"Shing!"
The crisp sound of a blade being drawn suddenly rang out through the noisy restaurant.
Kuina pushed with her thumb, and Wado Ichimonji flashed free of its sheath in a snow-white arc.
Her wooden clog shattered a floorboard beneath her foot, and she shot across the dining tables like an arrow loosed from a bow.
An afterimage stretched through the air as her blade flashed straight toward Buck and his pirates.
Before Buck's palm could touch Kuina's shoulder, the dazzling sword light completely filled his vision.
"How is this little girl so fast?!"
Buck's pupils contracted, and his heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it tight.
"Boss, watch out!"
"Her sword is too fast! I can't even see it!"
The skinny monkey-like pirate beside him shouted in terror, hastily trying to raise his gun and fire.
But Kuina moved faster than he could react.
She changed direction in midair, flicked her wrist, and sent her sword tip toward the skinny pirate's wrist.
"Damn it!"
"How can this brat's swordsmanship be so sharp?!"
The one-eyed pirate cried out as he retreated.
Before he could raise his sword, a tearing pain shot through his wrist.
"She's definitely no ordinary rich girl!"
"We messed with the wrong people!"
The fat pirate scrambled backward, his trouser legs instantly soaked with cold sweat.
Kuina twisted at the waist in midair, her wrist trembling in quick succession as her sword tip struck with the precision of falling raindrops.
Spurt!
Spurt!
Spurt!
Blood blossomed through the air in succession.
The sharp clatter of swords and guns hitting the floor instantly drowned out the restaurant's noise.
More than a dozen pirates fell screaming, clutching their blood-drenched wrists and rolling in agony on the wooden floor.
Buck looked down at his right hand, its tendons