"Cough! Cough!"
Usopp heavily coughed while standing on his foot. Even though he was severely injured in the head and back, he had to continue fighting and win.
"Oh? You can take a few hits. That's good. It won't be so boring."
Shamon stated. His face didn't reveal any pride, but his tone was full of arrogance.
This was normal after all.
Compared to others, Nami, Usopp, and Brook were the weakest among the original Straw Hats.
Brook had just joined the crew and hadn't awakened Haki. Nami didn't have Armament Haki and only awakened pitifully weak Observation Haki.
Usopp had a strong Observation Haki, but his Armament was pitifully weak.
So, this battle wasn't enough to make Shamon serious.
He dashed forward, with the speed faster than sound. In an instant, he was in front of Usopp with his finger coated in Armament Haki.
Ding!
When he pushed his finger forward, it struck a large metal object, piercing through it but not reaching Usopp's chest.
[Metal Binding]
Usopp gritted his teeth and forced the broken metal to mold around Shamon's fist. This was a trick that he had barely managed to learn within a few hours.
"Damn it! I was careless."
Shamon cursed before using Soru to step back. He quickly checked his arm and realized there was some explosive power inside the metal.
'This was a plan, a proper plan to destroy my arm. If I use my power to break this metal, it will explode. If I use Armament Haki, I might be able to block most of the metal.'
'But some will still pierce my Haki and reach my skin. That would damage my hand. But if I don't do it, I won't be able to use my hand. Either way, it is better to destroy it now.'
Shamon coated his hands with Armament Haki and used his right hand to break it apart.
Bang!
As he expected, the metal shards exploded. But unlike how he thought it would go out, those shards suddenly began piercing him from different directions.
[Full Body- Hardening]
Shamon gritted his teeth and coated his entire body with Armament Body before those metal shards pierced his body.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Those shards collided against his body, and except for those that pierced him before he used Haki, the others simply fell upon colliding against him.
[Molten Ground]
Suddenly, Shamon found the ground underneath turning into molten lava. Before he could leave, the lava quickly melted around his foot and cooled down.
'What were those? One was a red cloud and another was a blue cloud.'
Shamon gritted his teeth while thinking about what he saw before.
[Frozen Wind Slash]
At this moment, a chilling aura spread around Shamon. Before he could break out of the binding of igneous rock, a slash appeared across his chest, freezing his body with ice.
"Enough!"
[Earth Giant]
Shamon roared as he came out of the ice, covered in an earth armor. The binding also broke as the Earth Armor slowly grew into a massive Earth giant with Shamon in the middle.
[Earth Shards]
Shamon used his Observation Haki to sense Brook and instantly shot several of the earth spikes towards him.
Brook swung his sword and broke those earth spikes before they could do any damage. But the Earth Giant was already moving towards him.
[Divine Thunder]
Nami condensed a massive lightning bolt, even bigger than the Earth Giant and call it down. The lightning pierced through Earth Giant, shattering it into pieces and striking Shamon.
"Argh!"
Shamon felt a strong burn all over his body. If it wasn't for Earth Giant and Armament Haki blocking most of the attack, he would've been seriously injured by that attack.
Thud!
When he fell from the destroyed Earth Giant, he quickly got up and released his Observation Haki.
He noticed Usopp had disappeared alongside Nami, and only Brook was visible to his Observation Haki.
'How is that girl creating lightning of this level? Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates had eaten the lightning fruit. So, why can she use its power?'
'Could it be that they managed to transfer his power to her for this battle? Is that even possible? Wait, that might be possible. Especially since they take others' Devil Fruit powers.'
If Nami knew his thoughts, she would've been speechless.
Yes, she did possess lightning from Sanji, but she didn't take his Devil Fruit. She just asked him to create clouds that possessed a lot of lightning bolts.
Using her weather knowledge, she managed to hide those clouds before this battle. And using her Weather Stick, she could merge those lightning bolts to create powerful lightning.
This did help her fight a powerful enemy, but even she didn't expect her opponent to be so tough.
This lightning was probably only weaker than Sanji's strongest lightning strike, but the CP0 agent managed to tank it without any serious damage.
'Damn it! I don't have a stronger attack. Now, we can only hope for Usopp's plan to work.'
Nami thought to herself while hiding behind a building. This building was near the edge of the island, and she had no way to reach her opponent from here.
She was trying to hide so that she wouldn't suffer more damage.
Many of her bones were broken because of the previous attack. She also suffered a lot when Shamon used the Finger Gun to pierce her shoulder.
'No! If I keep hiding like this, even with Usopp's plan, we might not win. Even if we win, Brook and Usopp will get seriously injured.'
'I can't hide. I mustn't hide here.'
'Liam!'
At this moment, Nami suddenly changed her mind as she began to hypnotize herself for the next battle.
She stood up and ran towards Usopp. She wasn't going to face Shamon head-on. She wasn't that much of an idiot.
Fortunately, she was able to sense Usopp and quickly reached him.
Just when she was moving, she saw Chopper and Franky defeating their opponent. She bit her lips and thought.
'If I keep lagging, how can I save Liam? Everyone is serious about getting stronger. Even Usopp, who is more cowardly, always tries to get stronger.'
'I have to face him head-on. I can't hide. Not this time!'
Nami took a deep breath and changed her route. She rushed toward her enemy instead of going towards Usopp.
Certainly, with the help of Usopp, she would win this battle easily. But if she did that, she might never grow.
She couldn't afford it, not when her lover was going to disappear and the only chance they had to bring him back might involve fighting Gods.
Literal Gods!
She couldn't take chances.
"That girl. Are you kidding me? She is running towards me."
Shamon was stunned when he saw Nami rushing towards him. But he got excited soon.
Although he wasn't sure why she was making such a foolish move, he knew this was her true self, not an illusion.
"Wait! What is Nami doing? Why is running towards Shamon?" Usopp's eyes widened when he saw Nami running towards Shamon.
"Nami-san!"
Unlike Usopp, Brook recognized Nami's expression and muttered.
"Is this your moment? Then, let me help you."
Saying so, he put down his sword and calmly sat on the ground.
At this moment, Shamon and Nami were preparing to engage in close combat as they both were rushing toward each other their index fingers pointing at each other.
But Shamon's finger pierced through Nami, and just when his eyes were widening, he noticed blue sparks coming from Nami.
Zzzzzz!
"Argh!"
Shamon felt lightning all over his body.
[Lightning Clone]
[Thunder Ball]
Suddenly, four different lightning clouds surrounded Shamon, and before he could move, those clouds released horizontal lightning from all four sides, crossing Shamon in the middle.
Bang!
Once again, Shamon was struck by lightning, and much more powerful lightning this time.
"Enough is enough!"
[Earth Claw]
Shamon screamed and raised his hand. Several chunks of the ground burst out and covered his hand with soil, forming a massive claw.
As he brought down that claw, Nami spun her weather stick, and two clouds appeared from both sides.
Both clouds were red as she spun them towards the earth claw.
[Fiery Wave]
Suddenly, Nami took out a Flame Dial and released the flames towards those clouds.
Influenced by the power of Flame Dial, those two clouds released heat higher than magma, instantly turning the Earth claw into dripping lava.
[Earth Spike]
Just when Nami tried to dodge the lava, Shamon released a massive earth spike from the ground.
Just when the spike was about to pierce through Nami, she was suddenly pulled to the side.
[Universal Pull]
"Nami, are you crazy? Why are you fighting so hard? You almost died." Usopp cursed loudly while holding Nami in his arms.
Nami bitterly smiled and said.
"Thanks, Usopp!"
"But I must face this battle head-on. You know what kind of person Luffy is. But even he suppressed his emotions to get your Devil Fruit."
"Compared to him, I am just trying to be braver. If I can't even do that, how am I ever supposed to save Liam?"