One Piece Gunslinger

Their battle was like that of a viper and a bull; Jack was the viper, and Peter was the bull.

Vipers possess deadly fangs, much like Jack's Punisher has immense offensive power. If venom can be injected into a bull's body, even the most powerful bull will fall.

But Peter said that the bull he represented was powerful and thick-skinned. Faced with such an opponent, the viper could only attack its weak points.

However, the venomous snake spent a long time looking for an opportunity and tried to attack many times, but all its attempts were futile as it bit into the thick cowhide. If, by chance, the bull managed to hit the snake even once, the snake would lose half its life.

Fortunately, the bull was not as agile as the snake, especially since the snake possessed Observation Haki, making it more like a slippery eel, which the bull never managed to catch.

However, for the venomous snake, after these few rounds, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Because the venom of a venomous snake is limited, and compared to physical strength, a bull is stronger than a venomous snake.

Jack was in great pain. The person in front of him was like a tortoise shell. He had fired nine shots at him, but none of them had been effective; they had all only caused superficial wounds.

Moreover, even his domineering aura was starting to crumble, and he was even experiencing slight pain in his temples.

"Heh, it seems you're not going to be able to hold on much longer either?" Peter had many wounds on his body, and his once-sharp suit was now somewhat tattered, but he couldn't hide his inner joy. "Speaking of which, you've fired nine shots in a row without ever reloading. I reckon you're almost done for. Even if your gun can store bullets, I doubt you have many left."

Peter's guess was correct; there was only one bullet left in the magazine, the last bit of venom from the viper. If this failed again, the viper would be out of venom.

"Heh, then let me make one last gamble," Jack thought to himself. "Anyway, at worst I still have Fujitora and Haku, so I won't die. It'll just be a bit embarrassing."

With no other options, Jack decided to go all out, so he raised his right hand and fired the last bullet at Peter, who was a few meters away.

"Is he at his wit's end? How could he fire such a terrible shot?" Peter shook his head inwardly. He had already dodged the direction Jack was shooting from before Jack fired. Naturally, Jack's shot hit nothing but air, becoming the only miss out of ten shots.

"Then I'm sorry to say, I'll send you on your way." Having dodged Jack's last bullet, Peter immediately activated Shave and charged forward.

However, he didn't notice Jack's slightly upturned lips.

Chapter Sixty: Victory and Defeat

"You little brat, this is exactly what I've been waiting for." Jack looked at Peter, who was about to use Shave to charge forward. He turned around and faced the direction Peter would land.

As soon as Jack turned around, Peter landed in front of him.

Peter looked at Jack, who was facing him, and couldn't help but feel uneasy. But he suppressed it for the time being: "Hmph, he's just a toothless viper bluffing."

Peter extended a finger, shouted, "Finger gun!" and poked Jack in the chest.

Usually at this point, Jack would use his knife to parry or try to dodge the attack. But this time, Jack used himself as bait, only slightly twisting his body to avoid a fatal blow.

With a "plop" sound, Peter's index finger pierced through Jack's chest.

"Hmph! All that show-off, that's it for now." Peter, seeing that Jack hadn't managed to dodge his attack this time, assumed that Jack was exhausted and had run out of tricks.

However, just as Peter plunged his index finger into Jack's chest, Jack painfully raised his shotgun.

Jack had long understood that the idea of ​​using Punisher to hit Peter's eyes and seize an opportunity for a fatal blow was purely theoretical. In reality, hitting Peter's heavily protected weak points was incredibly difficult; even emptying his entire ammunition supply wouldn't guarantee success. Not to mention, by then he would likely be too exhausted to continue fighting due to prolonged use of Haki.

The only weapon Jack currently possesses capable of breaking through Peter's defenses head-on and inflicting serious damage is his invincible shotgun. This powerful shotgun has never disappointed Jack since it came into his possession.

The problem with shotguns is that they're not very useful at long range, even less so than the Punisher. At close range, these long guns are slow to draw and require a lot of movement, making them very easy for opponents to dodge or for someone with a quick reaction to shoot them down. Therefore, they can't be used openly. Jack's act of using himself as bait was a last resort.

"What?!" Peter stared at the gun, which was much larger than the Punisher, and a sense of foreboding washed over him. It was now impossible to pull out his index finger and escape; Jack had only managed to create this opportunity by sacrificing his own body.

Faced with the deep, seemingly man-eating muzzle of the gun and the deadly red light bursting forth, Peter only had time to pull out his fingers and use the iron block for defense.

"Then this is truly the end," Jack thought to himself, pointing the gun at Peter's chest and slowly pulling the trigger.

"Hmph, can't you even lift a gun anymore?" Peter sneered inwardly. "I can't speak for other parts, but this chest is the thickest part of my body I've built up. You think you can..."

"boom!"

However, a loud gunshot shattered Peter's reverie.

Peter felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a thousand-pound hammer, his internal organs threatening to burst out. The attack was like being hit head-on by a cannon; Peter couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of blood. His taut legs plowed two tracks into the ground.

If Jack knew what Peter was thinking, he would have scoffed and said, "Your thickest spot is your chest, what a coincidence, the spot where my gun can exert its greatest power is also my chest."

That's right. Shotguns, sometimes called scatterguns, are named for the fact that the bullets are ejected in a fan shape, maximizing the impact of all the small pellets. That could only be Peter's broad chest.

Peter never expected this. In the fight between the snake and the bull, the bull could never have imagined that the venomous snake could suddenly transform into a pair of bull horns and then headbutt him hard.

Moreover, the bull horns that have appeared are bigger and thicker than yours. If they were to come at you like that, it would be deadly.

Jack understood the principle of "strike while the iron is hot," and before Peter could regain control of his body, he took a step forward and, with a "click," continued to point the gun at Peter's chest.

"boom!"

Another shot rang out. Peter hadn't even recovered from the previous heavy blow when he was struck again. Many bullets had already embedded themselves in Peter's skin last time, so this time the bullet was likely to penetrate deep into his muscle.

Peter's iron block could stop bullets, but it couldn't withstand powerful firepower. Little by little, it adds up. A single bullet is insignificant, but dozens or hundreds of bullets combined are enough to cause Peter internal injuries.

Compared to the last time, the second bombardment was able to severely damage his internal organs. Peter coughed up a mouthful of blood again, and his body even began to hunch over involuntarily.

The second bombardment made Peter realize that if he didn't quickly endure the pain and spasms, forcibly control his body, and dodge, there would be a third and a fourth. This time, Peter had no confidence in facing the third attack with the iron block, let alone the fourth; he might be blasted into mincemeat.

However, Jack on the other side wasn't having an easy time either.

Even if the finger gun missed a vital spot, it still left a bloody hole in the chest. How could it be taken lightly?

Then came two more shots in quick succession. These shotguns were powerful, but the recoil was also significant. After those two shots, Peter couldn't take it anymore, and Jack, due to the recoil aggravating his wound, grimaced in pain.

So this third shot actually became a contest of wills between the two, to see if Jack could control his body first and fire this crucial shot, or if Peter could adjust his state first and avoid the deadly muzzle.

Perhaps it was Peter's years of rigorous training and experience in missions that saved him, or perhaps the impact of the bloody hole in Jack's chest was simply too great.

Regardless, before Jack could readjust the gun, Peter managed to regain control of his body, and then, without regard for direction, leaped to the side to escape the area.

However, before Peter could regain his footing, he saw a much thinner red laser beam shooting towards him.

Not far away, Fujitora, who had been secretly observing the two's movements, nodded slightly and silently stopped his preparations to provide support.

Jack knew he might not be faster than Peter, but he could use his Observation Haki to precisely observe Peter's every muscle movement and predict where Peter would land. Peter, severely injured, certainly couldn't readjust his body for a second dodge.

and so……

“So I won,” Jack said softly, “to some unknown CP member.”

"boom!"

This last shot seemed exceptionally loud, enough to attract everyone's attention even in the noisy night.

With that first shot, what people saw was a shower of blood and flesh. The entire upper body of the man in the black suit was blasted away, and fragments of his internal organs were scattered wildly from that severed body, creating a unique spectacle.

Jack looked at his opponent's shattered remains, put away his shotgun, and sighed slowly, "Looks like I need to rest for a bit now."

Chapter Sixty-One: Becoming Famous

When Jack woke up again, he didn't know how much time had passed.

"Oh? You're awake? *slurp*"

Hearing this, Jack wondered why there was a slurping sound at the end. He turned to look at the side.

The speaker was Fujitora, who was sitting on a chair to the side, eating a bowl of soba noodles as he spoke.

Seeing Fujitora struggling with his soba noodles, even Jack, lying in bed, felt a surge of intense hunger in his stomach and complained, "Hey, didn't you prepare a bowl of soba noodles for the wounded?"

"The doctor said, slurp." Fujitora continued slurping his bowl of noodles, explaining, "This penetrating wound on your body is very serious; it almost pierced the aorta next to your heart. Then you were shot three more times, and the powerful recoil caused even more damage inside..."

"Stop, stop, stop! I know I'm badly injured right now," Jack interrupted Fujitora impatiently. "But all I care about right now is whether I have anything to eat. If I don't eat something soon, I feel like I'm going to starve to death."

"Slurp. Young people are just too impetuous, unwilling to listen to the elders." Fujitora completely ignored Jack's strong dissatisfaction and continued slurping his soba noodles.

Jack was too weak to move and could only lie on the bed watching Fujitora slurp up the bowl of soba noodles in his hand. If Jack could move now, he would definitely go up and fight Fujitora to the death.

Just as Jack was gritting his teeth, thinking about how to make things difficult for Fujitora in the future to get revenge, a man dressed as a chef pushed a small cart over.

"Great, you're finally awake!" The man exclaimed happily upon seeing Jack wake up. "I'll go call the doctor right away. I'll leave these to Fujitora-sama." With that, he put down the trolley he was carrying and ran out.

Fujitora first opened the curtain, revealing a pot of porridge and some tableware underneath.

Jack looked at the steaming heat and smelled the intoxicating aroma. He quickly propped himself up against the headboard and said excitedly, "Hurry up, this is what we need to do."

Fujitora poured Jack a bowl of porridge and handed it to him. Then he said, "The doctor said your injuries are too severe, especially your esophagus. Soba noodles are not suitable for you right now. Just have some hot porridge."

While sipping his hot porridge, Jack asked, "By the way, how long have I been unconscious?"

"Not long, just over two days," Fujitora replied calmly, leaning back in his chair and holding his staff and sword.

"Has it already been more than two days? It seems like it's the morning of the third day." Jack thought to himself as he enjoyed the delicious food he had just eaten after the ordeal. "No wonder I was so hungry. If I had the money, I could have just bought an emergency spray. It would have been so much easier. I guess I should always keep some life-saving medication on me from now on."

Thinking of this, Jack paused slightly while eating.

“Wait a minute, something seems off.” Jack pondered. “Actually, that person dressed as a chef didn’t know I would wake up. And the fact that he said things like ‘You’re finally awake’ and ‘I’ll go tell the doctor’s’ also proves that my waking up was unexpected by everyone, including the doctor.”

“So Fujitora has already eaten, it’s impossible that he ate a bowl of soba noodles first and then had a bowl of porridge as a snack.” Jack continued to think deeper. “Then I am now 100% certain that this pot of porridge was prepared for me. Prepared for me while I was unconscious.”

"Besides, let me think about it carefully now." Jack couldn't help but continue to think deeper. "It seems that when I woke up just now, although I was a little hungry, I wasn't really that hungry. It definitely wasn't like I hadn't eaten for two days and three nights."

"Add to that Fujitora who's been sitting to the side the whole time, and you can see the whole picture." Jack thought to himself, and a cold sweat broke out on his brow.

"Damn, I can't think about this anymore. What the hell? If I keep thinking about it, I get this weird feeling. What's with this weird atmosphere?" Jack quickly dismissed the thought and pretended to continue drinking his hot porridge.

For the first time, Jack felt that he shouldn't be so smart, and that he shouldn't use any of his cleverness in this matter. He should just be a fool.

A moment later, someone pushed the door open and came in. After a thorough examination, the doctor concluded that there was nothing seriously wrong, but the patient was weak and should recuperate for two more days.

"Oh, right," Jack asked Fujitora after the doctor left, "You're staying here, so where's Haku?"

“Haku has been handling all the big and small affairs of the gang these past few days. He took over three medium-sized gangs, and he also led the way in annexing other small gangs in Pacqui City. There’s a lot going on now. I didn’t expect that someone who looks like just a martial artist would be so good at handling all sorts of problems.” Fujitora took a sip of hot tea and said unhurriedly.

"Oh? Is that so?" Jack was also somewhat surprised. All along, Haku's image in Jack's mind was just a fish-man karate master, nothing more. He didn't expect that after following the Revolutionary Army for so long, he had become an officer, and his administrative skills and problem-solving abilities hadn't declined either.

"Alright, let Haku handle those for now. I'm happy to have a few days of peace and quiet, and lie in bed to recover." Jack finished his hot porridge, placed the bowl on the small table beside him, put his hands behind his head, leaned against the headboard, and said happily.

Seeing Jack's expression, Fujitora chuckled and said, "Yes, I'll stay here and keep you company for a few rare days of leisure. If it goes on any longer, you won't be able to have any leisure time at all."

"Huh?" Upon hearing Fujitora's words, Jack lowered his hands, sat up straight, and asked, "So soon, are those people about to make a move?"

"If you're referring to the Mercury Group and the Villain Party in the royal capital Grani, then they have indeed made some moves."

"Well, I guess I knew it, but this happened way too fast, there wasn't even any time to prepare." Jack, no longer relaxed, showed a troubled expression.

“Of course,” Fujitora said with a smile, unlike Jack who seemed more troubled. “After all, you’ve created such a huge news story. Now the whole country knows that ‘if immoral people can form a force when they get together, then honest people should do the same.’ Do you think those people won’t speed things up?”

"What?!" Now it was Jack's turn to be surprised. "It's only been a little over two days, and the whole country already knows what I said?"

"Not to mention people all over the country, many people all over the world have heard what you said. And it spread all over the world the very next day." Fujitora said this, taking out a newspaper from behind his back and handing it to Jack.

When Jack looked at the headline, he saw his picture on the front page, with a large caption below: