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"You bastard!"
Van Augur gritted his teeth and tried to turn his gun to aim at Ikki's back. But when Ikki jumped up to chase Blackbeard, Van Augur realized he could only see Ikki's afterimage. There was no way to even aim and shoot.
How could Van Augur, who had always been proud of his eyesight and shooting skills, accept such a situation?
However, just as he turned his gun, a feeling of fear rose in his heart, causing him to look in Nami's direction.
"Who said you could point your gun at our captain?" Nami lowered her body and pulled her left leg back into a sword-drawing stance.
In an instant, the golden lightning that had been flashing around her body began to roar wildly. The sound of chirping thunder filled the tavern.
"This woman is dangerous," Doc Q coughed. "We should deal with them first and then help the captain." He took out a bottle of purple liquid from his coat and was about to throw it at Nami and the others.
Seeing this, Robin's eyes narrowed. The next moment, several arms sprouted from Doc Q's body and grabbed the poison bottle out of the air.
"Devil Fruit power?" Van Augur frowned, and his Haki flowed into the bullets in his rifle.
Just as he was about to shoot Robin, Nami's figure turned into a flash of lightning and vanished.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash: Sixfold!"
With a crackling sound, Nami appeared in front of Van Augur. Her blade, wrapped in golden lightning and powerful Armament Haki, was about to cut through Van Augur's neck.
"Watch out!" Burgess roared. His whole body turned black with Armament Haki as he grabbed Van Augur and Doc Q in his arms.
The lightning blade flashed, and Burgess's back was torn open. Blood spurted from the wound.
"Not cut all the way through?" Nami frowned in surprise, looking at Burgess who was holding Van Augur and Doc Q. "Is this guy's Armament Haki that strong? But... it's over now."
Nami smiled and looked toward Nojiko and Vivi.
"Burgess, are you okay? Be careful!" Van Augur glanced at Burgess in shock. Just then, he saw Nojiko dropping from above.
Her sword, wrapped in burning flames, aimed at Burgess's neck where Nami had already cut him.
Without thinking, Van Augur pulled his rifle from under Burgess's arm and tried to aim at Nojiko.
BANG!
A gunshot rang out. Van Augur's eyes widened, his confident look turning to confusion. He looked down at his arms.
A slender hand had grown out of Burgess's body and pushed on Van Augur's hand holding the rifle. This hand had caused his shot to miss by more than thirty degrees.
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Scorching Earth!" Nojiko smiled at Robin in thanks.
Her flame-wrapped blade slashed across Van Augur's hands with great force, then cut toward Burgess's neck.
CLANG!
The sound of metal hitting metal rang out as Burgess was sent flying, still holding Van Augur and Doc Q.
"This guy blocked it again? What a strong body," Nojiko frowned as she landed on the ground, watching Burgess.
After she had cut off Van Augur's hands, Burgess had managed to strengthen his neck with Armament Haki again, successfully blocking Nojiko's attack.
Despite this, Nojiko didn't chase after them. Instead, she calmly put her sword back in its sheath.
"My hands! My hands!" Van Augur looked at his bloody wrists in pain. Both his hands were gone, cleanly cut off by Nojiko's flame blade.
For a sniper, eyes and hands are most important. Now that he had lost his hands, even Van Augur's cold nature couldn't keep him from feeling angry and scared.
He never thought that shooting at a seemingly "weak" orange-haired woman would lead to losing his hands.
"Van Augur?" Doc Q looked at Burgess in shock. Though Burgess wasn't dead, there was a deep cut on his neck that showed bone.
Then he looked at Van Augur, who was crying in pain. A cruel look appeared in Doc Q's eyes as he slapped his chest with both hands.
CRACK!
The sound of several glass bottles breaking was heard. The next moment, his body started giving off purple smoke.
The floor darkened when touched by the smoke and even showed signs of rotting.
"You're all... going to die," Doc Q looked at Nojiko, Nami and the others with dead eyes.
But just as he finished speaking, a cold voice came from behind him.
"Someone is going to die, but it's not us."
Doc Q turned around. About a meter away stood Vivi. The poison smoke turned to ice crystals when it floated toward her and fell to the ground.
"What is this?" Doc Q tried to stand up but found his legs covered in solid ice.
"First Dance, Moon White!" Vivi called out. "Freeze in the ice."
The ice under the feet of Van Augur, Burgess, and Doc Q suddenly erupted, forming a huge ice column that seemed to reach the sky.
CRACK!
The ice shattered, and Burgess's iron-like body broke into pieces with it.
Vivi took a deep breath and returned Sode no Shirayuki to its normal state.
"Thank you, Vivi," Nojiko walked up to her with a smile. "As expected of an attack-type Zanpakutō. You took out these guys in an instant. Even the poison was frozen by your ice."
"Nojiko, your Zanpakutō can heal others, which is something none of our other Zanpakutō can do," Vivi smiled back. "Your Zanpakutō is more useful to everyone than mine."
"Still, I want to help everyone in battle too. I hope I can get the power of a Complete Zanpakutō soon. Then I can help Ikki like Nami does."
Nojiko shook her head and looked behind her. Nami was already gone—she had left to help Ikki.
With S-level Life Force, intermediate Armament Haki, intermediate Observation Haki, and the Complete Gonryōmaru Zanpakutō, Nami was certainly qualified to fight alongside Ikki.
Nojiko put her hand on the Zanpakutō at her waist. Unknown to both Vivi and Robin, her Zanpakutō appeared to be one that healed others, but in truth, it was made for fighting.
'Compared to you two, I'm the one who hasn't been trying hard enough,' Robin thought. 'To stay with Ikki, I need to work harder.'
Robin sighed to herself as she walked toward Nojiko and Vivi. In the battle just now, she hadn't truly drawn her sword. She knew that even without using her Devil Fruit power to help Nojiko and Nami, they both could have handled Van Augur's shots.
"Nojiko, Vivi, let's go too," Robin said. "We should get closer to Ikki. Perhaps your Minazuki and Vivi's Sode no Shirayuki can help in the battle."
Robin looked into the distance. Even without using Observation Haki, she could feel the loud shaking coming from the direction Ikki and Blackbeard had gone.
Hearing this, Nojiko and Vivi agreed and rushed in the direction Ikki and Nami had gone.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Mock Town...
"Hey! What's that?" A man with a bare upper body, an orange hat, and shorts put his hand above his eyes and looked at the huge ice column that had suddenly appeared in the distance.
"Ice power? Could it be Admiral Aokiji is here?" he wondered. "If that guy is around, I can't stay in this town."
The man frowned, deep in thought.
If Ikki were there, he would definitely recognize him. This man was the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates—Portgas D. Ace.