes on his back, he leaned his upper body backward into a perfect iron-bridge posture. The deadly claw brushed past his chin once more.
Sham landed, disbelief filling his eyes.
Gritting his teeth, he exploded forward again.
"Luck! That had to be luck!"
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