Fatal Front Lotus

The battle grew fiercer by the moment.

Kuro, darting among the cliffs with "Scoop," finally realized he was losing control of the situation. The veins at his temples bulged. "You damn pirate... How can you keep up with my speed?!"

The Cat Claws in his hands flashed, raking three strips of flesh across Buggy's chest.

Buggy's body stiffened, his speed dropping for a beat, while his separated body parts snapped back together!

"Why are you completely unharmed?!" Kuro crumbled as he felt his Cat Claws strike solidly against Buggy. "What kind of monster are you?!"

Buggy didn't answer. He chased after Kuro with "Shave," occasionally thrusting out a Finger Pistol to force his opponent to change his attacks and trajectory, all the while watching Kuro's footwork and condition.

"His steps are getting sloppy!"

Buggy seized the fleeting opening, curling his right foot slightly.

A moment later, he snapped it up. A pale, meter-wide blade of compressed air shot forward and slammed into the cliff ten meters ahead of Kuro's charging path.

Boom!

The cliff face crumbled, rocks tumbling down as fine dust billowed into the air.

Kuro had always relied on his unpredictable movements and seamless offense and defense. But after his rhythm faltered for a beat, Buggy finally found an opening and disrupted his "Scoop."

He pushed off the cliff and hurriedly leaped sideways, landing on the ground seven or eight meters away.

Fine rock fragments had scratched several shallow lines across Kuro's face. His perfectly neat slicked-back hair had been ruffled, and a few drops of blood stained his spotless suit. He looked utterly disheveled, nothing like the confident man who had seemed in control just moments ago.

Kuro stared at Buggy through blurred vision, his gloomy face seeming ready to drip with malice. "What are you...?"

Buggy eyed him slyly and spoke as if in jest, though perhaps he was serious. "As a fellow pirate, you must've heard the legend of immortality, right?"

"So that's it..." Kuro narrowed his eyes, trying to bring the world back into focus. "I always thought Devil Fruits were just a legend. It seems they really do exist. You must've eaten one..."

"As expected of the well-traveled Captain Kuro. I still can't fool you."

"I've abandoned the identity of Captain Kuro..." Kuro's expression remained blank as his eyes flicked toward Kaya in the distance behind him. "Then that strange power of hers must come from one of those things too..."

Buggy froze for a moment, then looked at Kaya. So the Devil Fruit that cat had stolen had been eaten by the young lady.

Out of habit, Kuro pushed up a pair of nonexistent glasses, then lowered his head naturally. "It's been more than two years since I last fought, but my body can still handle an even more intense 'Scoop'..."

"I'm going to..." Kuro's body began to sway, the movements growing smaller and smaller. His voice dwindled to a faint murmur. "Send all of you..."

Whoosh!

He vanished again!

Buggy's expression turned serious. He pushed off the ground and used "Shave" to keep up with Kuro.

"He's gotten so much faster... He's almost at the limit of my current speed..."

Buggy's thoughts faltered for just a moment, and Kuro's figure had already slipped beyond his striking range.

Five neat gouges appeared in the cliff face. Then a Black Cat Pirate was sent flying through the air by the force of the Cat Claws. Five bloody gashes appeared across his clothes, and he crashed to the ground.

"No!"

"Captain Kuro, please spare us!"

More and more pirates began shouting in panic, one after another.

Clang!!

Cabaji raised his sword to block. The sudden force of the Cat Claws knocked him back two steps, leaving a clear trail in the muddy ground.

The five Cat Claws stretched nearly a meter long, their reach wider and their strikes even more terrifying than Buchi's earlier attack!

Shuma stepped through the air with "Geppo." From above, he had a better view and could control the enemy's movements more effectively. He gripped the Raptor Boomerang, his eyes swiftly tracking Kuro, ready to strike at any moment.

Buggy stopped chasing Kuro and stood where the beach met the slope. He felt as though he was beginning to grasp something about Kuro's current state...

The Cat Claws came slicing through the air and split Buggy's upper body into five pieces, then vanished again.

Buggy's body returned to normal. Still pondering, he suddenly felt as if he'd understood something...

He abruptly used Life Return to concentrate all the energy inside his body in his eyes. His eyes filled with blood as he tracked every movement and change in expression on Kuro's face as he sped past.

In the blink of an eye, the energy gathered by Life Return flowed back to the rest of his body. The eyes were too delicate to withstand that much force, as expected—but it had been enough...

Buggy suddenly reached out with both hands, grabbing at a patch of empty air ten meters away.

Kuro, who had seemed to be hiding in the wind, appeared in that instant. Buggy's hands had wrapped around both his feet. His trajectory had been seen through!

"Playtime... is over."

Buggy's body suddenly split apart, then wrapped frantically around the stunned Kuro, carrying him high into the air.

"Damn it!"

Kuro desperately raked at Buggy's split body with his Cat Claws, gripped by an unprecedented sense of danger.

But even when Buggy's body was cut into several pieces, it clung to Kuro again like a persistent parasite.

He carried Kuro a hundred meters into the air, then plunged downward.

"Front Lotus—Sniper Cannon!"

The two of them plummeted like meteors. The roar of the wind filled their ears.

"No, let go of me!!"

Kuro, a master schemer who had always kept his composure, erupted with even more terror than an ordinary person as he faced death. His pupils widened, and his desperate, helpless screams rang out as he smashed into the rocky ground like a cannonball.

Boom!!!

The rocky ground for dozens of meters around them shuddered with the impact. A violent cloud of dust nearly swallowed half the beach. Everyone covered their mouths and noses, staring without blinking to see how the breathtaking battle had ended.

At the last moment before impact, Buggy transferred all the downward force on his body into Kuro. Then, using the recoil, he pulled himself free and landed on the ground.

Watching the dust swirl across the ground, he drew the dagger he habitually kept close and walked toward Kuro.

At last, the dust cleared. Kuro's body was nearly twisted in half, embedded in the ground. Seven or eight deep stab wounds marred the left side of his chest, close to his heart. Without a miracle, there was no way he could survive.

When finishing someone off... a dagger really was the handiest. Buggy put it away and called to a few Black Cat Pirates. "I'll leave the battlefield cleanup to you."

The few Black Cat Pirates stared nervously at the scene, then exchanged glances. Shoving and jostling, they pushed a few unlucky fellows forward. The men carried Kuro's corpse and the Nyaban Brothers, who had also been finished off, and hurried back to the crowd. Then, like fugitives, they grabbed the dazed Jango, scrambled aboard the Black Cat Pirate Ship, raised the sails, and quickly sailed away.