Just moments ago, a bullet had been fired from Bege's direction, aimed directly at Nami's temple.
BANG!
Ray had long noticed two people hiding there, one behind the other—Capone "Gang" Bege and an unknown, gun-wielding lackey.
Though he was just a lackey, he was quite clever.
If he killed Nami, he could earn money and fame; if he failed, he could escape early and pin the blame on Capone Bege, his boss.
However, Ray didn't intervene beforehand.
He was testing Nami's emergency response abilities.
The moment the bullet was fired, Nami felt a suffocating sensation in her chest and instinctively dodged to the side.
CLACK.
Even though she dodged, the bullet was intercepted by Robin with a sprouted hand before it could reach Nami anyway.
Seeing this, Ray was quite satisfied.
Nami was probably on the verge of awakening Observation Haki.
And Robin's progress in Observation Haki was also quite impressive.
These companions had grown significantly stronger since their time in Water 7.
As for Capone Bege, he was just unlucky.
The moment the shot was fired, he also noticed someone behind him and immediately guessed that the bastard was trying to frame him.
But just as he was about to grab the person behind him...
"Cien Fleur: CLUTCH!"
Heh. Robin caught him first.
Without any chance to resist, he was subdued by Robin's sprouted arms and rendered immobile.
Thus, in a panic, Bege activated his Castle-Castle Fruit ability.
CLACK. CLACK.
Dozens of tiny doors and drawbridges appeared on his body, revealing hundreds of tiny figures in black suits armed with rifles and cannons.
This was Capone Bege's Fire Tank Pirates. He was both the captain and the fortress.
Wherever he went, he carried an army with him.
Just as he opened the castle doors, preparing to release the subordinates hidden inside his body to fight back—
"THUNDERBOLT TEMPO!"
ZZZT!
Lightning struck from Nami's tact, and a flash of electricity erupted.
Capone Bege and his hundreds of internal subordinates were now all smoking and charred black.
And so, the mighty mafia boss knelt before Nami and Robin, with a gun pressed against his head.
Just as Capone Bege was at a loss for how to explain himself, the Den Den Mushi in Nami's chest rang.
Puru puru puru... Clatch.
"Nami! Camie's been kidnapped! Come help us find her!" Luffy's frantic voice shouted.
With Camie abducted, finding her would be extremely difficult for just the Straw Hat Pirates alone—Sabaody was too big.
They definitely needed assistance.
At that moment, Nami and Robin's gazes toward Bege simultaneously turned dangerous.
Bege gulped.
...
Luffy also contacted Sanji, who immediately found his newly recruited subordinates: the Flying Fish Riders.
The group searched various human trafficking centers across Sabaody Archipelago from the sky.
Besides them, Marianne had also contacted Bon Clay, Galdino, Gem, plus nearly a thousand members of the "Floating Artist" Pirate Crew, creating an extremely massive commotion.
As for Mikita, she hadn't been reached yet.
But Marianne wasn't worried at all—her Captain's strength could probably rank high even in the current Straw Hat Pirates.
...
Grove 30, 10 minutes earlier.
Mikita and Zoro were absolutely furious.
"CAN'T YOU SEE THIS MAN ON THE GROUND NEEDS EMERGENCY TREATMENT?!"
Mikita yelled at Apoo, Hawkins, and Urouge, who were blocking their path.
'Couldn't they challenge us AFTER saving the man? Did they have to pick this exact moment when the victim was about to die?'
Originally, the man's fiancée—the female nurse whom the Celestial Dragons wanted as a concubine—was also here to help.
But she had been knocked unconscious by Zoro's accidental burst of Conqueror's Haki, so Zoro had to take the man to emergency treatment himself.
Completely his own fault.
Zoro wore an impatient expression.
With no other choice, he said to Mikita, "Hold them off for a while. I'll come back to help you after I take this man to the hospital."
Mikita, not yet realizing the problem, nodded confidently.
"Go ahead. Holding off three of them shouldn't be too difficult for me."
Thus, 10 minutes passed.
Zoro still hadn't returned.
Covered in smoke and her face blackened from explosions, Mikita cursed Zoro loudly.
"AHHH! I was so focused on thinking about Ray-sama that I forgot Zoro has NO SENSE OF DIRECTION!"
"If I had taken that man, I would've been back long ago!"
During these 10 minutes, Mikita had been ambushed several times.
Although she was confident her strength surpassed any of the three individually, this was her first encounter with their bizarre abilities, and she kept getting caught off guard.
When the battle began, Mikita had considered ending it quickly.
She activated her Kilo Kilo Fruit, reducing her body weight to 1kg.
ZOOM!
With a push from her sexy long legs, she instantly dashed to Hawkins' side—who appeared to be the strongest—so fast it even created a sonic boom.
With his attention fully focused, Hawkins could barely detect Mikita's trajectory.
BAM!
The next moment, he was sent flying hundreds of meters by Mikita's supersonic kick.
"What tremendous force..." Hawkins muttered as he crashed through a building.
Why was the impact of this kick so powerful?
Because at the final moment of her high-speed kick, Mikita increased her body weight to 10,000kg.
The kinetic energy at that point had reached an absurd level.
After kicking Hawkins away, Mikita brushed aside her golden bangs with one hand and coolly delivered a badass line:
"Handsome... ever been kicked at the speed of sound?"
According to Mikita's estimation, Hawkins had definitely lost the ability to move.
Her white stockings had turned black from the friction heat—she might have already sent this 200-million-berry comrade to heaven.
Thus, overflowing with confidence, Mikita adjusted her body mass again and charged toward Urouge, who appeared to have the most developed muscles.
But at some point, strange music seemed to be playing nearby.
Had it started when she was delivering her cool line?
"Listen to my music... EXPLODE!"
Unfortunately, Mikita moved faster than the speed of sound, making it impossible for her to hear Apoo's voice triggers under such circumstances.
WHAM!
Thus, she successfully kicked Urouge away once again.
But just as she was retracting her leg to show off, she stopped moving, and Apoo's voice finally reached her ears.
Having initially awakened her Observation Haki, Mikita sensed danger immediately, but it was already too late.
The word "Explode" entered her ears.
BOOM!
Flames erupted directly on her body.
Mikita's upper body instantly suffered a "cannonball impact," sending her skidding back.
Apoo shouted excitedly, playing his teeth like piano keys.
"Apapapa! I took her down! Are you two alright?"
Seeing this, Hawkins also climbed out of the rubble, looking unscathed.
As he emerged, a straw doll fell from his arm.
Simultaneously, at the pier two kilometers away.
A worker carrying sandbags suddenly had his head explode for no reason.
This was the damage transfer brought by Hawkins' Straw-Straw Fruit ability, indicating that Mikita's kick had directly cost Hawkins one life.
Urouge, who had been kicked away, stood up while rubbing his caved-in chest, which was rapidly expanding with muscle mass.
"Did we really take her down just like that?"
Both Urouge and Hawkins were doubtful.
They had nearly been instantly defeated by Mikita, so it seemed impossible for this woman to be so weak, even if she was ambushed.
The three of them looked in Mikita's direction.
A gentle breeze passed, and as the smoke cleared, they saw Mikita, now completely blackened by soot.
"Did the explosion kill her or not?" Urouge blurted out.
One second later, Hawkins' expression changed drastically.
He shouted, "APOO! BE CAREFUL!"