Chapter 24

'Shadow Clone Justu.'

"Hina asks why there are two of him?" The female Marine was confused. Their feet are drenched in sea water..This also made her think she would look him in the eyes, but the ability of his devil fruit seems to be working. 

Hina just like Crocodile relied on the ability of her devil fruit to fight at this time. Her body wasn't like Luffy's, she would make a few moves, but there would be pretty weak. 

She clicked her tongue and engaged into battle with Itachi's clone. Her crew saw her troubles and tried to drain away the water, but Kisame used this chance to slaughter them from behind. 

Clang, Clang, Boom. 

Smoker was exchanging blows with the real Uchiha. He himself could tell he had the advantage in physical strength, but the exploding Kunai were a thorn in his eye. 

"Do you still want to continue? You know, you are no match for me." Itachi bluffed, he was barely able to stop himself from coughing blood. 

"As I said before, I won't be a Marine if I do that." Smoker's clothes were ragged up, the exploding Kunais really did a number on him, "You don't look good, you must have reached your physical limit."

He was right, anyone could see that Itachi was turning pale by the second. He was running out on both Chakra and stamina. 

"Is that what you truly see?"

"!" 

Before he could question any further, he found himself paralyzed, unable to move. This had happened for over a minute, and Itachi's clone was stopping Hina from going to rescue the White Hunter. 

'What is this? I thought his devil fruit wasn't supposed to work. Did he eat a god fruit or something?' 

In Smokers mind, Itachi and Kisame were abnormalities. A god fruit didn't exist, but anything could happen in the world. Given the ability of the two, he just had to assume the impossible. 

'If I continued to fight any further, I would be only doing harm to myself.' Calculating the situation at hand, Itachi knew he would be sent to Impel Down if he does anything crazy, White Hunter would be able to use his devil fruit powers soon. 

Seeing that the Scorpio had already went past the Marine battle ship, he quickly called out to his partner, "Kisame let's go!"

The had ran away from Jiraya in the past, there was no shame in doing so now, but Hoshigaki had one last thing to say. 

"Next time, you won't be so lucky, White Hunter!" Smoker was a formidable opponent like Might Guy, but he was positive about taking him down next time. 

'I will grow stronger, and shred you to pieces.'

The two jumped over to the water surface and started running towards the Scorpio a few hundred meters away. Hina quickly ordered her Marines to follow them, but she forgot something was behind her. 

Boom—! 

Itachi's clone exploded, and bought time for the former Akatsuki duo to reach their ship, but that was only it, as cannons came rushing their way. 

"There are quite persistent." Kisame said in an annoyed tone. His grin was nowhere to be seen. 

The Scorpio could move through the calm belt and had dozens of cannons waiting for use, but none of the two had any experience in using them. 

The Black Cage was enraged about her crew mates deaths, and followed the Scorpio even though she wasn't in any condition to fight. The explosion earlier evaporated the sea water, so her devil fruit ability was available for use. 

"Hina is mad! Hina will stop at nothing to capture them!"

She had had her resolve. Just like how Smoker was a dangerous stalker to the Straw Hat Pirates, she was now an extremely dangerous stalker to Itachi and Kisame. 

On the Scorpio, the young Uchiha was running out of options, as he looked at the panel before him. 

___

Your have strained your body - [Your life span has decreased by 10 days.]

Your have strained your body - [Your life span has decreased by 12 days.]

Your have strained your body - [Your life span has decreased by 15 days.]

--

Your have strained your body - [Your life span has decreased by 20 days.]

Warnings! You have less than 5 Chakra remaining! 

___

The messages were endless and telling him wasn't going to make any difference. He was positive almost a whole year of his life span had run up, and his Chakra getting depleted wasn't going to make a change.

'I wanted to save it for later, but the situation calls for it.'

___

Item used, Random Beast Summoning Card. 

___

Itachi made hand-signs and hit the ground, seeing this Hoshigaki was stunned, but the result made him even more shocked. 

"A... cat..."

'How utterly useless.'

No one said it loud, but they all had the same thought about the chubby cat that was suffering from obesity, with black and white fur. 

In contrast to their expectation, the black and white cat jumped over to Hina's ship that was almost three hundred meters away. No ordinary cat would do that. 

The cat landed on the deck in front of the pink haired female Marine Captain, and something moved in her heart. 

"Hina loves cute things. Mr. Cat is cute."

The Marines including Smoker almost had their Jaws touching the ground from shock, they didn't expect such a side from the black cage. 

On the Scorpio no one cared about what that repulsive and fat cat did, but it had bought them enough time to run away. 

"Let's get out of here."

"Sure thing."