Chapter 254: The Prey Retargeted
In principle, no matter how powerful an attack was, Axel should be able to redirect it.
But reality was not that simple.
When the force exceeded his Calculation Power and processing speed, he could only reduce the damage as much as possible.
Clearly, Jozu's attack had surpassed the current tolerance of his Reflection.
Axel could feel that Jozu's strike was second only to Kizaru's kick.
Fortunately, his physical fitness had improved further since then. Otherwise, his condition might have been the same as last time, when Kizaru had sent him flying.
Although he was heavily injured now, his thinking and Calculation Power were still unaffected.
That meant his ability could still function.
Axel looked around at the scattered ruins of the castle.
Originally, he could have used the uneven terrain to escape.
However, that crucial path was currently sealed off by the battle between Doflamingo and Marco, cutting off his thoughts of escaping from the high ground.
As for retreating directly, he had already tested that option.
He would be caught by Jozu's brute force charge.
If this situation had happened to someone else, Axel would have definitely gloated and said, "Coach, what kind of move is this? I want to learn it."
But now that it was happening to him, he had no mood for jokes.
At this moment, he felt like prey placed in the center of a hunting ground, unable to move freely.
It was not a good feeling.
Still, letting time drag on like this was not a solution.
The longer it lasted, the more variables would appear.
So Axel simply decided to use offense as defense.
This was both his style and the point where his ability could be used to its greatest effect.
As long as he maintained his Calculation Power, his ability provided a full 360-degree defense with no blind spots.
But that did not mean defense was its only use.
Only when attacking could the true power of Vector Manipulation be revealed.
That sensation of seemingly toying with the laws of the world.
With a light tap of his foot, Axel's slender legs erupted with force that should not have belonged to those muscles.
The hard ground beneath him was stomped into a deep pit.
The resulting reaction force was applied to Axel's body, suddenly propelling his small frame toward Jozu at bullet-like speed.
Jozu's expression turned solemn.
His entire body transformed into sparkling diamond, and he did not dare be careless in the slightest.
Whether it was the power of the first sphere attack or the technique of the second, he did not dare underestimate this boy at all.
An absurdly large fist and a child's fist.
Two completely disproportionate fists clashed together, producing a metallic clang.
The floor shattered beneath them, as if protesting against the force released by the two.
Originally, Axel's strength was no match for Jozu's.
But because Axel had cleverly changed Jozu's direction earlier, Jozu did not dare use his full strength to attack.
Furthermore, Axel was not relying only on his own power.
He was also turning the force Jozu exerted against him into his own.
In other words, Jozu was actually fighting against his own strength.
Meanwhile, Axel used the moment of contact to try changing the direction of the blood flow inside Jozu's body, launching a counterattack from within.
But when he actually tried to control it, he discovered that Vector Manipulation had difficulty penetrating Jozu's diamond body to interfere with the blood inside.
Just as I thought...
Axel thought silently.
This was the same logic as when he had secretly tried it on Garp and ended up getting thrashed.
At that time, he had also attempted to use Vector Manipulation to control the blood in Garp's body, only to find that his ability could not penetrate.
At first, he thought it was interference from that unknown substance called Haki in this world.
But as his battles increased, he overturned that conclusion.
It was not Haki.
It was simply the physical body itself.
This conclusion made Axel feel rather incredulous.
After all, in theory, Vector Manipulation should not be blocked by a physical body.
However, considering that in the One Piece world, a person's body could withstand blasts of magma or sink a battleship, Axel gradually accepted it.
If he really thought about it, there were still many unsolved mysteries.
For example, the so-called speed of light was not truly the speed of light in the literal sense.
Otherwise, during his last encounter with Kizaru, he would have been knocked down long ago without any chance to fight back, let alone the chance to mock him.
Soon, Jozu also realized something was wrong.
When he withdrew his strength, Axel withdrew his.
When he applied pressure, Axel did the same.
He realized that Axel's ability was using his own strength against him.
So Jozu suddenly shook him off.
But the moment he did so, the enemy before him vanished like a phantom.
Jozu hesitated for only a fraction of a second before immediately punching toward empty space.
Axel leaped up and quickly dodged.
As expected of a Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.
He also had Observation Haki.
Using sound and light to deceive him was meaningless.
"Troublesome big guy," Axel muttered.
Jozu paused slightly, realizing that the big guy referred to him.
"Troublesome kid."
"I'm not troublesome at all."
Axel spread his hands helplessly.
"If you let me go, I promise I'll go far away and never come back."
Jozu had not expected Axel to say that.
For a moment, he was somewhat at a loss, not knowing how to refute it.
"How about this?"
Axel lowered his voice, as if worried others might overhear.
"I'll give you my secret manual, and you let me go."
Jozu only stared intently at Axel, not even bothering to ask what secret manual it was.
"Hey, hey."
Axel looked dissatisfied.
"At least ask what secret manual it is so I can continue the conversation."
Jozu asked coldly, "What secret manual?"
"Uh... looking at you, even if I told you it was The Eighteen Secrets of a Commoner's Counterattack: How to Pick Up Girls, it probably wouldn't be of any use."
"..."
Jozu's eye twitched slightly.
For a moment, he could not even find the words to respond.
Even so, he kept his gaze fixed firmly on Axel without the slightest lapse in attention.
Axel sighed inwardly.
Without a doubt, an opponent like Jozu was the most troublesome kind.
He had wanted to use idle chatter to distract him and find an opening, but he had not expected this big guy to give him no chance at all.
However, Axel had always believed that opportunities were not given by others.
They were created by oneself.
He scanned the surrounding battlefield again.
In an instant, another idea came to him.
His eyes focused once more on Sugar, who was behind Marco.
There was no doubt that although Doflamingo and Marco seemed locked in a stalemate, both of them still kept a sliver of attention on him.
But if Axel took the initiative to attack those two at this time, they certainly would not expect such a move.
Meanwhile, what if his goal was only to seize Sugar?
What would the situation become then?
It would probably return to square one.
And for Axel, that square one had been the most dangerous stage.
After all, being caught in Marco's attack while Doflamingo watched like a hawk and Jozu's powerful attacks remained present was not a pleasant situation.
But considering the current circumstances, would Doflamingo really strike him purely out of anger?
If he did, what would Marco and the others choose?
The situation would be rewritten.
It would move toward a scenario he could not predict.
But wasn't that quite interesting?
The corner of Axel's mouth curled slightly.
Instead of standing here like a fool and wasting time, doing it as soon as he thought of it was also one of his styles.