"Darling, watch out!"
Baby-5 was still basking in the happiness of being protected by Sasuke when she saw Dellinger, who had been lying on the ground earlier, silently get back up and launch an attack on Sasuke, who was observing the direction of the Den Den Mushi.
She didn't have time to react further. After shouting the warning, she swiftly moved to block Dellinger's path.
Baby-5's hands transformed into flintlock pistols, and she fired at Dellinger's head without hesitation.
But Dellinger's speed was much faster than she imagined.
His already elongated neck simply twisted slightly to avoid the bullets.
However, Baby-5's actions weren't entirely in vain.
At the very least, she successfully drew Dellinger's aggression from Sasuke to herself.
The dual enhancement of fighting fish and snake-person doubled the ferocity within Dellinger.
If the specialization directions of 'variants' like Rebecca, Lucy, and Chinjao were to retain rationality as much as possible, then Dellinger's fighting fish bloodline successfully made him 'evolve' in the opposite direction.
For Genjutsu to take effect, the target must possess at least some level of thought.
After undergoing the transformation caused by the special gas, the vast majority of snake-people were actually just caught in a kind of 'predatory frenzy', driven to fight by the evolutionary instinct within them.
Precisely because of this, those with strong willpower could resist the temptation of this instinct.
But the current Dellinger had successfully completely abandoned his humanity.
Originally, he was the type to anger easily. Because of his half fighting fish bloodline, Dellinger was prone to losing his rationality upon contact with blood or when injured.
And now, he had become something even more frenzied than a beast.
"Roar!!"
The enlarged Dellinger swung a palm the size of a ship's wheel toward Baby-5.
Seeing this, Baby-5's hands instinctively transformed into blades, ready to parry and counterattack.
Bang!
But to her surprise, Dellinger's large hand never reached her. The entire figure was kicked away by Sasuke.
After realizing what happened, Baby-5's face immediately showed a touched expression.
"Darling, to protect me..."
Sasuke looked somewhat helplessly at the woman with stars in her eyes before him.
"I'm telling you, being infatuated is fine, but you should consider the situation-"
Whoosh!
Before Sasuke could finish his last word, his entire figure disappeared from in front of Baby-5.
In his place was Dellinger, whose body had expanded once again, now showing numerous 'snake' and 'fighting fish' characteristics.
Apart from still having limbs, the current Dellinger could hardly be recognized as human.
The corners of his mouth continuously widened, sharp canines and fangs growing intertwined and extending past his lips. Besides the fish fins on his back, he had actually grown a long snake tail.
Drip, drip.
Drool continuously dripped down from the panting of this enormous monster.
His eyeballs, positioned on either side of his head due to skull deformation, scanned the surroundings like a chameleon's, moving along different trajectories, trying to locate its prey.
"Bastard!"
Baby-5 directly spat out the cigarette from her mouth, brought her hands together, transforming them into a long cannon, and fired point-blank at the giant monster.
Boom!
Smoke billowed.
Baby-5's figure was sent flying backward, only stopping after crashing into a wall.
That wasn't an ordinary solid iron cannon.
The people of the Donquixote Family weren't complete fools. After understanding Baby-5's ability, Doflamingo had also tried to have her learn more in-depth weapon knowledge.
After all, theoretically, as long as Baby-5 could understand and the existence of such a weapon was indeed reasonable, she could replicate it.
It's just that, on one hand, Baby-5's learning ability was quite limited, and on the other, Doflamingo also found it difficult to acquire scientific weapons of the level made by someone like Vegapunk.
So he could only settle for the next best thing, having Baby-5 choose the most powerful cannons from the arms they trafficked to simulate.
At this close range, firing a cannon shell, the recoil alone made her feel like vomiting blood.
And that wasn't all.
Looking at her left arm hanging limp and powerless, Baby-5 felt her shoulder along with half her body go numb from the pain.
'In just that instant, was that enough to launch such a counterattack?'
A casual punch shattered her bones.
However, Baby-5's attack did solidly hit Dellinger.
Dellinger was, after all, flesh and blood, and currently unable to use Armament Haki. Getting hit point-blank by a cannon shot actually punched a hole clear through him.
The giant monster stared blankly at the half-meter-wide hole in its abdomen.
Then, pain stimulated it into letting out a roar of fury.
"Rooooaaaarrrr!!"
Dellinger fiercely pounded the flesh around the injured area, seemingly enraged at the body part that caused him pain.
Baby-5 thought the monster might die from this self-mutilation.
Unexpectedly, the flesh around the gaping wound actually began to 'spread' like soft mud.
In just a few seconds, a mass of deep red flesh plugged the original wound.
"You've got to be... kidding me?"
When she saw Dellinger turn his gaze toward her, Baby-5 uttered these words somewhat despairingly.
She wanted to run, but she didn't want to abandon Sasuke, whose condition was unknown, so she still chose to transform into a weapon, adopting a combat stance against Dellinger once more.
Whoosh-
Suddenly, a strong wind blew from somewhere, scattering the surrounding dust.
Immediately after, Baby-5 saw Sasuke, completely unharmed, appearing not far away.
"You're too weak. Get out of here quickly."
Perhaps because Baby-5 had never shown any hostility toward him from start to finish, even though Sasuke knew she was from the opposing side, he still 'kindly advised' her.
However, Baby-5 didn't care at all about what Sasuke said. Instead, she looked at him with joy.
"That's wonderful, darling! I'm so glad you're okay! Truly wonderful!"
Even with dust from being knocked away still on her face, looking utterly disheveled, Baby-5 was laughing happily at this moment.
That sincere expression seemed completely genuine.
"... Foolish woman."
Whether it was helplessness or something else, Sasuke really didn't know how to deal with someone as good-natured as Baby-5.
Even though they had only just met for the first time.
Sasuke closed his eyes, then opened them again. The Mangekyo pattern rotated within his pupils.
"Hey, beast."
Dellinger seemed to understand that address, sharply turning his head.
Of course, it might also be his beastly instinct warning him.
"And you... Orochimaru, I know you're watching."
In the room at the top of the palace, Orochimaru wasn't particularly surprised by Sasuke's words.
His name wasn't a secret… it wasn't strange for others to know it.
-Even without considering whether Baby-5 might leak it, those low-ranking members also knew of his existence.
"Since you enjoy peeping so much, then open your eyes wide and watch carefully."
"Because later, you'll end up the same as him."
The beast Dellinger seemed to have lost patience… instinctive warnings could no longer suppress his bestial nature.
"Roar!!"
The creature roared, charging toward Sasuke's location.
Vibrations traveled from the ground to the surroundings.
The terrifying physique over ten meters tall brought with it even more immense power.
Compared to Dellinger, Sasuke at this moment couldn't even reach the other's knee in height.
Truly… jumping up to hit your knee.
But the next moment, a massive purple silhouette emerged from within Sasuke.
"Susanoo!"