Chapter 217: How Will This Debt Be Settled?
Chapter 217: How Will This Debt Be Settled?
Bang!
A gigantic diamond-shaped pencil pillar suddenly slammed downward, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Within the dust, a figure appeared below the pencil pillar, their hands pressing against it. Aside from a pit being crushed into the ground, the figure within the dust didn't even bend under the tremendous force.
As the dust settled, Maryka's form was revealed. She slowly walked out of the pit, firmly holding up the unpointed diamond-shaped pencil pillar. With each step she took, the heavy and colossal pencil inched upward.
Ulqi retracted the pencil pillar, his expression one of surprise. Yet, that smiling face remained unchanged, whether in astonishment or anger, always bearing that eerie grin.
"Such tremendous strength. What a terrifying woman," Ulqi remarked with a laugh.
Maryka spread her hands and smiled back, "It won't do to not apologize to food."
"Food is just food, not life itself. It has no will or soul, and it doesn't encounter any difficulties. I won't apologize to food, Maryka," Ulqi said, shifting the position of the pencil pillar.
"Oh dear, it seems reasoning is futile."
Maryka stood there, her cascading black hair floating upward, strands writhing like snakes.
"Our captain says that either logic or physics will make a person understand," Maryka stated.
"Captain?"
Ulqi was taken aback, but his face maintained its smile. "Is it the Natural Disaster? I think he was captured. In his absence, you've reached Shabondy and established your own pirate crew, Maryka!"
Being one of the Supernovas herself, Maryka was easily recognizable.
Ulqi suddenly pushed the pencil pillar forward, sending the diamond-shaped column straight toward Maryka.
Bang!
Maryka caught the identical thrust with her hands, the impact generating a wave of air and a dull thud as it made contact.
The force that not even Kira could completely withstand, manageable only through movement, was not only blocked by Maryka but also failed to make her retreat even a single step.
"So that's how it is," Ulqi laughed. "It seems your strength is extraordinary, my dear patron."
"It's not just strength," Maryka said with a slight smile.
Her flying hair, writhing like snakes, swiftly slithered along the pencil pillar, rushing toward Ulqi with incredible speed.
Compared to Ulqi's slow pace, the speeding hair had already made contact with his body by the time he reacted.
"Such a feeble thing," he muttered, glancing down but not paying it any heed as he continued to wrestle with the woman before him.
Standing nearly four meters tall, he couldn't comprehend why this woman's strength was so immense. He refused to lose to this woman!
As for these strands of hair, his flesh could even withstand ordinary lead bullets. How could mere hair—
Pff!
The tips of the hair strands pierced Ulqi's flesh, and instantly, blood flowed. This caused him to pause, and he subconsciously wanted to retreat.
Boom!!
But in that moment of relaxation, Maryka, who had been wrestling with him, suddenly pushed forward, pressing down on the pencil pillar and slamming Ulqi onto the ground, creating a pit in the tree-root floor.
Maryka leaped into the air, pushing the pencil pillar with both hands, and concentrated all her hair, aiming straight for Ulqi's head.
Even normal hair, when used as a finger gun, might not necessarily inflict damage on such a robust body. But with the addition of Armament Haki, it was a different story.
No matter how sturdy that body was, it was still flesh. With the destructive power of her hair, combined with the might of Armament Haki, it could be pierced!
"Karma!"
However, just as the hair, gathered into a bundle with tips as sharp as swords, was about to stab into Ulqi's head, a dull hum sounded from Ulqi's mouth. The pencil pillar pressing down on him was forcibly shifted, causing Maryka, who had been hovering in the air, to lose her support and fall toward the ground.
Szz!
This momentary shift also allowed Ulqi to break free from the restraint of the pencil pillar. He swiftly sidestepped, and the hair bundle, which should have impaled his head, grazed his shoulder, spraying a jet of blood as it shot into the ground.
Ulqi tumbled, seizing the pencil pillar, intending to pin down the hair bundle. But just as he moved to do so, the hair swiftly detached from the ground and retracted to Maryka's head, dancing in the air once more.
"Oh dear," Maryka smiled. "It seems you grew taller just now."
In that moment, Ulqi seemed to have grown taller, and he had unleashed a tremendous burst of strength.
"What a terrifying woman."
Ulqi turned to look at the gash that had appeared on his shoulder. Even though it was just a graze, it felt like an extremely sharp blade had cut him, causing injury.
Despite this, the eerie smile on his face never faltered.
Whether in sorrow or anger, he had never stopped smiling.
Maryka still wore a smile, and as her hair danced in the air, she suddenly spread her hands. "Your speed isn't that fast, Shave."
As she finished speaking, her figure turned into an afterimage in that instant, swiftly appearing before Ulqi. Her outstretched index finger was covered in pitch-blackness as it stabbed towards his heart.
Ulqi could only manage to retreat a single step, and as her finger pierced his chest, drawing blood, he swiftly swung the pencil pillar, striking towards Maryka's position. As the pencil pillar moved, it further inscribed in the air, blocking off Maryka's various directions of movement.
"Soaking Understanding!"
The pencil pillar boldly inscribed the character 'sky' in the air, dealing a powerful blow to Maryka's front. However, she timely retracted her hand, blocking this strike.
Bang!
The immense force caused Maryka's figure to retreat, and the arm that had been struck reverted, shedding the black layer. As her retreating footsteps stuck to the ground, they transformed into afterimages once more, and her figure, accompanied by her dancing hair, swiftly attacked from the direction opposite to Ulqi's.
"Hair Binding: Serpent Strike!"
Sss!
The fingers imbued with Haki, along with the hair gathered and infused with Haki, all pierced into Ulqi's flank, and her fingers penetrated halfway into his body, creating over a dozen hole-like wounds that gushed with blood.
Ulqi's speed couldn't keep up with Maryka's attacks.
This man's physique was robust, and his strength was considerable. However, if he couldn't land a hit, then it was all meaningless.
Maryka's smile remained unchanged as she pierced Ulqi's flesh, and her figure flashed once more, dodging his continuing swings of the pencil pillar. In high-speed form, she circled around him, and her hair, like waving spikes, assaulted Ulqi from all directions.
Hair is very soft. Without being pinned down, the pencil pillar couldn't press against her hair, and so these strands of hair, which seemed incredibly powerful in Ulqi's eyes, pierced his body.
Helpless, he abandoned the pencil pillar, wrapping his arms around his head and slightly curling up to protect his brain and heart, while his body began to sprout holes under the assault of her hair, instantly turning him into a bloodied mess.
"That's..."
At this moment, Luo, sitting on the wooden crate, narrowed his eyes, revealing his shocked expression.
Initially, he thought he might have misseen, but after witnessing so many attacks, he knew he hadn't imagined it.
Haki?
Impossible.
This was only the anterior section of 'Paradise', and 'Raven' Maryka originated from the East Blue Sea and hadn't ventured into the New World yet. How could she have grasped Haki?
"No wonder she dared to show up in Shabondy. So she had something to rely on," Luo muttered to himself.
Possessing the power of Haki, even if 'Natural Disaster' was captured, she would still be qualified to set foot here and enter the New World.
This woman was a formidable opponent.
However, the one Luo deemed a formidable opponent was Maryka, and as she employed 'Shave' for high-speed movement, her smiling expression also paused slightly.
Although she had pierced his physical defense, even with the Armament Haki and Finger Gun techniques, it seemed she could only breach his flesh and not damage his internal organs.
This guy's physical defense was a tad too robust.
As expected of a bounty exceeding 100,000,000 berries; she couldn't afford to underestimate him.
Maryka's Haki quantity wasn't that abundant either. If they continued to grind it out like this, it wouldn't yield any results.
The black hair piercing Ulqi's body retracted its Haki, and its might instantly lessened, only leaving shallow indentations on his body. Meanwhile, her palms began to gather a substantial amount of Haki. As she spun around Ulqi, her figure heavily stomped, preparing to lunge forward.
At this moment, the eerie smile on Ulqi's face intensified.
"Stop!"
Just as she was about to lunge forward, a figure swiftly crashed between the two, aiming to split them apart.
Drake leaped into the air, his left hand holding a sword and his right clutching an axe, intending to cleave the two apart. However, just as he was about to chop down, the weapons in his hands suddenly twitched, seemingly wanting to slip out of his grip.
"Don't get in the way of my show!"
A boisterous and arrogant laughter rang out from his side.
This sudden change caused Drake to swiftly land, turning to look towards the source of the voice.
A red-haired man with a sinister smile was striding over from a distance.
'Captain' Eustass Kid.
And on the roof of a building not far away, a longarm tribe man with a dancing-like rhythm leaped over, joining them.
"Oh, what a show!" He cackled with morbid delight.
'Scratchmen' Apoo of the On-Air Pirates.
In that instant, it was already too late to stop Maryka as she charged straight at Ulqi, her Haki gathering in her palms, forming a hand blade aimed at Ulqi's heart.
"That's enough damage. It's time for you to taste the consequences!" Maryka exclaimed.
Riiip!
Ulqi's monk's robe suddenly tore, and his initially nearly four-meter-tall body abruptly grew to a towering seven or eight meters. He resembled a small giant, his muscles bulging even larger, and his veins popping out.
His Devil Fruit ability allowed him to transform any damage he received into physical enhancements, increasing his strength proportionally to the harm inflicted upon him.
Ulqi pulled back his fist, grinning maniacally at the charging Maryka, and said, "Break it down!"
Whoosh!
The massive fist only moved forward a bit, but the sound of breaking air was already audible. The faster it moved, the louder the wind howled, and the force behind it promised an unpleasant outcome if it landed.
Maryka, of course, saw this and opened her smiling eyes a little wider.
Should she dodge?
As soon as this thought crossed her mind, an image of a wildly laughing, formidable figure appeared in her brain.
No.
It wasn't time to back down yet. If she dodged now, it would be a disservice to their pirate crew's style!
Let's see "who's stronger!"
Maryka maintained her smile, and the thrusting palm that was about to collide with the incoming fist.
"Cannon Blast!"
But at that moment, a cannonball swiftly flew in from a distance, rushing toward Ulqi.
"Can't miss this show, Kira!"
Captain Eustass Kid cackled, standing at the front. 'Killer' Kira, by his side, swiftly rushed forward, spinning the scythe in his hand before leaping into the air and slicing the cannonball in two. It exploded on both sides, creating two clouds of smoke.
Right in front of them, Captain 'Surgeon of Death' Law stood with her hammer, the hammerhead smoking from a hole that had appeared in it.
"Damn it! Are you picking a fight?!" Law yelled, "I'll smash that mask of yours with one blow, you bastard!"
"Smash him! I'm pissed too!"
Not far from Law, an irritated Jewelry Bonney joined in, "Let's teach him a lesson!"
Bang!!
Just then, amidst the smoke, Maryka's hand blade and Ulqi's giant fist violently collided, creating a loud bang. Maryka's figure was sent flying backward, plowing a furrow in the ground until she finally came to a stop.
She looked at her bent fingers and maintained her smile as she said, "Looks like I won't be cooking anytime soon."
There was a significant gap in their strength.
Ulqi, on the other hand, didn't move from his spot. He merely looked at the blood flowing from his fist, maintaining his eerie smile as he continued his advance, "Karma!"
"Straw Hat Slash!"
Captain 'Red Flag' Hawkins joined Law, and seeing that Ulqi was about to attack again, the sword in his hand transformed into a straw whip that lashed out towards Ulqi.
However, just as the straw whip extended, two spinning scythes slashed through the air, cutting the straw whip to pieces.
The scythe-wielder charged at Hawkins, and from behind, Kid laughed, "Why are you doing such boring things? Come on, let's play!"
Inside the restaurant, Law and Bonney didn't come to blows; they were just arguing. It was Hawkins and Beckman who started fighting inside and took it outside, but it came to nothing.
Beckman couldn't defeat Hawkins, and he only ended up hurting his own men. Hawkins wanted to continue the fight, but just as he stepped outside, he heard the commotion from another island and saw Maryka floating in the air earlier.
When he rushed over to provide support, he witnessed this scene.
"Killer-slash?"
Hawkins transformed his sword back to its original form and pointed it at the approaching Killer, and behind him, Ulqi had already reached Maryka and was about to slam his fist down.
Clang!
Just then, Killer abruptly turned and blocked the blow with his scythes, crossing them to create a flash of light.
Ulqi's body was hit by the counterforce of the attack, and he was sent tumbling backward.
"This is fucking interesting! My chef actually got injured!"
A figure appeared in the spot where Ulqi had been standing, a chilly voice asking, "How will this debt be settled?"
"That guy..."
Drake's eyes widened in disbelief, "Impossible!"
(End of Chapter)
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