Take My Arrow!

"While your arrival here surprised me,... it would be quite an interesting experience to personally eliminate you~"

"Ha ha ha ha."

As soon as he finished speaking, Diamante raised his sword and slashed down without any mercy.

Upon seeing this, Merry's expression changed, and she immediately used her wind power to pull Rebecca backward.

The next moment...

"Clang!"

The ground struck by Diamante's longsword was cleaved open with a huge crack!

Upon seeing this, Rebecca's face immediately turned ugly. If her sister Merry hadn't intervened, she would have been killed by Diamante.

"Hateful..."

After regaining her footing, Rebecca picked up her longsword, ready for battle.

Although they were facing the Top Executive of the Donquixote Family this time, they had no other choice but to fight.

"Oh ho?"

Diamante raised an eyebrow, watching Rebecca's sword with interest, and said, "You actually have the courage to draw your sword against me?"

"Interesting."

"And me too!"

Merry had already circled around to Diamante's side, suddenly had a blue bow and arrow in her hand.

Then, he nocked the arrow and drew the bow.

"Oh."

Diamante sneered upon seeing this. Did this little brat really think such a weapon could hurt him?

Stop joking, okay?!

Even if it were the Kuja Pirates, let alone her, they wouldn't be able to hit her...

Before he could finish his thought, Merry's arrow was released, and with the help of the wind, its speed far exceeded Diamante's expectations.

"What?"

Diamante's pupils contracted instantly as he Observation Haki to detect the Arrow Feather's trajectory. How could this brat's arrow be so incredibly fast?

Without a second thought, Diamante immediately transformed his body into a fluttering flag.

Then, using the wind pressure from the flying arrow, he easily moved some distance away and dodged the attack.

"Whoosh~"

"Boom!!!"

The Arrow Feather continued its flight without slowing down, eventually striking the ground in the distance and creating a large crater.

Seeing this, Diamante paused for a moment, then turned to look at Merry expressionlessly and said, "Little thing, I really underestimated you."

To be honest, he didn't take this kid seriously at first, after all, no matter how Lihai she was, she was just a pirate trainee.

But now it seems that's not the case at all.

"I said it."

Merry drew her bow again, staring intently at Diamante, and said, "Don't underestimate me."

As she spoke, Merry prepared to shoot Diamante with another arrow.

"Then let me tell you, don't underestimate me!" Diamante shouted.

As he spoke, Diamante's body returned to its original form, and then, at the same time as Merry launched her attack, he unleashed a Flying Slash at Merry's side.

"Whoosh~"

The next moment, a white slash flew out from Diamante's sword and collided with Merry's arrow in the blink of an eye, instantly creating a loud boom.

"Boom!"

"It actually blocked my arrow?"

Merry was stunned; it was the first time she had ever encountered someone who could block her arrow head-on.

"Little brat, you're too confident."

Diamante, using the smoke as cover, approached Merry, his eyes cold as he raised his long sword and said, "Who do you think I am?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Diamante slashed down without any mercy.

Just then, Rebecca appeared beside Merry, raised her sword, and slashed at her.

"Clang!"

The blade and sword clashed, immediately sparks flying.

"Oh?"

Diamante looked at Rebecca, who had blocked his attack, with some surprise, and said, "You actually dare to come any closer?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll kill you first?"

He had originally planned to kill this sneaky brat first, and then have some fun with Rebecca, but instead, the other girl came looking for death?

Wouldn't it be better to live a little longer?

"If I hadn't come, you wouldn't have killed me?" Rebecca said through gritted teeth.

Diamante paused for a moment upon hearing this, then grinned and burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

"I never knew you were so smart!"

"That's right, even if you hadn't come, I would have killed you!"

At this point, Diamante suddenly lowered her head and stared at Rebecca, then continued, "Even begging won't work!"

After saying that, Diamante suddenly turned around and kicked Merry, sending her flying.

Then, Diamante bent down and slashed at Rebecca, intending to kill her.

"Merry!"

Rebecca, who had witnessed Diamante's entire action, gritted her teeth and then raised her sword to parry.

Unfortunately, she underestimated the difference in strength between the two, so at the moment of collision, Rebecca was sent flying by Diamante's attack.

"Ah!"

Rebecca screamed as she crashed to the ground, her face turning ashen.

Although the sword didn't hit her, it severely damaged her confidence.

But when she thought of her younger sister who needed her protection, Rebecca forced herself to stand up.

"Merry, are you alright?!"

"I'm fine."

Merry floated back up from the ground and said, "I used the wind to reduce most of the impact, so I'm not seriously injured."

Just before Diamante kicked her, she focused the Power of Wind on the point of attack, so the blow did not cause her much damage.

"That's good."

Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief.

Lucy and the others entrusted this little girl to me with complete peace of mind. If anything were to happen to her, I really wouldn't know how to explain it to them.

Fortunately, Merry is alright.

"The wind?"

Diamante frowned subconsciously. No wonder he felt something was off about the touch just now; he had kicked the wind?

Ah, interesting.

'I never imagined this little girl could wield the Power of Wind to such an extent,' Diamante thought to himself. 'If our Donquixote Family had encountered this little one, we could definitely have nurtured her into a powerful figure.'

But... unfortunately, she's a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, so she has to die here today.

With that thought in mind, Diamante abandoned any further thoughts, and her expression returned to normal.

Then, Diamante looked at Rebecca with a curious expression and said, "Actually, I'm quite curious."

"What exactly are you here for?"

"You don't mean to say you're here to fight Doflamingo, do you?"

"How is that possible?"

"With that unsharpened sword in your hand and this little girl's bow, how could you possibly be a match for Doflamingo?"

"You should know that you can't even beat me!!"

As she spoke, Diamante rushed towards Rebecca and slashed down fiercely with the long sword in her hand.

Rebecca quickly raised her sword to block, lest she be killed.

"Clang!"

"A great opportunity!"

Merry, positioned to Diamante's side, immediately raised her bow and arrow and fired an Arrow Feather without hesitation.

"Whoosh~"

"Clang!"

"What?"

Seeing Diamante using her cloak to block her attack, several question marks immediately popped into Merry's head.

This guy actually managed to block my attack with just his cloak?

How is that possible?!

Profound!

She realized that the other party had used Haki, right?

As the Top Executive of the Donquixote Family, it's quite normal for him to possess Haki.

Thinking of this, Merry's expression became serious.

It might be a bit too early for them to have a Haki enemy, since neither of them is particularly Haki.

'But we don't necessarily have to fight him to the bitter end,' Merry thought to herself. 'We just need to find Luffy and his Luffy.'

Having confirmed her thoughts, Merry began to use the Power of Wind to search for Luffy's whereabouts in the Flower Field.

At the same time, she also planned to get some information out of Diamante.

Diamante was unaware that Merry had so many thoughts in that instant; at this moment, he still looked at Rebecca with an arrogant expression.

Then, he turned to look at Merry and said, "Are you curious?"

"I'm not afraid to tell you, although my cloak looks light and airy, it's actually made of the hardest steel!"

That's true, but this time Diamante has infused his steel foundation with Haki.

After all, Diamante had just witnessed the power of Merry's Arrow Feather, so he didn't dare gamble on whether his steel armor would be pierced.

"Steel?"

Merry was taken aback for a moment, then remembered what kind of ability user this guy was.

"That's right, I'm a Fluttering Man who ate the Flag-Flag Fruit!" Diamante said proudly, "I can turn anything inanimate into a fluttering flag!"

"Like this...!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Diamante grabbed Rebecca's sword and instantly turned it into a limp noodle.

Then, the noodle sword began to wriggle, eventually turning and stabbing at Rebecca.

Upon seeing this, Rebecca's expression changed. She immediately released her sword and retreated, creating distance between herself and her weapon, thus avoiding injury.

"See?"

Diamante was very satisfied with Rebecca's reaction and said, "This is the power of the Flag-Flag Fruit!"

"Anyone who touches my weapon will be disarmed!"

After saying that, Diamante quickly came to Merry's side and reached out to grab the snake bow in Merry's hand.

After touching the snake bow, Diamante sneered, "I'll cripple your bow and arrows too!"

As they spoke, Diamante activated his Devil Fruit ability.

Then Diamante burst into laughter, looking as if he had the two of them completely under his control.

But as he laughed, his laughter faded, because he realized that the little girl's weapon hadn't changed at all.

Diamante:...

The air fell silent for a few seconds.

"How is this possible?!" Diamante exclaimed in disbelief. "Could it be that you have mastered powerful Haki?"

Although he just said he could disarm all weapons, his ability might not be effective if the enemy possesses Haki.

But... how old is this little girl?

So that's how you master Haki?

This isn't Conqueror's Haki you can Awakening from birth.

Is this reasonable?

"Haki?"

Having distanced herself from Diamante once again, Merry now flew into the air to avoid being touched by Diamante again.

Then she continued, "I wouldn't be that Haki."

"Won't..."

Diamante frowned immediately. How could he disable his ability without Haki?

Just then, Diamante noticed the unusual nature of the bow and arrow in Merry's hand.

"Looking closely... isn't this a snake?!" Diamante's eyes widened as he realized what it was.

What did he see?

The little girl is holding a bow and arrow made of snakes.

Wrong!

Isn't this something only the Kuja Pirates would do? Why would this little girl from the Straw Hat Pirates do it too?

Could this person be from Amazon Lily?

But doesn't Amazon Lily never join outsider pirate crews?

'Could it be that the Kuja Pirates have secretly allied with the Straw Hat Pirates because of the world's turmoil?' Diamante wondered. 'Just like how the Straw Hat Pirates allied with that brat Law.'

However, Diamante dismissed the idea as soon as it crossed his mind, since someone as proud as the Pirate Empress would never form an alliance with anyone.

So the question is, what exactly happened to this little girl?

After realizing he couldn't figure out what was going on, Diamante decisively gave up trying to understand it.

"Hey, kid."

Diamante looked up at Merry and asked, "What's with that weapon in your hand?"

"Are you from Amazon Lily?"

Merry was taken aback. How did this guy know her weapon came from Amazon Lily?

Although she didn't know what was going on, Merry knew that she couldn't tell the truth about it.

Then, the words Merry Grandma Za had said to her when they left came to mind.

[Little Merry, if anyone asks you how you got this snake, just say you got it by chance, okay?]

This can help us avoid a lot of trouble.

At the time, she didn't quite understand why her Grandma Za would say that, but now she seems to understand a little, because there really are people who can see some problems through this weapon.

"I don't know where you mean Amazon Lily," Merry said. "I hatched this snake from an egg I found myself."

"Did you get it by chance?"

Diamante's furrowed brows gradually relaxed, confirming that the Straw Hat Pirates and the Kuja Pirates had no connection whatsoever.

That's good. Although they aren't afraid of the Kuja Pirates, provoking that woman for no reason won't do them any good.

Then, Diamante's gaze fell on the bow and arrow in Merry's hand, and he grinned, "What a lucky little fellow."

He was speaking from the heart, after all, apart from the Kuja Pirates, he had never heard of anyone who could use snakes as bows and arrows, since that species only exists on Amazon Lily.

So... in a sense, this little guy is really lucky.

Merry blinked upon hearing this. Was this guy praising her?

Praise from... the enemy?