Kaku darted between collapsing walls, his swords flashing like wind blades. "Rankyaku!" Blue arcs screamed through the air, slicing through everything in their path, pillars, tiles, even the canal water.
Urouge tanked the first and the second and then let the third carve through his shoulder. The monk grinned, teeth white against the blood now streaking down his arm.
"Heh… yes. This pain! Proof of devotion."
"Devotion to what?" Kaku asked, flipping backward onto a rooftop. He breathed lightly, not a drop of sweat. "Your insanity?"
Urouge stomped once. The rooftop beneath him shattered. "Faith, long-nose." He lunged upward, faster than he had any right to be for a man his size.
Kaku blurred with Soru, reappearing behind him in midair. "Shigan!" His fingers jabbed, dozens of strikes hitting Urouge's side like rapid gunfire. The monk's skin dented with each blow, until finally - Crack -a rib gave way.
Urouge laughed anyway, slamming a haki-coated fist toward Kaku's midsection. "Hmm… yes, I can feel it."
Kaku barely blocked with his blades, sparks flying as he skidded backward. "Tsk, what monstrous strength..."
"Heh, you haven't felt the half of it!"
The ground trembled as Urouge stomped down, collapsing a whole section of street. Buildings tilted, and water spilled from the canals. Kaku used Geppo to avoid falling, bouncing high into the air.
"You're strong," Kaku admitted mid-jump. "But not fast enough!"
He slashed downward with both swords, twin Rankyakus forming a massive X across the monk's body.
Urouge took both hits head-on. For a split second, his grin wavered. Then his muscles bulged, veins like iron cables.
The next instant, Kaku's boot touched the air for another Geppo, and Urouge's hand snapped around his ankle like an iron vise.
"…Caught you."
Kaku's eyes widened. "What-?!"
Urouge spun once, twice, like a hurricane, then smashed Kaku into the ground so hard that half the block cratered. The CP9 agent's unconscious body was buried halfway into the earth, motionless, dust spilling into the canal.
Urouge rolled his shoulder, exhaling steam. "May the dirt on your grave be light~"
-
-
-
Meanwhile, on another battlefield nearby.
"Richie, circle around! Keep her off-balance!" Mohji barked, crouched behind a toppled cart.
Richie roared and leapt, claws flashing—but Kalifa sidestepped with a single graceful step, her heel snapping up into the lion's chin. The massive beast went limp midair, landing in a heap.
Kalifa sighed. "Why does every pirate think acting like a wild animal is a strategy?"
Cabaji whirled past on his unicycle, throwing knives. "Because it's fun, darling!"
She deflected them easily, expression bored. "Pathetic."
Then her expression froze. A gloved hand had brushed her wrist, Mohji's.
"Gotcha!" he wheezed, then grinned through the swelling bruise already forming on his cheek. "You're linked to me now!"
Kalifa's brow furrowed. "Linked?"
Cabaji landed next to him, cracking his knuckles. "Allow me to demonstrate."
"Wai- WAIT, CABAJI!"
THWACK.
Cabaji's kick connected squarely with Mohji's face. Kalifa's head snapped back in perfect sync, the same impact blasting her into a wall.
"Wha- What was that?!" she sputtered, dazed.
Mohji staggered upright, nose bleeding, grin wobbly. "My fabulous Renkei Renkei no Mi (Entangle Entangle)! Do not worry, our pain is shared! I call this ability 'Entangle Chain'!"
He had gotten to experience enough with his devil fruit and found out that the most effective use was linking himself to enemies. If he linked them to objects, they would be harmed if said object was destroyed.
And without any subordinates in sight... It was Mohji's job to deal with the brunt of the pain.
Cabaji was not about to volunteer either. "...You really need to come up with some better names for your abilities..." The acrobat shook his head.
THWACK.Another punch.
Kalifa reeled again, disoriented, face swelling. She completely lost her composure; she couldn't even use Rokushiki in that state.
Mohji groaned, holding his ribs. "T-Take it easy, Cabaji! I feel all of this too!"
"Then it's working!" Cabaji shouted back, delivering a spinning kick. Mohji and Kalifa both dropped flat.
The Acrobat then continued to kick his downed comrade for at least a few minutes. At some point even Richie joined in, stomping on his ass and crushing his weakest spots against the pavement.
Mohji's pained screams and pleading filled the area for a while, and Kalifa's own pained moans also followed each time.
Kalifa tried to rise, but her knees buckled. The accumulated damage, reflected and shared, was too much. She fell to the ground with a small sigh.
Cabaji exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "Are you alive, Mohji?"
Mohji lay sprawled next to the unconscious agent, muttering through a split lip. "Barely… Where... Where am I?"
Richie groaned weakly by his side.
"Eh, I guess it'll buffer out eventually."
-
-
-
And finally, on the main stage.
The streets around were reduced to rubble. Every punch, every slash sent shockwaves down the canal like ripples of war.
Lucci crouched low, one arm gone, his breathing steady but heavy. His fur bristled, fangs bared. "You're bleeding out," he growled.
Buggy twirled his detached hand lazily, blood dripping from his fingers. "I'm a gentleclown; I'll let you go first."
They clashed again.
Lucci's remaining arm blurred, Shigan strikes firing faster than the eye could see. Buggy's body split apart, fragments spinning, hands intercepting with Haki-coated blocks. Each impact was like cannon fire.
From her vantage, Robin could barely follow the two. The streets of Water 7 were unrecognizable. Part circus tent, part battlefield.
"Why… why is he going this far?" she whispered.
Lucci blurred to Buggy's side, leg snapping up in a roundhouse. Buggy's detached arm caught it midair, sparks flying.
The leopard twisted free before the clown could grab him again. His mind was a calm storm of analysis.
'He must touch the target first; the point of contact is likely his palms. That's when the slashes occur. The cuts… follow an invisible plane. Maybe the angle changes depending on his gesture? Too many unknowns...'
Lucci broke a stone with his tail in frustration. "How does your devil fruit even work!?"
Buggy smirked. "Trade secret, kitty~!"
Lucci snarled and leapt back, shattering stone with every step. He launched Rankyakus in a rapid-fire barrage, forcing Buggy into motion. The clown's separated hands darted like birds, each deflecting or slicing through flying arcs.
Then Buggy slammed a hand onto a nearby building, and it folded in half, diced into perfect cubes that toppled toward Lucci like falling dice.
Lucci burst through them with sheer strength, smashing the debris aside. "So you can direct the cuts without special gestures..."
Buggy laughed between breaths, face pale. "Took you long enough! Most people just scream."
Lucci crouched. He could see it now, the exhaustion in Buggy's posture, the way his muscles trembled after every heavy cut. 'Each use takes a toll. This is a battle of endurance...'
The agent's pupils narrowed. "You'll die before I do."
The air cracked as he vanished in the dust and rubble of that collapsing building.
'He's obstructing my vision... But I can always use my other senses!'
Lucci's fur trembled as he felt the faintest whistle of movement, and his nose confirmed it.
He aimed for Buggy's hand that was quickly approaching, the source, intent to crush it.
But the "hand" he felt through the dust wasn't moving as expected. The shape was wrong.
The leopard man's eyes widened as his finger went through one of Buggy's gloves... Filled with rocks.
The real attack came from the side at almost the same time.
An ungloved hand touched his chest. For a moment, everything was silent.
Then he felt his insides splitting.
A crisscross of slashes erupted across Lucci's torso, tearing through fur, flesh and everything in between.
Lucci staggered back, breath catching. Blood poured freely now, soaking the cracked cobblestone. His hybrid form trembled, fading with each heartbeat.
Buggy dropped to one knee, panting hard. "That… hah... was your finale~"
Lucci tried to respond, but nothing came out, just a wet, shallow breath. His eyes rolled back, and the beast collapsed, shaking the ground.
Buggy didn't even bother to check on him, just slammed another large piece of rubble on top of his head with a smile.
The silence that followed that crunch was deafening.
Robin stared from her corner, hair sticking to her face, sea-stone chains clinking softly. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath.
Buggy stood in the center of the destruction, chest heaving, a manic grin plastered on his blood-smeared face. One arm twitched slightly before snapping back into place.
From down the street, Urouge's voice rumbled. "Seems like following you around is quite fun~! The monk triumphs once again!"
Cabaji limped into view, dragging Mohji by the collar.
"Circus… victorious…" The Beast Tamer weakly mumbled out, his eyes still wet from crying in pain earlier.
Richie sneezed, causing a small pile of dust to collapse nearby.
Robin just stared. For all his clownish absurdity, for all the jokes and chaos… Buggy had fought one of the government's most lethal assassins and won.
Buggy turned toward her, stretching his neck with a few cracks. His grin widened, but his eyes held something sharper. Something aware.
"Well~ Miss Archaeologist…" he said, walking toward her as if he hadn't just destroyed half a city block. "~ How about a drink? You owe me at least that for the show."