Chapter 81: Cancer

"Woohoohoohoo... you've gotten weaker, Tsuru."

Captain John, standing in the middle of one Marine Warship, grinned as he pointed the tip of his right sword at the fallen Tsuru's neck. Tsuru, who had a trail of blood at the corner of her mouth, glared at John without a word.

"Sister Tsuru!!!" Gion, who too was found lying on the deck, shouted while trying to muster her strength to stand up. However, it was to no avail, and she grimaced while holding a deep wound by her side.

The battle was in the pirates' favour. With the two commanders of the marine fleet having fell at the hands of the pirate captain, the marines were having a difficult time in maintaining their line of defense against the ever-advancing pirates.

However, Tsuru, in this circumstance, then smiled, much to John's confusion.

"Of course, I was aware," Said Tsuru, "I don't excel when it comes to brute force, and never have I been an type to charge into a battle like a certain idiot."

John opened his mouth with a raised eyebrow, about to ask where Tsuru got her confidence from. However, he then stiffened, for he felt a strong presence that entered his range of Observation Haki.

"I decided to fight you for one simple reason, John." Tsuru, leaning her back against a rail, chuckled, "It was because I was confident of stalling you,"

"Ice Age."

"until the arrival of the back-up."

John panically turned around. In his eyes were the world of ice; be it his crew members, twelve pirate ships of his, or the sea around them—all were frozen into the cold and sturdy ice.

"Arara... did you predict this, Tsuru-san?" Kuzan was found standing right in front of Tsuru and having his back facing John.

Tsuru grinned while lowering her head, "Just a little hunch. Shiki's presence in North Blue was the give-off."

Gion, at some distance away, sighed in relief before relaxing her body.

"...Aokiji." John scowled in annoyance, having recognized Kuzan. Kuzan, in response, shifted his cold eyes at the man.

"...Damn, sneak attack as always," John finally sighed, before tightening his grip over his swords. Kuzan, tensing his body up, breathed out a cold air as he readied himself for the fight.

Then,

SWOOSH! Kuzan shifted his body to his left and dodged two swords that were slashed onto his previous position. Immediately after,

"Ice Block: Partisan!" The surrounding moistures in the air condensed into multiple spears of ice, before slamming onto John at a point-blank range.

CLANG CLANG CLANG! John protected his body with the Hardening of Armament Haki, shattering the ice spears instead.

The battle has just started.

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SWOOSH! Cancer ducked to dodge Barrels's sword slash before using Soru to dash to Barrels's behind. However, Barrels, having expected such a move from Cancer, utilized Soru simultaneously. By the time Cancer reappeared and slashed his sword, he was hitting nothing but an empty air. Then, Cancer urgently tightened his body,

"TEKKAI!!"

CLANG—!!! Barrels, standing behind Cancer with a grin, slashed his sword against Cancer's exposed back. Cancer, grimacing from a jolting pain, immediately turned his body around by spinning around his embedded sword and sent forth a kick,

"Rankyaku!"

CLANG! Barrels's sword and Cancer's sharp blast of air met, preventing Barrels's advancement for a brief moment. Barrels, not giving Cancer any time to rest, dashed toward Cancer and raised his finger up,

"Shigan." / "KAMI-E!!!"

BANG! Cancer's body unnaturally bent and managed to dodge a finger gun that was fired by Barrels. Immediately after, he plucked his sword out and swung against Barrels's.

CLANG!!!

"Huff... huff..." Cancer, whose sword was clashing against Barrels's, huffed while glaring at Barrels. It's already been around an hour or so since he began fighting Barrels. And the fight was going in a bad direction, with him getting slowly exhausted and Barrels still looking good to go.

'One opportunity...' Nonetheless, Cancer gathered his resolve, 'One is all I need.'

BOOM! Cancer loosened the strength behind his sword and let Barrels's sword slam onto the ground. He subsequently stabbed his sword forth at Barrels's chest, to which Barrels didn't bother to dodge.

"Tekkai."

CLANG! The tip of Cancer's sword broke upon striking Barrels's sword. Barrels looked with amusement as the shortened sword of Cancer was trying to push its way into his chest, but to no avail.

"CANCER!!!" Drake, at far distance away, shouted out of worry.

"You are weak, Cancer, and there is no way for you to pull out a win against me." Barrels snickered, "Physical capability, Rokushiki, swordsmanship—I'm superior in all those aspects. Simply put, I'm the better version of you." Barrels pointed at the broken sword against his chest, "Just look, Cancer!!"

Barrels laughed boisterously, "Your weapon broke against my bare skin!!! What's the point of fighting any longer, when the outcome is obvious?!!"

Drake looked at the scene with despair. He wobbly stood back up and lifted his own sword back up, wishing to prevent the worst scenario from coming true.

And then,

"...Obvious?"

Cancer, whose eyes were shadowed by his bangs, grinned all of a sudden.

"You're right, this victor of this battle was decided from the very start."

One opportunity where Barrels lowers his guard, this was just the moment that Cancer was seeking for from the very start.

Barrels, confused by Cancer's antics, raised his eyebrow. Then, his eyes widened in shock as Cancer's broken sword, still pushing its way against his exposed chest, began changing its colour into that of a pitch black. It was the Armament Haki: Hardening, the feats that Barrels was never able to achieve in his life.

"YOU—" Barrels urgently shouted as he tried to get away from Cancer's sword. However, it was too late by then,

PUK.

for the broken sword effortlessly was driven right into Barrels's heart.

"My strength may be lacking in comparison to you. Physical capability, Rokushiki, swordsmanship... yes, I didn't get as much time as you to hone my skills. However, if there is a reason why I can guarantee my victory against you," Cancer, plucking his sword back out from Barrels's bloody chest, stated, "it's because my will never falls short against a scum like you."

Barrels, at the last moment of his life, expressed nothing but disbelief, that he lost to a young man whose age didn't even reach twenty. Drake, watching this scene from far away, dropped his sword in disbelief.

"Huff... huff..." Barrels fell, and Cancer remained standing with a vivid exhaustion. Cancer, turning his eyes at Drake, gave him an angry middle finger, to which Drake reacted with a nervous gulp.

And just then, two heads landed in front of Cancer's feet.

"...Huh?" Cancer, dumbfounded, froze up. Those two heads—Cancer immediately recognized them as Mozambia and Strawberry, the two Marine Officers who were to deal with Crocodile.

Cancer raised his head up. Within the snowy weather, the sand managed to make its way in, swirling within the sky and rendering the atmosphere chaotic. In the middle of it was Crocodile, who looked down on him with an interest.

"Barrels lost?" Crocodile exclaimed, "To you?"

Cancer then looked at the fallen Barrels. Next to the fallen man was the chest that contained the Op Op fruit. Moving his eyes away from it, Cancer checked the field ahead of him. There stood nothing but corpses; all marines, and all pirates except for Crocodile—all were dead.

"...You," Cancer growled at Crocodile, "You killed your own subordinates?"

Crocodile grinned madly, "Before they became my underlings, they were once marines. In addition, I no longer have a use for them." Crocodile then held his right hand out,

"Hand over the Op Op fruit now, and I will give you a painless death."

Cancer's face darkened. He stayed silent for a little while, before leaning down and lifting up the chest.

Then,

"DRAKE!!!"

Cancer abruptly threw the chest at Drake and bravely dashed toward Crocodile.

Drake, receiving the chest with a stiffened body, then gritted his teeth in realization before throwing his own sword at Cancer. Cancer, flying toward Crocodile with the use of Geppo, caught the flying sword and encased it with the Hardening of Armament Haki.

"HAAAAA!!!" Cancer let out a wild war cry as he swung the Haki-coated sword with all his strength. However,

CLANG! Crocodile, raising his right arm up, effortlessly blocked Cancer's strike. And from this clash alone Cancer came to realize,

"Haki..." Cancer whispered in shock, "...You have it too?"

Unlike Cancer, Crocodile didn't utilize his Armament Haki to an extent where the 'Hardening' effect occurred. However, it was sufficient enough to defend against Cancer's attack, and from this clash alone, Cancer realized that there existed far too much gap in in overall strength between the two of them.

Crocodile, with an amused grin, then swung his sand-morphed hand through Cancer's left arm,

"Barján."

Cancer found his eyes bloodshot from pain as he fell down to the ground. His left arm, robbed of all its moisture, was horrifyingly shrunken.

"GAHHHHH!!!!"

He, rolling in pain, then vigorously ate away the nearby snow out of instinct, and managed to restore the arm back. Drake watched this with fear creeping down his spine, however, then saw that Cancer stood back up from his spot and glared at Crocodile once again.

Crocodile, now frowning in annoyance, asked, "Why are you fighting? Why are you resisting? You know that there is no point. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to win against me. Why ignore the easy path and take the hard one?"

"Huff huff huff... shut... up..." Cancer huffed while sweating profusely. His sword trembled from his exhaustion, but Cancer's eyes still held the determination that Crocodile was unable to comprehend.

Then, Cancer dashed at Crocodile one more time.

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It was between one to two months ago when I found myself in the starry night of Marineford, gazing at the stars next to Cancer.

"Will you look at that," Muttered Cancer as he stared at the sky in awe, "A Milky Way. Galaxy, was it?" He raised his hand up as if reaching for it, "I wonder if it's possible to go on an adventure there like Garp-san once said."

Upon hearing Cancer's words, I too came to wonder if it was possible to do so. Unlike my previous world, perhaps there existed an air to breath in the space.

"...Smoker." Then, Cancer, seeming melancholic, called out my name, "We've come quite a far way, didn't we? I still remember when you first arrived and knocked Maynard out with one shot; man, it was fun."

He lowered his head and bit his lips—expressing anguish. And he began speaking,

"You know, I used to live in the Whole Cake island back then."

of his past that I was never aware of before.

"I was a part of a prestige family where all men became the knights of the royalties who ruled over the Tottoland. Back then, I aspired to become one also, haha..." Cancer chuckled hollowly, "...And then the Big Mom pirates invaded our land, and took it over. The royalties managed to escape through the escort of my family, who were all killed in return. The Marine attempted to regain the control, but lost the war against the Big Mom pirates. It was the worst week of my life, and to this day..."

Cancer's right hand, shaking without a control, slowly reached for his pocket. However, I held his wrist and prevented him from taking out a cigarette; Cancer looked at me with widened eyes, sighed, before dropping his arm.

"Do I want revenge? Perhaps I did in the past. But now, I don't know." Cancer placed his hand on his chest, "Back then, when we escorted the civilians back to their home from the Sabaody Archipelago, I felt a sense of achievement. It felt as if I was actually being a marine for once. And after that, I felt my hatred for the Big Mom pirates weakening; I think I kind of understand now, of what you mean by being 'righteous.'"

Cancer, then looking at me and forming a light smile, said, "So... you know, if a situation like that arises again, the situation where there are those in help, tell me. I'm ready at all times, Smoker."

I, in return, gave him a grin of my own,

"Of course—

__________

...Hey."

Within the dark Minion island, the snow stopped. The top of the hill, instead of snow, was filled with vast volume of sand. The island was silent, deadly almost. And in such a place, Smoker stood with a crestfallen expression.

"...Hey, Cancer."

In front of Smoker lied Cancer, who was no longer talking. Judging by the blood pool around the blonde, along with a huge gaping hole in the middle of his chest, Cancer was already gone.

"...Say something, idiot."

Smoker travelled for days without a rest, at his maximum speed. Seimei Kikan: Ghost Body, the use of Black Smoke, the application of Soru and Geppo—Smoker used all that was available to him. And yet, he was late.

"Can...cer..." Drake, who had the chest next to him, muttered in a dazed-off state. Baby 5, horrified by the corpses that laid all across the area, covered her mouth in fear.

"..." Smoker gritted his teeth. He, with a trembling hand, leaned down and closed the man's eyes. Tears escaped from his eyes, with him unable to conceal his sadness.

<<Smoke already, you freaking non-smoking Smoker!!!>>

It hurt him. The pain of losing a close friend right in front of him—it pained Smoker worse than any sort of physical agony that he's undergone before. He couldn't bear it; he saw nothing but red, as he stood back up and directed his enraged eyes at the killer of Cancer.

"White Hunter," Crocodile, thinking that the situation has become troublesome, growled.

The veins were popped out of Smoker's forehead, showcasing that he was more outraged than he ever was.

'...Rest in peace... you non-cancerous Cancer.'

And there, his wrath began.