One Piece: Fist of the World

Meanwhile, on the northern battlefield.

"Captain Rhodes!" As soon as Penguin and Shachi arrived in the North District, they saw Rhodes in a fierce battle with Onigumo. Dark Armament Haki surged around Rhodes like a fiery current, each clash with Onigumo creating a terrifying momentum.

"Their attacks aren't even colliding..." Penguin rubbed his eyes, as if disbelieving what he saw. Rhodes's fist wasn't directly striking Onigumo's slashes, yet waves of terrifying shockwaves emanated from them, spreading outwards from the two fighters and causing ripples in the air.

"Although I don't know what's going on, it feels awesome! Captain Rhodes is so amazing!" Shachi nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"Neru, take them back to the ship first!" After another collision with Onigumo, Rhodes dodged away and seized the moment to shout to Neru.

"Damn pirates!" Across from Rhodes, Onigumo's face was livid. After fighting for so long, not only had he failed to capture the enemy captain, but even the Marine soldiers he'd brought were wiped out!

"Alright." Neru nodded without further words. He simply kicked the two tied-up individuals stacked at his feet towards Penguin and Shachi.

"What's this?" Subconsciously reaching out to catch the person Neru kicked, Penguin's face was full of confusion.

"Devil Fruit users!" Hearing Neru's words, Penguin's face lit up with joy, as if he'd spotted a new Devil Fruit waving at them. So, he and Shachi each carried one, happily following Neru, preparing to return to the Polaris. As for Captain Rhodes, there was no need to worry about him!

"Let's go, Genos!" Neru called out to Genos, who was standing there smoking, surrounded by defeated Marines. Except for Onigumo's deputy, most of the Marines had been handled by him.

New partner? Penguin looked at Genos. Looks so strong!

Genos had a cigarette in his mouth, the smoke obscuring his face. Penguin could only discern his faintly glowing red eyes through the haze. His clothes were shredded, clinging stubbornly to his body and stained with blood. Yet, there wasn't a single scar on Genos's person.

Defeated so many Marines without any injuries? Looking at the Marines strewn around Genos, Penguin was secretly shocked.

"Woof woof woof~"

Dog barking?

Under Penguin's astonished gaze, a white puppy emerged from the cloth bag on Genos's chest and licked his face.

What a huge contrast! In Penguin's eyes, the man had been a cold, strong, and tough guy one second, and transformed into a gentle, delicate, and emotional man the next.

"Really, it always feels a bit sloppy." Reaching out and rubbing Cici's head, Genos's eyes were filled with tenderness. He then took a deep drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly. "But it's not bad to go out with guys like you."

Genos took the cigarette out of his mouth and snuffed it out on the back of his hand. He clapped his hands and glanced at Rhodes, who was confronting the Marine. "Don't let me get killed right after I join, Captain!"

So handsome! Seeing Genos's unique way of extinguishing his cigarette, Penguin and Shachi's eyes suddenly lit up. It's this kind of understated, very natural, yet very handsome feeling!

"How is that possible? I won't lose!" Seeing them all packed up and ready to go to the coast, Rhodes laughed, his voice full of heroism. "Ten minutes! End the battle!"

Neru turned his head to look at Rhodes, nodded slightly, and then quickly rushed to the shore with the others.

"The battle will end in ten minutes?" Onigumo laughed in anger, gripping his weapon tightly with both hands, and suddenly rushed in front of Rhodes. An even stronger Armament Haki burst out than before, condensed on his weapon, and chopped down at Rhodes fiercely. "Don't be so arrogant, little brat!" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"You're in a hurry!" Rhodes blocked Onigumo's attack with his fist, feeling the opponent's Haki, which was much stronger than before, and grinned slightly. The battle had reached this point; the opponent couldn't hold back. But now he suddenly burst out with even more powerful Haki. This could only mean that the Haki he had distributed elsewhere had decreased!

Generally speaking, when a Haki user is fighting, they don't use all of their Haki for attacking. Instead, they keep a portion of it wrapped around their body. After all, no matter how much you exercise, the human body has its limits, and only Haki can resist Haki. The reason Rhodes was able to fight Onigumo to this point with his recently awakened Haki was, on one hand, because he had a solid foundation and amazing comprehension. He quickly mastered the advanced usage techniques of Armament Haki and was able to compete with his opponent. On the other hand, it was because his Observation Haki had been cultivated to an extremely high level. Although he hadn't yet been able to "foresee the future," he wasn't far off. Combined with his skill in using his Haki very smoothly, he was able to anticipate the enemy in the battle with Onigumo and use all of his Haki for attack or defense according to the rhythm of the battle.

After their recent exchange, Rhodes clearly knew that Onigumo's Observation Haki was not as good as his! But in order to overpower him in attack, Onigumo had adopted an equally extreme fighting style, completely abandoning defense and using all his Haki for offense.

Haste leads to mistakes, and his defeat is inevitable!

Rhodes was resolute, but he wasn't in a hurry to seize the opponent's weakness and attack. There was no shortcut to practicing Haki, and it couldn't be achieved quickly. Only through fighting battle after battle could one gradually improve their spirit and increase the power of Haki. The elite Vice Admiral Onigumo, before him, was a rare opponent!

After clashing fists with his opponent again, Rhodes almost couldn't hold back his laughter as he felt the stinging pain from his fist and the destructive force running through his arm into his body.

Finally, I feel hurt again!

Although those minor injuries recovered quickly thanks to his strong body, they did cause him harm!

Bang!

Rhodes swung his fist again, and the violent impact sound echoed in the town.

The intensity has weakened? Feeling the force coming from the opposite side, Rhodes frowned slightly.

No! I became stronger myself!

After a long time, the golden ability of "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger" came into play again! Although Rhodes himself jokingly called this ability "Sit-ups," it was a more powerful ability than the standard "Sit-ups" of many protagonists. This was because its activation didn't require a process like sit-ups. Even in the middle of a battle, it could still play a role!

There were several conditions required for this ability to be activated:

Rhodes himself was hurt. Rhodes was not killed. The damage Rhodes suffered was restored.

As long as these three conditions were met simultaneously, Rhodes's body would become stronger, and this strength was all-encompassing. Strength, speed, agility, defense, endurance—all these physical aspects would become stronger. This was a physical, essential leap.