"Don't concern yourself with those trivialities."
"Just tell me if you dare or not. If we keep fighting, I won't back down. I believe my comrades will arrive very soon."
"As for you, your plan has already gone awry. Knowing your personality, it must be agonizing not to go and see for yourself, right?"
Bai Yun's words seemed to pierce straight through Kuro's thoughts.
"I can kill you first, and it still won't be too late."
Kuro pushed his glasses down with the palm of his hand, staring directly into Bai Yun's eyes, his gaze like a predator observing its prey.
The corner of Bai Yun's mouth curled up slightly, and the next second, he appeared behind Kuro.
This time, Kuro finally lost his composure; his expression turned to shock, and he immediately spun around.
"That is my Silent Step."
"How could you possibly—?!"
Bai Yun merely smiled and replied, "Guess."
(Meanwhile, he grumbled internally: What's the big deal about Silent Step? I didn't even want to learn it; it's inferior to the Navy Six Styles' Soru... After the system's return this time, Bai Yun had gained a relatively complete understanding of his Replication Devil Fruit ability.)
Replicating skill-based abilities and replicating Devil Fruit abilities were different.
First, let's talk about "Sight" Replication (which can only replicate half of the opponent's strength).
To replicate a skill-based ability, he needed to see the opponent use it. Just like the first time Bai Yun replicated Benn Beckman's technique of shooting a wine bottle at Makino's bar, Bai Yun had to watch Beckman perform it once before he could replicate it.
As for Devil Fruit abilities, due to the nature of the Replication Fruit, Bai Yun's eyes acted like a skill detector; no matter how powerful the ability was, Bai Yun could see what powers the user possessed.
A Devil Fruit ability is essentially a type of power inherent in the user. Bai Yun could replicate it just by looking at the user, without them needing to activate the ability.
Next is "Touch" Replication (which replicates sixty percent of the opponent's strength).
Touching eliminated the condition that Sight Replication required for skill-based abilities—that the opponent had to demonstrate the skill.
Once he made physical contact, he could instantly replicate either a Devil Fruit ability or a skill-based ability, but he could only replicate one ability per person.
As for the true name of the Devil Fruit, the system still hadn't told Bai Yun.
It left Bai Yun to figure it out himself, only telling him that if it was nighttime, the strength replicated by both methods would increase by twenty percent.
Therefore, during the night, Sight Replication copied seventy percent of the opponent's strength, and Touch Replication copied eighty percent, which was already very close to replicating the opponent's actual strength.
Bai Yun thought that perhaps after his Devil Fruit awakened, he would be able to replicate abilities one hundred percent... That was why the Three-Sword Style he had stored from Zoro only possessed sixty percent of Zoro's actual strength.
The Silent Step he was currently using had been replicated from Kuro during their fight moments ago, possessing eighty percent of the strength due to the new moon night.
Even though Kuro noticed the slight speed difference, he was still far more shocked that Bai Yun knew his Silent Step at all.
"Well, do you want to keep fighting?"
"Kuro of a Hundred Plans."
"If I delay any longer, perhaps my comrades will bring the villagers to pay you a visit."
Bai Yun imitated Kuro's action of pushing his glasses with his palm, adjusting his 'imaginary glasses'—a move deliberately meant for Kuro to see.
Kuro's face darkened, and he didn't reply. He instantly flashed past Bai Yun, leaving a gust of wind in his wake.
It was as if he was saying, I am the founder of Silent Step; even if you learned it, you can't match this speed.
Standing by the window and looking at the rising sun, Kuro's expression grew worse. Without turning back, he snapped, "You better keep your word!" Then, he smashed through the window and jumped down.
Bai Yun looked down. Kuro stood below, completely unharmed, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, signaling for him to follow.
"Miss Kaya, please stay safely inside the house."
Bai Yun turned and said to Kaya.
"But Bai Yun, you..."
Kaya was worried about Bai Yun, especially since he still had a fever.
Before she could finish, Bai Yun shook his head.
"Trust us. Trust Usopp."
Having said that, Bai Yun also jumped out of the window, following suit.
Kaya rushed to the window, watching the two figures leave.
Unable to hold back her emotions, she finally broke down, sinking to the floor and crying. She feared that she had endangered Usopp and Bai Yun... Meanwhile, just as Bai Yun and Kuro were arriving.
The battle on the slope continued.
After Luffy pried open the Black Cat figurehead on the pirate ship and got crushed beneath it, it was time for the Nyaban Brothers—the Black Cat Pirates' ship guards, Buchi (the chubby tabby) and Sham (the skinny Siamese)—to enter the fray.
After a display of feigning weakness, Zoro was careless and had two of his swords taken away.
With only one sword for his Three-Sword Style, Zoro was severely limited.
"Cat-A-Pult Attack!"
Zoro was trapped and suppressed by the two men sandwiching him.
Nami came up with an idea and ran over to retrieve the swords for Zoro.
However, Jango couldn't just stand by. Nami's left shoulder was slashed by Jango's hypnotism device, which doubled as a circular blade. Blood splattered, and just as Usopp felt despair, he saw Jango's face filled with terror.
Following his gaze, the figures of Bai Yun and Kuro appeared at the top of the slope.
...
A/N: The journey continues! If you're eager to read far ahead and support this story, consider joining the Eternal Phoenix community. You can find me on Patreon by searching for "Eternal_Phoenix".
Get access to 50+ advanced chapters.
Membership starts at just $6.
Your support makes a world of difference and helps me write more!
Thank you for reading!