"Here we are." Touko pointed to a derelict building choked by weeds, vines bursting through cracked walls—long abandoned.
"Let's go." Touko stepped forward—and felt something razor-sharp press against her back.
"What do you think you're doing?" Touko adjusted her glasses, voice calm.
"That's my line, Touko Aozaki." Fujino's tone was ice; her yubashiri needed only a push to pierce flesh, bone, and heart.
"So you noticed." Touko remained unruffled. "My apologies, but I dislike—"
"Shhk."
Before she could finish, yubashiri sank into her body.
Wait—wrong feel. After countless pirates, Fujino knew the sensation of steel in flesh; this was off.
Danger.
Observation Haki screamed. Without hesitation she stomped the ground and vaulted away.
Boom!
A roaring explosion left only a flame-wreathed crater where Touko had stood.
An explosive puppet? When?!
No time to think—a tearing sound raced in from behind. Observation Haki shrieked; even Soru might not be fast enough.
Crimson flashed across her eyes. Sheathing yubashiri into her system space, she clenched her right fist. Jet-black light coated it as she spun, slamming the dark fist into whatever struck from behind.
Bang!
The impact sent a shock-wave of dust and black-red lightning across the ground.
Another crash—two figures burst from the cloud.
"As expected of a Phantasmal Species—Rank E can't compete." Fujino glared at the towering golden werewolf; her right arm hung twisted and useless.
"Interesting. A human matching my strength—whatever that black energy is, you've surpassed human limits." The golden wolf grinned, eyes gleaming. "Your right arm's done, but you've something more. Show me."
Massive frame blurred toward her.
Left!
With Observation Haki she jerked her head aside, claws carving shallow cuts along her cheek.
Soru! Coating her knee in Armament Haki, she used the ten-fold ground strike to hammer the werewolf's gut.
Thud!
The sudden burst sent the beast stumbling three paces; Fujino whipped out yubashiri with her left hand—she had trained both arms in the One Piece world for exactly this.
Violet-black Haki wrapped the blade.
"One-Sword Style—Great Sever!"
Imitating the finisher she'd once seen an Amazon warrior use in a tokusatsu show, Asagami Fujino funneled every ounce of her strength into the blade in her left hand—something like an iai strike meant to end the fight in a single breath.
The instant the sword left its sheath, a jet-black slash, pure and unstoppable, lanced straight for the golden wolf. Fujino's left arm went limp, as ruined as her right.
The beast didn't flinch. Perhaps it no longer could—Fujino's killing intent had locked it in place. Its jade eyes blazed with excitement rather than fear; it crossed both fore-claws, determined to meet the blow head-on.
"Nice try," Fujino murmured. Her pupils shifted, twin halos blooming inside each iris—one crimson, one emerald.
"Beowulf, watch out!" Touko Aozaki's shout carried from afar—too late.
The Demon Eye of Distortion: by sight she sets an axis of rotation. Left eye turns left, right eye turns right; anything she gazes upon warps. If both axes are fixed upon a single target, the object is twisted apart at their intersection.
With the disappearance of her congenital analgesia, the sealed Mystic Eyes awoke fully. Red and green spiraled coldly as she fixed both rotational axes upon the golden wolf.
Fujino never expected the Eyes to kill the beast. These were not the same Mystic Eyes that had stockpiled years of power, and she remembered that this particular Phantasmal Species could resurrect. All she needed was to pin it in place, shred its defenses, and let the sword-strike land clean.
Two opposing rotations met; the wolf's body contorted grotesquely, blood fountaining. The pain only enraged it, and it fought to tear free of the twisting force.
At that instant the black sword-wave arrived, carving through the beast without resistance. The golden wolf was split in half, gore spraying across the ground.
"System, begin collection," Fujino ordered silently.
"Host is beyond standard range. Spend 300 points for remote collection?"
"Confirm—and restore both arms while you're at it."
"Command accepted. Remote collection: 300 points. Limb restoration: 1 000 points. Executing."
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