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Bang! Bang!
Pudding fired two bullets in rapid succession at Nightin with perfect accuracy. "Old hag, you should have surrendered..." she said.
Sha! Sha!
Nightin dodged both bullets and rushed toward Pudding, trying to close the distance between them. "Stop calling me an old hag!" she shouted angrily. "I'm only thirty-one!"
Pudding jumped backward, widening the distance again. A mocking smirk spread across her face. "That's almost twice my age," she sneered. "You really are an old hag, aren't you? Old hag."
And of course, she did not forget to fire more bullets.
Bang! Bang!
Nightin dodged them again, but being called an old hag over and over was making her more and more furious. "Say that one more time… and I'll kill you, insolent girl!" she snapped.
"Humph... you think you can? Old hag." Pudding snorted. "Not only you, but your entire World Pirates crew is going to lose today. You should just pray that I don't kill you… I am still giving you a chance… surrender now… Otherwise... I really can't guarantee that you will remain alive by the time this fight is over..."
Although she is jealous and even wants to kill Nightin so that this frivolous woman doesn't get on board, it's Zechs' order after all… so while there are many thoughts of killing her going through Pudding's mind, she is still restraining herself so as not to go against Zechs' orders.
"An insolent little girl like you? Kill me?" Nightin sneered. "When I first went out to sea, you were probably still sucking on your mother's tits. And now you think you can kill me just because you want to?"
She was obviously unhappy about being looked down upon. Whether the World Pirates were defeated today or not, she absolutely hated this arrogant little girl and felt the need to teach her a good lesson.
"Let me show you what someone like me, who has spent so many years at sea, is capable of..." Nightin said through gritted teeth.
Fuming, she suddenly reached into one of the pockets of her white doctor's coat and pulled out a small transparent pouch filled with dark green powder.
"What's that?" Pudding frowned, tilting her head slightly.
"Nihihihi..." Nightin giggled smugly and began to explain, "This is a mixture of various dried herbs..."
"A mixture of dried herbs? What is that even supposed to do?" Pudding asked, still confused, though her tone was full of disdain.
"Haah... I told you, you're still just a little girl," Nightin laughed. "These aren't ordinary herbs. This powder is a special blend that I created myself. I'm an expert in Kanpo Kenpo. Once I swallow th—"
Bang!
Before she could finish, Pudding had already fired.
The bullet flew straight toward the pouch in Nightin's hand. The older woman had been too absorbed in boasting about her special creation to react in time, and the bullet struck the pouch directly.
Pooof!
The pouch exploded.
"What?!" Nightin stared in shock as the powder burst into the air and scattered everywhere. "Cough… cough… What the hell did you do… you… you insolent little girl?!" she shouted furiously.
"Humph. If that powder makes you stronger, then I just had to stop you from eating it," Pudding replied matter-of-factly. "Now you won't be able to get stronger."
"You... you..." Nightin grew even angrier. Seeing her precious herb mixture destroyed and scattered everywhere made her furious at Pudding. "Don't you have any sense of martial ethics?!"
"Martial ethics?" Pudding snorted. "We're pirates, not some Taoist cultivators. Since when do pirates care about ethics? If you want martial ethics, then stop being a pirate, go live on some mountain, and call yourself a hermit."
And with that, she fired even more bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Other people might willingly allow their enemies to power up in the middle of a fight. Pudding had absolutely no intention of doing that.
Too many times in stories, people get defeated simply because they allow their enemies to power up… She isn't stupid enough to do that.
And unlike certain idiots, including her Master Zechs-sama, she is also not some battle maniac, so it makes no sense for her to allow Nightin to power up.
"Tch... so annoying..." Nightin clicked her tongue as she dodged the bullets and once again shoved her hand into her coat pocket.
Of course, even though Pudding had destroyed the first pouch, Nightin was not overly worried.
She carried several of them.
In fact, this was not even the first time someone had destroyed one of her herb mixtures before she could swallow it. While it did not happen often, it was hardly unheard of. Because of that, she always kept several more on her, along with many different herb blends for different situations.
A moment later, she pulled another pouch from her pocket.
"Another one...?" Pudding narrowed her eyes and immediately fired at it.
Bang!
But this time, Nightin was prepared. She dodged in time, protecting the pouch, "Not a second time, insolent girl..."
Now it was Pudding who clicked her tongue in annoyance because while dodging, Nightin had already stuffed the herb mixture into her mouth and chewed furiously, swallowing it in an instant.
Her eyes immediately glazed over with a manic gleam as the herbs took effect. A powerful stimulant coursed through her veins, boosting her physical strength and speed dramatically. Her face flushed red, and a wild grin spread across her lips.
"Nihihihi... time to get serious, little girl!" Nightin shouted with a laugh.
She coated both her fists and legs in thick layers of Armament Haki and then burst forward at incredible speed, charging straight at Pudding.
Every time she struck with a kick, she shouted: "Toe!" "Toe!" "Toe!" "Toe!" The kicks were not only absurdly fast, but powerful enough to shatter wood and break bones.
'So fast!' Pudding exclaimed inwardly, shocked by the sudden burst of speed Nightin was displaying. "Old hag... I didn't expect you to be this good..." she muttered as she got more serious and dodged Nightin's kicks with surprisingly graceful movements.
"Humph... that disrespectful mouth... It seems your mother didn't discipline you when you were little, leading to this insolent, vicious, bratty mouth…" Nightin snorted, glaring coldly at Pudding. The more Pudding called her an old hag, the angrier Nightin became.
Her attacks grew increasingly fierce as she tried to teach the insolent girl a lesson that her mother must have never taught her.
Yet, Pudding still managed to avoid her. She slipped past the kicks while continuing to fire her rifle at the same time.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Nightin didn't even bother to avoid the bullets now as they struck her with pinpoint accuracy, one to the shoulder, one to the stomach, two to the chest. But they failed to pierce through her body because she had kept her entire body continuously coated in Armament Haki, turning her skin into something closer to steel.
The bullets flattened uselessly against her and dropped to the deck.
"Tch… annoying little pests!" Nightin growled, irritated even though the shots caused her no real damage. "If you think these bullets can hurt me, you're dreaming!"
She suddenly accelerated, closing the distance in an instant. Her Haki-coated heel came crashing down toward Pudding in a vicious axe kick.
Pudding blocked with the body of the rifle in her hand.
Bang!
A loud impact echoed across the deck as a burst of air pressure exploded outward.
'This girl…' Nightin was surprised that Pudding had managed to react even to that attack. She was even more surprised that, despite the force of her axe kick, the girl's grip on the rifle had not loosened in the slightest, and she held back her kick.
The two remained locked there for a moment.
Nightin pressed harder, trying to overpower her and knock the rifle from her hands.
But Pudding continued to hold on tightly.
'Looks like I'll need to distract her for a moment if I want to get rid of that rifle...' Nightin thought. Then her lips curled into a smile. "By the way... insolent girl..." she said. "Why do you think Asmodeus Zechs, that cutie, wants me captured alive?"
"Who knows...?" Pudding replied coldly.
Even though she already had a pretty good idea, considering how familiar she was with her Zechs-sama's lustful nature… but she had no intention of saying it aloud.
"Nihihihi... it must be because you aren't able to satisfy him," Nightin said with a laugh.
Pudding's eyes narrowed, and her voice turned dangerous. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?"
Nightin was not frightened by the threatening tone. If anything, she seemed pleased. It looked like she had struck exactly where it hurt. "Isn't that the truth?" she said with a smug smile. "If you were enough for him, then he wouldn't want me..."
Nightin could make a fairly good guess about the nature of the relationship between Asmodeus Zechs and Pudding.
And because of that, she also understood why the girl disliked her so much and kept calling her an old hag.
In Nightin's opinion, Pudding was insecure, jealous, and unhappy. She was afraid that she was not enough for her man, afraid that he was looking at another woman because she could not satisfy him by herself.
And Nightin did not think she was wrong about Zechs being interested in her either. She was quite certain of it. After all, she was a woman very familiar with men's desires. She herself was a lustful woman and understood these things well.
Although he hadn't responded to her at all at that time when she kept calling him 'cutie' and invited him to be her bed companion, that didn't mean she didn't notice the lust in Zechs' eyes when he looked at her.
Asmodeus Zechs definitely wants to have his way with her, and it's probably on his own terms, not hers… Pudding, who must know this, is unhappy, insecure, and jealous.
Nightin, who figured this out, deliberately targeted Pudding's insecurity. In a sense, what she said is indeed true.
And it worked because her words made Pudding freeze for a moment, and her grip weakened.
That brief opening was all Nightin needed.
Crack!
Nightin's vicious axe kick finally came down on the rifle in Pudding's hands.
The weapon shattered instantly beneath her heel. The metal barrel bent and split apart, and broken pieces scattered across the deck.
Pudding's eyes widened as she broke out of her stupor and stared at the ruined remains of the rifle for a brief moment.
Nightin laughed triumphantly and planted her hands on her hips. "Hah! Now that you don't have your gun, what are you going to do, you insolent little girl?" Then she smirked and added, "Even though I am not really the type who'd needlessly hurt a little girl… but considering your insolence… and that this was Captain World's order… It can't be helped. I'll still have to kill you. I just hope cutie won't be too sad after I do."
She licked her lips as she imagined it, her face flushing slightly. "Oh well... even if he does get sad, I'll just pull him into my bosom and comfort him..." she murmured. "I'm sure he'll quickly forget about the woman who wasn't enough to satisfy him... and become mine instead."
As someone who has had a taste of many men, Nightin was utterly confident in herself. With her beauty, skill, and experience in the art of pleasure, she believed there was not a single man she could not satisfy. Compared to Pudding, who was still just a little girl and probably lacked much real experience, Nightin considered herself vastly superior.
She was certain she could drive that cutie mad and addicted to the pleasure she gives him.
The thought filled her with confidence, and an arrogant smirk spread across her face.
Then she dashed forward once more, swinging a powerful kick at Pudding's face, intending to knock her down with a kick and end the fight in a single blow.
Bang!
A loud sound echoed as the flesh met flesh… however, the intended effect of kicking away the annoying girl didn't happen. It didn't happen at all.
What happened instead was that Nightin's own kick was stopped dead in mid-air before it could even reach Pudding's head.
Nightin's eyes widened in shock. "What…!?" She stared at Pudding, who had casually caught her leg with one hand, her fingers wrapping tightly around the ankle.
Holding her like that, Pudding asked coldly, "You really think... I can't satisfy my Zechs-sama?"
As a woman, that was something she absolutely did not want to hear, especially from someone who'd soon serve the same man.
How could she possibly tolerate it?
In the beginning, his monstrous firepower had indeed left her feeling as though she might die, but she endured it all to be able to satisfy him. Night after night, she had given herself to him and served him with everything she had.
And now, she had improved.
These days, she no longer felt like she was dying afterwards. At most, she was left exhausted, sore, and walking unsteadily for a while.
She has made tremendous progress and is perfectly capable of satisfying her Zechs-sama.
Yet Nightin still dared to mock her for lacking and not being good enough?
"Isn't that the case? Why else would Asmodeus Zechs show interest in me if you were capable of satisfying him?" Nightin questioned back with a smirk. Though internally, she was very shocked that her kick was easily blocked by Pudding. 'She isn't even using Haki, and she still blocked my kick? What in the world?' She tried pushing forward, but her leg refused to move even an inch. When she tried to yank it back, it was as if it had been locked in iron.
"That's not the case at all!!!" Pudding said in retort.
She wanted to shout that it was not because she was incapable of satisfying Zechs. The real problem was that her master was an incorrigible bastard, a lustful, shameless, perverted man whose dream was to form a harem of beautiful women and become a Harem King.
Only a hopeless pervert like him could dream of something like that.
And it is because of his dream of becoming the Harem King that he had looked at Nightin with interest and wanted her to be captured alive.
It was definitely not because Pudding was somehow insufficient.
Of course, Pudding was still unhappy about Zechs chasing after other women. But what could she do when he had already decided? She was powerless to stop him and could only let him do whatever he wanted.
As for leaving him? She could not do that either; she loves him too much to be able to do that. So all she could do was sigh and endure it.
But just because she had decided to overlook it did not mean she would tolerate someone, especially another woman who'd soon join the harem, insulting her by claiming she could not satisfy him.
Nightin, who didn't know Pudding's thoughts and the real intricacies of the matter, only snorted, "Humph… you are just a girl in denial… just accept the reality before you, denying it won't do you anything. You are just not good enough."
Having said that, she spun on her supporting leg and lashed out with her other foot, aiming a brutal roundhouse kick directly at Pudding's face.
Thud.
The kick connected cleanly… but Pudding's head didn't even budge. Her body remained perfectly still, as though she had been struck by nothing more than a light breeze. The only effect was a slight smudge of her lipstick where Nightin's heel had scraped across her cheek.
Nightin froze, completely stunned. "Impossible… What the hell is going on!? You're just an insolent little girl and a sniper! There's no way you should be able to stop my attacks like this!"
More often than not, snipers, fighters who specialise in long-range combat, are glass cannons. Their greatest strength lies in their marksmanship skills, but in exchange, they are usually weak in close combat, which is why they mostly fight from a distance.
Nightin had assumed Pudding would be the same.
She believed that once Pudding lost her rifle, she would quickly collapse and be defeated.
But that was not what happened at all...!!!
Unexpectedly, she has a surprising amount of strength, and even Nightin's full-powered, armament Haki-coated kick in the face didn't do anything to Pudding.
"Up until about nine or ten months ago… you would have been right. I was indeed physically weak and had almost no close-quarters ability," Pudding nodded softly as her grip on Nightin's leg tightened. "But that's not the case anymore. I've been personally trained by Katakuri Onii-sama for months. And thanks to Zechs-sama's special gifts… my physique has also improved tremendously. I am much, much stronger now. Not the glass canon you assumed I might be."
"However," She paused, "Fighting in such a barbaric, inelegant manner does not suit me at all. I still prefer sniping. As Zechs-sama's perfect, elegant personal maid, I should remain graceful at all times."
Having said that, her tone suddenly sharpened as she added, "And… the one needs to accept the reality… it's not me, but you…"
Then, Pudding's grip on Nightin's leg suddenly became crushing.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Nightin screamed in agony as the bones in her ankles creaked dangerously under the immense pressure. Before she could even attempt to free herself, Pudding yanked her completely off balance and tossed her into the air like a discarded toy.
In the next instant, Pudding unleashed a barrage of devastating punches straight into Nightin's gut.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Each punch carried terrifying force. Nightin vomited blood with every impact, her eyes bulging as she felt her internal organs turn to mush. Even with Armament Haki desperately reinforcing her body, the punches were so powerful that she genuinely feared her stomach would be torn open and punched straight through.
Fortunately for her, her Armament Haki protected her… but only barely.
Yet, Pudding wasn't finished. She grabbed Nightin by the front of her clothes with one hand, lifting the older woman effortlessly into the air as if she weighed nothing.
Nightin dangled helplessly, blood dripping from her mouth, her legs kicking weakly.
"You… you little bitch—!" she gasped, still trying to sound defiant.
Pudding's expression remained eerily calm and elegant, but her eyes burned with fury. "Disrespecting Zechs-sama in my presence… lusting after him like a cheap whore in front of me… calling him 'cutie' again and again in my presence…! You really intended to make him your boy toy, didn't you? Even I don't dare to be anything more than a maid… and yet you… How dare you… you old hag?"
Without another word, Pudding slammed Nightin into the deck.
BANG!
The wooden planks cracked violently beneath the impact.
Before Nightin could even scream, Pudding lifted her again and smashed her down once more.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Again and again, Pudding repeatedly slammed Nightin's body into the deck like a ragdoll, each impact harder than the last. The entire warship shook with every brutal smash. Splinters flew everywhere. Nightin's screams turned into wet, gurgling cries as more blood sprayed from her mouth.
"Puny old hag…" Pudding muttered coldly between slams, her voice soft yet terrifying.
BANG!
One final, devastating slam left a deep crater in the deck. Nightin lay there motionless, twitching weakly, her body covered in bruises, her Armament Haki long since shattered from the sheer repeated force. Several bones were broken, her face swollen, and blood pooled beneath her.
Pudding stood over the broken woman, breathing calmly. She dusted off her hands with delicate movements, then adjusted her slightly smudged lipstick with the back of her gloved finger.
"Old hag, you should stay there quietly and be grateful that I didn't kill you…" she said softly, her tone once again perfectly elegant and her expression adorable, as if she had merely finished serving tea instead of brutally beating someone into the floor.
Exhaling slowly to calm herself, Pudding turned away from the groaning, half-conscious Nightin and walked gracefully toward the railing of the ship where Katakuri stood.
"Is she… alive?" Katakuri asked a bit hesitantly.
"Yes..." Pudding nodded lightly as she rested her hands on the railing.
"You should… rest now," Katakuri suggested after a bit of silence.
"It's fine, Onii-sama... I want to watch Zechs-sama defeat that World guy," she replied as she looked up toward the sky, where Zechs and Byrnndi World remained locked in confrontation.
"Hmm..." Katakuri hummed softly before glancing back at Nightin, who lay unconscious, bloody, and badly injured on the deck.
'She really… overdid it too much...' he thought.
Still, he simply controlled one of his mochi clones to wrap around Nightin's entire body, leaving only her head exposed. With this, she'll be retrained… not that she'd be able to do anything even if she wasn't restrained.
Once he had done that, he turned his gaze back toward World. "All three of his subordinates have been defeated... only Byrnndi World remains."
"Hnn... Zechs-sama will win," Pudding said confidently.
"He will definitely win," Katakuri replied. "The only question is whether he'll be able to make the progress he wants."
"Umm..." Pudding nodded softly. Silently, she prayed that Zechs would achieve the breakthrough he wanted and win in an incredibly cool way, so that she could preserve the moment forever in her memory.
'What would be the title of the reel?' she wondered to herself.
With both Katakuri and Pudding completely focused on the battle between Zechs and World in the sky, neither of them noticed that the moisture in the air had begun to condense onto the hardened mochi restraining Sebastian's unconscious body.
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