"Puff Puff"
Mochi Bullets and Internal Energy Bullets collided in the air, making muffled sounds.
Katakuri didn't expect to defeat Taro with just this Move; immediately after, his entire arm turned into mochi.
After the white mochi squirmed and took shape, it formed something like a Gatling machine gun, and Armament Haki was then attached to it.
"Unstoppable Mochi Edged Bullets!"
"Dududududu~"
The machine gun began to fire, pouring down firepower.
[Unstoppable Mochi Edged Bullets learned successfully]
Taro had already tapped his feet as he fired, dodging the attacks with nimble movements.
After another back-jump, Taro increased the distance, channeled his Internal Energy, and slashed down with his blade.
"Mihawk Slash"
"Buzz~"
The air trembled, and the surrounding light seemed to dim as a massive slash flew from the blade.
A red light flashed in Katakuri's eyes as he foresaw Taro's slash. He exerted force with his feet and leapt sideways into the air to dodge.
Taro had already twisted his body with the momentum, holding his blade at his side, and swung again.
"Mihawk Slash: Swing"
A horizontal sweep slashed directly toward the direction Katakuri had leapt.
Katakuri, mid-air, saw this horizontal sweep coming at him. His eyes narrowed, and he flipped his body, rotating directly in mid-air.
While dodging the sweep, his right leg turned into mochi and split into several legs, stomping heavily toward Taro.
"Willow Mochi!"
[Willow Mochi learned successfully!]
"Dong dong dong dong~"
The mochi legs kept stabbing down as Taro continuously jumped back to dodge; rocks shattered and the earth shook.
Taro retreated dozens of meters before stopping. Katakuri also landed from the air, and the two stood still, a hundred meters apart.
"I didn't expect that there would be someone in the Marine who has cultivated Observation Haki to this level. I still underestimated you, Taro!"
Katakuri's eyes were cold, and his tone was solemn.
Taro held his blade, staying on guard, and said with a calm expression:
"The waters of the New World are too deep. I'm still young; if I didn't have some capability, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it!"
"Are you mocking me?"
Veins bulged on Katakuri's forehead, twisting together, and his voice was full of anger.
"I said, even without Stussy's schemes, I would have looked for you. This duel has nothing to do with how deep the water is!"
Even though Katakuri knew that there was a force manipulating this incident from behind the scenes,
Taro had bullied Brulee, and as her brother, he had to stand up for her!
Taro didn't think that way; he was clearly being set up this time.
Continuing to fight would only allow those people's conspiracy to succeed, which was what Taro found most unacceptable.
He glanced at the battlefield of Mingo and Redfield out of the corner of his eye; the two had already fought their way to who knows where.
Now it was one-on-one with Katakuri; he had to find an opportunity to follow his heart and retreat.
"Taro, I treat you as an opponent. The battle isn't over, yet you want to run?"
Katakuri noticed the change in Taro's gaze, and after a moment's thought, he understood.
Taro shook his head helplessly.
"At another time, if you want to fight, I can accompany you whenever you want. But this time, someone is setting me up, and that makes me very unhappy!"
This sentence was equivalent to making it clear that Taro wanted to run away. Katakuri's anger surged.
"I advise you not to think about..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he sensed that Taro was about to make a Move.
"Bird Mochi!"
With a shout of shock and anger, a large net made of mochi suddenly appeared, blocking Taro's path.
Taro, who had transformed into his Falcon form, paused his movements as the net-like ropes coiled toward him.
"Fuck, are you really treating me like a bird to be caught?"
Taro cursed under his breath, flipped the thunderstorm in his hand to cut the approaching ropes, and helplessly turned back to face Katakuri.
Madman, he knows he's being set up, yet he still wants to fight!
Fuck!
"Katakuri, unless a winner is decided today, you won't stop. Is that what you mean?"
Taro's anger also rose, and his gaze toward Katakuri became cold.
"This should have been a duel between men, but your act of running away has cast a stain on this duel, defiling a sacred battle concerning dignity. Before, I only wanted to defeat you..."
It was clear that Katakuri was very angry. His face was as dark as ink, and there was uncontrollable rage in his tone.
While speaking, he walked slowly toward Taro.
"Now, I just want to kill you!"
Fuck!
What "duel between men"? You don't even let people leave if they don't want to fight?
Taro couldn't understand how these native pirates could speak of a nonsensical battle as something so sacred, even involving battle dignity and such.
A battle to overthrow the World Government and liberate all of humanity—that's what you call sacred.
At that time, when it's time to risk my life, I naturally will. As for this kind of battle now, to hell with it!
Pirates are just pirates; their perspective is always too narrow!
Taro felt resentful in his heart.
However, it didn't matter now. Since he couldn't run, then he would fight!
"Tch, kill me? You're welcome to try!"
Being set up by the World Government and then forced into a life-and-death battle by Katakuri, Taro's heart also grew cold.
Hearing this, a cold light flashed in Katakuri's eyes. Wind rose beneath his feet, and a vortex of air suddenly surged up.
Immediately after, all the matter around him turned into sticky mochi.
"Mochi-Mochi Fruit Awakening!"
[Mochi-Mochi Fruit Awakening learned successfully!]
Receiving the prompt, Taro's heart jolted. He understood that Katakuri was truly going to risk his life against him.
"String-String Fruit Awakening!"
Taro sheathed his blade, and his entire Internal Energy surged out frantically, soaking the surroundings.
Between the two, separated by dozens of meters, the white mochi and the cyan-white Internal Energy clearly divided their respective Domains.
"Nine-Headed Mochi!"
"Billow White String!"
Both of them launched their attacks at the same time.
Within Katakuri's mochi Domain, nine donuts instantly rose up.
Immediately after, mochi-reinforced arms from within the donuts, after being coated with Armament Haki, attacked Taro from all directions.
[Nine-Headed Mochi learned successfully]
Taro crouched down, crossed his fists in front of his chest, and then suddenly stretched his body.
In the Internal Energy Domain, several giant Internal Energy pillars erupted from the ground. Cyan-black Armament Haki swirled on the outside, rolling like rising billows, looking like swimming dragons as they lunged forward.
"Kuang kuang kuang kuang~"
The mochi fists bombarded down continuously, while the billows meandered and rolled to launch a counterattack. The two's attacks collided, making clanging sounds.
They could both foresee each other's attack methods and evasion directions. In the end, the battle gradually turned into a direct head-on clash.
"Unstoppable Donut"
"Flap Thread!"
Countless donuts rose up again in the mochi Domain, each donut acting like a window from which fists extended.
In the Internal Energy Domain, thousands of Internal Energy strings wrapped in Armament Haki rose from the ground, interlacing like a bird's wings.
First, they protected Taro's sides, and finally, they closed forward, piercing toward Katakuri.
[Unstoppable Donut learned successfully]
"Rumble~"
Instantly, a storm-like barrage of attacks poured down. Even the air seemed to be shattered, letting out thunderous roars.
At this time, the Wanluos Group on the hilltop was already dumbfounded!
A bit closer to the battlefield, Rob Lucci also stopped in his tracks.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.