Chapter 42: Freyja Vs Hina!
After my remark, she didn't respond and dashed right for me as she extended her arm to her side, while I, on the other hand, just stood still and watched her, curious about her devil fruit ability since she carried a similar scent to Sebas, Freyja and a few others I've encountered in the past. Once she reached me, she clotheslined me, yet instead of getting hit, her arm went right through me while leaving behind an iron rod that trapped my arms; it was surprising, but I wasn't given any time to relax as she kicked my legs, causing her legs to go right through mine, once again caging me, trapping my legs.
"What are you waiting for? Fire! He is still very much a threat even with him being caged." Yelled Hina as she turned around and eyed Ness.
"Y-You heard her! FIRE!" Stated Ness as he lowered his raised hands, causing all the trembling marines, who had regained their confidence from Hina's display of might, to unleash an onslaught of bullets, cannonballs, and even explosives.
"Hehe; what fun." Muttered Diddy with a grin just as he got bombarded with various attacks.
Even though my limbs were constricted, I could still use tekkai, completely ignoring most of their attacks, though the explosives did hurt a little; not only did I have to worry about the flames from the explosion, but the shockwaves as well, since tekkai was utterly defenseless against that. However, other than slightly injuring me, the marine's attacks didn't do much, the thing that hurt me the most were the shockwaves, yet they were far too weak to do any actual damage to me, at most making me feel uncomfortable as they caused my organs to slightly shake, though this did get me thinking about a new technique.
'Hmm, if I could use tekkai on not only my muscles and skin but also on my organs, and possibly even bones, it would greatly enhance my defense capabilities; I'm definitely skilled enough in the rokushiki to do something like that, the thing that's holding me back is the control of my body. I need to somehow gain absolute control over my body; if I can do that, it will bring about several other benefits and greatly increase how to effectively and efficiently use my strength.' Pondered Diddy seriously with his eyes closed while still getting hit with numerous explosions and bullets, creating a large smoke cloud that concealed his figure.
"Stop!" Yelled Ness as he raised his hand, causing the numerous marines to halt their fire as they all nervously looked at the large smoke cloud, though after eyeing it for several seconds and seeing no movement, they all released a sigh.
"Stop paying attention to my stupid Captain; as much as I would love to see it happen, you can't beat him; you're just wasting your time." Remarked Freyja with a frown as she speedily flew toward Hina while brandishing her long nails, though she blocked her attack by creating an iron rod from her body, causing the two to enter a struggle.
"Even if he isn't dead, Hina immobilized him; he'll be a much easier enemy to deal with. Seeing how you don't seem to like him, why don't you don't stop this futile nonsense and help Hina take him down?" Stated Hina with a frown while furrowing her brows as she looked at Freyja, who brandished her other hand.
"It's not a bad offer, but unfortunately, with just the two of us, I don't have much confidence in beating him; besides, he won't stay immobilized for long, and there he goes." Replied Freyja while attacking Hina's iron bar with her other hand, flinging her a few meters back as she looked at the large smoke cloud, her ear twitching.
Breaking the two iron bars off me while still concealed behind the smoke, I threw one of them toward Freyja and the other one toward Hina; Freyja simply dodged it, while the other hit Hina, though it seemed to cause no damage as it was absorbed back into her body.
"Hehe, what the hell are you doing, Freya? You know I don't like it when someone interrupts my fun." Said Diddy with a feral grin as he used geppo with his hands, causing a large chunk of the smoke cloud to disperse, revealing his slightly injured body, though that alone was enough to discourage everyone, including Hina.
"How about next time, don't just stand there with your eyes closed, and then maybe I won't interfere with your fights; besides, fighting her will ease a significant amount of my anger, so let me fight her instead." Replied Freyja with a frown while two large horns sprouted from her forehead as she ignored Diddy and focused on the incoming Hina, who was attempting to take advantage of their discord.
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Looking at the incoming woman, I brandished my nails, which might as well be claws from how sharp they are; spreading my wings, I flapped and quickly neared the woman, yet while doing so, she clasped her hands together, creating a massive dome cage as she attempted to trap me inside, though before she could, I made a sharp right, evading the iron cage.
However, while flying around her cage, I was forced to stop myself as my stupid captain had just launched a blade of wind toward me, and if I had continued flying, I would've been sliced in half; angrily eyeing Diddy, I nearly changed my target from Hina to him, but doing so would just result in being brutally beaten by him.
"Ho, when did I agree to let you fight her, Freyja?" Asked Diddy with a smirk as he retracted his leg.
"Tch, why do you care so much!? She isn't even strong enough to warrant a good fight from you, so stop being annoying and let me fight her!" Stated Freyja angrily as she was forced to block an attack from Hina since she was too busy focusing on Diddy.
"I think you're underestimating Hina a little too much; Hina didn't just get to her position as a Rear Admiral just because of Hina's appearance, after all." Remarked Hina as she did a front flip off of Freyja's nails and attacked her with an iron whip, which Freyja nimbly evaded with the help of her wings.
"Heh, I can obviously see that, but unlike you, I've lived with that beast for almost half of his life; after him, no one knows his strength better than me, and one thing I can certainly say is, you're not even close to his power." Remarked Freyja with a frown as she gritted her teeth, recalling the night she witnessed a transformed Diddy.
'Who knows how powerful that monster has truly become; I'm thankful the full moon only occurs once a month.' Thought Freyja in relief as she remembered how utterly helpless she was against a transformed Diddy, which was a few years ago, and he's only gotten stronger since then.
Shaking my head to get rid of such distractive thoughts, I focused back on the battle on hand as I clawed at Hina while opting to avoid her attacks if possible rather than blocking them since I wasn't nearly as physically strong as Diddy and while I'm confident I'd be able to break out of her iron bars, it won't be as quick.
"Hmm, I suppose you're right, Freyja; Hina's decently powerful, but it's not enough to really spur my desire to fight her; besides, it'll have a bigger impact if the second-in-command defeats Hina and not the Captain." Said Diddy while nodding with a thoughtful expression as he watched the battle between Freyja and Hina.
"Hehe, since you're doing that, I'll have you take care of things here; I'm going to head deeper into the Briss Kingdom. Since it's a Kingdom, it should have an army, right? It's been enough time; I hope they mobilized them." Added Diddy with a smirk as he headed deeper into the city while muttering the last part, though his destination required him to pass by Ness and his soldiers.
"Ness, stop him! Hina has her hands full; we can't allow such a dangerous pirate into the city filled with innocent civilians, no matter what!" Yelled Hina with an ugly expression as she attempted to lunge forwards and stop him, but Freyja always intercepted her before she could.
"We understand! You heard her, men! Fire, and don't stop firing until you've run out of ammo! We must stop this pirate even at the cost o our lives!" Declared Ness as he raised his sword high and dashed toward Diddy while the marines behind him began to attack while shouting.
"As much as I hate him, he's my Captain, and he's given me the order to deal with things here, so I will." Muttered Freyja with a frown while sighing as she kicked Hina, and though she blocked it, the force had still flung her several meters away.
Turning around and eyeing the numerous marines behind me, I lightly smiled while using the deadly bewitching abilities of a Succubus, causing them to come to a halt as they focused on me instead.
"You all just wait right there until I've defeated Hina; If you do so, I'll come and give you all a lovely reward; what do you say?" Said Freyja with a lovely smile in an incredibly seductive voice as her words entered the ears of the men and women present, enchanting their minds and turning them practically into slaves driven by their lust for her.
"O-Of course Mistress Freyja! We wouldn't dare to disobey your words!" Yelled Ness with a zealous expression as he and everyone else stopped what they were doing and stood still, almost like statues, while eyeing Freyja up above.
"Fufu, now then, you better not defy my words; I don't like disobeying slaves." Said Freyja with a slight smirk as she turned her head and eyed Hina, who was noticeably blushing while looking at Freyja, though she seemed still in control of herself.
"I expected as much; my abilities aren't nearly as effective when used against women; now, let us continue the fight; I still need to let off some steam." Added Freyja as she licked her lips and charged toward Hina.