Bellemere held a cigarette between her teeth, pride showing on her face as she spoke.
Bellemere did not know exactly how strong Yang Cheng had become, but judging by the kick that had just sent Arlong flying...
His strength had undoubtedly surpassed hers, and even that of Arlong from the Arlong Pirates.
At just thirteen, he already possessed the strength of a Marine field officer stationed in the East Blue.
With talent and potential like that, Bellemere could not help feeling proud as his adoptive mother.
After Yang Cheng kicked Arlong away, all the remaining fish-men of the Arlong Pirates swarmed him.
Yet even against their combined assault, which included the officer Hachi's Six-Sword Style, Kuroobi's Fish-Man Karate, and Choo's Water Gun...
Yang Cheng's body seemed as light and thin as paper, effortlessly slipping past their coordinated attacks.
He raised his leg and unleashed a Tempest Kick. The flying slash struck Hachi's spinning, almost acrobatic sword dance, snapping every blade in his hands and sending him flying along with them.
When Kuroobi launched his Fish-Man Karate technique, Thousand-Brick Fist, straight at Yang Cheng's face, Yang Cheng did not back down. Instead, he clenched his own fist and punched back.
Seeing Yang Cheng dare to meet his fist head-on, Kuroobi sneered.
Fish-men were physically stronger than humans by far.
Besides, he was a fortieth-dan master of Fish-Man Karate. Thousand Brick Fist was his strongest finishing move, yet this human brat actually dared to clash with him head-on!
Boom!
The two fists, vastly different in size, collided in midair. The contempt on the previously confident Kuroobi's face began to change rapidly.
His initial scorn turned to shock, and finally, as he felt the terrifying force surge through his arm, his expression filled with horror and pain.
Despite possessing a physique far superior to a human's and using his strongest finishing move, he held out for barely a moment against this human brat's punch before his arm was smashed into a grotesque angle.
A human brat had not only beaten him, a master of Fish-Man Karate, in strength-he had completely crushed him!
"Damn it! Why is there a monster brat like this on some island in the Weakest Sea?!"
Seeing Kuroobi, the strongest of their officers, have his arm broken by a single blow in his clash with Yang Cheng...
Choo, another officer of the Arlong Pirates, once again fired a barrage of high-speed water arrows from his mouth.
As a Kissing Fish-Man, Choo could shoot water arrows through his protruding lips, with greater power and speed than bullets.
"Hachi, I'll hold him off! Go get Momoo!"
Momoo was a pet kept by the Arlong Pirates, a Sea King resembling a sea cow.
Compared with the gigantic Sea Kings in the Grand Line's Calm Belt, Momoo was naturally nothing special in size.
But in the East Blue, known as the Weakest Sea, a Sea King like Momoo was already a nightmare for most pirate crews.
Choo claimed he would buy time, but unfortunately, he did not last even a minute against Yang Cheng before being knocked flat.
Against Yang Cheng, who had mastered Shave of the Six Powers, the high-speed water arrows could not even catch his dust.
After several consecutive shots missed, Yang Cheng was already standing before Choo. A single punch sent his eyes rolling back and left him crumpled on the ground.
Boom!
Just as Yang Cheng finished taking down the Arlong Pirates' officers, Arlong finally rose from the rubble of the building.
He glanced at his fellow fish-men sprawled all around him, then at Yang Cheng standing before him, and instantly flew into a rage.
"You damned inferior creature! What have you done to my people?!"
Arlong was cruel to humans, whether by nature or because of Fisher Tiger, but his treatment of his own people was beyond reproach.
He picked up his massive saw-bladed sword, Kiribachi, from the nearby rubble, charged straight up to Yang Cheng, and swung it down with both hands.
Yang Cheng had just used Shave to evade Arlong's slash when, a second later, Arlong gathered a mass of water in his hand and hurled it at him.
The technique Arlong used was not Fish-Man Karate. Instead, he took advantage of his natural traits as a shark to use water like shotgun pellets.
As a former officer of the Sun Pirates, Arlong really was no weakling.
He had a serrated nose that could serve as a weapon, bones like steel, arms strong enough to lift houses, endlessly regenerating teeth, and a terrifying bite capable of piercing cannonballs.
That old bastard Oda had simply introduced him too early and then killed him off for the plot. Otherwise, no matter how Yang Cheng looked at it, Arlong was not someone Luffy could have challenged right after setting out to sea.
After all, the guy had at least seen his share of the wider world.
Yang Cheng used Kami-e to evade the water pellets blasting toward him like buckshot, but at that very moment, Arlong had already leaped at him, swinging his massive saw-bladed sword down.
Having yet to master Iron Body of the Six Powers, Yang Cheng could not take that sword head-on. He could only grab a sword belonging to one of the other nameless fish-men off the ground and hold it horizontally before him to block.
Clang!
The instant the massive saw-bladed sword collided with Yang Cheng's blade, tremendous force traveled through it into his body, cracking the ground beneath his feet.
And because the sword in his hands was clearly inferior to Arlong's massive saw-bladed weapon, it was already showing signs of shattering.
Seeing Yang Cheng's sword about to give way under the strain, Arlong's expression grew even more savage. He exerted more force with both arms, pressing his massive blade farther down.
So what if you're fast? So what if you're strong?
In Arlong's eyes, Yang Cheng now had nowhere left to run.
The moment that sword snapped, he could use Kiribachi to cleave the brat's body in two!
Wano Country had ninjas, but Yang Cheng had not yet tested whether Ninjutsu could be used in this world.
Besides, with both hands gripping his sword, he had no opportunity to form hand seals.
Possessing the abilities of the Sludge Monster Yang
Cheng, he probably would not die even if Arlong landed a slash. But to spare Bellemere and the others any needless worry, Yang Cheng closed his eyes, then opened them again. Azure Flame blazed in his pupils!
The sudden sight startled even Arlong, who had thought victory was already assured.
"You brat! You're actually a Devil Fruit..."
Before Arlong could finish, Azure Flame erupted from the sword in Yang Cheng's hands as well.
As Azure Flame engulfed the sword that had been on the verge of breaking, a layer of solid ice instantly encased its blade.
Yang Cheng forced Arlong's massive saw-bladed sword upward. Then, wielding the Azure Flame Blade with azure fire blazing in one pupil, he slashed diagonally across Arlong's chest!
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