AutumnXd
patreon
Chapter 79: The Information Gap
🕑 Added 2025-07-13 16:03:49 +0000 UTCThe referee's whistle cut through the arena like a blade, and Shane's hand moved with practiced precision. The talisman flew from his fingers like a golden dart, slapping against the Hirsute Zombie's forehead with a wet thwack that made the crowd collectively wince.
But instead of freezing the creature like some cheesy horror movie, the talisman ignited.
The zombie's body began to swell, muscles bulging obscenely, bones cracking and reforming, flesh stretching until it resembled something that had crawled out of humanity's darkest nightmares. When it opened its mouth to roar, the sound didn't just fill the arena—it violated it.
"ROOOOOAAAAAR!"
The windows trembled. People grabbed their seats. A few screamed.
Russell's eyes narrowed as he analyzed the battlefield with surgical precision. One main attacker, one support. Classic setup, but leaving the Corpse Driver so exposed is suicide. Either Shane's running a skeleton crew, or he's got something nasty hidden up his sleeve.
Yoriichi and Luffy didn't need words. A single glance contained entire battle strategies, responsibilities divided with the fluid grace of warriors who'd fought through hell itself.
Yoriichi drew his Zanpakutō, and the world held its breath.
Then he vanished.
Not moved quickly—vanished. One moment he was standing beside Russell, the next he was materializing at the zombie's flank like death itself, his blade already wreathed in the flickering heat-shimmer of Sun-Style breathing.
The slash came without warning, without mercy.
But the magically enhanced zombie was no longer some shambling corpse. Its massive fist was already swinging to meet Yoriichi's blade, moving with the fluid precision of a trained fighter.
SIZZLE!
The sound of burning hair and flesh filled the air. Yoriichi had drawn first blood, leaving a charred crater where the zombie's knuckles used to be.
From the sidelines, Shane's face went pale. His special attack is supposed to be against souls, not flesh! What the hell is that blade doing to my zombie?
He didn't know that Yoriichi's advancement to Bronze level had transformed his Sun-Style into something far more terrifying—a technique that burned through any creature tainted by darkness, whether spiritual or physical.
The Corpse Driver tried to support its partner, but Luffy intercepted it with a grin that belonged in a children's cartoon and reflexes that belonged in a slaughterhouse.
"Minor Lightning Talisman!" the Corpse Driver rasped, its voice like grinding bones.
A blinding white bolt of lightning erupted from its fingers, striking Luffy center-mass with enough voltage to fry a grown man.
And then... nothing happened.
The crowd stared in stunned silence. Luffy stood there, completely unharmed, electricity crackling harmlessly around him like party streamers.
Only Russell understood. The Gum-Gum Fruit's lightning resistance wasn't as absurd as in the original story—where Luffy could tank a billion volts from a self-proclaimed god—but it was more than enough to laugh off a Bronze-level attack.
Luffy, naturally, wasn't about to waste such a golden opportunity.
"Gear Second!"
His skin flushed pink as steam began rising from his body. The temperature around him spiked noticeably.
"Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"
His fist shot forward with a sonic boom that shattered windows three blocks away. The Corpse Driver's eyes widened in terror as death approached at supersonic speed.
GONG!
A golden, bell-shaped shield materialized around the Corpse Driver, absorbing the impact completely. The sound echoed through the arena like a funeral bell.
Russell's confidence flickered. So he didn't leave his support defenseless after all. And I still don't know what their bond does. At this rate, Luffy might have to use Gear Third.
But he held back. This wasn't a life-or-death battle in the wilderness. He could afford to be patient.
The Corpse Driver's frown deepened behind its golden shield. Lightning immunity? Fine. Let's see him handle THIS.
The next talisman it threw was covered in complex, swirling strokes that seemed to writhe like living things. The moment it activated, the sky above the arena turned black as pitch. Dark clouds boiled into existence, pregnant with malevolent energy.
With a thunderous shout from the Corpse Driver, the heavens opened.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning thick as a tree trunk hammered down from the sky, turning the arena floor into a crater of molten glass. The sound was apocalyptic—not just heard, but felt, like the world was tearing itself apart.
Yoriichi had already Flash Stepped back to Russell's side, his instincts screaming danger. But Luffy, lacking such mobility, could only take the attack head-on.
Russell immediately focused the power of the [Three Treasures] onto Luffy. Block what you can, he thought grimly. But with an area-of-effect attack this large, isn't Shane afraid of hitting his own zombie, or...
The blinding lightning flashed for several eternal seconds before gradually fading. What remained was Luffy, covered in black smoke, his usual grin replaced by a grimace of pain.
So he's not completely immune, Russell noted with clinical detachment. He'd expected this. Luffy's card information only stated immunity to most lightning attacks, not all of them.
But his eyes were already shifting to the Hirsute Zombie, which was now crackling with arcs of electricity, its power visibly increased.
Ah. The bond prevents friendly fire and even gives it a power boost from the lightning. Clever.
Shane's frown deepened as he watched Luffy stagger on the field. "He's not dead yet?"
The Bronze-level zombie had developed enough intelligence to recognize opportunity. This was the perfect moment to finish the job. It appeared behind Luffy like a nightmare materializing, its massive hand clamping down on his head with bone-crushing force.
As its palm gradually tightened, it seemed as if Luffy was about to be crushed and disappear from the field forever. Shane's face broke into a triumphant smile. As long as I can eliminate one of his cards, the balance of victory tilts decisively in my favor.
But Russell wasn't worried.
Because there was a fatal information gap between his opponent and himself.
[Will of D.]: When near defeat, Luffy will experience a burst of vitality, entering a peak state for a short period and becoming immune to a single fatal blow.
Just when everyone thought Russell was doomed, Luffy's eyes snapped open.
Not gradually. Not slowly. They snapped open like a predator that had been playing dead.
"Not good!" Shane shouted from the sidelines, his victory smile transforming into horror.
Luffy spun around with liquid grace, his rubbery limbs instantly wrapping around the Hirsute Zombie like anaconda coils. The creature, caught completely off-guard, found itself immobilized in an embrace that was part restraint, part death sentence.
At the same moment, Yoriichi, who had been standing protectively in front of Russell, was suddenly behind the trapped zombie. If it had been a normal fight, the creature would have sensed the danger, would have reacted. But at this moment, it was completely controlled by Luffy's binding.
Yoriichi's Zanpakutō flashed with golden-red luster as it slashed across the zombie's neck. The blade didn't just cut—it burned, cauterizing the wound even as it severed.
The Hirsute Zombie's head separated from its body, both parts gradually dissipating into motes of light.
Russell felt no wavering in his heart. This had all been part of his calculations.
Boy, he thought coldly, battle is all about information asymmetry.
Under the fierce, combined assault of Luffy and Yoriichi, the golden bell-shaped shield finally shattered like spun glass. The Corpse Driver, now completely alone and defenseless, could only return to Shane's mind in bitter defeat.
On the sidelines, Shane watched the scene in a daze. Before the competition started, if someone had told him he would be eliminated in the round of 32, he would have laughed in their face.
After taking one last, long look at Russell—memorizing the face of the boy who had destroyed his dreams—he left the battlefield without looking back. The cheers that followed belonged to the victor and had nothing to do with him.
He only had those three cards, Russell judged. The card from his Black Iron period must have been the one that advanced into the Hirsute Zombie.
But Russell wasn't particularly proud. His opponent had lost because his deck was incomplete. The route Shane was taking was clearly developing toward a legion-type build—eventually, he would have had enough cards to overwhelm most opponents.
But no matter how many he had, Russell thought, feeling the five Bronze-level cards in his mind, they couldn't beat me.
Still, three of his five cards couldn't be exposed. Thinking back to the bond between the Corpse Driver and the Hirsute Zombie, he sighed. It's time to create another bond for Luffy, even if it's just Iron-level. This time, it was pure luck that Shane used lightning attacks and the [Three Treasures] could block it. Against someone else, I might not be so fortunate.
Russell also roughly assessed his opponent's combat effectiveness. The Corpse Driver should have been gold quality, and the Hirsute Zombie, with its amplification, should also have been gold quality. It would have been impossible for anyone else to win as easily as he had.
But the students and teachers watching didn't know that. At this moment, the university representatives had all started discussing animatedly, their previous rivalries forgotten in the face of what they'd just witnessed.
Because they had all seen the same thing: a boy who fought like he already knew how every battle would end.
(End of Chapter)
Comments
Raphael Espinoza Angulo
But the properties of Gum are natural things :v
