Ryuma Seeks Help

"Captain Yota, save me!"

The Azure Dragon had only just left Amazon Lily and entered the Calm Belt. Early that morning, Yota heard the Den Den Mushi ringing. The moment he answered it, he heard a cry for help.

"Uh…? Ryuma?" Yota asked in surprise. The other crew members beside him wore equally disbelieving expressions.

Who was Ryuma? The legendary guardian hero of Wano Country, an unparalleled Sword Master who had forged a black blade, a peerless powerhouse capable of competing with Hawkeye for the title of the world’s greatest swordsman.

If someone said he had been defeated, Yota and the others could believe it. After all, the sea was full of monsters, and there was no shortage of wild Admiral-level experts. Ryuma was powerful, but he certainly was not invincible.

But to say he had been driven to cry for help…

Had he broken into Mary Geoise? Attacked Navy Headquarters? Or arrived at the home base of some Four Emperors Crew?

"It’s me, it’s me, Ryuma! I’m in the East Blue right now. Hurry up and save me!"

Yota carefully examined the Den Den Mushi again and confirmed that it truly bore Ryuma’s likeness. In a strange tone, he said, "What happened for even you to be driven to call for help? Does the East Blue have that many terrifying experts?"

Yota ran through the possibilities in his head. At present, the East Blue seemed to have only one person capable of fighting Ryuma—Garp. But saying Garp could make Ryuma cry for help was far too exaggerated.

Besides, given Ryuma’s personality, even imagining him running away was difficult, let alone calling for help outright.

"Well… it’s hard for me to explain. Anyway, didn’t you say this Den Den Mushi could let you locate me and teleport directly here? Stop asking so many questions and get here already!!"

In the end, Yota merely twitched his lips, closed his eyes, and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Unlike Minato Namikaze, Yota’s spatial perception was not quite so monstrous. Thus, even with the extensively improved spatial seal, using it in actual combat still had certain flaws, slowing his reactions by the slightest fraction.

To experts of the same level, that fraction was an absolute opening. As for weaker opponents, though they could not exploit that opening, Yota did not need to use spatial ninjutsu to defeat them anyway.

Therefore, spatial ninjutsu was merely a convenient mobility technique in Yota’s hands rather than a combat technique. He generally used it only for escape or support.

Fortunately, with Yota’s Chakra, he could use the Flying Thunder God Technique to reach virtually anywhere in the Pirate World. Thus, although the East Blue was far from here, he could still arrive with ease.

After a tearing sensation of overlapping space-time, Yota opened his eyes a moment later.

"Fuck!" Startled, Yota blurted out a curse. Feeling the wind of high-altitude freefall, he hurriedly activated his Rinnegan and used gravity to stop himself in midair.

He then reached out, grabbed Ryuma as he plummeted downward, and asked directly, "What the hell is going on? How did you end up here?"

Ryuma’s face was still pale with fright. He glanced down below, drew a sharp breath, and said tremulously, "Didn’t you tell me I had a descendant in the East Blue? Someone named Koshiro? So I decided to go take a look first."

"But halfway there, I ran into someone raiding an island and lifting the entire island into the sky. I happened to be resting there, so I got dragged up along with it."

Yota frowned. From Ryuma’s account, he had already guessed who it was.

The only thing that puzzled him was why Ryuma would be afraid of that half-crippled old man.

Sure enough, Ryuma continued rambling.

"After I got dragged into the sky, of course I wasn’t happy about it. So I went to find the mastermind, but then I met a flying blond old man. He said he was Golden Lion Shiki, admiral of the Flying Pirates, and that he was going to destroy the East Blue or something."

"When faced with such a villain, it was precisely the time for a righteous man like me to act! So I fought that old man, and this was the result…"

"Hmm… so you couldn’t beat Golden Lion?" Yota asked curiously.

"Who said I couldn’t beat that old man?! If he hadn’t been injured, maybe he could’ve fought me. But if it were on land, I’d definitely cut him down within a hundred moves!" Ryuma said furiously.

"Then why are you…" Yota looked at Ryuma. Though his face was flushed red, his eyes darted about, and every so often he would glance downward before quickly looking away. Yota had a guess.

"…Afraid of heights?!"

"What do you mean, afraid of heights? Who said I’m afraid of heights? I’m not scared at all—… Aaaahhhhh!! Save me, save me, save me, save me, save me!!!" Mid-sentence, he felt a sudden sensation of falling. Ryuma immediately began screaming, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Yota watched Ryuma fall from above after he let go, shrinking into a tiny dot as he listened to the faint echo of his cries. He nodded.

"So he really is afraid of heights!"

By the time Yota used Universal Pull to drag Ryuma back up, Ryuma’s eyes had turned into spirals.

"So scary… the sky is so scary… I never want to go into the sky again… I’m afraid of heights, all right?! Waaaah, my lifelong reputation!"

Yota covered his eyes, unable to bear the sight. A man like Ryuma actually had such a flaw… Well, that was very One Piece.

No matter how powerful or aloof someone was, there would eventually come a day when they turned into an idiot!

No wonder Golden Lion had forced Ryuma to cry for help. Against a Float-Float Fruit user, his fear of heights probably cut his combat strength in half, then in half again.

"All right. Since you’re afraid of heights, I’ll handle Golden Lion." Yota let out a long sigh.

"Which direction did he go? Let me see if I can find him."

Golden Lion had knocked Ryuma out of the sky, and some time had passed before Yota caught him. With Golden Lion’s speed, coupled with the great distance Ryuma had drifted through the air, he was already nowhere to be seen.

However, Yota’s Observation Haki range had now increased dramatically. Moreover, by using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and drawing on the principles of radar, he could compress his Observation Haki into a straight line for scanning. Though it reduced the precision of his perception, it vastly increased its range.

It was difficult to use on land, but the open, unobstructed sky was the perfect place for this scanning method to shine.