"Boss, watch closely! Generating force with the grappling hook isn't about brute... I mean, even though you have god-like strength naturally, you shouldn't waste your energy, right? You have to be like me, using the finesse and twisting power of your waist and abdomen!"
Inside a spacious abandoned factory, Rope demonstrated while politely holding Denji's waist, teaching him the essentials of becoming an urban Spider-Man with a highly flattering tone.
"Feel it, Boss. It's like cracking a whip. Twist your waist, push with your arm, and the hook will definitely fly fast and steady!"
"Wow, your comprehension is absolutely incredible! When this little one first entered the trade, it took thirty-three days of practice just to get the hang of it, but you've found the feeling after only two tries! You were practically born to do great things!"
Rope originally wanted to praise Denji for being a natural at this line of work (thievery), but the words instantly changed to "born to do great things" right as they reached her lips.
Compared to the bitterly resentful Ah Fa, this little lackey Rope was clearly far superior at flattering and serving people.
Denji finally understood why ancient emperors loved sycophantic officials so much. Having a lackey who provided maximum emotional value while possessing decent professional skills to coax him made learning things significantly more interesting.
Following her guidance, Denji twisted his waist and swung his arm. The grappling hook flew out with a swish, accurately snagging the concrete beam opposite them.
"My god! Boss, your aim is godly! Better than this little one after years of practice."
Rope put down the char siu bao in her hand, clapping and cheering with a mouth glistening with grease.
Denji pulled on the grappling hook and exerted force, forcing himself to overcome the mid-air discomfort as his arms executed a series of continuous slashing motions.
He hadn't asked Rope for grappling hook tips just to do parkour; he intended to use them in actual combat.
Fortunately, while Rope wasn't like the Survey Corps—able to swing around on tethers while slicing the napes of necks—she wasn't lacking in the agility and techniques needed for mid-air pilfering and retrieving items via hook.
Keeping in mind the generous living conditions Denji provided, as well as the very real threat of chronic poisoning, Rope unreservedly taught Denji all of her tricks: maintaining balance in mid-air, using the hook to close the distance, and executing swift directional changes to escape quickly after succeeding.
If Denji's comprehension had been even slightly worse, given Rope's cunning, she might have held back while teaching just to prolong her usefulness.
However, Denji's body was battle-hardened, and he had managed to graduate from Kishibe's brutal tutelage. His combat intuition was exceptionally high, and he could train and improve tirelessly.
He quickly mastered the life-saving stunts Rope had developed for stealing and running away. Furthermore, he attempted to apply these movements to actual combat scenarios against enemies.
Based on Chainsaw Man's ability template, his final form was naturally the Black Chainsaw mode, where Pochita took over.
The essence of the Black Chainsaw was actually a game-breaking mechanic: the ability to devour and erase the concepts represented by other devils, paired with the raw stats of an absolute monster.
Aside from a more proficient use of chains, the Black Chainsaw's combat style lacked any flashy superpowers. It simply relied on extreme speed and destructive power; against most opponents, the opening move was slicing them in half with a chainsaw.
Then, there was its even more absurd survivability. Even if banished to outer space, it could throw its heart back to Earth, and a complete body would regenerate from the heart to accomplish a return—a certain Ultimate Lifeform would cry with envy hearing about it.
It was just that the Black Chainsaw would only log on and take over when Denji plunged into utter despair.
As for the current Denji, he believed that rather than fumbling around with this world's Originium Arts to become a mage, it was far better to utilize the advantage of infinite regeneration to temper his body and skills.
How could heavily tempered muscles ever lose to some flashy Originium Arts?
"Slice your nape!"
"Ultra Slash!"
In mid-air, while spouting lines that Rope and Ah Fa couldn't understand, Denji glided using the grappling hook and sliced a mannequin—which had been pre-placed in a tricky elevated position—into several pieces.
With his current agility, although definitely a far cry from the Black Chainsaw, evading a routine arrest by the Lungmen Guard Department would be a piece of cake.
"Boss, your comprehension is unmatched. At this rate, in a few days, not a single cop in Lungmen will be able to catch up to you! By then, you'll become an urban legend with countless copycats!"
Denji temporarily landed on the ground and wiped the sweat from his body. Rope immediately handed him a towel and eagerly flattered him.
Becoming an urban legend was the first stratagem Rope proposed to fulfill Denji's demand for spreading fear.
According to Rope: in their line of thievery, experts who managed to avoid capture for a long time would become industry legends, spawning followers who imitated their style to commit crimes.
Because thieves, just like maniacal killers, couldn't reveal their true identities, no one knew who they really were, making it entirely possible to impersonate them.
As for the reasons behind the impersonations, some did it out of admiration; others did it to conveniently shift the blame and evade investigation.
From what Rope knew, many years ago in Yan, there was a master phantom thief with a very strong personal style who liked to issue advance notices of his crimes. He committed quite a few major heists consecutively, attracting countless imitators.
By the time the Yan authorities tracked down the stolen goods and confirmed the person's true identity, the phantom thief had already been dead for over a decade, reduced to nothing but bones.
Yet, over those ten-odd years, the criminal acts imitating his style had never ceased...
"A single person's strength is limited. Even if you have extraordinary stamina, Boss, you can't just keep hacking people down forever. But if you are magnanimous enough to tolerate others ruining the reputation of the Chainsaw Killer, it's equivalent to having countless wage grunts spreading the fear of chainsaws for you!" Rope analyzed with convincing detail.
The reason she had to add the prerequisite of "tolerating others ruining your reputation" was because in Yan, a country that revered reputation, many bigwigs harbored an intense disgust for fakes that damaged their name—even an infamous one.
However, Denji didn't care about fakes.
He never intended to curate a positive image for the Chainsaw Killer anyway; as long as people were terrified enough of chainsaws, that was all that mattered.
He nodded, realizing that this logic made perfect sense: just like how anyone putting on tights and a mask could be Batman.
Except, Batman at least maintained law and order. If Denji continued to evade arrest by the Lungmen Guard Department, thereby drawing out countless copycat criminals, Lungmen's public security would likely start looking like Gotham's.
And Denji's concern regarding this was...
"Who cares! This world is already just as terrible as Chainsaw Man's world anyway! Rather than maintaining the status quo, it's better to let me gain super strength and reform it!"
Denji was no orthodox, righteous protagonist.
Furthermore, based on what he had learned recently, the world of Terra was indeed utterly absurd: would you believe that Lungmen—with gangs engaging in massive turf wars every day and slums stretching out boundlessly—was already one of the few good places left on this land?
In other places, some regions were divided by warlords, some were living like savages drinking blood, and some were battling all sorts of cruel, terrifying environments and unknown creatures.
Even Tokyo, shrouded under Makima's shadow, was far more livable than most countries in this world.
At least she only grabbed one scapegoat at a time, whereas in Terra, a single poorly handled Catastrophe could achieve the Gun Devil's entire body count in one go.
Could this world really get any worse?
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Arknights: Chainsaw Man Buccia
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