One Piece: From Picking Up Red Hair's Broken Arm

Chapter 143 Thanks to CP9 for the gift [5.6k]

Kaido left the New World.

And he's already been photographed at the amusement park?
Who are you targeting?

"..."

Xia Nuo held the newspaper tightly, her expression subtle.

The answer seems self-evident.

"To avenge Hanafuda?"

Xia Nuo gazed at the azure dragon faintly visible in the dark clouds in the photo. "Or are you trying to lure me back?"

The two don't seem to conflict.

Kaido has always valued talent, especially those with strong physiques.

If Kaido is really after him...

The most likely scenario is that Kaido will first pull out his spiked club and beat him up to vent his anger, and then forcibly take him back to Wano Country to try and recruit him.

Shall we make a big bet, Mr. Kai?

Even if I receive the money, I won't go.

Xia Nuo closed the newspaper and tossed it onto the table; he had no habit of being subservient to others.

"The sea is vast and boundless."

Xia Nuo looked up at the sky, a smile spreading across his face.

He opened his right palm, then clenched it tightly, cracking his knuckles. "Is there any chance we'll run into each other, Kaido?"

Since his battle with Garp, he hasn't faced a top-tier powerhouse for quite some time. If he were to run into one, he could have a truly exhilarating fight...

That suits him just exactly!

……

Half an hour later.

When the final train arrived at the station, according to the previous lottery results, half of the people took the train, and the other half continued to take the final train.

Jack's 8.3-meter frame couldn't fit into the sea train at all, so he obediently stayed on the ship.

Besides taking on all the odd jobs on the ship, he spent all his time in the training room, learning physical techniques and Armament Haki according to the plan devised by Xia Nuo.

Having finally gained Lord Xia Nuo's acceptance, as a combatant, he didn't want to hold everyone back.

Currently, only Nami and Robin on the entire ship do not possess Haki, but since they are not the main combatants, it doesn't matter.

But what else can Jack do besides fight?

You can't exactly turn them into giant mammoths and become oversized emergency food...

……

With a long whistle and billowing steam, the dark green steel behemoth slowly started moving on the tracks.

Does this mean that after many years, I've finally ridden a green train again?

Sunlight streamed through the glass, illuminating the carriage with a bright and warm glow. Xia Nuo rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the window, lost in thought.

There were far more passengers than he had expected, and the bus was soon packed.

If someone could shout "Pull your legs in, beer, sunflower seeds, mineral water!" it would feel even more like the old-fashioned green-skinned snack.

"Ugh——!"

The train began to accelerate with a clanging sound, and the sea breeze howled in through the half-open window, ruffling Xia Nuo's black hair.

He squinted at the distance, where the horizon undulated in his field of vision, and occasionally a seagull would fly by, only to be quickly left behind.

"Wow, that's fast!"

Sitting next to Shano was Smoker, who lit two cigars and couldn't help but sigh:
"It's much faster than a speedboat traveling at full speed with the wind, and it's very stable. I wish all the islands in the world could be connected by this kind of transportation."

“But we have to end this chaotic era first,” Zeff laughed.

"There will come a day."

Xia Nuo spoke with a light laugh.

He turned his gaze from the car window and looked around.

They then noticed that more than half of the passengers in their carriage were wearing exaggerated masks.

"What's going on?" Smoker asked, puzzled, after noticing the situation.

"Because it's the first day of the Masked Carnival!"

A train conductor wearing a fox mask and pushing a cart passed by and explained with a grin:
"You guests are very lucky. You've just arrived in this area and just in time for the Queen's City's grandest mask festival in spring!"

"Without a mask, you can't really join in the carnival atmosphere!"

The train attendant smiled and took out several exquisite masks from the bottom of a trolley, enthusiastically promoting them:

"Ladies and gentlemen, would you like one? We have all kinds of styles, and we can even customize one for you..."

Xia Nuo quickly reached out to interrupt him.

He had been most afraid of this kind of overly enthusiastic sales pitch since his previous life.

However, what the train conductor said makes sense. Once we get to the island, everyone will be wearing masks, and if you guys aren't, it will be too conspicuous.

Especially since he had just made headlines in the newspapers and many people recognized his face.

So, a moment later.

Each of the three people and the wolf now wore an ordinary animal mask.

Ouch?

Ah Yin looked up in confusion. What's the point of putting a wolf mask on me? Isn't this just pointless?
……

As dusk fell, the train slowly pulled into the station of the City of Spring Queens.

Unlike the bustling atmosphere of a food city, this city appears exceptionally glamorous at dusk.

Towering Gothic buildings, stained-glass domes, glass lanterns hanging along the streets, and fireworks exploding in the sky every now and then...

Every aspect of it showcases the city's extravagance and revelry.

As soon as he got out of the car, Xia Nuo immediately felt the charm of the carnival.

Tens of thousands of tourists come to the island, all wearing all sorts of masks.

The dresses worn were also incredibly diverse, ranging from retro-style ornate feather ornaments and ferocious demon masks to butterfly masks studded with crystals.

On the streets, ribbons and flower petals fluttered in the air as masked revelers danced, hugged, raised their glasses, and laughed and sang.

In this atmosphere, Xia Nuo and the others, who had just set foot on the island, were also infected and became relaxed and happy.

"New guests again? Welcome to the Mask Carnival!"

A scantily clad young woman cheerfully brought over drinks, saying, "The carnival lasts for three nights, and all drinks in the city will be free. Please enjoy this feast!"

"Thank you."

They all smiled and accepted a glass of wine.

Let's explore separately.

Xia Nuo held up his wine glass and said in a rare moment of ease, "Relax to your heart's content, and meet back here at midnight."

"Yes, boss."

By then, the curtain call will have arrived, and the carnival lasts all night. They play for the first half of the night, while Kuina and the others play for the second half.

We'll head to our next stop, Water City, early tomorrow morning. We should arrive before dark. The plan is perfect.

Talk about it.

In the Queen's City of Springtime, you can leave everything behind and simply relax and have a vacation. But in the City of Water, there's more important business to attend to.

It's been almost three months since we set sail.

The curtain call has accompanied us all the way, and we have also experienced many shocks and storms.

Since we're going to that city known as the shipbuilding capital of the world, we'll need to conduct a comprehensive overhaul and, incidentally, renovate and reinforce the training room.

"Oh, right, and your flame conversion thruster."

Xia Nuo looked at Smoker, "It's been so long, how's the research and development progressing?"

"."

Smoker blushed, the smoke from his cigar unable to conceal his embarrassment:

"We tried several solutions, but they all failed. It's much more difficult to make them work on a ship the size of the Fallen Star than we expected."

He scratched his head and exhaled a smoke ring in frustration.
"The closest we came was when the thruster only lasted three minutes before overheating and exploding. If Nojiko hadn't been there to help freeze it, it would have blown a huge hole in the stern."

"After all, he's not a professional shipwright, so it's already quite good that he's done this well."

Xia Nuo laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "When we get to the Water City, we can brainstorm with the shipwrights there and hopefully find a solution."

"Ah."

Smoker nodded; he thought so too.

After a brief chat along the way, the group parted ways at the street corner.

Xia Nuo led A Yin along the main street on the north side, enjoying various song and dance performances along the way, and occasionally stopping to look up and admire the fireworks that suddenly bloomed in the night sky.

"Ok?"

He suddenly changed his expression, opened the system panel, and looked at the backpack.

At that moment, two small yellow dots, almost overlapping, were flashing on the Devil Fruit detection radar.

This means there are two Devil Fruits within a ten-kilometer radius of him, and they are right next to each other.

The radar hadn't gone off when we first entered the city.

This indicates that the two Devil Fruits were also moving, most likely carried by tourists who had just entered the city. "They're hard to find..."

Xia Nuo frowned slightly.

There are at least 100,000 people gathered in the city alone; who knows who has the Devil Fruit?

Moreover, if it was taken by pirates or gangsters, it wouldn't matter if they took it; but if it was obtained by an ordinary person, there's no reason for him to steal it.

Just go with the flow.

Xia Nuo shook his head and closed the system panel.

Just as I was about to take Ah Yin to the stall in front to buy some snacks, a high-pitched voice, like that of a child, suddenly came from behind me:

"Hey, Jabra, those two Devil Fruits are still in your bag, you didn't lose them, did you? Blah blah blah!"

Ok?
Xia Nuo paused, then turned to look.

Three men, who weren't wearing masks and therefore looked quite conspicuous, were crowding in line in front of a tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet) stall.

The person who just spoke had the same hair color as Zoro, a round body like a big ball, but slender limbs, and bore a resemblance to an owl.

The strangest part was his mouth, which was actually a yellow zipper, currently open and making a constant smacking sound:

"This operation has failed again. These two fruits were hard-won unexpected gains. We'll hand them over when we get back to Enies Lobby tomorrow, and that will offset some of our guilt. We absolutely cannot lose them, blah blah blah!"

"It's so noisy! Don't talk about this kind of thing in the street. Besides, how could I possibly make a mistake on something so simple? Stop nagging!"

The middle-aged man in the middle, referred to as Gabra, could no longer contain himself and turned around to shout.

He was of normal build, dressed in a black martial arts uniform with his chest exposed. At that moment, he was stroking his long mustache, frowning as he pondered deeply.
"More importantly, why did this plan fail? It doesn't make sense. We were just escorting two high-ranking government officials, and we kept it so secret and discreet the whole time. How could we still be targeted by assassins..."

"Because I let it slip again, blah blah blah! When we were drinking at the dock, the bartender asked me who those two people were, and I just told him everything loudly, blah blah blah!"

"What??!!!"

Incredulous and filled with grief and rage, Gabra grabbed the other man by the collar and shook him violently. "So it's you again, Otonashi Owl!"

"When are you going to get rid of this habit of not keeping a secret? What are you going to do with that zipper? We're government agents who need to keep secrets, you bastard!"

"But it's not right for you to be so loud. That man with the big dog is just staring at us without moving, beep beep beep!"

"They're just passersby, let's ignore them." The person on the far right, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up.

He was large and stout, with long, pinkish-white hair and a face thickly covered in white foundation. He drew a short blade, his expression solemn and grave.
"Since the mission failed because of my comrades' mistake, I have no face to continue living in this world. I will commit seppuku to atone for my sins!"

“Kati…” Otonashi Owl was so moved that tears almost fell from his eyes.

He raised his hand to indicate that there was no need for him to cry, then gripped the short blade tightly with his other hand and forcefully stabbed it into his own abdomen.

"Iron!"

With a dull metallic clang, the knife tip was stopped outside the abdomen, failing to even pierce the skin.

"What a pity, it's completely indestructible, yo yo yi!"

"You can die too, you bastard!!!" Gabra's temples throbbed with veins. What sins did he commit in his past life to end up in a team with these two guys!

In contrast.

Lucci and Kalifa were thrown into the Water Seven to work as boatmen, which is an enviable job!

Fortunately, at this moment, the stall owner, an old lady, finally finished frying their portion and handed it over with trembling hands. The three of them each held a tamagoyaki, blowing on it as they walked towards the alley next door.

As Xia Nuo watched the three figures disappear into the distance, a slight smile finally appeared on the corner of her mouth, which had been hidden behind her mask.

"Is this what nature has given us...?"

It was served right on my face.

Is there such a good thing?

The Snow-Snow Fruit was only obtained after Wapol was killed, and the Flame-Flame Fruit was found by everyone searching through the ruins for a long time.

And now...

He chuckled mischievously, like a little girl about to snatch candy from a creepy old man, and ordered a tamagoyaki for Ah Yin as well, leaving it in line at the stall. He then followed the three men into the dimly lit alley...

…………

Deep in the alley, the CP9 trio sat by the wall, enjoying tamagoyaki without any suspicion.

"Hmm, it tastes pretty good." Gabra chewed heartily. "But compared to the frustration of failing the mission, this little bit of food can't make up for it..."

"Don't think too much about it. You should be used to it by now, right? Anyway, as long as it's not a particularly important mission, we won't be kicked out, blah blah blah!"

With its mouth full of food, Otonashi Owl mumbled, "By the way, speaking of which, Kugatori, could you share half of your tamagoyaki with me? I don't have enough, chirp chirp!"

"Eat as much as you want, life is short, so enjoy it while you can... Oh dear!" Wei Qu looked sorrowful, but still used his fork to cut out half of it and poured it over.

As the group was engrossed in their meal, they suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

"You all seem to be enjoying your meal."

A light, airy voice came from behind, and the three of them froze, turning around abruptly—

A black-haired boy wearing a white mask leaned against the wall, the moonlight casting a long shadow of him.

"Hey, do you recognize me?" the boy asked with a smile.

"Oh! It's that guy walking his dog earlier!" The owl scratched its head. "Do you want some tamagoyaki too? But I don't have enough for myself, so I can't give you any, chirp chirp!"

"I'm not interested in that."

The mask was indeed useful; if they didn't recognize her, that was easy. Xia Nuo smiled and pointed to the bulging bundle at Gabra's waist. "But I'm quite interested in the things in your bag."

"Oh no!" Owl instinctively covered his mouth with his zipper. "He heard it! Chirp chirp chirp!"

"What's the point of zipping it up now, you idiot!"

Gabra was so angry he almost vomited blood. "Isn't it all because you were shouting and yelling in the street that you attracted this audacious brat?"

snort!
He tossed aside the tamagoyaki in his hand, slowly stood up, and looked up at Xia Nuo. His muscles bulged beneath his black martial arts uniform, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
"Hey kid, didn't your family tell you that there are many people on the high seas you can't mess with? You even dare to mess with us, do you even know who we are..."

"I know, blah blah blah!"

The owl raised its right hand high. "I am CP9 secret agent Otonashi Owl, with a power level of 600. The one next to me, Kuga, is about the same, with a power level of 610. This man threatening you is called Jabra. He's very strong! Just a little weaker than Lucci. He's a Dog-Dog Fruit user—Wolf Form, and also the leader of the three of us, with a power level of 1900..."

"You might as well just tell me the color of my underwear!!"

Gabra, tears streaming down his face, pinched the owl's cheeks and roared, "That's too detailed! Who introduces themselves like that?!"

That troublesome idiot! That big idiot!
And what do you mean by "only worse than Lucci"? He would never admit defeat or bow down to that man!
Eh, Dao power value?
Xia Nuo was stunned for a moment.

He almost forgot about this thing. What era is this? It's an ancient setting that's been thrown into the trash heap.

"Nobody cares about this except for you few."

Watching this farce unfold, Xia Nuo rubbed his temples in exasperation. "Alright, just hand over the fruit obediently, or you'll avoid getting a beating."

"Looks like he doesn't know what CP-9 is, oh well..."

Gabra released his grip on the owl, glanced at him coldly, and said, "How can you expect an ignorant country bumpkin like you to know what the government's most secret departments are?"

The voice just fell.

"shave!"

His figure vanished from his spot in an instant, appearing behind Xia Nuo the next second, his right hand, fingers pressed together like a knife, aimed straight for her back with a sharp whistling sound—

"Point gun!"

However, just as his fingertips were about to touch Xia Nuo's coat, his wrist was firmly gripped by a long, strong hand, making it impossible for him to advance even an inch.

how come? !

Gabra's pupils contracted, still not having reacted.

Click!

A crisp cracking sound rang out as Gabra's wrist bone was crushed. He groaned, cold sweat instantly beading on his forehead, but he gritted his teeth and endured the excruciating pain, his left leg sweeping out like a whip—

Storm Kick - Wolf Fang!

A pale blue slash wave, shaped like a crescent moon, roared out, but it dissipated like a bubble the moment it touched Xia Nuo's body.

Something is wrong with this guy!
Jabra's eyes widened in shock, realizing that he had encountered a formidable enemy he had never faced before, and he immediately activated his Devil Fruit ability without hesitation.

His entire body swelled rapidly, and thick hair grew all over his body, threatening to transform him into a werewolf several meters tall...

"——Ouch!"

A wolf's howl suddenly came from the alley entrance!
Gabra's legs suddenly gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

He arched his back in agony, and the beastly transformation of his body abruptly ceased, his body shrinking back to its original state, as if the wolf within him had been terrified and was resisting its escape from fear.

Xia Nuo paused in her steps.

Did I ask you to interfere? Go eat your tamagoyaki!

He glanced disapprovingly at the alley entrance, where the once majestic wolf king immediately shrank back and obediently retreated.

"Gabra!"

Otonashi Owl and Kuchiri were both shocked and angry upon seeing this, and shouted at the same time.

"Bah! You bastard!" The Otori owl angrily spread its five fingers. "Watch this move of mine, I started practicing it when I was twelve years old, and its name is—"

Boom!
Xia Nuo's figure appeared in front of him like a ghost, and with a casual kick, the Otonashi Owl's eyes rolled back and it fell backward.

"Damn it, owl! Hang in there a little longer! Life Return - Hair Binding Technique!"

Wei Qu let out a loud cry, and his full head of white hair suddenly grew wildly, wrapping around Xia Nuo like a living thing!

However, the next second, after Xia Nuo glanced at him, countless black hairs also grew from the top of her head, twisted together, and rolled forward, cutting off all the hairs that had been gathered up by the roots.

"Yo yo ee?!"

Kuchiki touched his bald head in shock. "You've become a monk? You can actually return to life? How is that possible!"

Xia Nuo ignored him, slowly walked to the middle of the three, and bent down to pick up the bundle that Gabra had dropped.

He untied the ribbon, and two oddly shaped Devil Fruits rolled out and were held in his palm.

(End of this chapter)