Chapter 636: Strange Guy! (2 in 1)

Zoro's figure fell rapidly and landed steadily on the small boat that Luffy and Coby were riding on.

His arrival also caused the boat to shake. Coby, who was originally standing on the deck, quickly bent down, pressed his body against the board, and grabbed the side of the boat with both hands, fearing that he would be shaken out of the boat.

Luffy was also thrown by the rocking boat, and after shaking his body, he managed to stand firmly. Then he complained to Zoro in fear: "Hey! You bastard, what are you doing?!"

Luffy is a special ability user, and all devil fruit users are landlubbers. If they accidentally fall into the sea, their lives may be in danger.

Although Coby can swim, it may not be an easy task for the skinny Coby to rescue Luffy from drowning. Luffy is very clear about this.

"What?"

"I'm a pirate hunter! What do I do?"

"You, the 'Pirate King', should be worth quite a bit of bounty, right?"

Zoro glanced at Luffy coldly and quickly took off the long sword from his waist. No one knew what he was thinking, but he did not take off the scabbard while taking off the long sword.

Instead, he swept the sword and its sheath together towards Luffy's waist and abdomen, apparently wanting to capture Luffy.

It was because of the title of Pirate King that stimulated Zoro. After leaving Banko, Zoro did not actually encounter many opponents worthy of his attention along the way.

Sailing all the way to the East China Sea, the pirates he cleared out along the way were simply not enough to provide any training for Zoro.

The strength of those pirates is not even comparable to that of Kuina and Yamato. Although the life-and-death battles with the pirates during the time at sea allowed Zoro to accumulate a lot of practical experience, the improvement brought to him by going to sea was limited to this.

In Zoro's opinion, the effect of receiving Mihawk's guidance in the Ten Thousand Nations might not be worse than going out to sea for training.

Feeling that his progress was slowing down, Zoro has been a little anxious recently.

At his age, his strength should be growing the fastest, but Zoro feels that his growth in recent times is not even as fast as his growth in previous years.

This kind of "retreat" is unacceptable to Sauron.

Even though Zoro's growth rate seems terrifying in the eyes of others, Zoro, who aims to become the world's greatest swordsman, is still not satisfied with his current growth rate.

When a person gets used to his own rapid growth, if the growth rate slows down a little, he will have a strong sense of loss in his heart.

But what Zoro overlooked was that the education he had received was the best education in the world.

Koshiro laid a solid foundation for Zoro's growth, and Mihawk guided Zoro in his training based on this foundation.

The different mentors who appeared at different stages of Zoro's growth were all suitable for Zoro.

Even the dojo where he practiced kendo gathered the most talented young people in the New World. Every peer opponent that Zoro met on his growth path would be considered a top talent if they were placed in any other place.

The favorable growing environment made Zoro lose his normal judgment of the world.

He thought there must be more powerful opponents on the sea, but in fact, it was not easy to meet such people in this vast ocean.

Luffy, who always talks about becoming the Pirate King, is obviously regarded as an opponent by Zoro.

Zoro's sword was not drawn quickly, at least in Luffy's eyes, the opponent's attack could be traced.

"what you do?!"

Luffy let out a scream and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but his waist suddenly bounced back strangely and he dodged Zoro's attack in a very twisted posture.

The dodging posture looked a little awkward and funny, but he actually avoided Zoro's sweep.

The tentative attack was easily dodged by the opponent, and Zoro's eyes lit up involuntarily, and his gaze towards Luffy also changed slightly.

"A person with special abilities?!"

After just one encounter, Zoro had already seen the clues. Luffy's reaction speed was not beyond expectations, but the opponent's evasive method was simply not something that a normal person could replicate.

That kind of weird twisted arc is simply not something a normal human can do.

The opponent's body seemed to have no bones and could stretch and twist freely.

With a low murmur, Zoro's expression became stern, and he lightened his body and rushed towards Luffy. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Luffy. He quickly stretched out his left hand to grab Luffy's wrist, and at the same time, he grabbed the knife with his right hand and slashed towards Luffy's neck.

Zoro's fighting style is deeply influenced by Mihawk and Yoriichi Tsugakuni. When not using the dual sword style, his fighting techniques are more inclined to Yoriichi Tsugakuni, focusing on practicality, which is very different from the traditional swordsmen in this world.

"Snapped!"

Luffy obviously didn't expect the opponent to come so quickly. He had just stood firm when Zoro rushed up to him and attacked again. Luffy was caught off guard and was grabbed by Zoro by the wrist. However, Luffy noticed Zoro's slash and reacted in time.

Luffy's head was pulled back rapidly, and his neck became like a rubber band at this moment, stretched very long. The empty position of his head caused Zoro's attack to miss. He obviously did not expect that Luffy could avoid his attack in this way. Looking at the weird scene in front of him, even a man like Zoro was stunned for a moment.

Luffy, who was continuously attacked by Zoro, obviously lost his patience at this moment. He has never been the kind of person who would not fight back after being beaten. Unless he cannot win, he will never swallow his anger.

"Rubber Headbutt!!"

Luffy's roar could be heard from far away.

Zoro felt something was wrong, his pupils shrank slightly, and his eyes looked at Luffy's rapidly retreating head.

The next second, Zoro's premonition came true. Luffy's rapidly stretched neck seemed to have reached a critical point. After breaking through this critical point, Luffy's head rebounded rapidly and smashed directly towards Zoro. The speed was so fast that it even made a sharp whistle in the air.

Luffy is also a person who knows the importance of a fight. He did not use his full strength in this counterattack, but simply went with the flow.

Like Zoro, Luffy also received the most systematic training during his years at the Marine Headquarters.

In addition to developing his own devil fruit abilities, he also practiced physical skills and domineering skills.

Luffy's opponents in regular combat sparring are Ace and Sabo. Years of training from childhood to adulthood have also cultivated Luffy's strong combat awareness.

In addition to making great progress in the use of the power of the Devil Fruit, Luffy has now become proficient in the use of Observation Haki and Armament Haki.

Normally, Luffy has no rivals in a place like the East China Sea.

And it is precisely because of this that Luffy was able to "escape" right under the noses of Ace and Sabo. If Luffy's strength was not enough to reassure Ace and Sabo, they would never let Luffy go easily.

"what?!"

This was the first time Zoro had seen Luffy's strange attack method. The momentary shock left him with no chance to dodge. After a low cry, Zoro quickly sheathed his sword and held it straight in front of himself.

Anticipating that the opponent's attack would be extremely powerful, Zoro used his Armament Haki to quickly attach it to the blade.

"Bang!!!!" In just a blink of an eye, Luffy's forehead had hit the sword that Zoro held in front of him. The terrifying force shook Zoro's body, and his upper body involuntarily leaned back, a little unbalanced.

At the same time, the huge recoil force also caused Luffy's head to hurt, making Luffy, who was already intolerant to pain, grimace.

"It hurts~"

Luffy let out a cry of pain, and the pain made him angry. His other free left hand clenched into a fist and smashed directly into the abdomen of Zoro who was falling backwards like a catapult.

Luffy's attack was within the perception range of Zoro's observation Haki. Realizing this, Zoro simply let go of Luffy and fell backwards to avoid Luffy's attack. Just before his back was about to hit the deck, Zoro supported the deck with his left hand, then flipped backwards and stood steadily on the bow.

The small boat on which the several people were located was like a seesaw. When Zoro landed on the bow, the stern part also tilted up. Luffy, whose arms were quickly retracting, also swayed. He had no way to chase Zoro. He could only calm down and try hard to maintain his center of gravity.

"Snapped!"

"Wow—"

The raised stern of the ship fell back onto the sea surface, creating a wave. The small boat had no shelter at all, and the sea water splashed directly onto Luffy.

A feeling of weakness came from his body. Luffy, who was originally full of fighting spirit, couldn't help but look a little listless when the sea water wet his body.

Although there was not too much sea water on his body, it was enough to affect his fighting ability.

"Hey, Zoro, stop it!"

"We can't attack ordinary people. Have you forgotten what you told us before we set out to sea?!"

"Don't you want to go back?"

On the merchant ship, Kuina shouted at Zoro.

Although these new navy officers sail on the sea under the banner of pirate hunters, their identity has always been new navy officers and has never changed.

Attacking ordinary people is a taboo in the new navy.

Especially since this ordinary person did not pose any threat to their new navy, Zoro's behavior today was more or less out of line.

The cool sea water made Zoro's brain more or less clear. After Kuina's shout, Zoro came back to his senses. He looked at Luffy deeply, scratched his wet hair, and complained:

"I know, I know!"

"Isn't this a stop?"

"And it's obvious at first glance that this kid is not an ordinary person. He's a Devil Fruit user!"

"Besides, didn't this guy keep saying he was a pirate? I'm just catching pirates, what's the problem?!"

Zoro really has no ability to resist in front of Kuina. In his own words, he is weak in front of Kuina because "a good man does not fight with a woman."

But in fact, perhaps only Zoro himself knows the reason.

He and Kuina grew up together. They are rivals, but more like family.

Moreover, young men and women of their age are just at the age of being young and naive. If you say that there is no other feeling between Zoro and Kuina, I am afraid no one will believe it.

The obedience Zoro showed in front of Kuina was exactly the behavior that was most contrary to his own character.

"Don't fight?"

Luffy was still a little confused about the situation at the moment. Although the feeling of weakness from his body made him feel a little uncomfortable, he was a little surprised to see Zoro stop, and even felt a little disappointed in his heart.

He didn't know why he was disappointed. Perhaps he was adventurous by nature and was looking forward to and enjoying the battle.
"Hey, I really am a pirate!"

Although Kuina's words were meant to persuade Zoro to stop, to Luffy it sounded like the other party didn't believe that he was a pirate.

How could Luffy, who was proud of his identity as a pirate, allow such a thing to happen? So as soon as Kuina finished speaking, Luffy patted his chest and reiterated his identity to Kuina and Zoro.

"Here, look."

Zoro, who was about to put down his sword, curled his lips when he heard Luffy's words, pointed his long sword in Luffy's direction, and looked up at Kuina.

"."

Kuina was speechless, it was the first time she had seen someone like Luffy. After learning that they were pirate hunters, other pirates would try every means to conceal their identities, but Luffy was afraid that others would not know that he was a pirate.

This strange behavior also made Kuina re-examine Luffy and his "car".

The boat was incapable of sailing far away. There were no bloodstains on the boat, nor were there any pirate logos on the mast.

What’s more important is that this group of “pirates” only consists of two people, and Kuina doesn’t remember seeing the bounty for Luffy and Coby on the wanted poster.

Glancing at Coby, who was lying on the deck, holding onto the side of the boat and trembling slightly, Kuina couldn't help but sigh.

After being at sea for so long, this is the first time that Kuina has encountered a "lunatic".

He had no experience dealing with psychopaths, and didn't know how to communicate with Luffy at this time. He could only turn around and shout at Zoro:

"It doesn't matter what he says."

"The important thing is that we have no way of proving that he is a pirate."

"It doesn't mean he is a pirate just because he says he is a pirate, and it doesn't mean he is a pirate just because we say he is a pirate."

"If there is no way to verify the facts, we cannot hunt and kill."

This was the red line that Tsugumi Yoshiichi drew for Kuina and the others before they set out to sea.

Kuina and her crew have been following this philosophy for so long at sea, and they will not break their rules for someone like Luffy.

Hearing Kuina talking about this, Zoro's expression also eased a little. Although he and Kuina occasionally quarreled, when it came to such things, Zoro could still tell the difference.

"Strange guy"

Putting away the sword, Zoro glanced at Luffy and silently gave this evaluation in his heart.

(End of this chapter)