As his strength grew, manipulating the shadows of nearby inanimate objects with his thoughts was no longer difficult for Maud.
This also meant that from the moment Maud could freely control the shadows of external objects, he had already elevated the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's power to an entirely new level.
Paramecia was no longer Paramecia—
That sentence was a true reflection of reality.
The mass of shadows wrapped around the Poisonous Hellhound hovered steadily in midair under Maud's control.
As shadows did not belong to the category of living beings, they were, in a sense, unafraid of ice and fire. It could even be said that they were the natural nemesis of poison.
"Here, you can have it back."
Maud pointed his blade through the air at the retreating Blackbeard, Van Augur, Doc Q, and Moonfang Hunter.
With that gesture, the mass of shadows tightly surrounding the Poisonous Hellhound suddenly flew through the air and appeared above Blackbeard and the others.
At the same time, honeycomb-like holes appeared beneath the mass of shadows. Then, it was as though a pair of invisible hands began squeezing it with all their might.
As the force compressed inward, the Poisonous Hellhound's body inside the shadow mass instantly fell apart, transforming into viscous poison that leaked through countless holes and fell toward Blackbeard and the others below like torrential rain.
"!!!"
Watching the torrential Poison Rain pour down, not only Blackbeard and the others but even Shiryu, whose "ability" had been borrowed, wore looks of shock.
"Hey, Shiryu, what the hell are you doing!?"
Moonfang Hunter's expression shifted slightly. He hurriedly retreated, dodging the torrential Poison Rain while shouting his complaint.
Poison had always been the standard tool for the weak to defeat the strong, and it was especially troublesome and difficult to deal with