Chapter 199

"That's not a toy, lady-." That was all Franky could say as he raised a finger to point at Elly's rifle as the sharpshooter bulled the trigger, shooting him in the shoulder.

Though he wasn't injured, thanks to his armor, Franky grunted in pain, taking a step back from the impact of the bullet. Elly had upgraded her rifle after dismantling my revolver and explosive bullets, copying their designs, and altering them to suit her rifle.

"That hurts, dammit! You-." Franky exclaimed, but another bullet to his chest shut him up as Elly moved to send him sliding back with a Rankyaku kick into his midsection.

She didn't waste any time lunging at him while firing her rifle in her direction as Iceburg turned to look at me with a frown on his face.

"Don't worry about it, she won't kill him," I said, smirking as I shrugged my shoulder.

"It's your friend that I'm worried about..." Iceburg said with a frown, shaking his head. "Franky isn't an average person..." he added with a sigh.

"Our Elly is no pushover either..." I said, trailing off at the end of my sentence. "I won't let it go too far, so just enjoy the show," I concluded, waving a hand to the side as I turned to look at the fight.

The first thing I saw was Elly running circles around Franky, using her advantage in speed to pepper him in bullets as the latter stood still and tried to predict her movement.

Stopping a distance away from Franky's right side, Elly retrieved one of her grenades, throwing it at him, but the latter saw it coming and promptly caught the grenade, which admittedly didn't really look like one, with a smug grin on his face.

"You're gonna have to do better than that-," Franky said, trying to throw the grenade back at Elly, only for her to smile and shoot in his hand, detonating the dials within, causing it to explode in bright light, blinding the cyborg.

Elly capitalized, closing the distance as she continued firing, only to lash out with another Rankyaku at Franky's shoulder joint.

Letting another pained grunt escape his lips, Franky's vision finally recovered, and he didn't waste any time as he punched at Elly with his left hand, aiming at her abdomen.

Elly took a step back, dodging the punch by a hair's breadth, only for Franky to smirk as he relaxed his palm, pointing his fingers at Elly.

"Weapons Left!" Franky exclaimed, the tips of his fingers opening and releasing a hail of bullets in Elly's direction, aiming at her upper body.

Elly ducked, dodging just before Franky fired thanks to her Observation Haki as she threw a smoke bomb into the ground, releasing a cloud of smoke that engulfed both of them.

Although Iceburg had already lost track of what Elly and Franky were, I had a good idea about their movements and what they were doing inside the smoke-screen thanks to my Observation Haki and cyper-enhanced senses.

Franky was helpless to do anything other than stand in place and take whatever Elly threw at him, his senses failing to keep up with Elly's speed as she moved along the smokescreen, focusing her attacks on Franky's joints.

"Will you stop that already!" Franky exclaimed, joining his hands together, a T-shaped pipe connecting them as he aimed at the ground, massive amounts of air going into his oversized hands, inflating them in the process.

"Coup de Vent!" Franky exclaimed, releasing the compressed air from his hands into the ground, creating a gale of winds strong enough to blow away the smoke, and force Elly backward several steps.

"How do you like my SUPER move, huh?" Franky said, making his iconic superpose with a smug grin. However, his grin turned into a thin line as he looked around, realizing he was surrounded by several of Elly's grenades lying on the ground, ominously peeping.

"Franky Invincible!" Franky exclaimed, throwing himself on the ground as he laid on his vulnerable back, hoping to protect it from the incoming explosions.

Sure enough, the grenades exploded in a massive show of flames, and a loud boom, sending dirt and little bits of ground flying everywhere. The dust in the air, hindering everyone's vision, finally subsided after several seconds, revealing a grinning Franky, still lying on his back.

His shirt was in tatters, and there were scratches all over his body, but he was unharmed by the explosion as he stood up and dusted himself, smugly staring at Elly with the most obnoxious of expressions.

'I guess that gag technique he used while fighting Nero on the sea train isn't completely useless.' My lips curled up in an amused grin as I looked at Franky.

"Hm. So your back is your weak spot, huh?" Elly said, thoughtfully humming as she looked at Franky like a fish on the chopping board, and suddenly Franky didn't feel so smug anymore.

"That's enough, Elly," I said as I appeared next to Elly, putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to pout in protest as she turned to look at me with an angry expression that only looked cute in my eyes.

"I'm sure the guy gets the point already. Besides, we still have other things to do," I added, smiling as I took off my hat and placed it on her head, which seemed to mollify her as she smiled and put away her rifle.

"Don't go deciding things on your own!" Franky exclaimed from the side, glaring at me with an annoyed expression. "This isn't over, and I didn't get any point!" he added, removing the synthetic skin gloves from his right hand, revealing its metallic nature.

"I see. Maybe this will get the point across to your thick head then," I said with a chuckle as I appeared in front of Franky, driving a Haki-coated fist into the top of his head, pushing down as I put him to the ground.

"Big Brother!"/"Boss!" Exclaimed Franky's followers as they noticed he didn't get up after several seconds as they charged toward me with angry expressions, brandishing all kinds of weapons.

"I don't have time to play with you guys... take a nap," I remarked as I turned to look at Franky's followers, releasing a shock wave of conquerors Haki. And they immediately began dropping like flies, hugging the ground as they drifted into unconsciousness.

"What... what was that...?" Iceburg weakly asked, cradling his forehead as he looked at me with an astonished, confused expression.

'Shit, it looks like I forgot to control my Haki properly... but to think Iceburg is still standing... he wasn't tom's apprentice for nothing, I guess.' I awkwardly scratched my head as I turned to look at Iceburg.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to hit you too, but I didn't control it properly..." I remarked, clearing my throat. "And to answer your that was Haki," I added as I walked towards him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, putting a hand on Iceburg's shoulder as he recovered and turned to look at Franky and his family.

"I'm fine now, but Franky and the others...?" Iceburg asked in a concerned tone. "What did you do to them...?" he asked, making his way towards Franky.

"The same thing I accidentally did to you..." I replied, scratching my head as Iceburg checked on Franky's injuries. "They just didn't have the will to stomach it and got knocked out. Very impressive by the way," I added, shaking my head as I stood behind him.

Iceburg sighed in exasperation as he stood up, having made sure Franky wasn't in any danger. "I didn't expect things to go smooth when I decided to bring you here..." he remarked as he looked at Franky and his unconscious followers.

"Still, I didn't expect things to end this badly," he added, shaking his head as he heaved a sigh.

"Sorry about that. But I can't just let someone targeting my crew slide just like that..." I remarked, my expression apologetic. I wasn't sorry about beating up Franky and his family, but I genuinely felt sorry for Iceburg since he just wanted to help, but he had to watch me beat up his childhood friend instead.

"It already happened, so there's no use in crying over spilled milk..." Iceburg said with a bitter smile as he turned to look at me. "Besides, Franky needed someone to put in his place. Better you than someone less tolerant," he concluded, shaking his head.

"Let's go. I'll take you to see Elvis now. Thankfully he's much more amicable than Franky is," Iceburg remarked as he began walking away, gesturing for us to follow.