12 Chapter 11

Kuro was displeased at how his crew has already been dealt with and with an emotionless look he said: "I knew I shouldn't trust useless fools from the weakest Blue, but I figured I might give you a chance to do something useful for a change of pace. Unfortunately, I am disappointed once again. You were unable to even deal with a few kids playing pirates. I had already planned to dispose of you after this, however, it seems I would have to do it now and finish the job on my own."

Those from his crew that were still conscious look terrified after hearing his speech. Kuro looked at Ussop, who was still laying on the ground "Ahh, the dumb liar. I am surprised you are still alive, but it just shows how weak those guys are. At least I can pay you back for punching me and finish the job myself."

I have to admit he is fast, I was barely able to follow his movements, but I did manage to get a punch in before he reached Ussop. I was closer to Ussop and yet the blades sticking from his right claw almost sliced Ussop apart.

He looked surprised for a moment when my arm stretched and hit him, however, he recovered almost immediately "My my, I didn't expect to see a Devil Fruit user in this sea." This sea? What does he mean, isn't he from East Blue as well?

Kuro didn't give me think to ponder on that and asked: "Why are you bothering to defend the village? This village should hold no value to you or are you after the inheritance as well?"

I usually don't like talking while fighting but did time I decided to humor him for a bit "I'm not going to let innocent people be murdered when I have the chance to stop that from happening. Besides that, this is my friends' village and that is good enough of a reason for me to defend it."

Kuro looked amused at my response "Hahaha, aren't you a pirate? Why would you be helping people and doing the Marines job? You have to be the worst pirate ever, hahaha."

"Laugh all you want, but to me being a pirate signifies freedom. Not being bound by any rules and doing whatever I feel like doing." I didn't feel like talking with him any further, so I went on the attack with a barrage of punches. Kuro was able to dodge most of my attacks and was even carrying a smirk on his face now. He didn't attack back with his Cat Claws. The gloves honestly look so weird, who would put katana blades at the end of each of the fingers.

I was trying to get the upper hand, however, Kuro continued dodging for a good minute or so, until he kicked me away. He looked at me and said, "Now let me show how it's done." I only saw a black blur and felt my chest slashed by the blades on his gloves. Damn that was fast, I saw him rushing again and this time I almost managed to dodge, but he still managed to slash me.

My wounds are regenerating, but I have noticed that whenever there is more that one wound, it regenerates them one by one, rather than all at the same time. I hope this would be enough for this fight, as it's not looking good right now.

Kuro landed a few more hits on me and I already had enough playing around. Once I saw him rushing at me again, I transformed into my hybrid form and I was able to follow his movements now. He looked surprised at my transformation and I managed to catch him off guard.

I sent him flying at towards one of the cliff walls with a kick and it seems that three of the blades on his right hand broke as well. I was bleeding from a lot of wounds, so I had to finish this as soon as possible.

I was about to rush at him until I head someone screaming "Please stop! I promise I will give you all of my inheritance, just please stop." Turning around I saw Kaya coming out of the forest. Great, I forgot about this.

Kuro smiled evilly as soon as she showed herself and I heard him say "No need, I will take it on my own." That's when he did something I never expected. He ditched both of his Cat Claws and I saw him growing black hair all over his body. Next thing, I know he was already rushing at Kaya and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him.

Surprisingly, Ussop was actually able to hit him with his slingshot, which made Kuro go after him. Problem is, I was still to slower than Kuro and there was no way I reach Ussop on time. Thankfully, Zoro was close and managed to stop Kuro in his hybrid form. Unfortunately, he was sent flying.

At this point I reached him and I was able to hit him away before he attacks Ussop. He easily backfilled in the air and landed on his feet. Kuro was looking at me with great interest and said "I have to give it to you kid, this is the first time, since coming back from the Grand Line that I had to use my transformation. I definitely didn't expect your Devil Fruit to be that interesting, so why don't you join me. With my Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Black Panther and your weird fruit, we could accomplish great heists."

Normally I wouldn't respond, however, I wanted to buy some more time for a few more wounds to regenerate, so I asked him"How did you know the name of your fruit? Do you have a book or did you just base in on your transformation?"

Everyone looked surprised at my questions, especially Kuro, but he did respond to me "What are you talking about, once you eat a Devil Fruit, you instinctively know it's name." That confused me since I don't have such a feeling and have no idea what my Zoan fruit is.

Kuro caught that pretty fast though "Don't tell me you don't even know that name of your fruit? Why did I even bother asking you to join me, you are nothing more than a failure, like my stupid crew." once he finished saying that, he was already a blur and sent me flying towards a cliff.

The next minute or so, Kuro was throwing me around like a sack of potatoes and taunting me the whole time. My blood, flesh, and hair were all over the place and that gave me an idea. Since Kuro was manhandling me, he left his guard down for a bit. I was able to make one of my hair turn into a clone behind Kuro and caught him by surprise. Unfortunately when I create a clone, they are in the same condition as me, which is slightly disappointing but it would be enough.

The clone cocked him in the back of his head, but knowing how physically strong Zoan users are, we didn't give him any chances to recover. The clone jumped him and tried tangling him down for as long as he could, while I tried doing something I am not very experienced with.

I was speeding up the blood flow in all of my body and did my best to use Second Gear. I had some initial success with this technique. The increased body strength from the Zoan from is one of the factors I was able to get it down.

Kuro dealt with the clone quite fast. I felt the memories of Kuro bitting his neck and killing him. That almost made me lose concentration, but I managed to pull through. I know I don't have much time, considering all the wounds I have right now and the fact that my blood flow is sped up, so I made sure however much seconds I had were worth it.

It took me a second to reach Kuro, two more to send him flying towards a cliff side and reach him again. The next five seconds I spent hitting him with all my power and creating a human-sized hole in the cliff. I felt I am losing consciousness, so I removed him from the hole and threw him on the ground. This took me two seconds and after three more seconds, I was able to dislocate both his shoulders and to bust his kneecaps.

Knowing how strong Zoan users are, I had to make sure he doens't recover before me and before I fell unconcius, I heard someone screaming my name.

Waking up, I found myself bandaged and in a very expensive room. Looking around I saw Zoro in one of the corners, polishing his blades. He looked at me with a smirk "I knew you are strong, but I never even though that you are that strong. After having such a fight, you have made a full recovery after sleeping for half a day."

I can't say, I have fully recovered since I am still sore and tired, however, the regenerative abilities of the fruit are miraculous. I asked him what happened after I lost consciousness and he explained, how they managed to tie them all up. Once they had all of them captured, Kaya used a Den Den Mushi to call the Marines and they took them away.

Kaya had the butlers hide us in the mansion, while the Marines were here and the mansion doctor was the one who bandaged me up. There was a table filled with all sorts of food and I ate everything on it, while Zoro was telling me what happened while I was sleeping. I almost spewed the food I was eating, when he told me that Kaya took Ussop to her own room for the night. That was something I did not expect to happen.

Moments later, Nami opened the door and entered the room. Once she saw me awake, she tackled me for a hug. She was silently sobbing and I heard her whisper "Don't ever scare me like that."

All three of talked for some random things and Nami stayed glued to me through the whole time. Zoro at some point said he will go to sleep since I am already awake. Nami stayed for a bit longer with me, but she shortly left as well, not before giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

I still felt tired and sore, but I didn't feel like sleeping anymore. I went outside and while walking through the mansion, I heard a thumping sound from one of the rooms. I guess that's where Ussop and Kaya are.

I exited the mansion and found a garden. I made a clone and started training. In the story, Kuro didn't have a devil fruit and he was not as strong as this, however, it did show me how much I am lacking.