Chapter 105: Chapter 105
Terzo let go of the door knob. He was glad he wasn't too hasty. He stayed long enough to overhear vital information.
That traitor of their crew, Blackbeard, was recruiting.
Terzo's smile grew wide. His mind raced, thinking of what to do with this vital information he came across. No doubt, he would let Ace know of what he found out. But currently, Terzo knew that he had too little information. Someone needs to follow up on this lead as soon as possible.
Terzo decided that it should be him. After all, he's here right now. Luckily, he wasn't alone on this island. Soma was here as well and he could contact their cook to update him about the intel he's following just in case he dies.
Even though he's reckless, Terzo wasn't stupid. He knew that Teach should be stronger than him. But, he didn't care. The bastard was a traitor. Letting him go just because of the fear of failure and dying is a shameful move and would hurt Terzo's pride.
Plus, it is always better to strike when the iron is hot. Teach was near. His new crew was near. It's better to root this little issue while it's still early. Terzo decided to update Soma frequently about what he finds out.
Terzo turned around and walked towards the group of hooligans celebrating their opportunity to join the Blackbeard Pirates. But first, Terzo went to Gebop who was still recovering from his kind words.
"Old man." Terzo placed a kind hand on Gebop's shoulder before whispering to him. "Sorry. You need to get out of here."
"What?"
"Is this place insured?" Terzo asked.
"Well, uhh… it expires next month."
"Great! You'll have extra money soon!"
Gebop instantly understood Terzo's words. He went away, saving himself from the trouble soon to occur.
With old man Gebop gone, Terzo went back to his targets. With a quick glance, he observed them. There were six. Two had guns, three had swords, one had both sword and gun.
'Must be their leader.' Terzo then spotted the sheet of paper in the leader's hand. 'Also the one who came in just now. I'll leave him alive.'
Terzo's eyes sharpened and gained a vicious glint behind them. His body went alert, ready to react as fast as possible. His hand went to his sword.
With no words of taunt or greeting, Terzo pounced on his targets. He prioritized the two who only had guns. With the element of surprise by his side, Terzo's first attack was successful.
One of Terzo's first two targets directly died, beheaded by a slash of his sword. The other one, to his credit, was able to react quickly but not fast enough. Terzo managed to land a vital blow on the second one, fatally wounding him.
"Wha-?"
"You bastard!"
The rest of Terzo's targets managed to finally realize that they were being attacked. In the blink of an eye, Terzo dealt with two of them.
Two down, four to go.
The leader was the quickest to react. Faster than Terzo expected of an average hooligan, the leader drew his sword and attempted to slash Terzo. It didn't manage to land, seeing how Terzo effortlessly leaned his body away from the quick slash, but it was not at all futile.
Terzo had to retreat slightly to avoid the flurry of sword slashes the leader of the hooligans swung at him. With the distance he retreated, the hooligans went to formation to stand against him.
Three of them formed a battle formation to guard against Terzo. One of them was the leader.
One of the four remaining hooligans stayed behind to try and look after the first two Terzo attacked. Seeing how one of them was surely dead from being beheaded, he went to his dying companion.
"Oi! Stay with me!"
Gurgling sounds was all the dying hooligan could manage. Shortly thereafter, the light of life left his eyes.
"They're dead…"
Terzo's surprise attack was indeed successful. Before they could even launch a counterattack, two of them were already dead.
"Who the fuck are you?" the leader of the hooligans asked as their last member joined their formation.
"Me? I'm nobody!" Terzo said as he watched the four in front of him slowly circle him. "To you, at least."
"RAAAAH!"
One of the four hooligans was as stupid as he looked. The moment he was behind Terzo, he launched a 'surprise' attack. But how can it be a surprise if you announce it.
Terzo ducked underneath the horizontal slash that came from behind him. It was a wild swing that aimed to decapitate him. Terzo punished the missed attack, landing a fatal blow on another hooligan.
In one swift motion, Terzo slashed horizontally with his sword. It was a slash that was in sync with his ducking motion, aimed at the hooligan's waist. Terzo's sword carried enough force to cleave straight through his target, chopping him down like a tree.
In an instant, another one of them was dead.
The hooligans had no time to realize that fact, considering that three of them attacked at the same time. The leader was more patient, however, and stayed back a bit to observe.
At the same moment Terzo cleaved through the waist of the hooligan that attacked him from behind, the attacks of the other two came. They aimed to hack Terzo to death with their rather rusty blades.
Terzo wasn't unaware of this attempt. With his basic Observation Haki, he clearly felt their intent and was able to react appropriately. Terzo jumped over the attacks coming for him and landed behind them.
The two hooligans quickly turned around and impatiently attacked once again. Their swings were wide, uncontrolled, with neither discipline nor grace behind them.
It was obvious to Terzo that they weren't used to using their swords for actual combat. Clearly, they were the kind of men who only knew how to bully the weak with the weapon in their hands.
Faced with a combatant like Terzo who eventually improved leaps and bounds from countless battles on the sea (more specifically, mock battles with Ace that served as their crew's pastime), the two hooligans swinging their swords looked like children.
Terzo treated them as such. He took the chance to train his Observation Haki, feeling for the swings coming at him so he could dodge them. This kind of training method was undoubtedly insane. One mistake, and Terzo could still die.
After a minute of just dodging, Terzo remembered why he attacked the hooligans in the first place.
'I shouldn't play around like this!'
With one last dodge, Terzo dispatched the two hooligans. He beheaded them both with one slash each. Five down, one to go. Only the leader was left.
Then, Terzo realized that something was wrong… he looked around and the leader of the hooligans was nowhere to be found.
"Fuck!"
'He must've escaped while I was toying with his men! Damn it!'
Terzo was about to take a chance and choose a random direction to follow the leader of the hooligans when old man Gebop peeked from behind a wall.
"He went out back!" Gebop said.
"Thanks!" Terzo grinned and bowed slightly in gratitude to the old man before running.
With urgency, Terzo followed the direction Gebop pointed. Soon, he got out of the building and into a narrow alley. There near the end of the alley he was in, Terzo saw the leader of the hooligans running away.
"You're not getting away!"
Terzo used one of the techniques Ace taught him. He flickered straight towards his target. With the speed provided by the technique, Terzo was able to knock his target down on the ground.
"You and I have some talking to do," Terzo said as he stepped on the hooligan leader's back, preventing him from getting up or escaping.
"Wh-Who the hell are you?" the hooligan asked. "We… We don't know you! We never even met you!"
The hooligan started sobbing pitifully. Terzo could hear the snot drip from his nose as he cried his heart out.
"Why? Why? Why'd you have to kill my friends?" the hooligan asked.
"Friends? That's funny!" Terzo said with a chuckle. "So you ran away, leaving your friends to die, just so you can save your own ass?"
"I… I wasn't running away!" the hooligan said. "Fuck you! I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna be a pirate! I'm gonna kill you! Fucking kill you!"
"Really? You? Kill me?" Terzo asked with a sneer. "I'm curious how you plan to do that… I'll wait for you. My name is Terzo. Find me once you become a pirate."
Terzo removed his foot from the hooligan's back. He then Flickered away and stood on a rooftop, watching the hooligan from above.
The hooligan got up and looked around, but he didn't look up. If he did, there was a chance that he would've spotted Terzo. So, thinking that Terzo was gone, the hooligan let out a sigh of relief.
"Terzo… I'll remember you!" the hooligan said in a low whisper before running away.
From above, still on the edge of a rooftop, Terzo grinned. He watched the hooligan run away.
"Don't disappoint me, little guy," Terzo said. "Bring me to him. Bring me to that bastard Blackbeard."
Then, Terzo remembered something else he was supposed to do. With the Baby Transponder Snail on his wrist, Terzo made a call to Soma.
Terzo followed the hooligan from the rooftop as he waited for Soma to pick up his call. After a few rings, Soma picked up.
"You have no idea how glad I am that you called," Soma said from the other side, rather relieved for some reason. "Those women are fucking annoying…"
"Truly, our boy Soma is popular with the ladies," Terzo said, his sneer audible in his tone. "Too bad you hate women…"
"What I wouldn't give to be as ugly as you," Soma said with a rather mockingly wistful tone.
"Oi! I'm not that bad looking!"
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Soma said. "So? Why'd you call?"
"Ahh, right! I found something big…"
"This better not be a dick joke," Soma said.
"No, it's not," Terzo said, all notion of lightheartedness gone from his voice. "Apparently, our black-bearded rat is building a crew."
"Teach? He's here?"
"I don't know yet," Terzo said. "But, I'm following a lead. I'll keep you posted."
"I'm going with you," Soma said. "This isn't something you should do alone."
"C'mon, Soma. Think of the big picture here! What if Blackbeard is much stronger than we expected and kills both of us? Our Captain needs to be informed."
Soma was silent, unable to offer a response to Terzo's question. Still, Terzo appreciated Soma's desire to help.
"I get it, not doing anything sucks," Terzo said, offering Soma some solace. "How about this? If things go bad, you'll be my retreat plan."
"How can I help?" Soma asked, life and eagerness returning to him.
"Right now, I'm following someone who could lead me to Blackbeard. We're going north. Prepare our escape ship somewhere near the north side of the island."
"Got it," Soma said. "And Terzo… be careful."
"Don't worry. I will."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone