However, Sherwin quickly reacted, because in the Investigation Team lineup, there was a member whose character prototype came from The King of Fighters—Shermie.
Judging from the cat descriptions of their hometown, it seemed quite normal that she would know the Serpent Slayer… After all, besides Kusanagi Kyo, Chris can also use that move. Maybe Shermie knows a Chris Meow or even an Orochi Meow.
On the other side, Dodo Dragon had already slapped the "Serpent Slayer" onto Smile head with a single claw.
This time, Smile head neither exploded like it did the first time, nor was it evaporated as before.
Instead, every part that came into contact with the purple flames vanished as if erased by an eraser. There wasn't even the usual sizzling sound of burning—everything happened in complete silence.
"It worked!"
Seeing that Smile did not absorb the surrounding poisonous gas to recover its wounds as it had earlier, but instead twisted violently and turned into a much smaller axolotl, Sherwin and Haibara Meow shouted in delight at the same time.
"Pa'ao! Pa'ao! Pa'ao!"
It was probably the first time Smile had suffered such large-scale damage to its main body without being able to regenerate.
Clear panic could be heard in its cries, and its body began to repeatedly contract and expand, as if it were… preparing to jump.
"Oh no! It going to run! Klee!"
"It won't escape, meow!" the little Ragdoll shouted loudly. "Sealing Technique: Four Violet Flame Formation, meow!"
Under her control, flames burst out from Dodo Dragon four limbs and from the "cockpit" where Klee Meow was located, transforming into a "square box" made of fire that trapped both Smile and the Dodo inside…
Then Sherwin and the others felt the temperature rise even more.
"Ugh… so, so thirsty…"
As a mermaid, Shirahoshi directly went limp on the deck, her huge body covered in fine beads of sweat.
"Klee, stop fooling around!" Sherwin saw that the little Ragdoll, who had somehow changed into an Akatsuki uniform, was still striking poses in the "cockpit," and hurriedly shouted, "Shirahoshi can't hold on much longer!"
"Oh!"
Only then did Klee Meow rein in her playful mood and Control the Dodo Dragon to pounce toward the bewildered Smile.
Under the bite and tearing infused with purple flames from the Dodo Dragon, Smile body rapidly shrank in size.
After a few futile attempts to resist and flee, it seemed to realize Sherwin and the other intention.
It simply flopped down on the ground and assumed a submissive posture, not daring to move even when parts of its body were burned away by the purple flames.
"Brother Sherwin, what do we do now, meow?"
Seeing how pitiful it looked, the little Ragdoll naturally couldn't bring herself to strike again. She turned to Sherwin, waiting for the next order.
"Withdraw your purple flame formation first."
Sherwin glanced at Shirahoshi, who was chugging water nonstop while the other cats kept splashing more water over her, and said to Klee Meow.
Although Smile still had a chance of escaping, judging from Shirahoshi condition, she probably wouldn't last much longer.
However, this Smile, whose primary consciousness was actually a Devil Fruit, had truly been cowed.
Even after Klee Meow withdrew the surrounding purple flames, it still lay there obediently without moving.
And after being beaten up by the Dodo Dragon, Smile was now only about one-tenth of its original size… though it was still quite huge.
"Can you disperse all this poisonous fog?" Sherwin asked Smile, which was still lying motionless, through the Dodo protective barrier.
With experience raising Dodos, who was also a Devil Fruit creation, Sherwin knew it could understand human speech.
Sure enough, the Smile lying on the ground nodded its head, then lifted its head and made an inhaling motion.
The poisonous fog around them, already quite thin due to Klee Meow overwhelming display of power, was rapidly sucked into Smile body. And after inhaling the poison gas, its size swelled up again by quite a bit.
"I'll go out and take a look first. Act according to my signals."
Although the other party had already shown a clear posture of submission, Sherwin still decided to go out and test it himself, just in case.
As he spoke, he stepped out of the Dodo protective barrier and went straight to Smile front.
"Pa'ao."
Smile lowered its body again, showing a docile posture, and also worked hard to restrain the toxins within its body from spreading any further.
It really did look like it had been thoroughly beaten into submission.
"But it still a bit too big…" Sherwin rubbed his chin and said to Smile, "Can you shrink a bit more?"
"Ba'ao."
Smile nodded its head, and then its body visibly… shrank by about three to four centimeters.
It was still a bit bigger than it had been before absorbing the surrounding poisonous mist.
Smile also seemed to know that this level still wouldn't satisfy Sherwin, so it shook its body again and rapidly scattered into a pile of small slimes.
Mm, these "clones" really were slimes now. Their forms no longer retained the axolotl features and were just clumps of moving viscous liquid.
Only Smile itself, the main body, still maintained the axolotl-like posture.
But… keeping such a large pile of poisonous slimes on the ship was still not acceptable.
Sherwin rubbed his brow helplessly. "Can you actively abandon these 'clone?"
Smile main body trembled slightly, but it still obediently shook its head.
Should he have Klee Meow burn all of its clones?
Seeing Smile being so cooperative, Sherwin felt a little embarrassed to do that.
"Oh, right, I can let Suika Meow try!"
Sherwin, who was hesitating, suddenly slapped his palm. Smile main body was just a mass of aggregated toxins—Suika Meow ability should still be effective on it.
At worst, he could let Smile switch to an inanimate state first, then change back after shrinking.
If even that still failed with Suika Meow, then he would consider having Klee Meow burn its clones.
After all, the other side had already admitted defeat—if they could avoid harming it, it was better to do so.
Sherwin turned back and waved to the cats on the deck, calling out, "Everyone, come down. And Suika, it your turn now!"
Very soon, all the crew members, including Shirahoshi, gathered around Sherwin. Even Dodos flew down and landed on Sherwin head, curiously examining this "kindred" before them.
"Suika, try to see if you can shrink it a bit," Sherwin said to the wobbling little drunken cat. "Be careful. Get the antidote haibara prepared ready first, and remember to protect yourself with Armament Haki."
"No need to go to all that trouble, meow," Suika Meow waved her paw as she swayed her way over to Smile, which had reassembled into a single mass.
"Didn't haibara already say it? Short-term contact is fine, meow… hic!"
Even though her body was swaying nonstop, Suika Meow little paw—already coated pitch-black with Armament Haki—steadily rested on Smile.
Immediately afterward, its body seemed as if it had been struck by a shrinking ray, rapidly becoming about the same size as the Felynes.
"All done, meow!"
Suika Meow withdrew her paw and took another swig of liquor for herself.
Only after seeing that she truly hadn't suffered any ill effects did Sherwin finally relax, shifting his attention back to Smile.
Sure enough, as an aggregate of toxins, even without reverting to pure poison, Smile was still "recognized" as an inanimate object by Suika Meow Devil Fruit ability.
However, its toxin body had already been compressed once before. After undergoing this further compression by Suika Meow, Smile was temporarily unable to maintain the axolotl form.
Instead, it now looked even more like that previous pile of "slime" clones.
Moreover, both the state and the color of its body had changed. Although it still remained in a liquid state, it was clearly much more viscous, and its color had shifted from the previous vivid crimson to a dark, dull deep red.
"Ba~~ ao~ ao~ ao~~~"
In this state, even Smile cries became strange.
Fortunately, this situation did not last long. After wriggling and squirming while making gurgling noises for quite some time, Smile finally recovered its axolotl form once again.
"Now this little guy is in your hands," Sherwin said as he patted Haibara Meow on the small head.
"But you'd better weaken the toxicity on its body a bit, or make some kind of isolation suit for it. Otherwise, having a toxin aggregate like this staying on the ship will be a huge hassle."
"Hmph~ I don't need a dumb idiot like you to remind me of that, meow!"
The little kitten first bit Sherwin, then responded in a tsundere manner.