Caesar, feeling the jolts, smiled once again.
"Shurororororo~"
That's right, the secret weapon!
If someone pressed that switch, everyone here except him would die!
If Monet were still alive, he would definitely press that switch, Caesar thought to himself.
After all, to Monet, Doflamingo was like a god!
So he was capable of sacrificing himself to destroy everything.
He just didn't know whether Monet was still alive. If he was, then he could...
"You're not thinking that if an explosion happens, you, a Logia-type ability user, could survive, are you?" Meiser glanced at Caesar and said, "Have you forgotten the Sea-stone Handcuffs on you?"
At these words, Caesar's smile immediately froze on his face.
Yes, he had forgotten.
Forgotten about this thing bound to him, enough to cost him his life!
Realizing his situation, Caesar showed a look of terror.
"Damn Monet, you must not press that switch!" Caesar shouted.
If he was captured, there was still a chance to survive, since Doflamingo would find a way to save him.
But if he was blown up... then it would truly be over!
"Monet?"
Perona's eyes immediately showed a hint of confusion as she said, "That snow woman?"
"Wasn't she already defeated by Nami?"
In that situation, could he still go and press that explosion switch?
Nami didn't speak, only slowly furrowing her brows.
If she had to say, she hadn't finished him off after he lost consciousness, so she wasn't sure whether he would wake up or not.
Caesar, on the other hand, was stunned for a moment before showing a look of wild joy.
"He was defeated?"
"That's great!"
Now he didn't have to worry about being blown up!
Shurororororo~
Shurororororo!
Usopp: ??
Usopp looked toward Caesar with a face full of question marks. Wasn't this guy celebrating in a somewhat strange way?
Was that snow woman really on his side?
"This guy's brain must be broken."
"Is that so?"
Luffy leaned over to look at Caesar and said, "But I didn't hit his head just now."
He remembered his fist had landed on Caesar's abdomen in the end.
Could that damage his brain too?
Caesar: ...
Hearing the two's conversation, Caesar's smile froze on his face again.
Were these bastards treating him like an idiot?
Thinking this, Caesar felt somewhat annoyed.
"What do you all know?"
"We really don't understand your thoughts," Meiser glanced at Caesar and said, "But we don't need to."
In the end, this guy was just a tool for their cooperation with Law, and there was no need to understand what he was thinking.
The others nodded in agreement; that was indeed the case.
Just then, Law looked ahead and said, "We can already see the light up ahead."
At these words, everyone immediately turned to look forward, and through the slightly opened dragon's mouth, they saw the light ahead!
"We really see it!"
"So that means we're about to get out soon?" Merry said.
"Yes, that's right." Meiser nodded.
Since they could see light, it meant they were nearing the tunnel exit.
However... the situation outside the tunnel didn't look very promising.
Seeing the thick purple mist lingering around the exit, Meiser's brow gradually furrowed.
Nico Robin clearly noticed Meiser's change in expression and asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's poison gas outside."
Meiser briefly explained the situation.
"Leave it to me."
Merry flew to Meiser's side and said with a smile, "With my ability, I can easily blow away the poison gas outside."
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you."
"Okay!"
Merry nodded, then moved to the dragon's mouth, slowly raising her small hands toward the front.
At the same time, the little girl muttered to herself, "Hmm, I need to control the strength properly."
Too much force could easily collapse this already fragile tunnel, while too little wouldn't be enough to blow away the poison gas.
So... she had to control the strength of this wind blast perfectly!
Thinking this, Merry began gathering her power.
A moment later...
"Wind Impact!"
"Whoosh~"
In the next instant, a terrifying rotating storm flew out from Merry's hands, rushing toward the poison gas area ahead at an invisible speed—extremely fast!
"Boom!!"
Upon contact, the poison gas was carried away by Merry's Power of Wind, forcibly clearing out a safe passage!
"It really disappeared?!"
"Sister Merry is amazing!"
Seeing the suddenly appearing safe passage ahead, the children immediately cheered.
"Sister Merry or something... hehehe~"
The little girl blushed shyly at this remark.
Clearly, she really liked this title.
Seeing this, Meiser smiled, then urged the Wood Dragon to speed up, quickly rushing toward the safe area ahead. Soon, they carried everyone out of the safe tunnel and into the safe zone outside!
"We're finally out!"
"Yay!!"
Looking at the long-unseen sky, everyone was so excited that tears welled up in their eyes.
Especially the Marines—it felt so good to be alive!
Then, Usopp noticed something strange: why was there no poison gas here at all?
Had it all been blown away by Merry's wind?
Thinking this, a smile appeared on Usopp's face as he said, "So you even blew away the poison gas outside...
""
"Merry, well done!"
"Huh?"
Merry, who had just been praised, was taken aback. She tilted her head and looked around before saying, "I didn't blow away the poison gas outside."
Her wind had only cleared the poison gas near the tunnel entrance and directly ahead—it hadn't dispersed the gas around them.
So she had no idea what was going on here.
"You didn't do it?" Usopp was stunned, then asked in confusion, "Then why is there no poison gas here?"
Under normal circumstances, shouldn't this area also be covered in poison gas?
"I don't know," Merry shook her head.
"Who cares."
Franky grinned and said, "As long as we're safe, that's all that matters."
He didn't care why the poison gas here had disappeared—he only cared about everyone's safety.
"You're right."
Usopp chuckled. There really was no need to dwell on such things. Being safe was enough.
Meanwhile, Meiser took advantage of this time to quickly lead everyone toward the cruise ship.
After setting everyone down on the ground, he released the Wood Dragon Technique.
Once that was done, Meiser said, "Alright, everyone is now sa..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Meiser noticed a blinding light flare up from a distant mountain peak, looking as though something had exploded.
Seeing this, Meiser's pupils instantly contracted to their smallest size.
An explosion... it really happened!
Without a second thought, Meiser swiftly activated a defensive Wood Release Ninjutsu.
Wood Release: Wood Ranking Barrier Technique!
"Hum~"
A powerful surge of Wood Release energy spread across the ground, and from it, one sturdy wooden plank after another sprouted.
Then, these planks moved at an imperceptible speed, rapidly forming a massive wooden shield and floor adorned with a fanged, demonic face, firmly shielding everyone inside.
At the same time... Meiser also created a solid wooden wall, protecting the cruise ship on the sea behind it!
All of this happened in an extremely short amount of time.
The next moment...
"BOOM!!"
A terrifying explosion echoed from the distance, accompanied by a dreadful tremor that sent Usopp tumbling to the ground in fright.
"It really exploded!" Usopp cried out in terror. "It really exploded!!"
The explosion capable of destroying the entire island had truly occurred!
Were they doomed?
"What do we do... what do we do?!"
Chopper was also panicking, unsure of what to do in that moment.
An explosion powerful enough to obliterate an island would surely kill them, right?
"What's there to panic about?" Meiser said. "We won't die!"
With his Wood Release, this explosion wouldn't harm a single hair on anyone's head!
After all... this Wood Release Ninjutsu was strong enough to withstand the slashes of Uchiha Madara's Susanoo!
So he didn't believe this explosion could destroy the shield.
Then, as if sensing something, Meiser shouted, "It's coming!"
"What's com..."
Before Perona could finish speaking, she felt a terrifying impact slam against Meiser's massive wooden shield.
The sheer force of the impact made everyone inside the shield tremble with fear.
"Will... will we die here?" Mocha sobbed.
She wanted to go home so badly.
She missed her mom and dad!
Mocha's crying seemed to act as a signal, immediately causing the other children to burst into tears as well.
"I don't want to die..."
"I want to go home!"
"Mom! Dad!"
"These kids..."
Listening to the children's cries, Sanji felt a headache coming on, but he couldn't blame them—after all, the explosion outside was truly terrifying.
So terrifying that even he couldn't face it with his usual calm.
"Don't worry, children." Nami flew into the air, holding Mocha's body, and said, "None of you will be hurt. You'll all return home safely!"
Then, as if remembering something, Nami immediately activated her Devil Fruit ability to create a large amount of clouds, lifting everyone still on the ground.
Watching this, Meiser felt somewhat helpless. In reality, with Wood Release, the vibrations transmitted inside wouldn't be enough to injure them.
After all, the Wood Release: Wood Ranking Barrier Technique could absorb most of the impact force.
However, he didn't speak up to stop her, because... there were children here.
Shaking his head, Meiser turned his gaze to Luffy, who was grinning beside him, and said, "Luffy, you really can laugh no matter the situation."
"Because it's fun~" Luffy grinned.
He didn't think this explosion would harm him, since Meiser had already taken action, right?
Hearing this, Meiser smiled. Truly, this guy was something else.
After smiling, Meiser focused his attention on the wooden wall beside him, wondering how long this explosion would last.
An explosion capable of destroying the entire island should last quite a while, he thought.
With that in mind, Meiser began to wait patiently.
And this wait lasted one or two minutes.
"S-surely it's over now, right?" Usopp gulped and said.
So much time had passed, and no more shockwaves had come, so... was it safe?
"I'm not sure either," Meiser said with a frown.
"I'll go out and take a look," Perona said. "I'm not afraid of explosions."
Her Soul-Soul Fruit allowed her to turn into a ghost, so she wasn't afraid of bomb explosions either.
Thus, she was the most suitable person to go out and scout the situation.
"Are you really sure it's safe?" Merry reached out and grabbed Perona's arm, saying, "That's an explosion capable of destroying the entire island!"
Although Perona's Devil Fruit ability could nullify most physical attacks, who knew if it could withstand such a terrifyingly large explosion?
So she wasn't very keen on letting Perona take the risk.
"Th-this..."
Hearing Merry say this, Perona actually became a bit unsure.
"It should be fine... right?"
Although she had never faced an explosion of this magnitude, it shouldn't be able to harm her in her ghostified state.
After all... in that state, she had no physical form!
"Forget it, you'd better stay inside honestly," Meiser spoke up.
If she lacked confidence, it wasn't suitable for her to go out.
"Then how do we observe the outside?" Perona frowned.
Without clearly observing the situation outside, they couldn't open this wooden shield, because... there were children here!
Children were fragile!
"Have you forgotten Brook's ability?" Meiser said.
With that, Meiser turned his gaze to Brook, signaling it was time for him to get to work.
As if noticing Meiser's gaze, Brook grinned and laughed, "Yohohohoho~"
"That's right, at times like these... I really am the most suitable to go out."
His Devil Fruit ability, like Perona's, was a complete soul state!
In that state, any physical attack would be ineffective against him, so there was no need to worry about whether explosions would occur afterward.
"Right, how could I forget that!" Usopp smacked his palm and said, "Brook can release his soul!"
This guy's Devil Fruit ability is really impressive!
Although the released soul doesn't have much combat power, it's perfect for reconnaissance!
"Then we'll leave it to you, Brook!" Luffy laughed.
"Yohohohoho~"
"Leave it to me with confidence~" Brook chuckled. "I'll investigate the situation outside as quickly as possible!"
With that, Brook sat cross-legged on the ground and began to unleash his Devil Fruit ability.
"Soul... Departure!!"
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