"Are those... Skypiea Dials?"
Rear Admiral Alan recognized the true nature of those shells at a single glance. Although decades had passed since her last visit to Skypiea, these magical Dials had still left an incredibly deep impression on her.
"Yes," Sherlock nodded. These Dials were one of the greatest hauls from his trip to the sky island.
After all, even a guy like Usopp knew to trade rubber bands for local Skypiea specialties, so how could a certain profiteer pass up such a golden opportunity?
Aside from common items like Impact Dials and Axe Dials, Sherlock had managed to scavenge quite a few near-extinct, rare Dials—including a Thunder Dial capable of absorbing and releasing lightning! Heaven only knew how that Skypiea old-timer who sold them managed to keep such a treasure hidden right under Eneru's nose until now.
Breath Dial, Flame Dial, Flash Dial, Thunder Dial, Ice Dial...
Under the control of Sherlock's mind, the mirror images of these five elemental Dials arranged themselves in a pentagonal formation and slowly began to rotate, leaving Rear Admiral Alan completely baffled.
— Mirror Manifestation.
Sherlock projected five bright silver flintlock pistols once more, matching them one-by-one with the five Dials. Then...
— Mirror Fusion!
The mirror images of the guns and the Dials slowly merged together, forming five flintlock pistols that looked no different from before.
"What kind of strange ability is this now? Are you performing magic tricks?" Alan couldn't help but ask aloud.
Sherlock gave a mysterious smile and didn't answer.
"You know, your Devil Fruit ability reminds me of a certain animal." A strange light flashed through the dark eyes behind his lenses as the Sorcerer spoke with meaningful intent: "Just like a... chameleon."
"A chameleon?"
Rear Admiral Alan tilted her head slightly in confusion, then let out a sudden chuckle.
"Hahaha~ What an accurate metaphor. You're absolutely right. Just like a chameleon changing its body color, I can match my own elemental attributes to the external environment."
"Then I guess you've definitely never heard that joke about the chameleon, Rear Admiral Alan." Sherlock's eyes narrowed slightly as he activated his Devil Fruit ability once more.
— Unlimited Gun Works!
Swish, swish, swish... The mirror images of the five flintlock pistols fused with the Dials suddenly twisted in midair. Then, like a blooming lotus of firearms, they split and multiplied into hundreds of guns. They agilely spun around, their dark muzzles locking directly onto a certain overaged loli.
"What joke? Let's hear it," Rear Admiral Alan said, crossing her arms with great interest.
Seeing her nonchalant attitude, it was clear she didn't care in the slightest about these gun mirror images, whose numbers were actually fewer than before.
Bang! A gunshot rang out. Unlike before, however, what erupted from the muzzle wasn't a lead bullet, but a projectile made entirely of pure flame!
(Oh? Using Skypiea Dials to fire bullets of different elemental attributes? He has quite the imagination,) Alan thought to herself.
(But what's the point of that?)
Whoosh! Trailing a long streak of fire, the flame bullet struck the overaged loli square in the forehead. Amidst rolling flames and a scorching blast of air, Alan's Elemental Form activated once more.
"I've already told you, elemental attacks are useless against me. Why won't you believe me?"
Shrugging her shoulders, the twin-tailed loli Rear Admiral, now transformed into a flame spirit, asked, "And what exactly is that chameleon joke..."
Bang! Bang! Bang!... A dense barrage of gunfire was Rear Admiral Alan's only answer.
Freezing ice bullets radiating frost, flashing light bullets, crackling thunder bullets surging with electricity, and invisible wind bullets of no discernible shape.
Countless elemental bullets of various attributes poured frantically toward the Enemy of Nature. The multicolored barrage of elements looked exceptionally brilliant, like fireworks on a midsummer night.
As for Rear Admiral Alan, who was being pelted by these special bullets, it went without saying. Her petite frame turned into light one moment and shifted into ice the next; the dizzying speed at which she switched forms was practically blinding.
Whenever multiple elemental bullets struck her simultaneously, the twin-tailed loli's body would fuse with those elements all at once, dividing into fractured, distinct elemental blocks before snapping into entirely different attributes in the blink of an eye. It was an incredibly bizarre sight.
Yet despite this, the Enemy of Nature, blanketed under an endless hail of projectiles, still hadn't sustained a single scratch.
"The joke goes like this..."
Unmoved by the display, Sherlock calmly pushed up his glasses and said indifferently, "Once upon a time, a man caught a chameleon to keep as a pet. The chameleon was very docile, and he grew incredibly fond of the little color-changing creature."
The bespectacled man's face turned slightly pale. Even though it was only the most basic level of Mirror Fusion, controlling so many of them at once was still a significant burden for the Sorcerer.
"Then one day, he accidentally placed the chameleon's cage right in front of a screen projected by a Visual Den Den Mushi..."
Saying up to this point, Sherlock looked toward the Enemy of Nature, who was frantically shifting attributes ahead, and a polished smirk curved up the corner of his mouth.
"...and then, the chameleon died of exhaustion."
"Pfft..." Rear Admiral Alan rolled her eyes.
"What kind of nonsense is that? That joke isn't funny at all. You—"
Alan wanted to keep talking, but in the next split second, the loli Rear Admiral's right eye went wide with realization. She suddenly understood the exact implication of the Sorcerer's joke.
Wasn't her current state identical to that chameleon stuck in front of the screen?!
(This guy...)
Rear Admiral Alan's mind reeled in shock. The Enemy of Nature, who originally scoffed at Logia-type attacks, discovered to her horror that frequently switching her Elemental Form had already drained an immense amount of her stamina.
Similar to Monkey D. Luffy's rubber skin that automatically deflected bullets, the Enemy of Nature's Elemental Form, which allowed her to fuse with external natural attacks, was also a passive ability. Furthermore, at the exact split second of fusing with an element, she experienced a brief moment of rigidity, during which she couldn't make any evasive maneuvers.
Therefore, facing this relentless onslaught of varying elemental attacks, Alan could do absolutely nothing else except continuously fuse with the natural elements to cope with the sky-covering bombardment.
If things kept going like this, she, the renowned Enemy of Nature, would actually be miserably worn down to death!
(I was careless... I never expected that even though I counter all natural elements, I would have the tables turned on me by natural elements one day.)
Logia users were already exceptionally rare; in all her years, Alan had never fought multiple Logia users at the same time. It wasn't until she encountered this Sorcerer, who could unleash five elemental attacks simultaneously, that Rear Admiral Alan finally realized the Fusion-Fusion Fruit had such a weakness.
"Should I say you truly are the Silver-Hair's younger brother? Or rather, should I say you truly are a Sarsalian?" Alan muttered under her breath. Although her expression couldn't be read in her current form, it definitely wouldn't look pretty.
"However, I'm not stupid enough to end up like that chameleon!"
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