The fiery little Felyne dolls meowed loudly as they pounced together, their tiny paws striking against the seven-meter-tall Shadow Mage…
But their attacks barely caused any damage.
That was only natural—after all, Klee Meow wasn't particularly skilled in melee combat.
She was still young her speed was decent, but compared to other Felynes, her strength was much lower.
And since these fiery clones were created based on her own abilities, they perfectly reflected that weakness as well.
On top of that, the Shadow Mage—being a creature made of shadow—had no fear of fire.
So, even with a hundred fiery Felynes attacking at once, they couldn't disperse the Shadow Mage. It merely swayed slightly under their blows.
"Hehehehehehe! Now you see, don't you? Logia users aren't invincible!"
Moria laughed proudly, though his actions betrayed his words—he cautiously retreated to a safe distance.
After all, unlike his Shadow Mage, his real body couldn't ignore Klee Meow flames.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Mage swung its massive hands and twisted its body, flinging away all the fiery Felynes that had leapt onto it.
"Hmph! So what if you're bigger? Klee not scared of you, meow!"
(=`н=)
The little Felyne puffed up her cheeks in anger, raising her tiny arms as she controlled her hundred fiery clones to soar into the air, merging into a single massive fireball.
"Summoning Jutsu—Dodo Bear, come meow!"
"Roooar-mu!"
The gigantic "fireball" stretched out its limbs, revealing a huge, cartoonish flame bear that landed with a loud thud before the Shadow Mage.
When it stood upright, it was actually a good ten centimeters taller than the Shadow Mage.
"Whoosh!"
Its round, pudgy paw swept through the air with a gust, smacking straight into the Shadow Mage face.
The impact exploded the mage head into a cloud of black smoke.
But the Shadow Mage shattered head quickly reformed, and it immediately countered with a heavy punch of its own at Dodo Bear.
Bang!
A large dent appeared on Dodo Bear adorably round head, but the rising flames quickly mended the damage, restoring it to its full, fluffy glory.
What followed was a chaotic clash between two massive beasts—fists, paws, and feet flying in all directions.
Though the fight looked intense, with both sides possessing near "immortal" traits, it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand.
Klee Meow cheered gleefully from the sidelines for her Dodo Bear, while Sherwin and the others looked on with fond amusement, letting the little Felyne enjoy her fun.
Moria, however, clearly didn't share their relaxed attitude.
While everyone was distracted, he quietly extended a shadow across the ground beneath the excited Klee Meow.
In a sudden move, the shadow rose up, trapping the little Felyne inside a pitch-black, square-shaped box made entirely of shadow.
"Why did it suddenly get dark, meow?"
Inside the shadow box came Klee Meow puzzled voice. After a few moments of confusion, the little fool finally realized what was going on…
"Waaah! Weren't we supposed to have a summoning beast battle, meow? You sneaky garlic-head, how dare you use a sneak attack, meow!"
Klee Meow first tried punching the inside of the shadow box a few times with her tiny Felyne fists, then scratched it with her claws.
When she realized that her own strength couldn't break through, she immediately summoned a small fiery four-leaf clover inside the box.
"Watch Klee Boom Boom Spark, meow!"
A blazing beam of fire shot from the center of the four-leaf clover, easily piercing through the shadow box and continuing straight toward Moria.
The little Felyne herself slipped out through the hole in elemental form.
Moria narrowly dodged the flame beam, then turned to look at the walls behind him—now burned through several layers—and fell silent.
He hadn't expected that this tiny cat mastery over the Flame-Flame Fruit would be no weaker than his own expertise as a veteran Devil Fruit user.
That realization made one thing clear: defeating her wasn't going to be easy…
Especially now that he still hadn't managed to regain his Haki.
But before Moria could come up with a countermeasure, Klee Meow—furious that he had broken the "fair play" rule—had already launched her next attack.
"Explosive Spark—Dodo Sparrows, meow!"
A dozen plump little flame sparrows flapped their wings and dived straight toward Moria.
Moria didn't dare to be careless for even a moment. He immediately summoned a swarm of equally round, shadowy bats to intercept the attack.
Under his control, these bats didn't just block the incoming flaming sparrows — they transformed into small shadow boxes, trapping Klee Meow fiery sparrows inside.
After all, Moria wasn't stupid or deaf. With Klee Meow shouting the name of her attack so loudly, if he still didn't realize that those fiery sparrows were going to explode, then he really would have been a fool.
However, just like everyone who had faced Klee Meow bombs for the first time, Moria completely underestimated the power of those little plush-made explosives…
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM——!!!"
The dozen or so shadow boxes didn't even last half a second before they were blown apart by the explosions.
Blazing flames and powerful shockwaves burst forth, and Moria felt the ground tremble violently beneath him.
The next instant, the floor gave way, and he fell together with the collapsing debris into the lower level.
Of course, Sherwin and his group, who had already prepared for the blast and the fall, plunged down as well.
"Waaahhhh!"
Well… Brook, who lacked experience, clearly hadn't been ready.
Fortunately, being a skeleton, he was as light as a feather. After his initial panic, he quickly calmed down, using his unique physique to land gracefully.
Together with Sherwin and the others, who had also landed steadily, he blocked the falling chunks of debris that came crashing down around them.
"Little Klee bombs… aren't they a bit too overpowered?"
Brook stared at the collapsed tower that had once been part of the castle, finally understanding why Sherwin and the others had been stopping Klee Meow from throwing bombs all along.
Sherwin twitched the corner of his mouth. "That wasn't even Klee actual bomb — just a spark she created with her ability to trigger an explosion. Klee real bombs are way stronger than that."
As if to prove Sherwin words, Klee Meow, not far away, reached into her little backpack and pulled out a plush doll that was twice her own size.
With a cheerful "Heh!", she hurled it straight toward Moria, who was struggling to his feet amidst the rubble.
"Explosion Style: Boom Boom Bomb Meow!"
"Don't just stand there! Find cover, now!"
Seeing Brook still frozen in place, blankly watching as the Boom Boom Bomb bounced along the ground toward Moria — hop, hop, hop — Sherwin hurriedly grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him far back to safety.
Robin and the other Felynes had already retreated at the first sign of danger, taking cover behind sturdy debris.
Sherwin, Link Meow, Seijuro Meow, and Sanji Meow also backed away some distance, but none of them hid.
Instead, they activated full-body Armament Haki hardening, bracing themselves to withstand the blast head-on.
After all, Klee Meow bombs might be terrifying, but they were also an excellent way to train one Armament Haki — though, naturally, how far each person retreated depended on just how developed their Haki was.
As for Huamei Meow, since her Armament Haki had only just awakened and she couldn't yet harden her entire body, she sensibly hid behind cover.
"W–Wait! What about me?!"
Perona, who had accidentally been forgotten by Sherwin, shouted loudly from beneath a pile of rubble.
Unfortunately, Sherwin no longer had the time to worry about her, because—
"BOOM——!!! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM——!!!"