Sage glared, "Then what about my two billion Belly?"
Lily said, "I gave the order long before your warm-up fight began, Gin."
"Captain Sage, Lady Lily..."
Gin walked over and said, "After Lady Lily gave the order, we went up. But after opening the vault, we found nothing inside, and instead, the steam that sprayed out burned a few of our men. According to Lady Lily's order, if nothing was found, we were to retreat to the ship immediately and then report back."
"After we retreated to the ship, you guys came over, so..."
"So there was no money at all."
Lily added, "The hot spring on the platform above is dependent on the heat conduction of the volcano below. It must have been a problem with that heat conduction pipe after we landed, causing the inside to fill with scorching steam. The closer to the center, the worse it is. The vault is right in the center..."
"Stop, stop, stop, so my two billion Belly went up in smoke?" Sage raised an eyebrow and asked.
"Strictly speaking, it either vaporized or melted, but it definitely didn't dissolve in water," Lily corrected.
"Don't be pedantic!"
Sage growled through gritted teeth, "Damn it! Charge an extra two billion, put it on that King of Usury's tab!"
"It's also good that we're safe, Sage..."
Lily pursed her lips, "With this kind of underwater volcanic eruption, as long as we're away from the surface, it won't splash up to our current distance. We're safe now..."
Rumble...
The sea surface suddenly shook, raising a gigantic wave that brushed past the Death Star's hull. When it plunged back into the sea, it brought with it a shower of droplets, drenching Lily's face and hair.
"Huh?"
Her pupils contracted sharply as she instinctively looked ahead, only to see waves surging at the location of the volcano. Amid the tumultuous waves, a gigantic vortex gradually formed, shaking everything around it.
At its center, an 'X'-shaped crimson mark slowly rose to the surface.
"What? What what!"
Nami was so frightened she was almost contorted, clutching her face in an iconic painting pose, and shouted out, "Why! Isn't it an underwater volcano? This situation is terrifying!"
"Sage, we're not safe anymore."
Lily took a deep breath to steady her inner shock and said, "The height of the volcanic eruption changed, and if nothing unexpected happens, it will shoot straight up and then scatter around, just like..."
"A meteor fire shower?" Sage asked oddly.
Lily nodded.
"Tenha Kassatsu: Meteor Shower?" Sage asked again.
"If scaled down proportionally... that's exactly it," Lily nodded heavily.
Sage took a sharp breath in, though he didn't want to say it was terrifying as hell...
But damn, it's terrifying as hell!
"Is there no time?"
"No time."
"How much time is left?"
"Judging by this momentum, about ten..."
"Ten minutes isn't enough to escape? How wide is the range?" Sage was dumbfounded for a moment.
"Nine." Lily coldly began the countdown.
"We're doomed!"
Usopp and Chopper clung to each other, tears streaming down, "A meteor fire shower, we're finished!"
"Yo-ho-ho, can I still play a tune of 'Binke's Fine Wine' at this time?"
Brook was somewhat at ease, except for his skeleton legs shaking violently from the waist down...
"Kidding, I'm actually super scared, yo-ho-ho-ho-ho, I'm about to cry, even though I'm a skeleton with no tear glands!"
He turned to look at Robin, who appeared calm, and said deeply, "Though it's embarrassing, I have an unseemly request before dying... could you let me see your panties?"
"I refuse."
Robin shook her head decisively, then thought for a moment and said:
"If we get hit by magma, would we turn to ash or become charred corpses? Corpse aesthetics are somewhat appealing, I think."
She was the calmest, filled with dark thoughts. Even after being rescued from Enies Lobby by Luffy, breaking the Buster Call nightmare with Sage's own hands, her habits couldn't change.
"No way! I'm only eighteen, my life hasn't even started yet, my cute face and great figure, all wasted!"
Nami cried out with tears streaming down her face, "I don't want such bad luck! Luffy! Luffy! Save me!"
"Enough! What do you mean bad luck!"
Sage twitched his mouth, his figure flashed to the cannon position, lifted a cannonball.
"I tell you, as long as you're strong enough, misfortune and bad luck will all be underfoot. I have at least two methods for this... Lily, start running now, as far away as possible! Hundred Times Speed!"
Bang!
A smoke ring rippled out from the deck, creating loop after loop of dust in the air as if a natural phenomenon, and Sage had vanished from the deck.
As they processed what happened, a figure was already seen leaping far above the soon-to-erupt volcano.
"As long as it doesn't reach this height, it'll be fine."
Sage looked down at the gradually deep-red 'X'-shaped volcano from above. After a Moon Step jump into the air, his body suddenly leaned back. He pulled back his arm holding the cannonball, preparing to throw, aiming below.
After getting the fruit, there weren't many opportunities to use it. For all the robberies in this half-month, he hadn't intervened.
The More-More Fruit is amplifying in essence, which makes training himself more important than developing the fruit, and with his level of strength, most people aren't even qualified to make him use his powers in battle.