chapter 41

Nothing happened for several seconds as we all stared at the fire left behind by the dynamite stick, But suddenly Elly widened her eyes and jumped backward. A mere fraction of a second later, a pair of long, black claws emerged from the ground where she was standing.

Dirt flew in every direction as Frank Nitti's battered, burned, and bleeding figure came out of the ground, lunging at Elly again, trying to impale her with his long claws.

Elly saw it coming and performed a backward flip while throwing three small knives, which somehow found their way between the mobster's spikes and embedded themselves in his forearms, causing him to grunt in pain as he lunged at her again.

"not bad, Elly's something else alright," said Wilson while nodding his head, seemingly impressed with the redhead's performance.

"She'll make a fine addition to our crew indeed," said Laffite appraisingly while watching the ensuing fight.

"though I had some doubts about her ability at first, I decided to have faith in your judgment, and now I can see your judgment as impeccable as ever, captain," he concluded as he took off his hat and bowed.

"that's all fine and dandy, but Elly should be nearing her limits. Get ready to jump in and bail her out any second now," I said with a sigh as I kept staring at Frank Nitti like a hawk, and both Laffite and Wilson nodded.

Meanwhile, the monster boss kept trying to catch Elly stubbornly showing no intention of giving up as she kept dodging and counter-attacking every and causing the mobster more injuries every chance she had.

The stalemate finally ended as one bullet managed to get past his defenses before he had the chance to block it with his arms and buried itself in his guts, creating a small gaping hole that spewed blood like a fountain.

The mob boss, however, was zoan devil fruit eater. And he was nothing if not resilient. So he threw himself at her again, not minding the gaping wound in his stomach or the loss of blood that it caused him.

Elly tried to dodge again, but she staggered as her eyes widened, and she held her back in pain when the injury in her ribs flared up because of the stress it had accumulated during this battle. She was now a sitting duck, unable to do anything but wait for the mobster's claws to tear her apart.

"Die, you bitch," screamed the gangster, as he put even more strength into his charge, trying to end the fight with this one attack.

Wilson was the first to act as he vanished and appeared in front of the mobster and sent him flying with a punch, not minding the spikes covering the mobster's body and snapping the ones he hit like dried tree branches.

Laffite was next as he vanished with a chuckle and appeared behind the flying Frank Nitti and used his red cane like a baseball bat, Hitting square in the back and sending him into the air to make sure he doesn't use his ability to dig into the ground and escape.

That, however, wasn't the end of Frank Nitti's suffering as I appeared right above him in the air and grasped his face with my left prosthetic arm that had a coating of sea stone, forcing him to change back into his human form.

Frank Nitti, who was barely conscious at this point, seemed to have realized he didn't stand a chance from the beginning, and I could see his face start changing colors rapidly.

I looked down at Wilson and sent him a shit-eating grin as I proceeded to shamelessly copy his move. I corrected my posture in the air to assume a diving posture. I then used Geppo rapidly with both my legs and started descending into the ground extremely fast, with Frank Nitti's face shielding my body.

Frank Nitt's face hit the ground with a loud explosion, creating a small crater in the landing area, But I kept hold of his face even after the impact just in case and stood up without letting him go.

"as expected of a zoan user, he isn't dead yet, just unconscious," I said while whistling. "He soon will be, though," I said with a smile as I watched Elly making her way to me while leaning on Wilson's shoulder.

Elly let go of Wilson's shoulder and took out a knife once she reached her destination. But the redhead did nothing and just stared at the unconscious mobster as she clenched and unclenched the blade in her hand.

"so, what do you want to do now? If you have something to say to him or you want to torture him a little before killing him, I can wake him up for you," I said with a smile while shaking the mobster in my hand like a tattered piece of cloth.

"no, it's just that I thought it's going to be more satisfying than this, taking this piece of shit down, I mean," she remarked with a sigh while shaking her head and winced as her wound flared up again.

"the thing about revenge is that it never feels as good as people expect it to, but some people still do it nonetheless because it would help them move on and not think about what-ifs for the rest of their lives, while some let it go and still move on in their own ways," I said with a sigh.

"maybe killing him would make you feel better, or it could make things worse. In the end, it's your decision and your decision alone, and no matter what you decide, we'll always have you back," I concluded with a smile as Wilson put his hand on her shoulders while he and Laffite both nodded with warm smiles on their faces.

Elly heard what I had to say and lowered her head to think, and after half a minute of deep thought, she raised her head and nodded with a serious face to show her resolve as she looked at the hand holding the knife and...