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Back in the stretch of sea where the Asmodeus Zechs Pirates and the Byrnndi World Pirates were fighting—
As the violently churning sea finally began to calm, World's lips curled into a smirk, "Barorororo... For a Devil Fruit user… falling into the sea is the same as dying, Asmodeus Zechs... Not to mention the injuries you must have suffered after taking that bullet straight to the chest..."
He simply could not believe that Zechs had come out of that attack unharmed. Even if Zechs really did possess skin as tough as steel, there was no way anyone could take a shot like that directly to the chest and remain uninjured.
And now Zechs had been blasted into the depths of the ocean.
It was over.
"Although it hurts... and these slash wounds are definitely going to leave permanent scars... Barorororo... in the end, I'm the one who won..." he laughed, the grin on his face widening further.
This was easily the hardest battle World had ever fought.
Never before had he suffered injuries like these. For that reason alone, he had to admit that Asmodeus Zechs was not nearly as weak as he had first assumed based on the reports of his capture by a mere Rear Admiral.
But in the end, what did that matter?
Even if Zechs had been stronger than expected, he was still lying at the bottom of the sea while World remained standing in the air.
That meant World had won.
As for whether he felt ashamed that he had only won by sending Zechs into the ocean... Please. They were pirates.
There was nothing shameful about exploiting an enemy's weakness. Both of them were Devil Fruit users, and both of them shared that same fatal flaw. World fully believed that if Zechs had been the one with the chance to drown him, he would have done exactly the same thing.
But that had not happened. Because World had won first. "Whatever... now I just need to make sure neither of his crewmates rescues him."
With that thought, he turned toward Zechs' ship, which had finally stabilized somewhat.
There, he saw Katakuri and Pudding standing on the deck.
The battle between Pudding and Nightin had come to a temporary pause because of the shaking and earthquake earlier. As for the other fight, the battle between Katakuri and the combined forces of Gairam and Sebastian had long since ended.
Both Gairam and Sebastian were now wrapped tightly in mochi like cocoons. Their arms and bodies were completely restrained, leaving them unable to move or fight any longer, and they were also unconscious at the moment.
Because Zechs had specifically ordered that Gairam be kept alive, Katakuri had not killed him. For the moment, he had also spared Sebastian, leaving the final decision to Zechs. Instead, he simply immobilised both men and knocked them unconscious, and then left them lying on the deck like two oversized dumplings after wrapping their bodies with his mochi.
That meant both Pudding and Katakuri, especially Katakuri, whose own battle had already ended, had the perfect opportunity to jump into the sea and rescue Zechs.
Yet neither of them moved.
Katakuri's reason could at least be explained. As a Devil Fruit user, entering the sea would be no different from suicide. But what about Pudding?
She did not seem to be a Devil Fruit user at all. During her fight with Nightin, she had relied entirely on her rifle. Yet even she only stood there, her expression tense as she stared toward the sea, without making any attempt to help.
World was indeed surprised that Pudding also didn't make any attempts to rescue Zechs, but in the end, he didn't care.
'In any case... they don't seem weak,' he thought. '…So, they are indeed worth recruiting. Especially Katakuri, who is stronger than both Gairam and Sebastian combined.'
Of course, he would never truly trust them, not after seeing how little loyalty they seemed to show their own captain. But he would not mind making them his subordinates all the same.
With that in mind, World decided to speak. "Both of you... your captain is dead. I killed him. This fight is over, and now I need to decide what will happen to the two of you—"
Before he could finish, Nightin suddenly shouted, "Captain World... why? Why did you kill him? Why did you kill my cutie?! Weren't you going to "
She looked genuinely upset at the thought of her cutie being dead.
"Shut up, Nightin! I'm speaking here!" World snapped, annoyed at being interrupted.
What irritated him even more was that Nightin was worrying about Asmodeus Zechs instead of him.
Did she not see the wounds across his chest? Why had she not asked about those? Why was she only asking about Zechs?
The thought made him feel angry... and, though he hated to admit it, a little jealous.
A woman who had long been playing in his court was now openly worrying about his enemy, and she was interrupting him… How could that not irritate him? Especially after he had just mocked Zechs for supposedly having disloyal subordinates in his heart.
Nightin pouted and fell silent, though she still looked upset. 'Such a handsome cutie... and now he's dead... what a waste...' she thought sadly.
She could only sigh. At this point, she just wanted the fight to end so she could drag one of her other handsome cuties into her bedroom and try to forget about the most handsome cutie she had lost today.
Ignoring her, World continued, "You two... what's your decision? Are you going to join my crew... or..." He left the rest unsaid, but the dangerous look in his eyes made the meaning perfectly clear.
Both Pudding and Katakuri understood exactly what he meant. But neither of them looked remotely intimidated.
In fact, Pudding immediately glared at him and snapped, "Ugly bald guy... why would you think for a moment that I would ever join your stupid and weak crew? There is only one man who will ever be my master!"
Nightin stared at her in shock. 'This girl...' She hadn't expected Pudding to have such a vicious mouth. Pudding had just called World ugly, bald, stupid, and weak in one sentence, and that too directly to his face, 'Doesn't she understand that her captain is already dead... and her life is at Captain World's mercy… she's still talking like this?'
World was naturally offended. Here he was, giving them a chance to live, and this girl was scowling at him and calling him ugly and bald in response?
Still, he could not understand her attitude.
Shouldn't she be thinking about survival right now? Shouldn't she be willing to do anything necessary to stay alive?
Then why was she acting like this?
Was it because she was loyal to Asmodeus Zechs? But if that were true, then why had she not jumped into the sea to save him?
And if Asmodeus Zechs was dead... then who exactly was she talking about when she said there was only one man who could ever be her master?
Before World could make sense of it, Katakuri spoke from the other side of the ship. "There is only one man I acknowledge as my captain. You aren't worthy enough…"
'This... this guy too?' Nightin thought in shock, equally surprised by Katakuri's answer.
World's expression darkened. Here he was giving them a chance to live. Yet both of them had rejected him to his face.
And not only had they rejected him, but they had also openly looked down on him. One had called him ugly, bald, and weak, while the other had practically declared him unworthy of his loyalty.
How could he possibly tolerate that?
Scowling, he glared at the two of them before saying coldly, word by word, "It seems... both of you have made your decision. In that case... there's nothing more to say."
There was no longer any need for more words.
World shoved the gun in his right hand back into his pocket, then used Moonwalk to rush toward the ship. At the same time, he coated his fist in Armament Haki and amplified both his speed and strength a hundredfold.
He charged straight at Katakuri.
He intended to kill him with a single punch and show him exactly whether he was worthy or not.
As for the girl who had called him ugly and bald... 'I'll teach her a lesson after this...' he thought in his heart.
Earlier, Zechs had mocked him for probably not having a woman or a lover. In that case, this arrogant little girl with her haughty attitude… He would use...
Before he could even finish the thought—
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
World, who had been charging toward Katakuri with only his fist coated in Armament Haki, suddenly felt an intense sense of danger aimed at something very important yet vulnerable part of his body.
The sense of danger from this attack was different from the one he felt from Asmodeus Zechs' blade. That blade gave him a deadly feeling, as though he would die if he made even the slightest mistake.
But the bullet flying toward him now gave him a different kind of danger.
It was still dangerous, but only because of where it was aimed. After all... that bullet was heading straight for his manhood.
And while there was an option of coating that part in Haki, his instinct of self-preservation of his manhood instinctively made him leap aside, allowing him to narrowly dodge the bullet as it passed only a hair's breadth away from his crotch.
After dodging, he exhaled a sigh of relief, "Haah…"
For a moment, he had truly thought he was about to lose that extremely important part of his body.
Fortunately, he had reacted in time and had dodged. After breathing a shaky sigh of relief, he turned and glared at the one responsible.
The person responsible… it was undoubtedly… Pudding.
Not only World, but even Katakuri and Nightin stared at her, shocked and speechless.
Ignoring the speechless look of her Onii-sama, Pudding lowered the rifle in her hands and said coldly, "Ugly bastard... what you were just thinking, you'd better stop. Otherwise, next time I'll use those nuts for target practice."
"Th-thoughts?" World froze, his expression changing. 'Did I say my thoughts out loud just now? No... I definitely didn't... then how could she know what I was thinking?'
A frightening possibility suddenly crossed World's mind, and he shivered. 'Is she... reading my mind?'
He looked at Pudding.
He didn't know whether he was imagining things or what, but that cold, playful smile on her lips seemed to be telling him to better be careful with his thoughts as she can read them… and the thought sent a chill down his spine. For a moment, he felt as though he were standing naked in front of her, like an open book she could read at will.
But then he quickly shook his head. 'No... no... I'm overthinking it. Reading minds... something like that can't exist...'
Even so, he still felt a trace of fear at the idea of having his most important parts turned into target practice for her rifle. Because of that, he no longer dared entertain the thoughts he had been having about Pudding.
Anyway, he could think about her later and simply ordered Nightin, "Finish dealing with her…"
"Wuu… I know, Captain World…" Nightin nodded, accepting the task. Even though she felt upset at the moment because of Zechs' death, she didn't refuse World's task and turned her attention to Pudding again.
"Humph!" Pudding snorted, raising her rifle at Nightin. She was initially contemplating whether to fire another bullet at World's nuts, but held back and instead looked vigilantly at Nightin.
At the same time, World turned his attention back to Katakuri and rushed toward him, rapidly closing the distance between them. He still intended to kill Katakuri in a single blow with his hundredfold speed and strength.
Katakuri, however, had already foreseen this moment with Future Sight.
He slowly shifted his attention away from Pudding and raised his fists. Both were already coated in a layer of mochi as he used the power of his Devil Fruit.
'Power Mochi!'
Suddenly, a mass of mochi appeared in the air beside Katakuri and took the shape of large doughnut-like rings. More mochi then poured out from them, forming two gigantic arms coated in Haki, which caused small streaks of red lightning to crackle around the massive fists.
World narrowed his eyes at the sight, but he did not hesitate and thrusted his fist forward. 'More-More Hundredfold: Fist!'
In response, Katakuri launched one of his own giant mochi fists that had small streaks of red lightning crackling around it.
The two attacks collided.
Boom!
A deafening impact exploded outward, sending shockwaves in every direction. The ship beneath Katakuri, Pudding, and the others shook violently from the force of the clash.
Then, in the middle of that roaring shockwave, World's expression suddenly changed. "What? What's going on?!"
With a punch enhanced a hundredfold in strength, he had expected to smash straight through Katakuri's attack and obliterate him in an instant.
Instead... The one who felt pain was him, and the one being pushed back was him!
Indeed, even though his fist was coated in Armament Haki and his body's durability had also been enhanced to an absurd level, the collision had still hurt him, causing his fist to throb violently.
Of course, the pain was nowhere near as severe as when Zechs' blade had cut into his chest. Even so, it still hurt badly. World could feel that the impact had injured the muscles and even the bones in his arm. It's as if the attack was causing internal damage that didn't make sense at all!
And more importantly... He felt that same dangerous sensation from Katakuri's mochi fist. 'It's the same feeling I got from Asmodeus Zechs' sword...'
Feeling that danger from Zechs' blade had been one thing, but now Katakuri's fist gave him that same sense of threat.
Which meant that whatever had made Zechs' sword so dangerous... Katakuri possessed it as well, and he was using that on his mochi fists!
But what was it?
World had no time to think about it.
The collision had forced him backward, and that alone was enough to make him furious.
First, he struggled and embarrassed himself against Asmodeus Zechs… now he is also struggling and embarrassing himself against Asmodeus Zechs' subordinate? How could that be acceptable?
He once again attacked Katakuri… and this time, he did so with one of his most dangerous techniques.
Without daring to get closer to Katakuri, knowing full well that the other party can injure him, World attacked Katakuri in the same manner that he had attacked Zechs earlier.
Amplifying his speed a hundredfold once again, World used a series of Shave and Moon steps to flicker through the air, creating hundreds of afterimages around the ship. At the same time, he once again pulled out the gun he had stuffed in his pocket earlier and began firing from every direction.
This time, he did not increase the size of the bullets, only their speed. Enlarging them would risk killing his own three subordinates aboard the ship, which he didn't want to do.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shot after shot rang out as World fired from different positions and angles.
Having already foreseen the future again, Katakuri had prepared his next move in advance.
Hundreds of small doughnut-shaped rings made up of Mochi appeared around him and Pudding in the air. From each mochi doughnut emerged the muzzle of a gun. These muzzles were also coated in Haki, and faint red streaks of lightning crackled around them.
With hundreds of muzzle pointing out, Katakuri fired, 'Mochi Machine-Gun!'
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Mochi bullets shot out from every direction to meet World's attack head-on.
The mochi bullets, each coated in Katakuri's Haki, shot out one after another with perfect precision. They collided head-on with the bullets fired by World. But instead of simply destroying them, each mochi bullet wrapped around its target like soft dough the moment they collided. Acting like a sponge, the mochi absorbed all of the kinetic energy carried by the incoming bullets.
Naturally, absorbing that much energy generated a tremendous amount of heat, instantly roasting the mochi. By the end, all that remained were small, cooked balls of mochi wrapped around bullet shells.
Stripped of all momentum, they dropped harmlessly into the sea.
A soft, flavourful aroma of roasted mochi wafted in the air, but World had no mood to pay attention to those roasted mochi balls. He was busy staring in shock at Katakuri, "This… this…"
"Don't be too shocked too quickly… I hope you are ready for what happens next," Katakuri said lightly and released a second round of Mochi bullets just as quickly, leaving World no chance to fire enough bullets to keep up. The mochi bullets once again tore through the air and struck the places where World would appear next, smashing through afterimage after afterimage.
What stunned him even more was that the bullets were not merely accurate in their direction and positioning. Their timing was flawless.
Despite him moving at a hundred times his speed, every single bullet hit him… appearing there at the very instant he flickered there.
Before World even realised what had happened, two dozen mochi bullets slammed into his body.
"GAAAAAHHH!"
He cried out in pain and finally stopped moving, hanging in midair as he looked down at himself. His body was covered in dozens of small, circular wounds, and inside each one was a blob of mochi burrowing against his hardened skin, causing even more pain as blood dripped down.
'H-How...?' That was the only thought in his mind as he quickly retreated away from the ship in fear.
He could not understand it.
He had been moving so fast... so absurdly fast... that even Asmodeus Zechs had been unable been completely helpless about it and had needed to provoke him into stopping first before attacking him. Yet Katakuri had no such problem at all.
Every one of his attacks had struck World perfectly.
It was bizarre.
No... it was terrifying.
It was as though Katakuri knew exactly where he would appear at every moment before it even happened.
But that... that should have been impossible. Seeing the future or something like that... that was impossible!!!
"Captain World..."
It was not only World who was shocked. Nightin, who was on board Zechs' ship, and even the few crew members who had regained consciousness and were holding themselves on their half-destroyed ship could only stare in disbelief.
This was the first time they had ever seen World in such a state.
For the first time, he no longer looked invincible. Instead, he looked as though he might actually lose this battle... And perhaps even die.
"Haaah... haaah..." World panted heavily as he stared warily at Katakuri from a distance.
His mind raced. 'One after another... bizarre, impossible things keep happening. First, Asmodeus Zechs somehow managed to hurt me, while I, with my rigid body amplified by my Devil Fruit's power, shouldn't have gotten hurt at all… and what's more annoying is that even though he was able to wound me, I wasn't able to wound him at all. Then there's that girl, Pudding... she keeps giving me this feeling that she can read my mind... even now...'
He could still see the amused, playful smile on her face as their eyes met. It was as though she knew exactly what he was thinking, and the thought made his skin crawl. He quickly looked away from her.
'And then there's this Katakuri guy... It's like... he can see the future... haaah... what... what the hell is going on?'
He could not understand any of it.
Such a situation, he was encountering for the first time since he set out on the sea.
Now, he regretted attacking the Asmodeus Zechs Pirates. If he had never attacked them, his ship would not have been half-destroyed, and he certainly would not have suffered these injuries.
Then suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, 'R-Retreat... I need to retreat... yeah...'
Although he felt ashamed and very reluctant at the thought, as retreating… especially retreating in defeat is something he has never once done before, but the desire to stay alive forced him to convince himself.
'This is only happening because I'm exhausted from fighting Asmodeus Zechs. That battle was too intense... but I still won. I defeated the Asmodeus Zechs Pirates. Everything happening now is only because I'm not at my best. Once I recover, I can come back and attack them again.'
Telling himself that, he felt he could retreat now…
But even if he wanted to retreat... how was he supposed to do it?
World frowned.
His own ship was half-destroyed, making it unfit for sailing, not to mention most of his crew still lay unconscious. Meanwhile, his strongest subordinates, Gairam, Sebastian, and Nightin, were still aboard Zechs' ship, two of whom were even defeated and captured.
In this scenario, the only way to retreat would be to seize the ship that the Asmodeus Zechs Pirates are using.
But to do that... He glanced toward Katakuri.
Several dozen mochi gun barrels floated around him, all aimed directly at World, which made him swallow unconsciously, 'No... perhaps I should think of another plan.'
Just as he was desperately trying to figure something out, Pudding suddenly said to Katakuri, "Onii-sama... he's thinking about running away."
Nightin on Zechs' ship, and the few conscious pirates on the half-destroyed World Pirates' ship widened their eyes in disbelief. They could not believe World would even consider retreating.
"Girl, who do you think you are?" Nightin snapped angrily. "Captain World isn't the kind of man who would run away."
"Yeah... Captain World wouldn't run away. He never runs away!!!" Someone else shouted.
"It's ridiculous to even think Captain World would run from a battle," Another pirate added, echoing the others with complete confidence.
"Haah... not only is he planning to run away, but he's also entertaining the thought of abandoning all of you," Pudding sneered. "He already knows he can't steal this ship or save any of you."
"Abandoning us? As if I'd believe that," Nightin snorted. "Besides, I don't need him to save me from some insolent girl like you."
"Just wait, old hag," Pudding scowled. "I'll make you regret those words in a moment." Then she turned toward Katakuri. "Onii-sama..."
"It's fine," Katakuri said, narrowing his eyes. "He won't be able to run away."
Yet, to everyone's confusion, Katakuri did nothing.
The reason was simple: there was no need for him to do anything since someone was already returning.
"He's back," Katakuri said.
That only confused everyone further.
The only one who reacted was Pudding, who immediately leaned over the railing. "Really?"
The others remained bewildered until they suddenly felt a presence drawing closer and closer.
And along with that presence came pressure. An overwhelming wave of Conqueror's Haki burst outward from the ocean, making everyone gasp as the air itself seemed to freeze in their lungs.
There was no need to guess whose presence it was.
"T-This... this presence... how... how is it possible?" World muttered in shock.
Suddenly, his instincts screamed at him, and a suffocating sense of danger flooded through him like a swarm of insects crawling beneath his skin, "!!!"
Immediately, he tensed and stared down at the ocean below with fear and vigilance, which was the source of that pressure that made everyone's skin crawl.
At that moment, the sea suddenly stopped churning and became strangely still.
But everyone could feel it.
That silence was only the calm before the storm.
And they were right.
A second later, ripples spread across the surface of the water before the sea exploded upward like a geyser, and a figure burst out from beneath it.
"Captain Zechs... he's back."
Asmodeus Zechs has returned!!!!!
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