Still Want to Fight?

Displeased.

Lynn was extremely displeased right now.

There had been three reasons why he hadn't attacked the Black Cat Pirates aboard Granny Siya's merchant ship.

First, he had been worried the battle would affect Granny Siya and the crew. After all, Granny Siya was already old, and the crew all had families of their own.

Second, there were rules on the sea. Lynn certainly had the ability to drive off the Black Cat Pirates, but he couldn't stay with Granny Siya and the others forever. If any of them slipped away and retaliated against Granny Siya, Lynn simply wouldn't be able to handle it.

So avoiding conflict had been the best choice.

Third, Kuro was just a minor character. Lynn's only interest in him had been his Silent Step, whose speed rivaled Soru, one of the Rokushiki.

So Lynn had originally planned to find some time later and meet them alone under his own name.

Yet he had never expected Kuro to dare join forces with Krieg and target the people of Foosha Village!

Did he really think Lynn was easy to provoke?

Kidnapping, threats, Seastone weapons, schemes, backers...

All the messy tricks Kuro had arranged made it seem as though he were some mastermind controlling the entire situation, while Lynn was slowly falling into his conspiracy.

And that was what truly displeased Lynn.

Always pulling these flashy little tricks!

He was going to let Kuro understand one thing—

Lynn Barek's nickname was BOSS, so he would always be the one being challenged.

Others had always challenged him. He had never challenged anyone else!

Lynn grabbed Kuro by the collar and slammed his fist, as big as a sandbag, straight into Kuro's face.

As he punched, he said:

"What kind of—"

Bang!

"—little—"

Bang!

"—kitty are you?!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Heavy punch after heavy punch crashed into Kuro's face.

The lenses of Kuro's glasses had already been smashed apart by the blows, leaving only the frame hanging from his ears.

His once meticulously groomed hair was now a complete mess. Several strands hung loose, stuck to his forehead by the blood he had spat out.

At that moment, Kuro had only one thought—or rather, only one thought could arise in his mind:

What was happening?

The pirate who had dominated East Blue through schemes and earned the title Hundred Plans was now—

Stunned.

Though he had long heard that the man before him was a madman with a bounty of 100 million Berries, Kuro had still been confident he could defeat him with his plans.

After all, he had brought in the World Government and JOKER as his backers!

But now, Lynn's merciless heavy punches were shattering Kuro's fantasies one blow at a time.

That excruciating pain seemed to be telling Kuro:

Stop with those flashy tricks. They're useless.

Kuro now felt his consciousness gradually growing hazy. He was already being beaten senseless.

Using all his strength, he finally shouted:

"Stop!"

Lynn's fist actually stopped in midair.

Kuro finally had time to catch his breath. After taking a few seconds to recover, he used his remaining strength to swing his Ten-Blade Cat Claws at Lynn.

His Ten-Blade Cat Claws were also fitted with Seastone. As long as they struck Lynn, no matter how badly he had been beaten before, the final victory would still belong to Kuro!

But what Kuro faced the next second was the sole of Lynn's shoe.

Before the Ten-Blade Cat Claws could hit him, Lynn raised his leg and kicked Kuro square in the face again!

Bang!

Kuro was sent flying once more, slamming heavily into the wall.

The Ten-Blade Cat Claws on his hands came loose and fell onto both sides of the street.

Along with the clattering sound of blades hitting the ground, a suffocating atmosphere spread through the street.

The pirates stared at the scene before them, and not one of them could make a sound.

Hundred Plans Kuro, infamous throughout East Blue for his ruthlessness, had actually been kicked away by the man named Lynn and embedded in the wall!

Lynn rubbed his shoulder, walked over, dug Kuro out of the rubble, grabbed his collar again, and lifted him up.

"Release them, or else..."

Lynn looked at him calmly and slowly asked, "Still want to fight?"

Kuro struggled to pry apart the fingers gripping his collar, but without the threat of Seastone, Lynn's fingers were like iron pincers, locking him firmly in place.

Bang!

Another punch landed on Kuro's face.

Kuro only felt his face throbbing and aching. His nose had been knocked crooked, and his once fairly gentlemanly face was now a complete wreck.

Lynn pulled Kuro's face closer, stared into it, and continued asking slowly:

"Still want to fight?"

Kuro panted heavily, as though he still had not recovered from those punches.

When he finally caught his breath, he glared at Lynn with bloodshot eyes and gritted his teeth.

"I can still fi—"

Before he could finish the last word, Lynn's fist smashed into Kuro's face again!

This time, after taking Lynn's punch head-on, Kuro suddenly wrapped his arms around Lynn's hand. Then he locked Lynn's right arm between his legs and violently straightened his body.

Even Lynn had not expected Kuro, the pirate famed across East Blue for assassination and schemes, to use his light body to perform a modified Cross Armbar on him in midair!

This move was extremely useful in close combat. The attacker pinned the opponent's arm against his chest with both hands, then thrust his hips hard to force the opponent to submit—or break one of the opponent's arms.

The principle behind Silent Step was similar to Soru. Both involved rapidly stomping the ground to move at high speed, so Kuro's leg strength was undoubtedly superhuman.

In other words, Lynn was now facing a modified Cross Armbar powered by those superhuman legs!

The Cross Armbar position had already been locked in. Under such circumstances, no ordinary person could break free.

But Lynn was no ordinary person either!

Veins bulged along Lynn's right arm. He stepped forward into a leftward stance, lowered his center of gravity, and let out a roar from his throat.

Then an astonishing scene unfolded.

Lynn actually lifted Kuro's entire body using the strength of his right arm alone!

Then he slammed him heavily into the ground!

Boom!

The ground cracked, fissures spreading several meters as dust was thrown into the air by the violent impact.

When the dust settled, Lynn was surprised to find that Kuro had protected the back of his head with both hands. His eyes were tightly shut, but he had barely endured the slam without losing consciousness.

His legs remained tightly locked around Lynn's right arm, forcing Lynn to expend strength against him.

But just as Lynn prepared to slam Kuro into the ground again, Kuro suddenly opened his eyes.

Lynn's monstrous strength had indeed far exceeded Kuro's expectations.

But he, Hundred Plans Kuro, still had one final trump card left!

Kuro used every ounce of strength in his body and roared toward the distance:

"Brother Krieg, shoot!"

In that instant, Lynn's mind raced.

Of course, he did not think Kuro believed an ordinary gun could take him down.

But the pirates present all had Seastone weapons, so the "gun" Kuro mentioned had to fire Seastone bullets!

In the future, Zephyr had once defeated Luffy, who had been quite confident in his abilities, with a surprise Seastone bullet attack. Chopper had been the one to remove the Seastone bullet from Luffy at the time.

Lynn was alone now. Once he was shot, he would instantly lose all ability to resist!

He had to dodge it!

Seastone bullets were difficult to manufacture, so there could not be many bullets made from Seastone. Otherwise, Kuro would not have treated them as his final trump card.

While holding Kuro up, Lynn focused his attention on his surroundings. As long as Krieg fired the first shot, Lynn was confident he could locate him, then rush over and take him out.

Dodging the first shot would mean victory for Lynn!

However—

Boom!

A sound did ring out, but calling it a gunshot would have been far too generous. It was much duller than that.

It sounded like the noise Lynn made when he smashed pirates into walls!

Just then, a series of dull impacts came from Lynn's rear right, as though someone were constantly smashing through walls. The sounds were getting closer and closer.

In the end, the noise was only one wall away from Number Five Backstreet.

With a dull boom, bricks flew everywhere, and three figures appeared before everyone amid the dust.

One was a Commodore wearing heavy Seastone armor.

One was the White Hunter, dressed casually with a cigar in his mouth.

And one was draped in a bath towel, blue-haired, and somewhat handsome...

Who was that?