"Missed?"
"Damn it, that was a rock. We stabbed a rock."
"What's going on? There was a person there a second ago."
A collective hiss swept the ranks as minds raced. She vanished in a blink and left a decoy behind. That kind of speed and trickery was unnerving.
"Hey, brats. What are you staring at?"
The voice came from above. Every soldier looked up to see Tsunade smiling as she clenched a pink fist and brought it crashing down.
"Monster Strength."
Boom.
The blow shook the hall. One trooper was pulped on impact, and everyone within five meters men and mounts alike was caught in the shock, battered and broken.
One punch flattened an entire knot of troops.
"Hmph. Think I'm easy to bully?" Dusting off her arm, Tsunade curled her lip.
"Sis, you're okay?" Peach Rabbit cried in relief when she spotted her.
"Of course. A few salted fish and rotten eggs won't deal with me. Peach Rabbit, we push back now. Punch a path out."
"Monster Strength."
"Tempest Kick."
The two women flowed through the melee, blue-tinged shockwaves scything out like thunderbolts to mow down rank after rank.
Bang.
Bang.
"Waaah."
"Help. Monsters. They're monsters."
Steel shrieked, men screamed, and in the space of a heartbeat the garrison inside the castle buckled, then broke under their combined assault.
"Damn it, still can't overpower them." Capone Bege's voice bled fury through the walls.
"Be a good boy and let me out or I'll smash this whole dump to gravel." Tsunade drove another fist through a cluster of soldiers, wholly confident.
"Hmph. Ants. That was only the appetizer. You think I can't pin you down?" Bege's chuckle turned cold.
"Castle. Marsh."
At the growled command, both women felt the floor ripple wrong beneath their soles. Solid stone writhed, then sloughed into sucking mud. Even the wounded soldiers they had laid out were swallowed whole, dragging them under without a sound.
"Sis." A flicker of alarm crossed Peach Rabbit's eyes.
"It's fine. I'm here." Tsunade's smile was quick and steady. Her hands flashed through seals and another white fog blossomed around her.
"Substitution Jutsu."
When the smoke cleared, a boulder sat where she had stood, already sinking into the mire. Peach Rabbit tried to Shave free, but her calves were glued in place.
"Substitution Jutsu."
Before panic could bite, Tsunade wove another set of signs. With a pop, the two traded places midair. Tsunade took the bog, Peach Rabbit reappeared on firm ground.
"What? I'm out?" Peach Rabbit stared, wide-eyed.
"Shave. Moonwalk."
She sprang clear and hammered the air with rapid steps until her footing stabilized.
At the same moment, Tsunade's hands blurred yet again and her body winked out inside the swamp, reappearing a heartbeat later atop a slab of stone.
"She slipped my marsh?" Bege's surprise rattled through the corridors. "What is that ability?"
"No comment, old ghost. Now I'm breaking your toy." Tsunade grinned, drew back, and slammed her fist into the inner wall.
Rumble.
Beams shuddered. Plaster snowed from above. The hall became a storm of grit and rubble.
Her punch left a crater but didn't punch through.
"Tough wall." She clicked her tongue, then snapped up a kick.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain."
"Tempest Kick."
Dozens of strikes in a breath. Stone screamed. At last the fortress groaned and split, a gaping rent yawning to daylight.
They flashed through the breach and out. Both exhaled as sea-blue flooded their eyes again.
"Die with the rest." Bege's voice came back raw with shame and rage. The great gate-mouth yawned. Cavalry poured out in waves, growing to full size as they hit open air.
Steel-clad riders lowered lances that glittered with killing frost and charged the civilians.
"Cut them down."
The order cracked like a whip. The tide of horse and iron surged.
"Fish-Man Karate."
A voice boomed. A trooper flew backward like driftwood in a storm, his mount collapsing in a spray of blood.
The newcomer was a whale shark fish-man with blue skin, a chonmage topknot, windswept brows and sideburns, a lightning-shaped scar at the corner of his left eye, a heavy frame, and two stout fangs peeking from his lower jaw.
It was the future Knight of the Sea, Jinbe, still young but already formidable.
"Jinbe."
"It's Fisher Tiger."
"And Arlong."
The brothers from Fish-Man Street had arrived, allies pounding at their heels. Since Lord Liu Yun had extended his protection, Fish-Man Island had known fair winds and full coffers. With the World Government's boot lifted from their necks, Tiger and his people revered Liu Yun like a patron saint.
"Hmph. You dared stir trouble while Mr. Liu Yun is away. Even if you belong to Big Mom, I Fisher Tiger will show no mercy."
"Big bro, less talk, more smashing." Jinbe bared his two big white teeth.
"Move."
"Heh. To trespass on Fish-Man Island, you idiots are asking for a headache." Arlong's grin stretched shark-wide. He blurred forward, clamped his jaws around a soldier's throat, and tore it out in one bite.
Tiger's eyes went flinty. His red palm caught a halberd shaft and jerked up. Weapon and rider lifted with it. He swung both like a flail into a second squad.
"Kill."
King Neptune's royal army thundered in behind them, voices shaking the dome.
"Hah. Numbers don't scare me."
Bege's laugh curdled. The castle's gate split wider.
Batteries of cannons rolled into view.
"Castle. Bombardment."
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