Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

Chapter 409 Wood: Shall we have a little sparring?

"So what if General Esdeath is coming back! How many days is this 'few days' exactly? Five days? Or ten days?"

The ministers are just giving us the runaround. The night raid has gone completely berserk. Who knows if I'll die in my own mansion tonight?

He himself was quite content, spending his days hiding in the palace, indulging in the old emperor's women, and receiving the same protection from the imperial guards as the young emperor. Naturally, he had no need to worry about a night raid on the palace to assassinate him.

The one who spoke was the unlucky fellow whose head had just been slammed onto the table by the minister. This guy was lucky; although the minister was a giant in size, his combat strength was obviously not high.

Although his head was split open and bleeding profusely, he thankfully did not die on the spot.

After being hit by the minister, this guy finally came to his senses. He left the palace with a few words on his face, clutching his bleeding head, leaving the others looking at each other in bewilderment.

Everyone understands the logic, but what can they do? They joined the opposing faction because they valued the ministers who held great power.

And all this time, they have indeed been living a life of luxury alongside the ministers. Now, they wouldn't dare to betray them.

Now, all they can pray for is that "Night Raid" won't target them first, and that Esdeath can return to the capital as soon as possible.

"You mean Esdeath is going back to the capital soon?"

At the base where the night raid took place, Najenda, who had gathered everyone, dropped a bombshell on the crowd.

"Yes, the information should be correct. A key member of the minister's faction informed me of this information through some channel."

Najenda took a drag of her cigarette, her expression turning slightly serious. She knew better than anyone what Esdeath's return to the capital meant.

"A member of the ministerial faction? Can you trust what such a guy says?"

And is Esdeath really as strong as the rumors say? Even if she is strong, she's just one person..."

"Never underestimate Esdeath; her strength far exceeds your imagination."

Moreover, comparing numbers alone is meaningless to her; she once single-handedly annihilated an elite alien force of over ten thousand men in the southwest.

Before Mine could finish speaking, Najenda interrupted her.

Apart from Wood, Lubbock, and a few others, none of the others in the night raid had ever seen Esdeath fight.

Even Akame and Brand, who once served in the Empire, had only heard of Esdeath's power, but had never seen it in person.

"Single-handedly annihilated a 10,000-strong alien army in the southwest in an instant... Is that guy even human?"

Mine is also one of the ethnic minorities on the border, but they are a weak and bullied tribe. The southwestern border that Najenda mentioned is inhabited by fierce and powerful foreign tribes, which is why they have been attacking the empire's borders for many years.

But this powerful alien race was able to instantly annihilate an army of over ten thousand! This is not just a matter of strength; it's a true monster-level feat!

"The source of the information should be correct. The minister's faction that leaked the information voluntarily donated most of their family property and became an inside agent for the revolutionary army. Now they only hope to survive and not become one of the assassination targets."

For nobles who value money above all else, their willingness to donate vast sums of money signifies a complete disregard for consequences.

Moreover, having proactively revealed such crucial intelligence to "Night Raid," it's likely that the ministers will no longer tolerate them, and there's absolutely no turning back now.

"We don't have accurate information about when Esdeath will return, but for the time being, it's best for us to lie low and avoid going to the capital."

Knowing Esdeath's personality, she won't stay in the capital for long. We'll continue our operation after she leaves.

It wasn't that Najenda was too cowardly, but rather that Esdeath had left such a deep shadow on her.

To put it bluntly, if they go out on missions in pairs during the Night Raids and encounter Esdeath, apart from Wood, the others will almost certainly not come back alive.

Akame's Imperial Arms is very strong, but it's her last resort. Even if Akame uses her last resort, she might not be a match for Esdeath.

The time is not yet ripe, and Najenda does not want to engage in a direct confrontation with Esdeath for the time being.

After Najenda dismissed the group, the Night Raid members did not leave but instead began chatting.

The person they talked about the most was Esdeath, whom even Najenda was very wary of.

"Brother Brand, is that general named Esdeath really as strong as the BOSS said?"

Tatsumi has been with Night Raid for about a month now, and he's matured a lot since then, with his strength increasing at a rate that grows daily.

First, he killed the minister's cousin, and then he killed the murderer Zank, who possessed the Imperial Arm "Five Visions of All Powers". So the rookie boy has been a little arrogant lately.

In his view, no matter how strong Esdeath was, she was just a Teigu user, while everyone else on their Night Raid side, except for himself, was a Teigu user.

Brand and Wood's strength is undeniable, and Akame is also incredibly powerful. With such a lineup, is it really necessary for them to be wary of an Imperial General?

In fact, Tatsumi wasn't the only one with similar thoughts; even the belligerent Leone punched with her right fist and left palm, looking quite like she wanted to challenge Esdeath to a duel.

"The BOSS isn't talking nonsense. Esdeath is really strong. Back when we first defected to the Empire, she was the one who came after us."

When the BOSS and I faced each other, we were almost powerless to fight back. In the end, Wood stayed behind to cover our retreat, and we were able to escape.

After that battle, Wood, who had miraculously survived, was unconscious for nearly a day and a night due to exhaustion. Anyway, Esdeath could easily take on a hundred or so guys like Tatsumi single-handedly without much trouble.

Lubbock, who had been leaning against the wall, suddenly spoke up, hoping that his companions would not do anything foolish and go to Esdeath to be killed.

"That's equivalent to about a hundred of me..." Tatsumi pointed at himself, never expecting that he would one day be reduced to a unit of measurement for combat power.

"Since you're all so curious about Esdeath's strength, and you're all free right now, why don't we have a spar?"

"Come to think of it, after being companions for so long, we haven't really had much of a competition between ourselves, have we?"

Seeing the expressions on Tatsumi's and Leone's faces, especially Leone's, Wood knew that no matter what Najenda and Lubbock said, Leone, who was very strong-willed at heart, was still somewhat unconvinced.

To prevent Leone from being overly competitive and challenging Esdeath alone in the future, leaving Wood and his companions to collect her corpse, Wood felt it was important to make his friends clearly understand the difference in strength.

"That's a good suggestion. I've been wanting to compete with you for a long time!"

"Let me join in too, consider it today's extra training!"

As soon as Wood finished speaking, Leone and Brand nodded in agreement without hesitation. Judging from their eager expressions, they had been looking forward to this moment for quite some time.

Everyone in "Night Raid" knows that Wood is very strong, but he is also very low-key. Even his comrades rarely see him make a move.

Furthermore, the targets they assassinated were never particularly powerful figures, so Brand and his crew's understanding of Wood's strength was mostly based on hearsay.

They wanted to spar with Wood, but he always found some excuse to run away. Plus, it wasn't good for the two of them to get serious, so Leone and Brand, who were both very competitive, had been suppressing their fighting spirit.

Now that Wood has taken the initiative to propose a sparring match, Leone and Brand naturally won't refuse. In fact, they're quite excited.

"Is this really a good idea? Isn't it said that if two Teigu users fight, one of them will inevitably die?"

Seeing Leone and Brand, who were full of fighting spirit, Tatsumi couldn't help but recall what he had told Zank, the God Armor User, and his companions about the Iron Law of the Teigu.

"If it's just a normal sparring match, and not with any murderous intent, then it's fine," Akame explained to Tatsumi, taking a step forward as if to join the sparring.

Mine and Hill were initially not very interested, but seeing that Akame and Leone were involved, and that they also wanted to find out through Wood just how strong Esdeath, whom Najenda was so wary of, really was.

As for Lubbock, he leaned against the wall and said, "I'll pass on my part. I know Esdeath's strength quite well, so there's no need to confirm it further."

Lubbock shrugged, indicating that he would not participate in the sparring. Partly because he was well aware of Esdeath's strength, and partly because he didn't want to be brutally defeated by Wood.

While others had only a vague understanding of Wood's strength, Lubbock, Wood's childhood friend, clearly knew what kind of monster he was.

He had only just recovered from the injuries he sustained a few days ago when Leone beat him up for peeping, and he certainly didn't want to get hurt again from a sparring match.

"Brand, are you going to go first, or should I go first?"

Seeing Brand, who also looked ready to fight, Leone asked directly. Wood didn't have many opportunities to make a move. Although Leone was eager for Wood to fight, he thought it would be good to let Brand test Wood's strength first.

"No need for that. It's fine if you all come together."

"Of course, if you use Imperial Arms, then to avoid being ganged up on and killed, I will also use an Imperial Arms."

Upon hearing Wood's words, all the Night Raid members present showed expressions of displeasure.

Undeniably, they acknowledged Wood's strength, but for him to challenge their entire group alone was far too arrogant.

"Wood, what are you talking about...?"

Before the hot-tempered Leone could finish speaking, Wood suddenly disappeared from her sight. Just as her beast-like instincts sensed danger again, Wood appeared behind her without warning and, in the instant she turned around, threw a straight punch at her face!

Seeing the fist hurtling through the air as it came towards him, Leone's only reaction was to cross his arms in front of him.

"boom------!"

The moment Wood's fist struck Leone's arms, a huge shockwave swept around. Although Leone managed to block Wood's attack in a hurry, he couldn't be said to have completely blocked it, because the next second his body was sent flying backward at high speed like a cannonball, smashing through the wall next to him.

"Do you understand now? I'm letting you all come at me together not because I'm arrogant, but because of my own strength. If you choose to fight one-on-one, you probably won't last more than a few rounds against me before the battle ends."

Seeing Leone sent flying by a single punch, everyone present at Night Raid was stunned. Excluding Brand and Akame, Leone was probably the most skilled in close combat among them.

Yet Leone, this very same person, was instantly suppressed by Wood and even sent flying with a single punch.

To put it bluntly, if Wood had attacked Hill, Mine, or even Tatsumi instead of Leone, they would probably be unable to fight now.

After all, not everyone can possess Leone's beastly instincts and reflexes.

Almost within moments of Leone being knocked away, another figure quickly approached Wood, drew his longsword, and slashed down at Wood.

"Ding------!"

The sword and blade clashed in mid-air, producing not only a crisp metallic clang but also sparks flying everywhere.

"Using weapons is fine, after all, I'm better at using weapons than hand-to-hand combat."

Brand, holding the still-unopened Imperial Arms "Demon's Embrace" in both hands, clashed and locked in mid-air with Wood's Imperial Arms "Winter Knight" held in one hand, and looked at Wood's face with a fighting spirit as he spoke.

"I don't need to worry about anything. I'm much better at using swords than hand-to-hand combat."

Speaking of which, our Imperial Arms are actually the same type. And if I remember correctly, Brand, your most proficient weapon isn't a sword, but a spear, right?

"Demon Possession: Control Armor" is the Teigu that Brand possesses. Like Wood's Teigu, Brand's Teigu is also an armor-type Teigu.