Chapter 280: The Artist's Victory
Deidara's right hand and the tongue in his palm quickly shaped the clay puppets. From his left hand's palm mouth, he spat out a large amount of white clay, forming a wide cloth cover that fell toward Pepper's head.
"Your explosions can't hurt me, stop wasting your time!" Pepper, with his teeth already gone and claws broken, still exuded the intimidating presence of a bear.
The bald head, with the sound of wind howling, broke through the air, and Pepper's massive body crashed into the soft clay.
As soon as the white clay made contact, it tightly enveloped Pepper. A clay pipe connected to the mouth on his left palm, and chakra was transmitted in pulses to the clay.
"How about this? Ha!"
The intense explosion at point-blank range and the massive smoke that obscured their vision made Lao Cai and Pepper's subordinates extremely nervous.
Eric and the others, with their exceptional observation haki, murmured in surprise: "Hmm?"
The rapid advance of the enormous body caused a strong gust of wind, blowing away large amounts of smoke. Pepper's shiny bald head reflected light in the sun.
Pepper's neatly tailored clothes had a few holes burned through, but his body appeared unharmed. The explosion seemed to have increased his battle spirit rather than diminish it, and he began reminiscing about the old days of battle.
"I'm not like you small-time pirates! Don't underestimate pirates from the old era!"
The Haki around his head collided with the belly of the flying clay bird, and the gigantic clay bird was torn into several pieces, like being hit by a heavy artillery shell.
"Tch." Deidara clicked his tongue in annoyance, stepping on the remnants of the clay puppet and throwing out another explosive clay bird, the two-winged bird.
Bang
The two pairs of wings flapped quickly, their streamlined bodies no longer resembling clay puppets but looking much faster.
"Your speed is quite impressive, old man," Deidara grinned as he stood on the back of the two-winged bird. "Can you even keep up with me now?"
"Flying around... Is this still piracy?!" Pepper landed heavily on the ice, making the ground shake as he angrily shouted.
"I'm not like you, just a meat-bound spinner who can only fight up close." Deidara shrugged. "Fighting is an art. Hmm."
"Ugh!"
Deidara spat out a clay puppet from his right hand. "Look, how about this? My work."
"These lines, honed through a thousand forges, with a focus on 2D transformation shapes, this is true art. But my art doesn't stop here. My work is fluid, it's not just a shaped object."
"Who cares about that?!" Pepper, already furious, interrupted Deidara's speech and said something he shouldn't have: "Stop showing off your child's toys! This is embarrassing!"
Crack
Deidara bit his lower lip hard, blood trickling from the cut, and he growled, "A child? My art is a toy? Embarrassing? …I'll make you regret saying that!"
"Hey, I'm going to use my trump card! You better run to another place!" Deidara, losing his composure, warned the others, swallowing large amounts of white clay.
"Ice Wall!" Esdeath formed an ice wall that seamlessly enclosed everyone, trapping even Lao Cai and the Eight Treasure Navy pirates inside.
Lao Cai grumbled, "What do you want to do?!"
"We just feel sorry for you and left some people to clean up after this old man—will there even be bodies?" Esdeath didn't even look at them.
"Ugh!"
Standing on the two-winged bird, Deidara opened his mouth and began vomiting, large amounts of liquid clay pouring out of his mouth to form a white waterfall.
Eric blurted out, "Like a waterfall descending from three thousand feet, seemingly like the Milky Way falling from the ninth heaven."
The others all said, "That's gross, stop talking!"
The clay that fell onto the ice began to pile up, slowly taking on a life of its own. The white clay gradually changed color and grew into a giant Deidara puppet.
"Huh?" Pepper sneered, "Are you that narcissistic? Go home and look in a mirror!"
"Ha... ha!" Deidara, mouth wide open and drooling, gasped for air as his shoulders rose and fell. "Now you can really appreciate my art, but you'll only get to watch it from that world!"
"Your explosives are no threat to me!" Pepper shouted angrily, bending his short legs and preparing to charge.
Deidara pressed his hands together. The giant clay puppet Deidara's belly suddenly began to swell, growing into a round shape, with the bulging flesh resembling that of a couch potato.
Bang
A crisp sound echoed as the clay puppet expanded to its limit and then ruptured like a dud, its thin surface turning to dust in the air and disappearing.
"Even the powers of the Devil Fruit can't stop you from playing dead, huh? You really are impressive!" Pepper, already ready to strike, stomped hard on the solid ice and shot toward Deidara, flying through the densely packed air full of tiny nano-bombs.
Deidara, with blood-Akame , glared and shouted, "I won! Art is an explosion! Ha!"
As the nano-bombs were absorbed into Pepper's body, spreading through his veins, Pepper shuddered. "What... what is this?!"
Puff
Pepper spat out a large amount of blood, trembling as he fell from the air.
Lao Cai and the subordinates screamed, "Old man (boss)!" All of them rushed to the ice wall, trying to break it down and save Pepper.
"It's over." Eric shrugged and, with Scáthach , broke through the ice wall.
"Hahaha, you dared to underestimate my art," Deidara stood in the air, raising both hands. "I won! My art won!"
"Hm?" Deidara looked down, "Not dead yet? You're really tough."
Puff
Pepper, with broken insides and his body wrecked by nano-bombs, oozed blood from his once-bulging fat and looked as if the slightest breeze could blow him apart. He now looked absolutely pathetic.
"What... what kind of technique is this?" Pepper, with broken pieces of meat in his mouth, asked stubbornly, "You can attack from inside my body—"
"Was it because of the giant puppet just now?!"
"Idiot, who would tell someone their secrets?" Deidara sneered from above. "Go ask in that world!"
With that, he threw the explosive clay he had just finished preparing.
Bzzt
The blue lightning pillar engulfed the explosive clay.
"Hey, boss," Deidara grumbled, "I thought this was my fight."
"You just killed Pepper with the C4 Garuda, I won't say anything. But now that the fight is decided, there's no need to take the life of an enemy who can't resist—most importantly, we took quite a bit of treasure from him."
"Right, right, I understand," Deidara's hand itched after the fight. He pointed to the Eight Treasure Navy and said, "Remember, my art is incomparable! You fools!"
"Then, to the pirates of the old era, we—shall meet again!" Eric looked down at Pepper, lying on the ground.
"Damn brat!" Pepper gathered the last of his strength, swinging a heavy fist to smash the solid Jade Ice Bed.
"Damn Eric , I'll curse you for the rest of your life!"
(END CHAPTER)
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