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"Mmh! I know."
Monet nodded with a smile, extending her right hand to examine it closely. "My skin has become much finer, as if carved from the most beautiful ice crystals and snowflakes."
"And, I seem to no longer fear the cold!"
As she spoke, she took off her padded coat, revealing the green-striped sleeveless top underneath.
With her ice-white arms exposed, Monet had a thought. Her arms naturally transformed into an ice-snow state—crystal clear and translucent, yet possessing hardness comparable to metal.
Merlin reached out and tapped them, producing a ding-ding sound. Surprise flashed in his eyes. Then, his fingers hooked like claws. As Monet watched curiously, he gripped her forearm and applied force. A crack-crack sound emerged.
Cracks appeared on Monet's forearm. Due to the properties of a Logia type, pure physical attacks wouldn't cause any real harm to Monet. At Merlin's signal, the cracks on her arm quickly repaired themselves under the power of ice and snow.
After sensing it for a while, Merlin smiled. "The hardness of this ice arm is about the same as a refined blade, but that's not enough.
"The temperature of the ice and snow should be able to go even lower."
Saying this, Merlin's finger strength suddenly exploded with a bang! Monet's forearm instantly shattered.
At this moment, looking at Monet's right forearm in his hand, which had completely turned into ice crystals—crack crack! Suddenly, the ice arm, separated from Monet's elbow, began to emit a hazy white cold mist. Bang! It exploded into tiny, dancing ice crystal fragments filling the air.
These ice crystal fragments expanded rapidly with crack crack sounds, becoming like spiky ice urchins, then contracted back into ice shavings.
Immediately after, as if attracted by a magnet, this ice crystal dust turned into ice-white ribbons and reconstructed her right forearm at Monet's elbow.
Monet clenched her fist, and it turned back into flesh and blood.
Joy shone in her eyes as she looked at Merlin with a gaze full of intense excitement. At the same time, Monet's gentle voice spoke. "Thank you for choosing to entrust this powerful strength to me."
As she spoke, the look in Monet's golden eyes became undisguisedly passionate as she looked at Merlin.
Merlin smiled. "I actually think this fruit suits you perfectly."
Monet blinked, revealing confusion. Merlin smiled and explained, "Among our own people on the ship, you're the only one without a fruit. Who else would I give it to if not you?"
Monet paused, sighing helplessly in her heart. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. However, a smile flashed in her eyes.
Truly precious things weren't given to just anyone. That Merlin gave it to her proved that she already held a place in his heart.
A unique, irreplaceable position just for her.
Thinking of this, the joy in Monet's eyes almost overflowed.
"Since we're done here, where are we going next?
"Are we going to that shipbuilding alliance you mentioned before?"
Monet asked Merlin.
Merlin thought for a moment, looking at this island of ice. The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up. "We're going to look for a demonic corpse that exists here."
"Demonic corpse?"
"It's a type of ancient giant race with two horns on their heads. Their size is usually much, much larger than today's giants."
"That corpse is here?"
"Mmh. Somewhere in the Country of Ice. Let's spend some time looking for it here!
"It's a good opportunity. During this time in this world of ice and snow, you can also properly adapt to your abilities."
"Okay."
Monet nodded with a smile.
"???"
"Monet became an ability user too?"
Baby 5 stared in shock at Monet, who was wearing short sleeves and training her ice and snow abilities on the freezing deck.
Monet's sword, Fubuki, was emitting a frost-white freezing mist. With a casual slash, the freezing air condensed into an ice blade in the air, then bang! exploded.
Dense ice spikes shot out in all directions.
Thud thud thud! A series of ice spikes accurately pierced the ice crystal snow sculptures distributed around the deck.
Monet let out a breath. She had basically adapted to the application of her abilities.
Thanks to the tempering of her will through visualization, Monet felt her progress in controlling her ability was quite gratifying.
Merlin stood under the cabin door, watching Monet apply her abilities.
A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Then he patted Baby 5's head. "Mmh, Monet has already become a qualified ability user."
"Qualified?" Baby 5 was puzzled.
"Yes, qualified. As the name implies, it's about the degree of development and use of one's own ability."
"Then I'm qualified too, right?"
Baby 5 looked expectant.
"Half-qualified, I guess!" Merlin struck a blow directly. "Your use of the Weapon-Weapon Fruit is too crude. You almost just copy existing cold and hot weapons to transform.
"Completely lacking in creativity."
Hearing Merlin's sharp critique, Baby 5's face fell instantly. She looked like she wanted to cry but had no tears. "Then how should I develop it?"
Merlin smiled. The shadow right hand beneath him suddenly changed, followed closely by a change in Merlin's right hand.
The five fingers became like blades, but somewhat eerie—they were blades of flesh and blood.
Seeing this, Merlin felt a bit of a sanity drop.
Immediately after, Merlin's arms were wrapped as the shadow spread, donning a pair of shadow forelimbs that looked like mantis scythes.
Then, spiral blade wheels appeared on his arms, which had returned to normal. With a thought, the shadow blade wheels spun, creating a humming sound of whistling air.
Baby 5 watched with widening eyes. Immediately after, she saw Merlin raise his index finger. The shadow turned into a shadow bullet, then shot out with a bang! like a real bullet.
"Everything I'm doing now, your Weapon-Weapon Fruit can do. It depends on your imagination.
"For example, you can transform yourself into a rocket. As long as you have enough stamina, you can completely turn into a rocket to shuttle and fly rapidly through the air."
Merlin listed his ideas one by one. Baby 5 nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking rice—transforming into full-body armor, left hand gun and right hand sword, bladed legs, and so on...
The Weapon-Weapon Fruit fully possessed this transformative potential, and more.
For example, transforming into a cannonball explosion causes fire, so what about a railgun? The human body has bio-electricity, and Baby 5's weapon transformation could involve that.
However, lacking an electricity converter, Baby 5 couldn't transform that for the time being.
The more complex the Weapon-Weapon Fruit's body transformation, the more Baby 5 needed to understand the structural principles of the weapon.
But for now, these ordinary weapons were enough for her to transform and use.
After dinner.
Merlin told them he was going to search for the centuries-old demonic corpse.
He also said he planned to leave Pink and Baby 5 to watch the ship. Hearing this, Pink's gaze instantly became subtle.
A retort was stuck in his throat, making him feel terribly uncomfortable.
So.
Early the next morning, watching the three of them leave the port and head into the island's interior, Pink couldn't hold back his speechlessness. "That guy Merlin, isn't he trusting me a little too much?"
Baby 5 wasn't in high spirits. Watching the three move away, she looked at Pink and whispered, "Isn't that good? Or Mr. Pink could choose to sail this ship away. That way, Mr. Pink could have endless treasure to spend for a lifetime?"
Pink's eye twitched. He said speechlessly, "A real man doesn't sell out his faith and honor for mere treasure."
Baby 5 sighed. "Maybe that's why Big Brother Merlin felt safe leaving you to watch the ship!"
Pink's gaze became complex. He said, "Doffy and the others haven't been peaceful lately. They said five days ago they had a run-in with Crocodile, and then got chased by Tsuru for several days.
"Someone even got seriously injured."
He didn't know why he brought the conversation here. Baby 5 listened silently. Suddenly, Pink looked at her calmly and said, "You seem to really like being with Merlin and the others."
Baby 5's heart trembled. She looked at Pink, blinked, and nodded. "Mmh, I like them."
Pink looked helpless. He liked them too, but he didn't have a choice.
"I won't interfere with your business, but think carefully. If you choose to betray, the family will hunt you down."
Baby 5 nodded silently, indicating she understood.
Then she went to the side of the deck and began to train. With a part of Merlin's shadow inside her, her progress in physical cultivation was simply twice the result with half the effort.
Pink leaned against the deck railing with a cigarette in his mouth, watching Baby 5 train. The look in his eyes behind the sunglasses was very complicated. "Hope the final ending will be good!"
He had a gut feeling that if a conflict really occurred, the Donquixote Family probably wouldn't win against Merlin's group.
Just one moment of carelessness, and Perona could wipe out everyone in the family with her ability.
Not to mention Monet, who gave him a bursting sense of crisis after eating the fruit.
And finally, add in Merlin, whose strength was bottomless...
Unwinnable!
He thought to himself.
Three days later.
Walking in a mountain range.
Merlin was shirtless. Ten meters away in the sky, Monet's lips parted slightly, blowing frost-white ice and snow toward Merlin.
Freezing blizzards battered Merlin's entire body. This continuous chill felt like it wanted to seep into Merlin's bones.
However, inside Merlin's body, black flames wrapped around, resisting the cold and frostbite blown by Monet. Through resistance, Merlin had already understood and analyzed the Calamity of Frostbite.
And now he was upgrading the confrontation, understanding the Calamity of Freezing Ice.
Not far from Merlin, a shadow box expanded and shaped by shadows, leaving only air holes, was being pulled along by shadow chains.
Inside was Perona's physical body, wrapped up tightly, while her spirit body flew in the sky searching for Merlin's target.
Merlin silently experienced the power of ice and snow invading his body. This was the Calamity of Freezing—freezing his muscles stiff, condensing internal fluids, cracking his red and swollen skin, and blurring his consciousness.
But this Freezing Calamity contained many other calamities, such as Frostbite. Merlin used Frostbite as a starting point.
He continued analyzing and understanding this Freezing Calamity capable of turning people into ice sculptures.
And now, having spent quite some time, Merlin was confident he could absorb this Freezing Calamity.
Merlin stopped and waved to Monet, who was drifting in the wind and snow in the sky.
Monet landed in front of Merlin, asking curiously, "What do we do this time?"
"Freeze me. Use your maximum ice and snow power."
Hesitation flashed in Monet's eyes, but she quickly made up her mind, knowing Merlin wouldn't do something without confidence.
She opened her arms and hugged Merlin fully from the front, her arms tightly wrapping around his neck. Seeing this, Merlin asked confusedly, "You need to activate your ability like this?"
A sly look flashed in Monet's eyes. She whispered, "Mmh, only at close range can my ice and snow ability be exerted to the maximum limit."
As she spoke, a terrifying, bone-chilling power erupted from her body. Crack crack! Ice crystals condensed around them. Monet's body turned into a human-shaped ice sculpture, firmly locking Merlin in place.
In this moment, a steady stream of cold air from Monet poured into Merlin's body.
For the first time, Merlin felt that the sensation of freezing to death was so unbearable.
His muscles turned into blocks of ice, and even his heartbeat began to gradually stop. However, inside Merlin's heart and brain, a cluster of black flames burned quietly.
Outside, Perona's spirit body descended. Seeing Merlin hugged by the crystallized Monet, then looking at Merlin who had turned into an ice sculpture, her mouth twitched. "Is it necessary to try this hard?"
At this moment, Monet's figure gathered from the flying snow in the nearby snowfield. Looking at Merlin, she chuckled lightly. "It's precisely because he tries hard even in training that he is so strong."
Perona looked at Monet, puffing out her cheeks. "Your personality is becoming more and more like his now?"
Monet smiled. "With Merlin's shadow fused in my body, it's normal for my personality to be affected.
"Aren't you the same?"
Perona retorted speechlessly, "Aren't you afraid that after a long time, your whole person will completely turn into his shape?"
Monet: "So what? Besides, I don't feel like I've changed anywhere."
Perona paused, then realized. "Seems right. We are still ourselves. When he takes back the shadow, we'll go back to normal.
"Just like the visualization method he taught us, using our own will to resist those external wills affecting us."
Monet's lips curled up. This girl wasn't stupid after all!
At this very moment.
Through the black flame perception, Merlin had finished analyzing the principle of the Freezing Calamity.
Immediately after, black flames erupted from his heart and brain, instantly absorbing the Freezing Stiffness Calamity from his body.
In the next moment, Merlin opened his eyes. His body shook—Bang! The ice sculpture of Monet holding him shattered.
Perona exclaimed, "Monet, you exploded!"
Monet looked speechless, glaring at her. Then she looked at Merlin's whole body and chuckled. "It seems you've obtained what you wanted."
Merlin nodded and smiled. "Thanks for the trouble these past few days!"
Monet shook her head with a smile. "Training with you gives me even greater gains."
Seeing the two ignoring her, Perona puffed out her cheeks. But immediately after, she flashed a smug smile at Merlin. "I'll tell you a secret. That demonic corpse you wanted... this lady has found it!"
Merlin looked at her in surprise. Perona giggled, shaking her head, her pink twin-tails swaying.
"Follow me!"
A moment later, led by Perona, Merlin saw a mountain-like ice corpse in a valley.
Deep red skin.
A pair of exaggerated demon horns curving upward on both sides of the head.
Thick upper body, short lower body.
Light yellow hair draped like a cape over his lower back.
He was a full 67 meters tall.
Merlin couldn't help but sigh. "Terrifying creature. If he were alive, one punch could probably blow away a mountaintop!"