"You... how the hell are you still alive?! What happened to my men?!"
"I beat them all to a pulp and left them lying around. I'll throw them in the same cell as you later. You can chat then, if you want."
"What?!"
Sue, whom everyone thought was dead—the pirates included—stood before them.
Everyone was stunned—the townspeople, the pirates, and of course, the boy and his mother she had rescued.
But the pirate boss wasn't about to let the shock wear off.
"Tch... those damn fools screwed up. Getting taken down by a little girl? Pathetic! I'll make them pay later. But first... hey, you lot!"
"Aye!"
At his command, the pirates—still disguised in Marine uniforms—drew their swords and guns, encircling Sue.
The citizens, who had briefly dared to hope that Sue was still alive, paled once more at the sight. They knew she was strong, but this was too many opponents. Surely she would be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.
Moreover, if a battle erupted here, not only Shu-bo and the others standing near Sue would be caught in the crossfire, but the citizens themselves might be drawn into the fray.
This was precisely why the pirates were so confident of victory.
While they had initially been surprised that she had survived their ambush, they now believed there was no way they could lose to a single girl in this situation.
Some were already gloating about what they would do to her once she was captured, leering at Sue with crude smiles that left no doubt as to their intentions.
Sue, of course, noticed the overwhelming number of pirates surrounding her. But instead of fear, she showed no sign of even being remotely concerned.
"...Wow, that's a lot of them. This might be a little tricky."
"Stop trying to act tough, kid," one of the pirates sneered. "You might have some fight in you, but resisting will only prolong your suffering. Just give up quietly..."
"Shu-kun, Mother, and the Mayor," Sue interrupted, "please step back and wait. I'm going to fight seriously this time, so I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire."
The pirate boss, furious that Sue was ignoring him, snarled, "Oh, really? If you're so eager to die, I'll gladly grant your wish!"
With a furious roar of "Fire!", the pirates simultaneously unleashed a volley of gunfire.
The pirates were obviously targeting Sue, but they didn't care in the slightest if Shu, his mother, or the civilians around them got caught in the crossfire.
As the deafening barrage of gunfire erupted, the civilians squeezed their eyes shut, terrified of the bullets that would surely follow. Some desperately hugged their loved ones, trying to shield them.
"Wallpaper."
In that instant, countless sheets of paper unfurled, enveloping them like a protective curtain.
The bullets slammed into the paper and were stopped cold. Not a single one pierced through to harm them.
"What the...?!"
Even the pirate boss was stunned, along with the rest of his crew. But Sue had no intention of giving them time to recover.
From nowhere, she produced several slender, bookmark-like slips of paper and flicked them out with swift, practiced precision.
"Paper Razors!"
"Ugh?!"
"Gyaaaah?!"
"W-what is this paper...? It's... cutting through me...?!"
The sheets of paper, seemingly ordinary at first glance, sliced through the air with razor-sharp precision, piercing the hands of the pirates who were aiming their guns and forcing them to drop their weapons.
Seizing the opportunity, Sue closed the distance in a flash and swept them away with a wide arc of her Japanese umbrella.
Enraged, another pirate lunged forward, yelling, "You bitch!" He swung his sword to slash Sue, but despite attacking from her blind spot, she dodged effortlessly, as if she could see the blow coming.
The other pirates charged in turn, swinging their blades and clubs, but none of their strikes landed. Sue evaded every attack with impossible grace, moving like paper fluttering in the wind.
'Real-life "paper cut" animation... kinda,' Sue thought wryly.
Even as she dodged, Sue didn't forget to counter. Before the pirates who had closed in could retreat, she swept them away again with her umbrella, sending them flying.
Or perhaps they were kicked or stomped into the ground with such force that their consciousness was ripped away in a single blow, a display of power unimaginable coming from Su's slender frame.
Some pirates tried to use their comrades as shields to create some distance, but the next instant, they froze in pain as paper shards pierced their legs... and then they met the same fate as the others.
"What the hell are you doing?! There's only one of them!" the pirate boss barked, frustration lacing his voice.
Witnessing their companions being blown away one after another, the pirates apparently realized they were at a disadvantage in close combat.
Those armed with swords and axes switched to firearms, aiming to finish Su off with lead bullets rather than closing the distance.
"Seriously... stop dragging the townsfolk into this," Su said as a paper wall reappeared, blocking every shot.
"Is she... an Ability User?!"
"Correct."
This time, Sue scattered something from her hand onto the ground.
They were small squares of paper, each about one or two centimeters in size. Where she'd gotten them, nobody knew, but dozens, maybe hundreds, fluttered down.
They looked like confetti, the kind you see at festivals and celebrations.
One of the pirates stared at the scene, his face turning pale as a sudden realization struck him. "No way..." he muttered, "Are all those papers... the same as before?"
Sue pointed the tip of her Japanese umbrella directly at the pirates.
"Paper Razor Blizzard—"
In that instant, the confetti, which had been drifting lazily through the air, transformed into a furious swarm, flying straight toward the pirates.
"—Thousand Cherry Blossoms!"
"Ugyaaahhhh?!"
Each of the hundreds of confetti squares had razor-sharp edges.
The swarm descended upon the pirates, each piece slicing through flesh as they were systematically shredded.
Each slip of paper was so tiny that shooting them down with swords or bullets was impossible.
Even if a lucky shot did hit, the paper would simply flutter and waver like ordinary confetti. Almost immediately, it would resume its attack, altering its trajectory to strike again.
Suddenly noticing something, Sue turned and pulled out another sheet of paper—this time a much larger one—from within her body. She hurled it toward the pirates who were trying to flank the citizens she was protecting, intending to take them hostage from behind.
"Don't try pulling cheap tricks! Restraining Scroll Paper!"
The paper coiled around the pirates like a sentient rope, binding their bodies tightly.
"What the hell is this...? It's just paper!"
"Damn it! I can't move... or cut through it!"
Completely helpless, the pirates could only crawl on the ground, writhing in vain.
The citizens, narrowly rescued, stared in shock and relief at the scene unfolding before them.
"Sue-san, look out!" Shu-bo shouted, finally noticing the danger.
But almost simultaneously...
"Don't get cocky, you little brat!"
The pirate captain, seizing the split second Sue had turned to save the civilians, lunged forward, swinging his massive arm at her slender frame.
His body had transformed into something utterly inhuman. It had swollen grotesquely, his skin turning gray and taking on a rough, craggy texture like weathered rock. He looked like a living boulder.
His weight, or perhaps his very mass, seemed to have changed to match.
With each step, he crushed the ground beneath him. His sweeping arm bent Sue's body into a twisted "く" shape, sending her flying. A collective scream rose from the horrified citizens.
Sue had just taken a blow powerful enough to shatter every bone in her body. But in the next instant, her body—clothes and all—exploded into countless sheets of paper that fluttered into the air.
The citizens' faces shifted from despair to astonishment. Even the pirate captain looked surprised, but as if he'd half-expected it, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and reached out to grab the swirling paper, crushing it in his fist.
The paper slipped through his fingers, regrouped elsewhere, and reformed into Sue's figure.
"So it's a Devil Fruit after all... the Paper Human type, huh?"
"And you... the Rock Human?"
"Exactly. I ate the Gotsu Gotsu Fruit and became the Rock Human. Your pathetic ability can't even scratch this rocky body of mine."
Sue nodded in understanding. *That explains why my Paper Razor Blizzard didn't work,* she thought, but she showed no signs of panic or anxiety.
If it couldn't be cut, there were still plenty of ways to deal with it. Sue had faced countless tough pirates before, ability users or not.
She positioned her Japanese umbrella, focusing her concentration. The umbrella's surface slowly turned pitch black.
Unaware of Haki or Armament Haki, the pirate dismissed it as a bluff or some ability-based trick and charged headfirst without hesitation.
"Think those twig arms of yours can break this rock-hard body?! Paper or whatever... I'll tear you to shreds, stomp you into the ground, and kill you!"
A normal person would have been crushed beyond recognition by that ferocious charge, but Sue's response was... to charge straight back.
As both accelerated, their momentum building, the pirate's super-heavyweight body slam collided with the strike from Sue's pitch-black Japanese umbrella.
"The WBC was so epic!"
GONG!
"Wha... What the hell?!"
Sue had won.
The pirate captain was blasted backward, crashing to the ground. Fragments of his rocky body shattered and scattered across the ground. But thanks to his incredible durability, the damage didn't seem too severe.
"So heavy...! Guess I still need to train more."
Meanwhile, Sue hadn't emerged unscathed. The sheer weight of a full-grown man—amplified by his ability to far surpass human mass—combined with the object's rock-like hardness, and the impact of striking it head-on, meant she couldn't immediately follow up with another attack.
'A straight-up strength contest might work, but he's ridiculously tough. Too much trouble. Time to use my own ability!'
Sue lowered her umbrella and extended her right hand forward, palm up. From her palm erupted not tens, not hundreds, but perhaps even thousands of sheets of paper, swirling into the air.
The sheer volume dwarfed her earlier *Thousand Cherry Blossoms* attack, and each sheet was significantly larger.
The pirate boss, having regained his footing during the lull in the assault, watched Sue's preparations with a sneer. "Hah! My defenses can withstand even a battleship's cannons! You think flimsy paper can scratch my rock-hard skin, no matter how sharp? Don't even dream of landing a hit... Come at me from anywhere!"
"Oh, really? Then... don't mind if I do!"
In the next instant, the thousands of sheets of paper dancing in the air began to converge.
Before the stunned villagers and pirates could react, the countless sheets coalesced into... a roaring lion's head. A massive, paper lion's head towering far above Sue's own height.
Sue swung her hand back in a wide arc, like a baseball pitcher winding up for a throw.
"Ready for this? I don't know what that skin of yours is made of or how much it can take... but let's hope it's just a scratch... Lion Paper Dance!"
As she hurled her hand forward, the Paper Lion roared and lunged at the pirate with ferocious speed.
Unable to dodge, the pirate was struck directly by its fangs. He realized with horror that his "rock skin" was being ground away by the lion's bite, making a gruesome, grinding sound: *Grind! Grind! Grind! Grind!*
This wasn't just a paper lion biting him. While maintaining its shape, the thousands of sheets of paper within the lion were constantly shifting and flowing, acting like a chainsaw or a rock drill to relentlessly carve away at his skin where it made contact.
"G-get off! Get off meee!!"
If this continued, the lion would carve away large chunks of his rock-like body, potentially stripping him bare.
Terrified, the pirate twisted and writhed with all his might, but he couldn't tear himself free from the Paper Lion's grip.
Instead, the lion lifted him into the air, its teeth clamped firmly around his body. In an instant, it soared upward at breakneck speed, carrying the pirate so high that the people on the ground shrunk to the size of tiny specks.
Then, without warning, the lion plummeted. The pirate crashed into the earth with such force that it created a crater, finally succumbing to the pain.
The impact shattered the Paper Lion, scattering the thousands of paper shards that had formed its face into a swirling blizzard.
Though larger than typical confetti, the fluttering pieces resembled elaborate stagecraft from some grand spectacle, adding an unexpected touch to the scene.
"Ugh... Gah... Aagh...!"
"Still conscious... tough bastard. His resilience must surpass even Zoan-types. If that's the case..."
Sue noticed the pirate was still clinging to consciousness despite his grievous injuries.
For reasons known only to herself, Sue approached the pirate and, without hesitation, sat down right on his face.
Writhing in agony and gasping for breath, the pirate was suddenly pinned down by Sue's weight and the warmth of her body. Confused by this bizarre act, he quickly realized what was happening.
"Gah... gah...?!"
'I can't... breathe...?!'
Unseen by the pirate, Sue had plastered several sheets of paper over his face just before sitting down, completely covering his nose and mouth.
His air supply cut off, the pirate gasped for breath. The Restraining Scroll Paper that bound his limbs prevented him from struggling effectively.
Completely bewildered and suffocating, the pirate captain continued to weakly thrash about, desperately fighting for air. But within a minute, his efforts failed. He slipped into unconsciousness.
To be continued...