Chapter 74

*Clang* A metallic noise was heard across the field as Cavendish's sword collided against the black-coloured spider-like arm of Onigumo.

"Yes, I recognize you..." Onigumo's eyes blazed as his gaze was locked onto Cavendish, "Cavendish the 'Pirate Prince.'"

"I'm... surprisingly not flattered," Cavendish commented as he flipped backward and landed on the sandy ground, "of hearing from someone as ugly as you."

On his right, Carmen landed just now as her body transformed back from flames, because she wasn't as fast as Cavendish. Cavendish glared at Carmen, who just turned her head away proudly.

"The game wasn't fair in the first place!" Carmen snorted before her hands lit up in flames.

Onigumo scowled and grabbed his justice coat, before throwing away to the side. He lifted up his eight arms towards the duo, with each hand curled into a fist. He bent his legs slightly, getting himself into a particular martial art stance.

"Tekkai: Fukashin." Onigumo's fists hardened under the variation of Tekkai, before they were encased within the black armour of Armament Haki, amplifying the durability of his fists to an extreme degree.

Cavendish and Carmen turned back to Onigumo, with their faces solemn.

"Don't get in my way, candle flame." Cavendish said seriously as half of his face began to distort weirdly, bringing out the strengths of Hakuba.

"That's my line to say." Carmen replied with an equally serious tone, her pink hair now floating above her head, as they were transformed into orange-coloured flames that burned the air above.

At the next moment, Cavendish vanished from his spot, leaving only a speck of dust on his position.

*CLANG* Onigumo raised his hand up in the air, and his fist clashed against Cavendish's Armament-Haki-imbued sword, as Cavendish appeared out of thin air.

"That movement... Soru?" Onigumo's facial expression darkened.

"Ugh," Cavendish grunted slightly as he was pushed back by Onigumo, who raised his other seven hands subsequently and opened his palms, and blocked Carmen's wave of flames with them.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* Instantly vanishing once more, Cavendish began to strike Onigumo at an inconceivable speed, but the latter calmly blocked the slashes with his durable hands.

"Silent Flame!" Carmen sniped a condensed ball of flames towards Onigumo from the far distance whenever she saw an opportunity, but Onigumo's eight hands granted him an absolute defence that left no opening. He parried Carmen's technique and occasionally deflected them towards where Cavendish would appear to strike, by using his Observation Haki.

Cavendish, realizing that his speed alone won't be able to bypass Onigumo's defence, retreated at some distance away from Onigumo.

Carmen saw Cavendish's momentary retreat. She opened her palm, and a shape of a bow made out of the blue-coloured flame, sprouted on her hand, which she firmly grasped. Moving her other hand behind the bow, an arrow made out of blue flame burst into existence.

Cavendish raised the level of the sword up next to his face, with the blade pointed towards Onigumo.

"Overblaze!" / "One Sword Style: Sabre Ecrasant."

*BOOOM* The flame arrow shot out of Carmen, flying towards Onigumo with the sheer heat emanating all around. Cavendish took a step forward and pushed his sword out, generating a sharp blast of air. Two attacks merged together, creating a domineering storm of blue flame that furiously swirled as it approached Onigumo.

Facing against the combined attack, Onigumo took a deep breath, "Tekkai: Gokei Fukashin." He crossed his eight arms together, before the usage of Tekkai technique and Armament Haki spread from his fists, quickly covering his entire body.

*BOOOOOOOM* Onigumo and the torrent of blue flame collided, with one trying to withstand and the other attempting to blast through the other.

Onigumo gritted his teeth as Carmen and Cavendish's attacks were quite potent. However, in the end, it was unable to penetrate his defence. With his feet planted deep into the sand, Onigumo continued to withstand against the torrent of blue flame.

"Haaa!!" With a roar, Onigumo pushed the violent attack away with his strength, causing the flame to disperse and eventually die down. Carmen and Cavendish stared at Onigumo with serious gleams within their eyes, trying to find his weak points.

"Well," Onigumo growled as the Armament Haki faded from his body, leaving onto his fists imbued, "I guess it's my turn, isn't it?"

Onigumo's appearance began to alter slightly. His eight arms originally consisted of six spider-like arms and two normal arms, however, now, his normal arms began to transform into spider-like manner, and the six arms behind him gained muscles, thickening up. Simultaneously, six more eyes, three on each side of his head, abruptly opened, giving Onigumo eight eyes in total. The fangs grew from his cheeks, and his skin grew brown hairs all over.

"Spider Spider fruit, model: Tarantula." Onigumo stated as his eyes flashed murderously towards Carmen and Cavendish in a predatory manner, "The likes of you won't be able to handle me in my full-hybrid form."

"Tarantula... carnivore, and known for its great physical strengths," Cavendish, in which half of his face was still distorted by Hakuba, frowned as he lifted up his sword. His eyes were locked onto the fangs on Onigumo's face, "we must avoid getting caught, at all cost."

With a hostile glare, Onigumo opened his mouth, revealing sharp teeth, "Let's see how long you last!!!"

Onigumo's spider-like arms intertwined together by a group of four, forming two huge arms that extended all the way to the ground. "Tekkai: Fukashin!" Two large fists were hardened by Tekkai before being encased within the Armament Haki once more.

Carmen frowned in irritation at witnessing Onigumo's impenetrable technique once again, as her body slightly levitated from the ground.

"Flame Empress: Brilliant Sun!" The great volume of orange-coloured flames burst out of her body, before condensing above her like a huge sun, heating up the surroundings to an extreme degree.

"So this is the rank of Vice Admiral... not as easy as how captain made it seem." Cavendish took a deep breath and slouched forward, with the sword at his waist level, pointing to Onigumo.

At the next moment, Onigumo blasted off from his position, propelling himself towards Carmen and Cavendish.

Cavendish, who stood at the front, watched sternly as Onigumo cocked back his giant arm, about to unleash his attack. Cavendish vanished from his spot in an attempt to dodge, but found that Onigumo's giant fist was flying towards where he was travelling to.

'Observation Haki!' Cavendish's eyes widened and used his sword to block Onigumo's punch.

*BOOOOM* The sheer force behind the punch sent Cavendish blasting backward, who crashed into the sand.

Carmen angrily snarled seeing this scene and placed her palms forward, "Flame Ediction: Dominance!!"

*BOOOOOOM* The condensed flames in the sun-like figure, shot forward to Onigumo in a huge beam of laser. Onigumo grimaced as he placed both of his giant hands in front of him with palms still open, blocking the beam from advancing any further.

Subsequently, Cavendish appeared behind Onigumo. Onigumo's eyes widened as he saw this.

"One Sword Style: Vent Rosé." With Onigumo unable to move, Cavendish slashed Onigumo horizontally.

*CLANG* Cavendish frowned as the patch of Armament Haki appeared on Onigumo's back to block his attack, before spinning himself midair at a blinding speed.

"One Sword Style: Ouragon Rosé." Cavendish repeatedly slashed over and over to Onigumo as he spun rapidly. However, Onigumo's defence was very durable; he didn't manage to bypass it.

The beam of flame ceased as well, with Carmen huffing on her spot while sweating. Although exhausted from defending against potent attacks, Onigumo stood firm, glaring at Cavendish, who swiftly retreated next to Carmen as soon as her attack ended.

Lifting his giant arms up, Onigumo slammed them down on the sands around him.

*BOOM* The sands around him erupted, covering Carmen and Cavendish's vision momentarily.

Right after, Onigumo flew through the sand, with his Armament-Haki imbued fists outstretched toward Carmen.

Cavendish immediately reacted by dashing under Onigumo, in order to prevent his advance by blocking with his sword. However, Onigumo already expected such movement from Cavendish; his hand was wide open with palm facing toward Cavendish.

"Sticky Blast!!" A huge threads of white-coloured spiderwebs burst out of Onigumo's open palm and blasted into Cavendish, whose eyes were widened before he crashed into the sand once again, but with the thick spiderwebs immobilizing him.

Onigumo continued to run towards Carmen, who gritted her teeth as she placed her palms downward, facing the sandy terrain.

*BOOOM* By expelling the flames out of her palms and soles of her feet, Carmen rocketed upwards, barely dodging Onigumo's fearsome punch.

"Sticky Clutch!" A thick thread of spiderweb, with hand-like shape at the end, extended from Onigumo's palm and flew towards Carmen.

While in midair, Carmen turned her whole body into flames, in order to burn the spiderwebs down. However, the white-coloured spiderwebs turned black, indicating that Onigumo imbued it with Armament Haki.

"Arc of Flamboyance!!" Carmen quickly swiped her hand, generating an arc of flames that travelled to the black spiderweb.

Surprisingly, the spiderweb suddenly changed its direction in the middle of its flight, as Onigumo predicted the attack through the use of his Observation Haki. Onigumo's spider web reached Carmen and instantly grabbed her flame-turned body, before pulling her towards him, who cocked his other fist back.

Carmen struggled to get out of Onigumo's spiderweb as she was rapidly being pulled, however, his potent Armament Haki prevented her from doing so; the fact that Onigumo seemed unfazed by the heat of her flames rendered her helpless.

"One blow should be enough to finish you off." Onigumo growled, before narrowing his eyes sideways.

There was Cavendish, who was swaying from side to side, disheveled.

"That was quicker than I expected; my web tends to be very 'sticky.'"

Cavendish didn't speak. His face was shadowed due to his head being lowered. Grabbing his sword with both hands, Cavendish lowered himself to an extreme degree, as if he was almost lying down.

"Two Sword Style..." Cavendish said quietly as the illusion-like figure, an exact replica of Cavendish but with a devilish grin, replicated his action right next to him.

"Les Diables."

*SWOOSH* With a sound of gushing wind, Onigumo found himself dumbfounded, as right before Carmen entered his range, the spiderweb was abruptly cut.

"Tch," Carmen clicked her tongue in cold sweat, "I... owe you one for this."

Cavendish spoke out in a low and hoarse voice, as he coughed out some sand from his mouth, "*Cough* You rely on your fruit *Cough* too much."

'He cut through my Armament Haki.' Onigumo thought within himself as he found himself getting tired, 'The real threat isn't Flame Empress, but Pirate Prince.'

______________

"*Huff* *Huff* How... *Huff* does this guy know Rokushiki?!!" One Commodore shouted in disbelief as his gaze lied upon Dan, who was standing impassively.

Around Dan, all the Commodores were seen lying down, either unconscious or unable to stand back up.

"Captain taught me," Dan shrugged impassively while lifting up his finger, "Shigan."

*Puk* With a crunching sound, the one who spoke up fell on the ground with a small hold on his chest, unconscious.

'Well, I can only do Soru, Geppo and Shigan though.' Dan thought to himself as he shifted his eyes away from the retired Commodores. They weren't much of a hassle for him, and the fight ended in minutes.

Looking around the battlefield, Dan sighted Rowan and Crocodile's intense fight, Carmen and Cavendish holding off against Onigumo, and the marine troop's beatdown on the Baroque Works.

'What to do now...' Dan placed a hand on his chin in contemplation, 'Definitely not captain's fight. Spider man?' Dan's eyes squinted as he tried to get better view of the ongoing fight.

"Since I finished mine too early…" Dan blasted himself off of the ground, before using Geppo to propel towards Carmen, Cavendish and Onigumo, with a grin on his face.