The powerful Axe Potter fell, or rather temporarily lost his ability to resist. Having roamed the seas for several years, it wasn't that he couldn't withstand a single hit—he just needed a bit of time to recover.
Whoosh!
Harry's gaze instantly sharpened. An iron fist tore through the air and came straight at Vane.
Flowing Water Crushing Rock Fist — Gentle Flow.
Blood Coral Harry only felt a slick force appear, causing his punch to deviate from its trajectory, and the opponent also closed in, about to land a punch on him.
"Thorn."
Having shed his earlier contempt, Harry reacted extremely fast. His body followed the direction of the deflected punch and he leaned diagonally into an Iron Shoulder Strike. His shoulder armor was fitted with sharp spikes—slamming into someone could cause damage just the same.
Vane wasn't afraid of getting hurt, but he didn't want meaningless injuries either. He withdrew his punch and hopped backward.
Behind him, Potter had just regained consciousness and was shaking his head, trying to clear the dizziness. The Vane who jumped back kicked him straight in the back of the head, plunging Potter back into a daze.
Harry's fists burst out with multiple afterimages. This punching speed was clearly the result of special training—not something from a wild, unorthodox background.
"Nice."
Vane clamped his legs together, using the force generation of the Flowing Water Crushing Rock Fist with his legs to lift Potter up and kick him toward the opponent.
At this point, it was impossible for Harry to retract his rapid punches.
Bang bang—more than a dozen punches all landed on his own companion. His iron fists were spiked; Potter's back was instantly pierced with dozens of wounds.
This time, he really wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
"Damn it, all you do is drag me down."
Harry cursed and continued attacking Vane. Every punch aimed to smash Vane's head, but each one brushed past him.
Each punch could shatter a rock larger than a man.
And this guy had actual boxing techniques, not random flailing.
"Where did you learn your boxing? If it's the West Blue… could it be Kano Country?"
In the West Blue, that was the only Kano Country he knew.
And he'd guessed right. Harry was indeed from Kano Country. He had served for a time in the Kano Country navy, but due to certain factors he resigned and came to the sea as a pirate.
He came out here to find the sea's secret treasure—Devil Fruits—to increase his strength.
Only then would he have a chance to advance further in the Kano Country navy and obtain opportunities to train Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
"However, your boxing is far from complete, and your physical talent isn't that great either."
If Harry had sufficient talent, he wouldn't have run out here searching for a Devil Fruit.
Vane felt out his opponent's boxing for a moment. The level of completion was average, and the physical talent was also average. Of course, as a pirate worth over twenty million, going barehanded against an East Blue pirate like Don Krieg would definitely be a win.
It's just that Krieg's equipment was better and more varied, so Krieg's odds would be higher… of course, that would be Krieg sixteen years later. Right now, Krieg hadn't yet become a pirate admiral.
"If you don't have any other moves, then let's end this."
Vane halted his steps. Whirlwinds coiled between his hands. Locking onto Harry's incoming punch, he drove his own fist straight into it.
Harry was overjoyed. He was wearing sharp iron gauntlets. Colliding flesh with him—did this guy think he had Armament Haki?
Slash! Crack!
There was no Armament Haki on Vane's fist, but there was a devastating punch wind. Before their fists even touched, with still five centimeters between them, the cutting iron punch wind shredded Harry's iron gauntlet.
Psssh—puh!
A ring-shaped cutting injury blasted apart the entire armor of his iron arm.
Boom!
Dragging his arm that was spurting blood, Harry turned into a "Geodude" on the ground and activated the "Rollout" special move.
Unfortunately, Geodude's Rollout is about storing power. A person rolling on the ground is a symbol of failure.
"The c-captain lost…"
"The captain lost like a dog."
"Run, run!"
These ordinary pirates had already been traumatized by gunfire earlier. Now even the two powerful captains had fallen to the opponent's fists… well, not exactly—most of Axe Potter's injuries were actually caused by Harry.
Beating up my own teammate.
But failure was failure. The pirates who had been so excited when they landed were now just as terrified, and the rout began.
"Meow, trying to leave? Not so easy, meow! Electabuzz, use Thunder!"
These were all future research funds—how could he let them escape?
The prepared Electabuzz leapt into the air, its entire body releasing yellow lightning. The lightning instantly split into more than a dozen arcs and hunted down the pirates.
"Ah—numb, I'm numb!"
"Where did this—thun—thunder come from?!"
Vane glanced sideways at Electabuzz's full-power discharge. At its current strength, Electabuzz could at most ensnare a dozen or twenty ordinary pirates at once.
It was far inferior to Enel's lightning, but a Pokémon's strength could grow. With constant training, even if it couldn't match the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, it would be far stronger than it was now.
It might not be enough against strong opponents, but clearing out small fry was extremely convenient.
"Meow, keep charging!"
After one group was electrocuted unconscious, Meowth continued directing Electabuzz to attack the remaining pirates.
No matter how fast these ordinary pirate lackeys ran, they couldn't outrun lightning. There were a few who seemed like vice-captains or battle leaders who could struggle back up after taking a bolt.
But that was just the last gasp—one more bolt would finish them.
The final pirate was electrocuted unconscious not far from the port. The pirates guarding the ships could clearly see that their crew had suffered a disastrous defeat.
"Go, go! The captain is definitely finished!"
"Hurry up and pull out, you're blocking our ship!"
"You're still worrying about your own ship? Get on ours—there's no time for you to turn around."
Their pirate ships were jammed back and forth in the harbor. It was fated that only Harry could successfully leave the port. The pirates from the Axe soon realized this as well.
One after another, they abandoned the Axe and boarded the Blood Coral, finally getting the Blood Coral out of the harbor.
Those who had run off to seize the original Big Blade Buri pirate ship were dumbfounded. They were farther away, and by the time they reacted, the Blood Coral had already exited the harbor.
In an instant, several splashes sounded as they chose to jump into the sea, hoping to swim aboard before the Blood Coral picked up speed.
This had originally been a perfectly ordinary raid. Having faced little real resistance in the Thorn Rose sea, they never imagined such an outcome before landing.
Only a bit over twenty people escaped aboard the Blood Coral.
Of the remaining one hundred and twenty, thirty to forty were of unknown life or death, and seventy to eighty—including the captains—were all taken prisoner.
The Blood Coral sailed far away in one go, only slowing down once Shell Island could no longer be observed at all.
"That was terrifying. You all saw it, right?"
"It looked like thunder—our crew all got struck by lightning."
"No, it was something like a leopard chasing our crew and beating them. It was so fast it looked just like thunder."
"That must be a Devil Fruit user like Calder!"
"What do we do now?"
"How about we go join another pirate crew and tell them what happened on Shell Island? There's definitely a Devil Fruit there, and a Thorn Treasure."
"Right, we could go join Calder. He'd definitely be interested in this news."
Shell Island might have the Thorn Rose treasure. Someone had eaten a Devil Fruit and defeated and captured two captains with bounties exceeding twenty million Belly.
News like this began spreading within a small circle.