Bartolomeo, with slightly stiff steps and creaking joints, walked towards them one step at a time, looking both comical and a little nervous.
"Ky... Ky... Cabbage... let go of Lu... Lu... Luffy-senpai!" He struggled to open his mouth and stammered out the words. His face, already red from nervousness, flushed even deeper, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
The two, who were having a blast playing 'empty-handed blade catching', stopped their movements simultaneously upon hearing the voice and turned to look at Bartolomeo.
As soon as Luffy saw Bartolomeo in this state, his eyes lit up as if he had discovered something new and exciting, and he shouted excitedly,
"robot!" (๑ ✦ ˑ ̫ ✦ )
In Luffy's mind, he was convinced that Barto was playing a very interesting robot game.
His eyes were full of anticipation. Sure enough, Orochimaru understood him; the person he found was so interesting.
As this anticipation surged, Luffy subconsciously released his hands that were catching the blade, and his body involuntarily leaned forward.
His posture was such that he was just short of directly approaching Bartolomeo to study him properly, completely engrossed in his own imagination.
On Cavendish's side, he narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze first scanning the stammering, strangely behaving Bartolomeo, with a hint of confusion in his eyes, wondering what this person was up to.
Immediately after, he turned his gaze to Luffy, who was beside him, eyes gleaming and face full of curiosity.
Just then, Cavendish's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he lowed, "A weakness!"
Before he finished speaking, the sword blade tightly held in his hand once again swiftly slashed towards Luffy. The blade carried a fierce force, cutting through the air with a "whoosh, whoosh" sound.
Luffy reacted quickly, instinctively bringing his hands together again to firmly block Cavendish's sharp attack, his expression also becoming serious.
"Cabbage! That's enough!"
Cavendish, seeing his attack easily blocked by Luffy again, was perhaps accustomed to it, only furrowing his brow slightly.
While pondering what the relationship between these two was, he couldn't help but ask, "You two know each other??" His tone was full of curiosity.
Meanwhile, Bartolomeo, after much effort, finally shuffled to their side.
As soon as he saw Cavendish being so disrespectful to his idol, Luffy, he immediately flew into a rage. Without a word, he instinctively reached out and grabbed Cavendish's hair, pulling it back forcefully, causing Cavendish to tilt his head back and cry out in pain, "Ow!"
Bartolomeo's eyes widened, bloodshot, as he shouted loudly at Cavendish,
"Let go of Luffy-senpai!" His aura was as if he was ready to fight Cavendish to the death.
Cavendish, caught off guard by Bartolomeo's sudden and powerful tug, instantly had his face twisted in pain, his features seemingly squeezed together. His once handsome face now looked grotesque.
Cavendish struggled hard, trying to break free from Bartolomeo's hand that was tightly gripping his hair, while widening his eyes, his face flushed, and roared at Bartolomeo,
"My beautiful hair!! You bastard, how dare you lay hands on my hair! You must be tired of living!"
His voice echoed in the surroundings, full of anger, as if having his hair pulled was more serious than anything else.
Cavendish, who originally held his sword steadily with both hands, was now restricted in his movements because Bartolomeo was pulling his hair. Out of helplessness, he could only release one hand that was gripping the sword.
His face was gloomy, his eyes showing annoyance. He quickly raised his arm and pulled hard at Bartolomeo's distinctive crested head. The movement was swift and fierce, clearly intending to retaliate in kind and make Bartolomeo taste the feeling of having his hair pulled.
"Aow!!" Bartolomeo immediately let out a shrill scream, full of pain.
He widened his eyes, his face full of heartache, and shouted, "My hairstyle!!" as if that crested head style was his lifeblood.
(҂ ` ･ ｪ ･ ´ )
Luffy watched the scene of the two pulling each other's hair, his expression instantly gone, his eyes showing a hint of disgust.
Then, he stood up without a word and turned to leave without hesitation, his steps quick and decisive.
"How embarrassing. They're grown-ups, yet they're pulling hair like children here."
Thinking this, he quickened his pace without looking back, just wanting to get away from this slightly childish scene.
In the lively and somewhat noisy arena, a group of receptionists who had originally planned to stop the fight between "Luffy" and Cavendish blinked and looked at each other. Does hair-pulling count as fighting? Should they intervene or not?
And Bartolomeo, seeing Luffy suddenly leave, stood there blankly like a puppet whose main support had been removed. His eyes were wide like brass bells, and his eye sockets were already filled with tears, which were swirling in his eyes.
He seemed to have just seen disgust in Luffy-senpai's eyes.
Bartolomeo's gaze was fixed on Luffy's receding back, unwilling to move away for a moment, his eyes full of anxiety and grievance, as if with Luffy's departure, his whole world was about to collapse.
His mouth was wide open, his lips trembling slightly, wanting to shout something, but it was as if his throat was tightly gripped by an invisible large hand. After a long while, he managed to squeeze out a faint sound.
After a short while, he finally seemed to suddenly wake up. His other arm, which was not pulling Cavendish's hair, instantly straightened and reached out forcefully in the direction Luffy had left. His arm remained rigidly suspended in mid-air.
His fingers also unconsciously spread open, slightly bent, clawing futilely in the air, as if with just a little more effort, he could grab Luffy and pull him back to his side.
Immediately after, he used all his strength, his voice already somewhat hoarse, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Lu... Lu... Senpai!!! Don't go!!!"
The shout echoed throughout the vast arena, cutting through the surrounding noise and piercing into everyone's ears, full of endless despair, urgency, and reluctance.
As he shouted, his voice took on a crying tone, and his pitch became somewhat shaky. Every word seemed to be squeezed from the deepest part of his heart.
Luffy heard the sound, immediately covered his ears, and walked even faster... He also cared about his image, even though he was currently "Luffy."
Bartolomeo's body also uncontrollably leaned forward, his steps moving frantically, but he was unfortunately held back by Cavendish and couldn't move too far. He could only watch helplessly as Luffy's back became smaller and smaller, more and more blurry.
His Luffy-senpai!
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