One Piece: I Awakened the Ninja Template System - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Monster
Jack needed only a moment to reach his decision.
He turned and ran.
“Stop him!” Kuroobi roared.
Jack ignored him.
Fighting one of Arlong’s officers would have been dangerous. Fighting all three at once would be suicide.
Kuroobi was level thirty-five. Hatchan was level thirty-two, and Chew was level twenty-four. Every one of them possessed more combat experience than Jack, and two of them surpassed him by more than ten levels.
Worse, Jack had already consumed most of his chakra.
Wood Release, Chakra Enhanced Strength, Body Flicker, regeneration—everything depended on the same limited pool of energy. His Ten-Tails template restored chakra quickly, but the intense battle had consumed it faster than his body could recover.
Even his evolved Sharingan demanded more energy. The double-tomoe Sharingan consumed two CP every minute, twice as much as its previous form.
Under ordinary conditions, that cost was insignificant.
Right now, every point mattered.
Jack leapt from the rooftop and raced between two damaged buildings.
“Running away again?” Kuroobi shouted.
“Yes!”
Jack didn’t feel ashamed.
Cowardice was preferable to death.
Chew stepped into the centre of the street and drew a deep breath.
His cheeks expanded until they resembled two round balloons.
He thrust his head forward.
Water bullets erupted from his mouth.
Unlike the devastating projectiles he had used during their first encounter, these shots were smaller and carried less force. Chew sacrificed individual power for speed and quantity.
The result resembled a machine gun.
Dozens of water bullets tore through the village.
Jack’s Sharingan tracked their paths. He shifted left, ducked, and used Body Flicker to cross an open street.
Most of the projectiles missed.
Several did not.
One water bullet tore through Jack’s thigh.
Another struck his side and ripped away a piece of flesh.
A third grazed his cheek.
Jack lost his balance and crashed onto the ground. He rolled through the dirt, leaving blood across the road.
HP: 61/210
Pain flooded his body.
The Ten-Tails template immediately began repairing the damage, but the injuries were too serious to disappear instantly.
A shadow fell over him.
Hatchan descended from above with six swords aimed toward Jack’s body.
“Six-Sword Style!”
Jack slapped one palm against the road.
Wooden vines burst from the ground.
They coiled around Hatchan’s wrists, waist, and tentacles, stopping his descent only a few feet above Jack. Several blades passed close enough for Jack to feel the air move against his skin.
“Hachi is stuck!”
Hatchan struggled.
The vines tightened, trying to drain his vitality. However, maintaining them consumed Jack’s remaining chakra at an alarming rate.
One thick tentacle tore free.
Then another.
Jack forced himself onto his feet.
He needed to move before Hatchan escaped.
Something shifted at the edge of his vision.
Kuroobi appeared.
Jack saw the Fish-Man’s fist approaching, but his damaged leg failed to respond quickly enough.
The punch struck his stomach.
The world disappeared.
Jack’s body left the ground and flew through the wall of the nearest house. Rotten wood exploded around him. He passed through a second wall, struck another building, and continued until the third house collapsed beneath the impact.
Dust swallowed the street.
Jack landed beneath broken beams and shattered furniture.
For several seconds, he couldn’t breathe.
His body refused to move.
HP: 18/210
Blood filled his mouth.
Kuroobi’s single punch had almost killed him.
Level thirty-five represented far more than a number. According to Jack’s rough understanding of this world, a fighter at that level possessed combat power comparable to a pirate with a bounty near thirty-five million berries.
The comparison wasn’t exact. Bounties measured danger to the World Government rather than pure strength, but they still offered a useful estimate.
Kuroobi was a monster.
He wasn’t merely fast. Aside from Arlong, he might be the physically strongest member of the entire crew. His Fish-Man Karate focused that natural power into disciplined strikes capable of breaking stone and crushing human bodies.
Jack survived only because his level-ten Sage Body was extraordinarily durable.
Survival didn’t mean safety.
His bones were fractured. Several organs had been damaged, and his HP had fallen below ten percent.
Natural energy and chakra poured into the injuries.
Broken bones began aligning. Internal bleeding slowed, and torn muscles pulled themselves together.
The process consumed almost everything he had left.
CP: 7/120
Jack pushed a broken beam from his chest.
Every movement hurt.
Chew’s voice came from outside.
“I’ll finish him!”
Footsteps approached the collapsed house.
Jack wiped blood from his mouth and examined his surroundings.
Kuroobi’s attack had thrown him far enough to create a small distance between them. Dust and broken walls concealed his exact position.
Chew was approaching first.
Kuroobi and Hatchan remained in the street.
Jack had one chance.
Jack formed hand seals beneath the debris.
Chew climbed over the broken wall.
“Come out, human!” he shouted. “I’ll tear you apart and feed what’s left to Captain Arlong!”
Jack gathered his remaining chakra inside his chest.
Chew reached the centre of the ruined room.
Then he felt heat behind him.
The Fish-Man turned.
Jack emerged from beneath the debris and exhaled.
“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”
Flames burst from his mouth.
The fireball expanded as it crossed the room, swallowing the remaining space between them.
Chew’s eyes widened.
He threw himself sideways, but the damaged walls restricted his movement. The flames were already too close.
Then Kuroobi appeared.
He seized Chew’s shoulder and hurled him through a gap in the wall.
The fireball struck Kuroobi instead.
Flames engulfed his entire body.
The Fish-Man screamed.
Fire was especially terrifying to creatures born from the sea. Fish-Men weren’t universally incapable of enduring heat, but their bodies depended heavily on moisture. Sustained flames dried their skin, damaged their gills, and turned their natural connection to water into a painful disadvantage.
Kuroobi crashed through the wall as the fire continued burning around him.
The martial artist rolled across the ground, attempting to extinguish it.
“Kuroobi!” Chew shouted.
Hatchan tore through the last of Jack’s vines.
“Brother!”
All six of his swords fell from his hands as he rushed toward the burning Fish-Man.
Their reactions carried genuine fear.
Despite their cruelty toward humans, the three officers weren’t strangers held together only by profit. They had sailed together as members of the Sun Pirates. They had fought Marines, escaped slavery, crossed dangerous seas, and eventually followed Arlong into the East Blue.
They were brothers.
Kuroobi had pushed Chew from the fire without hesitation.
Chew forgot about killing Jack the moment he saw Kuroobi burning.
That bond created the opening Jack needed.
Jack extended his hand.
A narrow spike of wood grew from his palm.
Chew knelt beside Kuroobi, beating at the flames with his bare hands.
“Get water!” he screamed at Hatchan.
Jack gathered his last usable chakra into his legs.
Body Flicker activated.
He vanished from the ruined house.
Chew sensed movement behind him.
He started to turn.
‘Too late.’
Jack appeared at his back and thrust his palm forward.
The wooden spike entered Chew’s open mouth.
Its sharpened point tore through flesh and emerged from the back of his head.
Chew’s eyes widened.
Blood ran down Jack’s wooden weapon.
For an instant, neither of them moved.
Chew tried to make a sound, but only a wet gasp escaped him.
Jack forced the spike deeper.
Chew’s body became limp.
The Fish-Man slid from the wooden blade and collapsed beside Kuroobi.
A system notification appeared.
[Enemy defeated.]
No experience followed.
Jack stood over the corpse, breathing heavily.
Chew was dead.
The same Fish-Man whose water bullets had chased him through the forest only days earlier would never threaten him again.
“HACHI!”
The furious scream shook the village.
Jack turned.
Hatchan’s face had transformed.
The octopus Fish-Man’s normally simple expression was gone. Rage filled his eyes as he grabbed his swords from the ground.
“You killed Chew!”
He charged.
Six blades flashed through the smoky air.
Jack’s Sharingan followed them, but his body had almost reached its limit. His wounds weren’t fully healed, and his chakra had fallen to less than five percent.
He couldn’t fight Hatchan.
He didn’t need to.
Jack stepped backward and raised one hand.
Hatchan brought all six swords down.
Jack smiled.
“Sayonara.”
He activated Body Flicker.
The swords struck empty ground.
Jack crossed the ruined street in a blur, entered the forest, and disappeared among the trees.
“Come back!” Hatchan shouted. “Come back and fight Hachi!”
Jack didn’t turn around.
Branches struck his face as he ran deeper into the forest. Every breath sent pain through his damaged ribs, and his injured leg threatened to collapse beneath him.
His status flashed before his eyes.
HP: 16/210
CP: 5/120
His condition was worse than it appeared.
The Ten-Tails template could heal almost any ordinary injury if supplied with enough energy. But regeneration itself required chakra. Once his CP reached zero, his enhanced recovery would stop.
Jack’s chakra was already below five percent.
He deactivated the Sharingan to preserve what remained.
The forest became darker and faster around him.
Behind him, Hatchan continued shouting.
“Stop!”
Jack pushed forward.
“You coward!”
Jack didn’t care.
He had already admitted that he was a coward. Hatchan’s insults couldn’t force him into a battle he had no chance of winning.
Jack leapt over a fallen tree.
His injured leg buckled when he landed, but he caught himself and continued. He needed to create enough distance before stopping to absorb vitality from the forest.
If Hatchan followed immediately, touching a tree would leave Jack defenceless.
Fortunately, Hatchan’s voice didn’t grow closer.
Back in Born Village, the octopus Fish-Man stood at the edge of the forest with all six swords trembling in his hands.
He wanted to pursue.
He wanted to catch the human, cut him into pieces, and avenge every brother who had died.
Then he heard Kuroobi groan.
Hatchan froze.
The need for revenge collided with the reality behind him.
Chew lay motionless in the street.
Kuroobi remained alive, but flames had burned across his body. Smoke rose from his blackened clothes, and his breathing sounded weak.
Hatchan dropped his swords.
He rushed toward Chew first.
“Chew?”
There was no answer.
Hatchan knelt beside him and placed one trembling hand against his chest.
No heartbeat.
The wooden spike had passed through his mouth and destroyed everything in its path.
“Wake up,” Hatchan whispered.
Chew didn’t move.
Hatchan shook his shoulder.
“Stop playing. The human ran away. We have to catch him.”
Nothing.
Tears gathered in Hatchan’s eyes.
Memories surfaced without warning.
He remembered Chew standing beside him on the deck of the Sun Pirates’ ship beneath a burning red sky. Marines had surrounded them, cannon fire had shaken the sea, and Chew had laughed while firing water bullets back at the warships.
He remembered Kuroobi lecturing them both about discipline.
He remembered Fisher Tiger standing at the front of the ship, the Sun Pirates’ flag snapping in the wind as former slaves and Fish-Men sailed together beneath the same symbol.
Those days had been dangerous, but they had been free.
Chew had always been there.
Later, after Fisher Tiger’s death shattered the crew, they followed Arlong into the East Blue. They conquered villages, built Arlong Park, and believed they would rule together for decades.
They were supposed to prove that Fish-Men were superior to humans.
They weren’t supposed to die at the hands of one.
Hatchan lowered his head.
Tears fell onto Chew’s face.
“You idiot,” he whispered. “Why didn’t you dodge?”
Chew would never answer.
A weak sound came from behind him.
“Hachi…”
Hatchan’s head snapped up.
Kuroobi lay near the collapsed wall.
He was alive.
Hatchan scrambled toward him.
“Kuroobi!”
The flames had gone out, but the damage remained. Large sections of Kuroobi’s skin were blistered and blackened. His clothes had fused against his body, and every breath seemed to cause terrible pain.
At least third-degree burns covered his chest, arms, and back.
Hatchan reached toward him, then stopped because he didn’t know where he could safely touch.
“Kuroobi, hang on.”
The martial artist opened his eyes slightly.
“Chew?”
Hatchan’s lips trembled.
He couldn’t answer.
Kuroobi understood from his silence.
For the first time since the battle began, fear appeared on the proud Fish-Man’s face.
“Get… Arlong.”
“I’ll take you to him.”
“The human…”
“Forget the human!” Hatchan shouted. “You need a doctor!”
Kuroobi tried to rise.
His arms failed.
Hatchan carefully lifted him, using four arms to support his burned body. He picked up Chew with the remaining two and held their dead brother against his side.
Kuroobi’s head rested against Hatchan’s shoulder.
“Don’t move,” Hatchan pleaded. “Hachi will get you home.”
The surviving Fish-Men had retreated to the forest’s edge. When they saw Hatchan carrying both officers, their expressions changed from anger to horror.
Chew’s lifeless body told them what had happened.
Kuroobi’s condition frightened them even more.
No one spoke as Hatchan approached.
Then one of the Fish-Men noticed Kuroobi’s shallow breathing.
“Is he alive?”
“Find a doctor!” Hatchan shouted. “Tell Arlong! Tell everyone!”
Several Fish-Men rushed toward Arlong Park.
Others gathered around Hatchan, uncertain whether to help or remain out of his way.
“Move!” he roared.
They cleared the road.
None of them continued searching for Jack.
From behind the remains of a house, Nojiko watched everything.
She had reached Born Village near the end of the battle.
The smoke guided her through the forest, but the sounds made her slow down long before she reached the ruins. She heard buildings collapsing, Fish-Men screaming, and attacks striking with enough power to shake the ground.
Nojiko expected to find Jack’s body.
Instead, she found a nightmare.
Dead Fish-Men lay throughout the village.
Some had wounds in their gills or throats. Others had been crushed by impacts powerful enough to break the road beneath them. Strange wooden vines covered several buildings, and pale flowers released pollen into the air.
At least half of the Fish-Men sent to Born Village were dead or too injured to move.
One human had done all of this.
Jack.
The same young man who had looked weaker than Nojiko.
She had seen him perform strange exercises and speak confidently about his supposed pirate-hunting team, but she had never truly believed he could fight Arlong’s officers.
Now Chew was dead.
The powerful Fish-Man had terrorized the island for years. His water bullets could tear through people and stone, yet Jack had killed him.
Kuroobi might also die.
Nojiko pressed one hand against the wall beside her.
She wondered whether fear and exhaustion had caused her to hallucinate.
No ordinary person could create wood from the ground or breathe fire. No one could disappear and reappear across a battlefield.
It looked like magic.
Then she remembered Jack’s stories.
During one of her visits, he had asked what she knew about Devil Fruits. Nojiko had heard only vague rumours, so Jack explained that eating one could grant impossible powers in exchange for the ability to swim.
Some users became animals.
Some controlled natural elements.
Others gained abilities too strange to categorize.
Nojiko had never considered the possibility that Jack was one of them.
Now the answer seemed obvious.
He had eaten a Devil Fruit.
But what kind of fruit could explain everything she had witnessed? Jack created plants, transformed his appearance, moved at impossible speed, breathed fire, and healed from wounds that should have killed him.
Nojiko had heard that a Devil Fruit granted only one power.
Jack seemed to possess several.
She lowered herself behind the wall as Hatchan turned in her direction. Fortunately, the octopus Fish-Man was too distraught to search the village.
Nojiko watched him carrying Kuroobi and Chew.
The remaining Fish-Men followed.
Some supported injured companions. Others looked over their shoulders, terrified that Jack might return.
That fear shocked Nojiko almost as much as the deaths.
For eight years, Arlong’s crew had ruled through terror. They laughed at human resistance and treated everyone on the island as helpless livestock.
Today, they were the ones running.
A human had made them afraid.
Hope stirred inside Nojiko.
She tried to suppress it.
Jack had escaped, but Arlong remained. Once he learned what happened, his retaliation would be terrible. He might destroy another village to force Jack into the open.
Nojiko needed to find Jack before that happened.
She waited until the last Fish-Man disappeared along the road, then stepped from her hiding place.
Chew’s blood darkened the ground.
Nojiko stared at it.
This wasn’t a story or an empty promise of future rescue. One of Arlong’s strongest officers was genuinely dead.
Jack had accomplished something no pirate hunter before him had managed.
Yet he had done it alone.
If the imaginary team arriving in few days didn’t exist, then Jack had lied because he was frightened and desperate.
For some reason, that possibility made Nojiko trust him more.
He wasn’t a confident hunter who had underestimated Arlong.
He was someone trapped on the island who had chosen to fight rather than surrender.
A distant shout pulled her attention toward the road.
The Fish-Men were moving quickly toward Arlong Park.
Nojiko slipped into the forest before anyone could return.
Farther ahead, Hatchan ran without slowing.
Kuroobi’s body felt dangerously still in his arms.
“Stay awake,” Hatchan begged.
Kuroobi didn’t respond.
“Please.”
Branches broke as Hatchan forced his way along the road. The other Fish-Men struggled to keep pace behind him.
Arlong Park was still several minutes away.
Hatchan remembered the flames covering Kuroobi and ran faster.
Revenge could wait.
Jack could wait.
Right now, only his brother’s life mattered.
Hatchan took Kuroobi towards Arlong Park, in desperation to find doctor.