The small plush bear suddenly swelled in midair, transforming into a blazing Flame Dodo Bear that was identical in appearance but dozens of times larger, its entire body engulfed in roaring flames.
"Hou-mu!"
The Flame Dodo Bear let out a strange roar, then plummeted toward Trafalgar Law like a meteor falling from the sky.
Sherwin glanced at the color of the flames making up the Dodo Bear—it was the ordinary orange-red of regular fire. Looked like Klee Meow had remembered to hold back a bit.
"See? I told you Klee really strong," he even had the leisure to chat with Kuma by his side.
Law, however, had no such luxury. The scorching heat radiating from the Flame Bear and the overwhelming momentum of its dive left him no room to admire its silly, cute appearance. Cold sweat instantly soaked his fur.
"ROOM!"
Law quickly activated his Devil Fruit ability, switching places with a nearby boulder to evade the Flame Dodo Bear descending strike.
"Dodo Bear! Klee gonna smack him meow!"
Klee Meow didn't mind missing her attack again with great energy and confidence, she commanded—or rather, controlled—the Dodo Bear to pounce toward Law, who had dodged to the side.
As the Dodo Bear charged at Law, it also spewed a series of fireballs from its mouth, cutting off his escape routes.
But for Law, who could teleport using his Devil Fruit powers, it wasn't much of a problem.
"ROOM—Slaughterhouse!"
Once again switching positions, Law used his ability on the Flame Bear, slicing it into three pieces. The result was…
The Flame Bear split into three, each one even larger than before.
"Meow-hahaha! Klee Dodo Bear won't go down that easily, meow!" The tiny plush doll stood with her hands on her hips, laughing triumphantly.
"Dodo Bear One, Two, and Three—keep attacking, meow!"
"Damn it! What kind of Devil Fruit ability is this?! It way too troublesome!"
Faced with these three clearly ability-created Flame Bears, Law felt a headache coming on. And as they rampaged around, setting fires recklessly, the areas he could teleport to were becoming fewer and fewer.
There was no helping it—he'd have to target the little cat herself. After all, his ability wouldn't harm her or cause her any pain.
"ROOM—Slaughterhouse!"
This time, Law aimed his power at Klee Meow.
The tiny plush doll, who had been hopping around excitedly, instantly "came apart," broken down into several pieces by Law ability, and those pieces tumbled to the ground.
Meanwhile, the three Dodo Bears froze like robots that had lost their signal, standing still in place.
Klee Meow, now scattered across the ground, blinked in surprise. Then she suddenly opened her mouth and wailed, "Waaahhh! Klee all broken, meow! Uuuuuuu~ meow—!"
"Don't cry. I can put you back together," Law said quickly, caught off guard by the little doll reaction and trying to comfort her.
If it had been the old Law, he could've steeled himself and ignored her cries. But ever since Corazon saved him, he wasn't as coldhearted as he had been back when his lead poisoning was still untreatable.
Besides… he actually liked fluffy things quite a bit.
You could see that just by looking at his outfit—what normal person would put a ring of fluffy fur around the guard of their sword?
Of course, before he could do anything else…
"But you'll have to surrender first. As long as you give up, I'll put you back together,"
Law squatted down in front of the scattered Klee Meow, seriously trying to persuade her to concede.
Then, after crying loudly for a while, Klee Meow suddenly made a face at him…
"Bleh~ You fell for it, meow!"
(==)
The "scattered" Klee Meow didn't need Law to lift his ability at all. Her upper body reassembled itself on its own, sparks of lightning crackling as she let out a sharp cry—
"Lightning Release—Chidori Meow!"
Her tiny paw, crackling with electricity, finally struck Law square in the face before he could react, sending him tumbling head over heels.
Klee Meow strength wasn't particularly great. Aside from leaving Law face tingling and numb, her strike didn't deal much actual damage. Mostly, the little plush doll was still bitter about missing her first "Chidori."
"Meow-hahaha! Your ability useless against Klee, meow!"
Her upper body floated in midair, the cut edges burning with bright flames. At the same time, her scattered lower half turned into balls of fire and gathered beneath her floating upper body. In moments, the complete and adorable cat reappeared before everyone eyes.
"A Logia?!"
Law would've been a fool not to realize it now. But what he never expected was that this tiny kitten was actually a rare Logia-type Devil Fruit user.
"That right~ Klee ate the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit, meow. So, are you going to surrender, meow?"
The little plush doll now turned the tables, trying to persuade Law instead. "Since you can't beat Klee anyway, you'd better surrender if you don't want to suffer, meow."
"Who would give up so easily?!"
As mentioned before, Law was always the type to yield to kindness, not force. So even though he knew his ability was completely countered by Klee Meow, he still had no intention of surrendering.
"Something wrong! Something very, very wrong!"
Though Klee Meow clearly had the upper hand, Sherwin expression grew tense.
"What wrong?"
The same Kuma, who had just learned about Klee Meow Devil Fruit power, finally relaxed a little and curiously asked Sherwin.
Sherwin explained while analyzing, "Klee is usually mischievous, sure, but she pure-hearted. There no way she'd come up with something this devious on her own…
Hmm, she must've been influenced by someone else—either a person or a Felyne. I'd say Link and Haibara Meow are the prime suspects!"
Kuma shot Sherwin a silent glance and politely chose not to comment.
After all, he still remembered who had encouraged Bonney to use her newly awakened ability to "surprise" him.
And when he was turned into "Little Kuma" and "Old Kuma," there had also been a certain anonymous News Bird special correspondent snapping photos nonstop…
So, it was already pretty obvious who Klee Meow had been imitating.
Yet the main culprit himself was still seriously analyzing, "Although Link known as the 'Old Hyrule Rogue he actually a pretty upright guy.
So, it more likely that Haibara Meow was the one who corrupted Klee! But, there also a chance she learned this from Huamei.
When Huamei gets scheming, even Haibara Meow can't compare…"
Bear face showed an expression of utter shock.
So this is… really what Sherwin thinks?!
Bear struggled internally for a long time but ultimately couldn't bring himself to "wake Sherwin up" to reality.
Meanwhile, Klee Meow battle with Law was reaching its conclusion. As the flames around them grew denser and fiercer, Law room to maneuver became smaller and smaller. Though he could flee farther away, doing so would essentially mean admitting defeat.
During the fight, Law had also tried several times to launch attacks on Klee Meow. But against the little doll wielding Observation Haki and a Logia-type Devil Fruit, Law—who had yet to master any form of Haki—could only meet failure every time.
At this point, Law was feeling both delighted and embarrassed.
He was delighted because Klee Meow strength was already this formidable, which meant Sherwin and that intimidating-looking Bear were likely even stronger. With allies like them, defeating Doflamingo felt much more achievable.
What embarrassed him, however, was that he could tell Klee Meow had been deliberately holding back, carefully controlling the intensity of her flames so as not to actually hurt him.
Even the three flaming bears had grown noticeably clumsier compared to when the battle first began…
To think that he actually needed mercy from a little kitten who was clearly still a child—maybe not even ten years old!
That thought left Law feeling somewhat deflated. Dragging this out any longer seemed pointless; it only made him look stubborn and shameless.
But just as he was about to admit defeat, he suddenly saw Klee Meow pull out a small ball—mostly white, with a cute little face painted on it—and toss it toward him.
Before Law could use his ability to teleport the strange object away, it detonated about three meters in front of him.
At the same time, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Sherwin—who was watching from the sidelines—quickly covering his ears…
"BZZZZZZ—!!!"