`The Calm Belt.
This was the dangerous, windless stretch of sea bordering the Grand Line, home to countless colossal Sea Kings—monsters easily exceeding a hundred meters in length. It was because of the Calm Belt that ordinary pirate ships couldn't sail directly from the four blues into the Grand Line; they were forced to take the treacherous route through Reverse Mountain.
On the once-endless, mirror-like blue surface, the stillness was finally broken. A black flag featuring a spider emblem fluttered in the breeze as a massive ship—the Black Whale—sliced through the water. Hundreds of meters long and shaped like a literal whale, the cruise ship churned up massive waves in its wake.
Seeing this, even someone as tough as Bonney turned pale. Her legs were shaking.
"Holy crap..." she muttered. "Dammit, Uvogin! Slow down! Slow the hell down!"
Even knowing the ship's hull was reinforced with Sea Prism Stone to bypass the monsters, Bonney was still on edge. After all, hidden beneath that calm surface were thousands of things that could rip her to shreds in a heartbeat.
Uvogin stepped out of the control room. The sea breeze hitting his face made him ecstatic. He spread his arms wide, grinning as he soaked it all in.
"Now this is what sailing should feel like!"
Most pirate ships relied on sails and wind, making them sitting ducks in the Calm Belt. The Black Whale, however, was the opposite. It was equipped with a high-output internal propulsion system; the lack of wind actually allowed it to reach even higher speeds.
"You idiot!" Bonney shouted, stomping over to him and glaring. "I said slow down! Do you have any idea what's under us? Colossal Sea Kings! If we piss them off, we're all going to end up as sea monster droppings!"
"Sea Kings, huh?" Uvogin looked arrogant, clenching his fists. "Are they like those massive beasts on the Dark Continent? I've been dying to see what they've got."
"You moron! Stop the ship!" Bonney swung a punch at him, but Uvogin sidestepped it easily.
The two stood their ground, glaring at each other, and it looked like a fight was about to break out. The combat-oriented members of the Troupe suddenly got interested and started gathered around to watch.
"Who do you think wins?" Nobunaga asked.
"Uvogin, obviously," Phinks said, looking a bit jealous. "That ability of his to get stronger by taking hits has pushed his power through the roof."
"Don't be so sure." Shalnark walked over quietly, his eyes fixed warily on Bonney. "That woman's ability is... tricky."
Chrollo was lying back on a lounge chair, watching the scene unfold.
The youth sure have a lot of energy, he thought. Unlike me. All I want right now is a bowl of snail noodles and a good manga.
Remembering he actually had one now, and seeing that everyone's attention was on the argument, he discreetly pulled out the copy of Sora, Warrior of the Sea and started reading with great interest.
"Slow down!"
"Speed up!"
The two continued to stare each other down. A second later, Bonney rolled up her sleeves. "Fine. Looks like I have to teach you a lesson."
Uvogin's grin widened into a battle-hungry smile. "The Boss says you're strong. I've been waiting to test that out!"
"RAAAH!"
He let out a beastly roar as his body underwent a shocking transformation. He shot up to nearly four meters tall, and his already burly frame swelled with grotesque, terrifying muscles. This was a new technique Uvogin had developed for the Karma-Karma Fruit: he could store the "damage" he hadn't yet unleashed from a previous encounter and save it for the next one. This allowed him to start a fight with a massive power boost right out of the gate.
Bonney's eyes widened slightly. "Wait... isn't that Urouge's ability?"
"Yup. The Boss stole it for me." Uvogin flexed, feeling the power surging through him. "Here I come!"
Uvogin's legs bent, cracking the deck beneath him, before he launched forward like a missile. He moved so fast he was almost a blur to the naked eye. He wound up his right fist, funneling all his Nen into his arm until a brilliant light radiated from his knuckles.
"Big Bang Impact!"
Uvogin had actually learned a bit of restraint; to avoid wrecking the ship, he threw an uppercut. This way, the majority of the destructive force would blast into the sky instead of through the hull.
The spectating Troupe members narrowed their eyes.
"That's way more powerful than his usual strikes," Nobunaga noted, rubbing his chin. "That could probably level a small mountain."
"A man's fight should always be about raw power," Phinks added, getting excited. "Uvogin's got this in the bag!"
Only Feitan remained silent, his eyes glued to the fight.
The shadow of the fist closed in on Bonney, carrying a terrifying amount of aura and momentum. But behind that golden light, Bonney's lips curled into a smirk.
BOOM!
The force of the punch veered off and blasted into the sky. Uvogin froze in his tracks. The image of Bonney coughing up blood and flying backward never happened. Instead, she had simply shifted her stance, ducking low to easily evade the mountain-shattering strike.
It wasn't just Uvogin who was stunned; the three spectators looked on in total disbelief. With his Enhancer abilities constantly scaling up, Uvogin's speed and power were supposed to be off the charts. He was the man they considered to be at the "pinnacle of the Enhancer class." With the added boost of the Karma-Karma Fruit, his speed should have been unavoidable, even for them.
And yet, this girl had dodged it like it was nothing.
Is she really only eight years old?!
"Your speed and power are decent, but your fighting style is pretty basic," Bonney remarked casually. Before he could react, she reached out and slapped her hand onto Uvogin's arm.
The next second—Poof!
A flash of pink light erupted. The massive Uvogin vanished, and in his place sat a baby with spiked-up hair, sucking on a pacifier.
Bonney dusted off her hands, looking completely unbothered. She turned to the three spectators with a grin. "Who's next?"
She figured this was a good chance to test the waters. If everyone on this ship was a pushover, she might just decide to take over as the boss herself!
"I'm the woman who's gonna rule these seas!" she declared with a boisterous laugh.
Nobunaga and the others were shaken to the core. They looked at each other, unable to process how easily Uvogin had been defeated.
Chrollo, meanwhile, took a break from his manga to glance over. He didn't look surprised at all before going right back to his reading.
Everything was going exactly as he expected. Bonney's Age-Age Fruit didn't just change someone's appearance; it altered their entire physical state. When she turned herself into a twenty-year-old, her physical stats scaled to match. In the One Piece world, those base stats were generally much higher than those in the Hunter x Hunter world.
That was why she could dodge Uvogin so easily. And since Uvogin didn't have Haki, the moment her fruit power touched him, the fight was over.
It was an inevitable outcome.
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