Chapter 83: Skypiea – Sanji vs. Satori & Usopp's Desperate Stand
Sanji suddenly bent forward, leg muscles tensing like coiled springs. His whole body shot toward Satori like an arrow loosed from a bow. "Concassé!"
His right leg traced a ferocious arc straight for the opponent's head.
But Satori remained calm. Only when Sanji's shoe tip was mere millimeters from his temple did he tilt his head slightly, evading by a hair's breadth. At the same instant, his palm was already aimed at Sanji's forehead.
Bang!
An invisible shockwave erupted. Sanji was blasted backward like a cannonball, crashing into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Cough…" Sanji pushed himself up. Fresh blood trickled down from his temple along his cheek. "Observation Haki? Sol said there aren't many people in the first half of the Grand Line who can use it… looks like my luck is really 'great'!"
"Roar roar roar! Scared, huh?" Satori bounced around triumphantly. "This is called 'Mantra'—a power you Qinghai people could never understand!"
"Mantra? Is that what they call it on Skypiea…" Sanji gritted his teeth. His own Observation Haki had always been just one step away from mastery—he could never quite grasp it. Now he was in serious trouble.
"Try this! Surprise Cloud · Pool Ball!" Satori leaped onto a cloud ball and kicked it violently toward Sanji.
"Damn it!" Sanji quickly retreated—but when the ball exploded this time, dozens of sharp spears shot out!
One after another the cloud balls came, each detonation unleashing a different threat—venomous snakes, blades, gunpowder… Sanji dodged frantically, finally seizing an opening to close the distance. But his kick was once again predicted; instead he took a solid blow to the stomach!
"Pfft!" Blood sprayed from his mouth. But this time Sanji's hands clamped desperately around Satori's right arm. Gritting through the pain, he countered with a "Pork Shoot!"
"What?!" Sanji's pupils shrank. His all-out exchange-of-injuries strike had been blocked by a single hand!
"Too bad" Satori shook his left hand; a strange shell was embedded in his palm. "This is an Impact Dial—it absorbs and rebounds your power"
Cold sweat instantly drenched Sanji's back. "This is bad!"
As Satori aimed his palm, Sanji was once again blasted away by the Impact Dial and crashed hard into the ground.
He coughed up blood, but his eyes grew even sharper.
The moment Satori sent more cloud balls rushing in, Sanji suddenly closed his eyes.
"Hm? Giving up already?" Satori sneered, lips curling mockingly. But in the next instant his smile froze—Sanji's body moved like wind-blown willow leaves, dodging the blast radius by the narrowest margin!
"Impossible!"
"How could you dodge that?!"
"That's impossible!"
Satori's pupils contracted violently; his voice actually trembled from shock.
In Sanji's mind echoed Zeff's old teaching: "A true chef can judge the exact heat in a noisy kitchen just by listening to the ingredients breathe." Back then—the oil smoke, clanging pans, overlapping shouts—had all become the most precious training.
"Combat should work the same way." Sanji's eyes snapped open. The world appeared completely renewed. Air currents, heartbeats, muscle tremors… everything was "speaking" to him.
"Hmph—even if you can sense my movements," Sanji's leg muscles compressed like springs; his suit pants stretched taut along deadly lines. "Can your body keep up?!"
"Concassé · Barrage!"
His kicks evolved in an instant—no longer single straight-line strikes, but a dense, impenetrable net of attacks!
"So fast!" Though Satori could "see" the trajectories, his body reacted like a rusted machine—growing slower and slower.
"Damn it!" Satori hurriedly raised the Impact Dial, only to see Sanji's left leg feint and stop mid-air. "You guessed wrong!" It was a fake; a low sweeping kick raised a wave of clouds, a white curtain blinding Satori's vision.
When Satori dispersed the mist, Sanji's figure had already vanished.
"Above? No…"
"Left? Wrong…" "Could it be…"
Cold sweat slid down Satori's cheek. The precision of his Mantra was visibly crumbling.
"Right behind you."
A devilish whisper sounded in his ear, followed by an air-tearing kick!
"Épaule Kick!"
The strike felt like it could shatter mountains. Satori flew backward like a broken kite.
"Impossible! How could my Mantra—"
"Simple—you lost your cool." Sanji exhaled a smoke ring; the ember glowed and faded in the dim clouds. "Sol said Observation Haki is heavily tied to the mind. You need calm to use it reliably. When emotions run high and you lose reason, you can't use Observation Haki at all."
The next moment, the true essence he learned at the Baratie spilled from his mouth—vicious, filthy trash talk that could make even the roughest pirates blush. Every word pierced Satori's sanity like venom.
"You Skypiea priest—do you just float around like a damn balloon all day?"
"How do you even eat looking like a ball? Binge-eating plus malnutrition? Or were you abused as a kid?"
Sanji grew more and more vicious, yet carefully avoided any insult toward women.
Satori's breathing grew heavier; veins bulged on his forehead. The precision of his Mantra collapsed visibly.
"You Qinghai scum… I'll blow you to pieces!" He finally lost control completely, roaring as he unleashed his ultimate move: "Surprise Ball · Ball Dragon!!"
Satori strung together explosive cloud balls into a ferocious dragon-shaped beast, controlling it with a wired rod as it roared toward Sanji!
"Now!" Sanji's figure soared into the air. His right leg rose high like a battle-axe; his suit jacket flapped wildly. In the sky he drew a deadly arc!
"Collier Shoot!!!"
The kick crashed down like a meteor, smashing directly into Satori's skull! His eyes rolled back; his body rocketed away like a cannonball, the shockwave shattering the entire Ball Dragon. Continuous explosions thundered across the sky like a storm!
Sanji landed lightly. The cigarette ember illuminated his cold profile. He glanced down at his palm—the lingering heat of battle still lingered on his fingertips.
"Observation Haki… so that's how it feels."
A breeze passed. He casually straightened his slightly disheveled tie and turned back the way he came, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Time to find some new souvenirs for the ladies."
——————
"Hey! Who the hell are you?! Get away from the Merry right now!"
Usopp's furious roar exploded on the empty shore. He stared deathly at the shadowy figure that had silently appeared beside the ship.
Just moments ago—while he bent down to pick up his hammer—a sharp whistling sound sliced past his scalp!
"…"
The figure gave no answer. It slowly withdrew its slender long spear.
Usopp's eye twitched. From the corner of his vision he saw the horrifying puncture hole clean through the main mast. If he had ducked even half a second later, his skull would have been impaled!
"U-U-Usopp…" Chopper's voice trembled. Tiny hooves clung desperately to his pant leg. Karoo's feathers stood on end, wings spread protectively in front of them.
Cold sweat poured down Usopp's back, but he still forced himself to raise his slingshot. His fingers shook uncontrollably. (Inner monologue: This is bad… this guy is definitely an assassin type!)
"You dare attack our ship…" He took a deep breath and pulled the slingshot taut. "You better be ready!!"
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