chapter 68

"I am as silent as an owl, thanks to my mastery of the Soru technique. My victims never notice my presence until it's too late," Elly heard a voice and turned around to see Fukurou hiding in an ally while peeking at byron.

"Stop trying to find me. You never will, not until it's too late," That was all Fukurou could say before Elly palmed her face in exasperation as she made her way behind him with a Soru step, burying the stock of her rifle in the back of his neck and kicking him towards Byron.

"Hey, Byron, you need some help? I've almost finished with my opponent," Elly said as she watched Byron swing his axe at Fukurou, who came flying at him, only for Fukurou's body to compress itself upwards, dodging the attack as he disappeared into the darkness again.

"I don't know," Byron replied with an irritated expression while watching Fukurou disappear from his sight again.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Elly said with a raised eyebrow while looking at Byron suspiciously.

"This guy has been doing nothing but hiding like a coward and monologuing this whole time. I have no idea how strong he is," Byron replied with a scowl while looking at the surrounding shadows, trying to spot Fukurou's figure.

"Are you being serious right now?" Elly asked with an incredulous expression on her face, suddenly dodging to the side as Kumadori appeared above her, holding his staff-like cue, pointing the butt of his staff at her.

"Shishi Cue, Cue, Cue," Kumadori shouted while in the air, thrusting the butt of his staff repeatedly, launching compressed air bullets with each thrust strong enough to leave holes on the stone floor. Blood still leaking from his mouth and back.

Elly continuously dodged the incoming air bullets with a mixture of her superb gymnastics and Kami-e successfully, thanks to her superior senses and budding Observation Haki. Disappearing and appearing above Kumadori, who was still in the air as she spun herself in the air and planted her foot on Kumador's back, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Stay (Thud). The (Thud). Fuck (Thud). Down (Thud)," Elly said, Stopping with every word as she stomped on Kumador's back, who was still struggling and trying to get up, to make sure he wouldn't get up again, causing him to spurt even more blood from his mouth and back with every stomp until he lost consciousness.

'Crap, Jabra and Kumador are both down already. I need to get them out of here quickly,' Fukurou thought to himself while looking at Kumadori's unconscious figure.

"Soru: Tekkai Dama," Fukurou shouted as he began spinning himself, aiming at both Elly and Byron, forcing the two of them to dodge as he stopped himself right next to the unconscious Kumadori, picking him up and throwing several cylindrical objects to the ground that exploded, releasing a thick cloud of smoke as they did.

Fukurou then threw several bombs in all directions inside the smoke and moved towards Jabra with Kumadori, flung on his shoulder, only to repeat the same process as he picked up Jabra and fled the battlefield.

"Let them go," Wilson said as he appeared next to Elly, who had her rifle pointed at the smoke while firing at the fleeing Fukurou despite the smoke hindering her vision.

"But We can't just let them go after- " Elly said, intending to protest with an annoyed expression, but she was interrupted by Wilson.

"We're not letting them go just like that after attacking us, but we need to ask Johnny what he knows about those guys before acting against them, or we might end up ruining his plans," Wilson explained while shaking his head.

"These guys used the six powers Johnny taught you a while ago. He said that those are government techniques, so we need to report to Johnny before we do anything else," Wilson concluded, his expression even more annoyed than Elly.

"Wilson is right. Even I want to go after them, especially because that bastard kept hiding and monologuing to himself the entire time, so I barely got to fight him before he fled," Byron added, his expression a mixture of amusement and irritation.

"Fine, but if we can't find them later, then it's on you two," Elly said with a pout, still not convinced, but she still trusted Wilson's judgment nonetheless.

"I'm sure Laffite can find them if quickly if we asked him when he gets back, so don't worry about it," Wilson said with a smirk as he morphed back into his human form and turned around, walking in the docks' direction with Elly and Byron behind him.

-0-

Johnny's point of view:

"Rehahaha, It took me all day, but I finally managed to get the hang of it," I exclaimed with a loud laugh while walking stiffly around the deck of the black pearl, like some sort of rusty robot, causing Bob, who was watching to sigh, planting his face into his palm as he did.

"Rehaha, Don't be like that, Bob. You have to learn to walk before you can run," I remarked with a smirk, looking at the exasperated Bob. "I only have to get used to walking normally with Tekkai active and then get used to fighting with it," I concluded, causing Bob to roll his eyes as he buried his face in his book without replying.

I kept walking stiffly for what felt like an hour until I became capable of walking normally.

That said, however, it still required obscene amounts of concentration, making the technique unusable in a fight.

I deactivated Tekkai and Kami-e, intending to wrap up the training for today, when I heard several familiar footsteps near the black pearl, causing around with a smile as Wilson, Elly and Buron made their way into the ship.

"Oh, you guys are back," I said with a smile that turned into a frown as soon I smelled the scent of blood and saw some blood staining Elly's clothes. "What happened?" I asked, frown still on my face as I made my way towards them, my eyes on the bloodstains on Elly's clothes.

"Three people attacked us, using the techniques you've been teaching Laffite and me, captain," Elly explained with a calm expression, causing my frown to become more pronounced. "But we fought them off, without trouble," she added with a smirk, causing me to calm down a little.

"That's right, they fought well, or Elly did so at least," Wilson said with a smirk. "This guy's opponent kept hiding and monologuing. They barely fought one another before our attackers fled with their tails between their legs," he added while looking at Byron, causing the latter to scowl in annoyance.

"As long as none of you were injured, then it's fine," I said with a smile. "What did you attackers look like, and why did they target you, by the way?" I asked after a minute's pause, my smile disappearing, replaced by a blank expression.

"There was a guy a fu Manchu mustache who seems to have eaten a wolf Zoan devil fruit, a tall guy with pink hair and a copper staff, who can control his hair, and finally a fat balloon-like guy with green hair and zipper for a mouth," Wilson explained with a thoughtful expression on his face, trying to come up with the best words to describe the attackers.

"As for why they targeted us? I have no idea," Wilson added while shrugging his shoulders.

"Cp9, huh?" I muttered with a darkened expression. "Ignore them for now, but stay alert just in case they strike again," I concluded with a sigh, turning around and making my way towards the captain's quarters.

"Where are you going?" Wilson asked in a confused voice as he watched me turn around, leaving without saying anything else.

"I need to call someone," I replied without turning around, still walking towards my room.

-0-

Somewhere in Kano country, in a large room with no furniture, except for several beds.

"This is all your fault, Jabra. You just had to go fight them, dragging Kumadori and me with you," Fukurou said with an angry expression while looking at Jabra, who was lying on a bed while groaning in pain.

"If news of this gets out, then our only fate would be incarceration or execution," Fukurou added, his expression still of boiling rage.

"How was I supposed- cough- supposed to know they were so strong?" Kabra asked while coughing, causing blood to spurt from his mouth.

"The report said that only their captain and the gorilla guy were a threat since they use the six powers," Jabra added with a pained expression while clutching his stomach.

"It was supposed to be an easy job, taking them out one by one and then going after their captain," Jabra added with a pained expression.

"Yea, but it wasn't easy now, was it?" Fukurou asked as he clenched his fists. "Worst of all, we weren't even ordered to attack. We were only told to keep an eye on them because that person is interested in their captain, so you can get one over Kaku and Lucci and now look at us," Fukurou exclaimed with a loud voice while pointing at Kumadori, who was still unconscious thanks to the vicious beating he received from Elly.

"I have at least five bullet holes in my back, almost half of your bones are broken, and we don't even know if Kumador is going to survive or not, and we're in danger of being disappeared by the other agents cp9 agents if they find out about this," Fukurou added, causing Jabra to lower his head in shame.

"Calm down... Fukurou," Kumadori said with a barely audible voice as he regained his consciousness at the end of Fukurou's speech. "Must… lay low... for now, keep this... a secret," He added while gasping for breath, trying to calm down his companion, and fainting again as soon as he finished speaking.