Chapter 197: Stone Diddy

Seeing the barrage of Hancock's pink arrows, instead of dashing out of the way, which would've been smarter given the danger I could sense from them, I coated my arms and hands in armament haki and lowered my posture as I used one of my seventy-two bian; swiftly, and with the fluidity of water, I diverted every single pink arrow, that threatened to pierce me, and by no means was this easy as this was my first attempt at doing something like this, but in the end, I managed to deflect every single one of her arrows that would've otherwise pierced me while Mael allowed the arrows to phase right through his body harmlessly.

"Hehe, that won't be enough to stop me!" Stated Diddy with a feral smirk, eyeing Hancock as he got onto all fours before speedily dashing towards her while she fired numerous arrows at him.

Zig-zagging across the deck, I evaded every one of Hancock's arrows before leaping into the air and kicking my leg at her, launching a wind blade towards her, which she dodged while still continuing to attack me with her arrows. Deflecting all of her arrows while in mid-air, I kicked the air and lunged toward her, evading all of her attacks before kicking her in the stomach, which she managed to block using her shin at the last second, though I still pushed her back.

Watching her do a few backflips before elegantly landing on the deck, I lowered my foot, which had now turned to stone despite coating my leg in haki.

'Ho, so, either my haki is useless against her devil fruit, or it's already offsetting the damage, and this was what managed to slip through.' Mused Diddy lightly as he looked down at his foot, which was now stone and completely paralyzed, causing him to look back at Hancock, who sported a haughty expression.

"Your beauty will be superior as a stone; don't you think so, Chaos Kong?" Remarked Hancock mockingly as she raised her leg and brushed her hair behind her head, showing off her beauty while pointing at Diddy, who simply grinned.

"Hehe, nope, not at all, Medusa." Replied Diddy with a large grin as lightning began to erupt from his body.

'Since I can't touch you, nor do I feel threatened enough to get Naga-sa yet, let's try a different approach.' Mused Diddy lightly with a ferocious smile as he clenched his fist before slamming his foot down and throwing a thick bolt of lightning at Hancock, who was too busy showing off her beauty to react in time.

"Tsk, filthy monkey; how dare you frizzle my hair!" Yelled Hancock angrily as she stomped on the deck, blowing the smoke away while her hair was now frizzled and messed up.

"Heh, you and Freyja truly are meant for each other." Said Diddy mockingly as he eyed Hancock before propelling himself through the air using his only two usable limbs, moving rather awkwardly at first, though he quickly got the hang of it.

Dodging her volley of pink arrows was slightly harder since I could only use one leg and hand, though it wasn't too difficult yet, and if need be, I could still utilize my tail. However, what I found to be the hardest part of this battle was the fact I couldn't touch her without threatening to turn that part of my body to stone, and until I figured out either how to avoid or stop her from doing that, I would be forced to stay relatively passive, something I wasn't fond of.

Seeing Hancock suddenly blow a kiss, my instincts immediately warned me of danger, and with my haki, I was able to read her intentions; quickly tilting my body, I hit the air behind me with my tail, just in time to evade a pink lip-mark that speedily flew through the air like a bullet.

'That was close.' Thought Diddy lightly while he glanced behind him before looking at Hancock, only to see her rapidly blowing kisses, causing him to divert more of his blood to his leg and arm, increasing their maximum strength output as he constantly kicked and hit the air, creating loud explosions several times a second.

Contorting my body into an O, I barely dodged two of Hancocks' lip marks before slamming my opened palm against the air, flinging me towards the left as I avoided yet another one, only for a massive volley of arrows to rain down from atop me, which only made my situation that much harder, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to dodge every single arrow as a few pierced me, though I made sure they were in non-vital areas and the ones that happened to hit my so-called vital spots, I simply moved my organs inside my body, which was rather easy to do now.

However, instead of feeling pain at being pierced by arrows, the parts of my body that got hit were slowly turning into stone, causing most of my chest, my tail, parts of my hip, and my entire left leg to turn into stone. Dodging the final arrow from up above, I swiftly launched another lightning bolt at Hancock, though thanks to haki, she managed to dodge just in time, causing me to inwardly curse since throughout all this time, I hadn't managed to harm her much; after all, I was spending most of my focus trying to dodge her relentless assault with only two limbs and a tail.

Though despite all of that and my unfavorable situation, my heart, which was now in my stomach along with my lungs, was beating in joy; the last time I had been pushed like this was when I was fighting Lindbergh, and although I was still holding back since I'm not using Nimbus or Naga-sa, I'm feeling utterly ecstatic.

"Heh, you look like you could use some assistance." Said Freyja mockingly while hovering in the air as she looked at Diddy with predatory eyes, eyeing him like he was prey just waiting to be slaughtered.

"Haha! Not at all; I'm enjoying myself!" Remarked Diddy with a feral smile and a burst of chaotic laughter as he glanced at Freyja before eyeing Hancock in joy, causing the stone on his body to slowly recede.

While eyeing Hancock in joy, I felt the sensation of parts of my body returning to me, causing me to look down, only to be surprised when I noticed my body, which a significant portion had been turned to stone, was now slowly receding, causing me to tilt my head in confusion as I looked back at Hancock, only to see she was just as confused as I.

"T-That shouldn't be possible; h-how are you doing that!?" Exclaimed Hancock in shock as she looked at Diddy, who shrugged his shoulders before baring his fangs and lunging towards her with a feral smile.

"N-No! T-That can't be possible! Mero Mero Mellow!" Added Hancock frantically as she glared at the approaching Diddy before forming a heart shape with her hands, launching a heart-shaped beam at Diddy, which enveloped him.

Inside the heart-shaped beam, I frowned as I looked at Hancock before looking back down at my body, noticing the stone was no longer receding and was instead spreading; yet I wasn't frightened; I was, in fact, thrilled. The more stone that covered my body, the harder the fight against Hancock would be, so how could I not be happy?

"Hahaha! C'mon, turn me into stone, Medusa! Give me a harder challenge!" Yelled Diddy with a chaotic and feral grin as he continued dashing towards Hancock while on all fours, yet the closer he got, the more his body turned to stone until eventually, his entire body was that of a stone statue less than a foot in front of Hancock.

"Haa, he is such a battle junkie; why not relax and enjoy some tea?" Muttered Sebas with a sigh and a shake of his head as he sat down at the top of the Kuja pirate ship while Marigold wiggled about in delight, though she had been tightly bound by his telekinesis, making it impossible for her to speak.

"So, has Captain been defeated?" Asked Mael calmly as he looked at the motionless statue of a smiling Diddy before glancing at Freyja, who was sporting an annoyed expression.

"Tsk, no, but he's about to me." Replied Freyja as she transformed back into her Satan's soul and flew towards Diddy with a mighty flap of her wings.

"Haa! I knew it; no one can resist my beauty, for am I beautiful!" Declared Hancock with a relieved sigh and a satisfied smile as she looked at the statue of Diddy, only for her expression to freeze when she spotted cracks emerging on the statue.

"DIE YOU FUCKING MONKEY BASTARD!!" Yelled Freyja with a bloodthirsty expression as she slammed her foot right down towards Diddy, only for his statue to suddenly break while a golden brown hand caught her leg.

"I-Impossible! H-How!? N-No one's ever broken free!" Said Hancock nervously as she slowly backed away in slight fear while eyeing the person standing before her.

"Tsk, I was so fucking close too." Muttered Freyja with an ugly expression as she squinted and glared at the man, or boy, as his birthday was still a few months out.

"Hehehe, next time, how about you don't yell when trying to sneak attack someone? It usually works better. Though good try, I'll give you an A-." Remarked Diddy with a feral grin and a chaotic chuckle as he tightly held Freyja's leg while glaring at her with his vertical slit beastly eyes.

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To make it clear, Hancock's ability works only if you feel love or lust for her, so if you preoccupy your thoughts with something else, her abilities won't work; Diddy did something similar, though he did it subconsciously. His desire for battle eventually outweighed any lust he felt for Hancock, which negated her ability to turn him into stone as his mind was only thinking of fighting her.