Chapter 135: Results of Arduous Training, Assurance and Waking up

Chapter 135: Results of Arduous Training, Assurance and Waking up

_________ POV Narration_________

Oven stepped on the field with a confident look on his face. He was about to prove himself to Enel, to show that he was now worthy of being called a 'Sweet Commander'.

They were in the forests near Big Mom's castle, which was a bit further away from the 'Seducing woods'. As Katakuri and Oven didn't want the spar to affect any of their 'homies'.

"You sure you want to do this in your current state?" Katakuri asked Enel as he stood in the middle of the field, arms still crossed as he prepared to arbitrate the spar.

Enel, a few meters away and facing Oven, simply smiled a bit.

Oven towered over Enel when it came to size. Despite Enel himself being 2.7 meters tall(8.86 ft), the Big Mom Pirate was closer to 5 meters tall(16.40 ft).

It wasn't exactly shocking though, most of Big Mom's offspring were freaks of nature, much taller and stronger than regular people could ever dream of becoming.

"I won't be recovering instantly anyway... I do need to get some exercise at the end of the day."

"Heh! Prepare for a beating!" Oven cracked his knuckles, clearly no longer concerned for Enel's well-being.

After all, he knew that Enel, as an invincible logia, could likely still win without moving from his spot.

'He wouldn't be getting into a fight if he wasn't able to anyway... In the first place, he wouldn't have come to this island if he wasn't confident in being able to leave.'

The two of them stared at each other with intensity, Enel showing a bit of curiosity at Oven's ambition.

Katakuri looked at the two of them for a few seconds, before starting the countdown.

"1...2...3... Start!" He jumped backwards, looking from the side as Oven rushed toward Enel at impressive speeds.

Enel smiled, his earlobe batting away Oven's punch as his body shifted slightly to the side.

Oven's Haki-clad punch fragmented the ground around them, making it tremble as even Katakuri was somewhat impressed with that strength.

'I guess he was holding back with Smoothie...'

"Those dammed Earlobes!" Oven continued to punch at Enel with both his mechanical arm and his regular arm. Enel danced around, sometimes circling around his hits, sometimes staying just out of reach of his fists.

Neither of them was actually using their devil fruits, though Oven doubted he would affect Enel all that much, just like it hadn't affected Akainu...

Enel looked at Oven's punch, as it passed by just a few centimetres from his torso. He was about to kick Oven away, but something rather unexpected happened.

His mechanical arm seemed to unfold a small part of its elbow, and a blade shot out from his elbow, threatening to slice Enel in half in that instant.

'I don't remember making that addition to his arm...'

Enel was about to use Soru, but his legs seemed to give up on him at that moment, his injuries making themselves known.

The Lightning Emperor was forced to raise his cane and block the blackened blade directly.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

Sparks rose out from their clash, and Enel skidded backwards, breaking a tree with his back as his smile widened.

"Not bad..." Enel said as he tapped the front of his boots on the ground and narrowed his eyes.

'Oven is becoming a proper fighter... If I get him to join me in the future he will certainly make for a good Cadre...'

"There's more where that came from!" Oven shouted as the large blade was retracted into his mechanical arm.

He then pointed his palm towards Enel, and his entire arm shifted, forming a cannon. Due to his size, the arm cannon was basically just as large as that of a ship.

"I already told you, that won't help much against stronger opponents," Enel said as he patted the dust off of his shoulder.

"Heh!" Oven simply chuckled a bit as the cannon shot out almost instantly.

Enel's smirk didn't die down at all, ignoring the attack mostly as he concentrated on approaching his opponent.

He took a few steps forwards, preparing to bat the cannonball aside with his cane. Then he noticed that it was... Extremely familiar looking.

'What the hell is a Buggy Ball doing here?' Enel asked himself as a large explosion engulfed him completely.

"Turns out I do actually have a soul, but your mother might have to rip it out of me in order to look at it."

Enel couldn't help but chuckle a bit when seeing the reaction of the brothers.

"W-wait, what?" Oven said as he perked up immediately. "And you let her do that?"

"Nope, at least not yet. Still thinking about it. I do have a lot of information I can give, but I'm unsure if I can truly use it as leverage when my soul will be in the palm of her hands." Enel shrugged as he spoke.

Katakuri sighed a bit. "Indeed, Mother isn't exactly the most morally upright individual."

"Heh, neither are any of us. I'm sure she'd think the same in my situation anyway. She gave me some time to think about it, whether to go ahead with it or not."

"But since your situation is special, there might be the chance that you'll outright die anyway, isn't there?" Katakuri said as his red eyes narrowed a bit.

"Of course there is. That much is obvious. But this is still the best chance I've got to learn more about myself. Which is why I am still weighing my options."

"W-what if we vouch for you?" Oven said as he scratched the back of his head.

Enel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Unsure how that would help. We are not on bad terms anyway. It's just that my weariness doesn't allow me to just put my soul in the palms of another."

"... Then I guess we can only vouch for her, to you." Katakuri ended up saying, crossing his arms as he did so.

"... What?" Enel asked his confusion not hidden for one second.

"I guess you're right, big brother. In the past few months, Mother has changed exponentially. So much so that it's a bit unreal..." Oven spoke out as he scratched his beard a bit.

"Much like yourself," Katakuri said as he scoffed a bit under his scarf.

"Well, I did go through a life-changing event, lost an arm and a leg."

"Fair, but you proved that people can change. You used to be the type of person that enjoyed torturing your enemies... Some of our brothers claim that you mellowed out in that regard."

"Having my limbs slowly burnt off by magma did give me a taste of my own medicine..." Oven shook his head a bit, before deciding to get back on the subject of his mother.

"It's hard to tell how much mother has changed. But one thing is clear, she certainly is less callous than before, at least from what we could observe."

"... So you're saying I should be able to trust her for now?" Enel asked, sighing a bit as he did so. But it was clear that he was somewhat glad to hear that.

"We're saying that the chances of her taking advantage of the situation are a lot lower than usual. Don't get your hopes up too much." Katakuri shook his head a bit, somewhat pouring some water on Enel's enthusiasm.

Oven also seemed a bit conflicted. "Y-yea... Seems we aren't able to give you much assurance after all..."

"No, this is good. Well, as good as it can get in this type of situation anyway." Enel ended up smiling a bit, appreciating the pair of brothers for the strange care that they showed.

"I'll think it over the following days. Do you know any place I can sleep in?"

The brothers nodded.

"There should be plenty of room in the Sweet City. Plenty of inns there."

"Great, thanks. I'll be heading off then." Enel waved at the two of them as his figure started to fizzle out.

Katakuri raised his arm and was about to say something before Oven stopped him.

"Doubt he'd need a guide or a handler... Mother seems to trust him enough to let him wander through the palace, so it doesn't matter much."

In the end, Katakuri couldn't argue with that logic too much. He just shrugged and looked at his younger brother.

"Now then... The two of us have a lot to talk about..."

And, as things continued to unfold on Cake Island. A certain Emperor on a flying island finally managed to wake up.

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