Under Igaram's disbelieving gaze, a dark, obsidian sheen slowly crept up Vivi's fair arm, coating her skin in an impenetrable layer.
"This is..." he stammered.
It was truly the power of a Devil Fruit. So Leo hadn't been deceiving the Princess after all?!
Wait... something wasn't right. A person could only eat one Devil Fruit! Couldn't they?!
Igaram slapped his own forehead, his mind utterly scrambled.
The conversation between Vivi and Igaram hadn't escaped Leo's enhanced hearing, but he paid it no mind. Vivi was, after all, the Princess of Alabasta, King Cobra's treasured daughter. With the kingdom plagued by internal strife and external threats, it couldn't withstand any more upheaval. Igaram's wariness was natural, even prudent. But in the end, the results would speak for themselves.
Outside the hideout, a large crowd of bounty hunters had gathered. They clutched an assortment of weapons, waiting for the signal to rush in and subdue Leo and his crew.
"Hahahaha... Let's hope a couple of these guys are worth a decent bounty. Don't let this all be for nothing."
"Quick, someone check the recent Marine wanted posters! See if any of them match!"
The hunters muttered among themselves.
Minutes ticked by.
"How long has it been? Shouldn't the drugs have kicked in by now?!"
"What is Mr.8 doing in there?!"
The waiting hunters grew increasingly impatient. By now, their targets should have been trussed up like holiday geese.
"You don't think something happened to Mr.8, do you?"
The lead hunters frowned, exchanged a worried glance, and decided they'd waited long enough. With a silent signal, they led the charge out of their hiding spots.
Over a hundred bounty hunters emerged from the shadows, only to find themselves face-to-face with Leo and Tashigi, who had apparently decided to take a stroll. The atmosphere crackled with immediate tension.
"What's this? Giving up the act already?" Leo asked, a smirk playing on his lips as he surveyed the hundred-strong mob. These were the same "enthusiastic villagers" who had welcomed them at the town's entrance, now revealed in their true,狰狞 forms.
"Bastards! What did you do to Mr.8 and Miss Wednesday?!" a hunter with a scarred face snarled, raising his long sword to point at the two of them. Seeing only Leo and Tashigi, he assumed the worst had befallen their comrades.
His words were a lit match to kindling. Upon hearing them, the other hunters drew their blades in unison, the metallic shings ringing through the air.
Leo simply crossed his arms over his chest, observing the armed mob with an air of detached amusement. To be frank, these guys were pathetically weak. So weak that even Nami could probably wipe the floor with them without breaking a sweat.
"Captain, let me handle them!" Tashigi's voice was firm, her gaze steady as she looked to Leo for permission.
Since the day Leo had entrusted her with the Wado Ichimonji and granted her the power of Haki through the unique fruits, Tashigi had never slackened in her training. Outside of her intimate moments with Leo, she spent the vast majority of her time honing her skills. While Nami had once trained obsessively, it was born from a specific hatred for Arlong. Tashigi's drive was different. It was a pure, burning desire to be worthy of the faith Leo had placed in her. Her daily regimen was a brutal cycle of physical conditioning, swordsmanship drills, and Haki refinement, pushing herself until she collapsed in a sweaty heap. She was, without a doubt, the hardest worker on the crew.
"Be careful," Leo said, not stopping her. He was genuinely curious to see the fruits of her labor.
Tashigi gripped the Wado Ichimonji. Her palms were slightly damp with nervous sweat—this was, after all, her first time facing down a hundred opponents alone.
"Damn them, thinking they can cause trouble here! Take them down!"
"Listen here, little girl, it's time for a lesson!"
"..."
The hunters showed no chivalry, no hesitation. They saw a target and surged forward, weapons raised.
Tashigi took a deep, centering breath. Then she moved.
The familiar darkness of Armament Haki flowed down her arms and enveloped the pristine blade of her sword. She didn't wait for them to reach her; she met their charge head-on.
What followed was less a battle and more a demonstration. Tashigi moved like a whirlwind, a goddess of war descending upon the rabble. Her sword became a blur of motion, each swing precise and devastating. She weaved through their clumsy attacks, her Observation Haki allowing her to read their movements like an open book. She didn't waste a single motion. A parry, a step, a slash—and another hunter would crumple to the ground.
It was a one-sided slaughter. The hunters' swords shattered against her Haki-hardened blade. Their clubs bounced off her armored forearms. They were utterly outclassed, a pack of wolves discovering they'd stumbled upon a dragon.
"Damn it, watch her sword!"
"Someone help me!!"
Thwack!
Tashigi delivered a final, precise strike.
It was a principle Leo had drilled into her: against enemies, show no mercy. Hesitation gets you killed.
The cacophony of clashing steel and angry shouts gradually died down, replaced by the moans of the wounded. The hundred bounty hunters lay strewn across the ground, defeated and bleeding in the dust.
From his position a short distance away, Leo nodded in approval.
"These... all these people... you took them all down by yourself?!"
Igaram had emerged from the hideout, his jaw practically on the floor as he took in the scene. The girl who had seemed so gentle, so delicate... how could she possess such fearsome strength?!
Alright, he admitted it. His earlier assessment of these women had been rash, arrogant. To single-handedly defeat a hundred bounty hunters... he knew he wasn't capable of such a feat.
"Not bad at all, Tashigi!" Nami cheered, giving her a thumbs-up. The scene was a bit grisly, but the result was flawless.
Kaya stepped forward without being asked, her hands glowing with a soft, green light as she gently placed them on Tashigi's shoulders. Tashigi's face was pale from the adrenaline crash and exertion, but color quickly returned as Kaya's healing energy washed through her, soothing her tired muscles and calming her nerves.
"Thank you, Kaya," Tashigi said, taking a deep, revitalizing breath.
Kaya simply smiled and nodded.
"Don't celebrate just yet," Igaram interjected, his face suddenly paling again as a new thought struck him. "You're in serious trouble now. This is a Baroque Works subsidiary. When the higher-level agents find out you've killed so many of their people, they will not let this slide. You need to leave, now! Before—"
"You mean those two?" Leo cut him off, his gaze shifting to the entrance of the street.
Everyone followed his look.
Two figures stood there, having arrived silently during the aftermath. A man and a woman.
The man wore a brown trench coat and sported a massive, unkempt afro that made him look like a failed rock star. The woman was tall and slender, her figure accentuated by a pale yellow sundress. She held a parasol delicately over one shoulder, and she walked with an exaggerated, swaying hip motion that was probably meant to be seductive but came off as vaguely ridiculous.
The man, Mr. 5, picked his nose with a bored expression. "You... have some nerve," he said, his voice a flat monotone that belied the threat in his words.
The woman, Miss Valentine, giggled, a tinkling, artificial sound. "My, my. Making such a mess in our lovely town. We can't have that, now can we?"
Tashigi immediately tightened her grip on the Wado Ichimonji, her body tensing for another fight. She could feel it—these two were on a completely different level from the cannon fodder she'd just dispatched.
Leo's smirk returned, wider this time. He looked from the bomb-based Mr. 5 to the weight-manipulating Miss Valentine, utterly unimpressed.
"The welcome committee just keeps getting better and better," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I was hoping for a bit more of a challenge. Don't tell me Baroque Works' best are just a walking firecracker and a girl who can't make up her mind about how much she weighs."
Mr. 5's eye twitched. Miss Valentine's saccharine smile tightened.
The real fight for Whisky Peak was about to begin.
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T/N :
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