A/N: Don't forget to check out my original novel: Can I Magic Please. It's like really good. š
ANYWHOOO. ENJOY THE CHAPTER
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The underground auction hall trembled.
Above, the battle between King, Marco, and Doflamingo continued to tear the night sky apart.
Below, a different kind of monster stood in Giovanni's path.
Silent.
Still.
Overwhelming.
Charlotte Katakuri.
The towering Sweet Commander lowered his stance as mochi spread across the floor like a living tide.
Across from him, Norwell D. Giovanni rolled his shoulders and tightened his grip on his sword.
His grin remained.
But inwardly, his thoughts were sharper.
'Alright.'
'Future Sight.'
'This is exactly what I wanted.'
Katakuri's voice was calm.
"Come."
Giovanni did not need to be told twice.
BOOM!
The floor shattered beneath Giovanni's feet.
He vanished in a burst of speed.
A golden blur shot across the hall.
His sword flashed.
A precise horizontal slash aimed directly for Katakuri's torso.
SHING!
Katakuri moved a fraction of an inch.
The blade cut nothing but air.
Giovanni's eyes widened.
'What?!'
Before he could process itā
THUD!
Katakuri's fist slammed into his stomach.
The impact folded Giovanni in half.
All the air exploded from his lungs.
"GUH!"
His body rocketed backward.
KRAAAASH!
He smashed through three rows of seats, bounced off a stone pillar, and tore a trench across the floor before skidding to a stop.
Dust billowed.
The crowd stared in stunned silence.
Katakuri had not even taken a step.
Giovanni coughed, rising slowly.
"ā¦Okay."
He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"That was rude."
Katakuri remained expressionless.
"You were too predictable."
Giovanni grinned through the pain.
"Then I'll be less predictable."
He exploded forward again.
This time, Giovanni attacked in a storm.
His sword became a silver blur.
Vertical slashes.
Diagonal cuts.
Thrusts.
Feints.
Each strike flowed seamlessly into the next.
His footwork was beautiful.
Precise.
Fast enough that ordinary fighters could not even see him.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The air screamed beneath the force of his blade.
Katakuri moved as though he already knew every attack.
A tilt of the head.
A slight turn of the shoulder.
A single step.
The sword passed harmlessly by him every time.
Not by inches.
By hairs.
The crowd watched in disbelief.
"He's dodging everything!"
"He isn't even blocking!"
"How is that possible?!"
Giovanni spun low and swept at Katakuri's legs.
Missed.
He reversed into an upward slash.
Missed.
He pivoted, launching a stabbing thrust aimed for the throat.
Missed.
Katakuri's fist shot forward.
BOOM!
Giovanni crossed his sword just in time.
The impact still sent him flying through the air.
He twisted mid-flight, kicking off a stone column.
The pillar cracked beneath his foot.
Using the momentum, he launched downward like a meteor.
"Davy Sword Style!"
His blade glimmered.
"Sea King Slash!"
A crescent of compressed air tore across the hall.
Katakuri's arm transformed into mochi.
It stretched outward.
Then hardened with Armament Haki.
The blackened fist smashed through the flying slash.
The attack burst apart like shattered glass.
Katakuri's extended fist continued forward.
WHAM!
It struck Giovanni square in the chest.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
He crashed through the auctioneer's platform, reducing it to splinters.
Disco screamed and dove under a table.
Giovanni sprang back to his feet.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
Smiling.
"Now this is fun."
Katakuri's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You enjoy losing?"
Giovanni adjusted his grip.
"No."
He vanished again.
This time he used the entire hall.
He ricocheted off walls.
Leapt from broken pillars.
Sky Walked through the air.
His movements became impossible to follow.
Left.
Right.
Above.
Behind.
Sword arcs flashed from every direction.
The choreography was breathtaking.
Like watching a hurricane wield a blade.
Katakuri remained calm.
Future Sight painted each incoming movement before it happened.
He shifted with minimal motion, avoiding every attack.
Then countered at the perfect moment.
A punch from the left.
A kick from below.
A hardened elbow to the ribs.
Each strike landed cleanly.
Each strike hurt.
Giovanni attempted to disengage.
Katakuri's mochi spread across the ground and seized his ankle.
Giovanni slashed downward.
The sticky mass split apart.
But in that instant, Katakuri appeared directly in front of him.
Their eyes met.
Katakuri had already seen this moment.
"Too slow."
BOOM!
A blackened uppercut launched Giovanni into the ceiling.
Stone exploded outward.
He rebounded through the debris.
Katakuri's leg stretched unnaturally.
Armament-coated.
It crashed into Giovanni midair.
WHAM!
Giovanni was sent hurtling across the hall like a cannonball.
He smashed through the wall and bounced into the center floor.
The impact created a crater.
Pirates who had come to bid on treasure now stood on broken seats, cheering wildly.
"This is insane!"
"That giant is crushing him!"
"No, look at Giovanni! He keeps getting up!"
Trebol peeked from behind a collapsed pillar.
"B-Beheheheā¦"
"They're destroying everythingā¦"
Even seasoned fighters watched with awe.
Because Giovanni was losing badly.
But he refused to stay down.
And each time he roseā
His eyes looked sharper.
More focused.
More determined.
Giovanni wiped blood from his mouth.
His chest rose and fell heavily.
'This is ridiculous.'
'He sees everything.'
He tightened his grip on his sword.
'Then I need to see farther.'
He inhaled.
The world seemed to slow.
The dust.
The broken stone.
Katakuri's breathing.
The twitch of his shoulders.
Giovanni dashed forward once more.
A blur of gold and steel.
His fastest attack yet.
The sword sliced in a flawless arc toward Katakuri's neck.
For the first timeā
Katakuri raised his arm to block.
CLANG!
Shockwaves burst across the room.
The floor shattered beneath their feet.
Giovanni's eyes lit up.
'I touched him!'
Then Katakuri twisted.
His knee slammed into Giovanni's ribs.
CRACK.
Giovanni's body flew backward again.
He rolled across the debris-strewn floor before forcing himself back to one knee.
Breathing hard.
Sweat dripped from his face.
Katakuri stood where he had always stood.
Calm.
Unruffled.
Untouched.
The Sweet Commander regarded him silently for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Is that all you have?"
---
The underground auction hall had descended into complete chaos.
The orderly rows of seats were gone.
The stage had been reduced to rubble.
Smoke drifted through the shattered chamber.
Above them, the distant sounds of explosions continued to rumble across the skies of Dressrosa as King, Marco, and Doflamingo tore through the city in pursuit of the Dog Dog Fruit, Model: Fenrir.
But even amid all that destructionā
Another battle was unfolding.
And this one was no less dangerous.
At the center of the auction floor, Shanks sprinted toward the display platform where the cutlass of Gol D. Roger still rested.
His sandals pounded against cracked stone.
His eyes remained fixed on the black display case.
'Captain.'
'I'm taking your sword home.'
A sticky voice rang out behind him.
"Perorin~āŖ You're not going anywhere."
Shanks glanced sideways.
Charlotte Perospero thrust his candy cane staff forward.
"Candy Maiden!"
A tidal wave of candy erupted from the floor.
Gigantic syrup-like tendrils twisted upward, hardening into massive spears and jagged spikes that surged toward Shanks from every direction.
The attack swallowed the entire aisle.
Shanks did not slow down.
His hand moved to the hilt of sword.
SHING!
A single slash.
A crimson arc flashed through the hall.
The candy constructs were severed cleanly in an instant.
Chunks of hardened sugar crashed to the ground like shattered glass.
Perospero clicked his tongue.
"Perorinā¦ not bad."
Shanks smiled.
"Thanks."
He accelerated.
Perospero slammed his staff into the ground.
"Candy Wall!"
A towering fortress of hardened candy rose before Shanks.
Layers upon layers of sugar compressed into a gleaming barrier thicker than steel.
Shanks' sandals scraped across the floor.
He twisted his body.
Sword flashed.
SHRAAAK!
The wall split down the middle.
The cut was so clean that the two halves remained standing for a heartbeat before collapsing apart.
Perospero's eyes widened.
"Seriously?!"
Shanks emerged through the falling debris.
Still smiling.
Still running.
Perospero gritted his teeth.
"Don't underestimate me!"
His candy powers exploded outward.
The floor liquefied into a sticky swamp.
Walls of sugar erupted from every angle.
Spinning lances.
Binding chains.
Needle-like projectiles.
An entire confectionery nightmare descended upon the red-haired pirate.
Shanks finally stopped.
His smile faded.
His expression sharpened.
For the first time, the atmosphere around him changed.
The air grew heavier.
Dangerous.
He stepped forward.
Then vanished.
Perospero's pupils contracted.
"Whereā?!"
A shadow appeared directly in front of him.
Shanks.
Perospero barely raised his staff.
CLANG!
The sword struck with enough force to bend the candy cane weapon.
A shockwave blasted outward.
Seats were uprooted.
Nearby pirates were thrown off their feet.
Perospero staggered backward, skidding through his own candy.
He coughed.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Perorinā¦"
Sweat rolled down his face.
Shanks stood a few meters away, sword resting lightly in one hand.
Relaxed.
Calm.
Completely in control.
Perospero snarled.
"Candy Escargot!"
Molten sugar coated his body in thick, armored layers.
A giant candy shell formed around him, increasing his size and reinforcing his defenses.
He charged.
The floor shattered beneath his weight.
Shanks watched him approach.
Two minutes.
That was all it had taken for Perospero to realize the truth.
There were levels to the sea.
And the man standing before him was operating on an entirely different one.
Perospero swung his massive candy staff.
Shanks inhaled slowly.
Dark lightning crackled around his sword.
The surrounding air screamed.
Shanks' eyes narrowed.
"Divine Departure."
The slash was almost too fast to perceive.
A single crimson line cut through the battlefield.
For one frozen momentā
Nothing happened.
Thenā
BOOOOOOM!!
Perospero's candy armor exploded.
The giant sweet shell disintegrated into a storm of sugar shards.
Perospero himself was launched across the auction hall like a cannonball.
He smashed through six pillars, ricocheted off the far wall, and crashed into a mountain of rubble.
His eyes rolled back.
His tongue lolled from his mouth.
Completely unconscious.
Shanks slid sword back into its sheath.
"Sorry about that."
He resumed walking toward Roger's sword.
"Captainā¦"
His hand extended toward the display case.
Thenā
The floor trembled.
RUMBLE.
Shanks stopped.
Stone blocks shifted beneath his feet.
The platform cracked.
The entire pedestal began sinking into the earth.
"What?"
The display case descended rapidly, as though swallowed by the ground itself.
Shanks stepped back in shock.
"What's this?"
Within seconds, the pedestal vanished below the floor.
Only a dark opening remained.
Nearby, Yassop lowered his newly acquired rifle and frowned.
"That has to be the work of a Devil Fruit user."
Shanks' eyes narrowed.
Then he grinned.
"Yassop."
Yassop spun the rifle in his hands, admiring the polished barrel before resting it against his shoulder.
"Understood, Boss."
Shanks pointed toward the dark tunnel where Roger's sword had disappeared.
"Find the Devil Fruit user."
Yassop's smile sharpened.
"With pleasure."
Without another word, the two pirates split up.
One to hunt the thief.
The other to recover the legacy of the Pirate King.
---
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