There are three reasons for Mink’s formidable strength: Sulong’s powerful outburst during a full moon, the lightning attacks generated by their fur’s static electricity, and the enhancement provided by their beastman physique.
Currently, it’s a new moon, and the moon in the sky is only a faint crescent. So, Mink’s greatest trump card cannot be used, and their physical constitution isn’t significantly superior to these trained agents.
Their ability to unleash elemental attacks is their last resort, but the appearance of a Store-Store Fruit user has even taken away Mink’s final card.
Initially, Mink had the advantage of numbers in this battle. However, Caesar’s knockout gas sent most of them into slumber, effectively canceling out the numerical disparity.
Every Mink is a warrior, whether it is children or elderly, they all possess combat capability comparable to ordinary adult human soldiers even without formal training. This is precisely why the World Government initially planned an infiltration operation, but their tactics had to change due to the Mink’s party.
“B*stard.”
Hachi shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy from that blow. His steps became unsteady, but he managed to stand up using his sword as support.
“This is indeed a fine sword. Her gift is really impressive.”
The weapon refined by mixing Drunken Iron Ore had yet to dull. Even in the outside world, it is a highly valuable weapon, let alone on Zou Island where minerals are scarce.
“Zzzap!”
“I’d like to see if you really aren’t afraid of electricity!” Lightning once again wrapped around Hachi’s blade, and then he charged toward his opponent.
Not just Hachi, several other Minks also attacked the devil fruit user. In terms of numbers, Mink still held the advantage, and many weaker agents had already been defeated.
After defeating them, Mink naturally identified the greatest threat. Aside from the leader currently battling Hitsugisukan, this hulking figure was the most challenging to deal with. The defeated Minks at his feet were evidence of this.
“Tekkai Kenpo, Heavy Hammer!”
The principle of Tekkai is to accelerate the flow of blood within the body, allowing muscles and skin to reach the hardness of steel. In most cases, Tekkai’s effects were sufficient.
At the very least, it can deceive oneself into believing that they can withstand the enemy’s strike, effectively serving as a meat shield.
However, the drawback of Tekkai is that when activating it, the muscles are in a tense state, restricting free movement, often resulting in stiff movements. Nevertheless, this limitation can be overcome through training, enabling one to maintain the Tekkai state while moving freely.
This CP agent, who specializes in Tekkai, has naturally achieved this. Faced with the incoming Mink, an invisible ripple emanated from him as the center, spreading outward. Shortly after, the fur of those Mink, which had stood on end due to static electricity, softened one by one.
On his chest, there was also an icon resembling a battery, with a progress bar indicating his energy storage capacity.
“Boom!” He smashed the ground, creating a large crater, and sending several Mink flying to the side.
Meanwhile, Hitsugisukan faced a significant challenge due to the Logia-type Cloud-Cloud Fruit. Although Haki could allow one to touch a Logia-type devil fruit user’s body, there were ways for them to counter it.
His opponent used Observation Haki to sense the location where he would attack and disperse that part of his body in advance. Without physical contact, Haki naturally had no effect.
“Don’t waste your energy. You’re not my match. We only need a dozen or so Minks. Why not surrender? The outcome won’t change, so why increase casualties needlessly?”
“Dream on! If I allow you to take my people like this, how can I be fit to be duke of Zou Island!”
With the hammer in hand, Hitsugisukan generated gusts of air. Seizing the opportunity, he hurled his hammer. However, it had no effect apart from raising a cloud of dust around the opponent’s body. Hitsugisukan’s target, though, was not him but rather the user of the Store-Store Fruit.
The other devil fruit user was too effective at restricting Mink’s ability. Generating electricity drained the Mink’s stamina, whereas he couldn’t store the force of his punches but could convert absorbed energy into his own stamina. In this back-and-forth battle, he began to gain the upper hand.
So Hitsugisukan’s hammer was aimed squarely at him. The solid hammer, the size of a watermelon, carried the power of Hitsugisukan’s full strength as it crashed into the back of his head. Someone specializing in Tekkai naturally had no power of Observation Haki, and the blow landed solidly on his skull.
Although he, in his full-body Tekkai state, wasn’t knocked down by the single blow, a significant vulnerability appeared, giving the Mink attackers surrounding him an opportunity.
“Even in this situation, you are still thinking about others? What are you going to do without a weapon?”
“Mink’s greatest weapon isn’t those external items but our own bodies. Electro Horn!”
Hitsugisukan slightly lowered his upper body, aiming his sharp horns at the CP captain. His entire body erupted out with lightning, resembling an enraged thunder beast.
Electricity stimulated every muscle in his body, significantly boosting Hitsugisukan’s reaction speed. While the opponent had Observation Haki, not everyone could predict the future like Katakuri.
When you couldn’t predict the future, evading depended on your body’s reaction speed. When Hitsugisukan’s attack speed surpassed the opponent’s reaction speed, he could attack his main body.
With Haki-coated horns pressed against his chest, a more powerful surge of electricity erupted from his body, adding a blue glow to the dark night of Zou Island.
However, Hitsugisukan’s electric shock didn’t yield the expected results. A vast number of clouds surged from the opponent’s body, gradually occupying a small portion of the sky above them. It seemed like Hitsugisukan’s released lightning was being absorbed by these clouds.
“If you like using electricity so much, why not taste the power of lightning yourself? Thundercloud Heaven!”
After absorbing Hitsugisukan’s lightning, complex reactions occurred within those clouds. Their colors gradually dimmed, and from below, one could see lightning flickering within the cloud layers.
This was why he was chosen as the leader of this team. Both he and the other devil fruit user had special means to deal with lightning.
However, the range of this lightning cloud was small, only existing directly above Hitsugisukan and the other devil fruit user.
He is the user of Cloud-Cloud Fruit. Although he could generate lightning clouds, he had no control over the range of the lightning attacks; they were indiscriminate.
Currently, Minks and the CP agents were entangled in a melee, so he couldn’t recklessly expand his thundercloud and could only employ this ability within a limited range.
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