One Piece: Gambling to The Top
Chapter 102 - 102

Surrounded by metallic objects from every direction, Josh stared at Kid.

He was standing, facing Kid and three of his commander pirates.

Kid, who was shown to be one of the cruellest fighters in One Piece, a bastard who cares about his bounty more than his strength, cares about nothing but his bounty. His favourite method, or fantasy, is killing.

On the other hand, there is his crew. A bunch of guys who should be so strong after the post time skip.

As he is now, Josh assumed that Kid is on his way to becoming a member of the worse generation.

'It seems I'm going to soon catch up to the first chapters.'

Rubbing his chin and taking a step back, Josh looked at the swords and the knives flying in the air..

'Let's see how to deal with this copy version of Magneto. Lunatic and mass killer. Although, he has interesting fruit. Even if I don't replace a use, I can sell it. He deserves no pity.'

Josh paused for a second and looked at the ground. 'Why am I sounding self-righteous… What has become of me?' He had a wild smirk on his face.

Upon seeing that smile, Kid understood that Josh was mocking them.

"Die, you bastard."

Waving his hand, three long swords started spinning in the air. Many knives started dancing around Josh's body. All these metallic objects didn't clash with each other, and they were after taking Josh's life, moving in a pattern that was so hard to follow with the eye.

"It's the best you have."

Josh closed his eyes again, his ears as well. Everything around him appeared to be white shapes in the middle of endless dark paint. When the shapes started moving, Josh moved his foot to the right. Five shapes moved along his body, while the spinning sword span around his neck without slicing it.

"Shit, he dodged the spinning sword and the knives at once…" one of the three commented.

Josh, who was standing in front of the sword spinning in the air, extended his fingers and stopped the blade from moving by holding it between his thumb and index. It would amaze anyone to see Josh doing that since the swords were spinning in speed that made them barely visible. Josh didn't stop moving his other hand, holding another sword, and then, he put the last one between his index and middle finger.

"Bastard! You look good! I'm excited now." Kid yelled, excited. Seeing Josh closing his eyes and doing things perfectly made him feel thrilled. His blood was really boiling.

"Die!" Kid screamed, as his crewmates moved. Waving his hand, Kid summoned his item. However, the three swords refused to move, despite the electromagnetic field he was unleashing. Josh strength was far greater than that.

Annoyed, Kid clicked his tongue and ordered the knives to go and stab Josh from every direction. Josh, simply, started reflecting the objects with his knee and elbow. The metal was bending each time it touched a part of his body. Kid didn't stop and made them circle around Josh, ready to attack him again.

Josh, this time, opened his palm. Squatting slightly, he chopped on the deck. The air around him was pressed. It formed a circle around him. From it, seven vertical press air blades rose and flew in each direction, cutting everything on their way. They pushed the metallic objects in the air, and somehow, made cuts in them.

Kid, seeing one of the pressed air blades, Jumped high in the sky and used the metal objects around to gather them in front of him, forming a big shield, a very thick one, which took the hit.

Opening his eyes, Josh stood up, and stretched his arms, exhaling deeply. He was just displaying what he had mastered after advancing his Kung Fu with an Epic rank item. Josh's martial arts now are at a very high level, like the Fishman karate, but in their own way. Josh's style, however, focuses more on slicing, manipulating, and pressing the air to attack and defend.

Behind Josh, a white-haired man with a pale face opened his mouth widely. Without the man saying any word, a huge amount of flame dashed out of his mouth and swallowed Josh, who stood up in the middle.

Emerging from the flames, unharmed, Josh turned and looked at the shocked expression on the guy who did it. "Not bad, but not hot at all." Extending his hand forward, Josh aimed at the man as red scales covered his hand. Before the guy could realise it, a small beam of crimson fire flew out of Josh's hand and pierced his chest, sending him flying to the sea.

Josh, although he had a very hot flame, during his stay in amazon Lily, had thought of new ways to improve it.

Thinking back on Earth, of what is fire is. Fire was a transformation of energy. The higher the energy trasformation rate, the higher the heating process.

A concentrated fire — Jet Flame — is way stronger than a normal fire, since it's used in bending metals. Depending on that principle, Josh had mastered how to compress his Wrath Flame to generate more heat than he would have done in the past. That had increased his already hellish flame to a new level.

The guy who just had his chest pierced probably has burned internal organs.

"Heat!" the tall man called toward his falling friend. Josh turned and gave him a look. The man was holding a red trident. He quickly dashed toward Josh, along with a masked man next to him, who held two weapons. Josh walked slowly with confidence toward them, and despite knowing their next movement, he stopped himself from reacting too early. .

Although Josh has Observation Haki, he believed that he shouldn't form a habit of acting earlier. Anyone who played RPG games knows that simple rule. You don't act too early or too late.

The two guys finished stabbing and waving the swords at Josh. When they thought they had done it, however, they realised that he had turned into an afterimage.

"Where is he?" Wire turned.

Kid, who was in the air, standing on a floating piece of metal, looked left and right. "Don't trust him. Every previous casino owner is the scummiest when it comes to tricks."

"Hey, that hurts my feeling." Came a voice. When they looked in its direction, there was Josh, having a fruit barrel next to him.

"Fruits?" asked wire, questioning his eyes.

"Why did you bring fruits?" Kid said. "Are you mocking me?" With that said, beneath Josh's legs, many metal spikes appeared. Josh stood on his arms on the barrel, and then, he twisted his body, lifting the barrel and flipping. He landed away, dodging the spikes. He then sat, crossed his legs, and held the apple, looking at Kid.

"Who knows? I wanted to eat an apple." Josh said, taking a bite of the yellow apple he got.