Sailing: I was falsely accused of watching Nami bathe, but I'm blind.

And so, amidst hunger, cold, fear, and endless darkness, Kai spent his first night in the wilderness, and the days that followed.

Every day was a struggle, a battle against hunger, exhaustion, and potential danger.

His clothes became even more tattered, and his face and hands had many new scratches.

But he survived.

Relying on his remaining willpower and the perception that had been honed by being forced into desperate situations, he stubbornly survived.

After struggling to survive in the wilderness for about four or five days, Kai's condition stabilized somewhat.

He found a relatively dry and sheltered cave as a temporary shelter and also managed to learn some basic skills in foraging for food and avoiding danger.

Although they were still starving and poorly clothed, at least they were temporarily out of danger of losing their lives at any moment.

However, trouble often doesn't let you off the hook just because you're already miserable enough.

That day, Kai, dragging his tired body and carrying the few wild fruits he had finally found, was preparing to return to his cave.

Just as he was passing through a relatively open clearing in the woods, several figures exuding malice and greed suddenly emerged from the bushes beside him and blocked his way.

There were three men.

They wore dirty, tattered clothes, wore malicious smiles, and carried rusty daggers or wooden sticks.

Judging from the aura of thugs and ruffians they exuded—a mixture of laziness, greed, and violence—they were likely low-level thugs from the vicinity of Whispering Town, or outcast pirates who could only survive by bullying the weak.

"Hey! Kid!" The leader, a burly man with a fierce face, sized up Kai, lingering for a moment on the small medicine bag that Chopper had given him, which looked somewhat valuable. He said in a threatening tone, "Hand over all your valuables, and that medicine bag! Otherwise, hmph..." He brandished the short knife in his hand, the blade flashing coldly in the sunlight.

The other two guys grinned and surrounded him, subtly blocking Kai's escape route.

They clearly saw that Kai was alone and dressed in rags, and... they had probably heard the rumors about "the blind man abandoned by his pirate crew" and thought that Kai was a pushover who could be bullied at will.

In their eyes, an abandoned man, perhaps disabled (they may have also noticed the emptiness in Kai's eyes), was utterly incapable of resistance.

Kai stopped in his tracks, his body tensing slightly.

He could clearly sense the malice and greed emanating from these three people, as well as their aura of power, which, while not particularly strong, still posed a threat to him at this moment.

He clutched the few wild fruits in his hand; they were his only harvest of the day.

That small medicine bag contained the only medical supplies Chopper had left him, and it was now his vital means of survival.

Hand it over? Let them rob it?

Do not!

A strong sense of resistance rose from the bottom of Kai's heart.

He has already been deprived of too much—companions, trust, belonging, dignity... He cannot afford to lose even this last bit of sustenance, nor can he continue to bow down to this malicious world like a lamb to the slaughter!

This was the first time he had encountered a direct threat from humans since leaving the Straw Hat crew.

Without the support of our partners, there is no way out.

He can only rely on himself.

"Get out of here."

"Kay's voice was cold and devoid of any emotion."

He tucked the wild fruit in his hand into his pocket, lowered his body slightly, and assumed a defensive posture.

Although he had never systematically studied physical skills, he had been exposed to them on the ship, and coupled with his extraordinary perception and reaction abilities, he also possessed a certain fighting instinct.

"Hey! Still dare to talk back!" The leader of the thugs was enraged by Kai's attitude. "Looks like you won't know what's what until we teach you a lesson! Brothers, let's go! Let's cripple this kid first and see how arrogant he can be!"

The three thugs grinned maliciously, brandishing their weapons, and pounced on Kai from three directions.

Their movements were rough and chaotic, but to ordinary people, it was still a very threatening siege.

Kai took a deep breath and focused all his attention on his senses.

He closed his eyes (although this made no visual difference to him, it allowed him to focus more on his other senses), and the world around him instantly became clear in his "mental image."

The sound of the wind whipped up by the man on the left wielding his wooden stick, and the faint crunch of his feet breaking dry branches.

The sharp whistling of the man on the right as his short sword sliced ​​through the air, and his slightly rapid breathing.

The heavy footsteps of the man in front of me, and the most intense malice emanating from him.

Chapter 20 There is no way out

Every detail was magnified infinitely in Kai's perception.

He could even "hear" the slight sounds of their muscles working and "feel" the energy fluctuations they generated when they swung their weapons.

Just as the man's dagger was about to pierce his chest, Kai moved.

His body slid half a step to the left like a ghost, narrowly avoiding the blade.

At the same time, he used the rotation of his body to slam his right elbow backward, accurately striking the thug attacking from the right side in the ribs.

"Ugh!" the thug screamed, the dagger slipped from his hand, and he doubled over in pain, clutching his ribs.

Almost at the same time as 893, the wooden stick of the man on the left of 964, 460, also came whistling through the air.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Kai suddenly lowered his head, the stick brushing against his scalp, the resulting gust of wind ruffling his hair.

He squatted down in one swift motion, and with lightning speed, his right hand reached out and grabbed the ankle of the thug waving the wooden stick, pulling hard!

Caught off guard, the thug screamed and fell flat on his back.

Only the burly guy with the fierce face remained.

He saw his two companions being taken down by Kai in an instant, and a look of surprise and fear flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a stronger ferocity.

"You're asking for death!" he roared, brandishing his short knife and slashing at Kai even more frantically.

Kai did not take the hit head-on.

He used his superhuman reaction speed and precise perception of the environment to constantly dodge and weave in the confined space.

He sometimes used tree trunks as cover, and sometimes used the uneven terrain to disrupt his opponent's movements.

His movements looked somewhat clumsy, even awkward, but he always managed to avoid the vital points at the most crucial moment.

He was like a dancer struggling to survive in a storm, each step teetering on the edge of life and death.

The disadvantages of blindness still exist; he cannot make smooth offensive and defensive transitions like a normal person, and most of the time he can only rely on instinct and perception to passively dodge and counterattack.

The battle was exceptionally difficult.

Although the gang leader's moves were crude, he was quite strong and ruthless.

In one of his attempts to dodge, Kai's arm was slashed open by the blade, leaving a deep gash. Blood gushed out instantly, staining his sleeve crimson.

The intense pain caused his vision to go black for a moment, and he almost fell over.

But at that moment, an even stronger will to survive and anger sustained him.

He couldn't fall! He couldn't lose to these scum! He remembered the cold looks in his companions' eyes, the despair of being abandoned, and the vicious rumors! A cold rage surged from the bottom of his heart, instantly overwhelming the pain in his body.

He gritted his teeth and, ignoring the wound on his arm, charged forward instead of retreating, heading straight for the thugs who were wielding knives.

To the other person's astonishment, he sidestepped and crashed into their arms, simultaneously using all his strength to slam his knee into the other person's abdomen!

"Ugh!" The leader of the thugs let out a painful groan, his body arching like a boiled shrimp, and the short knife in his hand fell to the ground.

Kai did not stop; he knew that being merciful to the enemy was being cruel to himself.

With his good hand, he grabbed a rock from the ground and hurled it at the other two thugs who were still struggling on the ground!

"Ah!" "Stop hitting us! We were wrong!"

Under Kaina's fierce counterattack, which was like that of a wounded beast, the remaining two thugs completely lost the courage to resist and scrambled into the depths of the forest, where they soon disappeared.

Only Kai remained in the open space, along with the leader who had been knocked to the ground, curled up and groaning in pain.

Kai was panting heavily, blood dripping continuously from his arm onto the ground.

He looked at (sensed) the guy who was still groaning, a cold killing intent flashing in his eyes.

But in the end, he did not take action.

Killing won't solve his current problems.

He bent down, picked up the dagger that the local thug had dropped, and searched the man for a few pitiful copper coins.

Then, without even glancing at the guy still groaning on the ground, he turned around, dragged his injured body, and walked slowly and laboriously toward his cave.

This was the first time he had fought entirely for his own survival.

Without the support of our partners, there is no way out.

He won, but it was an extremely hard-fought victory, at the cost of new wounds and almost complete exhaustion.

This experience, like a cold branding iron, left a deep mark on his heart.

It made him truly understand a principle: in this dog-eat-dog world, weakness and concession will only lead to deeper bullying and plunder.

To survive and regain his dignity, he must become stronger, possess the power to fight back, and make those who try to trample on him pay the price!

Exhausted and battered, Kai finally returned to the simple, dark cave.

He leaned against the cold stone wall, the intense pain emanating from the wound on his arm causing him to gasp for breath.

The dizziness from blood loss came in waves, and hunger and exhaustion gnawed at his will like maggots clinging to his bones.