Chapter 28: Chasing and Pummeling

"Oh?"

Ao Xin rested his steel whip on his shoulder, looking at Li Hui with a half-smile. "And what can you do about it?"

Li Hui’s expression turned icy. Before the apocalypse, he had been the most dazzling star among the crowd. In the apocalypse, he remained powerful and peerless. Yet, his casual, curiosity-driven invitation had been met with utter disdain.

Ao Xin didn't bother with a fair, fist-to-fist duel. This was the apocalypse; who the hell cared about honor? As Li Hui threw a lightning-fast punch, Ao Xin swung his steel whip downward with full force.

Li Hui didn't mind; his arm rapidly transformed into sand, the fist continuing its trajectory toward Ao Xin’s cheek. Suddenly, however, a sharp, searing pain shot through his arm. Shocked, Li Hui immediately turned into his elemental form and soared into the sky. He could feel that the steel whip had struck his intangible, elemental body directly!

That powerful blow had shattered the bones in his arm!

*Does he have Armament Haki?*

Li Hui was horrified. The opponent not only possessed Armament Haki, but his Haki was definitely at a higher level than his own! How was this possible? He couldn't believe it, but the next scene left him no choice.

"Do you think you can escape just by flying?"

Having been attacked for no reason, how could Ao Xin let him off so easily? Slinging his steel whip onto his back, he transformed into a Azure Dragon and chased after the cloud of yellow sand in the sky, snatching at it with a massive dragon claw.

"An Azure Dragon?" Li Hui cursed inwardly. "Damn it! You're that guy who ate the Azure Dragon fruit!"

Thanks to the existence of the God-Given Space, combat footage of many ability users had been recorded and uploaded. The most famous were the Azure Dragon fruit, the Sand-Sand fruit, and a former female streamer who possessed the ability to create Rafflesia flowers. To this day, that streamer still hadn't revealed the name of her fruit ability. While other ability users existed, their achievements were inferior to those of the Azure Dragon and Sand-Sand users, and their popularity couldn't match the streamer's.

Li Hui knew he had kicked an iron plate. His opponent wasn't just powerful in Haki; he was the user of the strongest Mythical Zoan fruit. Yet, this very person had kept his abilities secret, leading to a misjudgment that had cost Li Hui an arm—his dominant right arm, at that!

How could he fight like this?

Swirls of yellow sand rose up, attempting to block the dragon's pursuit. The Azure Dragon exhaled a gust of "Blast Breath," and countless wind blades shredded the sand to pieces.

"Damn it!" Li Hui was frustrated. The opponent’s mastery of his fruit was high, easily crushing his defensive maneuvers.

"You win! Stop chasing!" Helpless, he had to swallow his pride and apologize to Ao Xin. "I'm sorry, it's my fault!"

But would a mere apology make Ao Xin stop? This guy was a strong future competitor; if he could kill him now, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Ao Xin unleashed a burst of heat breath, turning the surrounding yellow sand into molten glass that rained down. Seeing the relentless pursuit, Li Hui had no choice but to accelerate his flight. The Logia-type flight ability was convenient, while the Azure Dragon’s flight relied on grabbing flame clouds, making him relatively bulkier; as a result, their speeds were about the same.

After several minutes of chasing, Li Hui suddenly descended to the ground. Assuming Li Hui had exhausted his ability, Ao Xin landed as well. However, as soon as he touched down, a zombie lunged out from the side to attack them. Li Hui turned into sand and passed right through the zombie, but because his vision had been obscured by the yellow sand, Ao Xin hadn't seen the monster appear.

Caught off guard, he relied on his Observation Haki to sense the danger, quickly shifting into his human-beast form and drawing his bamboo-jointed steel whip to meet the zombie.

"Hey, brother! Consider this zombie my apology! How about we call it even for what happened earlier?" Li Hui stood behind the zombie, not taking the chance to run, but instead trying to strike up a conversation.

"Oh? And how exactly is this an apology?" Ao Xin struck down with his whip, driving the zombie back. The savage power behind the blow left Li Hui trembling. *Is this the power of the Mythical Azure Dragon form? Truly monstrous!*

"I'll help you kill this zombie; the points will be yours!" Li Hui suggested. "Zombies are constantly evolving—first into Meat Zombies, now these. We can't handle monsters like this alone, but with my help, it will be much easier for you. What do you say?"

Ao Xin weighed his options while fighting. He could kill the zombie himself—he had done it once before. But with a Logia-type user lurking nearby, it was difficult to fight without being constrained. Still, if he wanted to leave, the zombie couldn't stop him.

Killing a normal zombie was worth one point. A Meat Zombie was ten. A regular zombie was one hundred. But for "leapfrog" kills—killing a target stronger than oneself—every tier gained multiplied the points by ten. As he had done before, killing a two-star zombie while in the Copper Skin stage counted as a leapfrog kill, earning him a thousand points. A thousand points was a lot for most, but not difficult for Ao Xin. This zombie wasn't worth the effort, and since it wasn't near his home, it posed no threat.

"Actually, I think killing you would be more valuable!"

After repelling the zombie, Ao Xin lunged at Li Hui again.

"Fuck! Are you crazy?" Li Hui quickly turned into sand and flew toward the zombie again. Passing through the creature, he forced Ao Xin to deal with it once more.

After this happened several times, Ao Xin stopped chasing and taunted, "If you've got guts, stop running!"

Li Hui retorted, "If you've got guts, come and get me!"

Ao Xin: "If you've got guts, stop running toward the zombies!"

Li Hui: "If you've got guts, kill the zombie!"

Ao Xin: ...

Damn it!

This guy was as crafty as a monkey, using the zombie as a human shield. He really couldn't finish him off anytime soon. It was clear that to become a powerhouse in the apocalypse, it took more than just raw strength. You needed a fast brain and a thick skin to survive crisis after crisis.

Seeing that it was difficult to kill Li Hui, Ao Xin transformed into the Azure Dragon and took to the skies. "I hope next time we meet, you still have a zombie to protect you!"

Unexpectedly, Li Hui chased after him from behind. "Wait!"

The Azure Dragon looked back. "What? Are you that desperate to die?"

Li Hui’s head emerged from the sand form, keeping a safe distance. "I apologize again. It was my mistake to try to recruit you and then attack you."

"But I want to talk to you about a trade."

Ao Xin scoffed. "Help me kill zombies? Do you think I'm stupid?"

He didn't know Li Hui, and there was no trust between them. Who knew if Li Hui would stab him in the back during their "cooperation," or steal the kill at the last second?

Li Hui shook his head. "No, I have a Devil Fruit. I want to trade it with you."

*Oh?*

Ao Xin’s expression turned serious. "A Devil Fruit? You're willing to trade that?"

Li Hui explained, "I've already eaten the Sand-Sand fruit. A Demonic Purification Serum costs a full hundred million points, and I have no idea when I'll save up enough. Of course I have to use this fruit for a trade."

"Tell me more."

Ao Xin marveled at how lucky this guy was. Without his own foreknowledge or Ao Chen’s abilities, this man had actually managed to obtain two fruits!