The two brothers' blades had both been chipped, while Bonez remained where he stood. Only the ice beneath his feet was riddled with large cracks.
Clang~
A ray of sunlight spilled over his body. Even the light seemed to slip across him, the gleaming beam sliding from the top of his head down to his biceps, then along his forearm to his fingertips.
"This is my perfect body."
"What's going on… we can't cut through him."
"He's covered his entire body with Armament Haki… this is outrageous!"
What was even more outrageous came next. After the opponent finished attacking, it was his turn. The soles of Bonez's feet transformed into blades.
On dry land, Bonez could already turn his feet into blades and perform a dry slide. Now that he was on ice, he was even more agile.
"Great Daisy Slash!"
After accelerating to extreme speed, Bonez found the right distance, tapped the ground with his toe, and began spinning rapidly in place.
Buzz!
Five bright white slashes shot toward the two members of the One-Heart Pirates.
The two brothers clashed their sickles together, exerting force in unison as they faced the incoming slashes head-on!
Clang!!
The first slash, the second, the third… the force behind them was immense. By the time the third impact struck, the brothers already knew they could at most block the fourth.
The fifth would shatter their defense. So in perfect unison, they withdrew the force from their sickles and flipped backward, narrowly evading the trajectory of the remaining slashes.
They could have blocked the fourth, but at that point they wouldn't have been able to disengage easily. Just two slashes were enough—let the underlings suffer a bit instead.
The Pirate Alliance members were stunned. How had it suddenly become their job—ordinary pirates—to block such powerful flying slashes??
Us? You want us, these nameless cannon fodder whose faces you can't even see clearly, to block flying slashes?
One-Heart Pirate Brothers: It's always been like this. Without the helplessness of fodder in the face of slashes, how could their greatness be highlighted? Instead of complaining here, ask yourselves whether you've worked hard enough to improve your strength.
If you ask—no, they hadn't.
Dozens of fodder pirates became sacrifices on the spot, staining a stretch of ice red.
Hancock's attacks never drew blood. But when Bonez moved, he was a meat grinder; when he stood still, he was a humanoid counter-damage armor. As long as he fought, there would be blood.
"To sacrifice your own men without hesitation… this so-called Pirate Alliance is destined to collapse."
...
"How do they have so many Devil Fruit users?!"
In the battles between officers on both sides, the strongest was Fujitora, and the ultimate powerhouse was Hancock.
But in terms of sheer number of officers and fighters worth over a hundred million in bounty, the Pirate Alliance actually had more.
They just couldn't withstand the fact that the Rocket Team had so many Devil Fruit users. Those bizarre abilities could always produce terrifying effects.
For example, ghosts drifting back and forth through the crowd. They caused no physical harm, but anyone they passed through would lose all will to fight and collapse directly onto the battlefield.
One pirate officer with a bounty over a hundred million was passed through by a ghost, fell flat on the ground, and was immediately blasted away by Burgess's tail hammer. The unnatural cracking sounds from his bones made it clear he wouldn't be getting up again.
After that, the high-bounty fighters focused entirely on avoiding the ghosts, wasting a great deal of energy. Perona continued interfering from the sidelines.
Or she would take the chance to ambush ordinary pirates. These men had even less resistance. If they weren't taken out by the Rocket Team, they were easily caught in the crossfire of their own allies' battles.
"Heh, you rushed straight at me at the start of the fight. I thought you were some particularly troublesome character. Turns out this is all you've got!"
The Frog Fruit user, in his bullfrog form, took a deep drag on his cigar.
His transformed bullfrog skin was incredibly resilient, capable of withstanding the impact of pillar cannon shells. It also enhanced the strength of his legs. When necessary, he could inhale massive amounts of air and turn himself into a gigantic bullfrog ball to slam into enemies.
If needed, he could even swallow heavy objects and spit them out with power far exceeding ordinary artillery.
After he transformed, Dice came looking for him.
To be fair, this axe-wielding guy had some skill. But in front of him—the Bullfrog Pirate with a three-hundred-million bounty—he could only end up lying on the ground!
"Cough, cough… that impact was truly impressive."
Dice had taken a full combo from the bullfrog man's kicks and had finally been struck by a chunk of ice the other had swallowed and spat out. It could be said he'd eaten nearly the entire sequence of attacks.
Just short of being crushed by the bullfrog ball form.
"You can still get up?"
The bullfrog man, who had already been planning to look for another opponent, was startled to see Dice climb back to his feet.
"Of course. Without some real strength, how would I dare challenge you?"
Dice was the perfect opponent for the bullfrog man. Because the bullfrog's attacks were primarily blunt force—and Dice feared blunt attacks the least… no, rather, he loved them the most.
"Karma Cycle!"
Dice's body began to swell dramatically. The pain he had suffered was converted into a strange power. He could enjoy the thrill of being beaten while transforming that "thrill" into his own strength.
He truly loved his Devil Fruit.
The bullfrog man's expression grew serious.
"Is that the Marines' Seimei Kikan? Or a Devil Fruit ability?"
Neither was easy to deal with. But he would rather it be the Marines' Seimei Kikan—that ability at least fell within his understanding.
Devil Fruits were different. Their abilities were bizarre and hard to judge.
"Karma Punch!"
Dice didn't bother explaining. He launched a charged punch straight at him.
"Frog Skin!"
The punch struck the bullfrog man's skin, which rippled like super-soft elephant hide. But this was only an imitation of elephant hide's defense—not the real thing—so he could still feel the pain from the blunt force.
The power of this punch was nearly double what it had been before. Seimei Kikan shouldn't be capable of that.
So it was a Devil Fruit ability. Troublesome.
The bullfrog man unleashed his powerful kicking techniques again. Several heavy impacts sent Dice crashing back into the ice.
"Even if you're a Devil Fruit user, I—"
"Th-this feels way too good!"
Dice let out an outrageously inappropriate sound and climbed up from the ice as if nothing had happened.
"Damn it! What kind of bizarre fruit is this?"
Unless someone had carefully studied the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, hardly anyone could identify his fruit at a glance. Only through repeated cycles could one gradually discern the pattern of Dice's ability.