Chapter 20-1
Chapter 20-1: The Main Battlefield... and Each's Fight(I)
At the same time Honglu was scheming, team China and team Devil’s main combat force were fighting. They were all tying each other down in battle, and the victors hadn't yet been decided for a time.
“Damn it… how is this wind! This is an atmospheric weapon! You think a human could do this?”
Cheng Xiao was lying prone inside a metal piping on the ground. When he looked out the opening, the outside was filled with dust, sand and rocks flying about. A bona-fide hurricane was brewing outside.
The member of team Devil fighting with Cheng Xiao was a ladyboy of over a dozen years in age, with an external appearance cuter than actual lolis. However, this wasn’t a basis for judging his strength, which was actually shocking despite how he looked. When he used his energy stone bracelets together with his Kaze Kaze no Mi, his power had skyrocketed, revealing the true power of the Kaze Kaze no Mi.
A hurricane was blowing for kilometers around. It was sending sand and rocks flying around. Some dilapidated buildings weren't able to stand up to it, and the rumbling of buildings collapsing carried over from all directions. The sand and stone that produced added to the power of the hurricane. Even a tank would turn into a metal pancake in this wind, let alone a human.
Thus, Cheng Xiao had been blown away instantly. Fortunately, he had enhanced the Nanto Suicho Ken, a fist art for controlling wind. The hadn’t just not hurt him, but he had even relied on it to escape the ladyboy’s field of vision. He hid himself within this piping so that he wouldn't be smashed to a pulp by the sand and rocks outside.
“That big brother that’s running away, come on out! I know you're there. If you don't come out quickly, you won't even have the chance to do so soon…” His voice continued to echo out, along with countless sounds of sand and rocks colliding with things.
Cheng Xiao’s mouth twitched as he thought about how he would be played with if he was to actually come out. Errr, play… saying killed would be more suitable. Anyways, he absolutely wouldn't come out. Blowing around rocks was the most the hurricane could do. It wouldn't lift the ground up, so it would be best to wait out the opponent's energy, then beat him easily. Why waste energy fighting him?
“Is big brother not coming out? Then I’m going to be a little rude. Hehe, if big brother dies, do reminisce about my cuteness in hell…” The ladyboy giggled. Then, another word echoed out, “Tornado!”
(Ohhh, so it was a tornado… Tornado?!)
Cheng Xiao’s heart jumped, as he immediately scurried out of the piping. As expected, the hurricane outside had stopped, but several spiralling airflows had formed, and they were crowding together more and more. The tornado was about to form, scaring Cheng Xiao into taking out the Sky Stick to flee.
“You can’t run away. If you do it in the sky, you may even run out of my sight. That’s a no-no.” His voice carried over intermittently again as several giant wind blades crossed the sky. However, their accuracy was slightly poor which allowed Cheng Xiao to jump through the gaps in between them. Still, this let Cheng Xiao know clearly that he couldn't use the Sky Stick to escape, lest he become a punching bag when he took to the skies. He wouldn't be able to use the Nanto Suicho Ken then, so he would surely die. Thus, escaping through the paths between the buildings would be more suitable.
Cheng Xiao ran towards the densely clustered buildings, ignoring the ladyboy’s angered shouts and curses that he was a coward. The spiralling airflows had finally assembled into a mini tornado two or three meters in diameter. It didn't look very strong, but it was continuously gathering power under his control. It came in contact with the ground several seconds later, and ripped out several meters of ground as if it were a spinning drill. It seemed as though a canal was continuously extending towards Cheng Xiao as the tornado got larger. It was already over twenty meters in diameter when it was still kilometers from Cheng Xiao. Fragments of rock from the ground, electric poles and several cars were all tumbling about and colliding inside the tornado. From outside, several streaks of electricity and sparks were fired in all directions. It did indeed look like the greatest sort of storm in nature, a tornado.
The Kaze Kaze no Mi was his enhancement. It was the strongest type of the Devil Fruit system, a Logia-type fruit, and even that it was the peak amongst. Of course, the more powerful an enhancement the more power needed to use it. Having not even unlocked the fourth stage yet, he couldn't use the greatest level of the fruit’s power. That level may not be enough to destroy the heavens and rend apart the earth, but it would be enough to give Zheng and his clone a fight. Of course, to completely unleash its power would likely require the late fourth stage. At that stage, just the power from raising a hand or stepping down with a leg would be enough to kill Cheng Xiao. Thus in general, this Kaze Kaze no Mi sounded more impressive than it actually was for most people.
It was just like in Lord of the Rings, Gungnir’s Ice-Ice Fruit, the Hie Hie no Mi, was very powerful, while having great limitations at the same time.
The reason the crossdresser could use the Kaze Kaze no Mi to this level was because clone Xuan had created an item that granted him nigh-infinite energy. Even so, he still needed to control and use this enormous power, which exhausted him greatly. Although he spoke in a relaxed and bored manner, he was actually trying to draw Cheng Xiao out for a fight. His Kaze Kaze no Mi couldn't last long because of its power, and the act of using a tornado necessitated a kill. As someone from team Devil, there was no way his thoughts could actually be pure and free of evil. Despite speaking teasingly, he actually wanted to kill Cheng Xiao immediately. When he saw Cheng Xiao no longer daring to hide, he manipulated the tornado and followed behind him, drawing closer and closer...