"Flowing Wind Arrow!"
Misty's pupils contracted, and her fingers stayed on the bowstring, pulling inward to unleash a greater airflow.
Chichich!
The dense airflow, like knives, first left a scar on Marika's cheek, and then continuously sliced through her body, tearing her clothes into countless tiny holes, revealing the smooth skin beneath.
The black stockings on her thigh were cut open, exposing the stark white underneath. Her waist's clothing was almost shredded into a net, revealing her toned and slightly fleshy waist with tiny cuts. At her chest, several slits tore through the southern hemisphere, escaping the form-fitting chef's robe, exposing a hint of black lingerie, which fluttered with a slight quiver.
As Marika suffered damage, her fist quickly approached.
Misty had no way to avoid it, so she raised her arm for protection, with her outstretched arm flaunting Armament Haki, but as the punch was inches from her arm, she startled, sweat dripping from her forehead.
Almost instinctively, she retracted her arm, with her leg entwined erupting a vortex of airflow, pulling the hair coiled around her ankle up, hitting her wrist.
Pa.
A tremendous force came from her leg, and despite the slender arm, it was immovable, like a mountain.
"This strength..."
Misty flashed backward, hooking that leg up hard, violently colliding with Marika's fist.
Boom!
Not the sound from Marika's fist, but Renedia, who had reached the mountain, clutching the Mechanical Hammer, fiercely slamming it into the mountain wall, small sparks extending from the hammer's body to the hammerhead, frozen within the cavity.
Meanwhile, where Marika stood, another ravine formed, with a depression at its end, and as dust rose, a figure flew out of the hollow, suspended in the air by swirling currents.
She now felt uneasy, blood welling from her mouth, and a leg hanging limp as if broken.
"Freed from it?"
Marika looked up at her, saying, "A bit unfortunate, isn't it?"
"Even someone like you becomes a pirate?"
Misty gazed at her, asking, "What's so good about that calamity?"
Pirates in the New World were far from 'romantic,' especially for those from prosperous nations who saw pirates as troublesome and vile.
This woman was not only strong, but gentle too; with the force of that punch, she could have torn off Misty's leg, Misty believed she could, but was merely blown away.
Why must one so strong and gentle be a pirate?
"It's simply fate's convergence; Sage chose me, so I chose Sage."
Marika smiled again, "Pirate or not, it's irrelevant; even if Sage were a bandit, I'd be a bandit chef."
"A chef..."
Misty shook her head, "Sorry, I won't hold back against you, nor give you another chance to catch me; maybe you're happy being a pirate, but I want to protect my country!"
Her hand reached behind her waist, producing an arrow.
Earlier, when she was hit, she picked an arrow from the ground.
"Though my Fruit Ability lets me use airflow as arrows, as an archer, only with an arrow can I exert true power!"
Draw the bow, notch the arrow.
The wild airflow was engulfed in the arrow, forming a vortex resembling an eye of the storm at its tip, with the vortex enshrouding the entire arrow.
Simultaneously, the arrowhead emitted a spinning jet-black hue like the airflow.
Haki!
The bowstring was drawn into a full moon, aimed at Marika.
"This is my ultimate attack, be cautious, it has tracking..."
Boom!
A thunderous string shock!
"Heavy Wind Arrow!"
The moment Misty released the bowstring, the arrow launched like a horizontal tornado, arcing from skyward.
Marika's pupils contracted, her figure swiftly retreating with eyes filled with gravity.
This move is hard to defend and evade...
"Huff..."
She inhaled sharply, with her wild locks falling to her side, seeming to retract all control and power, as she darted to another part of the mountain, raising an Armament-coated fist to strike fiercely.
Boom!
The continuous line of the mountain trembled under her punch, splitting along both sides into cracks, rapidly fracturing.
Rumble...
The enormous mountain lifted entirely, leaving a chunk missing from the small mountain range.
Marika has lifted the mountain!
"For me..."
At this moment, she couldn't even maintain the most basic expression on her face, her forehead and neck were covered with bulging veins, and her hands slightly trembled as she lifted the enormous mountain, her arms seemed like connectors, constantly coiling Haki around the mountain body.
The amount of her Haki certainly couldn't cover the entire mountain body, but focusing on covering one area was still achievable.
"Smash!!"
Boom!!
The mountain body was fiercely hurled outward by Marika, the portion covered by Haki fiercely colliding with the incoming Heavy Wind Arrow, releasing a massive shockwave.
The mountain body rapidly disintegrated, the swirling air current blew up the entire mountain, exploding itself together with it. The fierce wind scattered the rock fragments everywhere, crashing into the mountain body, embedding into the earth, blocking the originally clear path completely with stones.
Amidst the scattered stone fragments, the figures of Marika and Misty emerged, one low and one high.
Marika was breathing rapidly, her figure slightly hunched, clearly exhausted.
And Misty up in the sky wasn't in much better condition, her hand holding the bowstring drooped weakly, barely maintaining her airflow as she gradually descended.
The full usage of Haki and abilities also consumed a large amount of her stamina.
A draw?
No...
Marika took a slight breath, then straightened up again, erecting the enormous peak in front of her, her hair swirling around once more.
"Looks like I won..." she smiled.
"Don't, don't think..."
Misty weakly attempted to raise her hand, but she had no strength left, only biting her teeth and shouting, "Even if I die, I will..."
"Renedi, stop!"
She hadn't finished speaking when Marika exclaimed in surprise.
"Done!"
Renedia suddenly pulled the hammer out from the mountain body, revealing an entirely hollow cavity she had bored out, with the mountain's stone inside absorbed by the hammer mouth, converting into energy, gathering into a white light within the hammer mouth.
"Blast it out for me!"
She aimed the hammer at the sky, her small hand twisting fiercely, with a sizzling sound as sparks ran through the hammer shaft, and a light ball burst out from the hammer mouth.
"Kinetic Energy Heavy Cannon!!"
Just as the light ball was about to be fully unleashed, Marika's shout caused Renedia to instinctively raise the hammer mouth, the light ball shooting straight into the sky, blasting past Misty from the upper diagonal, reaching above her head and exploding into a dazzling white light.
Boom!!
The white light spread outward, triggering an extremely fierce explosion at the center, accompanied by a hugely powerful shockwave that created a visible air ripple circle in the sky!
In the midst of this shock, Misty only had time to lift her head before being engulfed entirely in the impact.
Bam!
Amidst the dazzling explosion and impact, a figure quickly descended to the ground, creating a dent, inside which was Misty, now covered entirely in a layer of blackish-gray.
"Ha, ha... why did you stop?" Renedia took several deep breaths, puzzled.
Employing such a substantial level of capability also drained her a lot of stamina.
"Such a formidable opponent, I want her to meet the Sage."
Marika walked over, glanced into the hollow, and sighed in relief, "Thankfully, it didn't hit directly."
Still breathing, just stunned by the aftershock.
"Well... that works, and she's a beauty, the Sage should be pleased."
Renedia touched her little chin, suddenly stretched out her hand, imitating Sage's manner, clenching it vigorously, laughing loudly: "Hohoho, money, beauty, I want them all!"
"Renedi..."
Marika smiled over, her gentle face faintly exuding a black aura, "Don't use that expression with this figure, it's not cute at all."
"Oh..."
Renedia stuck out her delicate tongue, kicked Misty lightly with her boot-clad foot, "Then let's take her back."
"Mm, our task is complete, the rest doesn't require us."
Marika nodded, "There are three more, Lily will handle the allocation."
Only four noteworthy individuals, and one has already been dealt with.