Chapter 222: Turned into a Little Girl in Seconds
Suddenly shifting from a heavy state to a weightless one, if it were an ordinary person, they would probably suffer internal bleeding and die on the spot.
However, Zephyr only felt extremely uncomfortable...
This time, Fujitora used his staff sword to lift Zephyr upward, intending to send him into the air. But just as Zephyr was being lifted, his right mechanical arm swung fiercely at Fujitora, slamming into his left shoulder.
Zephyr's mechanical arm contained many hidden weapons, making it quite long. When he swung his right arm, it increased his attack range. Although Fujitora wasn't hurt by the blow, the contact with the Seastone caused a sudden wave of weakness to spread through his body, and his Devil Fruit ability briefly disappeared.
In that brief moment, the weightlessness effect on Zephyr was lifted, and he fell to the ground. At the same time, Ain and Binz, who had been suppressed by Fujitora, along with the members of the Marine Pirate Hunter Unit, were suddenly freed.
It had to be said that Zephyr's combat instincts were remarkable. From the very beginning, he had been targeting Fujitora as a Devil Fruit user.
By managing to touch Fujitora with the Seastone, he freed his subordinates. Although they had suffered quite a bit under the gravity suppression, and the ordinary soldiers of the Marine Pirate Hunter Unit couldn't get up immediately, Ain and Binz quickly rose and charged into the fray.
"Ace, you handle that weird ninja!" Ian, who had been knocked back by Zephyr earlier, rushed back in, steadying the staggering Fujitora, and gave orders to Ace.
Ace didn't hesitate. He had been lightly pushed aside by Fujitora earlier and had easily regained his footing, but he didn't dare charge at Zephyr again. Being grabbed by the Seastone, rendered powerless, and then used as a bludgeon was too humiliating to think about.
After instructing Ace, Ian asked Fujitora, "Old man, your ability has a clear advantage over Zephyr. Can you handle him?"
"No problem!" Fujitora replied directly. "As long as I avoid his Seastone, I have a good chance against him!"
With that, Fujitora and Ian charged forward together. Fujitora engaged Zephyr, while Ian chose Ain as his opponent.
Meanwhile, the members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates rushed toward the Marine Pirate Hunter Unit soldiers. Matthew and Old K worked together. Every time a Marine Pirate Hunter soldier charged at them, Old K would shout, "I'm on the left!"
The soldier would then be tricked, swinging their weapon at empty space to the left.
As their attack missed, Matthew would reach out and touch an exposed area of the soldier's skin, and in the next second, the opponent would instantly fall asleep.
Their attack efficiency was indeed high, but... Matthew, a grown man, constantly groping other men from the Marine Pirate Hunter Unit was just...
Baby-5, standing behind them, shuddered at the sight. She took a drag from her cigarette and said, "Disgusting. Keep those pervy hands away from me, got it?"
Hearing this, Matthew's spirits plummeted.
Baby-5 had originally been left by Doflamingo in the Dragon Hunter Pirates as a hostage. She wasn't particularly eager to fight the Marines. However, Old K, who had observed her personality over several days on the ship, said to her, "Don't just stand there. Get in there and help!"
At these words, Baby-5 immediately cupped her cheeks, a sense of being needed washing over her. "O-Okay!"
In the next moment, her hands transformed into two sharp blades as she charged into the crowd of Marine Pirate Hunter soldiers, beginning to slaughter. Her fighting style was bizarre to those unfamiliar with it. One moment, a sword would be swinging at an enemy, only to suddenly turn into a large hammer crashing down, or it would stop mid-swing and transform into a pistol for close-range fire.
Despite wearing a maid outfit, she was an assassin trained by Doflamingo and a Weapon-Weapon Fruit user. Her ever-changing attack patterns showed no mercy in battle.
However, just as Baby-5 was getting into the fight, a peach-colored flame-like object flew toward her from behind.
"What the hell is that?" Baby-5 didn't think much of it. She turned her arm into a frying pan and swung it at the flame.
She hit it, but the moment her frying-pan hand touched the peach-colored flame, it stuck to her hand and quickly seemed to be absorbed.
Watching the peach-colored glow spread across her arm, Baby-5 was startled. She shook her arm, trying to get rid of the glow, but it only gradually faded.
The next second, a strange sensation spread through her entire body. She felt herself shrinking!
Literally shrinking! The maid outfit that had once hugged her curves became much looser, and the shoes on her feet now housed tiny little feet.
"W-What's going on?" Baby-5 looked at her long sleeves and the surroundings, which seemed to have grown taller, and let out a startled cry.
Ian turned to look and saw that Baby-5 had turned into a little girl. He was speechless.
Only he knew what had happened. While fighting Ain, she had pushed a peach-colored flame toward him with both hands.
Ian knew who this sea-blue-haired beauty was, so he didn't dare touch the flame and dodged to the side. But to his surprise, the flame flew past him and accidentally hit Baby-5.
Ain, Zephyr's only female student, was a Retro-Retro Fruit user. As far as Ian knew, there were some incredibly broken and unscientific Devil Fruits in this world, and Ain's Retro-Retro Fruit was one of them.
The peach-colored flames on her hands seemed to be a manifestation of her ability. Anyone touched by her flames would experience a temporal regression.
When applied to a person, it would regress their body by 12 years. Similarly, when applied to inanimate objects, it would also cause a 12-year regression.
Ian was now 18... no, 19 years old. Although this age was considered prime, if he were touched, it would be far worse than what happened to Fujitora.
Fujitora, a man in his 40s, would only regress to his 30s, still a middle-aged man. But if Ian were touched, he would turn into a six- or seven-year-old child, just like Baby-5.
Baby-5 had turned into a little girl, and Ian would become a little boy.
While becoming a little boy might attract the affection of many beautiful older women, who might hold him close and rub him against their chests, Ian absolutely did not want that...
Moreover, what made Ian feel most dangerous was that Ain's Retro-Retro Fruit ability wasn't a one-time effect. It could be applied repeatedly to the same person. That meant if Ian were touched twice in a row, he would regress to before he was born, effectively erasing his existence from the world!
This was why the Retro-Retro Fruit was considered broken—it could kill without leaving a trace.
Although Ian knew that Ain's ability, like Sugar's Toy-Toy Fruit under Doflamingo, would be undone if she were knocked unconscious, potentially restoring those who had disappeared, he had no intention of testing that possibility!
No one would gamble with their own life.
That was why Ian chose to fight Ain himself—to prevent Ace or Fujitora from recklessly engaging her and being killed by her unique ability.
Only Ian, who was familiar with her abilities, had a chance against her. He had already switched to Orihime Inoue's card and could use the Three-Pronged Shield to defend against Ain's ability.
As Ian charged at Ain, she backed away while firing several peach-colored flames at him. With Baby-5's example fresh in his mind, Ian couldn't let these flames fly around freely. If they hit the Marine Pirate Hunter soldiers, it might be manageable, but if they hit his own crew members, who were in the middle of fighting, turning them into children could get them killed.
Clang!
Ain's movement speed was no match for Ian's. When he caught up to her and swung his sword, she quickly drew two daggers to block his strike.
Ian's slashing force, though not as monstrous as Zephyr's, was still heavy and powerful. Ain's hands, crossed with daggers, were pushed back by Ian's pressure, causing her to lean backward.
Ain steadied herself by stepping back, then suddenly released her left hand from the dagger, reaching out to touch Ian's blade.
Ian knew she intended to use her Retro-Retro Fruit to erase his sword, so he wouldn't let her succeed. He twisted his wrist, flipping the hilt of his sword, and slammed it into Ain's abdomen.
"Ugh..." Ain took the hit, clutching her stomach as she fell to her knees, nearly vomiting.
Generally, most Devil Fruit users relied heavily on their abilities in battle. Ain seemed to be one of them. Her Retro-Retro Fruit was incredibly powerful, so she often used it to defeat her opponents. This meant her physical combat and other attack methods were relatively weaker. As long as Ian avoided being touched by her, defeating her was easy.
"Beautiful lady, your ability is too troublesome. It's better if you just lie down," Ian said, raising his sword.
But at that moment, a smoking missile flew toward Ian and Ain's location. Strangely, the missile was wearing goggles and smoking a cigarette...
Boom! Ian managed to dodge, but Ain was blown away.
"Cough, cough!" After the smoke cleared, Ian coughed a couple of times and saw a little girl standing in the middle of the battlefield, her maid outfit hanging loosely on her. It was none other than Baby-5.
"What are you doing?" Ian asked her.
Baby-5 replied in a crisp, childish voice, angrily shouting, "What am I doing? I want that woman to turn me back!"
Her voice sounded amusing now. Ian stared at her for a moment, then rubbed his chin and said, "Isn't this good? You've gotten 12 years younger. Being a little girl isn't so bad, is it? Uncle Fujitora can take you to buy some lollipops..."