Lara's POV;

The dust hasn't settled yet when I already had to evade a rankyaku. The blade of compressed air came flying from the direction I send the clown guy off and was cutting through the houses with ease.

It was still a straight attack and rather easy to evade if you were quick enough or had enough time to prepare. I casually leaned backwards and the attack passed over me. It had the unfortunate side effect of destroying the house over me.

But nothing a punch in the air couldn't solve. The small gale wind that got generated was strong enough to blow the rubble away. I got back up and parried an axe kick with my right dagger. The leg was coated in Armament Haki and didn't get cut.

I started to let my blade vibrate, but the clown guy noticed it immediately and retreated. I followed directly after and brought my left dagger down at him. He evaded the attack with a side step and followed up with a five finger pistol.

I blocked it with the flat side of my blade, but the strength behind the attack was greater than anticipated. It did not manage to get through my block, but the force sends me back through a few houses.

I stopped skidding backwards and brought my other dagger forward with a stab. The clown guy had to stop his follow up attack and caught the blade between his hands. The vibration of my dagger made his whole body tremble and he wasted no time in letting go and jumping away.

He also tried to use another rankyaku to stop me from following him. I deflected it to the side with my right dagger and jumped at him. A kick connected with his stomach, but a Haki enhanced tekkai stopped most of my strength.

So far he kept up with my speed and I know that neither of us was showing our max speed. “So which part of the CP are you guys? Definitely not CP9 maybe 0?”

“Hmm, should I tell you? I don't know,” I could not see the grin, but the mocking tone was enough to annoy me. I used a soru to get close, then I swung my left dagger down at his neck, but he leaned backwards.

He kicked out with his left leg and his boot came racing towards my stomach. My right hand shot forward and the metal guard of my dagger connected with his shin. I didn't hear any breaking bones, which was strange. The hit was enhanced by my vibrations and should have at least do some damage to the rigid bone.

Well, his attack was still stopped and I looked up to see a fist coming right at my face. He's used the force of my hit to let his leg swing backwards and then use the momentum to bring his upper body forwards.

It shows his skill. As quick as I can I raised my left arm and positioned the sharp side of my dagger between my face and his fist. Now he has to cut himself if he wants to punch me.

Yet, he didn't slow down. He had every intention of cutting his hand open to land a hit. I tried to lean backwards and increased the vibrations on my blade, before his hand connected with it.

Then suddenly his gloves got shredded and his fist changed into a Haki enhanced paw with large, long and sharp claws.

He hit my dagger and sparks flew off. These things are way more resistant than those of the bear guy. Only my tilted head saved me from a lost eye.

From behind me, I heard an explosion and somehow knew that this was also a distant shigan. Great, a Zoan user that is skilled in the 6 Marine skills and has trained them above the norm.

I landed back on the ground and kicked out at his right knee. My kick got parried by his own leg and he punched down at me with his still transformed hand. Each of his five long claws was as long as my own dagger.

I raised both daggers and met him in the middle. Again, sparks began to fly. We were locked for a moment, but then his position started to give him the upper hand and he pressed down at me with his full weight.

I broke off and jumped away from him. He was in no position to stop and his clawed hand pierced the ground, before creating a small crater.

What kind of Zoan is that? It has sharp claws and five fingers. The hand looks scaly, is he some form of a crocodile?

“You are quick and your lithe body betrays some serious strength. No wonder normal pirates and Marines can't stand up to you. The whole normal CP9 would loose against you,” he commented. His hand hasn't changed back and now his other arm looked the same.

“And you think that you're any better?” I asked, trying to coax some information out of him. A lot of people like to speak about their own strength.

“But of course. I'm the one who has trained them after all.” He said with a mocking bow. Which means that he is either of the CP 0 or some trainer from the World Government. In both cases, he will be strong.

So far he has shown above normal skill in the 6 Marine skills, an ability for Armament Haki, and the use of a Zoan Devil Fruit.

“Now that I have satisfied your curiosity, let me quickly kill you and then help Mia. I fear that she isn't quite up to the task of killing True Shot.” I got angry at his casual mentioning of killing my Lia. No one is allowed to say that and survive.

I let my daggers shot forward and send a double piercing force blade at him. The pinpoint attack has greatly enhanced penetration power in compensation for a limited area effect.

Clown moved his left arm in the way and activated his tekkai, with an additional Haki coating. The attack hit and let him skid backwards, yet failed to penetrate his plated arm. However, his cloth got shredded and underneath I could see rows of black scales.

However the first attack gave me enough time to get close and I followed up with another, this time direct, thrust at the same place. The vibrating daggers were glowing a dark purple with a green flame pattern. The pattern was a clear indicator of the extreme Haki enhancement. If this doesn't pierce him then I have to use my other Devil Fruit to further enhance the attack.

He did not evade and my daggers cut into his scales. They showed a lot of resistance but were ultimately pierced, not exactly deep, by far not enough to hit the bone. Still, I know that I can wound him, which was further proven when I yanked my blades out. The vibration left a deep mark on his scales and some blood began to trickle out.

Annoyed I realized that I just gave him the equivalent of a slightly deep scratch. I might have to circumvent his defence altogether. Attacking his organs might prove more effective.

But first I have to evade the incoming five finger shigan that was coming at me from my right side.

I jumped up and kicked out at him, using his chest as a springboard to launch myself away from him.

My flight got abruptly stopped when he managed to catch my leg with his left clawed hand. They began to dig into my flesh and he was going to use me as a club against the ground. However, I put my whole leg and his hand under a quick vibrating frequency.

It made it hard for him to hold me and my leg slipped out of his arms when he swung me down. I got thrown away and righted myself mid-air by a one-legged geppo. The other was a bloody mess from his claws.

This would have been a serious wound if I haven't had my second Devil Fruit. Now I only directed the healing ability of the fruit into my leg and felt how the flesh got knit back together. There was still the blood, but I was no longer bleeding and the muscle got repaired. Good as new.

In the meantime, his whole body has changed. Gone was the human and in place stood a humanoid animal with scales. They looked like a dark brown scale-armour. He has lost his mask and a vaguely humanoid face with a long nose and whiskers was looking at me.

There were scales on his head, going all the way down to a large scaly tail. The only thing that wasn't protected was his stomach. Is he a pangolin? Sure looks like one. They are herbivores who look dangerous but are mostly harmless.

That is if they don't use their claws and are easy three metres tall and at least one and a half wide. He must be one of the bigger ones. At least it doesn't look to be fast.

“I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not.” With that said he jumped and formed a ball of scales. Each looked to be at least somewhat sharp. Then, suddenly, the ball started to spin and he shot at me like a cannonball.

I jumped to the side and cut down at his back, but the dagger bounced off with a cling sound. He crashed through a wall and made a turn before coming back at me. This time he briefly jumped out of his ball form, then used a soru and transformed back into his ball, he continued on his way towards me now a lot faster.

I put my daggers away, knowing that they would be next to useless against such a fast spinning and hard enemy. Even with the vibrations, his Haki was making a cut hard. Why should I fight something that is specialised against cuts and pierces?

Instead, I waited for the last moment and then evaded him again, only this time I did give him a flat palm strike. My hand got shredded by the contact, his sharp scales were ripping the skin and flesh right off of my palm.

Still, the hit did go through. He uncurled himself and held his side. The attack went right through his defence and attacked his insides. The same as with the bear guy. Only that the clown was a lot more resilient. Nothing a few good hits can change. My hand was already healed. Such minor and superficial wounds are easy to heal. Organs are harder and sickness, as well as strange diseases, are too.

“I see, so your vibrations can also be used to bypass armour,” his statement was followed by a change of his body. He's able to choose between different models, like Lucci. His frame shrunk and his tail got thinner and longer. It now looked like a scaly whip. I don't think that getting hit by this thing will feel good.

The moment he has finished his transformation he swung his right arm at me and a group of five force blades came out. At the same time, his tail shot forward and let a piercing shigan loose. The shigan was faster than the force blades and I managed to evade it by jumping to the side.

I drew my left dagger again and deflected the force blades while concentrating on the air around his face. With a push of my power, the air molecules next to his head got superheated and exploded.

I knew that this wouldn't harm him in any serious way, more likely annoy him, but it was a distraction that got me enough time to get closer to him. My right hand shot forward and I hit his hastily raised arm with a palm strike.

The enhanced shock wave travelled through his scales and into the flesh and bone. It did not pulverise the bone, as it would have done with a normal human, but it certainly was enough to at least rip some muscles, strain his tendons and crack his bone.

His tail whipped forward and I raised the guard of my dagger do deflect the spear like appendage over my head. I would have lost it otherwise. The tail tip is almost as thick as my head.

The next thing I noticed was a rapidly approaching clawed hand from my right. I tried to evade the attack by jumping back, but the tips of his claws were too long and pierced into my left shoulder. Without the extreme Armament Haki, I would have lost my whole shoulder.

His claws still pierced into the flesh and scratched my bone. Still, now his left arm was outstretched and close to me. I put a lot of strength into my swing and hit his elbow with the guard of my left dagger. The effect was as if I had used brass knuckles. The scales crunched and broke at the place of impact.

However, the vibrations I sent into him were doing way more harm. They caused muscle ruptures as well as enormous strain on his tendons. Using that arm will hurt and be slower from now on.

But then I suddenly had to let myself fall down to evade the tip of his tail. Keeping track of each of his appendages is quite hard. It raced over my head with the sound of displaced air. My head was now on the same level as his knee and he tried to use that to get a hit in.

It's too bad for him that I am nimble as fuck, thanks to my size, training and race. I slip around his raising knee and pierced my dagger into the soft inside of his left, grounded knee. The vibrating blade cut easily into the unprotected flesh and I twisted it around.

The effect was akin to a chainsaw. Blood, muscle, tendons and skin got shredded. His leg gave out, yet he stopped himself from falling by using his tail as a stabiliser. His clawed right hand swiped down at me, but I simply rushed backwards with a quick soru.

I focused again on healing my shoulder and felt the rush of energy. This was getting quite taxing. He may be more wounded than me, but keeping such a strong Haki active for the whole fight is strenuous. Not to mention the self-healing, which seems to be harder than the healing of others.

On top of that are the high-speed movements and strong attacks. His body is freaking sturdy.

He let out an annoyed grunt and pushed himself back up, the tail was still acting as a helper. “You're better than I thought. Seems like I have to get serious.”

The next moment his body started to change.