Rustle, rustle...
After Gyuki's spinning-top rotation, the smoke-shrouded surroundings were hit by a rain of dirt. Fine clods and gravel fell from the sky, pelting everything below.
The several extremely intense sources of malice from before had completely disappeared along with the disturbance just now.
That meant the battle had finally ended.
"Hey, Gyuki!" Kurama turned his head, his fox eyes carrying obvious irritation. "You bastard. You can't beat me, so you use a dirty move like that to ambush me?"
Among the nine tailed beasts, Kurama had always been publicly acknowledged as the strongest. Because of that, he had become a thorn in the eyes of most tailed beasts, especially the weakest one, whose hatred was the greatest.
Gyuki tilted its head suspiciously, as if seriously trying to remember when it had ever used any dirty move. "Kurama, what are you talking about?"
"Heh." Kurama sneered. "If you can't accept it, how about we fight right now, Gyuki?"
Gyuki shook its head and refused very cleanly.
It was not exactly afraid of Kurama. It simply felt there was no point. It had just come out; fighting before it had seen enough scenery would be boring.
Son Goku had also been caught in Gyuki's technique and felt somewhat annoyed.
But it did not speak, mainly because it feared Kurama would bring up "number of tails" again. That guy loved using that argument.
Ron had already lain down on the ground, limbs spread out like he could finally relax and breathe.
His gaze fell on the gray sky, and he suddenly murmured, "Feels like... something's missing."
He paused, then suddenly sat up and spat. No other meaning. Dirt had fallen into his mouth.
"Kaido isn't here... It feels much quieter. If he were here, after we won, wouldn't he be humming that off-key tune by now?"
"Hehehe... I haven't seen him for a while, and suddenly I kind of miss his chattering."
The greatest gain from this trip was that he had finally confirmed one thing: Imu's black mist control was ineffective against him.
Suddenly, he and Kurama sensed a dense malice coming from the west at the same time.
Whoosh!
Kurama did not hesitate at all. He opened his mouth and fired several Tailed Beast Bombs straight in that direction.
"What are you doing?" Gyuki asked in surprise. "Enemies again?"
"Probably," Kurama replied, then followed up with several more Tailed Beast Bombs.
Gyuki and Son Goku immediately continued after him. Tailed Beast Bombs fired one after another, forming a dense barrage in the air.
In the distance.
Linlin's Observation Haki suddenly blared an alarm.
Almost instinctively, she dodged to the side. A Tailed Beast Bomb of moderate size howled past her shoulder, carrying scorching airflow, and exploded not far behind her.
Linlin froze slightly. Why did this thing look so familiar?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In the next moment, she was completely dumbfounded.
The Tailed Beast Bombs flying toward her were densely packed, like someone was dumping a bag of beans in her direction.
Linlin barely thought. She turned and sprinted away.
But as she ran, she realized something was wrong. This was definitely not accidental. They were aimed at her.
At the same time, Ron leapt up and landed steadily on Kurama's forehead.
The instant he landed, he clearly felt Kurama's body tremble faintly.
"Bastard Ron, why are you standing on my forehead for no reason?" Kurama complained irritably.
"Is it that serious? This can scare you?" Ron lowered his head and looked at him.
"You... don't worry about it," Kurama said sulkily. It was nothing else. When Ron had landed on his forehead just now, he had suddenly remembered a certain red-eyed "old acquaintance."
After that, he said nothing more and simply resumed firing Tailed Beast Bombs.
Standing on Kurama's forehead, Ron looked through the rolling smoke toward the west.
Soon, he saw the figure frantically fleeing. Pink hair streamed behind her as she ran, her body weaving nimbly through the smoke.
"Linlin?"
Ron froze, then almost instinctively shouted, "Hey, stop! Friendly! Friendly! Don't attack!"
Friendly?
Gyuki and Son Goku stopped firing at the same time. The two looked at each other and almost spoke in unison. "Not my fault."
Kurama also paused slightly and slowly said, "Impossible, Ron. You've been tricked by her! I can sense extremely strong malice from that woman. She is definitely not anything good."
Ron sank into thought.
Such intense malice. There was only one truth.
Linlin had been controlled by Domi Reversi.
"Linlin..." Ron's voice was very low. "Even you..."
That sense of loss spread like gray seeping from the corners of his eyes.
Tap, tap, tap.
After the bombardment of Tailed Beast Bombs stopped, a figure quickly flashed through the smoke.
When she was about to approach Kurama, she leapt up suddenly. Napoleon in her hand was wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.
"Hey, Ron. She's coming. You won't mind if I shoot her, right?" Kurama's voice carried a trace of urgency.
"Ron?"
High in the air, Linlin's movement abruptly froze when she saw the familiar figure on the fox head.
Conqueror's Haki receded like the tide, and Napoleon's blade dropped toward the ground.
She lowered her sword.
Ron was stunned. She looked perfectly normal, not like she was being controlled.
"Mamamamama! Great, it really is you!" A brilliant smile instantly bloomed on Linlin's face. Then she spread her arms and dove straight toward Ron from midair.
Kurama's fox pupils narrowed slightly. He stretched out one front paw and accurately flicked the falling Linlin away. The force was not strong, but just enough to send her flying.
Boom!
Linlin was flicked to the ground.
Kurama withdrew his paw, folded his arms across his chest, and explained coldly, "I felt she was up to something."
Of course, what he was thinking was: What status does she have, thinking she can stand on my forehead too?
"..."
Ron naturally did not know Kurama's little thoughts. He only felt that Kurama was being a bit too cautious.
On the ground, Linlin sprang up with a sit-up, patted the dust off herself, and shouted at Ron on the fox head, "Ron, what is this thing? It hit me!"
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly seemed to remember something. Her gaze darkened, and her tone instantly changed. "Very good, Ron, you bastard. You were the one attacking me just now, weren't you?!"
...