"Boom—!"
A burst of flames exploded out of thin air near Marigold body. If not for her Observation Haki sensing the danger and dodging in advance, she would have been hit head-on by Jinx punch, "Palico Karate."
"Huh? Huh? What just happened?"
"That little cat clearly didn't take out any bomb, so why did an explosion happen next to Lady Marigold?"
The isolation of Nine Snake Island was no less than that of Wano Country, so most people here had no idea what Devil Fruits were.
"A Devil Fruit ability?"
Naturally, Marigold—also a Devil Fruit user who often went out to sea—was not surprised by this at all. After avoiding Jinx attack, she activated her own Devil Fruit ability and transformed into a half-human, half-snake form.
"It appeared! The Gorgon Curse!"
The surrounding spectators erupted into cheers once more.
"Wow~~~ what a dignified appearance!"
"This is the proof of a warrior who defeated the Gorgon monster!"
"Even the cursed Lady Marigold is so incredibly charming!"
"Mr. Kaido, what are they talking about? This is clearly a Devil Fruit ability."
Shirahoshi listened to the cheers around her and looked at Kaido Meow in confusion.
"It should be that so-called king never told his people the truth, and instead used the excuse of a 'Gorgon Curse,' meow."
Kaido Meow frowned, also showing a puzzled expression. "But… why would he do that, meow? Is it to prevent others from obtaining Devil Fruit abilities and thus affecting his own rule, meow?"
"I don't think so, meow," Suika Meow said. Even though she was drunk all day long, when it came time to be sharp, she was indeed very sharp.
"With how much the people of this country adore Hancock, even if she had no strength at all, it would still be unlikely for them to oppose her. She doesn't need to go through all this trouble just to solidify her rule, meow."
"Then maybe there some reason we don't know yet," Kaido Meow nodded, then said to Shirahoshi, "If you're curious, you can ask Huamei and Robin later. Maybe they'll know something, meow."
While the cats were talking, the battle on the arena continued at the same time.
"What the heck, meow! Are you the cat or am I the cat?! Dodging around like this, I can't hit you at all, meow!"
(=`н=)
The little crazy cat wildly swung her explosive kitty fists with a series of "boom boom boom," yet no matter what, she couldn't land a hit on Marigold, who looked chubby but was in fact unbelievably agile.
After entering her half-human, half-snake state, Marigold—who had already been very nimble—received a further boost to her agility. Combined with her Observation Haki, Jinx, who currently only possessed Armament Haki, naturally found it very difficult to hit her opponent.
Even when she occasionally ran into attacks that were impossible to dodge, Marigold could rely on the defensive power granted by her Zoan-type Devil Fruit along with the reinforcement of Armament Haki to tank them head-on.
Of course, this also had to do with the fact that Jinx wasn't really putting in much effort right now. She hadn't even used the Hollow Soul Possession specialized for Observation Haki, because the little crazy cat wanted to take this opportunity to train her own Observation Haki properly.
Jinx Observation Haki awakening had always been stuck at a critical threshold, and the main reason was the lack of a suitable opponent.
When sparring with the other cats on a regular basis, there was no need to mention it—everyone couldn't possibly go all out for real. Polishing their techniques and improving combat experience was fine, but breaking through the Observation Haki bottleneck was far from easy.
And in battles against enemies, Jinx belonged to the long-range category. Most of the time she only needed to hide in the back and provide support. Even if she ran into someone who was good at dodging, throwing out a few AOE attacks would still blow them up all the same.
Even the "Klee Meow Explosion Method," which was the most suitable within the Investigation Team for stimulating Observation Haki, had its effectiveness greatly reduced because of the Explosion Fruit ability.
So being able to run into an opponent like Marigold—someone who understood Observation Haki, whose overall strength wasn't excessively high, and who could still keep up with the cat speed—was actually quite rare.
If Jinx were really allowed to go all out and attack freely, then even without using any of her weapons, with her development of the Explosion Fruit, producing explosions on the level of bouncing bombs purely through her Devil Fruit ability would not be impossible.
But if it really came to that, not to mention Marigold—even the surrounding spectators would all be blown sky-high together…
Crazy as the little mad cat was, she still didn't want to get dragged off by Huamei to solitary confinement again over such a "small matter."
…
"Snake Hair Possession · Flame Serpent God!"
Having been forced to dodge all over the place by Jinx explosive cat-cat punches, Marigold mood was far from pleasant. After taking one hit head-on, she decisively activated her strongest mode.
Not only did her body transform into a half-human, half-snake form, her hair also turned into living snakes, and flames clung to her entire body, giving off an overwhelming sense of pressure.
When the Kuja spectators saw this form, they immediately burst into cheers.
"Sister Jinx! You can do it!"
In the stands, Shirahoshi cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted with all her strength to cheer on her big sister, her voice rising amid the roars of the Kuja warriors.
"Hmph~ just a bit of fire, meow!"
(=`へ=)
Jinx turned back and waved at her little follower, then curled her lips and shot a disdainful sideways glance at the flame-wreathed Marigold.
With Klee Meow around, the cats were no strangers to dealing with fire in their daily lives. In fact, solving this problem was very simple for the members of the Research Commission—just put on the combat suits made by Haibara Meow and Purah Meow.
As for the Research Commission combat suits, which had been improved using Germa technology, setting everything else aside, their resistance to high temperatures and explosions was absolutely top-tier in the world.
However, as mentioned before, Jinx intended to make Marigold lose with complete conviction, so she had no intention of relying on external gear like a combat suit.
Yet for the moment, the little mad cat couldn't come up with a better countermeasure—and Marigold wasn't going to wait for her. In the very next second, the two flame-burning snake hairs opened their maws wide and lunged toward Jinx.
Even without considering the flames coiling around them, the threat posed by the snake hairs themselves was no small matter.
Their "snake fangs," coated in Armament Haki, could easily bite through stone. Even though Jinx could also use Armament Haki, she absolutely did not want to experience what it felt like to be bitten by them.
And aside from these two flaming snake hairs, Marigold—who had eaten the Cobra Fruit—could also spit out highly corrosive venom.
With the combined support of the snake hairs and the poison, the situation on the field quickly shifted.
Marigold, who had originally been forced to dodge everywhere by Jinx, finally seized the initiative, instead driving the little mad cat into leaping and dodging all over the place to avoid her attacks.
But this development was exactly what the little mad cat wanted. After all, she had another goal as well—to awaken Observation Haki. Forcing Marigold to run around earlier hadn't helped her awaken it at all.
Jinx Observation Haki had already been just one step away, and the little mad cat combat talent was in no way inferior to that of other battle-type cats.
Under the pressure brought by Marigold, she quickly broke through the bottleneck that had held her back for so long, and naturally awakened Observation Haki.
"Hahahaha! This fight—it time to end it, meow!"
(=`=)
Jinx, who had been hopping all over the place just moments ago, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Facing the two flaming snake hairs snapping at her with wide-open mouths, the little mad cat neither dodged nor evaded. Just as they were about to reach her, she softly uttered:
"Boom."
"BOOM—!"
Jinx body instantly lit up with a burst of firelight, and violent explosions erupted all around her. The two flame serpents that lunged toward her were blown apart on the spot, and even the flames clinging to them were snuffed out by the shockwaves from the blasts.
Reactive armor—a special type of armor structure used on tanks in modern warfare.
Its principle is to mount plates filled with inert explosives on the outside of a tank. When struck by high-damage anti-tank weapons such as missiles or armor-piercing shells, the explosives inside the armor detonate, using outward-directed blasts to reduce the damage inflicted by those weapons.
And Jinx, who possesses the Explosive Fruit ability, is effectively covered from head to toe in reactive armor that can detonate continuously.
So without even considering using Observation Haki to evade, in terms of pure defensive capability alone, she is actually a bit stronger than Seijuro Meow and Huamei.
"Felyne Jujutsu · Explosive Over-the-Shoulder Throw, meow!"
After blowing apart Marigold snake hair, the little mad cat pressed the attack. She decisively activated the Air Soul Possession and flung a large handful of cat fur at the still flame-wreathed snake woman.
Under the techniques of Felyne Jujutsu, this light, drifting fur shot toward Marigold like flying needles, perfectly sealing off every possible route of retreat.
"Boom boom boom boom boom—!"