"Got it!" Hathaway and Natalie responded in unison. Hathaway released her Armament Haki. She had already mastered it to the point of projecting it over a distance, but to cover every inch of ground was still out of reach.
After all, not everyone was as powerful as Barrett, capable of enveloping enormous structures in Haki. But within the confines of a hall, Hathaway could just barely manage at her peak.
The floor beneath them gradually became coated in a layer of black Haki, spreading out from the tip of Hathaway's sword that touched the ground.
It wasn't fast—this level of Haki control was still difficult even for her.
Rosen, meanwhile, was fully focused. After his body had exploded, only his head had avoided turning into sand.
Now every part of this sand barrier was his body. If anything tried to escape and touched the sand, Rosen would sense it instantly.
"Uncle, why is that snowflake floating upward over there?" Natalie suddenly pointed at a snowflake near Rosen's head, puzzled.
Without hesitation, Hathaway coated her blade in Haki tinged red and lunged at the snowflake.
Just as she was about to strike it, the snowflake dodged as if it had a mind of its own.
"There it is—it's that one!" A normal snowflake couldn't possibly move like that, especially in this windless room.
Rosen didn't act. He needed to maintain the barrier to prevent the target's escape. With Hathaway present, he was confident they could handle it.
Hathaway stepped forward, leaving one foot planted to maintain the flow of Haki across the floor. Her blade followed up quickly, slicing toward the elusive snowflake.
With a hiss, the snowflake burst apart, revealing a shadowy figure cloaked in a tattered black robe. The figure stood around three meters tall and clearly resembled a humanoid.
The moment it appeared, everyone still standing quickly surrounded it.
Hathaway sneered. Now that it had shown its true form, it no longer held the same threat.
But just as she swung her blade down, the figure vanished into thin air—as if it had merged with the air itself, like the shadow had been an illusion.
"Gone? What is this thing?" Hathaway frowned, frustrated by the missed strike.
"A devil… or a ghost?" one crew member muttered, shaken by the way the large shadow had simply disappeared.
"Keep an eye on the snowflakes." When the doors and windows had been left open earlier, a few snowflakes drifted in. Some remained after the sand barrier was activated, but not many.
Swish, swish! Hathaway's sword slashed through several snowflakes, scattering them, but there was no sign of anything unusual. It was as if the entity had simply vanished.
"There's a current—something's moving in the air," Natalie spoke again.
This time even Rosen and Hathaway noticed it, but they weren't at ease. This thing… could it turn into any material or element? That seemed impossible.
But if true, it meant everything in the room—air, snowflakes, even the furniture or floor—could be hiding it.
If they let it escape, it would be a huge threat. Even if it couldn't kill them directly, it could outlast them by lurking in wait.
Hiss! Hathaway's next strike was faster. She had noticed a distinct current of transparent air. As her sword slashed through it, there was a faint sound of contact.
Bang! The shadow was forced out again. It glanced around, then suddenly dove toward the floor—but Hathaway's sword intercepted it first, knocking it across the room and slamming it into the ground.
The figure scrambled to escape but hesitated, unable to find a suitable place to hide.
"That's a tough body," Hathaway remarked. Despite taking a direct hit, it showed little damage.
"Not fighting back? Then kill it," Rosen said coldly. From his sand barrier, thousands of sand spikes launched at the figure. Though the robe was shredded with a clatter, the figure remained.
"A robot? Or a cyborg?!" the crew exclaimed.
The torn robe revealed damage from the previous slash. Wires were visible inside the wound.
Its exterior wasn't fully organic either. Patches of rusted metal showed through the skin and limbs—it had clearly existed a long time.
As soon as it appeared, it vanished again.
"Damn it, it disappeared again! What now?" Mr. 5 frowned, scanning the surroundings.
"It can attach to or transform into different things, but maybe there's a limit," Robin said. "When it hit the floor earlier, it didn't immediately transform—so it must have some restriction."
That made sense. And now that the floor was coated in Haki, turning into it would be too risky.
"Air, snowflakes… air, snowflakes…" Natalie pointed around, showing that it was now rapidly switching between materials. Clearly, it realized how dangerous its opponents were and wouldn't stay in one place long.
By moving constantly, it was nearly impossible to catch.
Hathaway followed Natalie's direction, slicing through the area again and again. Eventually, even Natalie lost track of it.
"Definitely not just a robot. Its intelligence—or computation power—is extremely high. It's trying to mimic my sand and pass through," Rosen said, sneering.
But the joke was on it—every grain of sand here was a part of Rosen's body. A patch not under his control stood out like a sore thumb.
He formed a giant hand out of sand, trapping the foreign particles. Then he pulled out a small box containing seastone and pressed it into the sand.
The shadow reappeared, confirming that it was indeed a Devil Fruit user. But its ability was eerie—it could mimic snow, air, sand.
Still, from the way it shifted between forms, there were likely limitations on what and how long it could possess.
"Cruiser Guardian?" Robin read the inscription on its neck—a 'D' followed by ancient script, carved in old writing, not modern or Poneglyph text, but ordinary ancient letters.
(End of Chapter)
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