"Roar!"
The tiger's roar was deafening. Nekomamushi's movements froze for a moment before a portion of the strength in his arms inexplicably vanished.
The combination of Snarl and Intimidate ability severely affected the enemy's attacks. Under the pressure of the roar and that terrifying gaze, Nekomamushi actually felt like he was afraid.
"He's just a brat."
Compared to earlier, Wolff's body had expanded by two full sizes, his originally slender arms now transformed into muscular, burly limbs, significantly reducing the size difference between him and Nekomamushi.
Compared to his initial Litten form, Wolff's ability had long since lost its old cuteness, replaced instead by a beauty of sheer strength.
Incineroar, thanks to its dominant performance across two generations of games, was called by players "the number one Pokémon in the universe."
Unlike the previous two quadrupedal forms, Incineroar was a naturally bipedal Pokémon. Its robust body was covered in well-developed muscles, elevating its raw power to new heights.
A belt made of flames circled Wolff's waist. Different Fire-type Pokémon had different ways of releasing their flames, but Incineroar shoots its flames from its navel.
The two pressed their hands against each other, seemingly restraining each other at the same time, but Wolff still had another move.
The flames around his waist flared violently, and explosive fire burst forth point-blank at Nekomamushi.
The stronger its fighting spirit, the hotter Incineroar's flames burned. And Incineroar was a naturally combative Pokémon—its nature and abilities stacked together allowed it to unleash even greater power.
An impostor pretending to be his mother's friend, doing all sorts of absurd things in Wano Country, and now even trying to attack; when it came to weirdos like this, their method of dealing was always direct: hit first, talk later.
If they could win, then they'd fight. If not, then at least make some noise. This was Wano Country. No matter how busy the officers were lately, there were still senior officers stationed here. As long as the commotion was big enough, within minutes someone would be drawn over.
Even if the other officers weren't around, Queen would definitely rush over the moment he detected trouble.
Part of it was out of concern for his own safety, but more importantly, he oversaw Wano Country's security as a whole, building his safe bastion.
If any outside enemy caused trouble inside Wano Country, regardless of the reason, Queen would never escape the blame.
The fastest one is Zeraora, but at times like this, Queen is likely even more anxious than Zeraora, who was the father.
The explosive flames exploded across Nekomamushi's chest, instantly burning it pitch-black.
The point-blank fire engulfed Wolff as well, but being a Fire-type, he wasn't harmed by his own flames. He just couldn't elementalize. Purely in terms of temperature, Incineroar's flames were hotter than the Flame-Flame Fruit.
His hands pinned, the continuous burning flames seared pain into him. To extinguish the fire clinging to his body, Nekomamushi twisted sideways, dragging Wolff down the slope with him, hoping to put out the flames this way.
Incineroar had closed the size gap, but Nekomamushi's bulk was still greater. Even skipping the twenty years, he was still eight years older than Wolff and had not yet lost the ability to resist.
"You dumb brother, I'd like to see how you explain burning down the forest when we return home."
Sulong hadn't even been used yet, and Wolff still had a trump card left to use. Meowna wasn't worried about her brother's safety. Besides, another enemy stood before her, but Inuarashi's attention at the moment was also drawn toward Nekomamushi.
After all, Nekomamushi's condition looked far worse than Wolff's.
"Nekomamushi, what?!"
Several plants of various shapes suddenly appeared before Inuarashi. There were blooming flowers, and also buds not yet open. At some point, they had already appeared by Inuarashi's side, attaching themselves to his fur.
"Don't underestimate me. You aren't in less trouble than that cat."
Bang! Bang!
As soon as the words fell, those plants all exploded. Strange pollen replaced the smoke of gunpowder, but the kinetic energy from the explosion of natural energy was no weaker than gunpowder.
Meowna's appearance had also changed; not the macho style of Incineroar, but rather a masked, seductive style.
Sprigatito's final evolution, Meowscarada.
Aside from the flower seeds that had just detonated on Inuarashi, a flower bud also floated beside her.
It wasn't actually floating. Meowna was controlling the flower with a vine extending from her body. Only she herself could see the plant connection; others could not.
Meowscarada had a unique structure around her neck, where the leaves grew out like a cloak.
Though it looked like a cloak made of plant leaves, just like the structure behind Zeraora, it was actually part of her Mink physiology.
The inner fur of the cloak could automatically reflect light, rendering the stem that controlled the flower bud invisible, creating the effect of a floating flower.
Compared to Wolff's explosive fighting style, Meowna's attacks were much craftier. While Inuarashi's attention was pulled away by Wolff, her flower trap had already been set.
Quietly delivering an explosive bouquet to the enemy's side, laying down traps around them, drawing them into her fighting space, and detonating the flower bombs at just the right time—that was Meowscarada's fighting method.
The shockwaves of the previous explosion hadn't even dissipated when another magical bouquet suddenly appeared at Inuarashi's side. Just as he was about to dodge, a sudden force came from beneath his feet. The invisible stem coiled around his leg, and then the energy within the bouquet completely erupted.
Not only Inuarashi, but the same thing happened near Nekomamushi as well.
"Flower Trick, thank you for watching."
Meowscarada's signature move—an almost unavoidable magical bouquet.
Though the siblings had already divided their opponents, this was still a double battle. Helping your partner when the moment was right was only natural.
Nekomamushi was already in poor condition. After being hit by Meowna's Flower Trick, the strength in his hands slackened further, and he lost his hold on Wolff's arms.
While the earlier rolling around could be described as "mutually destructive," it's different now. Wolff's fists were covered in flames, and the flame belt around his waist had also started spewing out more flames, transforming his entire body into a rapidly spinning vortex of fire.
Using his arms as weapons, Wolff's combos slammed continuously into Nekomamushi's head. He just didn't shout out the move's name like Meowna did.
He never understood why this move was called the "Darkest Lariat." Sure, it was useful, but the name was just too embarrassing. Back when he practiced it, he always felt like that group of Farfetch'd nearby were laughing at him.
The siblings' coordination was excellent, perfectly sending Nekomamushi and Inuarashi crashing into each other.
"Bro, this name Nekomamushi, why do I feel like I've seen it somewhere before?"
"In Mom's diary. Same as Uncle Queen, Mom marked him in red. But I remember that was more than twenty years ago, back before Dad and Mom even got married."
Setsuna's diary always helps later generations understand what happened in the past. At first, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi had called each other things like "stupid cat" and "smelly dog," but just now, Inuarashi had spoken Nekomamushi's name aloud.
As someone who had offended Setsuna plenty back in the day, Nekomamushi was definitely one of the people she had specially marked.
"Why do I feel like this whole thing is a hassle?"
"I feel the same. Let someone else deal with the headache."
As Wolff spoke, a fireball appeared in his hand. He planned to toss it into the sky and detonate it as a signal flare. Whenever the two of them went out to play, they never brought Rotom or Den Den Mushi with them. That way, they always had a solid excuse for not picking up calls.
Since they were still within Wano Country, Zeraora just let the two of them do as they pleased.
Seeing Wolff toss the fireball into the sky, Inuarashi instead panicked. Meowna and Wolff were too young; they hadn't immobilized the two of them completely. Seeing that they were about to send out a signal, Inuarashi actually jumped and used his body to block the fireball.
"Stupid cat, hurry and take Lord Momonosuke away! I'll hold these two off!"
Inuarashi never expected these two kids to be so powerful. Had he known, his decision would have been to escape with Momonosuke right away.
Now, it was impossible to retreat completely intact. The only thing he could do was buy time, prevent them from sending the signal, and give Nekomamushi and Momonosuke a chance to withdraw.
But when the disparity was too wide, some things couldn't be done even if one sacrificed their life.
Even though Inuarashi blocked the fireball with his body, an ear-piercing buzzing sound soon echoed from not far away. Along with the noise, a dazzling light cluster appeared in the sky.
On a hill behind them, Maylo was sitting on Bewear's head, holding a small flare gun in her hand.
"Brother Wolff, were you trying to send a signal? Will this do?"
"Uh…nice job."
Wolff gave a thumbs-up, then, together with Meowna, blocked Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. As for Maylo…
It wasn't that he lacked confidence, but Bewear was truly someone he couldn't handle. That came from a painful childhood experience.
The flare gun in Maylo's hands was a private custom piece Mandrell had ordered from Queen—waterproof, pressure-resistant, and exceptionally bright. He had left it with Maylo specifically as her flare gun.
Needless to say, even though it was daytime, it was bright enough for all of Wano Country to see, especially Mandrell himself.
With Setsuna and Zeraora not home, Mandrell hadn't had the chance to exchange parenting notes with them. He had just been drinking tea and chatting with Queen. The moment he saw the flare in the sky, he couldn't sit still anymore.
"Brother Queen, looks like something's happened with Maylo. I'm going first, we'll chat later."
"This is Wano Country. She's got those little brats from Zeraora's family by her side. What could possibly happen?"
"I don't know. But I told Maylo, she's only to use that in an emergency."
Saying that, he ignored Queen and vanished in a few flashes.
"What a doting father… what trouble could possibly happen in Wano Country? And he smashed my window too."
Queen muttered to himself as he sipped his tea, looking calm and composed. But that calm lasted less than a second.
Bang!
Queen shot straight toward that flare. If before it was just Mandrell crashing through his window glass, this time Queen outright took down an entire wall.
Maylo didn't have a history of playing pranks. If she used a signal flare, something really had gone wrong. If something terrible happened to her, Queen had no desire to see the "anti-Queen alliance" gaining strength.
It was his biological daughter. Mandrell's speed was already impressive. Yet even so, Queen surged past him like a phantom, leaving Mandrell completely in the dust with his sheer speed.
"Brother Queen… that fast?"
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