Chapter 106

Soma went into action immediately. All thoughts about the tour he was currently in went right outside the window. His new priority now was to help Terzo.

With his fists clenched, Soma ran to look for a ship that could be operated by one or two men. Of course, ships are usually docked in a harbor. Which means, Soma ran to the edge of the island.

Soma gritted his teeth at the thought that Blackbeard was possibly on the same island as him right now. What he wouldn't give to strangle the bastard's neck. Nobody liked traitors, after all.

With those thoughts in his mind, Soma was motivated to run faster and move even quicker. He couldn't afford to stop or slow down. So, he flew.

With the help of his crew, Soma got stronger every day. His legs were now strong enough to do the technique Ace and the others could do. Soma stepped on the air itself and jumped over any obstacle he found.

Eventually, Soma was in a similar situation as Terzo. He ran across rooftops, racing to the edge of the island. He went in the same direction the tour came from.

In less than ten minutes, Soma eventually found himself face to face with the wall surrounding Pucci. It was the same wall Terzo scaled with his Air Jump. On the other side of that wall was the train station.

Soma looked around and found the exit leading to the other side of the wall. Unfortunately, for some reason, there was a long line. Soma couldn't afford to get in line and wait.

So, Soma thought of an alternative. He looked up and grinned to himself. If Terzo could scale over the wall…

Soma wanted to find out if he could do it, too. So, that's what he did. With fearless steps, Soma ran straight up the wall. When his momentum faltered, he knew it was time.

Without a single doubt in his heart and mind, Soma pushed himself and executed consecutive Air Jumps. Just executing a single one was taxing to the legs, what more multiple executions?

Terzo was one of the first people Ace recruited, and thus had more time training with him. He was much stronger than Soma, so he had no issues with what Soma was trying to do.

But Soma was different. He wasn't that strong yet, so he struggled. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face as he grunted at the effort he was exerting.

The top of the wall was around fifteen meters away. Just a few more Air Jumps should do it. But, Soma noticed that the strength behind his Air Jumps were getting weaker. Each jump pushed him upwards slightly less than his previous ones.

Soma suddenly felt doubt and fear creep up his heart. Was he about to fall to his death?

Then, Hepha's words surfaced in his mind.

"Haki is willpower itself! Having no doubt at all in yourself… that's what will make you strong!"

Soma remembered. It was never an issue if he could do it or not. All that mattered is if he believed he could or not. So, Soma believed.

Without him realizing it, Soma's legs were strengthened by Haki. His strength and vigor returned. With a single Air Jump, Soma crossed the fifteen meter distance and he landed right on top of the wall.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I did it! I actually did it!" Soma celebrated his feat of strength. But, he didn't have much time to do so any further.

"Hey! Who are you?"

Some turned his head to see what could only be a guard stationed on top of the wall. Of course, there was no way there wasn't anyone standing guard here.

"You're not supposed to be here!" the guard said, pointing his rifle at Soma. "Where'd you come from?"

"Sorry! I don't really have time to deal with small fries!"

Soma jumped up and twisted towards the guard for a knee to the head, which landed solidly. If it wasn't for his helmet, the guard would probably have his head popped open from the force behind Soma's knee.

The guard dropped down on the ground. Unfortunately, the commotion was heard by the other guards. The top of the wall had small sections that looked like houses, probably guard stations. More guards appeared and went towards Soma.

"Uh oh."

The guards covered Soma's advance and retreat. He had nowhere to go. Soma had no choice but to break through the ambush or jump off the wall. 

But, seeing how the guards had guns, Soma decided not to jump off the wall to try and escape. He would be open to so many shots from different angles. If he stayed to fight instead, the guards could hesitate shooting in fear of hurting or killing their colleagues.

Soma decided to stay and fight. It was reckless, but it was a much safer decision than jumping off the wall.

"Hands behind your head! Now!"

The guards stopped a few meters away from Soma with their guns pointed at him. They saw their fellow guard, the first one Soma encountered, twitching on the ground. It was clear to them that Soma was strong and they shouldn't get near him so carelessly.

"Sorry about this." Soma muttered under his breath before charging forward.

With a flurry of elbows and knee strikes, Soma charged straight through the wall of guards in front of him. He was focused more on breaking through than fighting each individual guard.

The guards were unable to stop Soma. Just as Soma thought, once he was in the middle of them, the guards hesitated to shoot. So, Soma was able to break through them rather easily.

"Get him! Somebody contact the rest of the guards!" Some heard one of the guards shout.

Soma ran with half a dozen guards chasing him. Now that it was clear, the guards chasing Soma stopped hesitating to shoot. They aimed their guns at Soma and fired consecutive shots.

But, Soma expected this. He ran wildly from side to side, sometimes mixing it up with Air Jumps to run midair.

"Who is this guy?" Soma heard one of the guards express his disappointment and disbelief at wasting a whole magazine shooting air.

The guards were relentless, Soma noticed. They didn't stop trying to shoot him even after wasting dozens of bullets each.

"I need to get rid of these guys," Soma said.

Much to the guards' surprise, Soma turned around and ran straight to them. Soma chose his moment well, turning back as soon as he noticed the guards stopped shooting to reload their guns.

Soma pounced with a speed the guards couldn't keep up with. With fierce kicks, Soma knocked them all down in a few breaths.

With his pursuers dealt with, Soma breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned on the stone railings for a few seconds to rest and catch his breath. He looked down from the wall overlooking the edge of the island.

Soma didn't forget what Terzo asked of him. Soma needed to prepare a boat for him and Terzo to escape if things turned out bad. So, Soma kept his eye out as he ran, looking for a harbor where ships docked.

Then, he saw one. It was a huge harbor on the east side of the island where numerous ships were docked, most of which were ships chartered for civilian use judging by the blank white flags they flew. Of course, even those ships were also fitted with cannons for self-defense.

From where he stood, Soma got a pretty good view of the ships docked in the harbor. He hoped to find a small vessel that even one person can operate.

Then, Soma saw it. It was a frigate ship flying a familiar flag they saw frequently during their travels across the sea. It was the flag of a kingdom that gained a reputation for being warmongers in the recent decade.

It was an Espa Kingdom ship.

Soma grinned to himself. He just gained something else he could do. But, before rashly doing anything, Soma decided to call Terzo. The transponder snail only rang a few times before Terzo answered.

"You found us a ship already?" Terzo asked. The sound of wind accompanied his voice, meaning that he was still chasing his lead.

"I'm working on it," Soma said. "I found something else which could probably end up helping us."

"What is it?"

"An Espa Kingdom ship."

Terzo whistled in amusement. Soma could hear the smirk in the swordsman's voice.

"You don't need to ask permission," Terzo said. "Let loose if you want. Just get us a boat when you're done."

"No problem," Soma said before ending the call. Then, he jumped. His eyes were glued on that Espa Kingdom ship.

Getting down from the top of the wall was easier than going up to it. Soma just let himself fall and jumped at the last second to negate his momentum, letting him land safely on the ground.

Surprisingly, there weren't many people around the harbor. No one saw Soma fall from a great height and land safely. So, Soma was able to continue on his way unimpeded.

Soma went to the Espa Kingdom ship he saw. He still remembered where it was, so it didn't take him long to see it. From where he stood, he saw a few soldiers on the ship's deck, guarding it while most of its crew were most likely somewhere in Pucci.

"This should be easy," Soma whispered to himself before walking up the ship's plank.

The guards must've been relaxed because they only noticed Soma the moment he stepped onto the deck of the ship. They scrambled to get up from their lazy positions, so Soma pounced before they could do so.

With a quick count, Soma counted six guards on deck. He didn't let his guard down and assumed that there were more below them. Those guards below deck should surely notice the ruckus about to happen soon.

Soma jumped on the nearest pair of Espa Kingdom navy soldiers. Unlike the marines, their sailor outfit was fitted with armor on the chest and arms. The symbol of Espa Kingdom's flag was emblazoned on their chests.

Once again, Soma couldn't believe he didn't recognize the flag. Why would he, when it wasn't the flag his father envisioned at all? His blasted mother ruined everything his father ever worked for.

Rage filled Soma. At this point, he didn't care anymore. He stopped holding back. His childish rejection of his true style of fighting was no more.

What should usually be an elbow or a knee, Soma's feet was what knocked the Espa soldiers unconscious over the railing of their ship. Soma ruthlessly stomped on the two soldier's faces with enough force to rattle their brain inside their skull.

With the first two soldiers dealt with, Soma immediately switched targets. There were supposed to be four more of them, but Soma only saw three. He assumed the remaining soldier notified the others below the deck.

"What would Curly say now?" Soma muttered under his breath, remembering the face of his rival Sanji.

Soma and Sanji were both trained by Zeff in both cooking and fighting. As a result, it wasn't difficult to imagine that both of them should be similar. But, Soma had a streak in him that made him try to be unique.

As a result, Soma didn't practice Zeff's fighting style much. Instead of kicks, Soma translated the moves into elbows and knees, much to the old man's annoyance.

'You get way too close to your enemy that way! You wanna die, kid?' was what Zeff always said. Strangely enough, Ace said those words too.

Now, realizing that he'll soon face the demons of his past, Soma let go of his childish inhibition. There was a reason that the old man Zeff was known as a fearsome pirate in his youth. The way he fought was to be respected.

Soma needed all the power he could get if he wanted to bring down the dark reflection of the kingdom his father dreamt of.

"Stand down!" the soldiers said to Soma with their spears pointed at him. Soma barely regarded them as a threat.

As an answer, Soma attacked. He jumped up and rotated vertically in midair, executing an ax kick on one poor soldier. The soldier's head, despite wearing a metal helmet for protection, caved in from Soma's foot that carried enough momentum to make it seem like a ball of cold steel.

The soldier slumped down on the ground, blood pooling around his head. It was obvious the soldier was never going to wake up again.

"Bastard!"

The two remaining soldiers attempted to skewer Soma with their spears, but Soma jumped over their attack. Before he landed, Soma's legs shot out like the heads of cobras and kicked the two soldiers in the head.

Soma's kick landed on their head. Soma's kick knocked back their heads with great speed and broke their necks. The two soldiers died just like that.

At that moment, what Soma expected came. Soldiers emerged from hatches all around the deck. A dozen soldiers quickly surrounded Soma.

Soma wasn't at all distraught at their number. He was still confident he could take them on. After all, judging by their uniforms, these soldiers were the lowest of rank in the ship.

"H-He killed them!"

"Kill him!"

Soma's guess was proven correct. The soldiers lacked the discipline and cooperation Soma expected from people like them. They seemed nothing more than slightly trained amateurs.

Due to their lack of cooperation, Soma had an easier time. He picked off his targets one by one, mercilessly crushing their heads, necks, and spine with a flurry of kicks.

The soldiers couldn't keep up with Soma. He jumped around like a mad rabbit as he used the air itself as a foothold, an application of Air Jump, maneuvering in ways the soldiers didn't expect at all. In what seemed like a few breaths, Soma killed them all.

Soma stood there, closely observing the unmoving bodies littered around him. After making sure they were truly dead, he went back to his purpose for coming there. He walked to the door leading inside the ship, more specifically to where the commanding officer usually resides.

There weren't many rooms on the ship. Judging how those soldiers before emerged from hatches which led below deck, Soma guessed that the soldiers slept there. The rooms above deck were reserved for officers.

Soma looted what he could: refilling his wallet and coin pouch with money, folding maps he found in his pocket, and most important of all, an Eternal Pose leading to Felip Archipelago.

After looting the ship, Soma decided to blow it up. Doing so was easy enough. Just light the gunpowder storage and book it before the whole heap explodes. Soma was already off the ship when it blew sky high.

Soma didn't look back at the explosion. He was more focused on finding a boat he and Terzo could use to retreat from the island. 

Soma could have used the boats tied to the stern of the Espa Kingdom ship he just blew up, but those boats needed to be rowed. The boat Soma had in mind was a small sailboat. If he doesn't find one… well, there are lots of rowboats in the harbor similar to the ones tied on the stern of the Espa Kingdom ship.

Thankfully, Soma found what he was looking for. The boat was small but could easily fit two grown men. It also had a sail, so it didn't need to be rowed. Even more, there was a rifle in the sailboat.

Sure, Soma and Terzo couldn't shoot as well as the marksmen of their crew, but a gun is a gun. They at least would have some way to fight in the middle of the sea without having to jump ships.

With the boat secured, Soma decided to call Terzo to let him know of the good news.