Diamante clutched his wound. Before he could recover from the shock of losing an arm, Ain's next attack was already upon him.
"You actually managed to dodge that? Then how about this one: 'Fist Bone: Sky Fall'."
It was another strike descending from the sky, but its momentum was even stronger than the last, directly enveloping the three people below.
In their eyes, Ain's fist seemed to expand, as if the entire sky was pressing down on them.
The spectators in the stands were stunned into silence. They had originally thought one side would be crushed, but instead, she was the one crushing the Colosseum's managers.
Rebecca cried out in alarm; her Observation Haki could barely keep up with Ain's speed.
Under the threat of death, Diamante ignored his lost arm and reached his other hand toward the floor of the Colosseum. His Ripple-Ripple Fruit power softened the stage.
He wanted to pull up the stage to block the strike, but Kuina, who was sitting on the ground, noticed his intention.
"No way. If you pull up the stage, won't the juice I set down spill?"
Armament Haki extended from Kuina's body, suppressing Diamante's devil fruit ability.
Buffalo quickly activated his devil fruit power and began to spin, using the centrifugal force to fling himself and Baby-5 out of Ain's attack range.
There was another reason they were able to escape: Hera's order for Ain to capture Baby-5 alive had caused Ain to intentionally leave an opening.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to break through the constraints of the Float-Float Fruit and the power of the gale.
Up in the stands, Hera, whose Observation Haki had already foreseen Diamante's future, sighed. "Honestly, Ain... if you turn him into a bloody mist, how am I supposed to absorb him?"
Just as Hera had seen, after Diamante's attempt to use the stage for defense failed, Ain's speed left him no time to react to the next move.
He could only concentrate his Armament Haki with all his might and deactivate his devil fruit effect on his clothes, hoping to block the strike with his Armament Haki and the steel armor he wore.
But how could he possibly withstand Ain's use of her devil fruit power, the storm power of an elemental, and her Armament Haki strike with such meager means?
With a loud boom, Diamante vanished from the stage. His clothes were compressed into a sheet of iron, plastered onto the stage where Ain had blasted a large hole.
Amidst the dust, a dark shadow swallowed the scattered remains, and the Paramecia-type Ripple-Ripple Fruit gradually formed within the City of Devouring Time.
As the smoke cleared, a piece of scrap metal was revealed. Only the color on the metal and a smear of bright red allowed one to identify its former owner.
Buffalo's gaze was vacant. He hadn't expected that Diamante, with a bounty of 99 million, wouldn't even be able to take two punches from this Marine.
But he soon realized he had no time to dwell on that. If he delayed any longer, he would follow in Diamante's footsteps.
Sensing the gap in strength, he pleaded with Baby-5, "Baby-5, I need you to stop her!"
The emotion of being needed suppressed her slight fear of Ain. Upon hearing Buffalo's request, Baby-5 transformed herself into a missile.
'Weapon Transformation: Missile Girl.' The transformed Baby-5 was launched by Buffalo, but unexpectedly, the missile didn't head toward Ain; it flew toward Kuina instead.
Taking advantage of this, Buffalo's head turned into a propeller and he flew into the air, trying to escape.
"As long as I can leave the Colosseum, I can have the soldiers delay this Marine's pursuit, and I'll survive."
"That Marine who hasn't made a move might be weak, maybe just her Armament Haki is a bit strong. As long as this Marine goes to block the shell, I can get away."
Faced with the threat of life and death, Buffalo could no longer care about his comrade. At this moment, he only wanted to be as far away as possible from this Marine who could punch Diamante into a pulp.
"How despicable. Do you really think you can escape like this?"
Ain remained where she was as the power of the gale gathered on her brass knuckles: 'Fist Bone: Sky Fall - Tempest Fang.' As the storm power converged on her knuckles,
the moment Ain threw her punch, several compressed vacuum wind blades flew out from her knuckles, slashing directly at Buffalo in the air.
Before Buffalo could react, he was hit by Ain's vacuum wind blades. The sharp blades were so fast he didn't even feel pain before his body split apart.
Kuina quickly reminded Ain, "There are still so many people here, don't make it too bloody."
Ain nodded and quickly controlled Buffalo's body, preventing his mangled remains from scattering in the air and instead letting them drift onto the stage.
Buffalo looked at Ain with a gaze of disbelief. The missile Baby-5 had turned into was fixed in mid-air by Ain, unable to be launched at all.
In his final moments, only one thought remained in Buffalo's mind: "How can this Marine be so powerful?"
Having noticed something during the fight, Ain tentatively said to the missile that was Baby-5, "Baby-5, I need you to deactivate your devil fruit ability."
Hearing that she was needed by Ain, Baby-5 immediately deactivated her Arms-Arms Fruit and returned to her human form.
Then, with a blush on her face, she said, "It seems I am needed again."
Seeing that her words actually worked, Ain said somewhat helplessly, "I think I know why the Captain told me to spare your life."
Once Buffalo's remains touched the ground, Ain canceled the ability acting on his body, and he instantly collapsed into a pile of flesh.
This bloody scene made some of the spectators with weaker stomachs vomit. A dark shadow then swallowed Buffalo's corpse.
Sensing that she had collected the Paramecia-type Spin-Spin Fruit, Hera grumbled, "This is too cruel. I wonder who Ain learned these bad habits from."
"It seems I'm still the kindest one on the Argo. To avoid making others feel uncomfortable, I always clean up the bodies whenever I kill someone."
Rebecca, standing nearby, was speechless. Based on the intelligence gathered by the Donquixote Family and the murderous aura she felt from Hera, she couldn't see how Hera was 'kind' at all.
Unable to hold back, she retorted, "Does an Admiral with the code name Nightmare really think of themselves as a kind person?"
Hera nodded. "Of course. It's not good to make the scene too bloody. Besides, that would be such a waste."
With the development of the City of Devouring Time, Hera had discovered that if the swallowed corpses were too fragmented, the effect was mediocre. Thus, being frugal, she now generally left her enemies' bodies intact.
Hancock, standing to the side, said, "The Captain is naturally the kindest person. Even I, the world's most beautiful woman, believe the Captain is the kindest."
Uta, looking at the love-struck Hancock, was quite speechless. "Are all Marines such idiots?"
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