Alabasta. Marine Joint Defense Department Office.
"Blueno… our investigation these past few days has clarified the general situation, but the combat capabilities of the enemy forces remain unknown. I plan to arrange for you to test their strength. What do you think?" Kalifa said to Blueno in a negotiating tone.
Kalifa did not use a commanding tone to give orders to Blueno, which showed Kalifa's intelligence. She understood her teammate's personality and knew that if he would go without a command, it was better to ask in a consulting tone. This way, it wouldn't hurt their relationship and would directly achieve the goal. Kalifa's arrangement for Blueno was well thought out; Blueno's ability allows him to open a Door that leads directly to a known destination within its range, and they were already very clear on the enemy's current location.
In Kalifa's opinion, even if he couldn't defeat the enemy with such an ability, escaping would not be a problem. Once Blueno brought back information on the enemy's strength, they could adjust the Rank of the mission and see if they needed to request reinforcements.
"No problem, yo… I will definitely complete the mission, yo… Kalifa, don't worry, Brubru…" Blueno replied earnestly.
"Then take the Marine Joint Defense Team… have the Marine Joint Defense Team dispatch warships to surround the enemy vessel… to prevent the enemy from escaping if they realize the situation is unfavorable," Kalifa instructed.
"Mission understood, departing immediately." After speaking, he opened a light Door for himself, entered it, and disappeared.
"Kalifa… is it really okay?… The enemy force is the one that quickly killed Crocodile, isn't it?"
Kaku asked worriedly from the side.
"We are no longer who we were two years ago… Blueno's current strength will only be greater than Crocodile's… Plus, with his Door-Door Fruit Ability… he will bring back intelligence."
Kalifa replied calmly.
What Kalifa didn't know was that due to insufficient intelligence on the enemy's strength, Blueno would truly hit a brick wall this time and would never return.
Pain would always maintain a state of Cultivation when not busy. His Rain Tiger at Will Technique also sensed the surrounding situation with him at its center. The Rain Tiger at Will Technique is a Ninjutsu for detection and sensing. For Pain, even with his current Chakra volume, the consumption is negligible. As long as Pain wishes, wherever Pain is, the rain will be there and will not stop.
In the distance, beyond the rain curtain, Blueno emerged from a light Door. Blueno didn't know why the enemy force's vessel was continuously covered by this strange rain curtain, but he recalled that this area had this rain curtain ever since they arrived in Alabasta to investigate this unknown force.
In this country, which is basically covered by yellow sand and rarely rains for years, such a long-term rainy area seemed very strange to Kalifa and her team. It was precisely because of this that Kalifa and her team knew the enemy's location. Kalifa and her team were unsure of the effect of this strange rain, so their previous investigations were all conducted outside the rain curtain, not entering it, mainly to avoid alerting the enemy.
Blueno stood there looking at the strange rain curtain, hesitating whether to walk in, while also waiting for the Marine Joint Defense Team at sea to get into position. Time quickly passed, and a sound suddenly came from Blueno's body, "Gulu gulu, gulu gulu."
Blueno pulled out a Den Den Mushi from his pocket. The voice of Major Katz, captain of the Marine Joint Defense Team, came from the Den Den Mushi.
"Reporting, sir… The Joint Defense Team fleet is in position… To prevent alerting the enemy, we have strictly followed Kalifa's order to wait outside the rain curtain. Please give instructions." After speaking, he waited for Blueno's reply.
"Is that so?"
"Then just wait for instructions, Blu…"
Blueno replied and ended the Den Den Mushi communication.
After hanging up the phone, Blueno stepped forward directly into the rain curtain. He carefully felt it for a moment, and it seemed to have no effect on him, nor did he feel any discomfort. So he sped up, running towards the target direction at an astonishing speed within the rain curtain.
Pain opened his eyes, ending his Cultivation state. Blueno entering the rain curtain was already sensed by Pain. Many people usually come and go in this port. If Blueno walked normally, it wouldn't attract Pain's attention. But what Pain sensed was a burly man running at a speed far beyond normal, and his direction corresponded to Pain's own location. This was very unusual.
Pain got up and walked out of the room. He quickly arrived at the place where he last dueled Oden with a few jumps, ready to intercept the opponent. Preta Path followed closely behind Pain. Ten minutes later, Blueno appeared before Pain. Pain sized up Blueno, and Blueno also sized up Pain.
Blueno looked at the two unusually dressed individuals in front of him and was the first to break the silence, asking, "Who are you?… Why are you blocking my way? Blu…"
Kalifa and her team had never seen Pain. The spy among the ancient scholars before had also never seen Pain, only knowing Reno. Kalifa and her team also had a portrait of Reno. These two people in front of Blueno seemed like strangers, but strangers appearing within the enemy's sphere of influence and wearing strange clothes—even if Blueno were dumber, he would understand that even if he didn't know them, their presence here indicated that they were very likely related to the enemy force. While seemingly asking who they were, Blueno had already prepared for battle.
Pain did not answer the question of the big man in front of him. He just looked at Blueno with cold eyes and said, "Who sent you?"
In Pain's view, the opponent's purpose was already very clear: they were coming for him, or the Materials on the ship, or Oden. In any case, no matter who they were after, as long as it was harmful to the Akatsuki, they were an enemy. Therefore, Pain wanted to know which force the enemy belonged to.
"Who sent me? A-le, who was it exactly?… I forgot, Blu…"
Blueno pretended to be foolish, muttering to himself to try and lower the enemy's guard, but his feet directly launched a "Tempest Kick," one of the Six Styles, at Pain.
The Navy Six Styles are six superhuman Moves practiced by the World Government's secret organization CP9 since childhood. Their power is immense; if one masters all of them, even a Devil Fruit Ability User can contend. Due to their high practicality, some Marine generals also know one or two of them.
The Six Styles are: Shave, Iron Body, Paper Art, Moonwalk, Tempest Kick, and Finger Pistol.
Shave, Iron Body, Paper Art, Moonwalk, Tempest Kick, and Finger Pistol, these six Moves are collectively called the "Six Styles." This is a body technique that requires rigorous training to learn, but a few individuals can grasp the Profound Truths after seeing it only once. Sanji is one of them.
"Shave," one of the "Six Styles," involves continuously stomping the ground dozens of times at high speed in an instant (0.36 seconds) to generate explosive recoil for high-speed movement, appearing to vanish from the enemy's sight.
"Iron Body," one of the "Six Styles" defensive techniques, involves channeling power into a well-trained body, making it as hard as iron. Even bullets and swords cannot penetrate it.
The drawback is that one cannot Move freely while using Iron Body, but Jabra is an exception. The principle is to accelerate blood flow, speeding up muscle movement.
"Paper Art," one of the "Six Styles" defensive techniques, involves relaxing the entire body's strength and, by sensing changes in air currents caused by the opponent's movements, controlling the body as freely as drawing on paper. It allows one to narrowly dodge any incoming attack.
"Moonwalk," one of the "Six Styles," is an application technique of "Shave." It is similar to the Wudang light body skill "Ladder Cloud Ascent."
By powerfully kicking the air, it generates strong buoyancy, allowing one to walk in the air as if climbing stairs, but one cannot stay in the air for too long. By using this high-altitude movement technique, one can launch attacks from the enemy's blind spots in the air.
"Tempest Kick," one of the "Six Styles" leg techniques, does not inflict damage by directly kicking the enemy, but rather by generating a vacuum slash attack through super-high-speed and powerful kicks, which can easily split a target in half.
"Finger Pistol," one of the "Six Styles," is a technique said to have the power of a gun firing bullets. All the body's strength is concentrated in the index finger, delivering a lightning-fast strike with a hardened finger. The fingertip has the attack power of a bullet and can easily pierce through a human body.
The highest Profound Truth of the Six Styles is the Six Styles "Six King Gun." This is the strongest body technique of the Six Styles, used only by Lucci, and is the highest Profound Truth that only those who have mastered the aforementioned Six Styles and Cultivated them to the extreme can comprehend. It involves clenching both fists and bringing them together, emitting an attack similar to a shockwave. Its power is similar to Oden's simplified "Oden Two-Sword Style: Mimic Demon," but the attack method is different; the "Six King Gun" attack is more concentrated.
Pain stared coldly at the light wave attacking him, remaining motionless. Preta Path directly blocked in front of Pain, and a sand wall appeared out of thin air…