At that, a hard edge slid across the faces of Peach Rabbit and Tsunade.
"Won't drink a toast, so you want the penalty cup? You really think I have a good temper?" Tsunade's gaze turned wintry. Ever since Lord Liu Yun had swindled her out of fifty years of youth, her mood had been a storm. She had even borrowed a few million berries from Peach Rabbit to pound Celestial Dragons, yet for Tsunade they were no different from ordinary people. There was no cathartic thrill in it.
Worse, the beating had not soothed her anger at Liu Yun and had left her in debt to Peach Rabbit.
Which only made her temper worse.
And now some idiot was sticking his neck out to be hit. No way Tsunade was letting him walk.
"Humph. Just a woman. Get lost." Capone Bege's eyes were cold. His Armament Haki–hardened fist came screaming in.
"Monster Strength."
"Armament Haki. Hardening."
Boom.
Fist met fist. Power roared through Tsunade's arm, a destructive surge that made Bege suck in a breath between his teeth.
Boom.
He could not stand against it. The mafia don shot backward like a shell, smashed into a coral outcrop, and slid down in a cloud of grit to lie there in a heap.
The catfish fishman, pale as paper, pushed himself up with trembling arms.
Around them, Fish-Man Island citizens and pirates cried out in shock.
"How is that possible? The famed captain of the Fire Tank Pirates, floored with one punch?"
"Am I seeing things? Is that really Capone Bege?"
"Yikes… Fish-Man Island is in big trouble. They've slapped around Charlotte Linlin's son, Charlotte Ninz, and now they've crossed Capone Bege. That's the Charlotte family they're provoking!"
"Tch. So what if it's the Charlotte family? Before Lord Liu Yun, what are they?"
"Shh. Keep your voice down unless you want trouble."
A tangle of awe, fear, disdain, and unease rippled across the plaza. The Charlotte family did not fear the World Government. Lord Liu Yun feared no one either. Which was stronger, the Charlottes or Lord Liu Yun? Many on Fish-Man Island found their hearts drumming.
They worshiped Lord Liu Yun, but not blindly. Their reverence still left room for thought.
Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom, wielded a terrifying Devil Fruit. With the thundercloud Zeus in her left hand and the sun Prometheus in her right, she could toy with the weather, summon tempests and lightning. She could even pour souls into stormclouds and command them, a power that defied reason.
If Big Mom truly clashed with Lord Liu Yun, who would win was anyone's guess.
Even so, every last citizen of Fish-Man Island stood behind Liu Yun, because the towering man had given them peace and prosperity.
In whispers, his prestige already outshone King Neptune's. Neptune held the reins of state, but Lord Liu Yun was their god, the faith in their hearts.
"Trash fish. Boring," Tsunade said, dusting off her hands. There was no challenge in it.
"Sis, do not take him lightly." Peach Rabbit's eyes chilled, her attention sharpening on Bege.
She had heard the name. In a few short years the Fire Tank Pirates' boss had risen to fame in the West Blue and carved out an undeniable place for himself.
Facing a man like that demanded full caution.
"Hey, Peach Rabbit, relax. I've already knocked him flat. What else can he do?" Tsunade shrugged. One of the Legendary Three Sannin of her own world, she had seen every kind of battlefield. A mere Capone Bege did not even enter her eyes.
"Tsunade… this world is not yours. Here there are 'ability users,' people who ate Devil Fruits and became something else. They can be terrifying."
"Oh? Is that so? No matter what he is, I'll smash it with one punch." Tsunade nodded to the warning, a sliver of caution finally threading into her voice.
"Damn it."
Bege hauled himself out of the rubble, booted a boulder away, and glowered, face iron-blue.
He had used hardening and still failed to blunt that monstrous power.
He brushed dust from his suit, eyes reddening.
"What is that power, girl? Does it ignore Armament?" he muttered, already calculating. Trading blows barehanded with her would be a loss. A veteran like Bege adjusted in an instant.
"Armament? Whatever that is, it breaks in my hands," Tsunade said, lifting a pink fist, arrogance thrumming in her tone.
"Big words." Bege sneered.
Before he could reset, Tsunade's right leg lifted and stamped down hard.
"Heaven-Guardian Stomp."
Thoom.
The ground convulsed. From beneath her foot, thick jagged fissures raced outward. The whole district heaved like a landfall.
"What is happening?"
"What technique is that?"
"That one stomp is crazy strong!"
Pirates nearest the epicenter sucked wind. A blasting shockwave flipped them head over heels. Countless people bolted for distance, stumbling over the bucking earth, flailing and bedraggled.
Bege staggered, fighting to stay upright.
"Brat, take my punch."
Red lips curled, Tsunade kicked off shattered stone and blurred forward, a straight right screaming for Bege's face.
"Damn you."
A hard light flashed in Bege's eyes. He triggered the power of the Castle-Castle Fruit.
"Castle. Blast."
Boom.
Just as her fist landed, a miniature battlement bulged out of Bege's body, then swelled in an instant into a slab of iron a meter thick and several meters wide.
Crunch.
Tsunade's Monster Strength crashed into the wall. Before a hundred wide eyes, cracks spiderwebbed across the iron.
One punch. Shattered.
"Hiding behind walls? That's your trick? If you've got guts, take one straight from me," Tsunade said coolly, staring through the buckling slab.
"Hmph. I admit you have some bite… but you got cocky. Now taste mine." Bege's shock lasted only a heartbeat. Then his eyes went sly and dangerous as they fixed on Tsunade.
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