In One Piece, as Hashirama Senju

[156] Hell Hole of a Maze

Naturally, my chakra was decreasing slowly, and I was in no position to recover any of it. The best way to regenerate chakra for others is to eat good food, and while the same applies to me as well, I couldn't eat the things I created myself and gain any additional chakra. I'll only regain the amount I've used to create the food.

Although it might sound weird, the best way for me to recharge chakra was a natural photosynthesis-like passive power that works under both the sun and the moon.

But within this dark maze, neither was present. Slowly, my chakra was running out.

"About 23% is remaining," I murmured to myself after a quick internal check. The stark reality of our situation was slowly sinking in for me.

Still, some might wonder, a 31% drop in chakra just because of two month's food? That didn't exactly add up. Well, that is because it's a lot of food, filled with a lot of nutrition, but more importantly, food's not the only place where I used my chakra.

So where else did I use it?

"Careful, it's another Robot!" As if fate wanted to reply in my stead, Tsunade let out a cry.

From the turn of the path ahead of us, a wolf made out of steel leaped out. It wasn't alone, there were two more beside it. Because, of course, ancient, mysterious cities need robotic guard dogs.

The three robotic monsters leaped at us, and I tried to step in out of instinct, but Tsunade pulled me by my shoulders and stepped ahead herself. Her fist sparkled with false black lightning and she punched the air, sending a force ahead that flattened the enemies against the wall.

Having easily defeated the enemies, she now turned to me with a sharp frown, "I told you multiple times to let us handle it, why were you trying to step in?! You spent so much of your chakra fighting those big monsters, do not waste any further!"

"Alright, alright, geez..." I raised my hands at her and said. She huffed in anger for a minute before scoffing and walking away. She truly was angry at me.

Well, I did look a lot paler than normal, as if a patch of grass that hasn't seen the sunlight for too long. So she couldn't help but be worried. Even if I felt healthy due to still having a lot of chakra, I didn't look the part.

But she should understand my point too. How could I stay on the sidelines when my crew is being attacked by stupid dungeon monsters?

That's right, Dungeon Monsters. This was not a normal maze, it was like a dungeon from the novels and mangas I used to read. Although not filled with out-of-place monsters like goblins and orcs since this was still the One Piece world, it ran on mechanical monsters. Robots.

When it said King's Trial, it really meant a process through which it'd test all of their strength and other properties.

This was a fucking Dungeon, with literal Boss Monsters running around. We've come across three such monsters in the last two months; those things were far from weak. Tsunade alone couldn't win against them, Hashirama had to step in.

I didn't even have my Seal of Hundred, since I released all of it in a stubborn show in the fight against Tsunade. I did get all of it back from absorbing the forest, but since I had to remake the forest before leaving, all of it was spent once again.

"...Yes, just stay on the sidelines. We can take care of it. You should just... focus on feeding us. That's the most important job, anyway." It wasn't Tsunade who said that, no, we both turned to the side to find Marianne.

When did this girl walk up to us? And what's with that shy-ass tone? It was more shy than anything I've heard from her.

"I guess," I sighed. "Since there are monsters and traps in this place, fighters like you should be ready and filled with energy to keep the crew safe. I'll focus on the food issue since I'm the only one who can anyway."