In the middle of the street, a large group of Navy soldiers advanced forward, while the remaining subordinates nervously drew their weapons, aiming ahead.
Marika and Tashigi locked eyes—one with a gentle smile, the other with a cigarette dangling from her lips, looking nonchalant. Her chest was neither small nor insignificant, quite impressive in fact, comparable to Marika's proportions.
The two women stood facing each other, their gazes clashing as if the very air had frozen in that moment. Smoke curled from the cigarette Tashigi held, slightly obscuring her vision.
In the next instant, the figure by the window vanished.
Whoosh! A gust of wind rushed past, tousling Tashigi's pink hair. Narrowing her eyes, she sidestepped just as a broken stone pillar shot past her, slamming violently into the bodies of Fullbody and Jango behind her.
Boom! The fierce Impact nearly knocked their eyes out of their sockets as their bodies crashed into the advancing Navy soldiers with a thunderous roar.
Tashigi glanced back at the fallen Navy troops before turning her attention to Marika, who had already landed on the ground. Exhaling smoke, she remarked, "Seems you won't surrender quietly. Tashigi is troubled."
"Ara~ Why would a Pirate ever surrender meekly to the Navy?" Marika chuckled softly as she walked toward Miote, gripping the black rings binding him. "Quite sturdy..." She tugged once, then released her hold. "Miote, can you walk on your own?"
"Mm!" Miote nodded firmly.
Though his upper body was restrained, his legs were still free.
"Take the Subordinates and retreat. Protect the stolen Treasure—otherwise, Sage will be even angrier," Marika instructed before turning back to Tashigi. "As for this lady, I'll handle her myself."
Tashigi pushed her sunglasses up into her hair, adjusted her gloves, and stood firm opposite Marika in the middle of the street.
A gust of wind, carrying dust from nowhere, lifted the hem of her Navy coat and the tips of Marika's hair.
Swoosh! The moment the wind stirred, Tashigi moved instantly, appearing right before Marika in a flash. Her arm shot out, aiming to strike.
"Quite a direct attack," Marika mused with a smile, raising her own arm to block. But the moment her arm made contact, Tashigi's limb suddenly elongated, turning pitch-black as it coiled around Marika's wrist and slithered up toward her upper arm.
"Pierce through—"
Just as Tashigi's arm thrust forward, intending to skewer Marika's entire body, a foot slammed into her torso.
Bang! Tashigi was sent flying backward but landed swiftly, skidding several steps before crouching low. Clicking her tongue, she glared ahead. "You dodged? Tashigi is surprised."
Marika examined the iron ring now clamped around her forearm, then glanced at her leg—a similar restraint had locked around her calf. "Strange ability. You can bypass my attacks."
Had she not adjusted her stance quickly, her arm might have been bent backward.
"Naturally," Tashigi replied. "I ate the 'Barrier-Barrier Fruit.' Anything I pass through turns into unbreakable bars. Sooner or later, you'll be completely locked down."
No matter what the object was, she wouldn't care, because she could pass through anything, turning it into the sturdiest cage.
"Next time, you won't dodge! Soru!"
As top students of the Navy and disciples of Zefa, it was inevitable that both Smoker and she had mastered several of the Six Styles.
In the blink of an eye, Tashigi closed in on Marika, similarly extending her arm and thrusting it forward.
At that very moment, her outstretched arm was suddenly bound by several soft black objects, along with her limbs and neck, all entangled.
Hair?! Marika opened her eyes, which had been smiling all along, revealing cold, moon-like pupils, and spoke: "Can you penetrate this too?"
A waterfall of black hair wildly danced from her head, rapidly extending around her like writhing snakes. Several strands of hair firmly bound Tashigi, causing her to frown.
"This is... Life Return?"
Tashigi was startled, but before she could react, Marika's gentle voice sounded beside her ear.
"Finger Gun·Serpent Thrust."
The wildly dancing hair around her coiled into spiraling spikes at the tips, rapidly thrusting toward Tashigi's body.
Bang! The highly penetrating hair stabbed into the ground, piercing a hole through the stone pavement of the street. With a clatter, the strands that had bound Tashigi fell empty, as several black iron rings smoothly slipped off the hair and landed on the ground.
"You can even bind hair... Too bad it's useless. It seems soft things—"
Marika paused, taking a deep breath. "Life Return·Condense."
Her hands and feet, locked by the iron rings, suddenly became slender, causing the rings to slip off and fall to the ground. Only then did her arms and legs return to their normal state.
She looked at Tashigi, who had escaped the hair's restraint and retreated, and continued, "You can't completely lock me down."
"Tashigi is surprised."
Tashigi also stared intently at Marika. "Life Return—that's an Ultimate Technique mastered through meditation, the pinnacle of bodily control. I never expected you to know it. And that earlier move... was that Finger Gun?"
"Indeed."
Marika smiled gently. "Because the Captain loves teaching people how to train. Though I only care for Cuisine, I had to learn a few things to meet his expectations."
Someone who knows Life Return naturally wouldn't find the Six Styles too difficult.
Even if Marika wasn't particularly interested, she had still learned a few moves. Aside from Finger Gun— "Soru."
Marika's figure vanished from her spot, reappearing right in front of Tashigi. As she pulled her arm back, it tore through the air, crashing toward Tashigi's body.
Tashigi's pupils shrank, instinctively raising her hands to block. But at that moment, a mass of hair coiled around Marika's wrist, forming a thick, hair-made bracer.
"Iron Block·Hair Bracer."
A gleam of light shone on the hair, solidifying it. As Marika swung, her arm passed through Tashigi's body, but the tremendous force still erupted, sending Tashigi flying backward into a nearby building.
BOOM!!
The sheer power caused Tashigi to smash a hole through the building, shattering the supporting pillars and collapsing half of the structure.
"Ara~ Even if you can pass through anything, it seems you can't penetrate something much larger than yourself."
Marika chuckled softly as the strands of hair guarding her wrist gently withdrew. The black iron ring binding her hair bracelet slipped off her wrist due to its size.
Glancing at the collapsed building, she smiled and said, "Shall we continue, Miss Navy?"
Boom! No sooner had she spoken than a long black object shot through, piercing a hole through Marika's dancing hair before embedding itself deep into the building behind her.
It was a black steel spear.
A hand emerged from the rubble, pushing aside the debris as Tashigi climbed out. She dusted herself off, pulled out a cigarette case from her pocket, placed one between her red lips, and lit it with a lighter.
"Tashigi is furious."
Exhaling smoke, she spread her arms wide as black spear-shaped iron rods extended from them.
The look in her eyes spoke volumes.
"It seems this won't be over anytime soon."
Marika smiled as the gap in her wildly dancing black hair mended itself.