Cedric's Limitations #66

"With your hand stuck in my candy syrup, you are under my mercy..." The pirate captain said as he raised his fist. "You can't hurt me, but I can hurt you..." He went as he sent a punch flying toward the young marine's head.

"Yeah, about that..." Cedric said with a chuckle as he dodged Gasparde's attack and jumped back after freeing his arm with a forceful yank. "Sorry to break your bubble, but it's not happening," He added as he raised his fist to show the white powder covering it.

"Thanks to your big mouth, everyone who's ever been around you knows about the ame-ame devil fruit..." Cedric said with an exasperated sigh as he shook his head. "Once I discovered its power, finding its weakness was as easy as asking a cook," He added as he opened his fist, revealing the torn flower bag.

"So what if you can slip out of my Syrup, brat..." Gasparde said, trying and failing to hide his anger at the young marine's mockery as even his crew could see through his act. "You're still no match for me!" He added, sprouting green spikes over his fist as he charged Cedric.

"Wrong again, buddy," Cedric said as he met Gasparde's fist with his own, unflinching even as the hardened syrup spikes broke and pierced his knuckles and broke upon contact with his bones. "You've only got your devil fruit, but you don't even know how to use it..." He added as he shook his hand, causing spikes to dislodge and fall on the Slamander's deck.

"Now stop running your mouth, and let's get this over with..." The young marine calmly said as he raised his fists in a defensive posture."Unlike you, I don't have the time to play games," He added as he beckoned for the pirate captain to make the first move.

"You damned brat!" Gasparde exclaimed, finally letting go of his calm facade as he charged Cedric with an enrage scowl. "I'll rip that filthy tongue out of your mouth!" He bellowed, his hand turning into a long sword that rapidly grew in length and flew toward the young marine's face.

Cedric said nothing as he moved his head to the side as the sharp tip of the syrup sword flew past it, only to start sprinting toward Gasparde as the latter tried to retract his blade-like hand.

The young marine quickly closed the distance and buried his fist into the pirate captain's abdomen, causing the latter to grunt in pain. Regardless, Gasparde recovered and sent his other fist flying toward Cedric's chest after turning it into a sharp spike.

To everyone's surprise, the young marine showed no intention of dodging or blocking. Cedric stood still and allowed the spike to hit him in the chest, creating a bloody hole.

Instead of wincing or backing away, Cedric merely grinned as he looked Gasparde in the eye, causing the pirate captain to frown as he tried to withdraw his fist.

"What... what is this?" The pirate captain said, his eyes widening as he realized he couldn't pull back his arm. "What have you done?" He asked, his tone slightly panicking as he received a taste of his medicine.

"Unlike you... I don't like sharing secrets that could get my ass whooped," Cedric said, grinning as he looked at Gasparde's panicky expression. "And even if I told you, it wouldn't matter since you won't be alive for long..." He added, shaking his head as he buried his fist into the pirate captain's chin, causing him to fly back and hit the ship's mast, snapping it in half.

The pirate captain turned into red, humanoid goo as the mast collapsed over him, only to slowly revert back to his original form. "Why the hell are you standing there and watching like idiots?!" Gasparde exclaimed as he looked at his underlings.

"Hurry up and shoot this brat if you don't want to go to Impel Down!" He bellowed, and the pirates only hesitated briefly before drawing their flintlocks and firing at Cedric.

Again, the young marine surprised everyone as he welcomingly spread his arms, standing still and taking the barrage of bullets without flinching as one bloody hole after the other appeared on his body, each dripping blood.

"Tha kinda tickled..." Cedric said, his grin deepening as he flexed his muscles with a grunt of effort, causing most of the projectiles dislodged in them to fall from the bullet wounds.

"But it looks like I'm getting ahead of myself," The young marine muttered to no one in particular, frowning as he felt several bullets break through his muscles and hit his bones. "It's not perfect yet... and I'm losing more blood than I'd imagined..." He continued, ignoring Gasparde and the pirates as he appraised the injuries with his x-ray-like vision.

"Still... this is enough..." The young marine said with a genuine smile as he raised his and turned to Gasparde. "I'm afraid that's all the time I'm willing to waste on you, friend," He added, jumping back as the pirate captain sent another syrup spike flying toward him.

"Don't act as if you've won yet, brat!" Gasparde said through gritted teeth as he jumped back toward the ship's quarter deck. "I admit you're strong, but you're injured now, and your carelessness will cost you your life," He added as he retracted his hand and held onto the ship's railing.

The pirate captain's arms and forearms turned into elastic green syrup, creating an improvised slingshot with his body as the projectile as he walked back and materialized sharp spikes all over his body.

"Die, you bastard!" Gasparde ferociously bellowed as he lifted his feet off the ground, causing his body to launch toward the young marine at an incredible speed.

"As slingshot, eh? Looks fun..." Cedric said, sounding genuinely amused as he lowered his posture, showing his intent to take Gasparde's attack head-on, much to the pirate captain's as he spread limps and sprouted even more spikes all over his body.

The distance between them wasn't small, but the pirate captain covered it in a fraction of a second due to the incredible speed generated by his improvised slingshot.

Still, Cedric maintained his smile as he cocked his fist back and buried it into Gasparde's abdomen. The spikes on the pirate captain's stomach penetrated his skin, muscles, and flesh, even breaking the young marine's bones, but he remained unflinching.

Cedric firmly planted his feet into the ground and put more force into his fist, causing Gasparde's body to bend around it. Ultimately, he managed to overpower the pirate captain's momentum after a few seconds and punched him straight into the Salamnder's deck, causing the wooden planks to shatter upon impact.

"Looks like I was your match after all..." Cedric said, grunting as he shook his injured hand before snapping its fingers back into place. "But It was a good fight... I'll give you that much," He added as he drew a revolver marked with a red X, pointing it at Gasparde's chest.

The young marine waited for the pirate captain to say something, but the latter could only stare at him hatefully while coughing blood. Ultimately, Cedric shrugged before putting two bullets into Gasparde's shoulders, causing him to go limp and lose consciousness.

"Now for the rest of you..." Cedric said as he raised his and turned to the remaining pirates, freezing as he found them all lying on the ground. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't interfere, Ain?" He asked, scratching his head with the revolver's barrel as he looked at the blue-haired woman standing over the unconscious underlings.

"We agreed I wouldn't interfere in your fight against Gasparde... and I didn't," Ain blankly replied as she walked up to the unconscious Gasparde and kneeled beside him. "But we've wasted enough time on this mission," She added as she retrieved a pair of dark-gray metallic cuffs, which she used to bind the pirate captain's hands.

"Fair enough..." Cedric said with a chuckle. "We still need to take the people Gasparde abducted back to Foolshout Island..." He went on, causing Ain to stop what she was doing and turn to him with a strange expression.

"What? I'm not about to leave a punch of helpless civilians on an island full of former pirates and thugs," Cedric said with a frown. "They won't last a week," He continued as he grimaced, simply thinking about what will happen to the abducted people.

"I have no objections about taking the time to relocate the civilians..." Ain said with a genuine smile as she finished. "In fact, that's what I wanted to suggest..." She added as she shook her head.

"I was just surprised you wanted to do the same..."

...

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