With Diamante's furious roar, everything around him seemed to turn as light and fluttering as a flag in the wind.
"Land Flag!"
This was Diamante's Devil Fruit ability—transforming the ground within a certain radius around him into a lightweight state, making it ripple like a fluttering cloth to throw opponents off balance.
It was his proudest technique.
"Not just the ground. Even the ice you create—if I will it, it'll become no different from a flag," Diamante sneered, crushing the ice around his feet effortlessly.
Monet frowned slightly.
'So it's not just the weight that changes—even the physical properties of the ice are altered?'
"Snake Sword!"
While Monet was still strategizing, Diamante's attack had already reached her.
Using his Flag-Flag Fruit powers, he manipulated his rapier into a serpentine form, lashing toward Monet's neck with terrifying speed.
Just before the blade reached her, its lightweight state would revert to full hardness—with that force and velocity, there was no doubt Monet's head would be severed instantly.
Yet Monet merely raised a hand.
As countless ice walls erupted around her, no matter how agile the blade was, it couldn't pierce through the barriers shielding her at the center.
The sword struck the ice with a deafening crash, cleaving through a three-meter-thick wall in a single slash!
Diamante laughed wildly.
"I told you—this ability is useless against me! If I want, your ice walls mean nothing!"
With that, he activated his power again.
The ground beneath Monet's feet—along with everything nearby—rippled into cloth-like flimsiness.
Maintaining balance was impossible, let alone fighting.
But then, a faint smile appeared on Monet's face.
Layers of solid ice surged from her body, anchoring her firmly to the ground.
At the same time, massive ice walls sealed off the entire space around them.
"You seem quite confident in your ability. You said anything within your domain can become lightweight if you wish, correct?"
"I won't give you a chance to ask twice!"
"Bull Horn Thrust!"
This technique involved transforming a rapier into a lightweight form, twisting it into the shape of a bull's horn, then restoring its hardness to create a rapier with a sharp bull-horn-shaped tip for thrusting attacks.
Combined with the tripping effect of the Army Flag, it often allowed him to achieve dazzling victories.
"The biggest mistake you made in this battle was sealing off the entire surrounding environment! You'll be pinned to your own ice pillar!"
With the aid of his Devil Fruit ability, Diamante's speed reached a level nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
But for Monet, who regularly trained with Jake, this speed was merely standard training intensity.
She had long prepared countless ways to evade such attacks.
The simplest of them all was to make the opponent's strike miss entirely.
"Ice Mirror!"
As countless mirrors crafted from ice materialized within the frozen walls, Jake—who was currently engaged in battle with Doflamingo—naturally noticed this.
Without hesitation, he hurled a blindingly radiant Holy Light toward Monet's direction.
Years of seamless teamwork had already made Monet aware of Jake's intentions.
The moment the Holy Light appeared in his hand, she closed her eyes and relied on Observation Haki to perceive her surroundings.
But for Diamante, it was different.
Though he also possessed Observation Haki, in this world, unless their eyes were impaired, most people primarily relied on sight as their main means of observation.
And it was this very habit that dragged Diamante into the abyss of death.
The mirror's reflection, combined with Jake's Holy Light, instantly robbed Diamante of his vision.
Clutching his burning eyes, he saw nothing but searing brightness!
At such a moment, activating Observation Haki demanded extraordinary composure.
Diamante clearly lacked such calmness.
Realizing he had been tricked, instead of steadying himself to use Observation Haki, he wildly swung his rapier in a desperate attempt to fend off any potential ambush from Monet.
Watching this, Doflamingo's expression stiffened.
He wanted to rush to Diamante's aid, but Jake stubbornly blocked his path.
Trebol had already begun moving through the ice, only to be immobilized by Jake's Holy Chains.
"Damn brat!"
Unlike the furious commotion on their side, Monet felt no pity as she observed Diamante's enraged roars, trapped like a cornered beast within the ice.
Had it not been for Jake's constant care in the slave cages of Aston Kingdom, she would have long perished there.
Thus, she harbored not an ounce of mercy for Doflamingo's subordinates.
Mercy toward them was cruelty toward the innocent!
"Blizzard!"
As Monet's voice echoed, Diamante failed to pinpoint her exact location.
The surrounding snowstorm was too intense, and within the enclosed icy chamber, Monet's voice reverberated endlessly, further disorienting Diamante's thoughts and judgment.
The moment the blizzard appeared, the surrounding temperature began to drop at a visible rate.
In just an instant, the white breath exhaled by Diamante had already crystallized into ice in the air.
The moment he felt the freezing cold, Diamante knew what Monet was planning—this damned woman intended to freeze him to death right here!
She had realized it.
Though his ability could alter the form and weight of matter, it couldn't change its temperature!
'Damn it! Damn it!'
He had to break through the ice and escape immediately!
Diamante activated his Army Flag (Land of the Dead) and began frantically attacking the surrounding ice, trying to force his way out of this enclosed space.
But Monet had anticipated this.
On every path Diamante tried to take, she erected thick walls of ice, sealing off all his movements.