Chapter 74: Snake Queen vs Vampire Queen
The battle raged on, a vicious clash between two women driven by deep-seated resentment, each kick resonating like the echoes of a long-standing feud.
BOOOMMM!!
BOOOMMMM!!
Both combatants groaned, their clothes tattered, and the earth shattered with every clash of their Haki-imbued kicks. Hancock grunted as she blocked and counterattacked in rapid succession, never using her arms, only her legs. Her Haki outmatched Stussy's, and her Advanced Conqueror's Haki empowered her strikes, but Stussy's Devil Fruit granted her considerable physical strength.
Moreover, Stussy's wounds seemed to regenerate visibly fast, her kicks infused with darkness, much like Peter Hornigold's power. Her Devil Fruit allowed her to manipulate darkness to a certain extent.
BOOOMMM!
Hancock ducked just in time, and Stussy's kick obliterated a massive chunk of the ground. The Snake Princess seized the opportunity to strike at Stussy's only support, one leg.
BAAAANGG!!
!!!
Stussy's wings fluttered, preventing her fall, but Hancock swiftly ensnared her arm with a pink energy ribbon. Stussy hadn't anticipated this new aspect of Hancock's abilities.
Her wrist turned to stone as Hancock pulled forcefully.
WHOOOSH!
BAANGG!
"UGH!"
Stussy received a brutal knee to the face from the merciless Hancock, launching her like a rocket that sent her crashing through several trees before coming to a halt.
"Five years of slavery where you, the supposed upholders of justice, looked down on us."
"…"
Stussy's nose and hand had shattered from the impact, but they quickly regenerated. She groaned in front of Hancock, one of the agents who ensured that the Celestial Dragons could escape their heinous deeds unscathed.
"I have a loving mother, beautiful sisters, and a handsome fiancé who's given me enough love to overcome what people like you did to me. But I'll never forget those I must destroy! Get up!"
Hancock wanted more; she was not satisfied.
"I don't know what you're talking about... I just follow orders. Just like them."
She pointed towards Tsuru and Gion, who had yet to join the battle. The two women groaned in discomfort.
"Don't compare us to you!" Gion shouted indignantly, much to Stussy's amusement.
"Compare? Hehe~ as a member of CP0, I have authority over every rank in the Marines below the Admirals."
!!!
Gion turned to a concerned Tsuru, who nodded. It was the truth, and Stussy clung to that, her mocking gaze focused on Gion.
"Help me kill this criminal pirate right now; this is an order." In her eyes, they were at a severe disadvantage. This group was not made up of weaklings; every one of them was a formidable opponent.
On one side, she saw the destruction wrought by two users of potent Devil Fruits—darkness and lightning—who were being toyed with by Dark Mantle Veyron, growing more and more frustrated with each passing second.
On the other side, she witnessed an even worse spectacle. Two venerable CP0 members battled the Empress of Amazon Lily, and the sight was far from reassuring.
She could see the unrelenting thirst for vengeance in the two ancient CP0 members, who, despite their formidable powers in the forms of a humanoid white tiger and a humanoid salamander, could only retreat before a woman driven by a thirst for blood with a conqueror Haki fueled by vengeance.
Pissing off an already incensed vengeful mother, a big mistake.
"If this fight continues, the Upper Yard won't survive, and we will all die."
"You... do you truly believe I'll follow that order?" Tsuru crossed her arms, and her disinterest was evident.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru, what choice do you have? Do you wish to be labelled a traitor of the marines?!"
Stussy believed their only path to victory was with the addition of this legendary Marine on their side. However, contrary to what she expected from someone loyal to their cause, Tsuru stepped back. She could only groan in annoyance, she didn't even want to be here.
"I'd rather be labelled a traitor than a murderer of innocents. By not taking action against you, I'm pushing my sense of justice as far as it will go. I'm doing my best... to resist joining her and ending you."
Tsuru's stance was unequivocal. In light of the worst-case scenario, she would stand aside and not aid either party.
"If that's your choice... what about you, Rear Admiral Momousagi?" She posed the same question to a different target.
Momousagi clenched her hands, her eyes scanning the chaos they had unleashed in this once-innocent land. Regardless of the reasons, it was not a situation she wanted to be a part of.
"Momousagi."
"Tsuru... what should I-"
"There comes a point in our lives, especially at our age, when we can no longer firmly plant our feet. Garp and I... we've been in this for too long to do anything differently," Tsuru began, acknowledging that sometimes they disagreed with the methods.
"Even though, deep down, I'm just a puppet, like her, trained to kill for the sake of the World Government."
"It's not like that!"
"It is... but you don't have to be like me. Make your choice, and know that I'll support you no matter what, in my own way." The old lady smiled, recognizing Momousagi as her apprentice. "The future belongs to the young, and you've always been a righteous one, Momousagi... Perhaps you understand better than me the path Marines must follow."
Gion surveyed the ongoing battles and realized, ironically, that a group of pirates was upholding true justice, not her, a Marine.
"This isn't the way it should be."
She drew her sword and flickered, appearing next to Hancock with her sword pointed at Stussy. Her stance made her position clear to everyone on the battlefield.
Hancock scoffed, "Nobody asked for your help."
The princess thought it was too late for Gion to join the fight after standing there for so long, grappling with her sense of justice. "Those who doubt themselves don't belong on the battlefield."
"I don't need your help, pirate! Maintaining order and delivering justice to the innocent is a Marine's duty. If I don't oppose her now, how can I face my instructors?"
"You do realize you're betraying-" Stussy began, but her words were cut short.
"I don't care. I'm right, and you're wrong. That's all I care about."
WHOOOSHH!
With great intensity, Gion's sword clashed with Stussy's long claws. The woman appeared annoyed, irritated, and even angered—emotions she strangely felt. Her appearance grew increasingly hideous, taking on a purplish skin tone and a more demonic visage. Stussy detested having to exert herself, and these women were pushing her beyond her limits.
"Then you can all die—ugh!"
BOOOOOMMMM!!!
A colossal white figure slammed into Stussy, sending her and the man who had collided with her flying into the devastated Upper Yard jungle.
RUMBLE!!
"M-Mother…"
Hancock tensed as she sensed an ominous Haki emanating from Primrose, just like Gion. Their attention turned to Primrose, who stood bloodied with something in her hands. She tossed it aside as if it were trash—an extracted heart!
Both the Marine lady and her daughter recoiled when Primrose mercilessly stomped on the heart, crushing it as if it were a mere insect.
Lying behind her was the lifeless body of one of the CP0 members, Gismonda, his chest torn open with his heart ripped out. His transformation resembled that of a red salamander, but his corpse was returning to its normal state.
"Mythological Zoan model Xolot? I don't care. Die... I hope you enjoyed having your heart crushed, just as the World Nobles did to me for five years."
Veyron audibly gulped during his ongoing battle with a battered Peter and Enel. He knew that Primrose harboured significant hatred, but he never imagined she'd be this bloodthirsty as to pull out hearts left right and centre.
Primrose was relentless.
Guernica, in a bloodied hybrid transformation—a blend of human and white tiger, surrounded by white lightning—rose from his position atop Stussy, realizing that they were facing adversaries they couldn't defeat. One of them was already dead, and Peter Hornigold and Enel appeared to be on the brink of death. Half of the Upper Yard had become a wasteland, and he couldn't envision a future where he could overcome this woman, whose Conqueror's Haki rendered him utterly powerless.
Primrose was not stalling; she was aiming to kill.
"For five years, you took my children from me... I have a lot of frustration to release. So bear with me as I rip each of your filthy hearts from your chests!"
BOOOOOMMMMMM!!
Primrose's legs were infused with Conqueror's Haki of unimaginable intensity. Guernica, the man with the Mythological Zoan Model Byakko, flickered away from her strike, leaving Stussy in a perilous situation.
<Perfume of Death!>
The blonde vampiress instinctively covered her arms for protection, but the collision drove home just how futile her efforts were. Primrose's Conqueror's Haki surpassed that of her daughter. All Stussy could do was witness as each of her bones crumbled under the force of the kick, launching her helplessly like a kitten.
*BOOOOMMMMM!*
"We can't defeat them; RETREAT!"
A single death among the CP0 members was enough to trigger the retreat, but that wasn't Veyron's plan.
A massive force field enveloped the area. It would strain his powers, but he didn't care; none of these people deserved to live.
"None of you will leave here until you're annihilated. How many innocent inventors, revolutionaries, and Samaritans... have you ruthlessly slaughtered for the World Government's sake? How many good people have you mercilessly killed?"
In his eyes, all he saw were the eyes of Patrick, his driver, firing that bullet and ending his life for nothing more than following orders.
"It's time for you to understand what it means to be on death row, helpless, with a bullet ready to pierce your brain—for nothing."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Photosphere
Photosphere 5/7
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone