262. Battle of 2nd

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Cricket & King exchange their attacks again after a short break while they spectated the war. King is fighting Cricket using his sword that is cladded in a fire. To face that fire-cladded sword, Cricket constantly uses his Hasshoken through his gauntlets.

Each of their clashes causes a strong impact that shakes their surrounding. They keep countering each other's attacks using their own attacks. No one dodges or gets defensive. They just go all out with their attacks.

This battle goes on for a few minutes until suddenly King's attack passes through. His sword slashes Cricket's body and blood spurts from the diagonal wound. But King is frowning because he feels something isn't right.

He finally realizes that his attack was too shallow but he realizes it late. Cricket has already gotten in front of him with a punch ready. He doesn't have time to react and Cricket's punch hits his face very strongly.

*BAM*

Vibration effects appear on Cricket's fist that hits King's face. King flings back and crashes onto a thick pillar, destroying it. Cricket staggers a bit and looks at the long wound on his torso caused by King's sword.

'It is a shallow wound but it still hurts. The fire on his sword burnt my skin so blood doesn't come out anymore so it's good. It still feels hot though,' thinks Cricket.

Cricket stops thinking about his wound and looks at King who walks out of the rubbles. Half of the mask on King's face is ripped because of Cricket's previous attack. Blood trickles from King's mouth, indicating that Cricket's attack has dealt good damage to his face.

They don't say anything and just stare at each other for a moment before suddenly they rush at each other then clash again. They exchange blows for some time before it stops because Cricket grabs & holds King's sword with his left hand.

Cricket pulls the sword and gets closer to King with a right punch ready. He punches at King but it gets blocked by King's haki-coated left arm. Unlike before, King doesn't get flung although he still gets pushed a little.

But Cricket hasn't finished his attack yet and still has a move. He suddenly grabs King's left arm that blocked his punch before. Then he pulls King's left arm like when he pulls the sword while grinning.

Cricket coats his forehead with A-Haki before he jumps up to the front. He hits King's lower jaw using his haki-coated forehead. His pulls on King's arm and his jump increase his attack power along with his Hasshoken.

"Ugh!" grunts King as his jaw gets hit.

It hasn't finished yet for King because now Cricket also grabs his right arm after releasing his sword. Cricket pulls both of his arms down while rotating backward. Then Cricket sends a kick with 2 legs while pulling his arms down.

King's neck arches backward because of it but Cricket still hasn't finished. He suddenly pinches King's head between his feet before he spins his body to the side. His spins make King's body also spin and then Cricket flings him onto the wall again.

"As I thought, fighting using this kind of Martial Art is more satisfying. Hasshoken is good, but this kind of Martial Art with flow movements just feels so good. I guess I'll use it more from now on," says Cricket while smiling.

Cricket suddenly flinches and drops himself backward. He is right on time to avoid an object that flies past above him. If he doesn't drop backward, his body will get hit by that fast-flying object.

The flying object hits some Beasts Pirates & samurais who are fighting behind Cricket. Their bodies get pierced so the object must be very sharp. Cricket looks at it carefully and it suddenly flies back to where it came from.

"To think you can detach your head and shoot it like a projectile. What a strange ability for a Zoan user," says Cricket as he looks at King in Pteranodon form.

The object that almost hit Cricket was King's pteranodon head. He has a long & sharp beak so it could pierce through humans' bodies just like how it pierced the Beasts Pirates & samurais. It was also very fast that no one else except Cricket could evade it.

"Zoan devil fruit's abilities aren't just limited to transformations into animals. There is much more to it than just that. Zoan can also get utilized in various ways like Paramecia or Logia. You aren't a devil fruit user so you won't know," says King.

"Yeah, I don't know how it feels. But at least I can tell my crewmates about it and help them improve. We have some Zoan users, you know," says Cricket.

"Then you will be disappointed because you won't be able to tell them. None of you will leave this place alive," says King.

Cricket just smirks and says, "Be careful with your words, man. It might bite you in the end."

King just scoffs and flies at a very high speed toward Cricket. He rotates himself while covering his whole body in the fire. Then he attacks Cricket but Cricket dodges. King can move around like that and keeps pursuing Cricket who keeps dodging.

"How long will you keep dodging?" asks King with a mocking tone.

"Until you're tired," says Cricket while smirking.

King clicks his tongue because Cricket doesn't get provoked by that. But Cricket knows that he can't keep dodging if he wants to win. King is strong and has a lot of stamina so he won't get tired soon.

Cricket then puts some distance between them and King chases him. Cricket prepares his punch and King who sees it increases his attack power. Then when King gets very close, Cricket sends his punch toward King.

But the clash of their attacks doesn't happen as King thought. In the last moment before the collision, Cricket jumps up and dodges King's attack. King looks up with a shocked gaze as he sees Cricket grins widely.

*BAM*

Cricket punches King from above as strong as he can using Hasshoken. It hits King's back ribs and some of them crack because of the strong attack. King crashes to the ground while coughing up some blood.

King's body is very tough, especially because of his Lunarian inheritance. But Hasshoken's vibration can cause internal damage and it gets even stronger when combined with Cricket's strong base attack.

Still, it's not enough to defeat King or he won't be the number 2 in Beasts Pirates. King immediately rolls away to dodge another punch sent by Cricket. He stands and looks at Cricket with a very serious expression now.

King has underestimated Cricket a lot since the beginning. He thought it will be easy to defeat Cricket but now it is him who almost lose. Now he knows that he needs to think of Cricket as his equal or even stronger so that he can fight with all his power.

He looks for his katana but it has fallen off when Cricket flung him onto the wall. So he can only use his fists & kicks now. King ignites the flame to cover his whole body now to increase his attack power even though it will tire him out.

"Oh? Aren't you fired up now? Literally fired up," says Cricket.

"I deem it necessary in order to defeat you," says King.

Cricket grins and cracks his neck, "What an honor."

"It won't be the same now," says King before they rush at each other to fight again.
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