The roar of explosions finally subsided, the high-pressure shockwaves dispersed, and the lingering flames still burned stubbornly across the ground.
Amid the smoke and dust, Monet collapsed helplessly onto the ground.
Her once fair, smooth skin had been scorched black by the blazing heat of the explosions, and her body was covered in hideous burns, red and black mingling indistinguishably.
Blood poured from the corner of her mouth, bright and crimson, while her breathing had become faint as a thread from the extensive damage to her internal organs.
The explosive shockwaves that had coursed through her body earlier still left Monet's head ringing, her senses terribly blurred, leaving her eyes vacant and unfocused.
She looked like she would not live much longer.
Gladius walked expressionlessly up to Monet, raised a hand toward her pale, bloodless face, and looked ready to end her life at any moment.
Sugar had also been caught in the chain of explosions. A flying stone had cut a long gash across her arm, and blood streamed steadily down from it.
"You're really putting your all into this act?"
Even Garen could not help applauding Monet's desperate, one-hundred-percent practical special effects, performed without a stunt double.
At the same time, however, a storm raged within Monet's heart:
She could tell that Gladius had not held back at all. Every move he had used was meant to kill.
Although Monet was a rare Logia user, her Snow-Snow Fruit could practically compete with Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit for the title of the most useless Logia Devil Fruit.
For one thing, her Snow-Snow Fruit had a fatal weakness: high temperatures and flames.
As long as she approached something hot enough, her snow-and-ice abilities would fail, and she herself would be burned.
Gladius, the user of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, could turn even