NOVPUBBecause of their mastery over this forest, the Bastard Bandits found it easy to navigate towards the supposed Golden Road. By now, they have noticed the extremely protected fort that had spawned seemingly out of nowhere.
There were watch towers and even a moat to protect the main building from any unwanted intrusions.
"We won't touch the fort," said one of the bandits leading almost forty men behind him.
The man was another major officer from the Bastard Bandits, second only to Wano himself.
His name was Crab, a nickname given to him because of his propensity to use scissors in both hands instead of knives just like all the bandits. Many would have made fun of him for his weird obsession with scissors, if not for his 6-star cultivation.
He was personally chosen by Blazelle for this mission. She had grown frustrated at their inability to strike a devastating blow to Reborn, and had wanted a win for once. So, he was tasked to blow their Golden Road into pieces.
Thankfully, it was now night time, with no patrols within the vicinity whatsoever. They moved under the cover of darkness towards the small tents around the large automobile trucks carrying cement.
"Scout! What can you see?" Crab asked one of his lieutenants. The bandit used his 4-star spell, creating magic circles in front of his eyes and allowing him to peer through vast distances as if it was right in front of him.
"There's only about twenty or so people inside. No one's wearing any weapon, just some tools. They're civilians, boss."
Crab smiled. It looked like he would be able to deliver good news to Blazelle after all.
"We'll strike when the moon is obscured by the clouds," he commanded.
Just then, one of his men approached him with an anxious thought. "Boss Crab. I have a bad feeling about this. Why are there no guards around here or the fort? It's absolutely empty."
Crab waved off the man's concern. "They are all probably inside the fort, secretly watching whoever tries to infiltrate inside. But we won't go anywhere near it. We'll just hit the Golden Road.
Do you see anything around the road? It's empty. There's no place for them to hide. I'm sure that there's no one guarding it. And even if there were, they won't be able to see us. This is our forest! We can navigate this place better than them even if we close our eyes. They won't be able to see us in the darkness."
Since he was an officer, his words were final and the anxious bandit could no longer voice his concerns.
So as soon as no light from the moon shined down on them, the forty bandits moved towards the tents. They made no sound and no trace, owing to their mastery over the forest.
They were able to reach their target without anyone noticing.
The Rebornians remained inside their tents, partying with music, talking amongst each other, and laughing while drinking beer, completely unaware of the bandits just outside their tent.
Crab looked behind him and raised his hand.
"Three….two….one….go!" he shouted, raiding the tents with his scissors cutting through the fabric.
The rest of the bandits followed suit, barging through the different tents brandishing their knives.
The Rebornians were caught off guard, scrambling out of the tents as soon as they saw Crab and the bandits.
But then, they were surprised to find that the bandits had already surrounded them, leaving them no chance for escape.
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"Don't worry, we won't hurt you," Crab said, snipping his scissors. "As long as you tell us the recipe for the concrete, then we'll let you go."
The Rebornians consisted of engineers, construction workers, and other such civilians. Just as the scout said, there was no one here who wielded a sharp weapon, just shovels, rulers, and some musical instruments.
One of the engineers was none other than Kong, the chief Engineer of the Reborn company.
He took charge of the situation and handled Crab.
"We will do no such thing. That formula is the Reborn company's proprietary secret. We can't give you the recipe, but we can give you cement if you want it."
Crab shook his head. "Not enough. We want the money maker! We want to sell our own concrete and get tons and tons of gold! Finally, I can get out of this Bastard Bandit group."
Kong shook his head. "I refuse."
"And what are you going to do?" Crab ridiculed. "There's no one here to protect you?"
"Wrong," Kong asserted. "And we can protect ourselves."
"With what? Those shovels? Those guitars and drums?"
Crab and the other bandits laughed. Fighting the fearsome Bastard Bandits with blunt and crude tools was a ridiculous idea, especially since they were already outnumbered, with the bandits doubling their people.
"You're going to fight back? Construction workers like you?" 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
Kong nodded. "Yeah. I've never fought in my life before, but I sure can defeat someone like you."
Crab frowned, insulted by Kong's confidence.
"Destroy them!" Crab commanded the bandits.
Kong and the other Rebornians picked up their tools: shovels, pencils, and rulers.
Surprisingly, each of these mundane tools glowed with such power and intensity that it illuminated the whole forest under the moonless night sky.
"What the?!" Crab muttered. "Those look expensive. Get them!"
The bandits rushed towards the Rebornians, their eyes reflecting the light from the tools.
"[Clear Path]!" Kong shouted, stomping on the ground.
The soil cracked beneath his feet, propagating in a straight line towards the bandits coming straight at him. Rocks and even small trees that was in the way were thrown up in the air as the cracks spread towards them.
The bandits activated their own spells, creating magic circles around their knives to block the attack.
One bandit directly in the way scoffed before using a single slash to defend against the Earth spell coming towards him. He countered it with his own Earth spell.
A large rock formed at the tip of the bandit's knife and shot towards the propagating cracks.
The bandit continued to run, expecting his spell to overpower the cracks.
But then, the rock simply disintegrated into a million little pieces before reaching the surprised bandit, throwing him twenty meters up in the air.
Other Rebornians casted a similar spell, with each one of them hitting a bandit and launching them above the trees.
"WHAT?! That's impossible!"
The Rebornians were able to withstand the first wave of bandits coming their way, even though they were using simple tools not even meant for warfare. That was the power of the Mithril Artifacts.
"Kugh! Nevermind that. We still have the numbers advantage. Surround them!" Crab shouted to the bandits.
But of course, the bandits were still overall stronger than the Rebornians. Their numbers and their skills in fighting allowed them to overcome the Rebornian's surprisingly strong spells.
"You'll pay for this!" Crab threatened.
Feeling the mounting pressure of multiple bandits coming towards him, he turned back and nodded to the people behind him.
These ten or so Rebornians were not engineers nor construction workers.
They were musicians.
And so, they held their drums, their guitars, and their flutes, singing a merry tune that echoed throughout the forest.
