Chapter 168

The end result would be the same, nonetheless," Kozue said as she landed on the ground, putting her sword back into its sheath.

"We'll see about that..." Zala replied, still softly smiling as she looked at Kozue. "Spike Spike Doping," Zala exclaimed, her finger tuning to spikes as she plunged them into her shoulder, causing her upper limbs to enlarge, turning incredibly muscular.

"Stinger Flail," Zala shouted again, constricting her forearms' muscles as they began to change form, turning into spikey clubs. She charged towards Kozue swinging her left fist at the latter, making Kozue block the attack with her sword.

Kozue frowned at the strength of Zala's attack, but she held her ground, suddenly reaching for a dagger in her belt and using it to swipe at Zala's abdomen.

Though Kozue came from a samurai lineage, her time at the underground as she desperately tried to find a way to weaken Kaido left her uncaring about such trivial matters like defeating her opponent through honorable combat.

All that mattered was her goal and nothing else. She became an assassin to achieve it and only to turn to a life of piracy afterward, both professions where honor was more of a hindrance than anything else.

Kozue's sudden attack took Zala by surprise, and she quickly disengaged, jumping back to avoid the attack, which she did, but that didn't protect her from the invisible slash generated by the swing.

Zala's eyes widened as she clutched her stomach, cradling the thin gash in her abdomen as she raised her bloodstained hand, disbelieve apparent in her face.

However, another attack from Kozue, as the latter swung her sword, creating a flying sword slash towards Zala, forced her out of her daze as she tried to defend herself by blocking it with her two arms as she turned them into spikes.

Zala managed to stop the attack indeed, but it took her several seconds as she stood in place, crossing her arms in front of her face with a lowe posture to do so, giving enough time for Kozue to close the distance.

"Like I said..." Kozue flatly remarked, raising her sword and swinging it at Zala's torso. "The end result will be the same..." she added, wiping the blood on her sword with her sleeve as she put it back into its sheath.

...

"That ballet dress isn't just for the show, I see..." Elly remarked with a smile as she stood still, aiming and firing multiple shots with her rifle at Bon Kurei, who kept dancing around, dodging the bullets, and steadily closing the distance between them.

"Your shooting is no joke either, girly!" Bon Kurei said, doing a ballet spin to avoid several shots. "You're making me sweat so much my makeup is gonna get ruined," he added, finally seeing a chance as he jumped into the air, performing a swan dive towards Elly.

Elly whistled in appreciation at Bon Kurei's graceful movement, jumping back at the last second possible to dodge the attack, her smile growing more pronounced as she watched the destruction caused by his attack.

She ducked to dodge again as Bon Kurei detached his false mascara matsuge, throwing it at her like a boomerang, causing it to hit one of the few walls left standing from Spiders Cafe, toppling it in an instance.

Elly retrieved two colorful cylinders from her belt, throwing them at Bon Kurei, only them all to miss, making the latter raise an eyebrow. But his expression quickly turned alarmed as she shot cylinders, making them explode and release different effects.

The first cylinder to explode created a loud sound along with a flash of bright light, briefly stunning Bon Kurei. And by the time he regained his vision, the second cylinder exploded, releasing a thick black smokescreen, hindering his vision.

Elly smirked as she charged towards the smokescreen, using her observation Haki to locate Bon Kurei through it and pepper him with bullets.

Though Bon Kurei was incredibly quick and had strong senses allowing him to dodge several of Elly's shots. The smokescreen hindering his vision eventually got the better of him, making him unable to dodge two bullets, which hit him in his tight and shoulder, respectively.

Elly quickly capitalized, closing the distance as she accurately located Bon Kurei through the smoke, ambushing him and delivering a Rankyaku powered kick to his abdomen, creating a bloody gash.

Elly didn't intend to leave Bon Kurei any breathing space as she retreated back into the smoke, only appearing from a different angle seconds later to continue the onslaught.

The fight continued in this manner until Elly ended it by knocking out the flamboyant cross-dresser with a well-placed strike to the back of his neck with the heel of her rifle.

Elly then turned to look at the sky, giving a thumbs-up gesture with a radiant smile on her face.

...

I couldn't help but smile at Elly's gesture as I floated high above the battlefield, observing the fights along Laffite, and the others, who didn't participate and were currently standing on a solid cloud, created by Laffite's devil fruit.

"Everything seems to be going smoothly, captain," Laffite remarked with a smile, reading a book which he retrieved from Miss Golden Week, before leaving her somewhere near the battlefield.

"Just as expected," I replied with a careless shrug as I turned to look at the battle between, Mr 4 and his partner, vs Law and Bepo. "I would have had to put them through some hellish training if any of them actually lost," I added with a chuckle.

"Still... I didn't expect that wax guy to survive Byron's attack," Laffite said, closing the book and turning to look at the crater left behind by Byron's last attack.

Mr 3 had reacted quickly, creating a wax drill which he used to create a hole in the ground, and jumped into it, enforcing it with a wax dome, but not before taking Mr 5 with him surprisingly.

"It doesn't matter either way," I replied with another lazy shrug. "We'll just have Wilson give him a good beating for the ambushes he put us through later," I added as we all went quiet in favor of spectating the rest of Law's fight.

It was going as smoothly as it could be, with Law leaving the heavy lifting to Bepo, only helping the humanoid bear by teleporting him around the battlefield in pursuit of Mr 4 and Miss Merry Christmas as they jumped from one hole to the other.

However, the fight quickly ended with Bepo using his martial arts.

"Now all that's left is to kick Crocodile's ass, but first..." I said trailing at the end of my sentence, as I turned to the side, directly staring at a human ear sticking out of Laffite's cloud.

Coating my index and thump finger in Haki as I snapped, creating a loud booming explosion, I grinned as the flower dissipated into the air with a splash of pink flower petals.