Chapter 40: The Mark-Mark Fruit
Meanwhile, in distant waters, a somewhat exhausted figure was flying over the sea.
Long, flowing silver-white hair trailed behind her. Her skin tone was a healthy wheat color, leaning more towards a distinct brown.
Her sharp gaze was filled with exhaustion, mixed with a hint of defiance.
"These dogs of the World Government... they haunt me like ghosts..."
She tore a strip of cloth from her clothes, held one end in her teeth, and wrapped it around her arm to bandage a still-bleeding wound.
She had lived this life on the run for many years, usually staying on rarely visited isolated islands or in deep mountains, moving immediately once her traces were discovered.
Based on past experience, once someone discovered traces of a Lunarian, it wouldn't be long before World Government pursuers came looking.
But this time, for some reason, the agents of CP9 were biting closely at her heels, impossible to shake off.
"Almost at the Calm Belt. Their ship shouldn't dare to enter..."
Adjusting her breathing rhythm, this Lunarian accelerated, flying toward the distant sea surface. But behind her, several figures were also approaching at high speed.
"I see her! Just ahead!"
"Same as before! She's already injured and won't last much longer! Rankyaku · Star Breaker!"
Several slash-like attacks struck from behind. However, these weren't slashes from a blade, but vacuum blades kicked out by legs using Rankyaku (Tempest Kick).
Sensing the incoming attacks, flames instantly ignited on the Lunarian's back. After tanking several hits with her body, she swung her sword at the nearest CP9 agent.
"Tekkai!" (Iron Body)
The attacked CP9 agent crossed his arms in front of him, held his breath, and concentrated. Instantly, his entire body became as hard as iron.
Clang!
The blade struck his body, sending a shower of sparks flying. Seeing the opponent's flames beginning to spread along the blade toward him, the CP9 agent hurriedly leaped backward, stabilizing himself only after several jumps in mid-air.
"Geppo! (Moonwalk) Damn it, didn't they say she was almost out of strength? Why is she still so tough to deal with..."
"That's a Lunarian. Don't fight her head-on! Just keep wearing her down! Shigan · Gatling!" (Finger Pistol)
Another CP9 member took over his companion's position. His arms moved in a blur, stabbing toward the Lunarian in front of him.
Whether it was Shigan or Geppo, they were just parts of the Rokushiki (Six Powers). Combined with the previous Rankyaku and Tekkai, plus Kami-e (Paper Art)—relaxing the body to float like paper and dodge attacks—and Soru (Shave) for rapid movement, they formed the Six Powers.
Whether it was Marine soldiers or CP agents, they could all train in these techniques.
Mastering these moves meant stepping into the realm of "superhumans."
And the standard for becoming an official member of CP9 was mastering all six techniques.
Facing the siege of these people, the Lunarian also displayed her countermeasures. The flames on her back burned more intensely, blocking the opponent's attacks while releasing a large-scale flame attack to force them back.
Then, the flames on her back suddenly extinguished, and she flew toward the distance at extreme speed.
This was the innate ability of the Lunarian race. When the flames on their backs were lit, their defense would increase dramatically. When a Lunarian grew to a certain level, even Zoro's slashes during the Onigashima raid couldn't break their defense.
But when the flames were extinguished, their speed would increase. Lunarians could adjust the intensity of their flames to control their focus, adapting to complex environments.
"It's useless! Just give up and surrender! Our boss is a user of the Mato Mato no Mi (Mark-Mark Fruit). You've already been marked by him!
No matter where you run, as long as you're alive, the boss can find you!"
The Mato Mato no Mi (Mark-Mark Fruit), a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. In the original timeline, decades later, this fruit would become the ability of Vander Decken IX.
The ability of the Mato Mato no Mi wasn't complicated—coordinate locking.
If the user made physical contact with a target, they could leave a mark on them. Afterward, anything thrown by the user would fly toward the target, no matter the distance.
The leader of CP9 had encountered the Lunarian they were currently chasing earlier. During the fight, his palm had touched her arm, leaving this mark.
Each hand could only mark one target. Touching someone else would change the mark, so this CP9 leader had been wearing gloves throughout this period.
The objects he threw didn't arrive instantly; they required flight time. Since the human body could withstand it, he threw his subordinates.
On this vast open sea, the thrown people encountered no obstacles. Without expending any effort, they could arrive near the target.
Other CP9 members followed on a ship using the Vivre Cards of the thrown CP9 agents to determine the direction, using a tag-team strategy to wear down the opponent's stamina.
Once these CP9 agents were thrown over and made contact with the Lunarian, the continuous tracking effect of the fruit ended for them personally (as projectiles), but the goal was achieved as long as they got close.
Geppo wasn't as convenient as true flight for long-distance pursuit, but it was sufficient for short-term aerial combat.
"Idiot! Why are you explaining the boss's ability to her?!"
One of the CP9 agents looked at the one who had shouted earlier. After using Geppo to reach him, he questioned him angrily.
"Her speed is much slower than before, and her attacks are weaker too.
It's about time to close the net. Don't you think this will crush her hope and make her give up resistance sooner? Look, she's not running anymore."
"I don't see that. I only see that she wants to fight to the death... Don't you have any idea why the boss wanted to wear down her stamina like this?!"
Lunarians were hard to deal with. For these CP9 agents, the merit of capturing one alive was obviously much greater than bringing back a corpse.
If they forced a siege, CP9 would also suffer casualties. And if they asked for backup, it would reduce the credit belonging to them.
That was why they devised this tactic of slowly grinding down the opponent's stamina. But now, it seemed this tactic had failed at the last moment because of a teammate's big mouth.
"So that's how it is. No wonder I couldn't shake you off this time..."
It wasn't that she believed whatever the enemy said, but this time was just too strange. She had been pursued by World Government people before, but she had always managed to escape danger eventually.
Unlike this time, no matter how far she flew over the sea, this group of CP9 agents could always catch up in bizarre ways.
"What a pity. I hope the right person finds this..."
She took out something resembling a glass bottle from her clothes and threw it into the sea, then turned back to face the group of CP9 agents.
"Want to capture me alive? Then come and try. Let's see how many of you I can drag down to hell with me!"
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