Chapter 44: Egyptian God Twins Part 3
“Oh? Going straight for the blade?”
Obei watched as Ember coated his blade with the flames from behind him, and she couldn’t help but take some interest.
“How interesting! You can manipulate flames too. Are you one of those so-called ability users? Or perhaps some special race?”
Ember’s eyes suddenly flickered upon hearing the term special race, but he gave no response and simply swung his blade straight down at Obei.
Obei saw the attack coming from the front and immediately shut her mouth.
She wasn’t one to chatter endlessly in battle; on the contrary, silence and calm were her fighting style… unless the opponent was Aoxi.
With no superfluous actions, Obei raised one arm to block the blade, then directly gripped the blade with her hand to pull Ember close.
Whether it was the scorching flames on the blade or its sharp edge, neither seemed to affect her in the slightest.
“？！”
Ember felt the immense force transmitted through the blade, his body uncontrollably lurching forward a step.
Before he could react, an indigo fist tore through the air toward him. Just the terrifying sonic boom alone indicated that this punch’s power was extraordinary!
Without hesitation, Ember released the hilt, kicked forward to gain momentum, spread his wings, and flew into midair, causing Obei’s punch to miss.
“Boom!!!”
The punch, carrying a force of ten thousand jun, struck the air, and the resulting fist wind still made Ember in the sky stagger somewhat.
The strike having failed, Obei showed no disappointment and simply raised her head, expressionlessly watching the disheveled Ember flying in the air.
After retracting her fist, Obei released her other hand that was still gripping the opponent’s blade. The long sword fell to the ground, and the flames wrapped around it extinguished immediately.
In just one exchange, the Divine Clan faced an Egyptian God Cards juvenile body and immediately fell into a disadvantage!
“N-No way! That brat!”
“That punch just now could probably turn someone into meat paste on its own, right?!”
“D-Did you all hear that sonic boom just now?”
Without a doubt, Obei’s completely ordinary punch instantly refreshed everyone’s understanding of her.
……
“Are you planning to stay up there forever?”
Seeing that the opponent wasn’t coming down, Obei lightly lifted her leg and hooked the blade, kicking it back to Ember in the sky.
Catching the incoming long sword with one hand, Ember looked at the still slightly trembling blade and narrowed his eyes.
『Outstanding reaction speed, keen judgment ability, and this unimaginable immense power—a truly troublesome opponent.』
Compared to Aoxi, who was clearly a mage-type yet loved close-quarters melee, the warrior-type Obei was better at controlling the entire battle rhythm through various calculations—a textbook tactical fighter.
Flames wrapped around the blade once more, and Ember flapped his wings to maneuver in the air, seemingly searching for an opening.
Watching Ember, who seemed intent on using his aerial advantage to keep his distance, Obei didn’t sit idly by and immediately deployed the appropriate countermeasure.
What was the most direct method to deal with a flying target? Or rather, how to quickly and efficiently shoot down a plane?
She swung her right fist down hard onto the ground. An invisible impact instantly erupted, shattering the earth beneath Obei’s feet, filling the air with smoke and dust, and sending crushed stones flying everywhere.
The intense vibrations also made the distant spectating pirates sway left and right, unable to stand steady.
“An… earthquake? Another earthquake!”
“To cause such powerful vibrations with just a fist!”
“That’s too exaggerated! She’s clearly so small, yet she’s practically a monster!”
……
Ember continued circling in the air; aside from his vision being slightly obstructed, he wasn’t otherwise affected.
He also had no intention of sneaking an attack while Obei smashed the ground—who knew if this was that brat’s trap.
Obei’s hands quickly slapped the crushed stones splashing into midair, sending stones of various sizes flying toward Ember above like cannonballs.
“Uro-ro-ro~ Throwing stones? What an interesting brat!” Kaido, watching from afar, found Obei’s method of dealing with airborne Ember amusing.
Ember looked at the incoming stones and simply flapped his wings to dodge.
But as a small stone grazed past his shoulder, something unexpected happened—Ember in the sky suddenly lurched as if struck.
『Hm? What’s this?! I clearly dodged it?』
Stones rained down on Ember, forcing him to activate Observation Haki to evade.
And the scene from before repeated: clearly his body had dodged in his perception, yet he still felt the sensation of being hit.
Helplessly, Ember tried to pull away from the stones, but Obei’s attacks were too dense to find a gap, so he could only rely on Observation Haki to continuously dodge.
After fully concentrating his Observation Haki on those stones once more, Ember finally noticed their abnormality in shock.
Every stone Obei threw was coated in Armament Haki! Even more insanely, the Haki on them was flowing!
That was why he was still getting hit despite clearly dodging the stones.
So you’re just handing out Haki like it’s free?!
Just like that, a bizarre scene unfolded in the air: the black figure was like being bombarded by invisible cannonballs, his body twisting and stumbling like an awkward dancer.
『This won’t do. This brat’s attacks are too dense—I can’t keep being the target!』
Ember in the sky forcibly stabilized his body, then ignored the stone attacks and charged straight toward Obei.
“Fire Dragon…”
Before Ember could finish calling his move, he saw Obei below suddenly open her mouth, as if saying a certain word.
Then she extended her right hand, gave a thumbs-up, and suddenly pressed it down.
“Killer Queen! First Bomb!”
“Boom!” The stones that had hit Ember and those around him suddenly exploded violently! Firelight and smoke and dust instantly engulfed Ember.
『These stones have all been touched by me, you know~』
She had been patiently waiting for the moment when Ember completely gave up dodging, directly detonating the divine power within the stones to turn them into energy bombs whose power far exceeded ordinary ship-mounted cannonballs.
And this was the truly terrifying aspect of Obei and her group.
The three of them possessed extremely high energy control talent; basics like energy coating and energy flow came naturally to them.
They could even remotely manipulate energy after it left their bodies, truly the darlings of energy.
Of course, extremely precise manipulations like weaving clothes were currently only possible for one person; Obei could at most simply detonate, but that was more than enough.
A black figure fell from the smoke and dust to the ground, with roaring flames still burning behind him.
“Cough~ Cough…”
Ember propped himself up with his blade and struggled to his feet. Fortunately, he hadn’t retracted the flames on his body earlier, or he probably wouldn’t be standing after that hit.
Looking at Obei with incredulous eyes, Ember asked, “Remote detonation of Haki? How did you do that?!”
“Is it hard? Well~ As long as I feel like it…”
Seeing the opponent’s disheveled state, Obei felt a pleasurable sense of revenge fulfilled.
Alright, in this regard, the two sisters were practically identical.
……
“N-No way? Boss Ember is injured!”
“That brat actually beat Boss Ember!”
“Impossible—that guy is stronger than an executive?!”
“It’s not over yet—Boss Ember hasn’t gone all out!”
“Boss Ember! Hang in there!”
……
The surrounding pirates found it hard to believe that Ember had fallen so completely into a disadvantage.
Ember had been an elder in the Beasts Pirates since its founding. Though only fifteen years old, his powerful personal strength and reliable personality gave him considerable prestige within the pirate crew.
In the over a year since the Beasts Pirates were founded, he and Burufaruto had campaigned far and wide, earning great renown in the New World. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them the Beasts Pirates’ signboards.
Now seeing Ember beaten so badly by a newly joined child, the pirates who had always followed him found it hard to accept for a moment.
“Ember’s actions are completely under her control—what a fearsome brat~” Burufaruto crossed his arms, eyes narrowed as he stared at the battle ahead.
If it were Obei fighting him, the outcome would truly be uncertain…
“Ember is still just a brat after all. Though he went through all sorts of things before I brought him out, making him seem mature now, he’s essentially still a newbie just stepping into the sea.”
Kaido stared at the distant Ember, as if recalling past events.
“Haha! Yeah, Ember’s only fifteen after all.”
Compared to Burufaruto, an old hand who had been prowling the Grand Line since childhood, Ember was indeed somewhat immature in terms of battle experience.
……
