"Charlotte Perospero, strategist of the BIG MOM Pirates, you are under arrest!"
Gion swung her long blade and strode over with her long legs.
Perospero let out a strange laugh:
"Kukukukuku… Vice Admiral Gion, do you really think you can catch me?"
"Then let's see!"
Before her words finished, Gion had already charged towards Perospero, her Konpira slashing fiercely.
"Candy Wall!"
Perospero retreated rapidly, and with a wave of his hand, several thick Candy Walls rose from the ground.
Gion's forward momentum didn't lessen; Armament Haki instantly hardened on her blade, becoming dark and profound.
"Slash!"
A golden sword light flashed, and the candy barrier was cut in half like thin paper.
But behind the barrier, viscous syrup surged like a living thing, instantly coiling around her legs and the arm holding the sword, attempting to solidify her in place.
Although Perospero is a Lick-Lick Fruit user, judging by his abilities, he seems more like a Candy-Candy Fruit user.
Aside from his name and his tongue, he actually has little to do with 'licking.'
"Petty trick!"
Facing Perospero's attack, Gion snorted coldly. Her Armament Haki vibrated sharply wherever the syrup touched, turning the syrup that tried to bind her into dust.
"Candy Maiden!"
While Gion was dealing with the previous attack, Perospero clapped his hands together, and a large amount of syrup condensed into a giant, spiky golden witch, opening its arms to embrace Gion, intending to completely imprison her.
Normally, the strong constructs Perospero creates have a weakness to fire; using fire to attack them can achieve twice the results with half the effort.
But this was only in theory.
Just as the Candy Witch was about to close, an even more concentrated golden arc of a slash erupted from within it, splitting the witch in two.
Gion's figure shot out from the broken candy, her blade tip pointing directly at Perospero's face.
Perospero's pupils contracted. He held his Lollipop Staff horizontally in front of him, the staff instantly covered with hard Armament Haki.
Clang!
The clash of blade and staff produced a colossal, bell-like roar.
A violent shockwave spread in a ring, tearing several gashes in the canvas on the main mast, and clearing away all the shattered wood on the deck.
The wooden deck beneath their feet could not withstand the immense force, collapsing into a large pit.
However, this dog-head warship was, after all, an old ship that had followed Garp into battle for many years. It was reinforced by some unknown means, and although the battle between the two powerhouses left it looking dilapidated, its main structure remained stable.
Gion used the force to flip backward, her high heels not affecting her movements in the slightest as she landed lightly.
Perospero was shaken back several steps, a barely noticeable slash mark appearing on his candy staff.
Perospero is 37 years old this year, and Gion is around the same age as him.
However, there is still a certain gap in their educational resources and combat talent.
To draw an analogy, Gion should actually be compared to Katakuri.
"It's not over yet!"
Perospero roared, plunging his staff into the deck:
"Candy River · Hydra!"
The syrup on the deck boiled, transforming into nine giant candy snakes, biting, crashing, and coiling towards Gion from different directions, blocking all escape routes.
Facing this all-around siege, Gion's eyes sharpened, and her renowned blade traced countless golden trajectories in her hands.
"Konpira · Chaotic Cherry Blossoms!"
In an instant, countless cherry blossom-shaped golden slashes seemed to bloom on the deck.
Every candy snake was cut, severed, and pulverized the moment it touched this field of death!
Intense offense and defense continued on the warship; the sound of slashes colliding with candy creations was incessant.
The deck constantly cracked, and the outer walls of the ship's cabin were covered with sword marks.
Although Gion's strength was slightly superior to Perospero's, it was not easy to take him down.
The battle between the two continued, both seeking the next opportunity.
On the other side, on the queen mama chanter, Vice Admiral Tsuru had already engaged Charlotte Katakuri and Charlotte Cracker.
The Marines she brought also boarded the ship one after another, fighting in a chaotic melee with the members of the BIG MOM Pirates.
Charlotte Katakuri pushed his always-effective Observation Haki to its limit.
In his vision, countless fragments of the future flashed by—
Vice Admiral Tsuru sidestepped, avoiding his thrust. He seized the opportunity to change his move, his trident, wrapped in flowing mochi, striking directly at the vital point.
"Now!"
He roared in his heart, his trident accurately stabbing into the predetermined opening.
However, just as the trident was about to hit its target, Vice Admiral Tsuru's figure completed her sidestep ahead of time, in a way that defied all predicted trajectories.
Not only did his thrust completely miss, but her wrinkled hand, moving later, arrived first, penetrating the defensive gap formed by his Mochi-Mochi Fruit's natural flow and striking directly at his chest.
"What?!"
For the first time, an expression of incredible astonishment appeared in Charlotte Katakuri's eyes.
His future sight had never been wrong, but this old woman seemed to be completely outside the future he saw.
With no time to think of anything else, years of fighting on the seas had given Charlotte Katakuri a beast-like instinct.
Although Vice Admiral Tsuru's strike came unexpectedly, he forcefully halted his offensive, changing his trident from a thrust to a sweep, barely parrying the wrinkled hand that contained a strange power.
As the palm wind swept past, the BIG MOM Pirates members behind him were affected by this force, their movements instantly stiffening. The ferocity in their eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a hint of bewilderment, revealing a clear and foolish innocence, like that of a university student.
Charlotte Katakuri retreated a few steps, steadying himself, greatly shocked in his heart.
In terms of Observation Haki, he believed there were few on the seas who could match him.
This old woman in front of him was indeed a veteran Vice Admiral who had been immersed in the Marine for many years; her mastery of Observation Haki was in no way inferior to his.
Charlotte Katakuri knew very well that Vice Admiral Tsuru was a Wash-Wash Fruit user.
Although both were Paramecia types, the terrifying aspect of rule-based Devil Fruits was clearly much more potent than his Mochi-Mochi Fruit.
This was especially true for 'first encounter kills.'
If that slap had landed squarely, he might have directly lost his combat ability and been hung up like clothes.
"Cracker!"
Charlotte Katakuri retreated to Charlotte Cracker's side and whispered a reminder:
"Use soldiers for long-range attacks, don't let her get close!"
He was truly scared by Vice Admiral Tsuru's slap. Looking at the smiling old woman opposite him, Charlotte Katakuri felt a chill run down his spine.
"Understood! Brother Katakuri!"
Instantly, dozens of Biscuit Soldierss rose from the ground, wielding Armament Haki-covered sword-shields, pressing towards Vice Admiral Tsuru from all directions like a heavily armored legion.
At the same time, Charlotte Katakuri brandished his trident, and countless sharp bullets shaped from mochi shot out like a storm, initiating an indiscriminate, saturated strike.
However, such attacks were merely an annoyance to Vice Admiral Tsuru; they could hinder her steps, but were far from causing any real damage.
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