Time rewound to a few minutes earlier.
Amid the ruins of the town, Wells saw Ochoku abandon him and flee alone. His once-radiant face twisted into a pleading expression as he desperately begged Perona's Spirit Body before him:
"Hey, little girl, let me go! We have no grudge against each other. There's no need to keep fighting!"
Having released Blackening Control, he too had fallen into an extremely weakened state. Just now, he had used the last scrap of his strength to forcibly inflict himself with a "disease" that stimulated adrenaline production, temporarily restoring his combat ability.
But it was only temporary and could not last long at all.
"I'm sorry, but someone on our side has taken a liking to your Devil Fruit."
Perona's Spirit Body floated in midair as she decisively refused without a second thought. There was one thing she did not say—this was her first time facing an enemy officer alone. She did not want it to end so anticlimactically and become a laughingstock when she returned.
"So we can't talk this out? Then I'll just have to defeat you!"
A vicious glint flashed through Wells's eyes as new viruses instantly formed across his body. This time, he gave himself a genetic disease that would "turn him into a Whale Shark Fish-Man."
That was the terrifying aspect of the Sick-Sick Fruit—it could infect its user or enemies with any disease, including genetic ones.
Through this, Wells could turn himself into any race.
Given the situation before him, becoming a Fish-Man was undoubtedly the best choice. The Fish-Man Tribe possessed strength far beyond that of humans, allowing him to break through quickly. More importantly, Fish-Men were not as cumbersome as Giants, making escape easier.
And Whale Shark Fish-Men were among the very strongest of the Fish-Man Tribe,