Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

"Ding------!"

The sound of longswords clashing echoed in the air, and the powerful shockwaves stirred up the surrounding sand and dust. The shockwaves generated by the collision of the blades caused the ground beneath their feet to shatter into large areas, like blocks of tofu.

"General Esdeath, your opponent is me. You can't afford to be half-hearted before you defeat me."

After using the armor-type Imperial Armor "Winter Knight," Wood's previous physical disadvantages were completely compensated for. In this clash, Wood was not knocked away as before, but instead fought Esdeath to a standstill.

After the two separated in one strike, Esdeath watched Najenda and the others gradually disappear into the distance, and then she let loose and unleashed her full power. With a wave of her hand, a large number of ice spikes quickly condensed in front of her and eventually shot towards Wood!

There were so many ice spikes that even Wood's swordsmanship couldn't completely defend against them. However, when an ice spike missed its mark and struck Wood's armor, it shattered instantly, causing him no damage whatsoever.

“Our Imperial Arms are poorly suited. Ice Dragon Skasa is a dragon-shaped Dangerous Species that inhabits extremely cold places. Ice abilities are simply useless to it.”

Chapter 401 New Members: The Assassination Organization Night Raid is Established!

Wood's Imperial Arms is made from materials of dragon-shaped dangerous species that inhabit extremely cold lands, and is forged from millennia-old cold iron. Putting aside its physical defense, Wood has absolute confidence in its ability to resist the extreme cold.

"Forged from dangerous materials from places of extreme cold, so what?"

I grew up in the northern border region, an environment of perpetual ice and snow. The dangerous species that inhabit there are equally unafraid of the harsh cold.

However, their resilience to the cold doesn't mean they won't freeze to death. At sufficiently low temperatures, any life form will perish!

As Esdeath spoke, she waved her arm again, and countless pillars of ice began to erupt from the ground, while snowflakes began to fall from the sky...

"This time it's all my fault. I was too careless and forgot that there are dangerous creatures in the military that can fly with people. I didn't expect Esdeath to come after me personally, and I didn't expect her strength to be so great."

I shouldn't have agreed to let you come along, otherwise Wood wouldn't have..."

That evening, after a day of galloping, Najenda and Lubbock finally escaped the southwestern border region, their horses exhausted.

However, Najenda, who had just finished her escape, said this with a guilty look on her face as soon as she stopped to rest.

In her opinion, if Wood hadn't stayed behind to cover their retreat, they would never have been able to escape from Esdeath's clutches. In fact, Wood had saved her more than twice during this encounter.

"If we're talking about who harmed him, then it should be me, because I'm the one who made him join the Empire as a soldier, and I'm also the one who made him betray us."

I believe Wood. That guy didn't die so easily. He promised me, and he's never broken his word since we were kids. If he really died this time, then I…”

Before Lubbock could finish speaking, a dark figure suddenly appeared behind him and interrupted him, saying, "You'd better shut up. Don't make any more strange promises. I can't take this kind of constant harassment from you guys."

Hearing the familiar voice beside him and turning around to see the familiar figure behind him, Lubbock was immediately filled with excitement. Just as he was about to say something, he saw his dearest friend collapse to the ground, looking exhausted.

"Wood! Wood!" Upon seeing Wood suddenly collapse, Lubbock's expression of surprise froze instantly and quickly turned into panic.

"Don't worry, he's fine. He's just slightly frozen and extremely tired."

We'll prepare some hot water for him, and let him rest well for a day; he should be fine.

Seeing Wood suddenly collapse, Najenda was quite worried, but her age and experience allowed her to calm down faster than Lubbock and quickly check Wood's current physical condition.

When Wood woke up again, it was the morning of the third day. He had been in a coma and was being carried by Lubbock.

During this time, Najenda expressed that she and Lubbock could take turns carrying Wood, but she was met with the stubbornness of the green-haired boy.

Lubbock stated that Wood's injury was entirely his fault, and therefore he had to bear the current hardships.

But based on Wood's understanding of Lubbock, while Lubbock might feel some guilt after seeing Wood return safely, it was definitely not much!

The main reason Najenda wasn't allowed to carry Wood was because she was afraid that her goddess would be taken advantage of by that guy Wood.

"Is there anything I can eat? I'm starving!"

Upon waking from his coma, the first thing Wood did was ask for food.

The reason is quite simple: he first used his Teigu to fight Esdeath, then chased after Lubbock and Najenda all the way under the stars and moon, and then fell into a deep sleep for two days.

After intense fighting, traveling, and then sleeping for two days, Wood's stomach was completely empty, so it was quite normal for him to want to eat.

"Wood, you've finally woken up. Thank you so much for saving us. If it weren't for you, we would probably all have been killed by Esdeath."

Seeing that Wood had woken up safely, Najendan breathed a huge sigh of relief.

If Wood were to suffer any serious injury or fall into a coma, Najendan would likely never be able to overcome this trauma.

“Red Eyes, share some of your flesh with Wood. He is also our comrade, and the most trustworthy one at that.”

As Najenda walked, she looked at a black-haired girl walking at the front of the group and spoke.

It was only then that Wood suddenly noticed that, without knowing when, a beautiful girl with long, straight black hair, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a black sailor uniform and carrying a long sword at her waist, had appeared in their group.

Through the connection between Teigu users, Wood immediately recognized that the beautiful girl with long, straight black hair walking in front of them was also a Teigu user, and her Teigu was the long sword at her waist.

What baffled Wood even more was that this beautiful girl with long, straight black hair named Akame, who had extremely slender limbs and a perfect body proportion, was carrying a piece of meat that was almost as much lighter than herself in her arms, and she was eating with great appetite as she walked.

After hearing Najendan's words, the black-haired girl looked at Wood with a scrutinizing gaze for a moment before finally showing a hesitant expression and taking out a large piece of meat from her bosom to give to Wood.

"Since you're also one of us, I'll share some of the food with you. As long as you eat meat, you'll recover your health quickly."

Can eating meat restore health and heal injuries? If the black-haired girl in front of him had a curvaceous figure, there was no possibility that she was a cross-dresser. Wood even thought she was some rubber boy who could change size at will.

With an astonishing appetite and similar values, Wood even wondered if the other person was an "otherworldly version" of the rubber boy.

"Wood, now that you're awake, can't you get down and walk by yourself? I've been carrying you for two days straight, and I'm exhausted!"

Although Lubbock is also a Teigu user, he is not a physically strong person. After carrying Wood for two days, he had long wanted to quit.

However, Wood couldn't let the goddess Najenda carry him. As for Akame... she had only recently joined the group, and Lubbock didn't fully trust her yet. Besides, she was carrying a lot of food and simply didn't have time to carry Wood.

"Didn't you say this was the hardship you had to endure? This is nothing. My body is still very weak and can't take a long journey yet, so you'll have to suffer, little green-haired angel."

Watching Wood happily munching on a big, meaty leg behind him while wiping his greasy hands on his clothes, Lubbock was speechless with frustration.

Wood's smug and self-satisfied demeanor should completely erase any sense of guilt Lubbock might have felt before.

However, with Najenda still nearby, Lubbock had no choice but to continue serving as Wood's servant in order to maintain his image.

"Wood, how did you finally escape from Esdeath? Or did you defeat her?"

Najenda herself didn't believe the second half of the story after asking it, but she couldn't think of any possibility that Esdeath would show mercy. So maybe Wood really did defeat Esdeath?

"I lost the final battle, and now I'm retreating while conserving some of my strength."

Esdeath was also injured, but at the time, she seemed perfectly capable of giving chase, yet she chose to let me go.

That's right, in the battle between Wood and Esdeath, Wood ultimately lost.

Because this world lacks a magical environment, Wood's magic is unusable, which greatly diminishes his power.

In terms of physical strength, Esdeath, that monster woman, is stronger than him. Wood's only advantage is his swordsmanship. In other aspects, such as combat experience and skills, Esdeath, who has been fighting for many years, is in no way inferior to him.

Because she drank all the "Demon's Essence", Esdeath's Teigu was far stronger than the others. Even though Wood's Teigu was somewhat effective against her, it still did not gain her any advantage.

If it hadn't been nightfall, allowing Wood's blessing "Blessing of the Moon" to take effect, and if he hadn't been fighting to protect Lubbock and Najenda, thus fulfilling the activation conditions of the blessing "Knight's Glory," he probably wouldn't have simply returned from exhaustion.

Without the buffs from these two enhancements, Wood's best outcome in that previous battle would probably have been losing a few parts.

However, although Esdeath was very strong, through this battle, Wood felt that she was not so strong as to be devastating.

Wood believed that if he used the "Heart of God" while using the Imperial Arms, he would still have a good chance of winning.

Of course, this is on the premise that Esdeath did not hold back her strength in the previous battle, such as using the "secret techniques" of her Imperial Arms...

"There's no need to be discouraged. The fact that you managed to escape Esdeath unscathed and even injure her is already quite remarkable."

With your current strength, you could definitely rank among the top three in the entire empire.

Besides, you're still so young; you might have a chance to defeat Esdeath in the future.

This was not Najenda's consolation or flattery, but rather her genuine belief.

She used to think that one monster like Esdeath was outrageous enough, but now another one, Wood, has appeared.

After Wood finished recounting his battle with Esdeath, Najenda explained to him what happened to them after Wood fell into a coma.

Upon learning of the betrayal of former Imperial General Najendan and her intention to join the rebel army, the Empire naturally dispatched assassins to stop her.

Najenda is a general of the Empire. Her personal strength and strategy are one aspect, but more importantly, she is extremely familiar with the Empire's army and the defenses of the capital.

If such a person were to join the rebel army, he would undoubtedly become a major enemy of the empire, so the empire naturally dispatched its most elite assassins.

The assassin was Akame, the black-haired beauty standing in front of Wood and his group. Akame originally belonged to the Empire's assassination squad "Elite Seven" and was known as one of the most vicious assassins in the legend.

The Imperial Arm he wields is "One-Slash Kill: Murasame," which has the effect that if someone is cut by this cursed sword, they will be infected with a cursed poison from the wound and die quickly, with no antidote.

With her awe-inspiring abilities and impressive swordsmanship, Akame's reputation as the most ruthless assassin is well-deserved.

Akame was originally ordered to stop Najenda and Lubbock, but she was eventually turned by Najenda and became their ally.

Akame was easily turned not because Najenda was capable of being bisexual, but because Akame, having completed countless burial missions, had long since gained a deep understanding of the Empire's darkness.

Thinking of her old friends and the scenes from the past, Akame came to her senses after Najenda's words of advice.

Esdeath's attempt to stop them failed, Akame, the Empire's top assassin, was turned against them, and the Empire ultimately had no choice but to give up on Najenda and her group's attempt to kill them.

After arriving at the rebel army, because Najenda herself was very familiar with the Imperial Capital, and because Wood and the others were all elites who had mastered Imperial Arms, they were entrusted to infiltrate the Imperial Capital.

On one hand, the rebels needed informants to report on the situation in the Empire at any time. On the other hand, Najendan and her group, who were lurking in the capital, could teach the corrupt bureaucrats of the Empire a lesson through assassination.

While creating chaos in the empire, we'll also take the opportunity to clean up some of the empire's garbage and rats.

Upon returning to the capital, Najenda established an assassination organization called Night Raid, which gradually grew from just four members at the beginning.

Mine, a petite loli with pink twin ponytails, has a proud and arrogant personality. She also inherited Najenda's Teigu "Romantic Turret Pumpkin" because of her great shooting talent.

Leone, a bold and outgoing older sister with large breasts. She grew up in the slums of the Imperial Capital, and the Teigu she uses was bought at a bargain price on the black market.