...
"That is where he lives most often, but it also depends on what form he takes. After all, many insects have no sense of territory."
At the center of the island, the stamen area of the Stomach Baron was a giant circular crater. The bottomless, pitch-black pit led straight to the bottom of the sea.
That was the Stomach Baron's feeding mouth. Every time it fed, the animals on the island would fall into it.
Allen and his crew stood at the edge of the forest's inner circle. Heracles pointed to the edge of the abyssal hole and said, "It is extremely difficult to catch him proactively. When faced with danger, Toruno will reveal his strongest form."
"Not only does he have the swift flying ability of a dragonfly, but he also possesses powerful dynamic vision, terrifying danger-warning reflexes, and all other insect abilities."
"What you saw before was just the tip of the iceberg. Toruno is an incredibly powerful ultimate creature!"
Heracles's gaze was solemn. He turned to face Allen and added, "I have used Pop Greens to set up all kinds of traps, but they all ended in failure. He can always transform into the appropriate form to deal with danger."
"That ability is way too absurd. It sounds like catching him is almost impossible."
Sanji couldn't help but show a troubled expression.
An ultimate creature that combined the characteristics of all insects—even if it could only act on instinct, the sheer variety of its methods was unimaginable.
"Indeed."
Heracles nodded at Sanji, then changed the subject, "But it's not completely hopeless. Actually, I formulated a plant resin long ago that strongly attracts him. Its allure even surpasses his fear of death."
"As soon as my plant resin appears, Toruno won't rest until he gets his hands on it. It's just that with my strength, I've never been able to subdue him."
"However, with your help..."
Heracles turned to look at Allen, the implication in his words couldn't be more obvious.
Allen lowered his gaze and began to think.
Judging from their previous encounter by the coast, although Toruno was strong, he probably still couldn't beat him.
He just didn't know how strong the opponent's strongest form was. Looking at Heracles's attitude, it was probably much stronger than the simple Hercules beetle form.
After all, this Mythical Zoan was almost equivalent to possessing the power of all ordinary Zoans and Ancient Zoans.
To be honest, Allen was quite interested in having a fight with him.
"Do you have a specific plan?" Allen asked him.
Heracles held up an index finger and said, "Step one: I set up the traps, and you go into the forest to collect various plants."
"Step two: You lie in ambush near the traps, and I make the plant resin to lure him over."
Heracles successively held up his second and third fingers, saying matter-of-factly, "The final step: Wait for him to come and defeat him."
After listening, Allen nodded with a serious face, "Yeah, great plan. Next time, don't bother planning."
...
Before long, Allen arrived at the edge of the Stomach Baron's feeding mouth. In a place piled with resin, decaying leaves, and broken branches, he found the Devil Fruit, Model: Prehistoric Devil Flower Mantis.
There was still some unknown sticky liquid left on the fruit, looking a bit disgusting.
But it was worth over a billion Berries, after all.
Allen wiped it with some nearby leaves and then picked up the Devil Fruit.
Heracles's guess was probably right. Although Toruno had lost his mind, he still had memories of Devil Fruits in his head.
He must have been about to eat the Devil Fruit when the conflict between his feeding instinct and his fear of death stimulated him, throwing his consciousness into chaos and leading to his rampage.
Stowing the fruit away, Allen turned and walked back into the forest.
Heracles had already gone to set up traps. The Pop Greens, seeds cultivated from various predatory plants on the island, could produce excellent results in positional warfare.
Meanwhile, Sanji and the others took the encyclopedia Heracles had drawn over the years and went into the forest to collect the various plants needed to formulate the plant resin.
Under a giant rock, Sanji crouched by a corner and dug out two bright red trumpet flowers from the dirt crevices.
"This is it. We're still missing Shuriken Sycamore leaves and Sleep Flowers. Let's go look elsewhere. Put this away."
After carefully checking the encyclopedia to confirm, Sanji handed the trumpet flowers behind him.
Clapping his hands and standing up, he turned around only to see Buchi and Sham with their mouths wide open, each stuffing one of the trumpet flowers into their mouths.
*Thwack! Thwack!*
Sanji brought his foot down hard on both their heads, rolling his eyes and glaring fiercely at them as he bared his teeth and roared, "Who told you to eat them, you idiots?!"
"Ehehehe..."
"Sorry, we misheard."
Buchi and Sham forced a smile, large bumps forming on their heads.
Not far away.
"Six Fleur."
Robin looked up at the tree and activated her ability, sprouting six arms to continuously pluck gourd-shaped, eggplant-colored fruits from the branches.
Nami held a cloth bag below, catching the falling fruits one by one in the opening.
Not far behind them, Gin stood in front of a Rafflesia flower, lost in thought. He carefully compared it with the drawing in his hand, staring at it for a long time without being able to confirm it.
...
By the afternoon.
A large cauldron was set up in a clearing in the forest. Heracles stood on a makeshift wooden ladder, holding a long stick and continuously stirring the contents of the pot.
In the nearby bushes and tree canopies, Allen and his crew lay quietly in ambush.
From time to time, a noise or two still echoed from within the forest, occasionally accompanied by ear-piercing shrieks. Clearly, Toruno had not yet snapped out of his rampage.
Up in the canopy, Allen sat cross-legged with his back against a trunk, biting down on a cigar with his arms crossed over his chest.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on his body. Swirling smoke rose to obscure his face as Allen's gaze fell on the vapor drifting up from the large cauldron below.
Before long, an aura suddenly entered the range of his Observation Haki, approaching at an extremely fast speed.
"He's here."
Allen suddenly spoke up. The expressions of those nearby changed, and they all looked up at the sky.
A second later, everyone saw a small black dot flying in at top speed from the horizon!
Heracles hurriedly jumped to the ground, shouting as he ran away from the cauldron, "Get ready, everyone! Protect that pot of plant resin later. As long as it isn't taken away, he won't run!"
*Swoosh!*
As soon as his voice fell, the massive black shadow tucked its wings tightly and dive-bombed from high in the sky like a peregrine falcon, moving so fast it turned into a streak of light!
"Huh? Isn't that clearly a peregrine falcon?!"
"I never said he could only turn into insects! It's perfectly reasonable for an entomologist to know a little zoology, isn't it?!"
Heracles shouted back at Allen. At the same time, he turned to face the clearing and threw a seed from his hand.
The seed fell to the ground and sprouted several vines, which expanded and grew at an unbelievable speed, intertwining into a hemisphere to cover the cauldron boiling the plant resin.
*Bang!*
The giant humanoid falcon descended from the sky, its feet stomping heavily on the vines. The powerful impact made the earth tremble.
Toruno spread his wings and flapped them forcefully. The talons on his feet violently tore a hole in the vine cover, and then he drilled his way inside.
"Take my Seastone net!"
Heracles shouted and threw a capture net, which landed on the vine cover, accurately patching the torn hole.
As long as the opponent flew out of that gap, he would inevitably be entangled by the Seastone-embedded capture net and instantly lose his ability to resist.
Nami was still a bit surprised. They had made such a big fuss, but could it really be resolved all at once?
However, Heracles's eyes were solemn. He had set traps many times before, and the opponent was already familiar with things like Seastone.
An animal's instinct for danger was sometimes even more accurate than human reasoning.
Sure enough, the next second.
*Slash! Slash! Slash!*
Cold light flashed explosively, and the hemispherical cover wall was instantly sliced open. Sections of vines slid down, revealing Toruno's figure inside.
The opponent had already transformed into a green humanoid mantis. His arms, equipped with serrated barbs, were bent in front of him. On his inverted triangular head, a pair of red compound eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings.