Explosive Showdown #36

Crawling away and watching the two terrifying individuals wreck the warehouse as they fought, Roshio couldn't help but gulp nervously, his eyes wide in shock and fear.

Like many of the Four Blues pirates, Roshio was ignorant and unaware of the vastness of the world and the countless extraordinary men and women roaming the seas.

Sure, he was good with a sword and strong enough to kill a dozen men with his bare hands, but he had never met anyone remotely capable of rivaling his strength, hence his baseless confidence in his abilities.

And for the first time in his life, as he watched a man create explosions with his fists and another destroy a brick wall with a single punch, Roshio finally realized how insignificant he was.

"I need to get out of here...!" Roshio shrieked, almost pissing himself as Cedric threw his spear and barely missed the pirate captain's crotch by an inch due to Gem's intervention.

He quickly got to his feet, turned around, and started sprinting away, fully intent on leaving the island and never looking back.

...

"He's running away, you dumb sack of boogers!" I exclaimed, gritting my teeth as I ducked under one of Gem's nasty explosive boogers, spinning my body and kicking at his abdomen.

"And stop throwing boogers at me. That's fucking disgusting!" I added as I corrected my posture while watching him slide away with his arms crossed in front of his stomach, having used them to block my kick.

"It doesn't matter. I can always hunt Roshio down and get what I want as long as he lives..." Gem calmly said, uncrossing his arms and dusting his windbreaker. "This is your last chance to walk away..." He added as he began picking his nose with two fingers instead of one, much to my chagrin.

"At least acknowledge my remark, you filthy bastard!" I said, gritting my teeth as I charged Gem. My words seemed to enter through one ear and exit through the other as he prepared to flick another booger at me.

"Double Nose Fancy Canon!" Gem exclaimed, promptly flicking not one but two boogers at me, and I could do nothing but wince as I jumped into the air, twisting my body to dodge the disgusting attack.

"Now I know you're doing it on purpose!" I said, scowling as I closed the distance and viscously swung my fist at Gem's nose, and he quickly took a step back before retaliating with an explosive punch.

I moved out of the way and successfully dodged the punch, but I didn't have enough time to avoid the entirety of the ensuing blast. Ultimately I could only wince as I felt an explosion scraping the skin over my shoulders.

Still, I persisted, gritting my teeth as I punched Gem in the nose, and he couldn't dodge due to his awkward posture, causing his nose to break with a sickening crunch, much to my glee.

"Yeah! I'd like to see you shoot any more boogers at me now, you bitch!" I exclaimed, barely resisting the urge to fist pump the air as I kicked Gem and sent him sliding back.

With blood running through his nose, he looked me in the eye as he raised his index finger and stuck it into his nostril, barely keeping a blank expression as he fished out another booger with large beads of sweat running down his forehead.

"You bitch! You throw that shit at me, and I'll seriously rip out your nose and shove it down your throat!" I exclaimed, my eyes twitching as I watched Gem slowly raise his hands and aim at me. "I'm warning you... Don't do it...!" I added as he joined his index and thumb fingers, preparing to flick his booger at me.

"Fancy Nose Canon..." Gem exclaimed as he threw the bogger at me, causing me to sigh as I dodged the attack and charged him with an annoyed expression.

"Now you're just asking for it!"

...

Gritting my teeth, I caught Gem's left fist, feeling one of my fingers break due to the explosion. He blankly looked at me, then jabbed at me with his right, and I caught it as well.

"I've had enough of your filth!" I said, bringing my head back and burying it into his nose repeatedly until he stopped moving and went limp, falling to the ground.

Naturally, I was aware of Gem's devil fruit power and ability to explode the entirety of his body, so I waited until he was exhausted before getting so close to him.

If I had tried something like this early in the fight and stopped moving for even a second, the battle would have likely gone very differently, and it would have been my back that hit the ground.

My opponent wasn't nearly as physically strong, fast, or agile as I was, but he could absorb a beating like a sponge, and his devil fruit gave him a lot of leeway and options, allowing him to injure me several times, albeit lightly.

Ultimately, I ended the fight with three broken bones and a dozen or so burns of various degrees, nothing that a few salves and a day's rest wouldn't heal.

"You're a disgusting man..." I said with a sigh as I reached into my jacket and retrieved a revolver. "But that was a pretty good fight..." I added, smiling as I aimed the barrel at Gem's head.

"Wait..." Gem said, struggling to speak as he looked at me. "You don't have to kill me..." He added, grunting as he leaned on his shaking arms and slowly sat straight.

"I know I don't have to kill you, but I kinda want to..." I said, raising an eyebrow. "You threw all those boogers at me, and that Roshio guy ran away because of you..." I said, dismissively gesturing with the revolver.

"I can hunt Roshio down and bring him to you..." Gem calmly said. "And I can compensate you with a lot of money..." He added, looking past the gun barrel and into my eyes.

"Do you know why I'm after Roshio and why I wanted him alive...?" Gem asked, and I merely shrugged as I had no clue. "He's a small fry with an inflated bounty, but he recently attacked a ship full of weapons and stole its cargo..." He added, spitting the blood pooling in his mouth.

"The people who were supposed to receive those weapons promised me a lot of money to retrieve the cargo... since Rosho killed the original seller..." He concluded.

"Hm? So you're working for the Revolutionary Army...?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, to which Gem instantly froze. "What are you acting so surprised for...? It's kinda obvious, really..." I added, raising an eyebrow.

"Only the Cetaurea royal family and the Revolutionary Army would need that many weapons and be able to afford it...." I calmly explained my reasoning. "And the royals don't need to be so sneaky as to hire some shady bounty hunter... they can just use their army or go to the Marines..."I concluded.

"If you've already deducted as much, there's no use hiding it..." Gem said with a sigh. "It is as you say precisely; a member of the Revolutionary Army hired me to retrieve the weapons..." He added.

"They offered me one hundred million, and I'm willing to pay eighty in exchange for my life..." Gem Concluded, his tone sounding genuine as he spoke.

"Eighty million, eh? That's a lot of money..." I said, rubbing my chin in as I looked down at Gem. "But you realize you're bargaining with money that isn't yours... and I have no reason to trust you....?" I blankly added, my tone bemused.

"As a bounty hunter, my reputation is only second in value to me after my own life..." Gem calmly replied. "So long as I continue to live and maintain my reputation, I will get more jobs and money..." He added, his tone grave as he looked at me.

"I will not tarnish my reputation nor risk my life for money..." Gem added. "You will have your money and Roshio in two days..." He concluded, pausing as he waited for a reply.

"I like your confidence if nothing else..." I said with a chuckle as I put away my revolver. "I'm going to go against my better judgment and let you go..." I added as I turned around and walked toward the building's exit without forgetting to pick up my spear.

"Don't make me regret it..." I concluded