Shizuku couldn't accurately analyze the desperate situation the four of them were facing.
Or rather, for someone like Shizuku, whose thoughts were so pure they were almost transparent, the complexity and danger of the situation had never been within her consideration.
She had only one simple and firm belief in her heart!
That was no matter how much trouble she caused, no matter how desperate the situation, Chrollo would definitely appear when she needed him most.
It was this almost instinctive "purity" that stripped away all hesitation and fear,
Making her the only one among the four who could choose to fight without hesitation while Machi, Kortopi, and the others were frozen by their concerns.
She made a wrong choice that looked no different from suicide to others.
Without any distracting thoughts, she raised the strangely shaped [Blinky] in her hand.
With focused eyes and firm steps, she charged towards the "Champion" Burgess, who was as burly as a giant bear.
Watching this, Burgess grinned savagely.
"Heh... you actually dare to charge at me?"
"Not bad, you have guts! As expected of a woman I have my eye on!"
His right arm bent suddenly, muscles bulging like rocks, veins coiling like dragons.
The holes in his arm armor suddenly erupted with scorching airwaves, giving this strike explosive acceleration.
BOOM!
The frozen earth beneath his feet exploded. Amidst flying debris, his massive body vanished like a ghost,
In an instant, he stood before Shizuku like an iron tower, his shadow completely engulfing her.
"Then taste my fist—"
"Hudo: Elbow!" (Note: "Hado" or "Surge" Elbow, though typically he uses Lariat or similar moves, assuming Hudo based on raw)
The fist wind tore through the air, emitting a piercing whistle.
The shadow of the fist rapidly enlarged in Shizuku's clear pupils, the wind it carried whipping the hair on her forehead wildly.
BANG—!
The airwave exploded!
Visible shockwaves spread in a ring, and the dust on the ground rolled like ripples.
An indescribable immense force was transmitted through Blinky, accompanied by a tooth-aching "crack"—the mournful sound of bone unable to bear the load.
The last thing frozen in Shizuku's eyes was Burgess's savage grin filled with the pleasure of slaughter.
Immediately after, she and the vacuum cleaner flew backward like a kite with a cut string—
Whoosh—!
Her body cut through the sky, dragging a white airwave, like a human cannonball, smashing fiercely into a small iceberg in the distance.
Rumble—!
The iceberg groaned under the weight, the ice cracked, and then collapsed with a crash, kicking up a sky full of ice dust.
"Refreshing—Wihahaha!!"
Burgess raised his arms and laughed wildly, enjoying the primal pleasure of crushing.
"Shizuku—!"
"Damn it!"
Machi and Kortopi cried out, staring fixedly at the ruins.
Drip... drip...
Blood dripped down her twisted and deformed wrist, blooming into a dazzling red on the snow.
Shizuku struggled to prop herself up from the broken ice, looking down at her limply hanging arm, her face still a blank slate of confusion.
"My wrist... can't use it."
She looked up, her gaze falling on the faint blood mark scratched by Blinky on Burgess's wrist.
"The wound... is too small, can't suck out blood." She judged calmly.
"Can't defeat him with abilities..."
An ordinary person suffering such a heavy blow would have long recognized the gap in strength and chosen to give up.
But Shizuku didn't have the emotion of "fear."
Crack—
She expressionlessly used her body to brace Blinky and forcibly snapped her broken arm back into place!
The intense pain didn't make her frown. She barely wrapped her numb forearm with aura.
She clamped Blinky tightly with both arms again, her eyes focused, and launched a charge for the second time.
"Really don't know when to quit, do you~"
Burgess widened his eyes, showing genuine surprise for the first time.
He had never encountered such... a reckless opponent.
"But... that's intense! Wihahaha—!"
"Just my type! I'll send you on your way!"
Swish—!
The ground collapsed a second time. His body moved like lightning, instantly shifting to Shizuku's left, grinning savagely:
"Since you like this broken vacuum cleaner so much, I'll cripple your other hand too, see how you hold it!"
"Hudo: Elbow Strike!"
BOOM—!
The elbow covered in armor was like a battering ram, smashing viciously onto her left arm, which was hastily defending with aura.
CRACK!
A clearer sound of bone fracturing rang out.
Her left arm instantly bent backward at a terrifying right angle, white bone piercing through skin and flesh, exposed to the cold air.
Her body was blasted away again, plowing deep furrows in the ground, snapping several pine trees before stopping.
"Don't... don't get up again, Shizuku!!"
Machi's voice was already tinged with desperate sobbing.
However, movement came from the ruins again.
Shizuku stood up once more, swaying unsteadily.
Her left arm completely useless, she used her remaining right arm to clamp Blinky tightly to her side.
Then, she began her third, and final, charge.
Watching this bafflingly stubborn scene, the smile on Burgess's face finally disappeared completely.
He had never seen such an opponent.
Not fleeing, not fearing, not surrendering, as if lacking any emotion related to fear.
A wave of provoked anger welled up in his heart.
"Woman, you have successfully angered me!" His voice was low, filled with killing intent.
"I'm done playing—"
"This strike ends you!"
"Hudo: Strangulation Charge—!"
He spread his arms, sinking his waist like a wrestler preparing to strike.
Legs slightly bent, the frozen earth beneath his feet cracking inch by inch. More palpably terrifying was that,
A layer of deep, pitch-black darkness began to spread over his thick arms—
Armament Haki!
Explosive power erupted. His figure suddenly blurred, leaving only a ripple distorting the air in place.
A sonic boom exploded right after!
In the next second, he appeared right in front of Shizuku.
Giant palms covered in Haki grabbed her waist and broken arm like iron pincers. A standard over-the-shoulder throw infused with all his strength—
BOOM————!!!!
A loud noise like a meteor hitting the earth!
A massive crater over ten meters in diameter was smashed into the ground, soil rolling up like waves.
The shockwave, carrying crushed stones and ice crystals, swept in all directions.
As the dust settled slightly, Burgess stood by the crater, laughing with satisfaction.
He bent down, as if picking up spoils of war, grabbing Shizuku by her hair and lifting her up to his face.
Her eyes were tightly closed, her face covered in blood and dirt, unconscious.
"Shizuku!!!!!!"
Machi's eyes were cold, like she was looking at a dead man.
She stared fixedly at Burgess, eyes burning with bone-deep hatred.
"You will die!"
"You will absolutely die—!!"
"The Captain... will definitely tear you into ten thousand pieces!!!"
...
Five kilometers away.
Chrollo's face was so dark it could drip ink.
Through the marker sensations transmitted by the [Resonance Compass of Fate] on his wrist, he could clearly "see" that the battle situation with the Procurement Squad had reached a critical moment.
Machi and Kortopi's emotions were filled with extreme anger.
Nami was enduring intense pain, her mental fluctuations like being in purgatory.
And Shizuku...
He took out the Vivre Card representing Shizuku. A corner was burning slowly at a constant speed...
Her vital signs were rapidly weakening, like a candle in the wind.
"Damn it—"
"Why did it have to be them who encountered the Blackbeard Pirates!"
"It's my mistake... I overlooked the hidden information in the original story and failed to anticipate that they had already arrived here!"
He gritted his teeth, knuckles turning white from clenching. His figure shuttled rapidly through the forest, fast as a blurred black line.
Faster...
Just a little faster!