Chapter 8: The Kuja Pirates attack
Saint Dio studied the stubborn little face before him, his fingertip gently brushing her tightly pressed lower lip.
Hancock stiffened slightly and pressed her lips even tighter, a flicker of humiliated anger crossing her black eyes.
She wanted nothing more than to bite down and sever the finger taking liberties with her.
But when she caught sight of her two trembling younger sisters behind her, she forcibly suppressed that impulse.
She could not get her sisters killed for a moment of satisfaction.
Saint Dio seemed quite satisfied with her restraint. He withdrew his finger and gave a calm order. "Take them back to the ship."
Stussy nodded. "Yes, master."
She tugged the chain in her hand and was about to turn and leave with the three girls.
Just then.
Boom-!!
A tremendous crash suddenly rang out nearby, accompanied by the clamor of splintering wood and screaming crowds.
Saint Dio and Stussy both looked toward the sound. At the end of the street, a building's wall burst apart, and agile figures charged through the breach amid billowing dust.
They were a group of female warriors in wild attire.
They wore clothing woven from animal hides and scraps of cloth, exposing firm, powerful skin weathered by the sun and sea breeze. Each held a strangely shaped bow, its frame formed from coiled, living snakes. Their heads rose high, tongues flickering-they were actually alive.
Leading them was an enormous woman, probably close to three meters tall, her knotted muscles making her look like a moving hill.
Her upper body was bare except for a broad animal hide covering her chest and lower body, and her bronze skin gleamed with an oily sheen in the sunlight.
Most striking of all was the unusual weapon in her hand: a thick, living python with a sharp naginata blade clenched tightly in its mouth. As its body twisted, the blade traced dangerous arcs through the air.
"Hancock-!! Where are you-!!"
The giant woman's roar rolled like thunder, bursting the bubbles around her.
The chained Boa Hancock jolted at the sound, hope instantly blazing in her dull eyes.
She rose onto her tiptoes and shouted in that direction:
"Captain! I'm here-!!"
The female warriors wreaking destruction immediately pinpointed the source of her voice.
When they saw the three girls bound in chains, fury blazed in all their eyes.
"You damned slavers-!!"
"Give our comrades back!"
The Kuja warriors roared and charged toward them like an unstoppable torrent.
They drew their Snake Bows, and arrows imbued with Armament Haki tore through the air, shooting down the auction house guards who tried to block their path.
But the auction house security guards were not their only opponents.
"Protect the Celestial Dragon-!"
Though the guards Saint Dio had brought were only mediocre fighters, duty left them no choice but to draw their swords and charge.
Their heavy armor reflected a metallic sheen in the sunlight as they formed a human wall across the Kuja Pirates' path.
Clang-!!
Blades collided with Snake Bows, and the clash of metal mingled with battle cries.
Several guards were felled by the Kuja warriors' accomplished hand-to-hand techniques, but more surged forward from behind, barely slowing their opponents through sheer numbers.
The enormous female captain, the captain of the Kuja Pirates, swung her python naginata furiously. A single sweeping slash sent three guards flying, armor and all.
Roaring, she fixed her gaze on the three girls at the end of the chain and drove forward like an enraged lioness.
Though the Celestial Dragon's guards were called elites, each carefully selected from Marine Headquarters or units directly under the World Government, the gulf remained immense between them and these Kuja Pirates-female warriors who had spent years battling Sea Kings in the Calm Belt and had even mastered Haki.
Clang-!
Another guard's long sword was twisted out of his grip by a Snake Bows. A vicious kick struck his helmet immediately afterward, sending him flying into a wall before he slid down, his fate unknown.
Clutching his blood-soaked shoulder, the guard captain retreated while shouting at the Kuja warriors, "Are you insane?! We've already called for Marine reinforcements! An Admiral will be here any moment! It's not too late to stop-"
Rather than intimidating the Kuja warriors, his words only made their attacks fiercer.
They knew full well that once a Marine Admiral actually arrived, they would have no chance of rescuing their comrades.
They had to take them back before reinforcements arrived.
"Shut up!"
The Kuja captain roared and swept her python naginata outward, its Haki-clad blade tracing a lethal arc.
The guard captain's pupils contracted. Before he could even raise his sword, he felt a chill across his neck.
His vision spun.
He saw a headless body in familiar armor, blood gushing from its neck as it slowly toppled backward.
That body looked so familiar... it was his own.
Thud.
The head, still encased in its heavy helmet, fell to the ground and rolled several times down the sloping street before stopping beside a pair of white boots.
Saint Dio glanced down at the head by his feet, its eyes still wide in death. His expression did not change; he did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
It was as though an insignificant pebble had rolled to his feet rather than a human head.
From beginning to end, he had shown no intention of helping.
"The captain's amazing!" At the sight, the chained Hancock's eyes shone with excitement, her small body trembling slightly.
She saw hope. The captain was so strong—she could definitely defeat that hateful White Hair and rescue them!
Having landed her blow, the Kuja captain shot a lightning-sharp glance at the three girls behind Saint Dio. She bent her knees slightly, preparing to surge forward.
"Stussy."
Saint Dio spoke calmly.
"Take them back to the ship first."
Stussy was licking the corner of her mouth, her sharp fangs glinting coldly in the sunlight. She could hardly wait to test herself against this Kuja captain.
But at her master's command, she could only regretfully suppress her eagerness and nod obediently.
"Yes, master."
She tugged the chain in her hand, forcibly dragging the three reluctant girls along as she turned toward the harbor.
Hancock struggled desperately, but the collar around her neck reminded her that any resistance could set off the bomb. She could only let the chain drag her step by step away from the figure fighting amid blood.
At the sight, the Kuja captain's eyes turned bloodshot, and she roared, "Stop right there-!"
Her enormous body erupted with astonishing speed utterly at odds with her size, hurtling like a cannonball in the direction of Stussy's retreat-
Then she stopped.
An invisible sword slash skimmed past the tip of her nose, severing a lock of hair at her forehead that drifted gently onto her shoulder.
An instant later, the slash plowed a deep furrow into the ground before her, scattering stones and dirt to either side.
Had she not sensed the danger with Observation Haki at that instant and stopped in time, that slash would already have split her head in two.
The Kuja captain's pupils narrowed slightly. She slowly turned toward the source of the slash.
At some point, the White Hair boy had stepped between her and Stussy's retreat route.
He held that sheathless sword.
Its blade pointed diagonally toward the ground, its dark silver metallic sheen shifting in the sunlight like a venomous snake lying in wait, ready to strike its prey at any moment.
He stood there, the hem of his white clothing fluttering gently in the sea breeze, the same unchanging indifference on his face, as though that incomparably fierce slash had been nothing more than a casual gesture.
Looking at the enormous, menacing Kuja captain before him, he finally spoke his first words:
"Your opponent is me."
Chapter 9: A clash of Conqueror's Haki
Looking at the reckless White Hair boy before her, the Kuja captain laughed in extreme anger.
In all her years roaming these seas unchecked, she had never seen such an arrogant brat, much less a Celestial Dragon who looked thoroughly pampered.
"You're asking to die!"
With an explosive shout, she swung her python naginata through a full arc and brought it down. The blade shrieked through the air like a thunderbolt falling from the heavens, aimed straight at the crown of Saint Dio's head.
Clang-!
The tremendous clash of metal exploded through the street, a shock wave spreading outward and kicking up dust.
Holding Jörmungandr horizontally in one hand, Saint Dio steadily blocked the heavy naginata.
His arm did not tremble in the slightest, nor did the ground beneath his feet sink at all.
The Kuja captain's pupils contracted slightly.
Gritting her teeth, she pressed down with her entire weight, muscles bulging and veins standing out, trying to crush the boy through brute force.
Yet no matter how much strength she exerted, the dark silver sword before her did not budge, as though she were pressing against not a sword but an iron monument embedded deep in the earth.
"How is that possible...?!"
Her voice carried incredulous shock.
In terms of size, she clearly held an overwhelming advantage. With her enormous, nearly three-meter frame reinforced by Armament Haki, that strike had enough force to cleave through a warship's deck.
Yet this boy, who looked no older than fourteen or fifteen, had blocked it with one hand?
Saint Dio raised his eyes, calmly regarding the face flushed red with exertion before him. A trace of disappointment entered his voice.
"Is that all you've got?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Looks like that's all there is to you."
He had intended to use this Kuja captain, who roamed the Calm Belt unchecked, to test the results of his years of training and see how far he still stood from this world's strongest fighters.
But the result... too weak.
So weak I can't even take this seriously.
"You bastard-!!"
That casual assessment thoroughly enraged the Kuja captain.
She roared, her muscles swelling once more. Pitch-black Armament Haki spread like ink over her thick arms and the naginata's blade. She exerted herself again, pouring all her strength and Haki into the downward strike.
Yet.
Saint Dio's expression did not even change. He simply held his sword and began walking forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
With every step he took forward, the Kuja captain was forced one step back.
Under Jörmungandr's pressure, the Haki-coated naginata was actually being lifted inch by inch.
No matter how the captain roared and strained, she could not stop that dark silver sword from steadily gaining the upper hand.
"Let me show you what real strength is."
Saint Dio spoke calmly.
He tightened his grip on Jörmungandr's hilt and sharply flicked his wrist, a simple motion like shaking dust off the blade.
But that strength was like a sleeping python suddenly turning over.
The Kuja captain felt an overwhelming force surge through the blade. Her arms instantly went numb, the skin between her thumbs and forefingers split, and blood sprayed.
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