256. Avenger

It's not only the All-Stars that can fight well and give the Clowns a hard time. The high-ranking executives are also strong and fight the Clowns executives well. Also, all high-ranking executives of Beasts Pirates are Zoan devil fruit users, so they are troublesome opponents.

SMILE hasn't been invented now, so all the devil fruit users in Beasts Pirates are natural ones. They all are also executives because devil fruit is hard to find so only some people can get it. The troops are all non-devil fruit users before the invention of SMILE.

The Clowns are in charge of fighting Beasts Pirates while the Red Scabbards fight Orochi's generals. So now, only the Clowns executives need to worry about fighting devil fruit users. Just like Mantis who currently fights a 35 y.o woman with long green hair.

"Hmm, you seem similar to someone but I don't remember who," says Mantis while facing the woman.

"Do you remember Doron?" asks the woman while gritting her teeth.

Mantis tries to remember but, "I can't remember him. Is he a merchant or something?"

The green-haired woman suddenly gets angry and shouts, "HE IS THE LEADER ON BREEZE ISLAND THAT YOU DESTROYED. I AM CAYLA, HIS LITTLE SISTER, AND I WILL AVENGE HIS DEATH!"

Mantis is taken aback and finally remembers Doron. "Ah, he was the one that gets defeated by Magnus, huh? That guy sure was strong and Magnus has almost failed. So he is your brother, no wonder I thought I knew you. But well, if you want to avenge him, then you need to show me that you have the power to do so, old woman."

Cayla gets more enraged after Mantis called him an old woman. Sure, Mantis is some years younger than her, so she is older. But that doesn't mean that she is old and being called old is something that she really hates.

"I'LL KILL YOU, BITCH!" shouts Cayla angrily.

"Heh, look at yourself before you say that," says Mantis as she sees Cayla transforms.

Cayla transforms into a 10 meters red centipede with black legs. Well, it's not a centipede actually, but the ancestor of centipedes. Cayla ate an Ancient Zoan devil fruit, Insect Insect Fruit, model: Arthropleura.

"Damn, do all these executives ate Ancient Zoan fruits?" curses Mantis as she looks at the gigantic creature.

"That's what ranking gave us. If we are strong enough, we can get strong devil fruit too. This devil fruit was a gift from my brother after he became an executive. So I will use his gift to slaughter you," says Cayla.

"Heh, strong devil fruit, huh? Do you know my captain's devil fruit? He just can split himself into parts. People consider his fruit to be weak, but now, he can stand in front of a dragon," says Mantis.

"What do you want to say?" asks Cayla impatiently.

"Captain is someone who believes that there is no strong or weak devil fruit. They just have different uses and their growth depends on their users. Even Pirate King Roger wasn't a devil fruit user and he could stand above everyone in the world. So if you are weak, you will still be weak even with such 'strong looking' devil fruit," says Mantis while pointing her staff at Cayla.

Cayla gets angry because Mantis just said that she is weak. She knows she isn't the strongest in her crew, but she isn't weak. It's really infuriating to be called weak by a girl years younger than her who also doesn't have any devil fruit. Cayla is someone who believes that devil fruit makes the user stronger.

"You'll regret this!" claims Cayla as she rushes at Mantis.

Cayla attacks Mantis using her armored head and Mantis parries it to the right using her staff. But Cayla keeps moving and attacks Mantis using her numerous blade-like legs. Mantis can't afford to get hit by the sharp legs so she defends using her staff.

"Thousands of Blades!" says Cayla as she keeps attacking Mantis with her sharp legs.

She moves around Mantis, up & down to attack Mantis using her sharp blade-like legs. Mantis can't get out of her encirclement because she blocks all escape routes with her long & massive body. This technique is Cayla's signature attack that has killed many people.

Too bad that Mantis isn't like many people with her strength & skills. She can defend against Cayla's attacks well despite the attacks coming from every direction. Mantis utilizes her staff handling skills and Haki really well to protect herself.

But she can't stay defensive for too long because it will tire her. She needs to get out of Cayla's entrapment as fast as she can. So she needs to attack and break Cayla's attack's flow.

'Her back & legs seem very tough, but her belly seems softer. I need to aim that,' thinks Mantis.

Mantis immediately crouches to evade the legs that move beside her. The legs that attack her are the ones that move above ground because the ground is used for a foothold. So the legs that step on the ground can't attack and Mantis uses that gap.

After she crouched, Mantis covers her body with A-Haki to protect herself from Cayla's legs while she attacks. Then she swings her staff upward at a high speed while jumping a little. The staff moves past Cayla's legs and hits her belly. Some legs hit Mantis as she moves, but her A-Haki protects her well.

"ARGH!" screams Cayla in pain as she gets flung upwards quite high.

Mantis uses this chance when Cayla can't get away midair. She jumps and prepares her staff on her right side while covering it with Haki. Then she swings her staff at Cayla as strong as she can.

But Cayla sees her coming, so she moves to protect herself. She coils her body like a millipede, making her armor on the back covers her whole body. It makes Mantis's attack hit her armor and flings her to the wall because Mantis hits from the side.

Mantis lands and looks at the destroyed hole before she gets into a stance. She knows that Cayla won't get defeated just by that and she is right. Cayla comes out from the destroyed wall and runs with her numerous legs at a high speed.

"DIE, YOU DAMN BITCH!" shouts Cayla as she tries to headbutt Mantis.

"Sorry, but I don't plan to die now. So you can do it yourself," says Mantis as she thrust her metal staff at Cayla's armored head.

*BOOM*

The clash creates a booming sound and a strong shockwave. They get into a stalemate for a moment before they get pushed back at the same time. Mantis slides a few meters back while Cayla's Arthropleura's front body raises and arches upwards.

"What a tough carapace," says Mantis as she looks at Cayla's head that doesn't get damaged.

"Tch, how could that small body has that much strength?" ponders Cayla in frustration.

Mantis hears it and smirks, "This is the result of training. Human's body is stronger than you thought."

"Hmph, why bother training so hard if you can get the same result with less training if you have devil fruit ability? Such a waste of time," says Cayla as she strikes again.

"Sigh, whatever, it's hard to talk with stone head," says Mantis as she jumps to evade Cayla's strike.

As Mantis jumps, Cayla suddenly arches her rear body upwards. She strikes Mantis using her rear body and slams Mantis to a pillar, destroying it. She smiles smugly but then her smile stiffens when Mantis comes out of the rubbles unscathed.

Mantis brushes off the dust on her clothes and says, "Well, I shouldn't play around anymore. I need to cook for everyone because they'll be hungry after fighting. Those guys' appetites are not easy to satiate."

______________________________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Voting for this book is highly appreciate.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 280 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 291 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)