"Roasted Rice Cake!"
"Fire Feather!"
Katakuri's right arm suddenly swelled up, then the mochi on his arm exploded, launching his right fist forward.
The mochi-formed fist spewed intense flames behind it, like a rocket booster adding more power to the mochi fist, which, wrapped in Haki, slammed into the ground with a thundering explosion like a cannonball.
Boom!
The sky rained down fire feathers, turning the dust stirred up by the fist into a sea of flames. Once the dust settled, Marco struggled to his feet.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, the cyan flame on his body continued to heal his wounds. However, he felt uneasy, as the strange fire was something his cyan flame could resist, but as that fire burnt him, it sapped his strength.
Facing Katakuri's subsequent fierce attacks, he found it increasingly difficult to cope.
It seemed like he was poisoned, unable to use his full strength in his limbs. His cyan flame could negate the burn damage, but it still impacted him.
"Poison fire? No, what kind of ability is this..."
If it were poison, his cyan flame would work. The inability to counteract it suggested the problem lay in the opponent's fire. Since his flame could regenerate, it was no surprise the opponent's flame could do something similar.
That was the effect of the burns, weakening his physical attacks to some extent. Marco's flame had no offensive capability, making it a critical disadvantage.
If he were a Pokemon, he might look like a Fire Type, but he was more likely to be a Flying + Fairy support-type Pokemon.
The physical condition of his two opponents was much better. He had no chance of winning this way. It wasn't a life-and-death struggle, so in this state, he decided to withdraw.
"You guys are tough. I'll leave that guy to you."
Internally, he was not satisfied; after all, it was 2v1. In a 1v1, the outcome might have been different. Upon Marco conceding, they did not continue their attack.
After all, none of the three wanted to cause heavy casualties over such a minor character. Though nearly no one could shake the status of the Sea Emperor and the three Great Pirate Gangs, challengers still existed.
There were also many remnants from the old era, and if their intense fight left them weakened, it would benefit no one since it didn't touch anyone's fundamental interests.
Losing to joint forces of two gave Marco some face.
"Hey, remove that ability of yours. I swear on the Pirate Flag, I won't join the fight again."
This was official talk among pirates, especially for a deputy like Marco, who valued his flag highly.
"Can't be removed. With your recovery ability, you can heal naturally after a while."
Though she had an agent for burn healing, she didn't give it to him. Also, letting Marco be temporarily burned was good. Pirate promises couldn't be fully trusted.
While he swore on the Pirate Flag, she still had to guard against Marco striking back during her fight with Katakuri.
This wasn't a game; the burn wasn't a permanent debuff. Though Marco felt the weakness due to the burn, the reduction was limited.
When Marco confirmed his concession and sailed away over the horizon, a new battle resumed.
....
"Father, I'm sorry, I lost."
"Gurararara, it's fine, my child. Losing to them in a joint effort is nothing to worry about. Are you hurt?"
"A little troublesome, but nothing major."
The burn's impact was indeed gradually diminishing, as Shaina had said.
"Then come back; such characters aren't worth fighting to the death for."
The ship bearing the Whitebeard flag began its return, but the battle on the island became even more intense. The flames behind Shaina completely extinguished as she abandoned her defense to maximize her speed.
During the fight with Marco, she had been consistently boosting her acceleration state. In a 1v1, Katakuri was a tough opponent. His Future Sight-worthy Observation Haki made Shaina's attacks hard to land.
Though he couldn't foresee Shaina's actions minutes in advance, a few seconds were crucial in their fight.
Shaina didn't have such strong Observation Haki, so she had to outpace her opponent's reaction speed.
Only by reaching a speed that Katakuri's body response failed to keep up with could her attacks be effective.
Boom!
Katakuri's body tore from the center, then reformed. Shaina's Haki-wrapped Flame Kick narrowly missed, but a faint burn mark appeared on Katakuri's face.
It had grazed his cheek.
"That's your maximum speed, isn't it? It's useless. At this level, you can't harm me. Surrender, I've won this match."
His Future Sight told him this was Shaina's speed limit. Even though her attacks became formidable with the Sword Dance's stack, a strong attack missing its target was meaningless.
"No way, that's not enough yet!"
The flames symbolizing the Lunarians behind her still weren't ignited, but the flames bursting from her wrists and ankles engulfed her whole body. There was an afterimage behind her as she once again charged at Katakuri.
Flare Blitz, her most powerful Fire Type close-combat move, was an attack exchanging injury for injury. Under the eruption of Flare Blitz, her speed broke through its limits.
"Slash·Heavy Hammer·Rice Cake!"
His Observation Haki told him he couldn't dodge this attack. Even if he split his body, the resultant high-temperature shockwave would cause damage, so he made a new decision. His swelling arm, wrapped in Haki, spun rapidly before swinging towards Shaina.
Boom!!!
The fierce clash created a massive mushroom cloud, as both figures simultaneously retreated, both sustaining some injuries.
Shaina, having abandoned all defense, coupled with Flare Blitz's recoil, sustained significant injuries, with a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth.
Katakuri was also not in a good state, the intense heat seeping through his arm and the huge impact wreaking havoc inside his body before settling.
Just as Shaina was about to launch another attack, she noticed the ground beneath her feet started to ripple, as the two coconut trees by the shore transformed into mochi and struck towards her.
Even the ground turned into an ocean of mochi.
Mochi-Mochi Fruit - Awakening!