Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 927: Chapter 926: Rumble Ball and the Excited Bat-Man

”You dumb moss head! Get off me now!”

The recent battle was actually very brief, lasting just a moment, but now the four main forces on the ship were successfully wiped out by the Bat Man.

A Zoan-type Ability User who can fly freely and is well-versed in dual Haki is a tougher opponent for the likes of the Straw Hats than even Crocodile.

Until old Croc successfully reevaluates himself and gets a version update buff, he is no match for the Bat Man.

To the Bat Man decades ago, Crocodile was still a threat, but focusing all his energy on the Netherworld King and losing his spirit, he’s no match for the current Bat Man.

After pushing the people off him, the four nervously looked at the Bat Man again, this opponent seemed even more terrifying than usual.

Of course, someone was far more frightened than those four.

”Usopp, Chopper, remember to protect me a bit.”

The Bat Man interrupted his ultrasound mid-attack, giving the weak trio a chance to react. Nami instinctively hid behind Chopper and Usopp.

”Damn it, where did Herah go? At such a critical time, where did it go!”

Chopper and Usopp were really stand-ins; the more reliable one was Herah, the stag beetle on this ship was more dependable than the people, which is a common sense Nami had understood by now.

Though in times of danger, everyone on the ship could be relied upon, in times without danger, these people were the biggest danger.

Except Herah flew away shortly after reaching the Sky Island, it’s unclear when it will come back.

Currently, the Bat Man is facing an intense attack from the group of four, yet no matter how they attack, they can’t even come close to the Bat Man; all their movements are within his expectations.

Even if they join forces and hit the Bat Man, they’re blocked by inexplicable black objects.

”What the heck is with this guy, wasn’t his ability with bats? How can his defense and reactions be this ridiculous?”

The journey through the Grand Line broadened the vision of the Straw Hat crew; they now have a deeper understanding of Zoan and Logia-types.

”You must understand, Zoan ability users have more detailed classifications. I’m not just an ordinary bat, but a Mythical Zoan ability user, which is even rarer than Logia-type... at least it used to be.”

Ignoring the Hundred Beasts, the Mythical Zoan abilities are indeed rare, but together with them, the rarity diminishes.

He simply explained before pulling out a bow and arrow from behind.

”Warm-up is over, now it’s time to get serious.”

Without even looking, he shot arrows straight down, aimlessly yet each arrow precisely targeted someone.

This was the sonar-guided arrow developed with his ultrasound ability, not as convenient as Setsuna’s aura-guided arrows, but it counts as a simple guidance system.

Boom!

”Be careful, these arrows explode!”

”We saw it, no need to tell us!”

Zoro swung his sword at the arrow shot by the Bat Man, but the moment it made contact, it exploded, the power of the Armament Haki caused him a big loss. Seeing the Bat Man unleashing firepower from the air, they couldn’t think of a way to respond.

After much effort, Luffy got close, and they managed to block the opening above, yet the Bat Man took dozens of steps in an instant, leaving their encirclement using Soru.

The numerical advantage didn’t bridge the power gap; the disparity caused by Haki couldn’t be closed with their current strength, so they fell consecutively to the Bat Man’s hands.

Sanji and Bon Kurei were the first to fall, which doubled the pressure on Zoro and Luffy.

”Luffy, that guy... can predict our attacks.”

”Yeah, I know, so I’ve got an idea.”

Luffy caressed his hat, then used a stunning move.

”Rubber Stare!”

Luffy’s eyes turned vacant, his body swayed and relaxed, really looking like an idiot.

”Are you joking around at a time like this!”

Seeing Luffy fooling around even now, Zoro couldn’t resist wanting to hit him, but Luffy skillfully dodged it.

”Interesting, it doesn’t seem entirely useless either, Chopper, give me a hand, push me up there!”

With Sanji and Bon Kurei defeated, even Chopper had to join the fight. With enhanced strength, he was quite powerful. With Chopper’s help, Zoro closed in on the Bat Man again, only to discover Luffy tricked him.

He thought Luffy developed some technique to counter the opponent’s predictions, that’s why he went up to attract the fire, but Luffy was in a daze all along, making no move even after Zoro was struck down.

”You bastard....”

Zoro muttered two curses before losing consciousness, but nobody knew whether he was cursing the Bat Man or blaming his captain for being a liability.

After screwing over a teammate, Luffy returned to normal.

”Damn, there’s no way to attack like this, it simply won’t work.”

Rubber Stare was a move he developed to counter the unknown power of Observation Haki, acting entirely on instinct with an empty mind, naturally not getting predicted, but it left him without means to counter-attack.

”Kid, the pirate world isn’t child’s play, without a resolve to die, rookies like you aren’t my opponents.”

The Bat Man appeared ghostly beside Luffy, with sharp fangs biting at his neck. As the venom was injected, the main force of the Straw Hat Pirates all fell.

Nami’s and Usopp’s battle power at this point could be ignored, the only one interesting to the Bat Man was Chopper.

”Reindeer, huh? The thing you ate seems quite special.”

Average Zoan-types have only Three-stage Transformation, but Chopper’s Rumble Ball disrupts the transformation wavelengths of the Zoan-type Devil Fruit, turning it into a seven-stage transformation. To the Bat Man, the entire crew together wasn’t as captivating as this thing.

Chopper was also troubled at this time, having already consumed two Rumble Balls. The time was almost up.

In a sense, Rumble Ball is a kind of poison, with a duration of only three minutes. Consuming another within six hours would result in uncontrollable transformation wavelengths.

He was lucky enough just to transform into his strength form a moment ago.

With the time of the second one coming to a close, consuming a third one.....

Looking at the Rumble Ball in his hand and the unconscious Luffy, Chopper recalled the Bat Man’s words.

”The resolve to gamble with one’s life...”

Crunch, the third Rumble Ball was bitten into, and a giant reindeer monster appeared in the Bat Man’s eyes, but looking at this monster, the Bat Man’s eyes held not fear, but excitement.