S.O.B Okama

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　After Rei had done with his deed. Rei felt it was enough and the marines wouldn't have strength to bothers with him anymore as Nelson's whereabouts were unknown.

　Gathering his remaining chakra, he used Shunshin movements technique once again, this time his destination was Ryu's cave.

　 whenever Rei recalled the system notification regarding "mortally wounded" Apis, his eyes pupil turned redder and redder without him noticing!

　And while he focused on running, suddenly he heard a weird hoarse ancient voice coming from somewhere!

　'.....moon.dweller, Apis. Help....'

　Rei immediately knew whose voice was heard inside his head, as the only one ever called him by that moniker was the old dragon, Ryu!

　Rei didn't think so much as of why he could hear Ryu's voice all of a sudden, all of his concerns were all about his beloved first disciple!

　"Apis! Hold on!" Rei gritted his teeth with incessant feelings of worry. he raised his speed to maximum without concerns about his remaining chakra.

〜〜〜〜〜

　10 minutes earlier at Ryu's cave...

　"umm? nng? huh? is this way or that way...?" Apis mumbled while holding the scroll which Rei gave to her yesterday. her cute little face were twisted with confusion.

　she held the scroll and turning it upside down, back and forth. seemingly trying to understand the contents written on it.

　'.....Apis.....'

　Apis heard Ryu called thanks to her devil fruit ability, turning her head towards the sluggish old dragon, Apis called back,

　"yes? whats wrong grandpa?"

　'.....you.need help. Apis? whats.wrong?.....' the old dragon grunted slowly.

　"nothing grandpa, i just wants to know how to perform this."

　Apis raised the scroll and letting Ryu to see its content, if its another person even if Rei doesn't mind, Apis wouldn't show the scroll contents easily.

　the old dragon adjusted his head slightly as his huge eyes squinted.

　'.....hmm, i.think you.need.to do this.and this.....'

　with his grunted voice, Ryu began to explain the scroll contents towards the curious little girl. despite being old and lethargic, Ryu was surprisingly talkative especialy with his little friend.

　both of them discussed the scroll contents with great interest without vigilance. as when Eric followed Apis inside the cave no one seems noticed him standing not far from there.

　when Eric saw the dragon, his first reaction was surprised and suddenly all of it turned into glee and happiness, Eric smirked at the sight of Apis having conversation with the old dragon.

　with a smile of victory Eric strolled closer and closer until Ryu finaly noticed him coming.

　'.....who're you? Apis friend?.....' Apis could understand the meaning of Ryu's snort however what Eric heard was only a grunt coming from the dragon's mouth.

　Apis flinched when she heard Ryu, she immediately turned around in a fright, Apis staggered slightly when she saw Eric stood there arms folded.

　Apis was quite nervous as why Eric could found her here, she stood in front of Ryu's snout and spread her arms widely.

　seeing the new stranger had ill intention, Ryu tried to move his huge body which by no avail.

　'.....stay.away, from.Apis!.....' Ryu threatened Eric.

　"hehehe, hyahahhahahhahaha..."

　all of sudden Eric burst into laughter, he glanced at the nervous Apis from the corner of his eyes.

　Apis gulped slightly, however she still stood her ground without any intentions to move.

　"hehehe, thanks to you i finaly found the dragon, little girl!" said Eric menacingly.

　"DON'T MOVE CLOSER! STAY AWAY!" Apis shouted.

　however Eric laugh grew incessantly, his laughter could be heard all around the huge cave.

　"sigh*, i thought you know about the dragon's whereabouts, i don't expect you to hide a gift like this."

　Apis gritted her teeth as she blame herself for the reason why Eric cought them redhanded.

　"now little girl, i won't make this difficult for you, step aside and give your dragon to me! by doing so i'll just pretend nothing happened in the past!" Eric threatened her as he drew closer and closer.

　"Stop! if you wants Ryu! you must fight me first." putting a brave front, Apis tried to hide her fear and nervousness.

　hearing that, Eric laugh once again clearly not taking the little girl words seriously.

　"do you see this?" Eric raised his finger, showing Apis his elongated claw.

　"i ate the devil fruit called kama kama fruit, it gives me ability to conjure wind blades from my claw!" he said arrogantly.

　however, instead of surprised expressions coming from Apis face, Eric only saw her confusions look, Apis tilted her head and asked,

　"okama fruit?"

　"ITS NOT OKAMA! its kama kama fruit!" Eric scolded comicaly.

　both of them were in stand off for a while, until Eric oppened his mouth once more,

　"step aside little ones~ last warning!"

　if Apis were still the same as the previous one, she would probably runing away and find Rei as soon as possible. or, she would used trickery to stall for time as she knew Rei would eventually come.

　however, ever since she learnt chakra kneading and a little taijutsu, her convidence and bravery grew.

　Apis could feel herself become stronger and all of her senses being enhanced, however it also come in price as she couldn't gauge her opponent strength clearly and that made her careless!

　seeing Apis wouldn't budge no matter what he said, Eric smirked and said,

　"fine! i'll give you a chance to fight me. come come hit me here..."

　Eric stood still as he offered Apis to attack his abdoment in arrogant manner, Apis squinted her eyes and tried to move closer only to be stopped by the old dragon.

　'.....Apis. don't, be. careless.....'

　Apis looked back towards Ryu and smiled, "don't worry grandpa, i will be fine." she said.

　soon after, Apis and Eric distance was only a meter away from each other, Eric folding his hand while keeping his smug face, and Apis didn't like it, not one bit.

　"come on little girl, right here!" Eric offered his abdoment forward.

　feeling annoyed, Apis brandished her small fist and finaly.

　"HIYAAAAA..." Apis yelled and threw her punch towards Eric's abdoment.

　'Pam!'

　when she landed her punch cleanly, Apis heard a groan coming from Eric's mouth, he fell to the ground while clutching his abdoment seemingly in pain, however just as Apis wanted to cheer.

　"just kidding." Eric sneered, he swipe his palm towards Apis spotless cheek.

　'Slap!'

　a crisp sound of a slap resounding within the cave! Ryu who witnesed how Apis was slapped and fell to the hard ground tried his hardest to move, however it was all for naught.

　"what do you expect to happen huh? your punch are so weak even mosquito clearly has more strength than you! hahahhahaa."

　Apis tried to stand albeit feeling dizzy, even if her body had been enhanced by the chakra, for how long she had practiced it? she was just an ordinary girl not even 24 hours ago!

　'.....APIS.....' Ryu groaned loudly. clearly he felt anxious seeing Apis tried to protect him.

　however, Apis is Apis, she was a brave little girl, at the moments of dizziness she recalled one of the scrolls content mentioned how if ones were to focused their chakra into one point, ones could enhance its strength tremendously!

　"what you need right now is actualy a vocal point, try to focus on the dew when you connects the two energies." Apis also recalled what Rei had said to her, with a drop of dew, when she first had succesfully connecting her two energies.

　"drop of dew, drop of dew, drop of dew," Apis mumbled under her breath while trying to refocused her mind.

　seeing Apis stood and moved closer once again, Eric felt amused. so he decided to tease her once more.

　"what? you want to try again? sure! i'll give the chance! however, you can't blame me for whatever happen next!" he said arrogantly.

　Apis stopped at the arms length of her opponent, and Eric just casually stood there with arms crossed.

　'drop of dew, drop of dew.' still mumbling the same words over and over again, Apis gathered all of her chakra towards her right fist!

　just when Eric wants to tease her again, Apis suddenly opened her fighting stance she learnt from the basic taijutsu movements set.

　she swung her fist towards Eric's abdoment once more! the unsuspecting Eric saw with amusement as Apis threw the same fist as before.

　however, just as Apis landed her fist on his abdoment, there was an unprecedented feeling of danger coming from her small fist!

　'BAAAAAM!'

　and it was all too late as Eric felt like he was being struck by a small cannon ball! his body shape turns arched like a shrimp and flew away from the spot!

　'Bam! thud! crash!'

　like a ragdoll, Eric crashed into several rock and stones until finaly the dust covered him completely.

　'thud.'

　Apis kneeled on the ground as she felt all of her energies leaving her body in instant. it couldn't be helped, Apis still couldn't control her chakra output. so, without thinking she spent all of her chakra into her small fist.

　thankfully it all paid off as the punch succesfully hit its mark, Ryu struggled so hard as he saw Apis drooped her head listless.

　'.....APIS. APIS. HOLD ON....' Ryu grunted in panic, however a second later.

　'Slaaash...!'

　something barely invisible flew out from behind the dust where Eric flew into earlier, seeing its targetting Apis, Ryu suddenly pulled out the remaining strength out of his old body and moved his huge wing to cover her listless small figure!

　'Splatterr.....'

　something sharp struck at Ryu's wing! his green covered feather splatered with a fresh blood.

　'.....APIS, QUICK. GET OUT....' Ryu couldn't careless about his wounded wing, he still tried to wake her up!

　'crash...tumble.'

　Eric were tumbling as he tried to regains his balance after he throw a wind blade over. fresh blood oozing out slightly from the corner of his lips and he was seen holding his injured abdoment.

　"bastard kid! i'll rip your guts out after..." Eric stopped his speech as he saw Ryu's huge wings, began to raise.

　"huh?"

　perplexed by Ryu's behavior, Eric stood still in confusion.

　due to his old age, Ryu was unable to move freely, however he still could do something simple, like raising his wing and let the gravity do his job bringing Ryu's wing down.

　the falling momentum of Ryu's wing was enough to crush anything in its way Into smitheren! and Ryu's target was clear, the one who wanted to harm Apis like this stranger in front of him!

　'WOOOOO...'

　the sound of Ryu's wing could be heard reverberating inside the cave. and seeing Ryu's wing getting bigger and bigger, Eric finaly snapped back!

　'BOOOOOM...!'

　Ryu's wing struck the ground with a deafening sound! the rocks were destroyed and dust flew out! however. Eric was nowhere to be seen!

　"Kama Kama no Kamaitachi!" Eric yelled from behind the dust,

　several blades made of wind flew out and struck Ryu's wing several times! blood gushed out from the huge dragon's wing together with Ryu's painful cry!

　"damn dragon! i'll kill you first then!" said Eric menacingly.

　Eric leaped towards Ryu's huge body and swung his elongated claw furiously producing an incessant amount of wind blade!

　Ryu's tried to move, however it was all for naught, thinking he was unstoppable Eric began to increase his attack intensity!

　'pak..'

　suddenly Eric paused his assault as his forehead bleed slightly by a rock thrown on it, he turned his head slowly and saw the listless little girl now gasping for breath while holding some rocks in her hand.

　"huff* huff*, sta, stay away from grandpa Ryu!" said Apis trying to adjust her breath.

　by only her sheer will, Apis stood up and facing the mercenary bravely. clearly she hasn't recovered yet, nevertheless, seeing her old friend getting abused, Apis couldn't stayed still anymore.

　gathering whatever strength she had left, Apis began to charge towards Eric!

　"huff* GET AWAY huff* FROM HIM!" yelled Apis as she swung her fist forward.

　'tap!'

　Eric however, easily caught her fist! he still felt humiliated by the fact he flew away just because of her tiny fist! Eric was a prideful person, he won't let it slipped away easily!

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