On the plaza of Punk Hazard, one of the strangest "mass surrender ceremonies" in Marine history was playing out.
Hundreds of Caesar's scientists, the centaur patrol units, and soldiers in heavy hazmat suits were all lined up like obedient elementary school students waiting for their parents after class. One by one, they calmly extended their hands, letting Ain and Potts cuff them without the slightest resistance.
Their eyes were blank, their expressions peaceful, almost relieved, as if they were thinking: Finally, time to clock out. Not a shred of awareness that they were now prisoners.
The entire arrest operation was quiet, efficient, and even… oddly wholesome.
"Alright, that's the last one."
Ain clasped the cuffs on the final centaur and let out a long breath.
Using her ability continuously to heal the children and then overseeing this surreal wave of voluntary surrenders, even someone as disciplined as her felt exhaustion weighing down hard.
"Miss Ain! You've worked so hard! Please have some hot tea!"
Sanji suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a silver tray with a steaming cup of black tea and a plate of freshly baked madeleines. His heart-shaped pupils were practically vibrating out of his skull.
But the group wasn't done dealing with "problems."
"Shurororo! You bastards! Traitors! Get back to work right now!"
From the top floor of the facility, Caesar Clown finally burst out of the monitoring room.
He saw his proud "army" lined up like lambs waiting to be sheared and shook with rage, smoke practically leaking from his pores, his features twisted into a grotesque caricature of a face.
"And you! Haiiroyo! How DARE YOU destroy my greatest MASTERPIECE?! For that I'll show you the terror of my Land of Death!"
He spread his arms as the air around him warped, purple poisonous gas curling around him like something alive, ready to unleash his most lethal weapon.
But the apocalyptic scene he imagined never arrived.
Because a split second before he could release his poison, a polished leather shoe, wreathed in blazing orange flame, smashed directly into his face.
"Shut up, you scum!"
Sanji's rage exploded completely.
Just remembering what had been done to those children, how they had been treated as experimental trash, his killing intent surged like wildfire.
"Diable Jambe, Flambge Shot!"
BOOM!
Caesar's flamboyant face collapsed on impact. His whole body spun through the air like he'd been hit by a bullet train, and he was slammed into the alloy wall, leaving a man-shaped dent, then slid down like a heap of trash.
"For doing that to those kids… garbage like you deserves to die ten thousand times!"
Sanji lowered his leg, eyes as cold as arctic ice.
Ain approached the unconscious Caesar, ready to restrain him with seastone, but Renzo's lazy voice drifted down from above.
"Hold up."
Renzo had floated into the air at some point, lounging sideways on CC1, calmly eating the chocolate cake Sanji had made earlier.
"This guy's too noisy, and keeping him in a cell sounds like a hassle. Ain, don't you have that ability to… revert people?"
He pointed lazily at Caesar, as if making a trivial suggestion.
"Turn him into something… minimal maintenance. Like a baby. One that can't talk. Just cries."
Ain blinked, then understood immediately.
For someone as unhinged as Caesar, normal imprisonment wasn't just risky, it was stupid.
But if he were turned into…
A faint, cold smile tugged at her lips.
"Understood, Admiral."
She stepped in front of Caesar, whose body still twitched from the pain, and raised her glowing pink-hued hand.
"Modo Modo: Reversion."
A gentle light enveloped Caesar.
In Sanji and Potts's stunned eyes, Caesar's massive gaseous body compressed, solidified, and shrank rapidly.
His over-styled hair, sinister goatee, and lab coat all melted and reshaped in the radiance.
Seconds later, the light faded.
Left on the ground… was a baby.
A tiny, drooling baby in an open-crotch diaper, with a snot bubble wobbling from his nose.
He lay on the cold floor, startled by the unfamiliar world,
"Waaaaaaaah!!"
Sanji: "..."
Potts: "..."
Renzo nodded, satisfied.
"Mm. Much easier on the eyes. And more importantly, he can't make that stupid laugh anymore."
But after the initial shock, Sanji felt something inside him ignite again, something far hotter than anger.
He looked at the wailing "Baby Caesar" and remembered the suffering of the children.
And something inside him snapped.
"Cry? You still have the nerve to cry?!"
Sanji grabbed "Baby Caesar" by the back of the diaper.
Ignoring his terrified eyes and louder crying, Sanji plopped him over his knee, then swung his arm back and slapped down hard on his chubby backside.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
The crisp echoes rang across the quiet plaza.
"That's for bullying children! SMACK!"
"That's for using them as test subjects! SMACK!"
"And that's for being so damn ugly AND laughing like a maniac! SMACK!"
Sanji scolded with each strike, hitting hard but with precise control, painful, but not injurious.
Baby Caesar's cries became shrill and desperate, his tiny legs kicking uselessly. His baby-soft face twisted with despair, humiliation, and utter defeat.
He was a world-class scientist… a Logia-type powerhouse…
And now he was a diaper-wearing infant getting spanked over a cook's knee.
This was worse than death.
Ain and Potts watched, completely dumbstruck.
Meanwhile, Renzo finished the last bite of cake and looked down at the "educational demonstration" below.
"Hm. Good technique. Just… a bit noisy."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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