Chapter 299: The Punishment of the Donquixote Family (5)
Round cannonballs, trailing white smoke, flew towards Deidara, but the nimble Explosive Clay Bird easily dodged the attack. "Three against one, huh? Hmm."
"Is that the Baby-5 that the boss wants to capture alive?" Deidara smiled and said, "Hey, you over there, I need your help."
"Really?" Baby-5 asked happily, "What do you need me to do?"
"Hey, Baby-5, don't listen to that man!" Babaro, underneath Baby-5, yelled in shock.
"What, so boring." Deidara sighed and pointed at Gladiolus, "Can you not disturb me and this artist's appreciation of art?"
"Okay, leave it to me!" Baby-5's right hand turned into a gun and pointed it at Babaro, "Don't interrupt the battle between Deidara and Gladiolus!"
"I-I understand!" With the gun pointed at him, Babaro had no choice but to lower his head, quickly retreating from the battle circle.
Gladiolus' face changed, and he asked in a deep voice, "How did you know Baby-5's weakness?"
"You beat me, I'll tell you." Deidara smirked, "We're within range now. Hmm."
"What…!" Gladiolus suddenly noticed, a small white bird had appeared right in front of him!
"Ha!"
Boom—!
The explosion instantly engulfed Gladiolus' body, the intense heatwave blowing dust everywhere.
"Is that it?" Deidara shrugged, "How boring, it looks like my art is more..."
"Explosive Hair!" Under the cover of smoke, Gladiolus raised a portion of his scalp and exploded it. The intense shockwave from the explosion shot his hair like poisonous needles towards Deidara.
Deidara retreated behind his Explosive Clay Bird, the sharp hair, laced with paralyzing toxins, shot into the soft clay doll, but it had no effect.
Deidara squinted behind his round glasses, "That bird wasn't a living thing?!"
"Of course not!" Deidara proudly introduced, "Look at this smooth line, look at the fluid motion, my work has mobility, it can move freely! It looks like my art is superior."
"You talk too much." Gladiolus, who had a bald patch on his head, mocked from below, "You only dare to fly in the air? Too scared to fight me? Plus, your art is plain and ugly to the point of explosion!"
Deidara's face twisted in anger, biting his lip so hard a drop of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. "…I'll make you regret saying that!" He then decisively jumped off the Explosive Clay Bird, landing on the King's Plateau.
'Got tricked...' Gladiolus raised his right hand and covered his right eye.
The previously flat ground suddenly swelled up, and Deidara was surrounded by several mounds of earth.
"This is Explosive Rock 'Celebration'…!"
Boom boom boom—
The raised ground exploded, the shockwaves from the numerous landmines combining, creating supersonic pressure that quickly squeezed in on Deidara from all directions. The massive difference in pressure instantly pierced through his thin body in the middle.
The violent explosions flattened the surrounding ground, shattered rocks flying in all directions, and many fragments struck Deidara's body.
As the smoke and dust from the explosions slowly dissipated, the silhouette in the middle staggered slightly before collapsing to the ground.
Gladiolus, clutching his injured left arm, approached and taunted, "According to the data collected by Monet, if you mock Deidara's art, he will lose his mind—ha, with your intellect, you dare to challenge the Donquixote family?"
"I'll return that comment about your intelligence." Suddenly, Deidara's voice came from behind Gladiolus.
"What?!" He was stunned and turned around, only to find Deidara, completely unharmed, his black trench coat fluttering without a speck of dust.
"How could you…?" Gladiolus instinctively glanced at the figure that had fallen to the ground, only to see that the colorful figure quickly turned into a dull-colored clay clone.
"Everyone knows my work has the ability to move, and you still believed I'd foolishly run into the landmine trap you set?" Deidara sneered, "Just now, you touched a lot of the ground, I saw it all."
"…!" Gladiolus glared at Deidara with a cold, sharp gaze.
"Also, you got tricked too." Deidara coldly laughed and made a hand sign with his middle and index fingers, "Ha!"
Suddenly, a light appeared behind Gladiolus. It was the clay clone on the ground, now expanding—exploding!
"Damn…!"
An even more intense explosion erupted, and the scorching flames blasted onto Gladiolus' body. The powerful pressure instantly slammed his burning body into a complete wall, which then collapsed, burying him under the rubble.
"Damn…" After a while, Gladiolus pushed the stone rubble off his body. His back was no longer intact, with blood and flesh mixed together, and burn marks covered his skin. The faint smell of charred flesh drifted in the wind.
"See, the human body in this world is too resilient." Deidara sighed, "How could he not be killed by such a close explosion?"
"But, conveniently—" Deidara stretched his arms forward, and his palms expelled thick white clay. The clay on the ground gradually expanded, growing to adult size, forming an abstract art piece that even the greatest artists would envy. Two clay puppets wobbled toward Gladiolus. "Let me slowly play with you."
Gladiolus, with his fiery temper, shouted angrily, "You bastard!"
Down below the King's Plateau, Esdeath—would she approach systematically, taking down the guarding bosses one by one?
Of course not. The highest Donquixote family executive, Pica, a Stone-Stone Devil Fruit user, had a natural home-field advantage within the King's Plateau.
The group attacking the King's Plateau flew to the top level using Wendy's Float-Float Fruit ability, much to the displeasure of Pica, Lao G, and Machvise , who had set up an ambush inside the plateau.
Babaro complained, "Baby-5, you can't keep listening to the Dawn Pirates' orders!"
"I know!" Baby-5, holding a cigarette, impatiently shouted, "Next time I'll blast him to bits!"
'She'll probably mess up again.' Babaro, who understood her well, muttered to himself.
'But, such a useful woman, who wouldn't like her?' When Babaro was short on money, he often borrowed from her. All he needed to say was, "I need you," and Baby-5 would happily lend him the money…
"Hmm?" A piece of rock flying upward caught Babaro's attention.
"They're from the Dawn Pirates! Take them out in the air!" Baby-5 immediately grabbed a rocket launcher and fired cannonballs at them.
"Whoa—!"
An incredible sound rang out, and a sound wall formed from the sonic waves stopped the rocket cannon's attack. Brilliant flames blossomed outside the sound wall.
Wendy covered her ears, groaning in pain, "Sister Miku , can you warn us before you scream?"
"Sorry, sorry." Miku hugged Wendy apologetically.
Akame bluntly said, "Feels like you're taking advantage of the situation."
"Wh-what's the problem?"
"Sister Miku , please, let go of me!" Wendy was struggling to breathe under her ample chest.
After escaping from Miku 's embrace, Wendy controlled the earth blocks to land on the King's Plateau.
On Babaro's back, Baby-5 urgently contacted her superior, Pica: "The Dawn Pirates have arrived at the King's Plateau."
"Pica, the user of the Stone-Stone Fruit, and the Weapon-Weapon Fruit user, Baby-5." Esdeath said, "Wendy, that fat guy is yours."
"Yes, leave him to me!" Wendy said with determination, "I won't forgive them for turning civilians into toys!"
Her slender arms stretched back, and invisible air wrapped around her small arms, forming intense storms.
"Dragon's Wing Strike!" The fierce wind, resembling wings, slammed towards Babaro and Baby-5 in the air.
White air currents swirled like snakes, creating gusts and turbulence in the air. Baby-5, standing on Babaro's back, shouted, "Put me down!"
"I got it!" Babaro dodged the tangible gusts and flew into the air above the King's Plateau, with Baby-5 jumping down.
"Reiji, that weapon woman is yours, but be careful not to poison her."
"Got it." Activating the canister in her hand, Reiji's battle suit, exclusive to her, instantly enveloped her body.
"Miss, I have one request—" Reiji said with her plump lips, "Can you be my opponent?"
"Sure!" A blush appeared on Baby-5's cheeks, "I'll fight with all my strength!"
'As expected, the Dawn Pirates all know Baby-5's weaknesses!'
"Where are you looking? Your opponent is me!" Wendy's gale whipped the air, making Babaro sway in the air. Babaro could only focus on fighting Wendy.
The others pressed on.
Roronoa hesitated and spoke, "Is it really okay to leave a little girl to deal with Babaro? Although Babaro isn't strong, he's still an executive of the Donquixote family…"
Kuina replied with an annoyed tone, "Don't underestimate Wendy."
"…"
"Stand still!" The ground began to shake, and the bricks ahead started to rise. A muscular figure appeared in front of the group.
"Roronoa, it really is you, the traitor!" A shrill voice came from the man, and the discordant voice caused the Dawn Pirates to burst into laughter.
"Are you… laughing at my voice?!" The shrill voice only made everyone laugh more.
Roronoa warned, "Be careful, Pica really cares about his voice, and he's already really angry!"
Before Pica could burrow underground, he shouted, "You all… will die!"
"Octo Stone!" Eight rock tentacles rose high, rushing toward the group from the sky.
"Swish swish swish"
Several sword lights flashed, and the hard rock was easily sliced into pieces, as Esdeath, holding her rapier, pointed at one of the rocks, "Your opponent is me. Though I don't think you're worth fighting, but—"
"You're worth being tortured to death." Esdeath's sadistic smile appeared.
Pica's head peeked out from the rock, "Just you? Die! Stone Bite!"
Pica's stone statue lunged forward, dragging its long neck and biting towards Esdeath.
"Boring moves… you all go ahead, I'll play with him." As she spoke, Pica's statue was split in half.
The group heading to the underground factory quickly dealt with the enemies along the way.
Meanwhile, Doflamingo had already gathered nearly a thousand troops at the factory entrance, preparing to face the invading Dawn Pirates.
Torrepol was guarding next to Sugar, both of them staying in the back.
"Heh heh heh, have these guys arrived?" Torrepol, with his snot-covered face, leaned towards Sugar, "Are you ready to turn the subordinates into toys?"
"Don't get so close, your snot is on me! Gross, go die!"
"Not going to die, brat!"
Sugar began turning their subordinates into toys, and eight toys were combined to form a giant head-clamping doll.
As the group reached the depths of the factory, where Sugar was hiding, dozens of giant head-clamping puppets stood in front of them.
"Ah, is this the head-clamping doll that Eric talked about?"
"It looks like it, leave these guys to me." Chiron took out his longbow.
"I'll help too, Chiron!" Gin , holding a cane, easily shattered one of the nearby puppets.
"Very reliable, Gin ." Chiron smiled lightly, "Just charge ahead, leave the rest to me!"
"Leave it to you."
Without hesitation, they charged ahead, arrows tearing through the air, knocking down the puppets in their path. The powerful force left holes in the puppets.
"These guys are indeed immortal." The shattered puppets quickly recombined, and the one with a large hole in its belly stood up again.
Chiron asked, "Are you scared?"
"I'm just happy to be able to lend my strength to Captain Eric !"
"Is that so... Let's go!"
Sugar's youthful face turned grim, "A bunch of head-clamping puppets can't stop the enemy, a bunch of useless things..."
"Heh heh heh, don't worry, I'll take care of them." Torrepol stood in front of Sugar.
The nearly thousand thugs raised their guns and aimed at the Dawn Pirates.
"We have a thousand men here, how could we lose to just a dozen or so?!"
"That's right, let's go!"
"Ah, you want to compare numbers?" Kurumi, smiling sweetly, raised her arm high, "Well, I won't lose to you either! Come out, 'we'—"
A pitch-black shadow spread from Kurumi's boots, and countless figures emerged from the shadow—
A Donquixote thug, horrified, asked, "What... what is this?!"
"Our numbers won't lose to yours!"
"You want to compare numbers?"
"Finally out, let's have fun together~"
The same face, the same voice, but completely different words made them shiver.
"Come on, let's start our war!"
"Ka ka ka ka..."
Countless Kurumis raised their elegant rifles simultaneously.
"!"
"Bang bang bang—!"
The continuous gunfire rang out, the bullets flying with orange firelight, lighting up the dark underground space. The Donquixote thugs were shot to the ground in an instant.
Bepo exclaimed, "Ah, we didn't help at all."
"Shut up!"
"Otherwise, it feels like we're also pretty useless!" Shachi and Penguin joked loudly.
Bepo lowered his head in extreme frustration: "I'm sorry!"
The two yelled in unison, "Don't apologize in the middle of battle!"
"Damn Nightmare—Sticky Chain!" Torrepol threw out sticky, brown, slimy chains, shooting them towards Kurumi. The clones quickly retreated back into the pitch-black shadows.
The slimy chains splattered across the empty ground, sending goo everywhere.
"Damn...!"
"Your moves are disgusting." Kurumi's words hit Torrepol hard, "You're one of the top executives? But your strength is far below the other two executives!"
"Damn 'Nightmare'!" Torrepol shouted in rage, "Top executives are the foundation of the entire family! I won't allow anyone to mock—! Sticky Launch Cannon!"
Large slime balls secreted from his body, hurtling toward Kurumi and her group.
"First Shot!" The bullets accelerated by Kurumi easily dodged the raining bombs.
"Damn!"
"Your slime can be set on fire, right?" Kurumi smiled lightly, "Bepo, throw the gasoline at Torrepol!"
"Yes!" The obedient Mink tribe member threw the oil can with great force.
"Bang!" The oil can was shot in mid-air by Kurumi's rifle, and a dense rain of fire fell toward Torrepol.
"What?!"
The easily inflammable slime was instantly ignited, and in the intense flames, Torrepol screamed in agony, "Aaaahhh—!"
(END CHAPTER)
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