“Ace?!”
Deuce, standing nearby, was stunned to see Ace bleeding. They had found the Flame-Flame Fruit together, back when neither of them understood the mysteries of Devil Fruits. Hoping to share the ability, they had eaten it together, but only Ace, who took the first bite, gained the ability.
Afterward, the Logia-type ability allowed them to progress with remarkable ease. Few in the first half of the Grand Line could counter a Logia user. Apart from Marine-issued Prison Bullets and Seastone, their only fear was falling into the sea.
In the previous attack by those two pirates, Ace was somewhat careless. He is a Logia user, but his physical skills were also honed by Garp. Generally, ordinary people are not his match; he just didn’t expect them to be able to hit a Logia-type body.
As for Isuka, it was purely his instincts that allowed him to dodge, but it still grazed his body.
Seeing Ace get injured one after another was something Deuce had never expected. Moreover, the surrounding pirates were giving off hostile glances. No matter the circumstances, having their captain directly intervene was a slap in the face.
If the opponent had been an Emperor of the Sea-level monster, it would’ve been understandable. But a rookie from the first half of the Grand Line? It was embarrassing for them.
They couldn’t interfere with their captain’s fight, so their gazes naturally turned towards Deuce.
“You guys, take the kids and leave. Leave him to me.”
“Miss Lami…”
“It’s fine, isn’t this just Paradise? Moreover, I’ve trained a little too.”
The Arceus Cult was a unique religious organization. Aside from its ordinary believers, when you put their clergy together, no other force can contend with them except the Marines and the Emperors’ crews.
As a member of the cult, being able to fight was an essential requirement. While Lami might struggle in the New World, the situation was different here.
Moreover, according to the rules of the Beasts Pirates, Lami had temporary authority over them when Isuka was fighting.
“Yes!”
“Come on, kids. Follow us; we’ll keep you safe.”
Many in this group had been brought back in a similar way years ago. Their words weren’t perfunctory. Looking at the girl who was slowly approaching him, Deuce didn’t want to get entangled with her because Ace’s battle was not going well.
Since they were in a slum-like environment, Ace was hesitant to use fire on a large scale, which allowed Isuka to suppress him.
While Scizor was weak to fire, it wouldn’t completely be incapacitated by it. Unless the temperature reached its upper limits, ordinary flames couldn’t do much.
Seeing this, Deuce wanted to assist Ace.
“Move aside!”
“Oh my, isn’t it you who should move? After all, you’re the ones blocking the way, Mr. Pirate.”
Deuce swung a punch, aiming to knock out Lami. Subconsciously, because she was a woman, he assumed she wouldn’t be strong, so he held back slightly when aiming for her stomach. But his fist sank in entirely.
Lami’s abdomen had turned into the colorful sludge of Alolan Muk, her body taking on a melted appearance.
“L…Logia-type?!”
“Wrong answer. Why don’t you lie down for a bit first?”
Deuce didn’t understand what Lami meant, but suddenly, his arm went numb. The sensation began spreading upward, and by the time he realized something was wrong, half his body got paralyzed.
“You… you…”
His tongue grew stiff, and he struggled to speak. In the end, he fell to the ground, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
“Human skin isn’t impenetrable. From the moment you made contact, you had already lost.”
Lami’s body was truly terrifying. At the slightest thought during an attack, she could manipulate the substances within her body to synthesize various toxins—ranging from paralyzing agents to deadly poisons, or even creating unique, virus-like effects.
Lami, like Queen, has a dividing line regarding her opponents’ ability to resist toxins. Opponents above this dividing line are relatively difficult for them to deal with, while for those below, they will demonstrate absolute dominance.
…….
“Deuce!”
“Getting distracted during a fight isn’t a good habit. You’re just a Logia User—don’t get too full of yourself!”
With a sharp swing, Isuka’s pincers whistled through the air towards Ace’s chest. Without Haki, he couldn’t predict the trajectory of her attacks, and his physical reflexes alone weren’t enough to evade her attack in time.
Armament Haki can grasp a Logia-type’s body, so the pincers landed solidly.
“Firefly: Fiery Doll!”
Ace’s hands emitted a pale green glow as small fireballs flew out from his palms. The fireballs gathered around Isuka and converged together before erupting into a violent explosion.
But before they exploded, Isuka had already moved out of its range.
Her pincers now aimed for Ace’s head.
“Saint Elmo’s Fire!”
Ace’s hands transformed into flames that extended like spears, meeting Isuka’s attack head-on.
“Wind Pressure: Blazing Slash!”
Isuka didn’t stop. As soon as she saw Ace’s counterattack, her insect wings began vibrating at an incredible speed. At the same time, her pincers released a powerful jet of compressed air, forming a blade of wind under her control.
This is a flaw she discovered while studying in Wano Country: Scizor’s fighting style is based on smashing, and using weapons in its transformed state is inconvenient. Therefore, based on Scizor’s heat dissipation principle, she developed a new usage.
By compressing the airflow generated by her wings and releasing it through the gaps in her pincers, she created a wind blade similar to a high-pressure Water Gun.
This razor-sharp wind not only can replace a sword, giving her a deadlier means of attack, but also allowed her to sever flames she hated.
Ace’s flames were split in two by Isuka. Then, her pincers paused on either side of Ace’s neck like a guillotine.
She had noticed Ace’s issue. As a Logia-type user, Ace’s greatest strength was his ability to unleash wide-area attacks, quickly altering the environment around him.
While this was a power some Paramecia users could only achieve after awakening, it was a fundamental ability for Logia users, allowing them to quickly create their own ‘terrain’.
Yet aside from the initial Flame Fence to block her path, Ace hadn’t used any large-scale fire attacks. It was as though he was holding back for some reason. This intrigued Isuka, so she let her wind sword hover by his neck.
However, before she could ask anything, the sudden roar of cannons echoed around them. A team of Marines had somehow surrounded the area without anyone noticing…
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