"Hmm... who are you??"
Kouta looked at the approaching person, tilted his head in thought, then suddenly realized, "I remember now. You're that guy, the former CP0 member whose Gum-Gum Fruit was stolen by the red-haired one, right?"
"What was his name... Fords or something."
Having said that, Kouta suddenly spread his hands and laughed, "I'm sorry! For a loser like you, I really can't remember your name. My apologies."
"You~"
Foss F. looked at Kouta with his golden eyes under his mask, his body radiating killing intent. He then rapidly expanded, thick orange-yellow fur quickly growing on him, and his mouth spewed out a large number of sharp teeth.
This guy was an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, the Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Saber-Toothed Tiger form. It was a rare Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit that allowed him to transform into a giant saber-toothed tiger.
Regardless of whether the person before him was the strongest in the world, Foss F.'s sole thought at that moment was to tear Kouta to shreds.
Soru—!
Foss F., in his human-beast form, crouched low and sprang forward rapidly, as if teleporting, appearing directly in front of Kouta.
As he moved forward, his claws also blackened. By the time he reached Kouta, he raised his hand, fingers extended towards Kouta.
Finger Pistol—!
Given his former affiliation with CP0, he was incredibly skilled in the Rokushiki techniques.
"Make your move."
As Foss F. attacked, the other Tobiroppo also ceased their idleness. They all quickly transformed and charged towards Kouta.
Those who reached their position were no fools. Whether it was the timing of Kouta's appearance or the deeds he had accomplished, as reported in the newspapers, they knew that there was no escaping this confrontation today. Thus, none of them pleaded for mercy, all unleashing their full strength to gamble on a slim chance of a miracle.
After they made their move, more members of the Beast Pirates rushed out from the ship's cabins behind them. Whether armed with guns or swords, they were all filled with bloodlust.
Bang—!
With a slight lift of his hand, Kouta blocked Foss F.'s full-power Finger Pistol with the back of his hand. Without even glancing at the other Tobiroppo rapidly approaching, he tilted his head to look at Queen, who had remained still the entire time, and said with a smile, "You're fighting desperately now. What? Aren't you going to join in?"
*Sizzle~*
As the Tobiroppo were about to reach him, Kuina, who had been standing silently to Kouta's left, finally moved.
*Clang—!*
A cold sword light, accompanied by a sword's hum that filled the entire sea, slashed out in an instant.
Whether it was Black Maria, Sasaki among the Tobiroppo, or the brothers Who's Who and Ulti, their expressions changed drastically, as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.
Their charging bodies, which were on the offensive, quickly shifted to defense.
In their eyes, the slash was too fast, so blindingly fast.
The impact of the slash felt like a precipice, like hell itself, exuding a chilling coldness that made their scalps tingle.
Just as they braced for defense, the three of them were sent flying backward by the slash with a "bang."
The slash, however, did not stop in the least. It continued forward, growing larger and faster.
Then, with a *swish*, it instantly cut through the entire ship, leaving a cold, sky-cleaving line in the air above it.
The Beast Pirates cadres, who had rushed out from the ship's cabins filled with bloodlust and a ferocious demeanor, now stood frozen on the deck, unmoving.
"Cough, cough, cough!!"
"How can he be so strong?"
From the shattered ship's cabin, the four Tobiroppo members, each supporting themselves with one hand and clutching their chests with the other, looked up at the blue-haired figure standing on the ship's railing, his sword sheathed.
This gap…
It was so vast it plunged them into despair.
"Is this the pinnacle of the world?"
Even as Kaido's subordinates, not all of them had witnessed Kaido fight at full power, especially after his peak battle with Oden. It had been a long time since they had seen Kaido truly exert himself.
Furthermore, at that time, not all of them had joined the Beast Pirates. Even if they had, they were either children or low-level grunts, so none of them had participated in that great battle.
After Kaido became a Yonko, he had essentially stopped fighting at full strength. Even when he did, it was against other Yonko or the Marines, and they didn't even have the right to spectate.
Thus, while they, the Tobiroppo, were considered the strongest below the Three Disasters of the Beast Pirates, they didn't truly know the extent of the gap between themselves and the world's peak powerhouses.
And now, they knew.
It was that they couldn't even withstand a single slash from Kuina.
Had it not been for the four of them sharing the power of the blow, any one of them facing that slash alone would have likely been cut in half on the spot.
Yet, even so, they were all severely injured. And the other members of the Beast Pirates…
At this moment, the pirates who were frozen on the deck suddenly came to life from their static state. Their upper bodies slid in the same direction, falling onto the deck with a "bang." In an instant, the entire ship was filled with the stench of blood.
At this moment, Queen, who had been staring down without reacting to what was happening behind him, suddenly looked up, fixing his gaze on Kouta. A hint of madness gleamed in his eyes as he laughed, "If you want me dead, I'll take you all down with me."
"Take you down with me?"
Bang—!
Kouta flicked his right hand, sending Foss F. flying out like a cannonball.
Then, his right hand transformed from a wave to a grab. With a sweep to the right, before Foss F. could fly far back, his body, as if experiencing a final burst of energy, was rapidly pulled back towards Kouta's hand.
With this back-and-forth motion, Foss F. became Kouta's toy. The sheer torment made him want to die. The pressure from all directions choked him, causing a mouthful of blood to lodge in his throat, neither up nor down, his face turning crimson with the strain.
Before he could endure the discomfort for much longer, he appeared in front of Kouta's right hand, suspended in mid-air. Then, the entire space violently churned and collapsed inward.
Ignoring Foss F., who was being swallowed by space, Kouta swept his right hand in front of him. The space before him rippled like water, and then Kouta lightly tapped the void in front of him with his fingertip.
The space in front of his fingertip, just like the space outside Foss F., suddenly collapsed inward.
And as it collapsed, a colorless and odorless substance, which, under Kouta's deliberate control, had changed shape and appeared in various colors, resembling human DNA, a spiral-shaped object, slowly emerged from the void in front of his finger, spinning gently within the compressing space.
"The thing you mentioned about taking me down with you, is this it!"
Kouta stared at the object before him and exclaimed, "I have to say, you're quite the talent to be able to create such a virus. If I didn't have some skills, I might have actually fallen for your trap."
"Of course…"
At this moment, Kouta suddenly looked up and smiled at the ashen-faced Queen, "This is just a joke. While your thing is powerful, if you want to harm me, you'll probably have to try for another hundred years."