[Third Person POV]
As Monet flew above the three strays, her eyes caught Goswin trying to get around her towards Hajime.
Letting him go, knowing he would lose, she turned her attention to the two who decided to fight her.
"Snow cannon."
Testing out a move she'd been practicing over the last weeks, two pillars of snow started to form from Monet's legs, quickly taking the shape of a pair of cannons.
It was something she'd been working on for a more hard-hitting attack.
Most of her previous abilities all revolved around changing the area with her Logia and freezing her opponents to death.
She had killing moves, sure. But most of them relied on having a weapon of some kind. It was hardly an issue, but after hearing the level of power some people could reach in this world, Monet knew that she needed to change.
After all, when someone can cut the strength of a blizzard in half or literally be immune to it in some way, the number of people she can reliably win against goes down considerably.
Back in her home world, that wasn't an issue. Unless you had a devil fruit that could negate her own, like the ice, fire, magma, and hot fruits, or a body built to deal with the cold like a reindeer or polar bear, then fighting her was an exhausting affair, even with haki.
With her wings, a recent gift from Law, fighting using the snow fruit became much easier. In the past, there were few people she ever fought personally, not that she really tried to.
Knowing how weak she was, Monet chose to go undercover as Caesar Clown's secretary, helping him with research and daily tasks to ensure he'd finish the projects Doflamingo wanted to sell, like SMILE fruits.
That was why she chose to go after the weaker Straw Hats and avoid direct combat with Luffy; she knew she couldn't win.
Now that combat strength mattered more, Monet knew she couldn't continue like she had been. She gave her life for Doflamingo, but in the end, according to Hajime, he still lost.
Had she been more decisive in killing the intruders or strong enough to hold them back a little more, she might have changed what happened in Dressrosa. Hell, if she were stronger, then she might have been able to escape Punk Hazard with Vergo and stop Doflamingo's fall altogether.
Unfortunately, she was unable to change the past, and that was why she had resolved to get stronger so she wouldn't fail again.
The cannons started glowing as Monet poured energy into her next attacks.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Alternating fire, the cannons shot large snowballs at the mages, who dodged, deflected, or destroyed them all.
As they fought, Monet slowly built up a blizzard around the fight while she distracted the opponents.
"Snow Wrap!"
From the snowballs, which were lying around the field in various states of destruction, tendrils of snow emerged, each one moving toward her unsuspecting targets.
The two mages burned through magic energy to destroy the tendrils.
Thanks to her sneak attack on Stanley, the stray duo knew how dangerous she was.
Though they were confident she wasn't a yokai due to the Harpy features and the way her energy felt, her danger was no less than that of a Yuki-onna. The harpy woman was making snow without even creating magic circles —a rare feat in the supernatural world —and, with her snow magic, she was basically a living blizzard.
Switching tactics, Cornelio left Stanley to block the snow tendrils while he focused on the green-haired woman.
Creating a sickly green magic circle that hovered over his stomach, Cornelio smiled as he launched his next attack.
His whole body grotesquely shifted until a vertical mouth opened on his stomach.
Moments after, a green liquid erupted from it, and when it hit the magic circle, it started changing.
From a random deluge, the liquid condensed as it hit the circle, forming a tendril.
Monet grimaced at the sight, clearly disgusted by such an attack, and given that she knew Trebol, a guy covered in mucus, that was saying something.
As the disgusting green tendril shot out at her, Monet had already prepared not to let it touch her.
"Kamakura."
Before the attack could hit her, a wall of snow formed from all sides, covering her.
"Nice try, bird bitch! But my attack is made from my stomach acid, so that won't protect you forever!"
As Cornelio spoke, the green tendril ate away at the doorless igloo, coating it with a thin layer of stomach acid.
After 20 seconds of melting, the snow finally gave way, with the snow dome breaking apart. Seeing this, Cornelio controlled the acid so it converged on the center, where he believed Monet was standing.
Unfortunately, though there was now a giant ball of stomach acid floating there, there wasn't a single sign Monet was there.
"Wha-"
"Aagh!"
Turning toward the scream, Cornelio saw that Stanley had been struck by Monet's wing, which was looking much sharper than before.
"I thought we were fighting you whore!"
"Oh, we were. However, why would I fight a two-on-one when I can even the odds?"
Just like on Punk Hazard, Monet chose to fight with strategy. After all, though she was confident she could take them on in a fight, she wasn't going to underestimate them.
Hajime, over the last few weeks since he'd summoned her, had been working to change her fighting mindset.
He made sure her sadism had no place on the battlefield since it was an unnecessary distraction. If it was after a battle and all threats had been dealt with, then it was fine; otherwise, it was just inviting trouble.
He broke down her arrogance, explaining how she and Caesar Clown held almost every advantage, having multiple chances to kill each of the Straw Hats, yet she died with Vergo while Caesar Clown was kidnapped.
Hajime didn't expect her to change completely, but he did expect her to take her fights seriously. It would be embarrassing if she died a second time just because she hadn't learned anything after Punk Hazard.
Before she could finish Stanley off, she took to the sky, narrowly dodging a sharp set of claws.
Though it wouldn't do anything to hurt her, Monet had been educated on the stupidity of revealing such a skill if it wasn't necessary. If it could be avoided, then avoid it. Letting them know about your defensive abilities lets them know how to fight you.
It wasn't that hard to figure out how to damage snow; even kids knew.
"Goswin, did you deal with the kid?" Cornelio asked.
Goswin, who was panting after expending so much energy, managed to explain.
"Sorry, boss, I couldn't. He was surprisingly dangerous. Don't worry, though, the Ice Thorns arrived and are dealing with him now. Let's hurry up and finish the woman so we can all gang up on the kid."
Monet, seeing the interloper appear, decided to finish this now.
"Fubuki!"
Snow started swirling around the four of them, quickly obscuring their vision.
As the snow fell heavier and faster, Cornelio and Goswin realized Monet was starting to vanish. Rushing her, they both attacked, only to cut through a pile of snow which had taken her shape.
"Ggaaaaarrhhg!"
A scream tore itself from Stanley's throat.
Hurrying toward him, the two strays were surprised by his condition.
Though he was still alive, part of his torso had been taken out, with the injury covered in a thick layer of snow.
"Hehehe!"
Monet chuckled at their situation, now confident she would win. While she had seen their attacks and knew they could hurt her, none of them would truly kill her. The two strays that were still standing were already shaking from the cold, while the third one, which she had just attacked, had passed out from shock.
"Hey! Show yourself!"
"Yeah, I thought we were fighting!"
The two strays tried to taunt her, though panic hadn't allowed them to think properly.
"Aww, but I was having fun."
As she spoke, Monet thinned the snow slightly, allowing the two to see her current form.
"Ha! I can't believe you fell... fell for..."
When they turned to her voice, magic circles ready to attack, they froze in terror. Whatever words they were thinking were stuck in their throat.
Standing behind them was a 7-meter-tall snow monster. Monet's face, now larger with the rest of her body, grew several sharp teeth, like a violent venus flytrap. Her wings were bigger too, allowing her to cover the sky with ease.
"Well? Want to keep playing?" Monet taunted.
Before either of them could respond, the snow-covered ground shifted, the snow surging upward across their bodies.
Goswin tried cutting through the snow, while Cornelio tried melting it, but no matter what they did, it kept trying to suffocate them, like quicksand.
While they tried to free themselves from the snowy prison, Monet struck.
Going after Cornelio first, she bit straight through his left arm.
"AAaaarrgh!"
The injury distracted him, canceling his magic and allowing the snow to overtake him fully.
That just left Goswin, who now had Monet's full attention.
A minute later, Monet had finished, and all the strays were cocooned in her snow, which she carried toward Hajime.
As she arrived at Hajime's battlefield, she watched as he played with them, using the string fruit to have them fight amongst themselves before, eventually, killing them all.
Once the final enemies had fallen, Monet decided to make herself known.
"Hajime-sama, I've finished fighting the strays like you requested," she said as she moved the corpses forward. "I've also brought their bodies with me after ensuring they were all dead."
"Good job, Monet."
After checking each body for bounties, including those of the Ice Thorns, Monet and Hajime ended up with nearly $1 million.
"Alright, let's get going."
"Right, Hajime-sama!"
The two left, Hajime walking while Monet hovered around him.
-----
Almost an hour later, a magic circle appeared just outside the cabin where the three strays were camping out. A man exited, then went to the front door.
*Knock knock knock*
"Hey, open up! The boss's been waiting!"
Kicking open the door, he sees the entire place is empty, though it didn't look like they'd left.
Casting a spell, a yellow magic circle appeared before leading the man into the forest.
The man soon caught the scent of iron.
Blood.
Eventually, he found what he was looking for.
The clearing where Hajime was fighting, though the bodies were all gone, still had lots of blood covering the floor. Though since all animals bled, it was fine to leave it.
The man created another magic circle and put it against his ear. He was using a phone call spell.
"Boss, those strays are gone, probably dead.
No, I don't know where he went.
Whoever did it was using snow magic.
Got it, I'll be back soon."
'Hanging up', the man left the bloody field to finish his next task.
-----
Meanwhile, in a building in an unknown location, a shadowy figure was busy breaking a table.
"Damn it! Those damn dogs couldn't do a single thing right!"
"Um, boss," one of the subordinates tried to get his attention.
"What!"
"We're ready to begin. We need the energy, and the ritual can proceed."
"Oh? That's great! Let's hurry then. We only have a few days until the full moon, and I don't want to wait another month!
__________
Author's Note:
Fun Fact - I watched most of the Punk Hazard arc this week. Completely coincidental, but still, perfect given the subject of the chapter.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!