One Piece: A Warlord's Path-Chapter 690: CP0 Setback

"Hmph!"

Noticing the vacuum blade whistling in from her flank, Mina shifted her descending palm strike into a horizontal sweep.

Zhen—!

The blood-red edge of her hand collided with the vacuum slash. Like two blades clashing, a metallic ring echoed as the forces locked in a stalemate.

"A chance!"

Seeing Mina's guard open, Aberly rejoiced. Ignoring the searing pain in his right shoulder, he thrust his hand forward in a swift Shigan, aiming straight for Mina's throat.

Whish— BAM! Rumble!

Just as Aberly was about to strike home, the sky above him suddenly went dark. A massive bat wing slammed into him like a sledgehammer, swatting him out of the air. He crashed violently into the roof, stone fragments spraying everywhere as half his body was driven into the floor, a web of cracks radiating across the surface.

Immediately after, Mina exerted force in her arm, physically snapping the vacuum blade in half.

"Fools."

Mina's voice was icy and filled with disdain as she looked down at the fallen Aberly and the newly risen Dick. By now, the bloody hole in her abdomen, pierced just moments ago, had already finished healing.

Faced with this, the normally taciturn Dick said nothing more. His feet kicked the ground a dozen times in a single heartbeat, causing him to vanish as if teleporting.

In an instant, Dick reappeared at Mina's right, launching a kick mid-air. A red glint flashed in Mina's eyes as she tilted her body; a blue-white arc of air hissed past her face.

BOOM!

A clock tower dozens of meters away was sliced clean through. The top of the tower slid off, crashing into the street below and erupting into a pile of rubble, sending up clouds of dust and a massive shockwave.

"Blood Bullet: Scattershot!"

Mina beckoned with her right hand. The blood Dick had spat onto the ground earlier seemed drawn by an invisible force, flying toward her and hovering in mid-air. The liquid coalesced into a dozen tiny, grain-sized orbs of blood.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

The tiny blood beads shot out with explosive speed, saturating the space around Dick as if to riddle his body with holes.

"Rokushiki: Tekkai—Steel!"

Because the distance was too short, Dick had no time to dodge. He was forced to tense his muscles to the limit, activating his Iron Body to tank the hit.

Thump, thump, thump...

A series of rapid thuds, like dry beans hitting a tin roof, echoed out. Dick's white suit was shredded by over a dozen small holes, but he remained physically unharmed. His clothes, however, were stained crimson by the blood beads that had lost their momentum upon impact.

Whoosh—

Simultaneously, the bat wings on Mina's back beat once, propelling her forward like an arrow. She flew in with a high-impact kick.

"Not good!"

Dick hastily crossed his arms in a block.

BAM!

The foot clad in a red high heel slammed into Dick's crossed forearms. A ring of gale-force wind expanded outward, and Dick was sent skidding backward, his feet carving two deep furrows into the roof.

"Such monstrous strength!"

The pain in Dick's arms was excruciating, feeling as though the bones had been snapped.

"Die!"

Without giving him a moment to recover, Mina charged again with a sharp cry. Her right leg swung high and descended like a guillotine.

"No!"

His heart racing, Dick realized he couldn't block in time. He threw himself into a desperate roll to the side.

BOOM!

The small foot in the red heel stomped into the ground. A terrifying burst of power erupted, instantly shattering the floor and creating a crater. As the shockwave rolled out and debris sprayed, the meter-thick roof was punched through, creating a hole several meters wide with cracks spider-webbing across the ceiling.

RUMBLE—

Suddenly, another massive boom shook the entire building.

"They're fighting quite fiercely down there," Mina noted, her eyebrows arching slightly as she peered through the hole in the floor.

One of the Elite Strike Team members had been knocked from the third floor down to the first, half-buried in rubble. He wasn't dead, but he was severely wounded.

On the third floor…

Gin's face was a mask of ferocity. He swung his tonfa-hammer in a savage forward smash.

"Rokushiki: Tekkai!"

Kitayama, who had just downed another Elite Strike Team member, had no time to evade. He braced himself to take the hit head-on. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

DONG— CRASH!

The black metal head of the mace slammed into Kitayama's chest. The impact sounded like a giant temple bell, and the sheer force sent him reeling backward. He smashed through a wall ten meters away, punching a hole clean through the twenty-centimeter-thick masonry amidst flying bricks and rising dust.

"Puh—!"

Kitayama spat a mouthful of blood, dropping to one knee.

"Now! Kill him!"

Seeing Kitayama wounded, the soldiers rejoiced and charged forward with their weapons raised.

"Get back! Rankyaku: Bent Sparrow!"

Kitayama clutched his chest and scrambled to his feet. Backing away a few steps, he suddenly twisted his torso and unleashed a horizontal sweep with his leg.

"Get down!"

Gin threw himself to the floor in shock, screaming out a warning to the others.

Swish! BOOM!

A massive, bird-shaped vacuum blade materialized, sweeping outward like a giant scimitar. The supporting pillars and walls on the third floor were sliced apart in an instant. Even the roofs of several houses across the street were sheared off, the cuts perfectly smooth.

"Perish! Take this!"

One super-soldier lunged forward, swinging a nodachi down toward Kitayama's head, the blade so sharp it seemed to tear the air itself.

Splat!

Steel bit into flesh; blood sprayed.

Kitayama grunted in pain. He reached out, grabbing the shining blade embedded in his shoulder with his bare hand, and delivered a powerful front kick.

BAM!

The soldier was sent flying, tumbling several times across the floor before stopping.

Clang—

Kitayama wrenched the nodachi from his shoulder and tossed it aside. Blood had already soaked through his white suit.

"Prepare the Railguns!" Gin commanded loudly.

Click— Zzzzt—Zzzzt—

Three soldiers stepped forward, extending their left arms. A series of mechanical whirs and clicks echoed as their exoskeleton combat suits transformed. Metal plating shifted on the outer left forearm, extending into 20mm caliber, 30cm long barrels.

20mm tungsten-core steel balls were chambered. Cerulean arcs of electromagnetic energy flickered within the barrels.

"What is that?"

Kitayama's eyelids flickered as he sensed a monumental threat.

"Soru!!!"

Deciding instantly, he kicked off the floor and vanished. But almost at the exact same moment…

BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In a heartbeat, several streaks of near-invisible lightning flashed through the air. Trails of light tore through everything in their path, masonry and steel alike were hollowed out.

Hundreds of meters away on the street, over a dozen Church of the Night followers were suddenly struck; limbs and torsos were severed by the 20mm tungsten rounds. Not a single drop of blood fell from the wounds; they were instantly cauterized into a stinging, charred black.

"What kind of gun is this...?"

Kitayama reappeared behind an intact pillar, his face pale with horror. His right arm was gone from the elbow down, the wound a charred, blackened mess.

He hadn't expected the projectile speed of those strange weapons to be so extreme. Even with his speed, he hadn't fully escaped. In a single blink, his arm had been erased.