Bege's utterly arrogant declaration sent waves of fury through Hoki and the other alliance captains.
Hoki's face darkened considerably, his panther-like eyes scanning Bege with sinister intensity. "Capone Bege," he snarled, "I didn't expect this. We didn't even have to hunt you down; you delivered yourself right to our doorstep."
A greedy, excited glint replaced the gloom in Hoki's eyes. "Kill you, and all the West Blue shipping lanes will be ours! Once we've amassed enough wealth, we can finally challenge the New World again!" His fierce expression twisted into one of manic anticipation, as if he could already picture their triumphant return to the Grand Line's treacherous second half.
"A pathetic pack of washouts like you lot dreaming of returning to the New World?" Bege scoffed loudly, his laughter laced with contempt. "Don't make me laugh!"
Hoki's face contorted with sudden, brutal rage. He exploded forward, transforming into a speeding blur, a shadowy figure launching directly at Bege.
"Is our King someone a pathetic washout like you can even touch?" Before Hoki could reach Bege, Egerd Riki intercepted. High-pressure jets erupted from the vents on Riki's feet, propelling him forward with astonishing speed.
BANG!
Riki met Hoki's charge with a clash of fists. The impact sent shockwaves outwards, and both combatants were forced back, recoiling more than ten steps each before regaining their footing.
"Damn that Riki! He's faster than me!" Moria cursed inwardly, his face twisting in annoyance. He had reacted almost simultaneously with Riki, but Riki had used his pressure jets to gain that crucial edge in acceleration, intercepting Hoki first. Moria redirected his frustration, his gaze locking onto Bone Crusher Demon Stark and War Demon Bagoro. A wide, predatory grin spread across his face.
"Kishishishishi!" Moria laughed, his eerie chuckles echoing in the courtyard. He then charged towards the remaining two captains with surprising speed for his size. "I'll handle these two," he declared boisterously. "I feel like taking on both of them at once!"
His massive frame thundering towards them at high speed forced Stark and Bagoro's expressions to tighten. They exchanged a wary glance and attacked simultaneously, aiming to eliminate the imposing figure quickly.
"Alright, let's get in on this! I call dibs on the one worth two hundred million!" Hank yelled, shifting instantly into his beast-man form and lunging towards one of the other high-bounty pirates standing behind the main captains. Not to be outdone, Sam surged forward as well, along with the rest of Bege's elite soldiers, all eager to prove themselves against the alliance members.
"We should make our move too, Dorry! Let's find ourselves some worthy opponents!" Brogy boomed.
"Bababababa! Even better, let me crush them all!" Dorry roared back excitedly, taking huge strides forward and wading into the rapidly escalating brawl.
Meanwhile, Hoki stared in stunned disbelief at the surprisingly rotund figure of Riki who had just matched his full-power blow. He hadn't expected the man's physical strength to be anywhere near his own.
"You're a Devil Fruit user, aren't you?" Hoki growled, recovering his composure. "Fine. Show me what you can really do!"
Riki's face split into an excited grin. Vents opened all across his body, and streams of hissing, high-pressure air spurted out, swirling around him.
Riki's blatant provocation, essentially confirming his powers without needing to state them, directly fueled Hoki's rage. With a roar, Hoki's body rapidly shifted and contorted, morphing into the sleek, powerful form of a black panther hybrid. A truly ferocious aura exploded outwards from him. He crouched low, his clawed hands darkening as they became coated in glistening black Armament Haki. The muscles in his legs bulged grotesquely, and then he exploded forward. The ground beneath him shattered as he launched himself towards Riki, leaving behind a sonic boom and becoming little more than a black blur moving at extreme speed.
"He's fast!" Riki reacted instantly. High-pressure jets fired downwards from his feet with concussive force, blasting the ground apart as they propelled him forward, transforming him into a blur as well. The two figures collided violently, engaging in a blindingly fast exchange of blows.
Hoki, empowered by his Black Panther Zoan fruit, naturally specialized in speed. However, Riki's High-Pressure Fruit allowed him to generate comparable, if not superior, acceleration using his air jets. In the contest of pure speed, Hoki found himself unable to gain a clear advantage, sometimes even finding himself a fraction of a second behind Riki's movements.
Bege remained calmly on the sidelines, observing the chaotic battlefield with an unreadable smile, casually puffing on his cigar. Hoki and his allies were leagues below his own level; this conflict served primarily as an excellent opportunity for Moria, Riki, and his other subordinates to hone their skills against genuine threats.
On the battlefield, Riki continued to press his advantage against Hoki. While Hoki possessed slightly stronger Armament Haki, Riki's superior speed allowed him to dictate the pace of the fight. They exchanged hundreds of blows at blinding speed before Riki suddenly broke off. He produced a half-meter long, cylindrical device from his belt, swiftly attaching it over his right hand like a cannon barrel. The device rapidly began to glow red-hot, and flames flickered ominously within its muzzle.
"Take this!" Riki yelled, aiming the device squarely at Hoki. "Cremation Cannon!"
BOOM!
An incredibly fast, searingly hot pillar of high-pressure fire erupted from the cannon barrel. Hoki's face contorted in alarm. He desperately crossed his Haki-coated arms in a defensive stance, attempting to block the incoming blast. He managed to hold his ground for barely three seconds before the sheer force and heat overwhelmed his defense. The fire pillar slammed into him, blasting him away like a cannonball. He flew hundreds of meters, crashing violently through several stone buildings before finally landing amidst a pile of rubble, his body horrifically charred and smoking.
Riki lowered his right arm, panting slightly. He looked at the cannon barrel attached to his hand and let out a triumphant laugh. The device was a custom weapon he'd commissioned, forged from integrated Skypiean Heat and Flame Dials. Combined with his own high-pressure air abilities, it allowed him to unleash devastating high-pressure fire attacks far exceeding what either component could achieve alone.
"Well done, Riki," Bege called out with an approving laugh.
"Hehehehe! Captain," Riki boasted loudly back, "this 350-million-belly washout couldn't even take one hit!"
Though victorious, Riki clearly hadn't had his fill of fighting yet. His gaze shifted towards Moria, who was still engaged in a fierce battle against both Stark and Bagoro. Moria seemed to be holding his own, but was perhaps slightly pressured by the two-on-one situation. An idea sparked in Riki's eyes.
"Hey, Moria!" Riki shouted across the battlefield. "If you're struggling over there, just say the word! I can take one off your hands!"
Moria, momentarily distracted while parrying a blow, snarled back without looking, "Bullshit! Forget two, I could handle three more and still crush them!"
That split second of distraction was all Bone Crusher Stark needed. Seizing the opening, Stark landed a brutal, driving punch square on Moria's jaw. The blow, heavily infused with powerful Armament Haki, was incredibly fierce, snapping Moria's head back and making him cough up a spray of blood.
"Hahaha! See? Looks like you really can't handle it!" Riki crowed, laughing even harder at Moria's misfortune. Despite his taunts, however, Riki made no move to intervene, content to watch from the sidelines for now.
Moria's entire face darkened into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. With a low growl, he reached into his coat and pulled out a massive, writhing clump of shadows – shadows he had clearly collected and stored previously. He stuffed them greedily into his mouth, swallowing them down whole. Immediately, his body began to distend and swell at an alarming rate. His already imposing six-meter frame rapidly doubled in size, until he towered over the battlefield like a veritable giant, radiating immense power.
Stark and Bagoro stared up at the transformed Moria, their faces etched with undisguised horror. Their vigilance intensified tenfold.
"Demon Fist!" Moria roared, his voice now a deep, reverberating bass. Looking down upon the two captains with utter contempt, he attacked furiously. His colossal fist hammered down towards them like a meteor. They scrambled desperately to evade the blow. The iron-hard fist slammed into the courtyard flagstones where they had stood moments before, shattering the ground completely. Cracks spiderwebbed outwards in all directions, decimating tens of meters of solid stone, a testament to the terrifying power behind the punch.
"Whoa nelly! You sure this fella doesn't have giant blood in him?" Dorry exclaimed from his own position on the battlefield, genuinely startled by the scale of destruction Moria was unleashing. Brogy beside him nodded in wide-eyed agreement.
"Riki, you watch closely!" the now-gargantuan Moria bellowed, ensuring his voice carried. "Two? Three? Four? It doesn't matter how many! I'll crush them all!" His giant fists became terrifying blurs as he rained blows down upon Stark and Bagoro.
Bagoro, hampered by his comparatively slower speed, couldn't dodge one of the descending fists in time. The impact sounded like cracking thunder, loud enough for nearby listeners to almost hear the shattering of bone within his body. Bagoro vomited a massive spray of blood as he was launched like a rag doll, flying over a hundred meters through the air before crashing through several buildings before being buried under tons of collapsing rubble.
Stark, witnessing his ally's instant, brutal defeat, was utterly terrified and immediately turned to flee. But Moria gave him no quarter. His own shadow stretched and contorted beneath him, launching myriad sharp, spear-like tendrils that hounded the fleeing Stark.
"Shadow Box!" A swarm of Moria's signature shadow bats materialized seemingly from nowhere, converging rapidly on Stark. They attempted to ensnare him, forming a constricting box of solid shadow around him, but Stark shattered it instantly with a Haki-fueled burst. But the delay was fatal.
The next instant, Stark looked up in absolute horror. Moria's other massive iron fist descended upon him, too close to evade. At the precipice of life and death, Stark let out a final, defiant roar. Pouring every last ounce of his formidable Armament Haki into his own fist, making it darker and denser than ever before, he launched a desperate counter-punch, meeting Moria's descending Demon Fist head-on.
The resulting collision was deafening, the shockwave blasting outwards. Stark's eyes bulged grotesquely from their sockets, his face frozen in a mask of agony and disbelief. His body shot backwards like a meteor fired from a cannon, slamming into the ground with explosive force that gouged out another huge crater.
When the dust finally settled, Stark lay broken and lifeless at the bottom of the pit, utterly crushed.
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