Chapter 974: The Melee Begins, Smoothie’s Near-Miss

Chapter 974: Chapter 974: The Melee Begins, Smoothie’s Near-Miss

"A Paramecia-type, the Rust-Rust Fruit... Truly a troublesome ability!"

Katakuri stared intently at the corroded concrete beneath his feet. Suddenly, his wrist split open, dissolving into a pool of pale, yellowish mochi fluid before forcing out a long, ornate trident, which he gripped firmly in his palm.

"Here I come!"

With a low grunt, Katakuri vanished from his spot in a flash of blinding speed.

CLANG—!!!

A deafening metallic shriek erupted across the harbor, unleashing a violent shockwave that violently churned the surrounding air pressure.

Backan held his massive wheel-axe defensively before him, the pitch-black tip of Katakuri’s trident pinning into the broad face of the blade, unable to advance even an inch further.

What insane speed! What monstrous strength!

Backan’s expression turned extraordinarily grim. Glancing through the corners of his eyes, he noticed that the solid ground beneath their feet had already shattered into a sprawling, web-like fracture.

"I don’t have time to waste playing games with you here. Let’s start by taking your head!" Katakuri’s voice was bone-chillingly cold. His arm suddenly swelled into a massive column of mochi that completely engulfed the haft of his trident, spinning at an explosive velocity.

"Mochi Thrust!"

Leaping high into the air, Katakuri plummeted through the howling gales like an eagle tearing down upon its prey, driving the high-speed, drilling trident straight into his target.

Unwilling to risk taking such a devastating strike head-on, Backan threw his weight to the side, narrowly evading the path of the blow. With a cataclysmic BOOM, the ground collapsed completely, kicking up a furious shockwave as a massive crater several meters wide gouged out the pier.

As Katakuri wrenched his weapon free from the shattered concrete, a perfectly smooth, circular void was left in the epicenter of the crater, rendered far cleaner than if a heavy industrial drill had bored through it.

"What a relentless bastard!"

Seizing the opening, Backan lunged forward, closing the gap as he let out a guttural roar: "Corrosive Split: Mountain-Splitting Strike!!!"

Grip tight with both hands, he coated the entirety of his wheel-axe in a thick layer of hardened Armament Haki, unleashing a savage, sweeping cleave that dragged a howling gale of cutting pressure in its wake.

In that fleeting split-second, a crimson light flared within Katakuri’s pupils. His torso instantly liquefied into malleable mochi, preemptively splitting wide open along the exact trajectory of Backan’s swinging blade.

"Dammit..."

The axe sliced cleanly through Katakuri’s form without encountering any solid resistance. The sudden lack of impact sent Backan completely off-balance, causing him to stumble forward several paces.

"Die."

Katakuri’s eyes sharpened to a lethal edge. "Edged Mochi!"

Instantly, Katakuri’s left arm reshaped into a rigid, rectangular block of mochi before being heavily reinforced by Armament Haki. Transformed into what looked like a massive, metallic beam, his fist drove forward with terrifying velocity.

BANG—!!!

Caught entirely off guard while recovering his stance, Backan took the full force of Katakuri’s fist squarely against his head. Coughing up a fountain of blood, his body was sent flying backward like a broken doll.

CRASH—!!!

His dark silhouette tore through the air, smashing cleanly through a dozen heavy steel shipping containers before the momentum finally ground to a halt amidst a billowing cloud of dust and debris.

Simultaneously, Ain, Shuzo, and Binz, backed by a dozen allied pirate captains, surged forward to intercept the high-ranking officers and combatants of the Big Mom Pirates.

"Gahahaha—Drop dead!"

Caribou charged at the vanguard, eager to assert his worth. Laughing maniacally, he vaulted into the air and reached into his swamp-like torso, pulling out a massive, two-meter-long scythe before driving it down toward Baron Tamago with vicious intent.

Faced with the incoming blade, Baron Tamago didn’t even bother to dodge. He simply snapped his remarkably long leg upward, unleashing a hardened Armament Haki kick that met the scythe with a resonant CLANG.

"I know you... a fresh face among the Chris Pirates, one of this year’s Supernovas with a bounty of 210 million Berries, ’Wet-Haired’ Caribou-bon," Baron Tamago observed nonchalantly, his tone layered with complete indifference as he looked down upon his attacker.

In the next breath, he thrust his sheathed cane-sword forward like a lightning-fast piston, burying the blunt pommel deep into Caribou’s abdomen.

OOF—!!!

The concussive force sent Caribou’s eyes rolling back as he spewed a mouth of blood, his entire form folding over before being violently blasted backward.

"Brother!" Coribou shrieked in absolute horror, his voice cracking.

"Caribou... you utterly useless piece of trash!" Ain’s delicate features twisted in irritation. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the advancing enemies. "Don’t get too arrogant, Big Mom Pirates!"

With a twin set of short daggers gripped tightly in her hands, Ain dashed forward into the fray.

Suddenly, a towering figure obstructed her path, casting a massive shadow. "This is as far as you go!"

"Sweet Commander Smoothie!" Ain gasped, her feet skidding across the pavement as she instantly recognized the extraordinarily tall woman looming over her.

"I’ll make this quick and neat, Ain-san!" Smoothie said, casting a cool, detached gaze down at her. She elegantly hoisted her massive longsword, a faint gleam of killing intent dancing in her beautiful eyes.

"We’ll see if you have the actual capability to back up that claim!" Ain spat through gritted teeth, fine beads of sweat forming along her smooth forehead.

Facing an absolute powerhouse of the Big Mom Pirates like a Sweet Commander brought an immense, suffocating weight. Though she refused to back down, it didn’t mean she didn’t feel the crushing pressure of the disparity.

Suddenly, the longsword cleaved downward, bringing with it a tempest of razor-sharp wind.

"Here it comes!"

Ain’s pupils contracted. Without a single moment of hesitation, she crossed her twin daggers to parry the massive descending blade.

CLANG—!!!

The three blades collided in a spectacular shower of sparks, unleashing a visible ring of kinetic shockwaves that tore violently across the immediate vicinity.

She’s too strong...!

A monstrous surge of raw physical force traveled down Ain’s arms, threatening to split the skin of her palms as the stone tile beneath her boots cracked under the strain.

Knowing she stood no chance in a direct contest of raw strength, Ain didn’t attempt to lock blades. She nimbly rolled beneath the sweep of the blade, slickly sheathing her left dagger back into its leather scabbard.

"Backward! Backward!"

A strange, peach-colored flame resembling an eerie wisp flared to life across Ain’s left palm. She lunged forward, driving her hand directly toward Smoothie’s exposed midriff.

At that exact moment, Smoothie felt a deep, instinctual sense of mortal peril radiating from that seemingly harmless peach-colored fire. Without a word, she abruptly shifted her weight, throwing herself into a frantic backward retreat.

"Mosa-mosa! Mosa-mosa!"

Suddenly, several massive vines snaked out from the nearby shadows with blinding speed, wrapping around Smoothie’s long legs and pinning her arms to her sides in a split second.

Seizing the absolute opening created by the distraction, Ain drove her palm forward, the peach-colored flame tracking a direct path toward Smoothie’s body.

"Candy Wall!!!"

A loud shout echoed from the flank. In an instant, a massive volume of thick, viscous purple syrup materialized before Smoothie, rising rapidly to construct a dense, fortified barricade.

SPLAT—

Ain’s palm slammed dead-center into the thick candy barrier, the peach-colored flame instantly sinking deep into the viscous structure.

In the very next breath, the dense Candy Wall began to actively liquefy within a single fraction of a second, reversing through time itself as it melted back into its raw, fluid syrup form before pooling onto the ground and completely vanishing into thin air.

"It disappeared?! What kind of bizarre ability is that?!" Smoothie gasped, a cold sweat breaking out across her back. She had missed being touched by a hair’s breadth; if that terrifying flame had made contact with her body, the consequences would have been catastrophic.

"Where the hell did my wall go?!"

Standing dozens of meters away, Perospero stared at the empty space in utter bewilderment, rubbing his eyes in sheer disbelief at the sight.

"Damn it!" Ain’s expression darkened considerably as she took a cautious step back, her gaze locked warily onto the Sweet Commander.

"I completely underestimated you... To think such a terrifyingly deceptive ability existed in this world," Smoothie muttered, her expression hardening into one of absolute gravity. She flexed her long legs with explosive force, cleanly snapping the massive vines binding her limbs to pieces.

The world harbored very few truly prominent female pirates. While the Chris Pirates certainly boasted formidable figures, their most renowned heavyweights were currently stationed elsewhere. Given that Ain had only recently integrated into their ranks, her name carried little weight across the seas. Consequently, Smoothie hadn’t given her much thought.

Even knowing that Ain was a former disciple of "Black Arm" Zephyr, Smoothie had only treated her as a standard combatant. She never could have anticipated such a terrifyingly abstract Devil Fruit ability. Combined with the synchronized interference from Zephyr’s other student, she had very nearly suffered a humiliating defeat right here on the docks.