One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 527: King vs Cowards

Everything was going to hell in a handbasket.

King saw this clearly, though it seemed that neither Kaido or Queen could see the same. Jack wasn't even worth considering, the great fool.

Big Mom was dead. He saw her head get lopped off with his own eyes.

It was kind of far away, so he couldn't say for sure, but he thought that the ones who did her in all survived as well. If they could do it to that monstrous woman, then they could do it to Kaido as well.

So in short, the Beast pirates were done for. Over with. Kaput. Most of them just didn't know it yet.

In hindsight, he's pretty sure that Apoo wasn't actually looking for a toilet when King caught him slipping outside, so he somehow saw the writing on the wall even before King did.

He couldn't just up and leave, though. Pirate he may be, but he was loyal. At the very least, he needed to put in a real effort in the defense of their stronghold.

And if he just so happened to be chasing down the single one of their enemies that he had a personal interest in, who would complain?

Queen would, that's who; but he couldn't care less what Queen complained about.

Catching the Lunarian woman proved to be a challenge and a half, however. She was damned quick, despite her tiny wingspan. Strong too, with how easily she dragged those two dead weights around.

The red headed woman in Cabernet's arms starting to swing her strange weather staff about. Whatever she was doing, it was useless. King could handle a hundred lightning strikes, let alone whatever few the woman conjured.

The lightning did not come, however.

Instead, the trio split into a trio of identical trios. Each one branched off into a hallway of their own, forcing King to figure out which one was true. Easier said than done at the speeds they were moving. A wrong choice here and he'd lose them!

King snuffed his flame and carefully felt the heat in the air.

"This way," King said, pursuing once again.

"Damn it, how'd he figure it out so fast?!" Red-head shouted, only confirming his choice like an idiot.

"He must have tracked us by scent!" the long nosed idiot declared. King didn't correct him. "Rafflesia!"

Long-nose shot something just ahead of themselves. Whatever it was, it quickly sprouted into an enormous flower.

Just as King was passing over it, staying on guard just in case, the flower spews some sort of gas. By the time his brain warned him of possible poison, he'd already taken a big whiff of it.

"Disgusting..." King curled his nose and scrunched his face. The stench was powerful and putrid, like rotting flesh.

He swore that if he wasn't poisoned by that thing, he'd rip out Long-nose's spine and beat him to death with it for making light of him.

"Sargasso!" Long-nose called out again. What is it this time, tobacco that rolls itself up into fine cigars to tempt him to take a smoke break?

The projectiles exploded into a mass of damp seaweed, filling the hallway and thoroughly wrapping around his body. He flared up instinctively to burn away the plant matter, which he could begrudgingly admit was slightly effective.

*rumble*

King looked up. Clouds.

The anticipated lightning still did not come. A torrential downpour drenched him and the seaweed to the bone. Does seaweed have bones? Nevermind.

The water was annoying, but his flames could not be doused. He roared and every drop of water turned to steam instantly!

A seed struck him on the forehead painlessly. He hardly comprehended what it was before it shone with light and exploded.

*BOOM!!!*

"We got him!" Long-nose high fived Red-head.

King burst from the skull-shaped cloud left by the explosive seed with a scowl on his face. He wasn't hurt, but that did sting a bit. Not that he'd admit it.

He slashed through a grassy wolf that met him as soon as he emerged with prejudice and parried several oversized green throwing stars. Then he spun in the air, expertly threading the needle between bamboo spikes springing out of the floor, walls, and ceiling.

"What the heck is this guy made of?!" Long-nose's panic seemed more genuine now.

He was right to be panicked. King was done toying with these pests.

The gap between them closed in seconds. King bared his sword at them like a lion bares its teeth, and cleaved the two nuisances in Cabernet's arms in twain!

There was no resistance. Their forms, along with Cabernet's, dispersed like a mirage.

'The explosion was a smoke screen,' King realized too late. His anger had blinded him to the ruse.

It was a good thing nobody was around to see that embarrassing scene.

"Um..." a lone Beast pirate murmured, his drunken eyes having clearly seen the whole thing and his drunken brain struggling to come to the correct conclusion. "I think you missed-"

*slash*

It was a good thing nobody was around to see that embarrassing scene.

"Now where did you go?" King asked himself.

...

"We lost him!" Nami whispered.

"Shush! He's a Beast pirate! He might have better hearing than us!" Usopp hissed back.

Cabernet went again and covered their mouths since they couldn't be trusted not to flap their lips and wag their tongues. King was still much too close by for them to chat.

They could not see the hulking figure, but they could certainly hear him stomping around in search of them. King sliced through paper walls and doors everywhere he went, but that wouldn't help him find them.

So they waited with baited breaths for him to leave. It felt like he never would, but eventually he did.

Nami and Usopp both heaved big sighs of relief.

They were still going to take King down, of course! It's just that they needed to set the stage a bit. They were the plotting and planning types of fighters, not like those other brutes on their crew.

"I know it was just meant to distract him, but I can't believe he took on so much of my arsenal without even flinching," Usopp rubbed the back of his neck.

"He isn't Kaido's right hand for nothing," Nami agreed. "Who are we going to rope into kicking his ass?"

"Zoro," Cabernet suggested immediately. Nami and Usopp nodded.

"Yeah, Zoro of course. King's a swordsman, so that's only natural," Usopp said. "But just winning isn't good enough. We have to show them all that nobody messes with our Cabernet!"

"I think you should really talk to Chopper about your alcoholism, Usopp," Cabernet said.

Nami snorted and Usopp huffed.

"Franky it is, then," Nami said, receiving two agreements.

"You don't think Zoro will be too upset with us barging in on one of his manly man duels, do you?" Usopp wondered aloud.

"Oh, he'll be livid," Nami said. "But he still owes me money, so he can just deal with it."

"Maybe he wouldn't still owe you money if you didn't charge interest," Usopp noted.

"Hey, I gave him a flat percentage! That's more than generous for a guy who takes his sweet ass time paying me back!" Nami defended herself.

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Watching them, Cabernet felt all warm and fuzzy inside.