The long blade that could cleave steel was blocked.
Moria's muscles beneath his leather coat tensed, his veins bulging as if ready to burst, yet the blade could not advance a single inch.
Instead, his own hands went numb from the shock.
And the one who had blocked his blade was just a single hand.
"Black..."
Moria had clearly noticed the change in July's arm.
He remembered that the Marines he had fought at the marine base seemed to possess this same ability.
What kind of power was this?
A Devil Fruit ability? Clearly not.
July did not give Moria any more time to think.
She flicked her arm, knocking Moria's greatsword aside.
Then her entire body launched into the air, her right leg whipping like a steel cable into Moria's waist, nearly snapping him in half!
"It hurts!"
Moria was in so much pain he nearly dropped his sword.
He felt as if July's kick carried some kind of venom.
After landing on him, the force had burrowed into his body like a snake!
He felt his muscles, bones, meridians, and organs all erupt in searing agony under the impact of that force!
The internal destruction technique of Armament Haki—naturally, July had mastered it.
This kick looked like it only struck Moria's side, but in truth her Haki had invaded into his body, dealing massive damage to the muscle tissue of his waist in that single instant.
The muscles on the left side of Moria's waist were already dead.
For an ordinary person, this would have left them paralyzed on the ground.
But whatever race Moria belonged to, his vitality was tenacious enough that he had not yet fallen.
He quickly shook off the pain and lunged at July once more.
"Die!"
His greatsword swung down in wide arcs, the slashes churning up violent gusts of air.
They lunged at July like a wild beast!
But July's form was incredibly agile.
Her small frame leapt through the air as she evaded every single attack.
Even when she occasionally had no foothold in midair, she had techniques like Moon Walk to rely on.
So while Moria's counterattack looked impressive, in reality it had no effect at all!
"Damned woman, is dodging all you can do?"
He roared in humiliation, baring his fangs in an attempt to provoke her.
July shook her head helplessly from not far away.
She, of course, would not be enraged by such a simple provocation.
But for someone of Moria's level, humoring him for a bit was actually rather amusing.
With that thought, July's lips curled into a wicked smirk.
"You say I only know how to dodge? How laughable."
"Your attacks have no effect on me at all."
She stopped walking, hands in her pockets, her expression haughty, as if the word "opponent" did not exist in her vocabulary.
This attitude genuinely made Moria feel an overwhelming rage!
His muscles bulged in defense, and fury drove him to exert one hundred and twenty percent of his full strength.
He raised the greatsword high in both hands, suddenly unleashing a massive crescent-shaped slash toward July!
"VWOOM—"
The slash sliced through the air with a hiss, threatening to cleave July clean in two.
A triumphant smile had already spread across Moria's face, only to see the woman opposite him slowly raise a single foot.
"Storm Leg—"
A blue slash instantly split Moria's crescent-shaped strike clean in two!
It then continued toward Moria with undiminished force.
He hastily raised his sword to block, summoning every ounce of strength to deflect the slash.
But when he turned his gaze back to July, she had already vanished from his sight.
"Where? Where did that woman go?"
Moria frantically scanned his surroundings for her.
But all he saw was his own comrades being steadily cut down under the assault of the Oni!
Black claws pierced their chests, fangs severed their throats—
"Wait! Don't hurt my comrades!"
Moria felt a blazing fury ignite in his chest.
He had no time to look for July now.
All he wanted was to hack those monsters to pieces with his blade and lead his men out of here!
He was about to do just that, but his sword-wielding hands felt an irresistible force crushing down on them.
"CLANG!"
A foot clad in a woman's military boot stomped his greatsword deep into the steel deck.
"I haven't said you could leave yet, onion-headed bat-man!"
"Let go of it!"
Moria roared at her, his hands straining with all their might.
He tried to wrench the sword free from beneath her foot, but his natural monstrous strength seemed to have no effect anymore.
"Damn it—get away from me!"
Desperate to save his subordinates, Moria could only roar helplessly at the Oni.
"Stop! Don't hurt my men!"
"What a caring captain you are to your subordinates."
July walked forward with catlike steps, as though on a runway, treading along the spine of Moria's sword.
Then she stomped down, pinning both of his hands beneath her sole.
"How pitiful. Your crew is about to be slaughtered by us."
She seemed to speak with sympathy as she followed Moria's gaze.
The pirates wailed ceaselessly, more and more of them falling with wounds.
The battle had only just begun, and Moria's forces had already been cut nearly in half.
"But this is what you brought upon yourself as captain, isn't it?"
"What kind of consequence you'd face for burning the flag of our Inazuma, you should have at least considered that, no?"
"Or did you think this was just a game of pretend?"
"Shut up!"
Moria first roared at the woman tearing open his wounds.
But then he suddenly broke into a sinister, cold grin.
July somehow felt this guy looked a bit like a shark.
"You think I'd just give up like this?"
Moria glared at her with hateful eyes, then suddenly opened his mouth wide and lunged forward to bite!
At first, July thought Moria was going to use his fangs to wound her.
But she quickly noticed that the direction of his bite was not aimed at her body, but at the sole of her foot.
A foot fetish?
She frowned, originally just feeling a bit disgusted.
Her precious little foot, how could she let a guy like this touch it?
She was just about to kick him in the face and knock all those fangs out!
But the warning from her Observation Haki made her shudder.
She instinctively leapt backward, putting distance between herself and Moria.
"CLINK—"
Moria's bite snapped at empty air, but he showed no frustration.
Instead, he spread his arms wide, releasing a swarm of jet-black bats.
They seized his still-living crewmen and swept them toward the approaching Marine warship.
"What was that guy trying to do?"
July did not pursue for the moment, still pondering what technique Moria had been about to unleash.
"It didn't look like an ordinary bite. Could his mouth have venom?"
[
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