Chapter 286: The Unruly Battlefield: Tricks, Tenacity, and Fire

Seeing someone else move forward Karl stopped in his tracks.

Heavy rain poured down on the eastern coast, where Sparrow, empowered by the Rain-Rain Fruit, hovered in midair.

He used his Devil Fruit powers to shrink the destructive force of the magma to its limit, sparing the island’s ecosystem from further harm.

Taking his eyes off that scene, Karl thought, with a few more people in the fray, the battle at the beach would wrap up soon.

Ironically, the toughest fight was unfolding elsewhere—right where Albert and Bruno, the first to show up, faced off.

They had gotten a brief chance to rest and train, pushing their strength up to the level of a Vice Admiral, even if just barely.

But after being locked up as research subjects for so long, making it out alive was already a miracle for them.

This left them with little real combat experience, so against the battle-hardened Penelope, they quickly lost ground.

Worse, Penelope knew all the Lunarians’ signature traits.

She dodged their attacks and avoided falling into any pointless stalemates. If the two of them hadn’t gained some agility from their wings, they would’ve been finished long ago.

Watching them getting outmaneuvered, Karl made no move to help. “Without experiencing life-and-death fights, you’ll never be true warriors.”

“This battle will temper you. Become the warriors I need you to be.”

Albert had just dodged one of Penelope’s low blows only to get poked in both eyes.

He beat his wings and flew backward, but blood still trickled from his eye sockets.

“Agh!”

Albert lost control and crashed straight into a building behind him.

The funny thing was, Bruno froze in shock at this. Did fights always get this dirty?

Wasn’t this a little too shameless?

So much so that he didn’t notice Penelope sneaking up until it was too late.

To be fair, the difference in their heights was enormous.

Penelope was already tall for a human, just over two meters, but Bruno? He towered past six meters.

When he felt a chill sweep between his legs, it was already too late to dodge.

“Hiss!”

Watching through his Observation Haki, Karl cringed as Bruno’s body doubled over, feeling a phantom pain below the belt.

“That’s gotta hurt, huh?”

“Yikes!”

“That’s dirty fighting for sure.”

Honestly, it was hard to watch. They just kept falling for these underhanded moves.

Well, let them learn the hard way. Maybe next time they’ll be wiser.

Crash! Crash!

Albert burst from the rubble, using his racial traits to recover. His eyes were clear again.

He glanced over and saw Bruno hunched on the ground, a dark scribble of annoyance appearing over his head. “I never thought someone as strong as you would stoop to such tactics.”

Penelope answered without a flicker of shame. “Winning is all that matters. The methods don’t.”

Of course. She was intelligence for the World Government, the one who handled the dirty work for the Celestial Dragons.

No wonder she fought like this. Anything that took out her enemy fastest was fair game.

If you’re expecting them to fight with honor, that’s just wishful thinking.

In real life-or-death battles, you’ll see every dirty trick in the book.

“Blazing Phoenix!”

With a furious shout, Albert’s upper body erupted in flames, revealing rippling muscles, while three bands of colored feathers circled his feet like a reborn phoenix.

Behind him, three huge rings appeared, interlocked. In his hand, a burning spear took shape.

“Go!”

The spear shot out like a meteor, energy rippling off it for all to see as it streaked straight for Penelope.

“Tempest Kick!”

Several energy waves slammed into the spear, but the attack didn’t slow—it only picked up speed.

Guess he isn’t just all brawn after all.

Once Penelope realized her Tempest Kick wouldn’t stop the flaming spear, she flickered from sight.

Since the fiery spear couldn’t track its target, it drilled into the ground as soon as Penelope vanished, cracking the earth apart.

A pillar of flame shot dozens of meters high, turning the air stifling hot.

And why bother taking an attack head-on if you don’t have to? This wasn’t some hot-blooded cartoon—it was reality.

Would any sane person just stand there for the hit?

Now that would be truly idiotic.

Especially for World Government agents. All they cared about was taking down enemies as efficiently as possible. Nothing else mattered.

But Bruno had been watching Penelope’s every move for a while now.

He’d just recovered from that gut-wrenching pain. Noticing Penelope dodging his way, he readied himself.

His black wings burst into crimson fire, spreading wide like twin broadswords slashing toward Penelope’s waist.

He tried the sneak attack, but Penelope’s sharp instincts caught it. Someone like her was always on high alert.

On a real battlefield, catching an opponent of your level with a cheap shot? Nearly impossible.

She used Shave and vanished, reappearing behind Bruno and jabbing at his back with a Finger Gun.

“Squelch!” Her index finger pierced straight into Bruno’s back, no resistance at all.

Bruno’s inexperience showed. He’d been guarding his front, leaving his back wide open, giving Penelope the perfect chance.

Luckily for him, all the recent feasting had bulked him up a bit, and a thin layer of fat saved him. The Finger Gun didn’t reach his heart.

Bruno staggered forward in agony as the pain hit him.

“Man, it’s been a long time since I felt pain like this.”

“The last person to hurt me like this was one of you World Government folks.”

He spun around one-eighty, his right foot dark as night, and delivered a kick right to Penelope’s temple.

Wondering why Penelope didn’t dodge? When masters clash, everything happens in a split second. Even Observation Haki isn’t always enough.

Even if you awaken Observation Haki to foresee a few seconds ahead, some things still slip through.

Especially when Penelope’s finger was still stuck in Bruno’s back and she didn’t have time to pull it free.

Boom!

That single whip kick smashed Penelope’s head into the ground.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor. As he pulled his foot away, the tip of his boot was stained with a drop of blood.

In that split second, Penelope rolled and sprang up, aiming a punch at Bruno’s face.

Clang!

But he wasn’t fighting alone. Albert was already right there, and as soon as Penelope moved, a red-hot spear whipped her way.

Whoosh!

This time, Penelope couldn’t dodge.

A hole the size of a fist opened in her lower left side as the flaming spear punched through.

Exposed flesh sizzled where the scorching spear had passed, filling the air with a tempting roasted scent.

“Hiss!”

“Is Albert from Myanmar or something? Why does he always go for the kidneys?”