Jozu soon came back hefting a massive chest and dumped it in front of the Nine Tails with a clang.
Head tilted back, he sneered. "Fox, that's twenty Devil Fruits. Hope your master lives long enough to spend them."
"Talk, talk, talk."
The Nine Tails smiled wickedly and brought a chakra-laden paw slamming down.
Bang.
Jozu's arm turned to diamond as he punched up to meet it. Malicious energy flooded the ship and kept spreading across the bay.
Thud.
Next to the fox, Jozu was not even as big as a tail. One slap and his body punched through the deck and wedged into the timbers below.
"Brat, do not provoke me. If I really hit you, you will not like how it ends."
The Nine Tails bared its fangs in a sly grin.
It shifted its gaze to the chest, flipped the lid, and revealed twenty Devil Fruits with tight whorled patterns.
They matched the photos.
With a swipe, the Nine Tails gathered the Fruits to its side.
"Nine-Tailed Fox, tell your master Whitebeard's things do not come cheap," Whitebeard said, face dark. "Let him wait."
"What, you want to brawl?" The Nine Tails crouched, glaring down at him. "If it is a fight you want, I will play. If my Master steps in, you will not block a single move."
"Too arrogant. I have had enough. Pops, let me kill it!"
Diamond Jozu kicked the broken planks aside and hauled himself out of the hole. His face was iron blue. Getting swatted into the deck was beyond humiliating.
"Pops, forty Devil Fruits is robbery," one pirate shouted, furious. "Even for us that would hollow out the vault."
"What kind of skill is threatening Pops? The Whitebeard Pirates are not cowards. Fight fair if you have the guts. Sneak attacks are for rats," a division commander bellowed.
"Pops, grab the fox and trade it. I do not believe that so-called Flowing Cloud will refuse the swap."
"Right. Our crew is full of monsters. One Nine Tails will not slip our net."
Whitebeard opened his mouth to speak, but Jozu was already charging in, fist howling through the air.
He was huge and muscle-bound, chest broad and skin dark, a natural giant. Against the Nine Tails he still looked small. Rage twisted his face even tighter.
As he closed, his right arm turned fully to diamond, a gleaming hammer aimed at the fox's eye.
"Heh. Little brat."
Nine tails unfurled and whipped forward, intelligent and responsive, rising like god-cords to shield its body and coil toward Jozu.
"Hmph."
Jozu's upper body diamonded over. He drove a punch down.
Thunk.
The mighty blow sank into a tail like a fist into cotton candy. It had no bite at all.
The Nine Tails grinned wider. "What, forgot your breakfast? That all you got?"
"Damn it."
Stung, Jozu lost his cool and hammered another diamond fist.
This time the Nine Tails actually raised a claw to meet him.
When claw and diamond collided, space shuddered. A destructive shockwave ripped outward. The deck spiderwebbed and shattered, devastation racing for a hundred meters until everything nearby was a wreck.
"So strong."
Jozu skidded backward dozens of meters. Diamond shattered off his arm in chunks, exposing the flesh beneath. His fingers twitched. His heart pounded with shock.
"Strong? That is all?"
The fox's contempt was plain. Its nine tails surged like a storm front.
Jozu dodged desperately, but the sudden onslaught still caught him. The tails wrapped him up and hoisted him into the air.
"Damn it, let me go."
His arms diamonded again and pounded the coils.
"Whitebeard, are your sons this flimsy? Boring."
With a chuckle, the Nine Tails tucked the Devil Fruits away, sprang off the Moby Dick, and sprinted for the open sea.
"Pops, it is running."
"Jozu got handled like that?"
"No way."
Eyes bulged all across the deck.
Whitebeard rose in a blur. "Put Jozu down."
"Hah. I do not care about your crew," the Nine Tails called back. "Catch."
It flicked Jozu into the sky and spiked him like a volleyball. The man careened toward Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's gaze went cold. He punched once. Space warped and trembled. The impact vanished. Jozu crashed to the planks, coughed blood, and blacked out.
"Nine-Tailed Fox, you dared hurt my son. You wait for me."
Out on the water, the Nine Tails stood atop the waves and sneered. A super-sized Tailed Beast Bomb gathered at its maw. The surrounding sea boiled, geysers spouting as power peaked.
"Whitebeard, a little gift. No need to thank me."
It shoved the orb forward. The projectile screamed toward the Moby Dick. Seawater flashed to steam. An earthshaking pressure slammed across the island.
"H-holy..."
"Pops. Pops."
"The fox is insane. Protect the crew."
"Abandon ship. Move."
Panic surged. They had seen this move once already turn the clouds to tatters. Who could withstand it when it blanketed the world?
"Do not panic."
Whitebeard leaped to the Moby Dick's deck and faced the oncoming sphere. In full view of his sons, he raised both fists. Power surged from them, so overbearing even the air vibrated.
"Gura-gura. Quake Punch."
An invisible blade of force scourged the air and met the super-sized Tailed Beast Bomb head on. The detonation split the sky. Firestorms coiled like dragons and raged outward.
Many pirates hurled themselves overboard to escape the hellish blaze.
The Nine Tails only snorted, turned its back, and left.
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