23 Underestimation

'How did this happen? This wasn't how things were supposed to go...'

Captain Alexander looked around at what remained of his men, his comrades. Only half still drew breath, the rest had succumbed to their wounds.

'His bounty is only 43,000,000 Beri, but that's wrong. That man is a monster.'

Remembering his poor excuse for a fight sent shivers down his spine.

Captain Alexander's duty was to hunt down up and coming rookie pirates before they entered the Grand Line. This particular pirate's bounty was on the high side, but well within tolerable limits.

'And it's not just him, but his crew as well. They're all monsters. I have to warn headquarters, but I can barely even muster the strength to stand...'

The gate to the cell opened. The other men flinched at the sound. A low voice rumbled in the darkness as a man stepped inside.

"Kukukuku, who's going to play with me this time..."

The man was 3 meters tall with muscles that rippled and bulged underneath his tanned skin. His hair was dark brown and cut short, his eyes were icy blue, his nose was long and hooked, and his mouth seemed trapped in a perpetual toothy smile that unnerved the toughest of men.

Captain Alexander used every ounce of his strength and will to stand up. He had taken the most beating out of his crew by far, but he would spare them this torture so long as he could still move.

"Ohhh, the little Captain's ready for another round, kukuku! Since you're so excited I won't hold back, that makes you happy doesn't it? KUKUKUKU!"

...

Cherry didn't have too much trouble tracking down the general location of 'Body Builder' Victor. The mad man, along with his Strong Arm Pirates, had left a trail of mayhem wherever they had gone.

She narrowed his location down to 3 islands and she checked 2 of those islands already.

Truthfully, she didn't expect as much from these pirates after hearing about their deeds. There were a few ways for the world government to raise your bounty.

One, cause enormous damage to life and / or property of citizens or marines.

Two, be strong enough to warrant the increase of a pre-existing bounty.

And three, like Robin, have trumped up charges placed on your head because the world government doesn't like you for one reason or another.

Based on the heinous deeds of Victor and his crew that she's been hearing about, she reckoned he was mainly the first type.

Cherry anchored her ship on the beach of the last island. If she didn't find them here, she would need to expand her search and re-evaluate the deductions she made about her target's behavior.

*Vwoom*

Her Life Sense stretched outwards encompassing much of the island.

Fortunately, she found a group of people and she was quite sure these were the men she was looking for.

She detected what appeared to be an encampment with 30 to 40 individuals she assumed were pirates and around 20 people who seemed to be captives. One of whom is currently tied to a post and being beaten to death.

Cherry wasted no time in rushing over.

As she got nearer to the encampment, she took a closer look at the pirates, roughly estimating their strength.

It wasn't hard to pick out the pirate captain, he was the one who was using one of the captives as a punching bag. As well as the only one with a devil fruit ability. Though there was something off about the rest of his crew as well.

Shortly, she arrived close enough to see what was going on with her own eyes. She made visual confirmation of her target and began walking towards the camp.

Sadly, she couldn't use her stealth tactics. That will make them more likely to use their captives as hostages.

"Hey, you guys are having a party without me?! Not cool, dudes, not cool!" Cherry shouted, getting the attention of everyone.

There was an awkward silence as they stared, but it was broken by Victor. "KUKUKU! This is just perfect! The lady marines weren't tough enough and died way too early, I wonder if this girl will last any longer?! Grab her and bring her to me."

Several of the pirates stood and approached her with disgusting smirks.

Cherry waited patiently and when one of the pirates got within arms reach, he went to grab her.

*SLAP*

A slap rang out in everyone's ears. The other pirates approaching Cherry stopped in their tracks.

Not because of the loud sound that echoed through the camp, but because the first pirate's head was twisted around the wrong way by that seemingly simple slap.

The lascivious smile on the pirate's face slowly turned to confusion, then he fell backwards, face first into the dirt.

"How rude. Don't you know not to grab at a lady without permission?" Cherry lightheartedly joked, which caused sweat to drip down the backs of the other pirates that had been approaching her.

"What are you doing? I told you to bring her to me." Despite the emotionless tone of the words, Victor's mad smile still hung on his face.

Victor waved his hand and a change overcame the other pirates. All their muscles began to swell, veins popping out under their skin.

Once more the pirates dared to encroach upon Cherry, this time with many more following behind.

'Interesting. A devil fruit that enhances the muscles? I wonder if there are side effects?' Cherry thought, she was still quite calm and collected.

Cherry took a stance for Hasshoken.

Two pirates launched their powerful arms towards her. Cherry met both of their strikes with her own.

Their power seemed equal for a moment, then the cracking sound of the bones in their arms shattering rang out. They slumped to the ground, writhing in pain.

The other pirates hesitated a second time, but looking back at their captain, they were more afraid of him than this girl.

Cherry charged into their ranks. She rained fists and kicks down upon them, each strike pulverizing bone or rupturing organs. After half were dealt with in short order, Victor spoke once more.

"KUKUKUKU! You've got some skills, girl! Back off men, it's my turn to play with the doll..."

Cherry focused her Life Sense on him to study his devil fruit in action.

Victor's already tall and muscular form began to transform in grotesque fashion. His skin seemed to barely be able to contain his writhing musculature.

His new humongous form suddenly flashed forward with unexpected speed. His battering ram like fist slammed into Cherry, sending her flying. She smashed into a tree, breaking it in half.

Cherry got up quickly, blood trickling from her lips due to internal injuries. She dodged another vicious blow just in time and it turned the tree stump into wood chips.

'Well, this is more than I expected. It's a bit troublesome, even.' Cherry frowned.

Cherry dodged repeatedly while Victor pursued on the offensive.

"KUKUKU! Is this all you can do? Why don't you use that weird martial art? I'll warn you now that it won't work, my muscles aren't just large. They're dense as well, like they're made of steel. I ate the Flex Flex Fruit and became a Muscle Man!" Victor explained proudly. "I'll even give you an opening to give your best shot!"

Victor opened his arms wide and waited for her to attack. His actions screamed 'trap', but she took the bait.

Cherry charged in and sent a fist straight for his abdomen!

"Idiot~" Victor sneered as he displayed even greater agility than before, dodging easily and sending a powerful chop down towards Cherry's head while she's off balance!