The shockwave generated by the clash between Maraptonoka and Yuisheeze was more than enough to send nearby onlookers flying and throw the area into an uproar.
Many were accustomed to brawls between common thugs or pirates in Paradise, but a battle between Haki users was not a common sight. Those who had been instigating the fight and those who had been cheering them on now broke out in a cold sweat at the seriousness of the battle and scrambled to escape.
However, just as some fled at the sound of the extravagant clash, it was also natural for others to become curious and watch from a distance.
"Whoa, they're really going at it. Don't know the woman, but the other one's the 'Adventure Man'."
"He hasn't been in the papers for a while, but it's a surprise to see him here, Captain."
The two hid behind a building, watching the collision with amusement. Their arms had an extra joint compared to ordinary humans, making them long enough to touch the ground. They were of the Longarm Tribe. One of the men, characterized by long braided hair and glasses, rested his chin in his hand and stared intently at Yuisheeze and Maraptonoka.
"Dunno why they're fightin', but that guy's a pirate who made headlines for a while as a 'monster hunter.' He shouldn't be just ordinarily strong… Who's the woman holdin' her own against him head-on?"
"Dunno… Wait a minute, Captain. You're not planning on gettin' involved, are ya!?"
"Oi, oi, who d'ya think I am? —It's fun to mess with guys like that from the side and run away, ain't it!"
"Please stop!!"
Ignoring his crewmate's cries, the man—Scratchmen Apoo—began to ponder the right moment to intervene. Until a moment ago, he had been enjoying watching Luffy and his crew on the screen, but now his interest had completely shifted. His crewmate desperately began to try and persuade Apoo.
"At least one of them is the 'Adventure Man,' ya know!? A guy who's defeated strange monsters like krakens and basilisks can't be weak!!"
"But his bounty's lower than mine. The government ain't feelin' threatened by his strength itself. Am I wrong?"
"Well… that might be true, but…"
Yuisheeze's bounty didn't exceed 100 million. Though he often made the news, it was because he adventured to various places, defeated monsters, and the newspapers simply reported on it. There were no stories of him attacking islands or plundering. However, the bounty system was merely an indicator of the level of danger posed to the government. A low bounty didn't necessarily equate to a lack of strength.
A particularly loud sound accompanied a shockwave that scattered around, making their skin tingle. Apoo and his crewmate instinctively ducked behind cover to avoid it and confirmed that the battlefield was gradually shifting.
"Where are they headin'?"
"Are you still plannin' on messin' with 'em?"
"You bet! Even if I don't mess with 'em, I'm a little interested in his strength."
Yuisheeze hadn't been in the papers for the past few years. If a high-bounty pirate joined someone's crew or formed an alliance, it would sometimes be leaked to the papers and cause a stir. But his original bounty wasn't that high, and while he made noise as a "monster hunter," Apoo figured he hadn't been deemed worth more than that. If he joined Twilight's crew, his bounty wouldn't increase. He had low news value.
"Let's follow 'em!"
"Wha—!"
Apoo, taking his crewmate, pursued Yuisheeze and Maraptonoka. It wasn't just a fistfight; Maraptonoka seemed to be pulling out various weapons, but they weren't very effective against Yuisheeze. She could tear through iron with her fists, or rather, her claws, but Yuisheeze dodged or blocked every single one. His skill was undoubtedly genuine. Maraptonoka, gradually being cornered, changed her form in an attempt to turn the tables.
A giant white fox—her true form.
"Whoa!? What the hell is that… An ability user!?"
Its four eyes darted around, fixing on Yuisheeze, and a breath of destruction erupted from its open mouth. "This is bad," Apoo thought, instinctively pushing his crewmate's head down.
"Boro Breath!!!"
The breath of destruction, capable of blowing away anything, missed its mark as Yuisheeze instantly moved upwards, avoiding damage to the town. Nevertheless, the somewhat horizontally fired Boro Breath exploded in the distant sea, sending up a tremendous waterspout and a deafening roar. It was enough to make Apoo break out in a cold sweat, thinking it would be truly unwise to mess with that. However, Yuisheeze fearlessly began his assault from above, simultaneously shouting something like a signal.
"Alex!! Delbart!!"
Numerous chains suddenly shot up from the ground, rattling as they wrapped around Maraptonoka, temporarily restricting her movements. Next, a large amount of paper danced into the air, sticking to Maraptonoka's body, obstructing her vision and stopping her movements. It was likely an attack by some ability user, but there was no sign of anyone nearby. Thinking they might be hiding like Apoo, a man appeared as Maraptonoka thrashed, dragging the chains with her. He was dragged along, scraping against the ground, and something like spray paint peeled off him.
"Damn it, what power!? Hurry, Derrick!!"
"Leave it to me!!"
Again, an unseen assailant attacked, but this time, crossbow bolts bounced off Maraptonoka's scales with a metallic clang and fell to the ground. It seemed to be a crossbow attack, but her scales were likely too hard for it to penetrate.
"Too hard!? Did Komurasaki really cut that thing!?"
"That guy cuts through pretty much anything, so maybe our senses are dulled…?"
"Is this any time to talk! Next!!"
Noticing Maraptonoka's eyes darting around, Yuisheeze struck her from above before she could move, slamming her into the ground. Immediately, chains and paper swarmed to stop Maraptonoka's movements, but annoyed, flames leaked from Maraptonoka's mouth, engulfing her body and burning the paper to ash.
The white scales turning black was likely due to Haki. Covering her vision with paper wouldn't help escape Observation Haki. As Maraptonoka tried to launch her next attack, Yuisheeze punched her sideways again, and this time, a projectile, likely a cannonball, hit her directly from the direction of the port.
"The scales are blockin' the attacks! We gotta break 'em somehow!!"
"We're at our limit holdin' her still!!"
"Mortar, reload, hurry!!"
A rain of cannonballs poured down on Maraptonoka amidst continuous artillery fire. Apoo and his crew, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, kept low behind cover, exchanging glances while observing the situation.
"This is impossible. Let's run."
"That's what I've been sayin' from the start!?"
Apoo declared with a solemn face, making even his accustomed subordinate cry out in exasperation.
…
"Hahaha! Not bad at all!!"
"You too, though not as much as Komurasaki-san, you're causing quite a bit of trouble!!"
Whenever Maraptonoka showed signs of attacking or moving, Yuisheeze would preemptively crush it, causing her immense frustration. Even if she feigned a move to set a trap, he wouldn't fall for it. He was likely completely seeing through her movements with highly accurate Observation Haki.
"This is why high-level Haki users are so annoying," Maraptonoka grumbled.
However, aside from Yuisheeze's attacks, almost nothing else was getting through. Putting aside the chains and paper meant merely to distract and immobilize, even attacks from bowguns, mortars, ballistas—even naval gunfire—couldn't even crack her scales. Yuisheeze himself showed surprise at this.
"But, hmmm… This is troublesome. I heard her defense was comparable to Kaido's, but to this extent."
Her innate Haki strength was likely a factor, but Maraptonoka hadn't learned nothing from her battle with Komurasaki. Being sliced up like a paper screen, even if she could regenerate, wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat. After burning away the paper that restricted her movements, she didn't recloak herself in flames, but instead covered herself in ice, defending against attacks and heat. It would be difficult for ordinary attacks to break through this dual defense. Yuisheeze, while restricting Maraptonoka's movements, considered how to defeat her.
"Armor-piercing high-explosive, armor-piercing incendiary, then armor-piercing rounds! Fire in that order!!"
"Roger!"
Chains once again wrapped around Maraptonoka's legs to stop her movement, and immediately after, an armor-piercing high-explosive round detonated on her left foreleg. A loud explosion was followed by an armor-piercing incendiary round, which then burst into flames upon impact. This, at least, stripped away the ice on her body, revealing the Haki-blackened scales beneath. Before ice could re-form, an armor-piercing round struck the scales directly, clearly cracking them.
"Guh, this is…!?"
"Specially adjusted armor-piercing rounds to work on you. Looks like they're effective."
They had obtained information on Maraptonoka's toughness beforehand from Komurasaki's report. They had made all possible preparations, and just in case, had imbued the warheads with Haki to boost their power.
Realizing this was bad, Maraptonoka tried to dodge the continuous barrage of armor-piercing rounds, but in that instant, Yuisheeze struck her abdomen, momentarily stopping her breath. The armor-piercing round veered slightly and hit Maraptonoka's left shoulder. Seeing her attempt to regenerate with blue flames, Yuisheeze shouted.
"Don't let her recover!"
There were a total of four cannons mounted on the ship. Even with continuous fire, reloading took a small amount of time. The fact that she could regenerate was already known, so Yuisheeze had prepared for that as well.
"Derrick! Aim for the cracked scales!"
"Aye!"
The man called Derrick aimed his crossbow and fired a bolt at the flesh visible between the scales cracked by the armor-piercing round. The crossbow bolt, avoiding the scales with pinpoint accuracy, pierced inwards. The moment it struck, the blue flames that had been covering Maraptonoka vanished.
"This is… Seastone!? Impossible…!"
By using Seastone on the arrowhead of the crossbow bolt, they suppressed the active use of her ability. Even for a short time, if her ability use could be stopped, the battle would shift in their favor.
However, Seastone was extremely hard and difficult to process, so there weren't many arrowheads. Without considerable skill, it couldn't be handled. Thus, glaring at Yuisheeze in disbelief, the moment her movements dulled due to the Seastone's effect, a reloaded armor-piercing round hit her directly.
The continuously fired armor-piercing rounds clearly shattered her scales, opening a giant hole in her abdomen. Though critically injured, the order was to capture her if possible, but basically, her life or death didn't matter. Since keeping her alive was a liability, if capture was impossible, eliminating her was Kanata's priority.
"Well, is this about it…?"
She wasn't as tough as he'd heard, Yuisheeze thought. Having prior information made a big difference, but still, he couldn't imagine Komurasaki struggling against such an opponent. If it was simply that incorporating Seastone to suppress her troublesome abilities into their basic tactics had worked well, then fine… but something felt off. Yuisheeze turned his back. All that was left was to restrain her hands and feet with Seastone cuffs. As he was about to offer words of appreciation to his Einherjar colleagues who had been hiding nearby, an alarmed voice struck his ears.
"Oi, Yuisheeze!! That fox woman, she's recovering!!"
"What!?"
He hurriedly checked, and despite the Seastone arrowheads still being embedded, the large hole in Maraptonoka's abdomen was closing, enveloped in blue flames. Devil Fruit abilities should be unusable while those arrowheads were in place. At least, experiments with ability users in Twilight had confirmed this, and it wasn't something that could be overcome by the user's mental strength. So why could Maraptonoka use her ability? Could it be that her power, while closely resembling a Devil Fruit ability, was actually something else entirely? Seastone only suppressed Devil Fruit abilities. Even if it suppressed her powers, it couldn't completely nullify the physical abilities of someone with inherently superior strength.
"Komurasaki, that woman… No, blaming her is wrong. But this means…!"
If Seastone couldn't stop her wounds from healing, they would have to keep damaging Maraptonoka until she was knocked out. As he prepared to attack immediately, Maraptonoka directed her breath of destruction not at Yuisheeze, but at the ground.
"Boro Breath!!!"
Prioritizing speed over power made the blast itself weak, but it was still hot enough to vaporize an ordinary human with plenty to spare. Yuisheeze escaped upwards, and his nearby comrades dodged or used buildings as shields.
The Einherjar were not so weak as to be taken out by something like that. Maraptonoka tore out the part of her arm where the arrowhead was embedded with her own strength, and blue flames immediately healed the physical damage. Realizing that letting her move freely any longer would allow her to escape, Yuisheeze moved immediately—but Maraptonoka shifted from her beast form to her human-beast form and, with her immense physical strength, punched Yuisheeze head-on, sending him flying.
"Yuisheeze!"
"I'm fine! Don't let her escape!!"
Though he had crossed his arms to block Maraptonoka's attack, he couldn't completely absorb the impact and was blown away. In that opening, chains were unleashed towards Maraptonoka, who was rushing towards the port.
However, she dodged them by flying freely in the air and retreated at high speed. Her aerial movement using Flame Clouds, unlike Moon Walk, wasn't particularly fast but offered high maneuverability. A flurry of paper danced in the sky, attempting to block Maraptonoka's path, but after a few collisions, she overpowered it and was blown away.
"What is this arm strength!? What's goin' on!?"
"It's not just Haki, her original physical strength is off the charts! Be careful!!"
Yuisheeze clicked his tongue at Maraptonoka's desperate escape and quickly soared through the sky, catching up to her.
The two instances of interference had slowed her down enough for him to barely catch up. Judging a direct attack to be dangerous, he avoided exchanging blows and instead grabbed Maraptonoka's tail, slamming her forcefully into the ground. Deciding that prioritizing damage was crucial now, he descended to the ground to press the attack. But Maraptonoka didn't go down easily, cloaking her body in an armor of ice to solidify her defenses.
"You seem to have tried various things, but it's unfortunate for you. I am not a cheap woman who can be captured so easily."
"No, you're going down here."
Chains that had traveled underground wrapped around Maraptonoka's arms, immobilizing her. In that instant, Yuisheeze's fist pierced Maraptonoka's chest.
The infused Haki destroyed her body from within, and Maraptonoka's body tilted unsteadily. He had unleashed a technique learned directly from Junshi, meant to ensure a kill, but seeing blue flames automatically trying to repair her body, he moved to his next attack without pause.
However, the second blow was dodged by Maraptonoka deliberately falling, and she instantly transformed into her beast form, forcibly tearing the chains apart. Pinned down by the now giant Maraptonoka, Yuisheeze couldn't even counterattack, merely bracing himself against Maraptonoka's legs as she tried to crush him with both arms. His surrounding comrades moved to capture her, but it was already too late; Maraptonoka grabbed onto a Flame Cloud and retreated into the sky.
"Well then, everyone, farewell! I pray we never meet again!"
Judging it difficult to restrain the desperately fleeing Maraptonoka, the members of the Einherjar sighed. Yuisheeze, who had been half-buried in the ground, also got up, let out a light sigh, and muttered.
"…Mission failed, huh. I had considered various scenarios, but she was beyond my expectations."
Defeating her head-on might have been possible, but when she resorted to fleeing, she was a rather tough opponent. Her high physical abilities were one thing, but her intellect in skillfully using various abilities was also not to be underestimated. This would definitely need to be reported. Looking at his arms, still numb from being pinned down, he began to plan countermeasures for their next encounter.