"I like that scared look of yours," El said lightly. "It's much more pleasing to the eye."
After injuring Bonier with a single sword strike, El did not immediately press his advantage. Instead, he held his sword in one hand, casually pointing the blade's tip at Bonier as he mocked him.
Just as he had planned before the battle, El would never allow anyone to act more arrogant than himself.
After coming to this world, nine full years had already passed.
Since birth, El had been favored by fate. Aside from a painless whipping he suffered once at the orphanage as a child, no human—nor even any beast—had ever left a mark on his body.
Likewise, since going to sea at the age of eight, every enemy El had encountered—excluding Koushirou, a temporarily invincible sword master who had never been his enemy—had either been killed or utterly defeated.
El enjoyed displaying overwhelming strength: ending battles in a single strike, or crushing his opponents' will until they collapsed in despair.
What he disliked most was arrogance.
Anyone who dared to flaunt it in front of him would inevitably receive a harsh lesson.
He believed that after this strike, the man named Bonier would no longer dare to maintain that smug expression.
"Damn brat! I won't let you get away with this!" Bonier roared. "You'll pay a heavy price for what you've done!"
Bonier could no longer keep up his arrogant façade. Rage burned violently in his chest.
Being slashed by an eight-year-old child—leaving a sword wound that stretched from his right abdomen to his left chest—was an unbearable humiliation.
Even after the wound healed, the scar would follow him for life.
Just imagining his colleagues laughing behind his back made Bonier's eyes turn bloodshot.
At that moment, he abandoned the idea of merely crippling El's shoulders.
He would break the brat's limbs, drag him back like a dead dog—
Or simply kill him.
"Moonwalk—Geppo!"
Bonier stomped hard against the ground and launched himself several meters into the air. His feet continued to step against the air itself.
White clouds formed by compressed airflow bloomed beneath his feet as his body rose higher and higher.
"Bonier's angry. That kid's done for."
"The captain still hasn't used his Devil Fruit ability. He shouldn't lose control—otherwise, how are we supposed to explain this to the boss?"
"I hope that brat doesn't force the captain's hand… or this mission might fail."
Two women in suits watched Bonier rise into the sky, sighing quietly.
According to their intelligence, aside from El, his three companions were nothing more than ordinary little girls—completely harmless.
That was why the two women hadn't intervened, choosing instead to observe the fight.
Unless their captain proved unable to handle the target, there was no need for them to act.
And in their eyes, it was impossible for Bonier to be defeated by a mere child.
That earlier wound was nothing more than the result of underestimation.
After all, their captain still held an ace up his sleeve.
The two women trusted Bonier just as firmly as the three girls trusted El.
But their inaction did not mean the girls would remain passive.
"Flame Wall!"
BOOM!
With a soft but resolute shout, dazzling orange flames erupted across the endless desert. Like a blazing halo, a massive circular wall of fire surged upward from the ground, enclosing the two women in suits—and also trapping El and Bonier within its perimeter.
"This—what kind of monster is this?!"
"They're… fused together?! What Devil Fruit ability is this?!"
The sudden inferno instantly drew the women's attention.
When they looked toward the source, the faces beneath their masks filled with horror—no different from Bonier's earlier expression.
Against the backdrop of the towering flames, a figure nearly two meters tall strode toward them.
She wore a red-and-white witch-like outfit, her body wreathed in fire.
Three heads—each with a different face and hair color.
Six arms.
And a white sword gripped firmly in one hand.
The appearance of Three Heads and Six Arms left the two women completely stunned.
"Flames… and fusion… What kind of ability is this?!"
Even Bonier couldn't help but glance toward the fused figure.
As CP agents, they had memorized the contents of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia during training, enabling them to identify abilities encountered in the field.
Yet no matter how he searched his memory, Bonier couldn't identify the Devil Fruit—or combination of abilities—the three girls were using.
Still, just as the two women trusted their captain, Bonier trusted his subordinates.
They were Devil Fruit users as well.
Unless the enemy possessed a Logia, the combined strength and coordination of the two women would be enough to fight even a Grand Line supernova.
After all, CP9 had once been composed almost entirely of Devil Fruit users.
Even Celestial Dragons fed Devil Fruits to slaves for amusement. As the World Government's most loyal hounds, CP agents were never short of such rewards—as long as they performed well.
With that thought, Bonier withdrew his gaze.
Then—
He launched a storm-like assault on El from the sky.
"Tempest Kick—Slaughter!"
Dozens of meters above the ground, Bonier finally stopped climbing. As his body began to fall, he kicked downward with both legs.
Countless blades of compressed wind tore through the air like a torrential downpour, blanketing the sky.
This was a large-scale Tempest Kick (Rankyaku).
For an ordinary swordsman, facing such an attack would bring nothing but despair.
But to El—
It was a joke.
To show Bonier the true difference between them, El calmly retracted his sword and slid it into its sheath.
He raised his head, eyes fixed on Bonier in the sky.
Then—
Armament Haki surged.
In a flash, El drew his blade and slashed upward.
BOOM!
Before the countless wind blades could reach him—
A streak of black-blue light shot skyward like a falling star in reverse.
In the next instant, the Flying Slash (Tobu Zangeki) tore apart the veil of wind that covered the heavens.
The brilliant blue light swallowed the wind blades completely—
And engulfed Bonier in midair.
As the light consumed him, horror twisted Bonier's face.
Without hesitation, he activated his Iron Body (Tekkai) variation—
Shave Iron Ball.
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