"What is that thing?" Brook wanted to know. "If I had eyes, I'd be popping them out of my sockets by now."
"This is disgusting." Carla (Grey) stated, staring at the huge pile of jelly in front of them. "It makes me want to puke, whatever it is."
Standing still on the burning part of the island, the huge pile of jelly, which was facing them, covered the whole half of the island with its imposing body. But, despite not moving anymore, it had ended up inflating its "mouth" to spit balls of jelly towards the ice island.
"Does anyone know what this thing does?" Kinemon wanted to know.
Watching one of the jelly balls disappear behind a snowy mountain, Erza stated.
"I feel like that monster is trying to bombard this part of the island! I have a feeling that touching those strange balls of jelly wouldn't be the best idea."
"That's for sure." Nami (Sanji) agreed. "That stuff looks like a poisoned jelly concentrate! But how did that thing appear so suddenly?"
"It looks like a slime." Brook remarked. "From what I heard, it's a monster that has the ability to dissolve clothes with its body, to destabilize its opponents."
"In that case, you're his sworn enemy, you who have no trouble staying naked in public." Erza said, turning to Carla (Grey).
" Very funny. "
PLAF
"Huh?" Zoro said, seeing one of the jelly balls fall into the water.
Staring at it for a few moments, while it sank, he eventually saw other figures rising to the surface.
"I think Erza is right! It's best to avoid its contact."
" Why? "
Turning towards the lake, the rest of the small group could quickly make out the bodies of several dead sharks that had had the misfortune to be near where the ball of jelly had fallen.
"What... did it kill them?" Nami (Sanji) wondered.
"So, it really is poison." Carla (Grey) growled. "I hope none of you wanted to go to the other part of the island! Now, it's impossible to get there! And in a few minutes, the entire lake will be contaminated."
"Yeah, it sure looks like it." Zoro agreed, seeing another ball fall into the water.
"Damn it!" Nami (Sanji) said. "The samurai's body is down there."
"AHHHH! My torso!" Kinemon said in fear. "This damn poison will dissolve it! We must save it."
"We have no choice." Nami (Sanji) stated, starting to take off her coat. "I'm going."
"What?" Brook wondered. "But if the poison in the water gets to you, you..."
"I promised to help him." His friend said, before jumping into the water.
"But why?" Kinemon wanted to know. "Why is he going to so much trouble for me?"
Suddenly grabbing him by the collar, Erza lifted him up, before making a sword appear. Shaking the weapon, with lightning speed, she managed to cut a piece of slime that was rushing below them. Then jumping back, she dropped Kinemon's body at her feet, while the two pieces crashed not far from them.
"We must not forget that Sanji is not the only one in danger."
Starting to move, the two pieces of slime let out gas which quickly formed a purple cloud all around them.
"I don't like it." Brook said, stepping back.
Casting a glance over his shoulder, Zoro affirmed.
"And that's not our only problem."
Indeed, advancing towards them, dozens of other slimes were regrouping, surrounding them.
"But what do they want from us?" Kinemon wanted to know. "Why are they attacking us?"
Unable to answer his question, Carla (Grey) could then see two of them sticking together, before merging together to create a larger slime.
"What…? It merges?"
Then turning his gaze to the other part of the island, to see the enormous slime refusing to put a "foot" in the water, he finally understood.
"This thing isn't bombing us to attack us! It's doing it to get here."
"What ? "
"This monster seems to hate water! So, it lets itself come here by spitting out its body in small pieces! And once two pieces are stuck together, they fuse to create a larger part."
And as if to prove it, the two gelatinous parts that Erza had just cut began to fuse together, to close a part of the slime that he was.
"But is this thing invincible, or what?" Brook asked in fear.
Unable to do anything but draw their swords in response, Zoro and Erza began to face the slimes, beginning to come up with a plan to get out of them.
Looking up, everyone could only be surprised, seeing Luffy manage to catch Caesar without the latter being able to do anything to free himself.
"He got it." Lucy rejoiced.
"GREAT, Luffy!" Franky shouted. "Now all we have to do is tie him up."
"No." Robin retorted. "Of course, thanks to haki, Luffy is able to catch him! However, Caesar can still use his powers! As long as he is not unconscious, the fight will not be won."
Less happy than the pirates and wizards, Caesar's men believed they were in the middle of a nightmare.
"Am I dreaming?" Cameo wanted to know.
Looking behind her, to see the lab door destroyed, Pisca peered inside, stating.
"Doctor Fronk just got beaten! And now Mugiwara dares to attack the master?"
"Unforgivable!" The two generals roared, deciding to run towards Luffy. "We're going to kill him."
However, standing in front of them, Gajeel retorted.
"Hey, chameleon-guy! We're not done fighting yet."
"Get out of the way." The sniper roared, spitting out a ball of sticky saliva.
"Disappear!" Pisca ordered, lowering her axe so quickly that it created a cutting draft.
Seeing the two attacks rushing towards him, Gajeel only let a small smile appear on his face, while asking.
"Is that all you can do?"
Making a dark aura appear around his body, Gajeel declared.
"I will show you the strength of a dragon! IRON SHADOWS DRAGON MODE !"
Immediately, letting the black aura take on a demonic aspect, while a real armor made of steel scales covered Gajeel's body.
"What is this?" Pisca and Cameo wondered.
Gajeel ended up smiling devilishly, before puffing out his cheeks.
" IRON SHADOWS DRAGON ROAR ! "
Creating a super-powerful tornado that combined the two elements he could control, Gajeel let it charge towards the two mercenaries' attacks. In an instant, the tornado pulverized them, before heading towards the duo.
"AHHHHHH!" They shouted, seeing the tornado heading towards them at full speed.
Trembling upon impact, the entire area could feel a violent shockwave, as Gajeel's attack hit its targets.
"Ca… Cameo-san?" A centaur asked in surprise. "Pisca-onee-sama!"
"Hahahaha!" Gajeel sneered as a cloud of smoke faced him. "Despite their arrogance, they weren't strong enough to defeat me."
"You're nothing but a barbarian." Lily stated, reverting to her chibi form.
However, Gajeel's smile disappeared, as an imposing silhouette could be seen in front of him, through the smoke. A breath of wind swept through the smoke, which allowed Gajeel to see Pisca's large axe, covered in haki. Having positioned it in front of her, Pisca had used it as a shield. Having also protected himself behind his comrade, Caméo could be seen still standing, while his entire body was also covered in Busoshoku haki.
"Are they still standing?" Gajeel wondered.
"You… Bastard!" Pisca roared, clenching her teeth so hard she could hear them crack. "How dare you? I'll…! I'll…"
"Pisca, calm down." Cameo ordered her, as his comrade was about to take a step forward. "Getting angry too easily has always been your weak point! If you rush in and fight this guy in this state, you're going to lose."
Staring at Gajeel, he stated.
"If we're mercenaries, it's not for nothing! We're going to attack him together! You're going to fight him head-on to get his attention! And once an opening presents itself, I'll take him out with a headshot! That's how our duo operates."
Still raging, Pisca tried to keep calm, without really succeeding.
"Pisca!" Cameo insisted. "Don't forget that they kidnapped the children! If you want to see them alive again, let's not give these guys a chance to fight us!"
Suddenly widening her eyes, Pisca couldn't help but see a memory in her mind where she could see herself, with a book in her hand, laughing out loud, while being in the company of the children of the laboratory.
Pisca was a mercenary. Before arriving in Punk Hazard, she had killed countless people for money. However, without being able to understand the reason, she had always shown a true maternal side when she had to take care of the children of this island. So there was no way she would be left in the hands of these pirates.
Eventually unclenching her fist, she then let out a long exhale, to calm herself. Once that was done, she affirmed.
"I'll make sure to get the kids back! It's okay! We can fight him, Cameo."
" Parfait ! "
Barely watching the fight with his eyes, Natsu focused more on Luffy's fight against Caesar. The scientist, furious at being captured by Luffy, was turning into gas, and even created a toxic cloud around Luffy's head.
"What...? What is that?"
"Shirorororo! You fool! Don't you know that I'm a gas man? Toxic gas... I can create as much as I want."
Snickering then, seeing Luffy holding his breath as best he could, he stated.
"You're going to die, Mugiwara! No matter how long you hold your breath, you're going to have to breathe! Come on, take a deep breath and die."
"Natsu, he's in danger." Happy remarked.
"We have to help him," His friend assured him.
Too late. Happy didn't even have time to catch him before Luffy made the worst possible move: he inhaled the entire toxic cloud.
" That … ? "
"Luffy?" Robin wondered.
"What is this idiot doing?" Franky asked in fear.
"Has he gone crazy or something?" Lucy asked.
For his part, Caesar only laughed louder.
"You fool! You thought I was bluffing, didn't you? You're wrong! This gas is a creation I've been developing for so many years and one of the deadliest there is! In a few seconds, you'll fall to the ground, stone dead."
" Really ? " Said Luffy.
Frozen, all the spectators could see him in perfect health, while he stared at Caesar, who had a somewhat surprised expression.
"Poison doesn't have much effect on me."
" WHAT ? " Shouted Caesar.
"It's thanks to my fight against Magellan and the antibodies Iva-chan gave me."
"He's immune to poison?" Lily wondered, as he let his sword grow to meet Pisca's axe.
"What does that mean?" the mercenary wanted to know. "Why don't Caesar-sama's attacks do anything to him?"
"Magellan?" The scientist roared, as if he had been insulted. "That insignificant poisoner from Impel Down… how dare you compare me to him?"
" GUM GUM JET SPEAR ! "
Before Caesar could even do anything, Luffy delivered a double kick to his face, sending him crashing to the ground.
" CAESAR-SAMA ! "
"Bastard!" Cameo roared, instantly turning invisible.
Taking advantage of a brief moment of inattention from Gajeel, he then ran towards Luffy, ready to settle the score with his revolvers and seastone bullets.
"I'll turn you into a sieve, Mugiwara."
"MIL FLORS!"
Crossing her arms, Robin suddenly created a veritable field of hands that came out of the ground. Unable to locate Cameo precisely, she let her countless hands take care of it.
"What…?" The chameleon-man wondered, as one of them managed to grab his ankle.
" I've got you. "
Furious, Cameo turned towards her, before swinging his haki-covered tongue at her. In an instant, it pierced Robin's body, who disappeared by transforming into multitudes of petals.
" That … ? Robin ? " Said Lucy.
"I'm here." The young woman reassured her, as she stood behind her, still with her arms crossed.
"What…?" Cameo wondered. "But how…?"
" STRONG RIGHT ! "
Smashing against his jaws, Franky's fist sent him flying, before rolling him several times in the snow. Eventually stopping, Cameo felt a few pairs of hands grab his arms, before helping him back to his feet.
"Cameo-san, are you okay?" A centaur asked.
"Grrr! Those guys are going to regret it." His superior assured him. "We don't attack Caesar-sama with impunity! Are you guys with me?"
" Yeah ! "
"Stay where you are, cockroaches." A voice roared.
Standing up with a face contorted with rage, Caesar ordered.
"Stay out of my way! If any of you get in my way, I'll kill you."
"Mas ... Master?"
"Mugiwara!" Caesar roared, walking towards him. "You're going to discover the power of my gas! No, everyone is going to find out! I'm going to kill you all, no matter if you're humans or centaurs."
Stopping her fight with Lily, Pisca only stared at Caesar, looking lost.
" Caesar-sama ? "
"Hey, what... What is he talking about?" A centaur wanted to know.
"He… He just called us cockroaches? And he said something about killing us too?"
"Cameo-san, what's going on?"
Caesar's general, too, was stunned and finally declared.
"We must have misheard! There's no way Caesar-sama could treat us like this."
"Yes, but..." Insisted a centaur.
Gripping the collar of his coat, Cameo quickly pointed his revolver at his forehead while roaring.
"Shut-up! Don't forget who he is and what he did for you... for me and for everyone else! Caesar-sama is our savior, and I forbid anyone to say otherwise."
Thinking back immediately to the moment when Caesar had come to his aid, the centaur finally said.
"Huh, yes! You're absolutely right! Caesar-sama could never hurt us! I'm sorry!"
"I prefer that." Cameo assured, finally releasing him. "Listen to me, Caesar-sama must just be tricking to disrupt the enemy! For now, he seems to only be able to fight Mugiwara! So, in the meantime, we'll take care of the others! Take care of the Mugiwara's companions! I'll take care of…"
Letting his gaze fall on Lucy, who was looking at Caesar and Luffy, he stated.
"... her. "
Finding her much more harmless than the rest of the gang, Cameo wanted to take advantage of her lack of attention to quickly take her down.
"First, I'll immobilize her," He assured, spitting out a ball of saliva.
Seemingly not seeing anything, Lucy let the attack rush at her. However, at the last moment, she made a magnificent jump to the side, in order to avoid it.
" What ? "
"I've felt your presence since the start! And I always keep an eye on the most powerful enemies."
Then, before Cameo could react, a hand struck his head, pinning it to the ground. Then grabbing one of his arms, Capricorn bent it so that it was pinned against Cameo's back, making the man groan in pain.
" Capture taken, Lucy -sama ! "
" Band motherfuckers ! "
" GASTANET ! "
"Huh?" Lucy said, turning around.
Closing a pair of castanets between his fingers, Caesar managed to create a spark and ignite a quantity of invisible gas, which surrounded Luffy. A deafening explosion immediately followed the small snap.
" LUFFY ! "
"Shirorororo!" Caesar sneered. "What did I tell you, Mugiwara? Against my genius, you had no chance! And for the final blow…"
Taking some pleasure at first in seeing Luffy fall towards the ground, while spitting smoke, the scientist snapped his fingers, while calling out .
"Come to me, my little smileys."
Then ceasing to stir, the slime balls all around the battlefield finally looked up at Caesar, who amused himself by shaking a hand in all directions.
"Go ahead! Destroy Mugiwara."
Immediately, like perfect soldiers, the jelly balls jumped and stuck all around Luffy.
"But what…?" Smoker (Tashigi) wondered. "What's going on?"
"Caesar is the one responsible for this plague." Tashigi (Smoker) understood. "And the worst part is, he can control them."
Seeing Luffy start to disappear under the slimes, Franky wanted to know.
"What does he plan to do with this? Even if they're poisoned, it won't do anything to Luffy."
"They're explosive," Robin reminded him. "Just one of them blew up a boat! Imagine the power of an explosion caused by a dozen slimes."
"What? But then... Luffy, go quickly."
However, no matter how much he punched and kicked, Luffy found himself engulfed in a huge ball of smiles, from which he couldn't escape.
" DIE ! " Ricana Caesar. " GASTA … "
" FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR ! "
Caesar widened his eyes in shock, seeing the attack heading towards him. However, reaching out his hand towards the flames, he clenched his fist. Immediately, as soon as the attack was close to him, the flames disappeared.
"What?" Natsu wondered.
Extending his smile, Caesar aimed his castanets at Luffy again.
" GASTANET ! "
A violent explosion was felt, lifting various bodies, and ejecting most of the spectators backwards. Feeling himself being forced to back away, Franky however remained more concerned by the state in which Luffy must be.
" LUFFY ! "