Ending the steel hounds

Riding on his colossal bull of metal, Kid approached the battlefield at a neck breaking speed. He stood atop of its massive frame, with his arms crossed, hair whipping in the wind and an unsettling grin carved on his face.

"Steel Hounds!" Kid roared. "I'll beat you all like the dirty scrap mutts that you are!" His voice carried his blood lust across the battlefield like a booming thunderclap. Such an entrance was impossible to ignore; both ally and foe turned their heads in awe and or terror.

"It's boss kid! Hurry and get out of his way!" "Mother of thugs! Move, he will trample y'all to death!" Gang members, who were already acquainted with his powers, quickly left their makeshift covers and ran out of Kid's path. Those, whose heads weren't just decoration headed their warning and followed suit, effectively avoiding being squashed while clearing a straight path towards the outer wall.

From atop their hill, Killer, Heat, and Wire observed the spectacle unfolding before them.

"Hey, isn't that the same thing he used to knock down a gigantified Big Mom?" Wire muttered; arms folded.

Heat grinned. "Hot damn. Captain knows how to pull some serious attention."

Killer tacitly agreed with a nod. "It's going to be over fast."

Just as he finished speaking, Kid's monstrous construct rocketed past them. While still in motion, he cast them a sideways glance, his lips curving into a smug grin as he mouthed: "Slowpokes!"

He was provoking them while showing off a shit eating grin! The moment passed and Kid was instantly gone.

Killer's eye twitched. "Son of a—!"

He, already caught in the moment, shot forward. "I'll either massacre more scrap mutts than you or eat dirt for dinner!"

"You'll both eat dirt!" Wire cackled, nearly catching up. "Just lay down, old men, and watch me handle this myself!"

Only Heat seemed to retain some composure, though he joined them, nonetheless. As a gang leader himself, standing idle during an uprising they started wasn't an option.

The Steel Hounds' base was a formidable structure—thick stone walls reinforced with iron plating, watchtowers bristling with cannons, and fortified gates meant to withstand an army.

As Kid's metal bull barrelled toward the southern wall, the entire structure trembled. Sentries scrambled atop the ramparts, their eyes wide with panic.

"What the hell is that?!"

"It's him! Eustass Kid is here!"

"Get the cannons ready! Fire at will!"

All available 'scrap mutts' began firing off a barrage of cannonballs and bullets but, with a flick of Kid's wrist, every metallic projectile veered off course.

"Pathetic," he sneered in disdain. With a mighty roar, his metal bull slammed its massive horns into the wall, tearing apart fortified iron plates like paper, and crushing stone bricks into rubble.

Suffering such an impact naturally unleashed shockwaves, which rippled throughout the entire headquarters, toppling guards from their posts and reducing the southern wall to a gaping hole.

Kid leaped down from his creation as it disassembled behind him, the metallic pieces floating in the air, ready to be wielded again. As he was striding through whatever debris was left on top of each other, steel hounds began pouring out from between gaps and scraps. Some scrambling to fight, others frozen in sheer terror.

"S-S-Stop! Don't come closer! Stay away you monster!" They shouted, completely terrified from what they just witnessed.

"You think you can stop me?" Captain Eustass sneered, growling an answer low and menacing: "Come on, then. Let's see what you've got."

But before he could lift a hand, three blurs shot past him.

"Oi, Captain," Wire called, twirling a red trident in his grip. "You've been fighting long enough. Time to finish this and get to more pressing matters."

Kid's eyes narrowed. "Captain, huh? So, you guys kept your memories intact?"

Killer and Heat flanked him, their bloodlust smothering the battlefield in a suffocating aura.

"'Course we did," Killer replied, his scythe-like blades whirling to life. "But how about we clean up first and talk later?"

He engaged without waiting for an answer. After all there was still a war (massacre) to win. His blades flashed, tearing through the nearest unfortunate Steel Hounds' throats in one clean motion. They didn't even have time to react and before their blood could hit the ground, Killer already began carving a path of carnage.

Two men tried to flank him from the side, but without even looking, Killer's leg shot out in a brutal kick, shattering one man's ribs. The other lunged with a spear, only for Killer to sidestep and run his blade across the attacker's stomach, spilling his guts onto the floor.

Steel Hounds began to fall back, but Killer pressed forward, showing no mercy. Arms, legs and sometimes whole torsos were cut apart without mercy, painting an overly chaotic and gory scene.

Meanwhile, Heat- "Hymn of fire: 2nd verse, Blazing inferno!"- exhaled a deep breath, his body igniting with intense flames. His fists burned white-hot as he launched himself into the fray, incinerating anyone who dared get close. One enemy rushed him with a club, only for Heat to grab his face with a flaming hand. The man barely had time to scream before his skin melted, his skull cracking under the heat.

With a wild grin, he spun around, sending a wave of fire in a wide arc, consuming dozens of men at once. Their shrieks of agony echoed through the battlefield as they collapsed, their bodies charred beyond recognition.

"Damn, this feels like I'm bullying children as an adult. Were they this weak the first time we staged an uprising?"

Wire stood atop a mountain of corpses, chuckling darkly. "Just shut up and keep going."

Unlike Heat and Killer, he preferred brutality over finesse. He gripped his red trident and swung it like a club, caving in skulls with each devastating strike.

One unfortunate bastard tried to shoot him from a distance, but Wire used armament haki to fend of the bullets.

In the end he yanked the gun from his hands using his haki-enhanced grip and crushed it before driving his knee into the man's face, shattering his nose.

"Come on! Fight me, you cowards!" Wire roared, slamming his weapon into the ground. The sheer force of the impact sent cracks spreading across the stone, knocking several men off their feet.

Meanwhile, Kid strolled forward, watching his men slaughter their way through the battlefield. His grin widened as he approached the Steel Hounds' mansion.

Compared to their outer walls, the gate protecting their headquarters was laughable. With but one motion, Kid sent it flying.

As the mansion gate crashed into the courtyard, a lone figure emerged from the wreckage, walking with slow, deliberate steps. Stahlhund, the leader of the Steel Hounds, was a towering man of grotesque proportions. He wore a white suit with its arm sleeves ripped off.

His muscles bulged unnaturally, his veins like thick cables writhing beneath his skin. His silver hair was slicked back, revealing a face full of scars, a testament to his countless battles. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, a sound like grinding metal accompanying the motion.

"So, the infamous Eustass Kid finally shows his face," Stahlhund growled, as he flexed his fingers. "Tearing down my walls like some rabid beast... That's going to cost you, boy."

Kid scoffed: "Spare me the tough-guy act. You're just another scrap mutt barking too loud for his own good." He rolled his shoulders, metal humming under his skin. "Believe me, this time, I won't even leave your bones whole."

His hands clenched into fists, veins bulging in his arms. Seeing Stahlhund's face, a face he despised even more than Shanks', sent white-hot rage coursing through his body.

The reason?

This was the bastard who killed Victoria.

His and Killer's childhood friend. Their first love.

The memories came rushing back like a tidal wave, but Kid shoved them aside. Now wasn't the time for nostalgia. Now was the time for a second revenge.

Stahlhund raised an eyebrow at Kid's choice of words. "This time?" He mused aloud before shaking his head. "Hmph. Have we fought before?"

The thought lingered for a second before he dismissed it with a shrug. "No, actually—it doesn't matter. It'll definitely be the last time anyways."

Without warning, Stahlhund stomped his foot down.

BOOM!

The ground shattered beneath him like brittle glass, sending a violent shockwave rippling through the courtyard.

Then, in a blur of motion unfitting for a man his size—

Stahlhund charged.

BOOOOM!

His fist rocketed forward faster than a cannonball, aimed straight for Kid's skull.

Kid didn't flinch.

"The Riki-Riki no Mi, wasn't it?" His lips curled into a grin.

He crossed both arms, blackened with a thick layer of Armament Haki, and braced himself.

The impact hit him like a battleship's broadside, its force sending him rocketing backward, with his heels digging deep trenches into the ground as he struggled to stop his momentum.

For a moment, Stahlhund smirked. "Hah! All that big talk, and you—"

Crack.

The sound of metal shifting rang through the battlefield.

A heap of scrap metal stirred—then exploded outward.

Kid dusted himself off, rolling his shoulders as if he'd simply been nudged. He flexed his fingers, inwardly marvelling at how much his Haki had improved. Even against this level of brute force, he barely felt a thing.

"Tch... Not bad." His grin widened, lips curling like a predator's. "But you're gonna have to hit a helluva lot harder than that."

Stahlhund's brow twitched. "Oh? You're still standing? Let me fix that."

He launched forward again, unleashing a relentless barrage of flying fists. Kid, however, was no stranger to overwhelming brute force.

Making use of observation haki next, he weaved through the punches with precise agility. Sparks crackled as his left arm glowed with electromagnetic energy, calling upon a wave of metal scraps from the battlefield.

The iron coiled around his arm, fusing into a massive gauntlet.

"Punk Gibson!"

Stahlhund swung a devastating right hook—

Kid caught it.

CLAAAANG!

Kid's feet dug into the ground, pushed back slightly from the power of the blow—but he was grinning.

"You're hitting like a seatrain." He mused, tightening his grip. "It was quite challenging to compete against, 4 years ago."

Stahlhund sneered, ripping his arm free. "Tch. What the hell are you even talking about? Flattery won't save you."

He swung his left fist—but Kid was already moving.

With a vicious grin, Kid pulled back his metal fist and slammed it forward.

BOOOOM!

The impact sent shockwaves tearing through the battlefield.

Stahlhund's massive frame was hurled backward like a ragdoll, smashing through the mansion's stone pillars before cratering into the far wall.

Silence.

Then, from the rubble, Stahlhund pushed himself up, his blood trickling from his broken nose.

"That all you got?" he spat.

Kid's grin didn't waver. "Far from it. But I wonder how much more you can take?"

Stahlhund roared and charged again.

Again, Kid made no attempt at dodging. Instead he flooded his metal arm with an insane amount of armament haki before meeting the charge head-on.

Their fists collided—

And Stahlhund's arm shattered.

The crack of fracturing bone was like a gunshot.

His forearm twisted at an unnatural angle, fractures spiderwebbing through his grotesquely overgrown muscles.

He howled in agony, barrelling backwards like a bullet but Kid didn't let up.

"Repel!"

He shot his punk gibbson to grab Stahlhund in mid-air with his metallic arm. "Time to end this."

He raised his right arm. Scrap metal converged, twisting and reforming into something new—a deadly gun, as large as his upper body.

Electromagnetic forces radiated.

It began charging.

"Damned Punk!"

Kid, using his Punk Gibson, hurled Stahlhund's limp body into the air.

He pulled the trigger.

A blinding surge of purple energy erupted from the gun's barrel, roaring through the battlefield like a meteor.

Stahlhund was vaporized mid-air.

Not even dust remained.

Kid exhaled, lowering his arm. "Tch. Scrap metal."

He turned, walking away from the devastation without sparing another glance.

The Steel Hounds who still lived?

They ran.

For their lives.