Xie Wen certainly wasn't going to trust Perona's surrender so easily, so he took out a pair of Seastone Handcuffs and cuffed her.
As a Devil Fruit user, Perona couldn't ignore seastone's suppressive effect on ability users even in spirit form, so the instant the cuffs went on, she collapsed limply to the ground, and...
"Meow! Those two ghosts disappeared, meow!"
∑(=ΦДΦ=)
Seeing that the two Negative Hollows captured by Link Meow and the others had vanished, Ai Haibara Meow fumbled to open the seastone jar in her paws. Sure enough, the two Negative Hollows Xie Wen had stuffed inside earlier were gone too.
"Those ghosts were summoned with her Devil Fruit Ability, after all. This outcome was actually within my expectations, meow."
Ai Haibara Meow twitched her ears and quickly recovered from her panic, then stuffed the seastone jar back into her bag while speaking with an air of composure.
Well, if this Little Kitten hadn't been fumbling so badly when she opened the jar just now, Xie Wen might have believed her.
"What? Do you have something to say, meow?!"
(=`へ=)
Apparently, the teasing in Xie Wen's eyes was too obvious, because Ai Haibara Meow bristled indignantly and demanded an answer.
"How would I dare question Lady Ai?" Xie Wen reached out and rubbed the Little Kitten's head. "You're the most important medical cat in our Research Commission. Even if I dared offend anyone else, I wouldn't dare offend you~"
Then Ai Haibara Meow bit him.
After teasing the Little Kitten, Xie Wen looked around. They had been so focused on capturing the Negative Hollows and Perona that the handful of zombies left after Klee Meow's burning had long since fled without a trace.
Besides that, his Observation Haki had detected a group of people cautiously watching them