Surviving a Shounen Manga

The Ramirez Scramble (5)

Those repair drones… had there been one left?

Karl Zayed brushed away the dust that’d piled up on his clothes, and slowly reviewed his memories.

When he’d first encountered that Cyborg Gelop, that piece of scrap metal, there were a total of three simple repair drones attached to him.

Called ‘Alpha’, ‘Bravo’ and ‘Charlie’.

Although they were repair drones, their use was close to being ‘replacement parts’.

When Gelop’s arm was broken, one filled in, and when half his body was blown away, another hurriedly took its place.

And only ten minutes ago the last one had replaced Gelop’s two legs.

That was all of them, wasn’t it?

In fact, at the end, Gelop couldn’t respond when his left side of his body got blown off.

There was no way Karl Zayed’s memory could be wrong.

Was this some other hidden trump card, or…

‘Is it really somebody else?’

Karl Zayed raised his head again and stared at the ‘unidentified cyborg’, on whom no trace of the last battle could be found, no matter how hard he looked.

“Hmm. You’re quicker, too.”

The bastard looked at himself and tilted his head.

“What actually happened?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You… have changed.”

“Ah, I did some repairs.”

“…”

It wasn’t just the appearance being restored in an instant that made Karl Zayed doubt his identity.

Once he started talking –

His voice remained the same, but the tone had completely changed. The way he used to speak was extremely harsh, but now…

‘I’m feeling irritated just remembering that guy.’

He was getting annoyed.

Also, the most important part, the power –

The power of the energy cannon was different.

To the point where he’d avoided it without daring to take it head-on.

“You don’t show any sign of repairs. And that energy cannon was… is it your original one?”

“Hey, you’re sharp, huh? You even noticed I’ve changed weapons.”

“Even a three-year-old kid would notice the power difference. No, you bastard, more things have changed than that.”

“It’s no a big deal, I just changed the CPU.”

“Seepee… what?”

“Don’t worry about it, dude. Just think of it as changing some parts.”

“…”

However, Karl Zayed wasn’t feeling convinced that this wasn’t a ‘different being’, because he hadn’t seen the replacement process with his own two eyes.

Not to mention that there hadn’t been nearly enough time.

Soon,

“Hmm…”

Karl Zayed shook his head to shake off his thoughts.

There was no point pondering it over. If he had an unanswered question, couldn’t he just grab the guy and ask directly?

So decided, he pulled out a sword from his waist.

It was a weapon he’d started carrying around one day, because it was occasionally useful.

It was hard and sharp.

He couldn’t remember where it originally came from. Probably from some fool who’d rushed at him without knowing his own place.

Same as the pile of scrap metal now in front of him.

“Oho, you use weapons too? Since when? I don’t remember this.”

“I sometimes take it out when I get tired of just breaking things by hand. Like when I have something to cut.”

Although Karl Zayed said that, actually, pulling out his weapon was more of a sign of showing respect for his opponent.

Because the cyborg now looked like he’d brought some pretty expensive parts.

And finally,

“Huh. Then let me respond in kind.”

The pile of scrap metal seems to have a similar idea.

About respect, or boundaries.

As the cyborg raised his arms, a blue light began to hum through the energy outlets at the centre of his palms.

“… Everything’s overhauled except your brain, hm? You still don’t know your place.”

“You say that even after taking out your sword? Besides, what do you even know about my brain? How outrageous. A mere human dares to look down upon an AI… I bet you can’t even multiply three-digit numbers in your head.”

“Hmph, cheeky machine….”

“See, now you’ve got nothing to say. The greatness of AI… I’ll carve it straight into your head.”

Soon,

Whiiiing–.

Fwosh–!

A huge flood of energy roared out of one palm along with a shockwave.

‘It’s different.’

The magnitude of the force was now so strong that the original was no comparison.

The energy cannons had taken several hits from Karl Zayed’s fists already, but to do the same now would be unreasonable.

Bumping into something that volatile would leave his fists shredded, and his sword broken.

But, of course,

‘If that’s not feasible, let’s just not do that.’

That’d happen only if he clashed head-on.

Karl Zayed quickly evaded the rushing energy, and then rushed towards Gelop.

Fwosh–!

‘Left… then right.’

Fwosh–!

Fwosh–!

Zig-zagging, Karl Zayed avoided the energy shells flying in. Albeit slowly, he was making progress.

Although the attack was immensely powerful, it didn’t make him panic. The attack pattern was foolishly consistent.

Fire a series of energy cannons, then back off when you’re approached. Then attack again after recharging.

But Karl Zayed wouldn’t give him the time.

It was kind of disappointing. Those arms, legs, and so forth had been blown off once, but nothing essential had changed.

‘How boring.’

Karl Zayed waited one more time, even though Gelop was already within his range.

A total of seven energy cannons had been fired so far. Four on the left arm, three on the right arm.

Previously, six shots were the maximum, so no matter how much the accessories had changed, Gelop was probably at his limit.

‘Are you going to shoot once more? Or are you done?’

Then,

Whiiiing–.

Fwosh–!

The eighth shell flew.

It’s over.

Karl Zayed didn’t even care about the shell that brushed past an ear, and rushed at Gelop.

Then,

“Have you got more arms ready? This is the third one gone.”

He swung his sword at the cyborg’s left shoulder.

There was no doubt in his mind that the opponent would be sliced apart.

But,

“What’re you doing?”

“Huh…?”

The bastard’s reaction was strange.

He didn’t dodge at all.

For a moment, Karl Zayed met his blank eyes and felt a terrifying feeling.

That was then.

“Hm!?”

Both the cyborg’s palms flashed a sinister red, for the first time.

And then,

Fwooooosh!

A new kind of energy shell hurtled towards him.

“Uh…”

Karl Zayed immediately fell back at his fastest speed, but a large part of the shockwave had already passed through his arm to his torso.

“Oh, you’re super fast, huh? And sturdy too.”

“…”

Karl Zayed forced his shut eyes to open and checked his own status.

His arms had gone limp. They wouldn’t rise. He didn’t have the strength.

There wasn’t even any pain. As if everything had been burnt out.

‘I got baited.’

Both his arms were completely broken, and the rest of him wasn’t doing too well either.

His body parts that’d been exposed to the attack were glowing red hot.

Despite not having been directly wounded, his body that would normally quickly recover from any wounds wasn’t functioning properly.

“What is this, it’s over with just one hit? Boring.”

“…”

Karl Zayed bit his lip. He’d looked down on his opponent too much.

Things weren’t going well. This was dangerous.

Well, that didn’t mean he was helpless. All he had to do was use ‘that’.

Soon after,

Sizzle–.

His body quickly recovered.

“Huh? Wh-, what?”

Gelop was startled at the sight.

‘Growth mortgage’.

Extracting power from his future ‘growth’ and using it for immediate physical recovery.

In return, his growth would stop until he managed to recharge the power thus consumed.

This was the latest skill he’d acquired.

“… I have to admit it. I underestimated you.”

This mortgage system actually operated at quite a loss. At first blush it might look like an equivalent exchange, until one considered the fact that it also paused the, otherwise constant, growth of his unique ability.

In other words, the duration he’d stay stagnant was much longer than it’d otherwise be.

And this –

“You’ll have to pay for that.”

– Also meant that he couldn’t let this guy go.

That was then.

“Uh… you’re already using that? Here?”

The bastard asked, sounding very bewildered.

“What?”

“Isn’t that… your ultimate technique?”

Karl Zayed froze.

“… You know my ability?”

He hastily searched through his memories. Had the two of them met before?

It couldn’t be. This was obviously their first encounter.

No, more than anything else, this ability had emerged very recently.

Then how come the other party knew about it…

“Umm… that’s not it. More like, it just feels like that?”

“…”

This was a very unconvincing response.

But Karl Zayed didn’t express any further doubts.

It wouldn’t change what he was planning, anyway. He just needed to catch this guy properly and interrogate him.

“I have something else to ask.”

As Karl Zayed was about to advance –

Suddenly,

“Uh, wait a minute. Let’s stop here for now.”

The cyborg raised his hand and stopped him.

“What?”

“This is all for today. I’ve gotten bored, so I’ll just be off.”

It sounded absurd.

“Have you gone crazy? I just underwent a full recovery, the same as you. And do you think there’ll be more opportunities like this? Even if it’s just a coincidence, you’re the first person that made me do my best…”

“Funny. Weren’t you beaten bloody before? And what’s so difficult about it? You aren’t as great as you imagine.”

“… What?”

Karl Zayed felt his heart pound for a moment.

What was this guy saying? What did he know? Him being beaten bloody?

Impossible…

Karl Zayed clutched his sword tight.

No matter what, he couldn’t let this guy leave.

Only those words were echoing through his mind.

“You bastard, looks like you really want to die. No, more than that…”

Carl Zayed surged forward, mid-speech.

“Do you think you can leave?”

But at that very moment,

“Shouldn’t you dodge? Else…”

He was frozen in place, as if ice had covered him.

Because place his enemy was aiming at with a grin,

“You might be in danger.”

– Was his Achilles’ heel.

It was inconceivable.

“… You, you are…”

“Got what I’m saying? Let’s just leave things here today. In return, I won’t aim for the token. Now then… later.”

Karl Zayed couldn’t stop Gelop as he disappeared.

No, he couldn’t do anything.

Unanswerable questions continued to swirl in his mind.

Who the hell was that guy… really?

After a while, a single word forced itself out of Karl Zayed’s clenched teeth.

“… Squatjaw.”

“Whoo…”

Things had almost gotten dangerous.

I never thought that Karl Zayed might use ‘growth mortgage’.

If I hadn’t managed to scare his off, things might’ve gotten really dangerous for me.

Because my equipment had already run out of energy.

I removed the high-power energy cannon attached to my arm and threw it to the floor.

Clatter-clang–.

In order to properly deal with him, I needed to mobilize the ‘smart armored cavalry’, but I couldn’t use that yet.

Karl Zayed still had a lot of work to do.

Anyway, this was a success.

“It’s tough…”

I stopped running and momentarily basked in the sense of pride welling from my achievements.

A lot of information about me had been exposed, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

Wouldn’t it all come out one day anyway…

That was then.

‘Ah, wait. Wasn’t that guy about to mutter my name out loud?’

I scratched my head. Was I already completely exposed?

“Well…”

But soon,

“Well, maybe that’s for the better.”

I grinned again.

It might’ve even been a blessing in disguise. In the first place, I’d faced Karl Zayed in order to snatch his spotlight. In this way, his loud doubts about me could completely cover up his own brilliance in the readers’ eyes.

Actually, the time had been a little bit different from what I’d done with Leo.

Leo’s case was just to confuse the readers and reveal my goblin-like traits, but this time I also had a more important purpose.

Right, making Karl Zayed look weak.

In the original story, this Ramirez Scramble could practically have been called, ‘blocking Karl Zayed’.

He’d been the only character almost unaffected by the power balance adjustment, and had shown unrivaled strength at this time. Even the reader community had been up in arms about nerfing him.

And as it turned out, he actually had had a huge nerf scheduled in this arc.

His weakness, revealed by the Ramirez.

It wasn’t a direct decline in ability, but it’d calmed down the demands to nerf him. Because of how absolutely fatal the weakness was.

And what I was trying to do here, was to prevent this ‘scheduled development’.

I didn’t think it’d be that difficult. Because things were quite different now, compared to then.

Now, Karl Zayed was indeed considered a powerhouse, but not some OP munchkin.

The reason was simple. Because of me.

And therefore, there was no loud clamour about nerfing him. There was some talk, sure, but my actions today would douse that even further.

This meant there was no reason to unconditionally reveal Karl Zayed’s weakness. At least in public.

And why I wanted to prevent the information from being public was simple.

To use it. If only I knew his weakness, only I could use it.

If everybody knew, it couldn’t be my exclusive weapon anymore.

And another reason –

It was funny. Why nerf a guy who wasn’t even the strongest? If somebody had to be nerfed, it had to be me.

In other words, ‘revealing the weakness of the strongest man’ was an event that had to focus on me. That way, it’d attract the readers’ attention; and put the murmurs of ‘Squatjaw OP, plz nerf’ to bed.

“He got damaged, so it’s okay for now, but…”

The problem was the future. If he stopped running wild, it’d be fine, but if he went and invaded another area…

That was then.

“Hm?”

I looked around at the sudden sense of strange incongruity.

“It’s odd…”

It was too quiet.

It’d been about twenty minutes since I’d headed north after leaving Karl Zayed behind.

The city should’ve been alive with gunfire and ringing of swords.

But I couldn’t see any signs of ongoing battles, not even any noise.

Didn’t I even tell the goblins? To make some messes…

How pitiful.

‘Why’re they being so quiet right now…?’

Then, suddenly,

“… Ah!”

I could see why.

It was simple. Along with the realization came a sense of disappointment.

Because the powerhouses were taking the lead in snatching the tokens.

In the original, they’d spent time observing, but this time, they were all rushing in headfirst.

Jimus, Leo, Karl Zayed, Gelop – everybody.

In other words, the two-bit idiots were too scared to make trouble.

They didn’t even have a token, so there was no point fighting among themselves.

This was tough. Unless there were fights and grudges aplenty, the goblins would be left with nothing to stir up.

In the east side, the place where Leo and party were should be quite active by now, but clearly the rest of the area was still quiet.

The south, where Karl Zayed was, and the west, where Gronyan had gone, would be the same.

And finally…

“… I see.”

I, was the biggest problem.

I grabbed the sphere in my pocket and hurriedly started running.

As if rejecting the bright sunlight outside, the factory area was dark, dull roofs covering the entire sky.

A street where only a dim neon light lit up the darkness –

A man stood, quietly suppressing his anger.

Kiriko, the redhead.

‘Where the hell are you…’

He couldn’t understand this at all.

After calling him here, the inviter was gone. Telling him nothing.

What was he doing?

He really wanted to smash the place up and make a fuss. He wondered if then the man would show up.

But,

‘I’ve changed.’

He endured the furtive peeks the street vendors occasionally took at him.

Because they were innocent.

Kiriko could admit this to himself. As he’d kept adventuring with Leo, he’d become much gentler.

Yet, somehow, that didn’t bring a sense of weakness of with it.

“Whoo…”

Maybe he was relieved in his heart.

That Squatjaw was missing.

“No, that’s not it.”

A little while ago, Kiriko had asked himself, ‘Can I beat Squatjaw?’. He was honestly not sure. Perhaps the odds of his defeat were higher than the reverse.

Until that time in Clone City, he couldn’t understand what Leo had seen in that guy.

But now was different. Seeing Squatjaw himself, he could finally see why.

Squatjaw was strong. So strong so that he couldn’t help but pay attention.

Besides, it wasn’t just Squatjaw either.

Karl Zayed. That monster looked stronger than ever. To an extent where instead of considering the odds of success, he instinctively wanted to withdraw.

And a third –

Gronyan. Yan’s father.

It was the first time in his life that he’d felt relieved, that this was the father of a colleague, not an enemy.

That sense of presence had directly overwhelmed him.

It was shameful.

“… God damn it.”

Since when did this start happening? There’d been a time when he thought himself without equal.

Kiriko clenched his fists.

And he was walking aimlessly like this, riddled with such useless thoughts; all because of that squat-jawed bastard.

The anger that’d subsided was about to rise again, but –

“Howdy.”

A voice intruded upon his thought.

“Huh?”

When Kiriko looked back,

“What… what the hell, you bastard! Where the hell did you go!? Even though you were the one who called me!”

There stood Squatjaw.

“Hey, calm down.”

Squatjaw took something out of his pocket and threw it towards him.

“Take this.”

It was a round object.

A bomb?

“What is this?”

Kiriko didn’t dodge, he just caught it. Because he didn’t want to give the impression that he was scared.

“You know.”

“I don’t. What is it?”

“Take a good look.”

Kiriko looked down at the object and was immediately startled.

It was a sphere. A sphere that proved the ‘qualification’ to own the Ramirez.

“Keep it. I’ll come find you in two days.”

“Wh-… what?”

It was a senseless series of words.

And then,

“Oh, and…”

Squatjaw suddenly pulled out two revolvers from his waist.

“Wh-, what!”

And,

“This could be a disease or a cure. To be honest it’s probably both, but you won’t get sick if you get it right, yeah? So focus.”

Squatjaw muttered something else that he couldn’t understand.

“As you know, [Six Burning Bullets] can be combined. Six types of bullets, thirty-six combinations. But that’s not all.”

“… Huh?”

“You know how to use ‘rapid fire’, right? If you that and change bullets every time… No, it’s better to show you once than to explain it. So, do it like this…”

Then Squatjaw was aiming his guns at him.

“Come on, wait a minute…”

“There’re thousands of possible combinations. Be careful.”

And at that moment,

Ratatatat–!

Ratatatat–!

Kiriko witnessed a ‘scene of great despair’ flying in the shape of a bullet.

There was nothing he could do to stop it.

That ‘despair’ hit Kiriko’s body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

His consciousness switched off for a moment, then turned on again.

‘What happened?’

His body didn’t move.

An indescribable pain was enveloping him.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh…”

Kiriko did his best to check his condition.

When he focused all his strength, his right arm moved. But the left didn’t.

It was a serious injury.

That Squatjaw had done this to him, without him being able to even respond.

‘I, I need a healing bullet right now…’

That was then.

“Whooooo! Here’s a token, everybody! That red-headed gunslinger has one! Wait, what!? This guy is dying!? What a chance to make a clean score! Hahaha!”

The piercing shriek out of Squatjaw’s throat pierced his ears.

“Wait, wait a minute…”

This was dangerous.

He could die like this.

Kiriko thought he had to stop this guy somehow.

So he somehow barely moved his head to look, and –

“Good luck for the next two days.”

Squatjaw was giving him a smirking wink.

“Hey, you fucking bastard…”

Kiriko’s face turned black.

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.

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