Li Xiaohu stepped forward to check on Mr. Iceburg's injuries. Fortunately, they were not too severe. Raising his right index and middle fingers, Xiaohu began to cast a spell.
"Xiaohu, what are you doing?" Kalifa asked curiously.
"Healing Qi. It will help Mr. Iceburg recover much faster."
Skeptical, Kalifa replied, "Is this some kind of qigong? I don't believe in such treatment methods. Mr. Iceburg just needs to rest quietly."
Mr. Iceburg spoke up, "It's fine. Xiaohu wouldn't harm me. Besides, I'm already feeling much better. Thank you..."
Without waiting, Xiaohu waved his hand, and a wave of light washed over Mr. Iceburg. "Healing Qi!"
Before Mr. Iceburg could finish his sentence, his entire body was enveloped in a brilliant glow. He felt a sudden warmth throughout his body, followed by an intense, searing pain shooting from his wounds. He couldn't help letting out a miserable scream.
Furious, Kalifa lashed out with a kick at Xiaohu. "Li Xiaohu! What did you do? Are you in cahoots with those assassins?" Startled by Mr. Iceburg's scream, Xiaohu had dropped his guard completely and was sent flying by her kick.
Outside Dock One, the area had already been battered to ruins by the battle between Straw Hat Boy Luffy and Franky, which had been joined shortly by five foremen.
"No way, Robin would never do something like that. Let me see Mr. Iceburg!" Luffy the Straw Hat Boy stood up from the rubble, panting heavily.
"In your dreams. We won't let you anywhere near Mr. Iceburg," Paulie said angrily.
Both sides glared at each other, and the situation reached a deadlocked standoff.
Just then, a window shattered high above, drawing everyone's gaze upward. A figure descended from the sky, stopped abruptly half a meter above the ground, and began to hover slowly.
"S... Xiaohu?"
Paulie and the others stared in utter astonishment at Xiaohu's grand entrance. It was undeniably impressive—if one ignored the prominent footprint stamped right across his face, he was pulling off the act quite well.
"It's that craftsman from yesterday! Another opponent?" Nami, who had been subdued by the bystanders,' expression shifted.
"Huh?" Xiaohu looked over at the crowd, nonchalantly wiped his face, and flicked his right wrist. A paper talisman flew from his sleeve, bursting into flameless fire as it neared Nami and instantly discharging several arcs of electricity that left the burly man holding her numb all over.
"Hey... what are you doing? You missed your target!" The onlookers who had nearly been caught in the crossfire scrambled back in a panic, clearing the area around Nami in seconds.
"You big men picking on a weak girl—where's your honor?" Xiaohu landed gracefully, looking down at them with contempt.
"!? " Everyone was stunned. Wasn't this guy a Galley-La Company craftsman? Why was he helping the Straw Hat Boy?
The Straw Hat Boy's eyes lit up. "So cool! He can actually fly!"
Xiaohu turned his gaze to the pirate in the straw hat. "You must be Nico Robin's captain, right? Mr. Iceburg saw her with his own eyes. Hand her over, and I'll let you guys go."
"Xiaohu! What are you doing? They're the ones who tried to assassinate Mr. Iceburg! And don't let that shamelessly dressed girl escape either!" Paulie's face flushed with a suspicious red, whether from anger or something else entirely.
"Who's shamelessly dressed?! You conservative jerk!" Nami, who had been celebrating her newfound freedom and plotting her escape, snapped at Paulie's comment.
Luffy the Straw Hat Boy insisted firmly, "Robin definitely didn't mean to do it. Let us see Mr. Iceburg."
Xiaohu frowned. "Every debt has a debtor, but we can't just take your word for it. We are definitely taking Nico Robin into custody. Stay out of this."
"No way! Robin is our crewmate!" the Straw Hat Boy refused flatly.
"Then I guess we can't reach an agreement. To keep you from causing trouble, you'd better stay put!" Xiaohu raised his right hand to form a hand seal as the five foremen closed in around him. Just as it looked like the fight was about to erupt again, an enraged roar echoed through the air:
"Galley-La! I already told you I'm the one dealing with the Straw Hat Boy! Stop getting in my way!"
A pervert with a slicked-back pompadour wearing only a speedo clapped his hands together and struck a bizarre pose.
"Get back, Galley-La! Franky's about to use that move again! That's how he wrecked the big crane just now!"
"So that's Franky? I heard he was a pervert, but seeing is believing," Xiaohu muttered, watching Franky before a sudden chill ran down his spine, warning him of acute danger.
"Coup de Vent!"
With a deafening boom, a ferocious blast of shockwaves slammed into the area, scattering the Galley-La craftsmen in all directions. Xiaohu spun through the air several times before finally managing to adjust to the wind currents and steady himself.
Meanwhile, a miniature mountain more than ten meters high suddenly materialized in midair above the Straw Hat crew, crashing down with a thunderous roar to block the impact of the Coup de Vent.
"Wh—what is this, Mount Tai crushing the summit? That's a bit much. Hey, Luffy, you okay?"
"I'm fine, Nami! Let's get out of here! This is getting ridiculous, but we've got to see Mr. Iceburg."
As the fierce gale subsided, the small mountain slowly vanished. The Straw Hat Boy and Franky were nowhere to be seen.
Paulie groaned, coughing as he pushed himself up from the ground. "Damn it hurts... feels like I got hit by a hurricane."
Kaku dusted off his clothes. "That Franky certainly knows how to cause a ruckus."
Landing softly, Xiaohu muttered thoughtfully, "A qi blast generated by compressed air? Quite powerful. And that girl actually knew how to use an earth-element spell to counter the wind... was that just a coincidence?"
Paulie stood up. "Still, the Straw Hats can't escape. The tsunami hits tonight, and their ship is out of commission. Unless they take one of the two Sea Trains below, there's no way off the island. We need to gather intelligence immediately and have the Galley-La members conduct a grid search. We're ending this before sunset."
"Li Xiaohu! What on earth did you do to Mr. Iceburg?!" Kalifa's voice rang out from behind, freezing Xiaohu and the other foremen in their tracks. It was only then that Xiaohu remembered something might have gone wrong with the treatment he had just given Mr. Iceburg.
"What's wrong with Mr. Iceburg?" the foremen asked in unison.
Without taking the time to explain, Xiaohu immediately took to the air on a gust of wind and hurried back to Mr. Iceburg's room. Mr. Iceburg lay with his eyes tightly shut, his face contorted in pain.
Xiaohu reached out to check Mr. Iceburg's pulse and discovered that his True Qi was rampaging wildly inside his body. Mr. Iceburg's physique seemed intensely resistant to True Qi. Xiaohu couldn't help recalling the blockage he had felt when trying to circulate True Qi to heal himself after first waking up. Could Mr. Iceburg be experiencing the same condition?
Xiaohu hurriedly recalled the True Qi from Mr. Iceburg's body. Sure enough, Mr. Iceburg's complexion instantly improved significantly.
"How is he?" The foremen had crowded back into the room, looking from the sleeping Mr. Iceburg to Xiaohu. Signaling them toward the door, Xiaohu confessed honestly, "It's my fault. I don't know why the healing spell backfired."
Kalifa pushed up her glasses. "Please refrain from doing anything unnecessary in the future. Mr. Iceburg has doctors to look after him—you just need to guard the outside."
Kaku stepped in to smooth things over. "Xiaohu was just acting out of panic because he was worried. Now that Mr. Iceburg is resting, Xiaohu and Kalifa can stay here to keep watch while the rest of us go drag the Straw Hat Boy back."