Kai clenched his fists tightly.
A deep, surging strength flooded his arms—an explosive sense of power that made him feel as though, if he swung down with all his might, the very air would collapse beneath his blow.
At that moment—
as his upper body was revealed, muscles rippling with perfectly defined lines—
the three pirate captains, Homa, Grin, and Garson, froze in place.
Their eyes widened in shock as they stared at the child before them.
Before this…
Kai had seemed like nothing more than a frail, harmless boy.
But now—
with that chiseled physique, that demonic tattoo sprawling across his back like writhing shadows—
a crushing aura erupted from his small frame.
The weight of it pressed down on the three captains, suffocating them with an almost primal dread.
"Attack!"
Homa gritted his teeth, drew both pistols from his belt, and leveled the muzzles straight at Kai's head.
Bang!
Two gunshots cracked like thunder.
Bullets sliced through the air, screaming toward Kai's forehead at supersonic speed.
Whoosh, whoosh—!
In the blink of an eye, the twin bullets were already half a meter from Kai's brow.
Then—
Kai calmly raised his right arm.
A thought flickered—
and a tidal surge of power rushed into his fist.
"Tekkai: Steel Fist!"
Raw force coiled around his knuckles, pressure distorting the air itself.
BOOM—!
The restrained power burst forth like a volcano erupting after centuries of slumber.
The air shrieked.
The ground trembled.
His punch ripped through the air, a deafening sonic boom cracking across the battlefield.
That single blow struck the two bullets head-on.
Crack—!
They disintegrated instantly, reduced to metallic dust.
The special anti-superhuman rounds—crafted to pierce even the bodies of top-tier warriors on the Grand Line—
were shattered by the bare fist of a four-year-old.
The shockwave from that punch roared outward, sweeping up dust and debris, rolling straight toward Homa.
He squinted into the storm, his heart hammering wildly.
"S-So strong! Just one punch… and the bullets turned to dust?!"
He stared at Kai in disbelief.
Each of those bullets had been made from rare alloys, their hardness and kinetic force forty times stronger than a standard round.
They could pierce through steel plating—
yet this boy had simply punched them apart.
"What a terrifying monster…" he muttered hoarsely.
Then he shouted to his companions, "Grin! Garson! Don't underestimate him—he's far too strong!"
"Understood!"
The two captains responded grimly.
From opposite sides, they lunged forward, initiating a pincer attack.
"Kill him!"
BOOM!
Their bodies swelled and twisted as they unleashed their Devil Fruit powers.
In an instant, Grin transformed into a grotesque, bloated pufferfish-man, while Garson became a towering white wolf, claws gleaming like steel.
"Die!"
Garson's figure blurred.
He vanished from sight, reappearing right beside Kai, his claw already descending toward the boy's skull.
At the same time—
Grin opened his swollen maw and spat a storm of venomous spines.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Toxic spikes filled the air, blotting out the light as they rained down on Kai's position.
Left—Garson's claws.
Right—Grin's poison barrage.
And from the front—
Bang! Bang!
Homa opened fire again!
Dozens of bullets streaked through the air in two deadly lines, converging on Kai.
In that instant, he was surrounded on three sides.
No retreat, no escape.
"Die!" Garson roared, his claws about to tear through flesh—
—but Kai merely tilted his head slightly.
Whoosh!
The claws missed by inches, raking through empty air.
As Garson's killing strike passed, he suddenly found himself staring into Kai's calm, indifferent eyes.
A suffocating wave of killing intent poured out from the boy's gaze—
BOOM—!
For an instant, Garson could swear he saw an illusion behind Kai:
a monstrous figure striding out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Cold.
Merciless.
Predatory.
"You…"
Garson's face went pale. Terror gripped his chest.
In that moment—
He realized something terrifying.
He wasn't the hunter.
He was the prey.
And this child before him—this four-year-old—
was the real beast.
Kai's calm voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
"A pirate with a bounty in the tens of millions?"
"That's all?"
"How disappointing."
He turned his eyes away, no longer interested.
Then—
"Soru!"
His feet blurred.
In a split second, Kai vanished.
To the naked eye, it looked as though he'd teleported—
but it was simply movement so fast the mind couldn't keep up.
The toxic barrage struck the empty spot where he'd stood moments before, riddling the ground with holes.
The bullets followed, tearing through the dust and exploding upon impact.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The earth cracked open under the onslaught.
And then—
Whoosh!
Kai appeared out of nowhere—right in front of Homa.
Less than half a meter separated them.
Homa froze.
The boy's eyes were calm, almost bored.
"I'll deal with you first."
"Y-You—!"
Before Homa could even raise his guns—
BOOM!
Kai's fist struck like a cannon blast.
The air screamed.
A shockwave roared out, trapping Homa's body in its crushing pressure.
He couldn't move—couldn't even breathe.
The fist was coming straight for his head.
"No—!"
The last thing he saw was that tiny fist growing larger in his eyes.
Then came the impact.
CRACK!
A wet, explosive sound.
Kai's punch hit home—
and Homa's skull burst apart like an overripe watermelon.
BANG!
Blood and bone fragments sprayed through the air in a crimson mist.
Bits of flesh scattered across the ground as the body toppled over, lifeless.
The rain of blood painted the earth red.
Thus—
Homa, the sharpshooter of the Demon Pirates' First Division,
a man with a bounty of forty-one million Berries,
was annihilated by a single punch.
Instant death.
No resistance.
No trace of life.
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