Like Fighting With Both Hands Tied

"Aren't you those weirdos who got their asses handed to them by us?" I recalled.

I remember when we had just arrived at the town of Mariejois; we encountered a group of nine people who immediately attacked us. Naturally, we kicked their asses and moved on, but they had been quite the decent group for the above-average individuals.

"At least it remembers; I thought the thing would have forgotten by now," Another individual who slowly removed their mask pointed out. The mask revealing a woman with feminine highlights.

"Let's just finish this trash off and head on over to where its leader is. The Five Elders heavily emphasized that we needed to be punctual about this," Another man said as he drew out his weapon. 

Their leader slowly looked at Sakazuki and Kuzan. He seemed to be gauging their strengths and deciding on their leverage on their usefulness on the battlefield.

"You two, kill the giant and the girl; leave this one to us," The leader instructed. 

While Sakazuki nodded obediently to those orders, Kuzan looked unwilling to carry those orders out.

It was then that Sakazuki immediately launched himself towards Jaguar and Robin.

"Soru."

Appearing right in front of Sakazuki, I grabbed his neck before using him as a shield from the projectiles that those weirdos had begun launching against me. Sakazuki grunted through the pain as he started puking out blood.

Tossing him to the ground, I quickly turned to Jaguar and Robin.

"Get away from this place; things are going to be hectic if you remain-" I suddenly felt ice engulfing my entire body as I turned into an ice sculpture.

This was getting quite annoying.

Channeling lightning, I broke free from the Ice prison before appearing in front of Kuzan and swiping my axe down on his body. Blood gushed out of him as he crumbled to the ground; he wasn't dead yet, but he sure as hell was going to be.

It was then that the nine individuals finally began to move. I quickly pulled out my axe and took on a defensive stance. I had long noticed that these individuals had an abnormal aura about them.

One appeared right beside me and brought their blade up. The intention was clearly to split my attention because there was another one appearing right behind me.

I sidestepped before twirling my axe to push them off. Using Soru to appear to be the one that attacked my flank. However, like a puppet being controlled by a marionette, they were pulled back so quickly that I couldn't catch the person in time.

In response, the leader appeared right behind me and swiped his blade downwards. I wanted to coat my back with Armament Haki and block the swipe. However, the blade cut through my back like a hot knife through butter.

'The Fuck?!'

Blood gushed out of my back as I stumbled back. The only time I had someone ignore my Haki like that was when-

"Now I get it...."

The leader looked at me with a triumphant smirk as he swung my blood out of his blade.

"Do you finally understand, trash?" The leader remarked.

"He must have given you a power-up...." I remarked as I slowly began to remove my coat from my back.

"The Lord's blessings are unequivocal, and we'll be using that to take your entire crew down," The lady said as she whipped out her dagger with a snicker.

"Give up, trash, and we'll at least give you a clean execution," The leader said as he raised his blade.

For the first time in a long time, I smiled. This was getting exciting.

"Good," I cracked my neck, "I won't have to hold back as much."

"Ha? Hold Back? What the fuck do you mea-" I appeared right in front of the loudmouth before lopping his head off. His eyes flickered with surprise as he finally witnessed his last moments.

The Leader looked at me with a solemn expression as he witnessed one of his comrades fall. 

"There's no way you actually came here thinking you could take me down that easily, right?" I asked as I began coating my axe with Conqurer's infusion. I slowly walked towards them with a smile on my face.

"You're not as strong as him, but I can see some of his traits left within you," I remarked.

I kicked the ground before appearing to the woman who happened to be standing right next to the leader.

"Like I would let you-" The leader drew out his blade and rushed at me. However, I had long been expecting him.

"Lightning of the Dead."

Lightning brimmed from the blade of my axe as I viciously swiped up. The leader was immediately engulfed with lightning.

The leader puked out blood as he was sent right through numerous houses. The lady that the leader was trying to defend instantly rushed to my flank and tried to stab me. However, I caught the blade with my bare hands and broke It before kicking her away.

"BORRRRISSSS!!" Sakazuki roared as he summoned more magma and rushed at me.

I don't know why he hated me so much; we rarely had any direct interactions. However, he kept rushing at me like I killed his mother or something.

I took a side-step and dodged the attack, but it left his nape exposed as a result. I simply raised my axe and brought it down quickly.

Sakazuki's head dropped like a fresh fruit, and his body ended up slumping to the ground. To add more insult to injury, the lava that he had with him slowly began to burn his body. Giving him an involuntary cremation.

"SAKAZUKI!!!" Kuzan roared as he rushed straight at me. He summoned a blade of Ice and began attacking me.

He was immediately aided by the remnant forces of the weirdos that the guy I cut down previously had brought.

"Oh, you're still alive, huh?" I looked at Kuzan as he brought down his blade. 

The others decided to flank me and attack where I had been exposed. So, I decided to create some space. 

Kicking Kuzan away, I rushed toward the one who looked decently strong. The others rushed right behind me for an attack. However, I had them right where I wanted them.

"Soru."

I immediately appeared behind the entire group before I raised my axe and coated it with more lightning.

"Lightning of Destruction."

The entire group tried to dodge the attack, but it was too late for them to get out of range.

An explosion immediately set in the position that they had previously in. I looked at the smoke that engulfed the entire group. Using Observation Haki, it was easy to determine that they weren't in good condition.

"You got me good; I'll admit that trash," Their leader said as he slowly walked up to me.

I was quite surprised; most of his wounds had healed. The minor ones, to be exact; the main cut that had run through him was still bleeding.

"You sure that you can still move? That's a nasty bruise you got there," I remarked.

Kuzan threw a bunch of Ice balls at me. Right at the same time, the leader rushed right at me in unison with the incoming ice balls.

The more they kept attacking, the more stimulated my senses were becoming. Looking at them at the moment, it looked like they were approaching me in slow motion.